My wife and I purchased a washer and dryer set with 3 year service agreement in 2009.in November of the Maytag Cabrio washing machine started "coding" and began to slowly fail to operate. I called Best Buy's service line because we had purchased the service contract. I soon learned that because we live just outside the St. Louis metro area we were not eligable for "Geek Squad" service (this was never mentioned at the time of purchase!) but rather would recieve service thru a local contractor. This turned into a long delay as they failed to order parts and caused a 2 week delay and another week to get back out so a total of 3 weeks later and after, many phone calls and literally hours of my time wasted on the phone, they finally came out and "fixed" the washer by installing a new board and a new spin speed sensor. The very next day it began to "code" again with codes like too many suds and out of balance load (neither were the case) and at that time I contacted Best Buy's line again and they said they would have the contractor order another board. It is now January 4 and I have not heard from the repair contractor or Best Buy, so now I have to start calling again and spend more of my time dealing with this.
But there is more to my little story than this. Somewhere in the middle I had contacted Best Buy's consumer affairs line and filed a complaint about the poor service.in the course of all of this, the rep offered me a $100 gift card in an attempt to pacify my impatience with their system and all of their errors.
Here's where it gets interesting. My wife went on line to Best Buy's website and ordered a little camera for my 11 year old for Christmas. It ended up costing fifteen dollars more that the $100 gift card so she placed that small extra balance on our MC Debit card.in the screen it asked who would pick this up and she typed my name there. She printed off the form and handed it to me and said go pick this up on such and such a day when you are in St. Louis. So a few days later I drove (way out of my way) to the Chesterfield, MO store and walked up to the counter and asked to pick up the order. (No where on this did it state we had to present the credit card used) A young woman with a terrible attitude said "I need to see the credit card." I produced my card, the same debit account that my wife had used, but she said I could not pick up the order because the last 4 numbers did not match. I said of course they don't match, we each have our own card. I stated that I had the order and my name was on it in the "pick up by" space and I had a valid Missouri driver's licence. She stated "well, your not getting your order because the last 4 numbers don't match" and that was their "policy" and it was "not going to happen." Shocked at her harsh tone and uncaring attitude I asked for the manager. Then this slick and shady looking individual came over to the counter and he was far worse than the girl. He stated he was the store manager and he began to speak to me as if I were a child. I am in my late 40's and a very friendly person and I did not appreciate the tone with which he spoke to me.
By the time we were done he was asking me to leave (REALLY?) because I had out of incredible frustration with this whole experience had said "your stupid policy doesn't matter to me" and some other things that he did not like and in bit of a raised tone, but not at first. So I matter of factly told him where he could place his entire store and his entire company and left the store absolutely humiliated. I called consumer affairs again and complained again and a really nice (finally!) young lady listened to every word I said. I learned that the terrible Best Buy manager had changed the "picked up by" space on our order to my wife's name, which she could detect because it showed it had been edited at the Chesterfield, MO store.
I am about as excited to visit another Best Buy store as I am to get a root canal or pass a kidney stone! It will be a cold day in the underworld before I EVER go back in to see that arrogant bunch or stuffed shirt snake handlers to buy even so much as a battery. I am not just talking. I will never go back and will never recommend them to anyone. Rather I will repeat the edited version of this story which basically amounts to "I wouldn't shop there because they do not care about customer satisfaction. To heck with them! I will completely understand when (not IF, but WHEN) they fail. As long as they continue to maintain ridiculous policies and employ so many incompetent individuals and contractors they are doomed to go under because they will no doubt run off all their customers. Remember Sears glory days? They are in the ICU right now. Remember Circuit City? Silo? And a dozen others? They are all gone for the same reason. Because they alienated their customer. Good luck with that Bust Buy!
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