This is my complaint about customer service from Best Buy. I've tried doing this correctly by calling and also sending two separate emails to Best Buy on this complaint, but I have never received any response. So I figured why not send a letter like the old days? You'll forgive my cynicism, but I never expect it to ever make any difference.
To give some history (again), in March I purchased at the Best Buy branch in Sioux City, IA a Samsung LCD HDTV. The model number was LNS4051DX/XAA. Everything seemed to be fine and then I was briefly hospitalized on Thursday, 12/20/07. On returning home, the Samsung TV for some unexplained reason just quit working. I called Best Buy and they told me to bring it in. I guess I was just a dumb customers expecting good service. Since my recent hospitalization prevented my driving, I disconnected everything from the TV, loaded it up and called for a ride back to Best Buy. At Best Buy I then learned they do not make exchanges and I felt I was treated pretty disrespectfully. I was told my only option was that Best Buy would take my Samsung TV and send it to a warehouse for repairs. What warehouse and where? No one knew. I was then informed this process would take at least 3-4 weeks. 3-4 weeks? What kind of policy is that? I spend almost $2,000 for a television and now my family and I must bear the inconvenience? So, with family coming for the holidays we were left with no television, not even an apology. I should mention the personnel at Best Buy shrugged their shoulders and offered to give me a loaner TV, as long as I paid for it with cash or a credit card. Then they would give me my money back if and when my TV was repaired and returned. That's not a loan, it's a purchase.
On Friday, 12/21/07, I checked my Best Buy account on line only to learn the TV was still at the local Best Buy. So I called Samsung customer service. I spoke with Sumsung personnel who were shocked to learn that the personnel at Best Buy weren't honoring Samsung's warranty plan, which is to have someone come to my home and make repairs free of charge. Samsung then offered to prepare a work order number; I would then have to go back to Best Buy and get my TV back, take it home and Samsung would have someone come look at it. So I called the local Best Buy again on 12/21/07, asked for a manager and the lady that answered said, "I can help you". I went through this story all again just as I've explained and I have to say I was ready to explode - this time I was told, "Yeah sure, come get it if you want it back". What the heck kind of an answer is that from a manager? Unbelievable. So I called again on 12/26/07 to Best Buy and spoke to another manager. I had to give her my name twice and the service order number twice. She still didn't know if my TV had been shipped out for repairs, but said "I don't see it here". She then held her hand over the phone and I heard someone say "tell him it should be ready by January 20th".
And the icing on the cake? Later this same day, 12/26/07, I received a call from Best Buy at 3:42 PM CST on my cell phone telling me to come get my TV - it was repaired and ready to go. I was shocked and stunned and I tried to explain that just didn't seem possible but the Best Buy employee kept assuring me it was ready. When I tried to get more information I was told, "I'm too busy to talk right now, I just need you to come get your TV". Can you guess what happened then? At approximately 4:30 PM on 12/26/07 I returned to Best Buy in Sioux City, IA to pick up my TV that Best Buy insisted was ready but, surprise, my TV hadn't even been sent out yet! I had the employee who called me come over and I let him know in front of everybody I was less than pleased with the way I'd been treated. Although he apologized and admitted to his error for calling me (he thought I was someone else) the damage has long since been done.
I have no way of knowing if the letter I sent will ever be read or replied to; indeed, it's main purpose now is to keep the story straight so I can accurately tell my friends, family members, and everyone I meet how poorly I was treated as a customer by Best Buy. It's sad, but I ran a search on www.complaints.com about Best Buy. 9,650 on-line complaints have been posted so far. Mine will be number 9,651.
It's worth mentioning I am also in the customer service business as a Repair Manager and I can guarantee no customer at my business would ever be spoken to or mistreated as I have been. Obviously business is pretty good at Best Buy since they don't seem to give a darn if they have my business. That's fine. But I would hope someone at Best Buy would care about all the people I intend to tell this story to.in case it hasn't been figured out yet, once my TV is repaired and back in my hands I am no longer interested in doing any business with Best Buy for anything, and everyone I see or meet from now on will hear this story of dissatisfaction.
I sent a letter with all the above information including names and dates with copies to the addresses shown below. I included a copy of the letter to Samsung because I felt Samsung needed to be aware of the trashy way Best Buy treated me, and the way they take their business for granted. If Best Buy was selling any product of mine and I heard about this lack of customer care I'd pull every item I had from the shelves so fast they wouldn't know what hit them. Point being that while I don't hold any specific complaint against Samsung, unfortunately their product is now associated with Best Buy, who I consider as a distributor for Samsung to be incompetent and incapable of customer satisfaction. Best buy does not seem to care. I'm not a real big fan of Walmart or Sams Club, but I have to admit I doubt I would have gone through all this if I had purchased the Samsung TV with them. I would have taken the TV back and they'd exchange it for a new one, no problem. So far all the bad things I've thought about Walmart and Sams Club, I apologize. But for Best Buy, too bad. I won't ever go near any of the Best Buy stores for any purchase, ever again. Neither will any member of my family.
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