Best Buy Customer Service Sucks

Customer service at a lot of places today has a lot to be desired. We recently had a problem with Best Buy. I had received a couple of Best Buy gift cards totaling $150.00 and decided that I would use them to but some Christmas presents.

I went to Best Buy.com to do some shopping. One of the items that I was going to purchase came with a $50.00 gift card as a promotion. I though this was great and placed my order. The problem was I needed to add the gift card to my order which I forgot to do. No problem, I will call Best Buy and have them add it to my order. The person I spoke with did not have a clue as to how to help me so she suggested that I cancel the order and resubmit it. I wanted to make sure that the gift cards would be credited and the customer service rep said they would be immediately. Well she was wrong.

I tried to resubmit the order and of course the cards showed a zero balance. I once again called Best Buy to see if I could get this resolved and the supervisor I spoke to on the phone said that it would take at least two weeks to get a credit. It had to be reviewed before any action could be taken. I asked why it had to be reviewed and she said it was company policy. It did not help that I had the order number and the cancellation number. When I protested she told me it was my fault for not adding the card to my order and that I was out of luck.

I went back online and checked the policy and the policy stated that all cards would be credited within 24 hours. At this point I was pissed off so I called Best Buy corporate headquarters and spoke with someone from executive relations who told me that there was nothing that they could do and it would take 48 – 72 hours to rectify this. I mentioned that that the Best Buy website clearly states that the cards would be credited within 24 hours. He told me that was technically correct but since Best Buy does not handle the cards directly and out sources this function that it would probably take a week.

Best Buy needs to get their act together.

• Everyone should be on the same page regarding policy
• Customer service needs to me more helpful and customer focused
• The process should not be this difficult for the customer

You would think that with all of the technology we have at our disposal that this could be done on the fly. The credit finally came through a week later and I was able to make my purchases but this will be the last time that I use Best Buy.com for shopping.

New Look Same Old Crap

Why do people think that changing the look of their site will improve the content? Personally I look for quality not aesthetics. Don’t get me wrong a good looking well organized site is nice but if the content sucks all the window dressing in the world won’t help in the least.  

I recently ran across a site that did this. The site was never that good but I like to go there to laugh at the stories and reviews. In my opinion they are poorly written and sound like an infomercial.  It is pretty obvious that they only hype the products because they got to keep them. If you have read my earlier posts you know how I feel about that. 

 The sad part about it is that the new design is hideous, the old design was actually better, so now they have a terrible design and terrible content. At least they are consistent.

iPhone buzz to counter Zune? I don’t think so!

I read an article on a site today where the author stated that Apple started the buzz on the iPhone to counter the Zune. I need to find out what this guy is smoking because he obviously does not know what he is talking about. Rumors of the iPhone have been around well over a year, before any of us even knew what a  Zune was. Given everything we hear about the Zune I don’t think Apple has anything to worry about. The Zune will not hurt Apple one bit, in fact, it may actually help Apple After customers return the Zune to the store they will most likely purchase the iPod.

It is obvious that this person doesn’t know Jack about what he is talking about and that Apple does not have a thing to worry about in regards to the Zune and I am sure that we will see an iPhone very soon.

No Black Friday for Me

Did you get up at an ungodly hour today to go shopping? Well I wish you luck if you did. I, for one, slept in and then took the kids to the movies. We went to see Happy Feet. It was a good movie and we did not have to fight any crowds. After the movies we went into Boston to Quincy Market and dinner at the Chart House. We did not have to fight any crowds or have to deal with traffic. We might not have gotten any of the great deals that were out there but we had fun just the same. Oh did I mention that we finished Christmas shopping last week!

Happy Thanksgiving

Here is wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and friends and safe travels to all.

How bad do you really have to have it?

New product launches around the holidays used to be fun. I would get a kick out of all the folks who would camp out the night before a new product was about to be released so they could be one of the first to get one. Well it seems this year is no different except for the fact that you now need body armor or armed security to wait in line. I don’t know what gets into these people but is it really worth getting shot over to get a Playstation 3? I mean really if you’ve done your homework it is not that great of a console. From what I have read the Wii seems to be a better product and cheaper none the less.

Regardless of which unit one thinks is the best why take the chance of standing in line and take the chance of getting hurt, robbed, or even killed. I feel that the manufactures should be held somewhat responsible. They hype these products for months and when it comes time to launch them they don’t have enough supply to meet the demand. I don’t think this is right if it is going to cause these kinds of problems. The stores also have some responsibility. They put out big ads telling the world that they have the product but they typically only have a few units to sell. There has to be a better way of doing this.

In the end it is just a game, after all, and while it would be nice to get one when they first come out, or give one for a holiday present it is not that big a deal. After the holidays there will be plenty of the devices available and you can get one without having to risk life or limb.

Ass Kissing

Some folks might not agree with this rant but since it is my site I get to choose the topic .  If you don’t like it you don’t have to read it. 

I am sick and tired of ass kissing. There are some people that operate or contribute to sites that think that if they kiss the ass of some of the more prominent people in the community or drop theses people’s names on their sites that it will benefit them.  Some are so blatant and obvious it is sickening. Don’t they realize that they are transparent to the rest of us and that they look like fools? The worst is when they make it sound like they are personal friends of these folks. Are they so starved for attention that they feel justified in doing this? Just because you meet someone once or twice don’t make it sound like your a lifelong friend. I have had the opportunity to meet some well known people but they probably won’t remember me from Adam and I certainly would not go around saying that they are my friends.

If you want to draw traffic to your site or get a good reputation in the community take the time to put out quality work. Don’t write glowing reviews of products just to appease the vendor you got them from. Don’t drop names, people could care less about who you know they want to know your honest opinion.

 So remember, kissing ass might get you a little traffic or notoriety but in the end people will have nothing to do with you once they figure out your a phony.