Help me BoyCott BestBuy
 

Because of their gross incompetence, BestBuy screwed me royally and did nothing about it, except hide behind their legal small print.

I, in turn have created (and just launched) a website to boycott their store.
I am asking that people join me in the boycott and spread the word about their practices.

You can find my full story at the site, as well as other people’s stories, a form to join the boycott and some additional information.

The site is located at: http://www.goodbyebestbuy.com

Please take some time to read it and join the boycott if you can. I want BestBuy to know that treating customers this way is unacceptable and I will make a difference.


Thanks

I've never liked Best Buy and I have never suggested them to anyone. Based on our local stores and their inept staff and shoddy business practices.

Bottom line DrB I'm with you |thumb

Maybe your next laptop should be something that doesn't have any issues with viruses and spywear.
|escape|

So the long & short of it is that you should never buy the extended warranty? |couch|

I added mine for the "bate and switch" they pulled this past summer.

phuckers!!

|cool|

Thanks.

Send me the story and I'll post it.

It is a huge rip off so I never buy it but I do backup daily. |couch|

I can't boycott them, they're our only option up here.

There's always another option - I usually just go to Circuit City because they've been here forever, but I found a little local shop that other day that has most of the crap that I want & they are a bit cheaper :)

Plus, online you have the world at your fingertips!

I bought a Laptop there in 1999 with the extended warranty which they honored so they did OK by me, but I will say their staff is getting worse on the product knowledge end.

This is another reason, as if you need one, to stop shopping at Best Buy.

Buy Blue

Of the big 3.. comp usa is the only one who didn't give bux to either party. Circuit City and Best Buy both went Red.

Edit: IN case anyone cares ..here is the email for their Corp. rep to the CEA advisory committee:


laurie.bauer@bestbuy.com

I buy most of my offline stuff at Office Depot. Good prices and in and out with no pressure. |thumb

Yeah I buy everything online. Better prices, better support, most of the time no tax, don't have to take my fat ass out of the house and deal with annoying traffic, lines, or smelly humans.

Yep, I buy almost all computer equipment online. There are a number of very reputable places and the prices are better than a brick and mortar store.

It seems in recent years that most of the larger retailers that handle computers have gone downhill. CompUSA is one that comes to mind that ended up much like Best Buy. The dorks they have walking around their stores probably have mom tie their shoes in the morning cuz they obviously have difficulty with walking and breathing simultaneously. Much less speaking with any reliability about computers.

Give em hell Dr B!

Circuit City purchased Intertan, the company who held the Canadian Radio Shack License. RadioShack of course refused to let them use their brand. Now Circuit City's only presence up here is called "The Source", which is just the old Radio Shack stores with a new sign. Not only did we lose our Radio Shacks (who is frantically trying to regroup), but the long awaited competitor to Best Buy/ Future Shop is reduced to a bunch of tiny shops in icky malls. I feel gypped!

That being said, I find most of what I need at Price Club.

Yeah when I needed a new display I went over to CompUSA to check them out. They were more costly and the sales people were clueless. Walked in the store and asked to look at 20+ inch widescreen LCDs with DIV connectors and they just seemed clueless as to what I was talking about. I did find ones on my own but the prices were ridiculous being hundreds of dollars more then mail order.

I honestly forget why I will not shop at Best Buy, but, it happened in '97 or so prior to me buying most of the home theater and computer stuff that I have now. I would say that my computer budget is probably in the $15k/year range with things that I purchase from alternate stores to Best Buy (all online).

I do remember why I will not shop at Circuit City though -- and that was over a $90 TV that died after 29 days that I returned that took 2 months to be returned and $112 in labor costs. So, I have a $200 13" color TV -- that we used for 7 days when we bought the house before our stuff arrived.

CompUSA has been there when I needed it, but, thank goodness I usually know what I need because they are generally clueless.

Generally, I refuse to shop at a store unless I absolutely have to. This probably makes the education factor in the stores drop because they are losing sales to the online market. Almost a vicious cycle -- they lose money, can't hire the right people, stock the store full of warm bodies, lose sales because they don't have people able to answer technical problems, lay off the expensive, smarter warm bodies... lather, rinse, repeat.

yeah I had a bad time with best buys also and said I would never buy there again but did - but never never buy there extened lies and bs they call a warranty..
its been common with best buys to fuck there customers on the extended warranty.. I think there is still a hate best buys.com where I read loads and loads of unhappy stories a few years or more ago..

I bought my laptop there because they had a super killer clearnce sale on them and would never take it there for service, fix yourself or send back to the manufactor, is the best way to have eletronics repaired..

Best Buy does suck - I try to boycott them as well, but we only have 2 options in our area and our Circuit City doesn't always have everything we need - although, now that you can order stuff and do in-store pick-up, things are getting better.

In 1999 I bought a washer/dryer from Best Buy. They told me that it would be delivered in 3 days. On the 3rd day I called to find out why they didn't schedule a time yet and was told it would now that 6 weeks - they sold too many in the sale the weekend I bought mine. I needed to replace a broken set ASAP so I went in the store and cancelled the sale. They re-deposited the $$ to my account and that was that.

Or so I thought... in 2001 when we bought our house a collection came up from Best Buy re: the washer/dryer. Apparently they said they delivered the appliances but I had cancelled payment. They could not produce any proof that we had received the washer/dryer and I was told that it was up to Best Buy to prove it. They removed it from my credit and I thought that was that... again...

But - in 2003 a new collection was placed for the same amount. I called the collection company and was told that it was for Best Buy. I asked what the purchase was and they could produce nothing - not even an item that was sold or any information. They then sold the account off to 5 more collection agencies, each of which sold as soon as they found out there was no way to collect. We filed a complaint to the credit companies and had all the collections removed.

Flash forward to 2005 - we went through a re-fi and all of a sudden, what pops up but that freaking Best Buy thing - a new collection filed in February of this year. We just discovered it and have since filed a complaint again. Wonder how long this one will last.

And for the record, Best Buy does not keep documents of deliveries or sales past 12 months. They have NO proof. I kept my receipt of cancellation for 2 years. It was a couple of months later that I discovered all this BS was going on... I now keep all receipts and everything for 10 years.

Live and learn... |angry|

Can I use that story on the site?

Go for it |headbang|

i keep trying to send in my little *HA HA HA* tail of Best Buy Woes.. but i keep getting rejected from the webmaster at goodbyebestbuy.com

|cry|

Sorry, I seem to be having some email issues.
You can send it to: webmaster (at) atomicsolutions.com

Best Buy refused to sell me an HDTV couple years ago because I wouldnt buy their stupid service plan. The tv was $799 and the service plan was like $350.. And they kept trying to shoot me some bullshit about how hdtv works and how they break down alot, how they get misaligned and so on and this was a hdtv tube.. not a crt. Im an audiophile and laughed in their face and left. Clueless school kids work at bestbuy.

Meaning they priced it at a level to get people in there, but were only making (enough) money on it if you bought the service plan, too. Probably had a limited number of them so they had to save them for the suckers.

Dr B.,
Thought you may wanna add a link to this on your site. It's about the best buy Reward zone http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20040902/986/

Not too many impressed with it either!

At CES i was on a roundtable with major big box retailers. one of them was Best Buy and i presented to them 400 printed websites that were dedicated to "don't buy best buy" etc.. and Dr. B's was on top.

today on the Today show, they did a segment on customer service targeting 4 major big box retailers.. Best Buy was the 1st and got an F. because for 20 minutes on camera they couldn't get someone to help them...even the manager was too busy. Today even said.. the retailer that got an F was Best buy. (tho they showed the geek squad logo so we all knew anyway).

Home Depot got a C (the guy that helped them didn't know from the vacuums he was selling)

I don't know who the other 2 were.. i think the drug store was Duane Reade.
anyway NONE of them got better than a C.. pretty farking sad.

Is service with a smile a thing from the past?

Today is the day of cheap prices and low margins so that leaves little room for service. When shoppers can check prices at 3 different stores before they even leave the house is it really possible for a full service shop to make the sale?

Awesome Doc. Thanks again.

Join the boycott: http://www.goodbyebestbuy.com

Actually CEA (the parent arm of CES) did an entire study dedicated to shopping habits during the first 2 Q's of 2005. It found that most shoppers fell into 2 catagories..

Those who spec'd and priced everything out online then went to CE store to buy it.

and those who went to CE store to see the product and physically touch it or look at it.. then go home and price and shop on line.

Either way, Best Buy was at the bottom of the heap for CSRs.

Gotta love those stores that try to sale warranties that are half the cost of the actual item. I always just tell them NO, and then if they keep going on and on I say look if you want me to buy this thing then ring me up now. Another thing that shuts them up is tell them that the last time I had a "brand X" product and something went wrong they fixed it for me for free. There is this electronics store called HH Gregs (not sure if they are in other places besides around here) and I remember I once bought a 120$ discman there and they tried to sale me a 40$ warranty plan, hahahaha.

As far as Best Buy goes for me I have bought both the computers that I have owned there (both Emachines) and never had a single problem. Had the first one 4 years and the second going on 3 years this summer. Guess I am lucky I havent had any problems with my computers.

One thing that has pissed me off about Best Buy is their Xbox Stuff. I had a hell of a time getting an Xbox Live communicator, they sold me the wrong thing at first, when I didnt know the difference they sold me a xbox live mic/speaker thing and told me that was all I needed when it wasnt even a communicator, it was just a nicer thing to replace the peice of shit headset that comes with a xbox live communicator.

When I was buying a digital camera at Circuit City the guy wouldn't stop pushing the need for the extended service plan so I finally said, "OK, you convinced me that the products that you sell break often. Thanks." and I left. Since it was $1,000 camera the manage came out in the parking lot trying to get me to come back in the store. Instead of paying for the service plan they through it for free and gave me 5% off the camera.

bestbuy (and futureshop in Canada) make the mistake of having the extended coverage plans be too big a part of their employee compensation, and by spiking a target for the employees to hit each month for percentage of upsells made on this service.

I worked for 10 years in the car rental business, and one of the most popular CSR motivation programs was a cut of sales on "extras" such as class upsells, insurances, extra driver charges, etc. From a company stand point, encouraging the CSRs to offer these things to clients is a good bottom line choice, especially on things that might not otherwise get charged or forgotten.

However, at a point where the potential sales comissions exceed the salary of the employee, something weird but obvious happens: they become fixated ONLY on the upsell, and forget about the basic concept of the business (actually renting cars and making clients happy that they rented the car). You will actually see employees fighting to get shifts where more tourists come in (and less business travellers) because they know business men don't typically take extras. You will see them try to arrange breaks, days off, and such around the flow of the best potential upsells. Infighting and griping starts as a result.

In the end, the regular clients (weekly business travellers) get poor service, the one off tourist gets his or her ass kissed, and the business overall suffers.

Bestbuy and others have followed this to the nth degree, and have allowed the pursuit of upsells get in the way of basic customer service and actually just selling the product to the client who wants it.

Alex

As I sit here looking at my brand spankin' new Dell monitor, I am vindicated somewhat by this thread. At least I know I am not the only one to have a crappy Best Buy experience.

I bought a MAG Innovision flat panel monitor from them in July 2005. Not an uber expensive one, but for my budget, at about $275, it cost enough.

It died Jan 6006.

I didn't buy the extended warranty, because the very mention of those things piss me off. I should not have to pay more money to have a product last a year.

So I have to ship (at my expense) the dead monitor to the manufacturer for repair.

Must be a Cowboys fan. :D

I too will share a story with you. I bought an external drive from BestBuy the day before the new flyer was to come out. The Sales Rep assured me (with conviction too) that IF my particular model had any reduction in price coming to it within 14 days of purchasing my external HDD, I would be guaranteed the savings, as outlined in their flyer. As it turned, my particular model did indeed qualify for their summer sales event and I would be entitled to an additional $50 savings. So, I went to the store and presented the receipt. First they insisted that I bring in my unit as further proof to verify the model blah blah blah. I thought that to be rather odd but did as they requested. When I went back, I not only had to wait over 45 minutes (plus driving back and forth) to served by the same yo-yo that sold me the drive but after all that wasted time and effort, they refused to honor their advertised sale price. Needless to say, I too won't be going back there.

You can use that story too DrB.