Jan

16

Best Buy/Geek Squad Nightmare continues




I am so not a confrontational person, it’s just not my nature. But my horrible experience with Best Buy and Geek Squad is just an ongoing nightmare. I won’t go into the ugly details here again, but I emailed the CEO of Best Buy and got a response from Nichol Mathis, Executive Resolution Specialist.  Nichol was very polite and apologetic, which I appreciate, but to compensate for Best Buy/Geek Squad keeping my computer 10 days, forcing me to be out of work, then ultimately breaking my computer, which forced me to buy a new one, Nichol kindly offered me a $75 Best Buy gift card.

It’s taken me a few days to get over my shock at that response. I replied to Nichol that a $75 gift card will not pay the bills that my paycheck normally  pays, nor will it make up for the money I spent on a new computer. A $75 Best Buy gift card will not give me back the time I have to spend now working overtime to make up for the money I lost due to their incompetence.  In addition to all that, the idea that I will ever shop at Best Buy again is laughable, at best.

The saddest part of this whole thing is that since I’ve been researching and reading online, I realize this is not an isolated experience.  The Geek Squad has broken many computers and other electronic items, and Best Buy does very little to remedy those situations.  What makes this even more appalling is this little blurb I found on Best Buy CMO Barry Judge’s blog:

we have taken many actions to improve the Best Buy store experience as we strongly believe that our people both in the store and on the phone are our Silver Bullets towards winning more than our fair share of consumer demand going forward

So the agents I dealt with are their “Silver Bullet”? That’s not encouraging at all.  Based on my experience with several members of the Geek Squad and Best Buy management, customer service and customer satisfaction are not high priorities.

Even though I am extremely doubtful that my situation will ever get resolved, unless I accept the $75 gift card and get myself some  new cds, I am sending out letters to my local newspapers and television news channel consumer reporters.  This is an example of horrific beyond imagination customer service, especially for a store that claims they’re trying to improve the ”Best Buy store experience”.

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    Filed Under Crazy true stories, Me | 8 Comments 

    8 Responses to “Best Buy/Geek Squad Nightmare continues”

      1
      2
        Fearless Mom on January 16th, 2009 3:46 pm

        I did the math for you. If your job pays you 94 cents per hour, the $75 gift card would cover your wages!

        Fortunately for me, my husband does all the geek squad stuff for our computer.

      3
        karissa on January 16th, 2009 4:03 pm

        holy moley! I really can’t believe that during this whole mess they never offered a temp computer for you to take with you. I know that would be putting a lot of faith in their customers but we do in fact write their paychecks.

      4
        mary on January 16th, 2009 10:23 pm

        I am totally speechless. I know this won’t help your personal situation, but I will not shop there again (and will make sure friends and family don’t, either) and I posted your original post on Kirtsy. Maybe spreading the word will help them re-evaluate their practices and, most importantly, hold their staff and the Geek Squad accountable for things like this.

        (Accountability…now, there’s a novel concept, huh?!)

      5
        Eva Vesper on January 29th, 2009 10:20 am

        Woohoo! 94 cents an hour.

      6
        Aussie Allan on April 23rd, 2009 8:51 am

        This is why I now use the best person for all my PC needs……… He understands my needs down to the finest detail,never contradicts me and the best part is he has all of my values,and when I need a face to face meeting with him he,s always available in any mirror I can find! Seriously PC building is “Glorified LEGGO”and in 20-20 hindsight could have saved me thousands of dallars over the last 10 yrs.
        I’ve now got a Photo-shop monster which I use for work……. Quad core water cooled 2.5 terabyte running @ 3.6Ghz.The point is you do what you have to do to save time and money and I work Christmas day if I have too.
        “LAPTOPS” I hear you say,my boy wanted his first laptop so I bought a second hand shitter with a good screen swapped out low end parts and replaced with high-end parts and now I/he has a high spec machine for 25% of the shop price.If you can swap a battery in a watch,build leggo and have Patience look no furture for the best tecko no money can buy

      7
        Glenda on May 3rd, 2009 8:15 pm

        I wish I had read your posting two months ago. My computer problems wasn’t the same as yours. Fortunately it got fixed. But the rudeness factor evidently is nation wide.
        I work 24/7 taking care of my invalid mother. Not a problem I’m proud to do it. But I am not always able to get away from home for personal business. My daughter has two small boys. She offered to stay home with Mom, but I had to take one of the boys with me as she could not handle all three. Not a problem. I took the three year old with me. He’s really a sweet boy, but he did not want to sit still while I tried to talk to the red haired ‘agent’ at the Tallahassee, Florida Best Buy store. To be frank, the child was loud and disruptive while I was trying to talk to this man. My problem was simple. Data retrieval from a bad virus had already been completed, but I noticed that one vital file was missing and that was all I needed. But he pointed at my grandson and said that I should take him (and I swear he was going to say ‘that’) to my car while he retrieved my data. It was March, but in Florida it still gets hot in the winter. So he wants me to sit in a car with a three year old in 70+ degree weather for 45 minutes. I took my grandson shopping at another store where he behaved very well, thank you Mr. Grumpy, and returned in an hour, where I was told he was still retrieving my data and it would be another thirty minutes. Well, another ‘hour’ later, I was able to retrieve the computer and go home. The reason it took so long? The nice man didn’t bother to listen to what I told him and copied the entire hard drive (again). This time I did get the important file, but there were other files that were missing. Thank God, I had backed up the info from the first download.
        The thing is, I was so hurt by the man’s attitude about my grandson. The child is only three. He’s not a thing, or a that, to be looked at as though he were something left behind by the garbage truck. The child was happy at the other store. He was fine in that store, except around that horrible ‘agent’. I have told my family members and friends, the Hospice people who come to my home, and now you. No one wants to hear a child crying or making outbursts while trying to conduct business, especially in public. But there are better ways to handle this than suggesting they go sit in a hot car. OK. I’ve moved on from devastated and hurt to furious. The one person I haven’t talked to about this is that awful agent. Tomorrow.

      8
        Best Buy/Geek Squad goodwill = fail | Unexpected Bliss on May 11th, 2009 2:20 pm

        [...] I promise this will be the last time I ever mention Best Buy or Geek Squad on this blog. The saga began back in December when I took my computer to Best Buy for a minor repair.   That turned into me missing over a week of work and eventually buying a brand new computer and operating system due to multiple errors on their part in the minor repair of my  pc.  I then emailed and called many different Best Buy employees trying to get some of my money back, since they admitted it was their fault I had to buy a new pc, and that it took so long.  All they would offer me was a $75 Best Buy gift card. [...]