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Anybody shops at Best Buy? Has their service been getting worse?

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Wow just wow. I remember when best buy first opened and it was the place to go for all your electronic needs because they had people there who were friendly and actually knew what they were talking about. Now, the store in my area feels like it de-evolved to a Circuit City. Just rude rude customer service!!

Has anybody else been to a best buy recently and feels the same way?
 

RavingMac

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I don't shop there a lot, but every time I've gone the personnel have been unfailingly helpful and friendly. Must be because I live in Arkansas. :)
 
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Well, say what you want about them. I know that our guys usually try to be helpful, at least at Geek Squad.
 
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I work in a Best Buy and I know we work our hardest to be helpful and friendly even on busy days.
 

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Best Buy employees have always been friendly and helpful to me at least here at the Best Buy in my city.

My only gripe of late with Best Buy is a lot of stuff is online only that used to be stocked in the store. I talked to 2 people at BB (One in Geek Squad and another on the floor) and they both acknowledged it was happening. Otherwise I have no issues with BB or the staff at my BB.
 
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I only go to best buy to test stuff out. Sorry to the worker here, but I don't trust them for advice. Most of them suck on to you like leeches, even though they say they don't work off commissions. There used to be an old man who worked at my closest BB store. He was cool to talk to and actually gave you good advice. I don't know what happened to him though. He would also work us out great deals on setups/package deals, like the last time when we purchased stuff for our home theater room. Now it seems like they just want to hire young people who they know won't be in their system for a long time.
 
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One thing I've notice about the BB in my area, is they always seem to try and find a loop hole in there insurance policies so that you have to pay up. And so they don't have to give you a new one, like they tell you when you buy the product.
 
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One thing I've notice about the BB in my area, is they always seem to try and find a loop hole in there insurance policies so that you have to pay up. And so they don't have to give you a new one, like they tell you when you buy the product.

You mean how they don't let you return something for whatever stupid reason they claim warrants the return policy null? That happened to me with the old 30gb ipod and an Hp Touch pc. Sometimes you gotta raise a stink.
 
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Now it seems like they just want to hire young people who they know won't be in their system for a long time.

I just had to reply to this. When I go in to my Apple Store I am surrounded by young people. To me they seem to be very knowledgable. Most of them are in college or have a college degree.

To answer the OP, I feel that BB has gotten away from customer service in my area. It's difficult to get someone to help you and when you do, they aren't too versed in the higher end equipment. However, other than going in to Manhattan, it's better than my other choices. I still have to do my homework.
 

chscag

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Like any other large chain store, Best Buy has its good and bad. I've run into some difficulty with them in the past regarding returns, but for the most part they've been real good. I've had the opportunity to use their extended warranty several times. They've never given me any static about doing a repair, and in one instance completely replaced an item with a new one and that was after using it for one year.
 
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I went to Bestbuy last night and bought an iPod shuffle, Aside from the complete lack of help or customer service, I did find what I needed. Other than that I rarely shop at Bestbuy.
 
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You mean how they don't let you return something for whatever stupid reason they claim warrants the return policy null? That happened to me with the old 30gb ipod and an Hp Touch pc. Sometimes you gotta raise a stink.
Thats exactly what Im talking about. I understand the putting up a stink, but I hate doing it.
 
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I just had to reply to this. When I go in to my Apple Store I am surrounded by young people. To me they seem to be very knowledgable. Most of them are in college or have a college degree.

To answer the OP, I feel that BB has gotten away from customer service in my area. It's difficult to get someone to help you and when you do, they aren't too versed in the higher end equipment. However, other than going in to Manhattan, it's better than my other choices. I still have to do my homework.

I like the Apple Store - I always have a good experience at the Apple Store. Not surprising since I hear they have a rigorous application process.

The thing I been noticing about Best Buy is that they are getting really pushy and rude about helping customers. I know this isn't all Best Buy employees as someone here works at Best Buy and I hope they aren't like the ones I've had to be with but I remember one time, I needed to buy a memory card reader, store was a mess so I couldn't find anything so I asked for help, the employee just walked me to the aisle, grabbed something from the shelf, threw it to me, and walked away; no follow up questions like "what kind of memory card do you have?" Oh, and here's the kicker, it wasn't even a memory card reader!!! It was a USB 4 hub device!!

And last time I was there, I was buying a xbox 360 game and the cashier spent the entire time talking about how people who purchase games for the xbox 360 is stupid.

Really? Is this where customer service has gotten? I could do my homework for electronics I want to buy but what ever happened to the basics?
 
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I've resisted from going to BestBuy for a while now, for I too have found their service to be in decline. I also can't believe at how much their GeekSquad charges for some services.
 
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Thats exactly what Im talking about. I understand the putting up a stink, but I hate doing it.

Yeah, I hate doing it too, but sometimes it's like the workers behind the counter have a checklist of what steps to take, and the first step is to say the warranty is no longer valid because of...

I just remembered, I actually recently bought a new printer because my old one decapitated its own head. I was looking for a wireless printer that would allow me to setup up a network between macs and regular pcs. I knew others wouldn't allows this to work due to firewall setups, but that assistant knew exactly which ones worked, and also advised me on which one was best for the amount of printing I do. I ended up going with an Epson NX420, and it's awesome!
 
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I haven't shopped at Best Buy in over 6 years. I can't imagine it could possibly get worse unless they are now spitting in your face as soon as you enter the store.

That place is the worst.
 
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I haven't shopped at Best Buy in over 6 years. I can't imagine it could possibly get worse unless they are now spitting in your face as soon as you enter the store.

That place is the worst.

Especially the one close to the intersection of Brookpark road and Ridge road.
 
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Yea, it's not quite that bad. You can agree or disagree with their pricing or advertising, whatever you like, but for the most part every employee that I can think of (still) at my store tries to get to every possible customer and help them out. The corporate influence is one thing, but you can't fault at least any of the employees that I work with for not trying to help you.

As for return policies and such, it is conveniently printed and displayed upon the wall at customer service, and you could also ask while purchasing. The return policy makes good sense, too. You can't return software (obviously since it's easy to make ISOs) or movies, computers and any storage device is 14 days, everything else is 30 days. Pretty straight forward. But really, I would like to see the stores you're talking about, because that's got to be a pretty depressing work environment.
 
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On a positive note, I do like Bestbuy Mobile instant rebates on there cellphones.
 

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