In the Spring of this year I went to Best Buy on Hamilton Mountain to purchase a new computer. When I spoke with the sales girl, I specifically said to her, that I am not a computer wizard. I need an easy computer to operate and I want one that parts are available and can be repaired in the store. She sold me a Lenovo Ideapad 100.
I love the computer and have done great work with it, until today. I went to turn my computer on and nothing. No power. No lights, nothing.
And so it begins. With the assistance of a friends wonderful son who knows computers, we went to Best Buy. The first thought was that there was something wrong with the power cord. When we got there this is what happened.
First the guys from the Geek Squad, it was a challenge for him. He looked at my power cord and said sorry we don’t have any of those and then tried to walk away. We suggested to him that he might try a universal cord. That also seemed to be a challenge for him. Next he took out a box of adapters, only to come back with, “Sorry, I don’t have one. Go see the Sales Girl.”
Next we went to see the Sales Girl. Where we went through the same conversation. Now she asks three times did you buy it here. Answer yes. Did you order it on line. No, I bought it here. Again sorry we don’t carry parts for those.
Next we asked, do you have one that is out on display so maybe we could try those cords. Apparently, they don’t have them on display. But they do sell them. And they did have them on display when I bought it only a few months ago. I asked, Could you see if you have one in back and we could try that. Apparently, she can’t do that either, but she could ask me yet again, did you buy it here. Yes again, can you up pull it up on your computer and you will see that I bought it here and that your sales person sold it to me. No, apparently she can’t help me with that either.
Now to Customer Service, if that what you want to call it. Twenty-seven minutes later after standing with said Customer Service Girl who could not find my purchase in her computer, finally found it after asking me yet again, did you buy it here. I had to give her my Visa numbers to check my credit card because she could not find it her computer. When she did finally find it, the sale was found in her computer with my name and phone number on it, just like I gave her in the beginning.
This is an hour and ten minutes in the store and nothing, but sorry.
Now, we still do not know if the problems if the power cord or the computer.
We went to two other stores, Not Best Buys, where the staff tried very hard to find a cord for my computer but did not have one. But they were able to put the plug in to test it on their equipment. No, it is not the cord.
Next was the call to Lenovo, who is now shipping me a box to send them my computer. It will take at least three weeks or more, before I see my computer back. It is under warranty.
That being dealt with, I called Best Buy Customer Service Canada and asked to speak to a Regional Supervisors about my lack of service from the Stoney Creek /Hamilton Mountain Store, where I had to repeatedly tell the Customer Service Girl that I will not spend time going into details with her as I am not going to repeat myself over and over again, I want to speak to a manger. She refused to take my name and number, to pass on. Stating, if I could not give her the details she could not and would not file a complaint for me.
I informed her three times that if she would not do as I asked her to do, I would write a Blog about the terrible service I received from the time I walked into her store to the time I spoke with her.
I did warn her that my blog is seen in fifty counties, is she sure she didn’t want to do just what I asked her to do. Again she refused. I wished her a nice day. And here is the Blog that I promised I would write for people in fifty countries to see.
As for Best buy, first they sold me a product that they have no parts for and can not repair, just the opposite of what I asked for upon purchase. Second, Customer Service is terrible in person and on the phone. Third, I will never purchase anything at Best Buy again.
You see this is how all those big chain stores end up out of business, Customers may not always be right or maybe they are, but you need to actually serve them once you take their money or you don’t make any more money from them. And then nice people loose their jobs. Shitty people also loose their jobs.
Please feel to re-blog this as many times as you would like. Big Chains need to be reminded that customers are their business.
Building The Love Shack 
Some people who’ve experiences terrible customer services like this have made videos and posted them on YouTube. One in particular about an airline damaging a man’s Taylor guitar went viral. Once the bad news got out, the airline was quick to respond and the Taylor company gave the man a brand new, top of the line, guitar (grateful for the free advertisement the video brought them).
You might give that a shot. It really gets their attention.
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I am telling you, I am usually pretty cool tempered, but when this girl would not take my number and name to forward on, that was game over. The actual computer company apologized and got on it right away, making special notes to be very careful not to loose information on computer because my book is written in it.
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I back mine up in 2 or more places. A person can’t take chances with technology when you have that many hours, days, months of your life tied up in an electronic file.
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No kidding
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I’ve had problems with them. I took my computer to Best Buy for removal of a virus. While there they decided my MS Word was not legal and removed it. I went all the way to corporate with my complaint, but I lost. I don’t buy ANYTHING from them.
I now do my shopping with Fry’s or Amazon or Walmart, or Target, or anyone but Best buy.
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I can not believe that I was refused to speak with a manger. I have never heard such a thing in all my years of working or shopping. I am more shocked by that than anything else. But I too am a former customer. I did also report this to Lenovo,
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That’s atrocious service. I hope you finally got somewhere on the phone to Canada. If not, I’d write to the Chairman at their head office and raise all the points you raised here, especially that you asked about parts and repairs in the original shop when you bought it. Let them know how much this is going to inconvenience you and how inadequate the Geek Squad were.
These places spend a fortune on ads to tell you how much they’ll do for you. It’s time they stepped up to the plate. A brand new one wouldn’t go amiss with a back up disk of the one you’ve taken in.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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Thankfully, I have my book and most things on back up. i thought I might just forward them my blog. Interesting enough I just punch in on Goolge Best Buy and Service.. Guess what just came up.. my post…. I have now spent the rest of the afternoon uploading all my banking, blog, facebook, ect on my husbands computer. This has now consumed my entire day.
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Agreed
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This is disheartening to hear. My wife is ready to buy a new computer, and against all of my concerns she is considering getting it at Best Buy. Her main reason for buying it at Best Buy is… the Geek Squad. I will show her this post of yours. I’m so sorry for your troubles. Honestly, this is why I always end up getting a Mac. They’re expensive as all sh_t, but at least they stand by their products. Hang in there… – Marty
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I am now sitting on edge..because I just looked at my saved files and realized the 20 chapters of editing I did .. I did not save off that computer… the only saving grace I have is at least i have the originals…. Best Buy is not my friend. Have your wife also read the other message i have gotten.. Seems poor service is not felt by only me.
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In Australia we have a Business Ombudsman you can approach if all other avenues of resolution fail. Refusal to let you speak to a manager I am sure contravenes legal limits. Sounds like their staff need some serious training.
They should also have a formal complaints mechanism in place that is freely available to anyone who asks for it. It should detail the process of how they manage complaints and what the subsequent steps are if it cannot be resolved on initial contact.
Also, did you know that you can ask WP to send you a back up of your WHOLE blog ? It’s a good idea to do it weekly. They send it by email within a day or so. I back it up onto my computer and a USB. I also backup each post after publishing. I once lost all my images because I did something stupid. I would hate to lose everything! This is how you get it –
Go to Dashboard –
Tools
Export
Choose ‘ALL’
Click Download Export File
Then wait for you email 🙂
Good luck.
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Thank you for this information. I learned a new lesson. Email everything I do to myself. Thankfully my emails were all there so I have everything from my book except the editing I did. I usually have planned update days, guess what yesterday was… the day I was supposed to update. OK so now every day is planned up date day. Well in 4 weeks when I get the computer back, I will know what I have lost. At this point, nothing else I can do.
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Good luck! I actually don’t email. I often write my posts in a word doc and then copy and paste into WP when ready.
Have a peaceful and happy Christmas 🙂
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