Best Buy in Mentor, Ohio.
I have to tell you, this fucking store has GOT to be the absolute epitome of big business screwing the consumer. This is the FIFTH time in a row that these fuckers have either outright lied to me or attempted to place blame on someone other than themselves, a lie in its own right. Let me give you some background, then we will explore the most recent proof.
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, 2006, I went to Giant Eagle to buy enough gift cards to purchase a stove from Best Buy, I really needed it as I was cooking dinner and only had two working burners. This, I should have known, was a hook to begin with. I was about to go straight to Best Buy when I accidentally paid attention to the cashier saying that the cards might not be activated for 24 hours, of course they do not mention that on any of the commercials, but I digress. It was on the back of the card, but in such small print I probably couldn’t have read it when my eyes were still perfect. Anyway, I went home and called the toll free number on the back of the card. I was told buy the operator that such should not be the case and the cards should be automatically activated. She asked me for two of the numbers and….lo and behold, they were not yet activated. Instead of saying she was sorry, she blamed Giant Eagle. That should have been enough for me to go directly back and return the cards, but gas was very expensive and I have earned $1.00 off a gallon so I weighed my options and decided to save some money. Mind you, I do everything in my power NOT to shop at Giant Eagle because I feel they are just as bad as the rest of corporate America in that they care about nothing other than their bottom line. That is business, but they are horrible in their pricing and have just about a monopoly in the greater Cleveland Area. So… I had to wait until the last minute, the day before Thanksgiving, to attempt to get my stove.
I went to the store at approximately 5PM on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to get a flat top stove which had been advertised since Sunday. I told the saleswoman what I wanted and she it would be here on Friday. I was taken aback since there was one on the sales floor and nothing stating that the store was temporarily out of stock. It was the stove I wanted but, in the essence of need and time I decided I would look at the next more expensive model, and the four higher up from that. Surprise, surprise, surprise. None of them were in stock either. I was told that I could go to somewhere about 45 minutes away to pick it up if I wanted but if not would have to wait until Friday. I had someone with me as well who also hear TWO different people tell us that the stove would be there, at the store, on Friday if I still wanted to buy it. Well, as I have already told you, I was stuck with the damned gift cards, so… I went ahead and ordered the stove, against my better judgment. (See I still make dumbass mistakes , too.)
As you might have guessed, the stove was not there on Friday. The answer from the little bald headed assistant manager was, “ No one should have told you it would be here. This is the biggest shopping day of the year.” He made it seem as though it was my fault for listening to the sales people. In fact, and I still have the receipt, the pick-up date was clearly printed. Instead of trying to be apologetic and doing something to help the situation, he blamed the salesperson for making a mistake and said there was nothing else he could do. This was the second time I was there in two days and he was telling me to come back again because of the store’s SECOND mistake. Yes, I do believe that not having items you advertise, no matter how large, in stock is a major mistake. In fact, I would call that nothing less than false advertisement. I asked for the floor model originally and was told , “No.” They could have offered to deliver it for no charge, which would have at least made me think they were trying to rectify the situation but instead I was made to feel as though I was nothing more than a number, and an insignificant one at that.
I finally got the stove after yet another fiasco, but, as you can tell, the holidays got in the way of my regular bitch to you, my readers. The story, though, does not quite end there.
Yesterday, 30 January, 2007, I went back to that infernal store with my niece because she had gotten Best Buy gift cards for Christmas which she was saving to get a notebook computer. Actually we must go back about a week to the 22nd. We were looking around at the decidedly empty shelves and were told there were only “a couple” of models left due to the pending release of Vista. We were told that we should “hurry up and snatch one up because nothing would be available after the release of Vista for under $799.” My niece, being 16, wanted to get one as soon as possible. I told her that we should wait because what the sale boy said seemed to be wrong. Another told us the same thing, so we walked down to Circuit City and were told the same thing. I began to wonder if I was right since every seemed to be saying the same thing. I am glad I trusted myself on this because, after the release of Vista yesterday, Steph got a Gateway notebook for $529.00, actually $599.99 but less after discounts. That was the first mistake of this experience because only a week prior they LIED to us. Here is my advice: If you don’t know for sure, SHUT your fucking mouth. If the people who told you these lies were managers, they should be fired. If corporate told the managers to tell this lie, the American Public should boycott the company and run it the fuck out of the USA. Someone knew, no matter what bullshit you might try to pull!
ANYWAY, my niece called me after she had gotten her unit. It seemed as though, surprise, it was not working correctly. When I arrived, it took about ten minutes to determine that the store had loaded a program called Archie for use within the store to keep shoppers from saving anything. So… we called the store and were told that should not have happened, no shit, and that it would take about ten minutes to rectify the situation by removal of the program. (This program had the Best Buy logo on it so we knew it was put on by them.) The person who told us this was Jacob. He said we could come right in and have it done because we said for him to be ready. Mind you, this was the worst night of the winter. The roads were absolutely terrible to the point that no one was able to drive faster than about 20 MPH due to snow and drifting.
We set off upon our journey with more than a little trepidation on my part. Upon arrival at the store we asked the front door guy to direct us to Jacob. He ignored what I originally asked, asked us what we needed, when he was already told, gave us some kind of sticker for a return, then said for us to go over to the return desk. I felt as though he found us not important enough to pay attention to. He never did answer our first question; seemingly because he was too busy talking to another employee. Customer first, REMEMBER????
We got to the counter and asked for_____, who immediately came to us. He remembered the call and tried to help. While discussing what was wrong, he continually said things such as, “This is really bad,” “This shouldn’t have ever happened,” “He knew that he shouldn’t have sold one of these,” etc. There were many witnesses around at the time and we spoke with them as well. In fact, one woman was there when we arrive and told us she overheard the conversation they had with us before we came up. She heard them tell us it would only take ten minutes. Good job, idiots. (If you’re going to lie to someone, at least have enough intelligence to keep others from hearing you.). He told us, after saying the above, that it would take ½ hour, “or, maybe, fifteen minute if we’re lucky.” I immediately asked to speak with a manager. Driving in a blizzard is not safe to begin with, but when you are told one thing over the phone to get you to a store, then another when you get there it definitely makes a person very angry.
The manager, Patrick, said he was doing everything he could and offered to give us a $25.00 gift card. Here we go back to those infernal cards, which no one wanted. I want you to know that it had nothing to do with getting something extra. The only thing we expect from any store is that we get service we need and honesty we deserve, but I digress. The manager, Patrick (his badge said “Operations Manager”), looked at the receipt and noticed that the Rewards Program $5.00 coupon AND 12% were both taken off. He said, “That shouldn’t have happened. It looks like a mistake was already made and it was in your favor.” I laughed at that moment because yet another mistake was made. This tells me, and everyone who was around me at the time, that this store is run so poorly even the computers fail to pick up things such as extra discounts. Hell, I have seen small grocery stores where a scanner will not allow a coupon for an item of just the wrong size. He thought he placated us but that was far from the truth. In all actuality, it made us all the more upset because we had to waste time walking around a store from which we knew we would buy nothing. After about 35 minutes, we went back to the “Geek Squad” area and were told, hold on to your asses, “It is going to take at least another hour or two.” I was so aggravated I think I literally saw red. I had told my niece they would not be ready within the 15 minutes and probably not within the ½ hour. When they told us about the extension of time she looked at me and said, “You called that one right.”
Joe was the “agent” who told us this news. I told him to go get the manager right then because I was very miffed and he should not have to put up with my anger. He said he would try to get him and left for about ten minutes. In that time I saw Patrick come back and speak with Joe behind the wall. This lasted about five minutes. Joe came back and stated that Patrick would come down to speak with us as soon as he could get there. HE WAS LESS THAN 100 FEET AWAY! I had already spoken with him, therefore your management staff LIED to me A-FUCKING-GAIN!!!!!! At this time we were told that our best bet was to wait for 2 hours or come back the next day. I asked when a new unit would be available to which was replied, after about 15 minutes on the phone, “you can have a brand new unit on Friday, February 2, 2007 by Noon. Noon has not yet arrived, but, since things always go a certain way at this store, I do not believe them.
This is being sent to the corporate offices of Best Buy AND to Gateway because they look bad as well due to the incompetence of the store.
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, 2006, I went to Giant Eagle to buy enough gift cards to purchase a stove from Best Buy, I really needed it as I was cooking dinner and only had two working burners. This, I should have known, was a hook to begin with. I was about to go straight to Best Buy when I accidentally paid attention to the cashier saying that the cards might not be activated for 24 hours, of course they do not mention that on any of the commercials, but I digress. It was on the back of the card, but in such small print I probably couldn’t have read it when my eyes were still perfect. Anyway, I went home and called the toll free number on the back of the card. I was told buy the operator that such should not be the case and the cards should be automatically activated. She asked me for two of the numbers and….lo and behold, they were not yet activated. Instead of saying she was sorry, she blamed Giant Eagle. That should have been enough for me to go directly back and return the cards, but gas was very expensive and I have earned $1.00 off a gallon so I weighed my options and decided to save some money. Mind you, I do everything in my power NOT to shop at Giant Eagle because I feel they are just as bad as the rest of corporate America in that they care about nothing other than their bottom line. That is business, but they are horrible in their pricing and have just about a monopoly in the greater Cleveland Area. So… I had to wait until the last minute, the day before Thanksgiving, to attempt to get my stove.
I went to the store at approximately 5PM on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to get a flat top stove which had been advertised since Sunday. I told the saleswoman what I wanted and she it would be here on Friday. I was taken aback since there was one on the sales floor and nothing stating that the store was temporarily out of stock. It was the stove I wanted but, in the essence of need and time I decided I would look at the next more expensive model, and the four higher up from that. Surprise, surprise, surprise. None of them were in stock either. I was told that I could go to somewhere about 45 minutes away to pick it up if I wanted but if not would have to wait until Friday. I had someone with me as well who also hear TWO different people tell us that the stove would be there, at the store, on Friday if I still wanted to buy it. Well, as I have already told you, I was stuck with the damned gift cards, so… I went ahead and ordered the stove, against my better judgment. (See I still make dumbass mistakes , too.)
As you might have guessed, the stove was not there on Friday. The answer from the little bald headed assistant manager was, “ No one should have told you it would be here. This is the biggest shopping day of the year.” He made it seem as though it was my fault for listening to the sales people. In fact, and I still have the receipt, the pick-up date was clearly printed. Instead of trying to be apologetic and doing something to help the situation, he blamed the salesperson for making a mistake and said there was nothing else he could do. This was the second time I was there in two days and he was telling me to come back again because of the store’s SECOND mistake. Yes, I do believe that not having items you advertise, no matter how large, in stock is a major mistake. In fact, I would call that nothing less than false advertisement. I asked for the floor model originally and was told , “No.” They could have offered to deliver it for no charge, which would have at least made me think they were trying to rectify the situation but instead I was made to feel as though I was nothing more than a number, and an insignificant one at that.
I finally got the stove after yet another fiasco, but, as you can tell, the holidays got in the way of my regular bitch to you, my readers. The story, though, does not quite end there.
Yesterday, 30 January, 2007, I went back to that infernal store with my niece because she had gotten Best Buy gift cards for Christmas which she was saving to get a notebook computer. Actually we must go back about a week to the 22nd. We were looking around at the decidedly empty shelves and were told there were only “a couple” of models left due to the pending release of Vista. We were told that we should “hurry up and snatch one up because nothing would be available after the release of Vista for under $799.” My niece, being 16, wanted to get one as soon as possible. I told her that we should wait because what the sale boy said seemed to be wrong. Another told us the same thing, so we walked down to Circuit City and were told the same thing. I began to wonder if I was right since every seemed to be saying the same thing. I am glad I trusted myself on this because, after the release of Vista yesterday, Steph got a Gateway notebook for $529.00, actually $599.99 but less after discounts. That was the first mistake of this experience because only a week prior they LIED to us. Here is my advice: If you don’t know for sure, SHUT your fucking mouth. If the people who told you these lies were managers, they should be fired. If corporate told the managers to tell this lie, the American Public should boycott the company and run it the fuck out of the USA. Someone knew, no matter what bullshit you might try to pull!
ANYWAY, my niece called me after she had gotten her unit. It seemed as though, surprise, it was not working correctly. When I arrived, it took about ten minutes to determine that the store had loaded a program called Archie for use within the store to keep shoppers from saving anything. So… we called the store and were told that should not have happened, no shit, and that it would take about ten minutes to rectify the situation by removal of the program. (This program had the Best Buy logo on it so we knew it was put on by them.) The person who told us this was Jacob. He said we could come right in and have it done because we said for him to be ready. Mind you, this was the worst night of the winter. The roads were absolutely terrible to the point that no one was able to drive faster than about 20 MPH due to snow and drifting.
We set off upon our journey with more than a little trepidation on my part. Upon arrival at the store we asked the front door guy to direct us to Jacob. He ignored what I originally asked, asked us what we needed, when he was already told, gave us some kind of sticker for a return, then said for us to go over to the return desk. I felt as though he found us not important enough to pay attention to. He never did answer our first question; seemingly because he was too busy talking to another employee. Customer first, REMEMBER????
We got to the counter and asked for_____, who immediately came to us. He remembered the call and tried to help. While discussing what was wrong, he continually said things such as, “This is really bad,” “This shouldn’t have ever happened,” “He knew that he shouldn’t have sold one of these,” etc. There were many witnesses around at the time and we spoke with them as well. In fact, one woman was there when we arrive and told us she overheard the conversation they had with us before we came up. She heard them tell us it would only take ten minutes. Good job, idiots. (If you’re going to lie to someone, at least have enough intelligence to keep others from hearing you.). He told us, after saying the above, that it would take ½ hour, “or, maybe, fifteen minute if we’re lucky.” I immediately asked to speak with a manager. Driving in a blizzard is not safe to begin with, but when you are told one thing over the phone to get you to a store, then another when you get there it definitely makes a person very angry.
The manager, Patrick, said he was doing everything he could and offered to give us a $25.00 gift card. Here we go back to those infernal cards, which no one wanted. I want you to know that it had nothing to do with getting something extra. The only thing we expect from any store is that we get service we need and honesty we deserve, but I digress. The manager, Patrick (his badge said “Operations Manager”), looked at the receipt and noticed that the Rewards Program $5.00 coupon AND 12% were both taken off. He said, “That shouldn’t have happened. It looks like a mistake was already made and it was in your favor.” I laughed at that moment because yet another mistake was made. This tells me, and everyone who was around me at the time, that this store is run so poorly even the computers fail to pick up things such as extra discounts. Hell, I have seen small grocery stores where a scanner will not allow a coupon for an item of just the wrong size. He thought he placated us but that was far from the truth. In all actuality, it made us all the more upset because we had to waste time walking around a store from which we knew we would buy nothing. After about 35 minutes, we went back to the “Geek Squad” area and were told, hold on to your asses, “It is going to take at least another hour or two.” I was so aggravated I think I literally saw red. I had told my niece they would not be ready within the 15 minutes and probably not within the ½ hour. When they told us about the extension of time she looked at me and said, “You called that one right.”
Joe was the “agent” who told us this news. I told him to go get the manager right then because I was very miffed and he should not have to put up with my anger. He said he would try to get him and left for about ten minutes. In that time I saw Patrick come back and speak with Joe behind the wall. This lasted about five minutes. Joe came back and stated that Patrick would come down to speak with us as soon as he could get there. HE WAS LESS THAN 100 FEET AWAY! I had already spoken with him, therefore your management staff LIED to me A-FUCKING-GAIN!!!!!! At this time we were told that our best bet was to wait for 2 hours or come back the next day. I asked when a new unit would be available to which was replied, after about 15 minutes on the phone, “you can have a brand new unit on Friday, February 2, 2007 by Noon. Noon has not yet arrived, but, since things always go a certain way at this store, I do not believe them.
This is being sent to the corporate offices of Best Buy AND to Gateway because they look bad as well due to the incompetence of the store.
posted by johnathan e at 6:42 PM
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