One of the other reviews mentions that the negative reviews are old and that things have changed for the better. No, no. No, no, no...
[] Story Time []
I saw a deal on bestbuy.com: there's a phone that's normally ~$150, but the deal was that if I bought the phone, a $40 Cricket refill card, and a $10 SIM card activation kit in a bundle, the total would be $154.62. So I bought the bundle, and then went to pick up the stuff at the nearest Best Buy (this one). When I got there, the girl at the pick-up counter was unable to process the order, and a supervisor took over. The supervisor tried for 20 minutes and couldn't get the stuff to process either, so he said that he was gonna cancel the order, and redo the entire order. I reminded him that the deal was unique to bestbuy.com and he said that it would be fine. Fair enough, I'm not an employee, I don't want to presume to know more than a Best Buy employee, especially a supervisor. So he cleared out the transaction and processed it again. He gave me an exchange receipt that showed that I was getting the same stuff but with no additional charge.
But I'm a not a trusting person who takes anyone at their word, especially where my money is involved. So when I got home, I checked on the status of the online order, and now instead of $154.62, my order total was $218.45. Umm, what? I logged into my CC account to verify, and I had been charged twice. Once for $154.62, and a second time for $63.83. I called the store and asked to speak to a manager, and he told me that he'd call bestbuy.com to figure out what happened. He then called me back to tell me that bestbuy.com wouldn't provide him information about my purchase and that I'd have to call them myself. Umm... Okay? So I called and explained the situation. Again. The CSR told me that since I finished the purchase (or exchange) at the store, I'd need to talk to the store to get the additional $63.83 refunded.
At this point, I was like, "No, we're not doing that. They're telling me I need to talk to you. You're telling me I need to talk to them. Y'all just need to talk to each other and give me my money back."
I could tell the CSR wanted to hand me off to his supervisor (whom I could hear in the background). In fact, he said the words, "I'm going to get my supervisor to talk to you" at least four times, but supervisor was either not wanting to deal with me herself, or she was trying to turn the whole thing into a teaching moment for the CSR. Then after being on the phone for almost 90 minutes(!) the CSR told me that he needed my address to process a refund. So I provided it, and he told me that he was going to refund me $50.
"$50? But I was charged an extra $63.83..." And he told me (and I kid you not) that them giving me the $50 back meant that I was getting the $40 refill card, and the $10 SIM card activation kit for free. You know when you're in class, and your professor asks a question, and you get excited because you know the answer, so without meaning to, you sit up straight? I guess I got excited that I was given the opportunity to explain to him how his math was off... If that isn't the most Indian thing ever... He then told me (his supervisor told him, I could hear her while he parroted her words) that all they could do was process a $50 refund, and that I'd have to go talk to the store about getting the remainder of the refund because "sales tax." I (kindly) reminded him (and her) that they had no problem taking my taxes for the purchase, so I expected them to give me back the taxes. Not to mention... $13.83 in taxes on $50? What is this, Denmark? After being put on hold again, the CSR came back and said that I was going to be refunded, and that they would send me a gift card for the hassle. While I appreciate the sentiment, until I get refunded, this (obnoxiously long) negative review stays. As of right now, my CC account shows two cleared transactions totaling $218.45.
[] Summary []
What I've learned from this experience is that Best Buy's physical stores and the website act as two separate entities that don't really communicate with each other. And you will lose your money, time, or both in your attempt to navigate through this mess.
[] Update []
I just found out that the CSR I spoke with lied to me about processing a refund; there was no refund processed at all (something tells me there's no gift card coming either). A relatively simple customer service fix was botched by the dishonesty of one (or several) of their employees, and made worse by the fact that they're still refusing to fix the problem.
[] Second Update []
I had to do a CC charge-back because Best Buy refused to give me the refund. The ridiculousness of a customer having to submit a CC dispute to get a merchant to return money that they shouldn't have taken to begin with is hopefully not lost on any of you. After this nonsense, I will never buy so much as a pack of gum from Best Buy. read more