Our local Best Buy had a Labor Day sale. A television that was normally $1,400 was marked down to $600 -- a reasonable price for the television. It was the Sharp Aquos, a 40 inch television. This is the one with George Takei and the yellow pixel thing, guys. It's pretty cool.
Anyway, by the time I made it to the local Best Buy, they were down to the display model. The next choice was a Plasma television, and I was sort of meh on the topic. In hindsight, I should've maybe gone to another store or something. But whatever.
I asked the saleslady for the display model, verified "yup got the full manufacturer's warranty!" bit and so on, and saved myself the trouble of unpacking a huge television when I got home.
The downside was, when I got home, that nice saleslady had also apparently been a mentally challenged window-licking retard saleslady and given me the wrong remote. I had assumed -- since she was digging through the drawer of remotes and comparing the labels to the notecard that was stuck to the television, that she would get the proper one.
30 minutes later, back at the store, she'd gone away. I can only presume
because someone left the glue where she could get to it. Her replacement,
a guy named Nathan, was very helpful, and wandered off to what must've been the
backup drawer of remotes to find the proper one. Upon returning some 10 minutes
later, he gave me this:
And said, "It's for last year's model, it'll probably work with yours while we order the right one." I thought, "This man is reasonable!" I said, "Ok, thanks. Here's my phone number, call me when you've got some more info for me."
He called me the next day (Friday) and said, "Our parts department is closed, it's the weekend and the holiday (Labor Day), I'll order it for you on Tuesday." Tuesday came and Nathan called me telling me that he couldn't order the remote from their parts department, but that I had two choices:
- I can order the remote myself and the store would credit the amount of the purchase as a refund of the purchase price of the television, or
- I can get a universal remote that will "probably work" with my TV.
Well, that's just a bunch of bullshit. I called the "Customer Relations"
department, and Cuntzilla Ashley told me that she could
send me a check for the price of the remote after I faxed her proof I
ordered the remote from Sharp. I hung up.
Here is the email I sent to all the people on the "Management" list for Best Buy from Google Finance.
I got a response, after several bounced or undeliverable messages. Someone obviously got it:
Hello Dave:
I am sorry to hear you have had a difficult experience with Best Buy. I have forwarded your e-mail to our specialized customer support team to assist you.
They are very well trained and equipped to answer your questions.
Thank you for your business.
Merilee Klose
Executive Assistant to
Ryan Robinson, SVP, Domestic CFO
Best Buy Co., Inc
7601 Penn Avenue South
Richfield, MN 55423
Phone: 612-291-2495
e-mail: merilee.klose@bestbuy.com
That same day, Kendra called me. Kendra was very nice and told me she was working on the problem. It was now Friday again, and she told me she'd get back to me ("have a resolution for me" was the phrasing she used, very well-trained and equipped) by Monday or Tuesday.
Tuesday came, and Kendra called me saying that she'd ordered the remote for me and that Sharp said the delivery time was 5 - 7 business days.
The moral of the story
Best Buy will, eventually, do the right thing. All you have to do to get an acceptable level of customer service is email the investors.
Update!
The remote came, via Fedex! Look!
