JB Hi-Fi - Elizabeth St — Attraction in Melbourne

JB Hi-Fi needs to put more attention on In-Store Support staff behavioural skills and services. Staff members were very unprofessional and rude at least on my visit. I went to buy a simple 15m lan cable on 22nd Sept 2022. On arrival i tried to make an eye contact with a staff member (i will call her the lady with a boy cut, I couldn’t get her name as it would have been another drama if i had tried to stare on her name tag or ask her name) to see if she can redirect me to correct lane or get me the cable itself. She constantly avoid the gaze and moved around. After multiple attempts when i tried to ask about the product, she refused and said “No its not available” and then went away. I re-tried this time by showing her my phone and mentioning that it is indeed available in this store as per JB Hi Fi website. Well the answer to this was, ”Sir, please stay 1.5 metre away from me and say what you need to say”.

Note: it’s sept 2022 and i was no where near her personal space nor showing any signs of deteriorate health, cold or cough.

At this point, i thought, let it be she is having a rough day or something so I avoided that particular staff member. Then she came back with another staff member and said give me the SKU. Well another thing in this store, network reception is too poor at the store so when i was trying to open the product page again it was taking too much time. Then both of members said, can you get the SKU or not. I had to ask them, can’t you search online at store and very rudely they replied that “we can but as you see store is quite busy today so you will have to wait”. Well in the end I was able to find the lan cable section on my own and even then took it from my hand scanned it and lady passed her final closing comments “this is xcd brand you said belkin didn’t you”. Well i clearly asked for 15 metre cat 6 lan cable and that’s it.

Well these statements and the way of delivery definitely shows they need to learn more on how to take care of customers politely.

Even if they got a massive pay cut that day, it doesn’t justify the way of communication. They need to be aware that all types of customers like socially anxious, elderly, not so tech-savy comes into the store and their job is to help them. I am not gonna visit Elizabeth Store anytime soon for sure. Luckily there are other JB HI FI...

I bought an iMac from JB Hifi Elizabeth St in 2016. About 7 months after purchasing it I thought it really wasn't performing to standard, so I began the process of having it assessed.

Since then, I have spent over 8 months—including over 4 months without the computer at all—dealing with Apple and JB Hifi as they have continually passed the responsibility of who should handle this problem.

It has been repaired, and returned, repaired, and returned more times than I would care to mention, I have spent close to a total of 100 hours on the phone with tech support agents, people at Apple, people at JB, third party repairers, amongst other managers and staff. I have been told I am outside of warranty, something that has largely been caused by delays from both companies, and, a fact that is simply not compliant with Australian law.

Currently I am still without a computer or a solution, it has been 3 weeks since I have returned the computer, and 6 weeks since the last "repair" was completed. JB have found themselves incapable of handling the enquiry appropriately, upper management appear disinterested in helping, in spite of every person I have dealt with acknowledging the computer has an issue.

I have found myself at the mercy of two companies who do not care about customer experience and are unwilling to take responsibility for what is clearly a fault beyond repair. Not once have I received this computer in better working order than when I have left it, and I have even had the joy of getting home to find the keyboard and mouse were not returned with the computer.

I have found this to be an extremely draining experience, physically and mentally. I have decided that my money is lost, I don't want this computer back any longer because I feel returning home for a fourth time–with a box that no longer even has a handle from having to be transported so often–only to discover it is still not working, would be too much to handle.

I thought this experience was worth sharing, 8 months is too long to be dealing with what should have been a simple exchange or refund.

JB and Apples after care for a premium product should...

Firstly, I am perpetually flabbergasted why this establishment insists on peddling the so-called extended warranty. It is, in reality, an extended exercise in semantic gymnastics because, apparently, warranty here translates to: We will only replace it if the universe collapses, your device spontaneously combusts, and simultaneously fails to both power on and produce sound. Anything less catastrophic? Congratulations, dear consumer, you must personally package your faulty product, send it on a magical mystery tour to Sony, and then wait for Schrodinger’s replacement: either a credit, a gift card, or perhaps a new unit assuming they don’t quantum-tunnel their way out of responsibility.

Now, to the pièce de résistance: the store member (whose name I shall preserve out of courtesy, though courtesy was a foreign concept to him) performed a little post-interaction pantomime. He took a sanitary wipe, cleaned his hand after touching my headphone. Now, whether that was his own germophobic ritual or a subtle act of ethnic microaggression directed at me (an Indian customer) , I leave to the philosophers. Regardless, the optics were less than stellar.

More egregious, however, was his conversational technique, which can best be described as retail fascism. He never allowed me to articulate a full sentence. Instead, he barreled forward with the confidence of a man who’s read half a manual and declared himself the Aristotle of audio accessories. Customer service training? Nonexistent. Human decency? Optional. Politeness? Nonexistent.

In summary, this was not customer service. This was customer subjugation. I walked in with a malfunctioning headphone strap and left with a malfunctioning faith in humanity. If JB Hi-Fi continues employing rude, dismissive retail buffoons masquerading as sales associates, their reputation will erode faster. That is not customer service. That is...