Best Buy Express — Attraction in Newmarket

UPDATE after returning to store 60 mins later:

The manager Farden was nowhere to be found. The rep Arfan tells me that I could choose whichever headphones I want and pay the difference. I said, wasn't this how it was supposed to be 90 mins ago? It would've saved everyone a lot of time. Arfan, instead of apologizing, gets defensive and tells me that their procedure was to call into ACP and that the person I spoke to Malcom at The Source customer contact had no authority to tell the store what to do. I told Arfan look, i dont even know what ACP stands for. I bought the warranty on thesource.ca! He spent the next 10 minutes arguing with me where my warranty is from. I told him The Source doesn't pay you to argue with a customer when he says I want to spend more money. I don't know how much your time is worth, my time is very valuable and you just wasted 90 minutes of it. Arfan then said "MY TIME IS WORTH MORE THAN YOURS!" Then he asks if I want to buy an extended warranty! I told him to read the warranty on his website because it clearly says I'm allowed 2 replacements of original value, also confirmed by Malcom. Arfan said its not up to date! Just read pls!

A simple I'm sorry for your frustration would've went a long way but ZERO. Resolved? WHAT A JOKE! STAY AWAY LIKE THE PLAGUE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE HUMILIATED! Was in the best of moods after just eating a nice meal in the same mall and writing a glowing review, I headed to The Source to claim an extended warranty I paid for on a set of headphones I bought for my daughter. They stopped working 15 months after I purchased on thesource.ca with an extended 3 year warranty. I called into The Source customer service first, waited 25 minutes to speak to someone and was told to go into a Store where I would be able to pick the same or different pair of headphones, and if more expensive, I could pay the difference. The rep was very helpful and also provided me an ACP # which for whatever reason was not on my online receipt and if I have any issues at the store to call back, Hopefully not as I don't want to wait another 25 minutes to speak with someone.

Got to the store, the rep asked to see my online receipt and did not seem to understand why this APC # was not on my online receipt even after I explained everything the 4th time, I needed to walk away for a moment so I don't have a stroke. Thankfully I was able to keep my cool.

The manager came by and said he would only replace the headphones with the same model. I don't want the same model because it stopped working despite never being dropped and taken care of. I'd like to spend more money and get better headphones. I told him to don't want to call in again and wait another 25 minutes, but I also didn't want to argue so I stood in the store and called customer service again, waited 20+ minutes and finally the rep Malcom answered, asked to speak with the store rep (the manager conveniently went to the back room out of sight), I put Malcom on speaker and he said look at your procedures, you know what the customer paid, if he wants to pay more money and get another brand, just do it and please don't waste any more of the customers time. The store rep asked for an email authorization and Malcom told him it's all in your procedures, you don't need, get it done already and hung up.

A min later the Manager returns, and tells his rep that if they were to allow a different brand replacement, they would need to call into support. I said wow I don't have another 25 minutes to waste, why were you not around during the call?

The manager got defensive and had the audacity say if I don't be professional about this, he will be forced to call security! There was 3 other associates around the entire time who witnessed the entire experience and they could attest that although I was livid, I did not raise my voice, nor did I use a word of profanity.

I told the manager that I will be going to have a coffee while he gets this sorted out.

I will now be returning and will update this...

As a longtime Best Buy customer, I have always preferred shopping in-store rather than ordering directly from Amazon because of the great customer service I’ve received in the past. However, this experience was extremely disappointing.

I approached an employee named Komail for a Price Match request, but he initially told me that Best Buy does not match prices from Amazon (Sold and Shipped by Amazon) because Amazon is considered a third-party seller. This information was incorrect, as Best Buy’s official Price Match policy clearly states that items sold and shipped by Amazon are eligible. After leaving the store, I checked Best Buy’s policy and even called customer service to confirm, then I returned to the store to inform him.

He looked at my phone screen and said he needed to check with a manager. However, after waiting for a while, neither he nor his manager showed up. Eventually, he told me it would take another 10-15 minutes to get approval from headquarters. Meanwhile, instead of updating me on my Price Match request, he suddenly started asking about my mobile carrier, my plan, and how much I was paying—clearly trying to sell me a new phone plan. Even after I told him I wasn’t interested and only wanted to buy the product I came for, he kept pushing and even mentioned that he could offer me additional discounts if I signed up for a phone or home internet plan. Not only was this unprofessional, but I also believe offering additional discounts in this manner goes against Best Buy’s policy.

In the meantime, I checked online and found that Canadian Tire was selling the same smartwatch at the same price as Amazon. When I told Komail that I would just go buy it there, he didn’t even mention that he could match Canadian Tire’s price, despite previously stating that Best Buy only price matches retailers with physical stores.

This experience was far from the excellent customer service that originally made me choose Best Buy over online shopping. If Best Buy truly values customer experience, they need to improve employee professionalism and ensure that Price Match requests are handled properly instead of being used as an opportunity...

I came in to pick up a pair of earbuds…. And I walked out switching my 4 lines from rogers to bell…. And that put a smile on my face for the whole day. All thanks to Arfan and his manager Fardeem.

Seriously though, I was really just planning to go in and pick up my new pair of earbuds. I really didn’t expect the length these guys went.

Just before I left.. it all started with a simple question - “who is your mobile provider?”. Then 2 hours later Arfan and his manager Fardeen after a ton of number crunching, plan comparing, and etc. They got me a pretty damn good deal where I couldn’t say no.

I mean depending on perspective, you can think of them as trying to upsell, but why does that matter? Fundamentally as a client, if I can get a better price or more data for the same price… why wouldn’t I?

Though, they really worked for it. It wasn’t some sales pitch. They really looked at what plan I got, the price I pay, and then bam… number crunching and plan comparisons etc.

I guess it is pretty hard though. Most consumers will instantly react thinking “oh they are just trying to make me spend money”, but instead they got me a better deal, tailored to my needs. Most sales people out there are just trying to meet quota, rare to find ones that are really looking for your need.

Thanks to both Fardeem and Arfan. Great work. It’s good to see someone who actually tries to help a customer and not just some generic sales pitch. Regardless how things turned out, you guys went above and beyond, and it should be recognized. Hope you have a wonderful remainder of...