Best Buy — Attraction in Lakewood

I am entirely displeased with my lifetime of experience with Best Buy as a whole, not any one store in particular. The employees are only as effective as the tools that are provided by the employer and this employer is definitely not fit for leadership in the field of electronics or customer satisfaction.

One such example is their "protection/replacement" plan. It is an insurance policy and just as with any other like it, a deductable must be paid in order to utilize it. A true replacement plan is simple; you buy something and pay to protect it with a plan. Should that item fail you within the coverage timeframe, you take it back to a company storefront, replace it on the spot, and you pay nothing as you leave with a replacement on hand. When you get one from Best Buy, you must pay more money to get your replacement. I spent $260 on a plan to cover a $560 phone. I paid another $150 to replace it. $410 to protect a $560 phone. That's not only absurd, it is not good business.

For my next example, I'll use my experience with replacing the aforementioned phone. Early December, I went in to replace the failed phone. I was told it was no longer available in-store and that I must pay a $200 "deductible" before they would even order it. After saving up, I returned and paid a reduced "deductible" of $150. I was told that my replacement would come by mail and I was to return the failed phone in the box the replacement came in.

15 business days later, I receive an empty box. I called the number provided and after an hour of attempting to get an answer for where the phone was, an outsourced call center Employee tells me that she isn't employed by Best Buy and cannot answer, so that I must return to the store for answers. Upon my return, a manager tells me that they don't sell my phone's model anymore and that I was to receive a gift card for the original cost of the phone. He makes a couple calls and tells me that I will receive a gift card when I return the failed phone. I couldn't possibly be without a phone, not in this time, so I spent money I didn't have on a phone before leaving (I heartily declined the purchase of a "protection plan").

15 business days later, nothing. I use my phone to start a live chat and immediately I can tell it's an outsourced company. An hour if that later, I'm told to live chat Geek Squad, not Best Buy. No Geek Squad operator accepted the chat nor did any return the call for help. I looked up the store telephone number directly. Not the store, but another call center took the call and rudely explained that she had no idea who the manager was that I talked to before she transferred the call. No one answered so that call bounced back to her and she assured me someone would return my call by the end of the business day.

With no return call The next day, I went to the store. After a half hour of searching, the Geek Squad manager uncovers the second great lie. The ones who sent the original empty box say the left the gift card in the box that they shipped. They didn't. The final lie to unfold was the balance of the gift card. I would not be receiving the balance of the whole transaction but only the amount of the phone.

All told, I spent gas I couldn't afford, time I should not have taken and money I didn't have all due of the failed promise of protection. I may as well have gone to the AT&T store where they, too are excessive liars who only care about their Bottom line and not helping people. I will not be returning to Best Buy, nor will I ever advocate for them again. I've been shopping with them for 25 years and I should think that the presence of a rewards card circa 1995 coming out of my wallet would at least afford me honesty and actual protection.

I suppose I'll...

I walked into the Lakewood Best Buy planning to grab a mid-range TV and walked out with a 75″ Samsung Frame—the last one in the store. Brandon, the associate who helped us, was great: friendly, knowledgeable, zero pressure. My wife loved the Frame’s aesthetics, and I appreciated the discount because it was last year’s floor model. We paid and left while the team took it off the wall and bubble-wrapped it.

Two hours later we returned to pick it up. Two warehouse employees slid the TV into my Land Cruiser. One let a corner take the weight for a second; I didn’t think much of it until I later felt how flexible the chassis actually is. The set then rode home face-up on a flat, padded camper platform—never touching the ground until we laid it on our living-room carpet.

Unwrapping it—by hand, no knife—revealed two deal-breakers: • an 8-inch gouge across the lower screen • a chewed-up bezel where the bubble wrap hadn’t covered it

Clearly the damage happened before the TV ever got into my possession. Zero question about it on my end, as I knew how I had handled it. The bottom bezel has never touched anything but carpet, and even though I know for sure the screen was never touched by us, the vertical gouge could’ve never happened when we were carrying the tv vertically and moving the tv around horizontally. It could’ve potentially happened when they were setting it down into the cart that they wheeled it around in the store with. Or maybe it happened before the bubble wrap ever got put on the TV and someone either covered it up or just didn’t notice. I really don’t know, but it shouldn’t be my problem.

I called Best Buy. The phone rep apologized and told me to drive to a different store that had the same model in stock; they would “honor the price you paid because you purchased a TV in excellent condition.” That felt fair, so I drove an hour to that location—only to be told returns had to happen at the original store and any accommodation was up to them.

So back to Lakewood I went. Manager #1 agreed to refund the purchase but refused any credit or price match. Disappointing, but at least it was something. Manager #2 then stepped in, claimed I must have sliced the screen with a knife, and warned that if I said another word he’d cancel the return and kick me out. When I calmly pushed back—firmly but respectfully—he followed through, instructing staff to reload the damaged TV into my car and attempting to escort me out.

At that point I called the police; there’s now a record of the incident. I’ve also opened a dispute with my credit-card company (the charge is still pending). Best Buy has its damaged TV back, but what the store really lost is a customer.

I’ve installed dozens of TVs over the years. I worked in custom home theaters for a while. I’ve never seen such careless handling or hostile management. Brandon at sales was terrific; everyone after him turned a simple exchange into a full day, 100-degree, over-half-tank-of-gas ordeal. Reading other reviews, my experience isn’t unique. Poor training and an even poorer attitude are driving customers away—and judging by the empty parking lot, that slow decline is already under way.

There’s no scam here. I proceeded to purchase a new TV from the Best Buy at Mexico and Colorado blvd an hour later. Much better service.

Bottom line: If you value your time, money, or sanity, avoid the Lakewood Best Buy. Friendly sales associates can’t offset a warehouse that mishandles merchandise and hostile managers who punish customers who expect to be...

Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and relax.  This is going to take a while.....Wait, scratch that.  You're gonna need whiskey or beer for this $#!t show.

5/28/18 - My wife and I visited the local (Lakewood, CO) Best Buy location.  We ultimately purchase 4 new appliances - LG brand washer, dryer and range and a KitchenAid dishwasher.  We are disappointed though that the earliest delivery is almost a week away but accept it and move on.

6/2/18 - Deliver occurs as scheduled.  This crew was decent, arrived on time, and while they didn't install anything, they did bring all the appliances inside and position them so I basically only had to slide them into position.  This is the last positive experience I have had with BB.

6/3/18 - On the 3rd load through the new dryer, it breaks.  I call the local store and speak with the sales manager.  We decide that I got a lemon and with it breaking almost immediately, he'll send a new dryer out as a replacement.  As it's Sunday, he can only schedule by what's in the system which shows a delivery slot from 12 pm to 4 pm on 6/6/18.  However, he states that he's "escalated" my case to corporate and that my case manager will call me the next day to discuss moving delivery up.

6/4/18 - Brittany, my case manager, calls.  In a short, less-than-3-minute conversation, she tells me that there's nothing she can do.  So much for being a priority.

6/6/18 - I am called by BB's delivery service at 11 am and told that they will not be coming today.  No word on when they've rescheduled me.  Just that they aren't coming.  I then spend the next 6+ hours trying to get an answer and ultimately have to go down to the store.  I sit at the store for over an hour while they attempt to reach the field manager for the delivery service.  He finally answers and in short order respond with "I'm on vacation and the customer can deal with it" over the phone.  The appointment gets scheduled for 12 pm to 4 pm on 6/9/18.

They end up missing 3 more appointments and finally deliver the dryer on 6/15. They damage the side but it's only cosmetic and doesn't affect function.

This is absolutely the worst experience I've ever had with a store, especially considering the coin we dropped on all 4 appliances at once.  When I was offered compensation, the first offer was only $200.  Seriously?  You not only wasted 20 hours of my life over 9 days but damaged my appliance.  The damage alone is worth a minimum of 15% refund.  Best Buy is a joke.  I'll never buy anything ever again from them....