Best Buy — Attraction in Loveland

I will put some background and then focus on this review of the Loveland store.

First, I am a huge supporter of Best Buy overall. Have been shopping there for many many years. Long before the CURRENT TERRIBLE CEO. It is great to have a brick and mortar store within a reasonable distance from home.

We have the Fort Collins Store and the Loveland Best Buy store within a reasonable driving distance. But we also use the online purchasing option. The Loveland store is closer.

Spent a lot of hard earned money at Best Buy on TVs, computers, tablets and even a refrigerator just over the last year. Much more over the years prior. We were BB customers when Circuit City still existed.

Now on to the Loveland, CO store review.

Before the newest CEO started, we frequented the Loveland store and received outstanding customer service, in all ways. Online service was great.

Since the new CEO, experiences at the Loveland BB and online have been mostly awful.

BUT, from fall of 2024 to Summer of 2025 we frequented the Loveland BB and had fabulous service every time we came in. The manager was exactly what one would want when dealing with a brick and mortar store.

Prior to that it was a nightmare going into the store. No one knew anything. Service was absent. You had to stand in one line and there were no checkout registers at all. Even after COVID. The experience was terrible.

It was a very different experience going to the Fort Collins store and always has been. FoCo has had consistent good service and the store employees were mostly a joy to even interact with there.

Just a few days ago, we called the Loveland store phone number, before going, to make sure what we were interested in was there to physically check out in person. Figuring we would get the same GREAT service we had been getting since the previous fall.

NOPE!

Item was not there to try.

Back to the worst customer service experience one can receive when in person at any store. Asked for a manager. Employee who approached us was completely clueless. Wrong about several things we discussed related to BB policy and the product in question. Didn’t go to get help. Was antagonistic. Was rude. Was absolutely unapologetic about our troubles. Escalated the issue. Terrible experience in every way.

Not to mention that now, when you call the local store number, you are forwarded to a call center in India. In our case, that person lied, saying they were at the Loveland store when asked. Since we had a person who worked there who had an Indian accent before, we thought nothing of it and went to try out the product.

The person I was buying it for needed to try it out in person because of physical issues. AND had asked if it was available to do so. We called ahead and asked.

Additionally,

There have been law changes and policy changes in Colorado regarding restocking charges for returned items. In April of 2025, Colorado began allowing stores to charge restocking fees for returned items. As long as they notify the customer that a return will be charged a fee and what the fee is.

The item we were interested in said there was a $45 restocking fee if the item was returned, when I placed it in the cart online, and I am a BB Plus member.

I have always been able to return items without any hassles. Never saw that message before when making an online purchase. So asked.

The same store employee, who came up to me when I asked for a manager, said they never charge restocking fees. And had no clue there was a law change in Colorado. But there it was on the order I was ready to make. Then I chose not to because we could not try the item out in store after being told we could and the new fee. I was going to buy two. So it would be $90 and we couldn’t try it out.

I am not going to buy something they are going to charge me $45 to return. Even if some random clueless employee says it is OK. Especially after driving 24 miles round trip for nothing. AND BB using Customer Service in India to answer local phone call.

PLEASE GOD, have someone fire...

I went to purchase a laptop, I wanted and ASUS and since they didnt have one, the sales clerk talked me into a Sony Vaio. Two weeks later the keyboard quit working and so I returned it and again got stuck with another Sony Vaio. I was told how to "fix" the issue. Of course it happened again and I tried this fix. It managed to delete my Office 2013 and Nortons, which I had paid for. I took it back and insisted on the ASUS. The girl in the computer section grabbed the wrong one, which I fortunately caught and then found out they did not have it in stock. I then had to deal with the Fort Collins Best Buy which was even worse as far as attitude. I asked them about the Office and Nortons and was told it would be fine as long as they deleted it from the Sony. I asked both the Loveland and Fort Collins Best Buy to take of this FOR me since I did PAY for Geek Squad protection. The Loveland said that the Fort Collins Best Buy would do it for me - this was not the case. I was just told to reinstall and all would be good. Again, this was not the case. I tried to install but it said my code was expired. I called Loveland Best Buy Geek Squad and I get a bunch of 'well I dont know what to tell you, there is nothing we can do" that's crap what they could have done was called Microsoft for me or they could have given me a new activation code to install it and swallowed the 140 since their computer that they sold me was the problem. I ended up on the phone all night with Microsoft (45 minute wait time just to get a person) in order to resolve the situation. Prior to this incident, I bought a Desktop from them and it quit working after about a month, but because I did not purchase "Geek Squad Protection" they will not do anything. The computer was supposedly new, but I found 'history' on the computer showing that it clearly was bought, used, and brought back and then put back out on the shelf. Lesson: DO NOT BUY A COMPUTER FROM BEST BUY!!! This is an Addendum: I had to return the third computer and at that time asked for my money back both on the computer and the geek squad protection. They did not bother to tell me when i returned the other ones, but the geek squad protection did not transfer from one to the other, so if i had kept the last computer I would have had real problems after the return policy time ended. I did end up getting the money back for that as well. Also while I was there, I watched them putting previously used computers in boxes as the manufacturer would and put that particular brands tape on them to...

Terrible experience ordering an item for pickup at the Loveland location. I received an email from Best Buy stating that my item was delayed, ok, no big deal, these things happen. The day after my item was supposed to be ready I reached out to Best Buy's LiveChat customer service, and was told that my item was at the store currently, and that I should go there and pick it up. I go to the store and am told by their customer service rep that the item was in fact at the store but it had just arrived on their truck and was not quite ready to be picked up, and that I could return later that evening or the next day and it would be ready. I let a full day pass, and on the the morning two days after my visit I reached out once again to customer service through their LiveChat system, only to be told the item was still in transit! I asked for the tracking information, since I had already been told that the item had arrived at the store, and the tracking information provided showed the item had already been delivered to the store (signed for by an employee named Jake) the day PRIOR to when it was supposed to be ready for pickup. this was in direct contradiction to what I was told about it having just arrived the day AFTER it was supposed to be available. I then called the store number, but you can't reach an actual person inside the store using that number, only their national call center employees, and when I explained the situation I was told a manager from this store would contact me between 2-4 hours later that same day. This never happened. I then traveled to the store again and after speaking to their customer service rep inside the store, manager Brent came to assist and verified physically that the item was not in the store. I proceeded to cancel the order entirely, having grown utterly frustrated and exhausted by this circus, and called their corporate line to file a complaint, during which I was apologized to and given empty platitudes about it never happening again, and when I expressed my desire for an escalation to someone who could actually make things right, I was told, once again, that a manager would contact me within two hours. It has now been six hours since that call and no one has contacted me. Garbage system, garbage...