Best Buy — Local services in Ottawa

So I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with this place. A couple of years ago I went in and bought a 75inch tv for an American thanks giving football party. I couldn’t pick it up that day but it was supposed to be dropped off a day before the party. So A day before the party came and still no t.v.

I went back to the store and talked to management for the t.v. We ended up finding out that the paper work was never filled out properly and wasn’t even going to be shipped to my house . . . . . . . ever. They basically took my money and did nothing. So i asked if they could give me a T.V off the shelf for my party and they said “No , we will order it now and it will come on this new date” . They didn’t seem to be bothered by the situation or anything like this is a common occurrence. I wasn’t offered any compensation for the mistake either. So I ended up informing them about how big of a screw up it was and how much grief it caused me ( remounting my old tv , wasn’ting my time , etc ) and said “ so how are you going to fix You’re incompetence and rectify yourselves?”.

They ended up giving me a free delivery which they would have probably never done if i didn’t say any thing. It’s a 30 dollar charge but in all honesty I didn't think that was enough for the “bullshit” it caused me. I left there pretty upset and with a bad taste in my mouth. Luckily I still had my old T.V ( looked pretty stupid on the new wall mount meant for the bigger t.v I bought ) but I said I’m not going to be going back to that place for a while. I ended up going today.

So bought a new phone and needed a phone case and I decided to give the Best Buy another try. I got the case went to the cash register and they said “how are you paying” I said cash and they said okay we only have one cash register that dose cash your going to have to wait. I was like okay and waited near the cash register. They were doing a return and there was some paper work issues/computer issues while trying to do a return on it. I waited there for about 10/15 minutes and just left without buying the case.

I understand there’s technical difficulty issues sometimes but why do they only have one cash register that dose cash? and why are they doing returns on it? If the guy paid cash I understand but have at least 2 cash registers. One that dose returns and one that dose cash. I felt pretty stupid watching a bunch of people getting billed out and I’m sitting there waiting for one register that wasn’t really doing anything.

My advice to the costumers. I would never go here unless your going to get a really good deal on something but expect screw ups and inefficiency and if you can order it online your probably better...

Dec 2024 update. Bestbuy and the installer kept telling my Mom that her ceiling had no panels and no cut off valve and that they had a picture. They had a pic of a ceiling of hanging panels. The installer, who left the Bestbuy dishwasher in her hallway for weeks would leave her on hold for 2 hours and they said they recognized her #. My Mother and Sister measured the old dishwasher location from two walls, went to basement, lifted the ceiling panel at the measuremwents and found the valve and took a picture of it to this BestBuy. They told her she was still wrong and was "not her ceiling". When my Mother tried one last time with the installer asigned to her by BestBuy, still getting no where, said she wanted to cancel. The phone rep told my 85 yr old Mom she was a pain and should just cancel and get $ back at bestbuy. So that is what Mom did. Since then she went to Rona to try again. But they used the same jackass installer company who would not install from Bestbuy. So Mom called her own installer and he installed the new dishwasher in less rhan 1 hour. End of update. My best advice as a scientist. Buy your appliances directly from from stores that do their own installations. That is not Best Buy, Rona, or Home Depot. Dr. Mitton)

My mother and sister My Mother has purchased a new dishwasher here. It's been delivered and now she is struggling to get this place to do the installation which is paid for, including removal of the unit it will replace. This company has poor coordination with contractors. Beware. It remains in her hallway about 5 minutes from this store 7 days after delivery. UPDATE. This store has kept telling my Mother that her ceiling in basement is solid and there is no shutoff and that basically it's her fault. So after two weeks she has delt with the store and several customer service calls and finally she canceled and they have come and picked up the dishwasher. Guess what is in the basement ceiling under the dishwasher pipes? An easy to open hanging ceiling panel with plumbing and shut off valve for the dishwasher. The best buy contractors have treated my Mom like an old woman who knows nothing. The contractors are idiots. The best buy customer service reps treated her the same way on the phone. Telling her she needs her ceiling ripped open to get at the pipes but there is the panel and the cut off valve right where you expect it to be. What a...

I have tried giving this location benefit of the doubt... but yikes. Myself, nor my partner have had a single positive experience during any of our trips to this location. We have been ignored more times that we can count, had significant wait times, limited to no interaction, witnessed staff flirting/playing footsies with each other, messing around on their phone, etc.

One of my first visits was to pick up an online purchase... which was a nightmare. It took 17 minutes to find the phone that "ready for pick up" and 4 different staff members.

My final visit was today. I walked in with my therapy dog (to practice some training in their loud and bright environment). No one greeted us. I walked straight to where I thought I might find some smart home speakers. Wandered around the isles for about 15 minutes. Had a staff wave at my dog... still no interaction with the human who has the money to spend (didn't take my dog there so she could go shopping). Saw multiple staff working the phone sales spot. On another one of my loops around the 3 isles, so a employee who was messing around on her phone, hiding in the TV isles for about 6 minutes or so. Then proceed to walk the ENTIRE store. Every isle. Wandering aimlessly trying to find what I wanted... At this point it had been almost 20 minutes (I walked in around 5:46, and it was 6:05) I was fuming and ready to leave. The employee who had been hiding by the TVs began to walk past me and complimented my dog. So thanked her and ask if anyone at all was available to help me find a smart speaker, like a google home. She pulled out her phone, showed me a Google home and said "let me find it." I immediately said "It's right here" (pointing to the isle we were standing in front of) and she walked away looking for, what I assumed was someone. She then came back and went, "Oh they are right here." Then she informed me they had one in stock but she didn't see it and that she would have to order it in. Brilliant. I may have been able to order one for home delivery and had it arrive in the time it took for someone to help me. The lady was nice enough when I finally caught her attention, but sweet lord... Best Buy... this location is giving y'all a bad name.

If you are not bothered by atrocious customer service and doing the research, finding the products, and have the patience of a snail, this is the perfect...