Best Buy — Local services in West Vancouver

I am a local retail business owner with stores all across Greater Vancouver and hire about 200+ employees

All my employees working at my store are equipped with 3 apple products each (iphone, ipad and Macbook) as they have to interact with customers and show them our products.

I went to this store (Best Buy Park Royal shopping center) on 2 occasions looking to add a fleet of 10 ipads, 10 Macbook pros and 10 iPhones to my new store opening up.

On both occasions, I experienced a very very unpleasant shopping experience from the young iranian/persian guy (short dark brown hair with minor side burns and a minor beard) working at their "cell phone" department right side 2 seats facing the parking lot entrance. He was wearing a blue polo, shorts and black+ blue runners.

On July 5th,2024 at around 7-8 30pm, I was in this store looking to purchase a fleet of new Apple products which totaled about 30 units (10 of each ipad, macbook and iphones) and while I was testing each product by going to my company's retail website using "safari", this young iranian/persian guy (short brown hair with minor side burns and a beard) working at their "cell phone" department 2 seats on the right side facing the parking lot entrance came up to me and told me that I cannot be using their display units to go on my website.

He then proceeded to close off each and every display unit I was testing my website on as if he was trying to prove his point. !

He did not ask me if I needed help or anything this whole time and when a different customer (Iranian/persian speaking) came by to inquire about the same Apple products on display, he was very willing to answer their questions and showed them around the products.

I felt very discriminated and felt he was bias towards me as I did not speak his language (racist).

I left that day in tears and I am not a man that cries.

I tried my luck again by visiting the same Park Royal Best Buy on July 25th,2024 at around 7 30-8 30pm by entering from the mall entrance (front side) and once again this young iranian/persian guy (short brown hair with minor side burns and a beard) working at their "cell phone" department right 2 seats facing the parking lot entrance recognized me and started following me around the store !

His work station was towards the parking lot entrance (back entrance) where the "cell phone" desks were but he suddenly appeared at the opposite side (mall entrance front side) of the store !

This was not a coincidence as I saw him run quickly to the area where I was checking out the Apple products at the opposite end (mall entrance side) of the store from his work station.

Usually when you work retail in a big department store, you would usually wander around your desk area or your half of the store. Other employees would be already at the other half standing by ready to help customers.

Once again this young iranian/persian guy (short brown hair with minor side burns and a beard) working at their "cell phone" department facing the parking lot entrance made it a statement that he was watching every move I make in the store as I noticed that he would carefully examine each Apple product I had touched and would close off the programs on it I have just tested out.

He would then stand from a short distance to monitor me without ever asking me if I needed help.

Mind you I entered from the mall entrance this time and his work station is all the way at the back and i know this as I have purchased from this location previously and each time I would see him sitting at the "cell phone" department right side 2 seats all the time. There are 4 seats in total.

Best Buy Park Royal just lost their easiest+ quickest+ biggest sale that day as I went to Pacific center Apple store and purchased 10 ipads, 10 macbook pros and 10 iphone 15s that same night.

I have already filed a complaint with Best Buy corporate yesterday online and I will bring this to the local media if I do not get a genuine apology or an explanation of this young man's racist and discriminating attitude towards me...

My shopping experience at Best Buy West Vancouver (Park Royal) on Friday, November 29 2024 was disappointing.

It initially started at Best Buy Richmond – the staff there were attentive and tried to help me to find a laptop (Dell Inspiron 14”, 2-in-1, i7 Core Processor, 16 GB RAM for $899 – please see attached photo of display price). Unfortunately, it was out of stock and the staff mentioned to me that there were some in stock at the West Vancouver store.

Over lunch, I tried to see if I could purchase the laptop online and use the pickup option, but noticed that the price was $1299.99. I refreshed the browser many times but had the same result. I called the call centre and they verified that West Vancouver had stock and that the price was $899. I also checked the Dell website and confirmed that that same laptop was also on sale for $899 (It’s $975 today Nov 30 2024 - please see attached photo).

Based on that information from the call centre, I drove to the West Vancouver store after dinner and found that the price was $1299.99. I asked a member of the Geek Squad to check the availability and the price. He mentioned that they did have stock but the price was $1299.99. I explained to him about the laptop price at Richmond and he said that he would check with the store manager. He returned to say that the manager said that ($899) was the wrong price and they only go by the price reflected on the website.

I mentioned that I understood that, but I reiterated my point about what the Richmond store price. To his credit, he went back to the store manager to explain the situation, and after a few minutes, I walked towards him and the store manager. The store manager saw me approaching and promptly left without speaking to me.

The Geek Squad staff said that the store manager said that that was yesterday’s price (Nov 28 2024) and that it didn’t apply any more. That was absurd because I went for the Black Friday sale, the price display said it was a Black Friday deal – the price did not end on a Thursday, and it is evident that that was an unintelligent answer to shut down my queries. This was a missed opportunity to pivot towards a best practice response.

I did not want to press the Geek Squad staff because he was caught in the middle. He was polite and asked if there was an alternative laptop I could consider. However, I did feel brushed aside and felt like the store manager did not do due diligence as part of his work mandate, and gave an illogical reason to the discrepancy in price instead of following it up and providing proper customer service.

I do understand that Black Fridays are a busy time, but there were systemic failures that should be addressed at the corporate education and process level. My recommendations include:

1. Ensure online prices are updated so that they reflect accurate prices. Due to my search history for the laptop model, this morning’s (Nov 30 2024) advertisements show that laptop model to be $899 (please see attached photo).

2. Ensure staff are properly trained to address concerns by customers – to have excellence as part of their service mandate and best practices - a process where store managers will practice due diligence in taking extra steps for customer service, especially when there is a discrepancy in prices. For example, the store manager could have approached me to say, ‘We also don’t know why there is a discrepancy in prices. We will hold this laptop model for you while we investigate further. Could we have your contact info so that we can follow up with you and honor the price if we were incorrect in our online pricing? And since we discovered that you travelled a good distance, we would like to provide free shipping’ – that would be the level of service that I would return to the store for. However, at this point in time, I will not be returning nor be recommending anyone to purchase from this store.

I might escalate this to the BBB, the local Chamber of Commerce and...

If I could give 0 stars, I would. Customer service here is excruciatingly painful - extremely unpleasant, unprofessional, and unhelpful staff. My first experience, I brought in a Canon point and shoot because the shutter wasn't working. I was told they couldn't do anything for me right off the bat because it was my fault I accidentally dropped it once, although there was no physical damage. The guy helping me looked at my account and fiddled on the computer and still no conclusion. I told them I had only bought it a month before as a birthday present to myself, and only then did the guy fill a form to send to Canon for inspection. It didn't matter if Canon was unable to do anything, but the fact that you get let down by customer service and for them to not even find a solution was not helpful at all. Second experience was online, I had preordered a FitBit Charge 2 and was expecting it on Monday September 26. I preorder on the 17th and have kept a close eye on the order status. On the day it was released, I look at the order status only to find it being out of stock. No email to apologize or to let me know what was happening whatsoever. Third horrible experience was today. I was really hoping that I would have a better experience this time around as I had a nice phone conversation with them. I called them around 11:00am to ask if the Go Pro Hero 5 Black was in stock. The lady said they did and asked me if it was the Session I was looking for, I said no. She then asked if it was the regular one - this I'm assuming is the Hero 5 Black ('cause what else would it be besides the two options?) So I say yes and ask her if there were lots in stock and if it would still be around by the time I get to the store as I didn't want to end up going and being told it sold out. She says yes and asks me if I'd like for them to hold it so I could go and purchase it right away. I say yes, she takes down my name and number and tells me they'd hold it until 10pm as this was when they closed. I get there and a saleslady named Lida, rings up a Hero 5 SESSION. I tell her, it wasn't what I asked for. I'm then told that I had to order the Hero 5 Black online and that it would take a couple of days. I tell her I spoke to someone in the morning asking if it was in stock. And the lady stands there not knowing what to do apologizes saying she can't do anything. Out of frustration with this customer service, I walk away, but my boyfriend decides to talk to them and work it out. A saleslady named Anne, walks over and tells us that I told her I confirmed it was the Session I put the hold for. She was so rude with her tone of voice and body language, basically told me I was wrong, and turns away to help someone else. About 2-3 sales reps walked over and turned away, avoiding the situation, while Lida takes all the embarrassment. Another saleslady walks over, corrects their mistake and compensates for the low-quality customer service they've shown. She gives me the option of getting the Hero 5 Session or ordering the Hero 5 Black online and delivering to my house or to the nearest BestBuy store so that I "didn't have to come back to this store to pick it up". They said this to me about 3 times. Clearly they didn't want me coming back. RUDE. I tell her that this was the nearest store and that I would be at work all day so it wasn't convenient for me to get it shipped to my house. I look over their website and see that they're closed at 9pm - clearly Anne didn't know what she was saying. It's not like me to leave a bad review, but this was horrible. WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I'VE EVER...