Best Buy — Local services in Baton Rouge

I’ve been to the bluebonnet/ Louisiana Mall/ main Baton Rouge Best Buy so many times, their staff has always been outstanding. I’m not even sure if Sam still works there but he knows so much about his products, if your looking to buy a tv he knows every detail you need to know. One of the main managers-Vick runs a tight ship, not sure if he’s there anymore either but out of all Best Buy locations I’ve ever stopped at (I’ve been to them all in a 150 mile radius) he’s literally the best manager I’ve ever met throughout the years. If many of Best Buy’s locations were hacked off from corporate I would probably give all of them 5 stars because the actual stores are great. The 3 star review is not reflective of the actual store but it’s attachment to the overall machine that runs it, I’ll explain.

There’s tons of issues to talk about but it’s all relating to corporate BB. Best Buy used to be hands down the best place to buy electronics due to a couple programs they had, their rewards program was awesome, you’d earn points with every purchase you made, I made elite plus/ whatever top tier was called, spent crazy amounts of money to get to that status, last year or 2 years ago they phased that out, it’s only to credit card holders that are allotted points now, they might have phased that out as well.

I’ve also been a total tech holder since the ps5 hype back during Covid. Since then they have significantly gutted that program to and upped it to where you no longer receive the same features you used to for 200 dollars a year, pretty sure their raising that to.

Don’t know if this is still a thing either but I swear per corporate policy they would charge you a fee if you want a bag to put your products in. You want to return something, restocking fee per corporate policy. No more return and buy something else.

I have spoken to Best Buy employees who lament on the fact that corporate literally will restrict them from ordering more product to stock their own shelves in the store because they are trying to push shoppers to order from their website. Why anyone on this planet with any business sense in any business could/ should or would arrive at a clear thought and decide this was a beneficial idea for brick and mortar locations to stock less inventory to prop up their online business when their business is predominately built on brick and mortar locations is absolutely beyond me.

There’s a reason you used to go to Best Buy and not Amazon, (past tense) you went for the building, the perks/ rewards program/ peace of mind that you can return with ease/ bring in to get fixed, the people, the touch and feel of the in-person experience of the product, the bag it comes in, the customer experience that you receive throughout the entire buying experience to get the “Best Buy” both literally and figuratively.

It’s sad to see such a great mega chain going down the path of self sabotage straight from on high while the front line employees pay the price and lose the business/sales due to corporate insanity. There literally used to be a line in the morning before BB would open to get in just like at your favorite restaurant, now it’s becoming the next circuit city.

You take the shoppers rewards away, you restrict and strip away the product they came to see, you up-charge them for the shopping experience they came to you over the competition to have, you spell out to the customer, we all see it loud and clear either consciously as I am writing or subliminally as they are displaying, corporate doesn’t like you or the current business model your visiting them for. I wrote this because there are a many great employees at the Baton Rouge Best Buy and all across the nation right now that are suffering because of corporate overlords that have no clue who their customers are and what they want.

So heads up BB corporate, if you don’t get on program with your stores, you’ll probably be the next “toys r us” “circuit city” because the customer always makes the final rule and your customers don’t like what your doing to them or...

Best Buy sold me a dishwasher that they didn't actually have.

My dishwasher broke down for the fourth time so I decided it was time for a new one. Since I was hosting a party in two days I needed one fast. I would usually go to Lowe's or Home Depot for this kind of purchase, but it wasn't clear what dishwashers they had in stock. I thought I'd check Best Buy. Their website said they had a good one in stock available for 1 hour pickup. I was thrilled, so I made the purchase online and waited for my pickup notification.

After 2 hours the pickup notification never arrived. I figured I'd just go to the store, they could wheel it out from the back, help me put it in my truck, and I'd be on my way. I went to the pickup desk and explained the situation. They said they'd go locate it and get back to me. About 30 minutes later they said that the dishwasher was likely on a truck in the parking lot and needed to be unloaded first, so they assured me I'd get a notification later in the evening or early in the morning.

The next day comes around and I still have no notification. It's 25 hours after I put the order in for a 1 hour pickup, Best Buy has $1,000 of my money, and I have no dishwasher. I try calling the store, it rings for like 8 minutes, and instead I'm redirected to their corporate call center. I explain the situation so they start to investigate. They say that the dishwasher I ordered wasn't actually available at the store I ordered it from, that it was going to be brought from another store for me to pick up. I ask what store it will be brought from, hoping I can just pick it up from there myself, and they tell me they don't know.

So in summary I paid $1,000 for a dishwasher that they promised I could pick up in one hour when in fact they can't verify said dishwasher actually exists in their stores. I ask to cancel the order and ask for any kind of compensation, like a discount or whatever - I've lost lots of time on preparation for this party. They said if I bought another dishwasher from them they would offer a rebate. I tried to go to the Millerville Best Buy but couldn't find anyone to help me, so I gave up and went to Lowe's and left with a dishwasher in under 30 minutes.

I guess the moral of the story is don't buy anything at Best Buy that you can't actually...

THE WORST SERVICE EVER!!! ZERO STARS! We left without our items or being helped or being treated with respect! My husband and I went in to get a security camera. We were standing in the aisle where they are, there's a desk that 2 blue shirts(employees) were leaning against chatting. My husband and I were discussing the prices and features, a bit confused with all of the info. The 2 blue shirts just walked off and never attempted to help us. We continued looking and discussing and another blue shirt walks by and joins the group of blue shirts chatting. We made our selection mainly based on the sale ticket under the item. Honestly, no deceit, under the item we chose! We walked around the store for a bit looking at other items and were NEVER asked if we needed help. We went to the register to check out. That wasn't pleasant either. Our item rang up differently than the price under the line of items on the shelf. We told the cashier that it was on sale and offered to go get the tag from the shelf. My husband grabbed it while she used her phone to check online. As my husband is talking to the cashier and then a "manager" I walked over to the items to read the tiny sku numbers on the tags and the boxes. None of them matched the products that were under them. I was only looking at the one we picked out and the item next to it. There were 2 like we picked out in the same place over the sale tag and 3 of the other one next to them. While I was on my knees reading these tiny numbers and trying to match them to any item near, the manager walks up behind me and asked the blue shirts if a man was just there looking at the cameras but of course they didn't know because they were too busy talking to even notice we were there. Then, within ear shot, the manager says to them 'because I think he moved them.' I stood up and said no he didn't move them this is exactly where they were when we walked up and these people wouldn't know because they were standing here talking and never offered to help us find the prices. I was so offended that I walked to my husband and told him what the manager said about him in front of me. I told him we would be going somewhere else. The manager didn't even give us the courtesy of...