Best Buy — Local services in Carson City

We are a Premium Service Provider with Apple. We contacted Carson City Best Buy today to discuss a repair with Geek Squad. I am the service manager here at Computer World In Appleton, WI and we were looking to help a mutual customer. After being placed on hold for just under 30 minutes, I was able to reach Chris at this location. I explained our situation to Chris and how we wanted to assist our mutual customer in getting his phone replaced. I had chatted with our Apple Support team, found the procedure on how to proceed, and while I was explaining all of this to Chris, he simply stated that unfortunately there was nothing he could do and that he "wasn't going to sit here and argue with me about it". I tried telling him that I wasn't here to argue, that I simply wanted to work with him and the mutual customer to try and resolve the issue. He combated back and stated that I was arguing. I then responded stating that it sounded to me like he simply didn't want to help, despite the fact that I had all the information he would have needed. He then proceeded to end the call by hanging up on me.

I deal with frustrating calls and situations all day. The only time I am able to terminate a call is when a customer begins to become unruly. At no time in this conversation did that happen, and instead Chris decided to escalate the situation beyond what was necessary. I simply wanted to assist him as a fellow Apple service provider, and based on this interaction, he didn't want to give me the time of day.

I was trying to send a repair his way. A legitimate repair for which their location would be reimbursed by Apple. A repair which I had already done the majority of the research and confirmed with Apple how to proceed.

I tried calling back to speak with the store director/store manager, but I was met with another long hold time and did not have another 30 minutes to wait.

I am truly taken aback by this. We are on the same team, Chris. I'm sorry if you are having a bad day, but that doesn't mean you should be taking it out on someone who is simply trying to help you and a mutual customer.

I don't know what your level is at the store, but I hope you can reflect on this situation and learn to better communicate with your guests and your partners. Please understand that in customer service, we first seek to understand, then to be understood. You did not have a clear understanding of what I was asking and instead jumped to conclusions instead of trying to solve a problem.

I hope you can get the proper training you need, and I hope your team at Best Buy and Geek Squad stand behind you. I understand that Best Buy is relatively new to the Apple support channel, and I understand how difficult navigating the intricacies of Apple service can be. Thats why I wanted to try and work with you and help you. Instead, you burned a bridge unnecessarily, and I find that incredibly sad and disheartening.

I wish you and your team the best in your future endeavors.

Regards,

Eric Markert Service...

Literally will never shop at Best Buy again. I called Best Buy, the number listed for the store, and made an appointment with geek squad to have my computer screen replaced. I live in Mammoth Lakes, so of course I made sure of the cost before I made the trip. I was told several times that it was $99 to replace the screen And I asked are you sure it’s $99. I also told him I did not have AppleCare. They assured me and made an appointment for Friday at 4:20 in the afternoon. So I got off work early and I made a 3 hour (6 round trip) the first time leaving Mammoth Lakes in the last six months because I thought it was worth the drive. When I got there, it took about 30 minutes for them to get all my information into their computer as whoever was helping me seemed to be new. He continually had to go into the back to talk to his supervisor. He then told me it would cost $89 to send it out to repair and that it would take weeks to fix. At this point, I was OK with everything although I was not told us on the phone. I asked him the total cost which he did not give me right away. Instead, he had to go into the back once more. He then told me it would cost $900 to fix the screen. I asked to speak to a manager and when he came out, he explained that nobody at the store gave me that price and there was nothing they could do (although whoever I was speaking to on the phone and the manager in the store both work for the same company he didn’t care) No care for the six hours (and two hours of work I took off) of my time nor the gas to get out there and no fixed computer screen. I left being told the best thing I could do would be to contact corporate and and even then they probably couldn’t do anything for me.

Great Job wasting my time and money without...

Purchased a new StarLink kit on Friday, went to set it up on Sunday and although it worked, I couldn’t sign in as that kit was “already associated with another account”. Perhaps the kit was a floor model, Geek Squad Demo unit or a return, being assigned to someone’s account right out of the box kind of implies it used.

Calling the 1-800 number to Best Buy to “release” the unit so it could be associated to my account was a two hour journey to nowhere. The chat bot was beyond useless and because of all the above, I got to drive 96 miles back to Carson City to exchange the unit. For the aforementioned issues, I’d give Best Buy zero stars but it doesn’t end there.

Upon returning to the store, explaining the issue (with pictures of the registration screen), the clerk apologized and grabbed another unit and encouraged me to register/activate the unit in the store, open the box and verify condition to prevent a future misfire. I thought the way he handled it was perfect. Corporate Best Buy could learn a thing or two. And for how that employee at Carson City Best Buy handled the situation, I’d give...