Best Buy — Local services in City of Industry

I bought a display model, open-box FAIR condition Sony OLED TV from Westminster Mall, and the folks at Westminster Mall were 10/10 folks who were transparent about the state of the product, meticulously demonstrated the problems in front of me, and assured me that I can return it anytime if the OLED burn-in affected my use case experience. The product did not come with a remote control and a stand, just the screen, and it did not have its original box so they used a Samsung box but put their open box stickers on the box.

I had to return the product as I underestimated the burn-in damage, and Westminster Mall was an hour and 15 minute drive away. The closest Best Buy to me is this one at 17545 Gale Avenue, and as per my years of experience dealing with Best Buy buying thousand dollar laptops, I can return products to any store regardless where I bought them.

As I entered the store, the reception was fine, put a sticker on my return and directed me to customer service. Once there, there was only one girl on the computer who would look at me as I was standing there and she would say nothing. Not one reaction, just looking at me from time to time as she went about whatever she was doing. I usually do not care as I am not entitled to a "we'll be right with you" courtesy as I empathize with the service industry dealing with entitled customers all the time, so this is just nitpicking.

Now, big boss man arrives, tall man in a black shirt, cap, and glasses. Eyes me. I tell him I bought a TV from Westminster Mall and I wish to return it. Immediately, before I even handed the TV to the desk for his inspection, he already pre-dismissed me with a "We usually don't accept returns from other stores." I then explained to him the details of the product: display model Sony OLED TV, returning for burn-in, came only with the screen, no remote control, not stand. Guy would seriously look at me in the eye in that deadpan face, and said we'll look at it. He took the TV at the back, and after a while, he came back and said "We can't accept this return because the label did not say it was missing the remote control and stand. This is the fault of the Westminster store so you should return it there."

I'm like, okay, understandable. Except that's an hour and 15 minute drive. Maybe the Westminster folks are to blame, but from the way that store treated me with so much transparency, humanity, and empathy, I can't fault them but myself.

I decided that before I take that long drive to Westminster, I might as well check first with the West Covina mall Best Buy.

The way I was treated at West Covina mall, compared to this Gale Avenue Best Buy, I thought I was going to cry. They pampered me in there, the receptionist, a girl, literally carried the TV for me to customer service!!! Then big boss man came over to check on me, and he himself squatted down on the floor to inspect the TV with me, plugging it in, getting a universal remote control for me. He straight up understood that display models for TV usually don't come with the accessories and the original box. He asked for a second pair of eyes to inspect the burn-in, and we found that it wasn't a burn-in exactly, but a panel defect showing horizontal streaks of uneven color on a solid color background. But it doesn't end there. I was offered some really great deals with their open box OLED TVs as replacement!!! Big boss man escorted me to their inventory and had me take a look. The OLED TV I bought from Westminster was actually a super-rare open box discount and it is difficult to find a similarly unbelievable deal ($540 for a Sony Bravia OLED XR!!!).

So yeah, West Covina Mall Best Buy gave me such an unconditionally welcoming experience with extremely understanding and "will go above and beyond"-attitude-having staff, especially compared to this Gale Avenue store.

Can I fault Gale Avenue's staff for my experience? Not really. But compared to the way I was treated at West Covina Mall? West Covina Mall gets 10/5 stars from me. Normalizing this, my Gale Avenue Best Buy...

I purchased a gas dryer along with installation kits at this store in December 2021. The salesperson I dealt with displayed a high level of arrogance, so I sought assistance from the female manager. Unfortunately, she proved to be even more arrogant than the staff. Despite this, I proceeded with the purchase and paid for the product.

During the delivery and installation, the young man from Best Buy unloaded the new dryer in my garage. To my surprise, he then asked me, a handicapped man in my 70s, to move the old dryer by myself without offering any assistance. After that, he quickly glanced around and informed me that I should have installed a gas exhaust outlet before they could connect the new dryer. He left in a hurry, leaving me both stunned and confused about his statement. I found this Best Buy installer to be highly arrogant as well.

Subsequently, I hired a plumber to visit my home and assess the requirements for the new dryer installation as requested by Best Buy. The plumber spent less than half an hour examining the gas line, exhaust access, and exit. He also assisted me in moving the old dryer and successfully installed the new one in its place. He assured me that everything in my laundry room was in perfect condition and couldn't understand what the Best Buy representative was referring to. He speculated that perhaps they had brought 8" installation kits that wouldn't fit my 4" exhaust hole. Additionally, given the holiday season, he surmised that the Best Buy installer was busy and didn't want to spend much time on a single case, hence finding a quick excuse to leave. The plumber demonstrated far greater professionalism and politeness than the Best Buy employees.

Consequently, I wrote a letter to one of the VPs at Best Buy HQ, who is responsible for customer services, recounting the entire story and requesting a response. Unfortunately, I have not received any reply from her over the past three months. I consider this Vice President to be irresponsible and also highly arrogant.

Recently, I received a call from a young man at Best Buy Home Delivery regarding my letter to their management. To my disappointment, he showed no signs of apology or remorse for my experience. He bluntly stated that the installer was following Best Buy's installation policy, claiming that it was the customer's responsibility to modify their existing facilities to meet the store's requirements. When I inquired why this was not clearly communicated to me during the purchase at the store, he responded in a mocking tone, asking if they should go into such detail during the sales process. Apart from being extremely arrogant, I struggled to find another word to describe his attitude.

Considering the events I have described, one might question whether "Best Buy" is an appropriate name for this establishment. Perhaps "Worst Buy" would be a more accurate reflection of their business practices in a...

Honestly had the worst experience just for picking up an order.

I ordered a phone with a trade in. Online there was a promotion for a free gift but didn't let you choose the color. I asked online and it said the manager should be able to just switch the color in store. Also stated in my order is that I had to do the trade in, in store.

So I go in, ask this girl if I could switch the color first. She tells me ya just buy the new bands for the watch. I was like no, can I get one with the color included? And she just tells me no but can buy new bands if I didn't like it. I am like ok not too big a deal. Then she gets the phone, and says did you factory reset your phone. I was like no could I get my new phone first and transfer all the data over, and she tells me no I would have to factory reset first. So i am like what, seriously, no one online said I had to do that.

I go back to my car, spend like 10-20 minutes backing up data and reset my phone. As soon as I walk in i'm like this makes no sense, like how do I even show them my email now for my pick up order. But obviously they can just look up my order through my personal info and I was just here. I was hoping I got someone else to help me, because the girl was obviously incompetent, and her incompetence would show even more when I go back in. Going through the trade in process, she tells me she needs to keep my sim card because she needs the imei. I am just standing there in disbelief because the imei is in the phone not in the sim card. So I just stand there being gas lighted about how she needs my sim card.

She calls someone else over and hes like no he needs it, the imei is in the phone sim card tray. So finally someone who knows what theyre doing came to help. At the same time while im waiting, this other customer comes in also picking up their preorder for the phone, and another employee helped the other customer. He asks to back up his phone, and the best buy employee goes ya you can go over there to back it up, once youre done come back here.

Literally just standing there in disbelief after I heard that. The cherry on top, the girl goes through the trade in and tells me it's only like $75 when I was quoted for $300. But this got resolved quickly as 2 of her coworkers came over and corrected it. Like just every step of the process this employee messed up. At this point im just like alright im going to grab my stuff and go ask another employee if it was possible to exchange the color. And to ruin my experience, they told me no I can't because it was too late. So I don't even know if it was possible to ask in the beginning because the incompetent employee just straight up told me to buy new bands, and obviously had no idea what...