Best Buy — Local services in Concord

I'm writing this out of heart felt concern for a business I love dearly. This store in Concord, NH is one of the most depressing electronic stores to go into these days... and there aren't many of them! The shelves are 33% bare of any product in almost every aisle; most of the products there are less than 3 boxes deep with some boxes ripped open and taped up awkwardly; the key products for high marketing value to draw people in are tucked way in the back next to items that have nothing to do with each other (like, why would you put console gaming and a Woojer vest next to washer and drier appliances?! What's the strategy there??); the products in the center of the store aren't "in-demand" kind of items (like door bells and security locks... what is the Store Manager thinking?!); there's no theme that brings a vibe for people to get excited about. It all looks like how Radio Shack looked in its dying days of a warehouse full of old outdated electronic systems keeping shelves "looking" full when it's just junk that isn't selling. None of the associates know anything about the store or their products and only steer you away from them. This store reeks of management that just shows up to collect a check and goes home with no vigorously or drive to make it better tomorrow. Best Buy has become Meh Buy where it used to be the most awesome place to go and learn about new products, new computer setups, new styles and ideas that made you excited to spend thousands of dollars! Now, it's becoming a graveyard for phone cases, adapters of every kind imaginable, and useless Legos... like, wtf does Legos and candy have to do with electronics?! It's such a sad state of affairs when you have to watch something you love fade so much it looks like it's dying. If i was the Store Manager, I'd have a flow of displays where home theater systems are built with PRODUCTS ON MY SHELVES; home offices for podcasting with microphone and key light setups surrounding the computer and components that TELLS A STORY; associates walking around the store with cameras (we sell) taking pictures and showing off the quality of images and effects; horseshoes of shelves for theme based items like game consoles with portable speakers next to mini fridges for drinks and microwaves for snacks in bedrooms and dorm rooms. There's SO MANY themes and styles to play with it should NEVER look dead in there! And yet, here's my ode to a dying light that used to be my sanctuary to shop in. I guess the $20,000+ worth of electronics I've sunk into the business is all for nothing and I was duped just like everyone else. Farewell BestBuy and I loved you for all the joy you brought me and all my Marines and Soldiers over the past 20 years... we shall miss you when...

TL;DR: they wasted us 2+ hrs and put our existing phone into an unusable state and they were not able to revert it without us doing a fake payment and get refunded later.

Re-merchant response: While I appreciate merchants attempt to take negative reviews seriously and try to improve, what BestBuy did was nothing but a waste of time. I sent all my information to their social media private chat, and all I got was a generic copy paste response that has nothing to do with my case at all. They assumed I wasn't happy with a product and wanted to return it, which is completely not the problem I had with them.

Full story:

We were trying to buy a phone, the price is $100 cheaper if we activate the line in store. We took the offer and gave them every single piece of information that they asked for. Then they proceeded to be on the phone for more than an hour and half, later told us we have to upgrade our plan for it to work. Sure agreed. After another 10-20 mins they told us it didn't work and they needed to "hack the system" to make it work. Sure you have a bad system, shouldn't be our problem. And then after all the hacks, we have to wait for another an hour and half to actually take our phone home, and the price came out without $100 off. We were like, why would we spend 2 hours plus just for nothing? And our existing phone no longer works by that time. We said no we don't want this horrible deal anymore and would just buy the phone without the $100 off and take it home right away. And guess what they said? - NO! If you don't pay for it and pick it up later, your existing phone won't work!!

So they just deactivated our phone, charged us extra money without telling us, and won't reverse the whole thing without us buying the phone. They "claim" that they can just refund us right away, and use the refund money to buy the phone regularly. The manager also had a face that "it's all your fault and you should just comply to get your existing phone working again".

But as a customer I don't want to be part of your crappy system and have to "buy" something so that you can fix your internal mistake. What if you won't refund me as you promised, as what you literally just did to us? This sounds exactly like a typical scam where "you have to pay to get your money back". If we are not physically in the store I will be highly suspecting that these people are just scammers.

Totally a waste of time for absolutely nothing, and the manager did not apologize for the entire circumstance because of A COMPLETE THEIR FAULT, but rather just demanding us to do the fake payment and threaten us our existing phone won't work...

I've only been into this Best Buy a small handful of times, but I've never had a bad experience here. First of all, I've always been welcomed either at the door, or soon afterwards. My wife and I purchased our first TV here after we closed on our house. They helped pack it in our SUV and everything. That was a great experience. I've gone in a few times with my wife to look at laptops for her. We've never had any pushy salesmen, they just wanted to make sure she found the best laptop for her needs. Another excellent experience. I was curious about getting a Bluetooth speaker at one point, so I went in to Best Buy to look for a Bose speaker. A salesman came up to me to ask what kind of music I listened to, what volume I'd typically be listening at, and how important battery life/portability was to me. He ended up convincing me to buy a JBL Charge 4 instead of a Bose, and I'm very happy with the recommendation. Yet another excellent experience. Most recently, I ordered a Samsung Galaxy watch from Best Buy online, was told it would be ready the same day. I took a quick trip over on my lunch break, was welcomed right away, the dudes in the pickup area were very nice, got me my product, and that's that. I must have been in and out in less than 10 minutes. I'm not a Best Buy fanatic by any means, or their most regular customer, but every time I've taken a trip in, I have always had a great experience, and I will continue to buy my gadgets from them.

UPDATE 02/05/2023 - The TV I purchased from this location back in 2015 finally died, so I purchased a beautiful Samsung 75" 4K TV, but I ordered it online. I did however purchase the wall mount and wire-hiding kit from this store, and was expertly taken care of, as I have been in the past. Again, Best Buy impressed me with their customer service. I wish I purchased the TV in person, because the staff at this store is wonderful, and I would've loved to have given someone credit for the sale.

UPDATE 03/07/2024 - I've been putting together a small home stereo setup, and part of that has included getting a new turntable. I asked one of the employees about turntables, and she directed me to another employee with experience with the matter. I ended up looking at an Audio Technica turntable, and will most likely be buying it within the week. Once again, I am impressed with this Best Buy. I never got an "I don't know, sorry" answer. When the first associate didn't know enough to help me, they found the person that did. As always, incredibly impressive...