Best Buy — Local services in Evanston Township

Possibly the WORST customer service I have ever encountered!! I purchased a San Disk 1TB SATA hard drive from the Evanston BestBuy location (online) at 2301 Howard Street. I thought $30 for installation was a good deal, so I came back at the end of the week to pick up my laptop.

When I tried to restore a backup on the new drive, I had problems with what I assumed was a partition issue. It turns out that the drive they installed was not 1TB (1000GB) but only a 128GB drive! I came back to this BestBuy to have them fix the mistake, they opened the computer and said that the correct drive was installed. I told them that someone must have switched the labels then, because the drive name visible in the BIOS contained the letters "128GB" and all of the partition information proved it was not a terrabyte. Brandon confirmed that the label showed signs of tampering and said he would "have to look into it" and "check the security cameras", refusing to believe that one of their techs could have made the switch. I actually telephoned the police so they could dust the damned thing for fingerprints, but they said that I should call a lawyer, since they could not intervene in a civil suit involving a business transaction. Right! For a $250 hard drive, I'm gonna incur thousands of dollars of legal fees?? (At this point, I'd actually welcome a call from a reputable attorney who thinks we have a reasonable chance of winning a libel suit against them.)

My big issue is WHY IS THIS MY PROBLEM? They sold to me and installed defective hardware. They should have apologized and replaced it IMMEDIATELY! Instead, I had to drive to another Best Buy, purchase a new hard drive, and have them install and verify it before I left for my meeting. Incidentally, the Elston Best Buy store Geek Squad was so courteous and professional that I don't think I'll ever trust the Evanston store to install anything again.

Everyone else is right. They seem unable to help customers over the phone, and they don't give a darn about customer service.

Oct-2021 Follow-up: Since I purchased and paid for both the 1TB drive and the service online via PayPal, the hardware was covered by buyer protection, and I got some money back. After a couple of months, I got a phone call from BBY Corporate reviewing all of my attempts to remedy the situation through stores, international customer service and even the Illinois Attorney General. They were very apologetic, but I never did get compensated for the...

I recently visited your store on Thursday, November 7th, and wanted to provide feedback on my experience. While I understand that staffing levels can vary, it was apparent there was a shortage of employees on the sales floor. Nonetheless, I knew exactly what I wanted—a three-camera Nest system, originally priced at $450—after conducting research prior to my visit. As I made my way to the checkout, passing two to three employees, no one offered assistance, which was surprising given my prior positive experiences with Best Buy.

At the single front register, I had an impatient customer behind me as I tried to make my purchase, which included the Geek Squad warranty. I intended to use my Best Buy credit card, but due to a temporary ID, the transaction was declined. I decided to complete the purchase with another card, planning to return the following day to reprocess it with my Best Buy card.

On Friday, November 8th, I returned and sought assistance at the Geek Squad counter, where I was directed to the main registers. A team member informed me that I needed to wait for assistance at Register Two, which I did. A representative named Asad attempted to help but explained that I would need to visit the mobile center to resolve the credit card issue. When I arrived at the mobile center, I was met with an apparent lack of urgency from the employees. Unfortunately, it felt like they were simply passing me around to avoid actually helping or dealing with me. The supervisor, Diego, initially did not acknowledge my presence, and once he did, he instructed me, as the customer, to call Best Buy Citibank myself. Citibank informed me that my temporary ID was not acceptable, even when I presented both my temporary and expired IDs, as I am currently awaiting my permanent ID in the mail. Again, no one took steps to find an alternative solution.

This entire experience was highly frustrating, and as a result, I ultimately decided to return the product. I placed an online order to pick up at another location instead. I wanted to bring this situation to your attention as I believe it does not reflect the level of customer service, urgency, or accountability Best Buy...

I made several calls to this "Best TRY" and no one would answer the phone. I drove all the way from Winnetka, IL to Evanston, IL where the location of the store is and While on hold for 35 minutes waiting for a employee to answer! I entered store while I observed 6 employees standing talking with one another and not assisting the very few customers within! Walked to a employee that was sitting watching tv and and asked why is none of you answering the phone as I am on hold right now and showed the half hour plus time on my phone!The employee shrugged shoulders and called a young kid employee over and he walked away and sat nack down watching tv! I asked the kid for a common car I made several calls to this "Best TRY" and no one would answer the phone. I drove all the way from Winnetka, IL to Evanston, IL where the location of the store is and While on hold for 35 minutes waiting for a employee to answer! I entered store while I observed 6 employees standing talking with one another and not assisting the very few customers within! Walked to a employee that was sitting watching tv and and asked why is none of you answering the phone as I am on hold right now and showed the half hour plus time on my phone!The employee shrugged shoulders and called a young kid employee over and he walked away and sat nack down watching tv! I asked the kid for a common car audio product and found out no product was in stock and they made no attempt to try to get one for me! And basically blew me off! Why? Why is this place even open to the public? Why and how do there individuals have employment positions and how is this a successful business with these horrible work ethics! Horrible customer service! Wont be back! product and found out no product was in stock and they made no attempt to try to get one for me! And basically blew me off! Why? Why is this place even open to the public? Why and how do there individuals have employment positions and how is this a successful business with these horrible work ethics! Horrible customer service!...