Best Buy — Local services in Jackson Township

I was pretty disappointed with my experience at this Best Buy location yesterday. I realise that the date made an impact on this experience too (the Wednesday before Thanksgiving) but I feel it's still worth explaining. If it were any other timeframe I would likely be rating one star.

My SO and I came in to switch to a new cellular service (my SO just couldn't wait to do it at any other given time, it HAD to be right then). We talked to a rep in that department who explained how everything would work and that we could either 1) buy the phones we chose outright, 2) lease the phones for one of those "forever upgrade" plans which are a trap, or 3) do a payment plan on the phones and own them outright at the end of the payments. The leasing plan was the only one that would be $0 out-the-door that night. We waved to own the phones but buying them outright is ridiculous (one was $950 and the other was $1,050) so we chose to finance. The rep said that on that plan our out-the-door cost would be the sales tax on each phone ($67 and $74).

So we're like alright, and after waiting for him to grab the phones we chose for almost an hour, we start to go through the process. The person doing our activation told us that it was his first Black Friday and he'd been crazy busy, and I get that. But as I watched him go through the process on his register screen I realised that he had no idea what he was doing. He had to start the process over 3 or 4 times and didn't know how to keep our current phone numbers, though "port-in" was an option directly on the right-hand side of the screen. That was disappointing, that I would lose my number of almost 15 years because this kid couldn't choose "port-in" and type my number into the field. But I still accepted that.

We get to the end of the transaction after being there for almost two hours (just waiting on everyone to figure out what they're doing) when the kid says that - surprise! - now we have to put $500 and $550 down on the phones plus the sales tax for the new out-of-door cost. This I'm convinced is because he didn't know what he was doing and chose the wrong option somewhere. So or new out-the-door total would be around $1,300 after everything and a couple phone cases.

The only reason we had decided to go through with the purchase was because the first rep told us we could expect to pay the sales tax and be out of there, so we were expecting to drop around $250 on that tax and the cases. $250 and $1,300 are two VERY different prices and we were only prepared to pay the original agreed upon price. I mean... I make about $1,400 IN A MONTH. And this kid looked at us expectantly like I was just going to fork over almost an entire month's income for a couple phones!!! And to be honest I found that behaviour more offensive by my knowledge that Best Buy reps typically make an hourly rate that's almost $5 less per hour than my own... So y'all expect me to be able to afford a blindside that y'all definitely know you couldn't afford yourselves? Feels like a slap in the face.

So, needless to say, we cancelled the whole thing and bought a couple StraightTalk phones from the WalMart across the street. There in the lobby of the WalMart were two other people that we'd seen at Best Buy that were discussing having also been totally blindsided with extra thousands in costs as well, so it wasn't isolated to just us that day. It was really disappointing to have to stay with straighttalk as we were both pretty excited about getting "upgrades" (for the first time in several years for me). It would've been different if either 1) the first rep told us the truth, or 2) we weren't blindsided with an extra $1,200 in costs, which would be more than just buying one of the phones outright. If it were any other timeframe I would find this completely unacceptable, but because it's right before thanksgiving and this store obviously didn't give themselves enough time to train new folks... I can't blame it on them.

But definitely don't have reps try to do transactions that they don't...

If I could I would put the store at a 1.5 stars. Situation: I am a "My best buy total" member I went into the store you place or even send out my phone which is covered on the plan. The first associate "Cal" was helpful at first but we did have some differences in the information we had at sending the phone and/ or replacing the phone in-store. "Cal" called the manager over while we waited for the manager I told "Cal" o would call the 24/7 support line for being a member. This was to clarify the discrepancies we all had with the information of this plan.

As we waited for the manager, the customer support line rep spoke to us and let us know what the policy was and what is covered. They let us know the issue is covered with the policy. To clarify to "Cal" about what the rep said I put them on speaker phone and summarized the discussed policy details and let the rep know add any information I missed. After that we waited once more for the manager to come and discuss with us what the problem was and hash out any differences.

BUT...... THIS IS WERE THE ISSUES GO FROM BAD TO WORSE AND ENTIRELY DISRESPECTFUL.

I hang up the phone with the 24/7 rep because we were just waiting for the manager, my wife and kids left because we were waiting entirely way to long. But once I hung up the phone here comes the so called manager " Keaton" on his badge it said supervisor. Out the gate Keaton was disrespectful telling us we are wrong and he doesn't care about who we spoke to on the phone and did not want to listen and just kept saying it would be 80$ even after we all spoke to the rep that it is covered by the membership. Keaton said he didn't care about what the policy and the person on the phone told us. I told Keaton if he could provide a policy since it is clearly different then what we all heard. He said no it would be 80$, it doesn't matter about what they say. I said well let's call another rep so you can discuss what it is. As I called a 2nd time and they told us the said thing Keaton still didn't want to listen to me,my brother, the customer call rep, nor Cal about to policy he didn't care, highly disrespectful. We left the store and will not be shopping at best buy again. I came to this conclusion after retrospectively reviewing the situation. Keaton first saw me with my kids and family. He walked past us about 3 times after the initial request for a manager I didn't figure this out until he actually came to us. He waited until I was off the phone with the first rep to then walk up( we saw him standing there and then walk up after the call ended) I don't know if Keaton did not want to help to black men, but I can't think of anything else because we were not irate or even aggressive. Keaton was rolling his eyes and just being disrespectful when he said certain things making it was like we were lying. Keaton definitely shouldn't be working at best buy or in retail let alone as a supervisor. I will not be shopping there again and I encourage others to do so if best buy continues to act this one. I want to thank Cal and the customer call rep But Keaton and the attitude of the entire store needs to change, Keaton. Should leave if not needs to be taught how to handle situations if he...

This experience has just shown me that I should stick to Amazon. On Thursday, January 13, 2022, around 6:30pm, I attempted to exchange a Nintendo Switch Joy-Con that was given to me as a holiday gift.

Entering the store, I was not greeted and the Loss Prevention Associate was no where in sight. Being a black man in an electronics store I was concerned as I know items walking into the store should be marked with a sticker to avoid accusations of theft.

While I was waiting for a Customer Service a silver-haired woman from Geek Squad waved me over to her side of the counter for assistance. I informed her that I was wanting to exchange due to “stick drift” which is a common Nintendo Switch Controller issue, it was given to me as a gift, and I had the order receipt on my phone pulled up. The associate instead asked for the phone number of the person that purchased it, again, despite having the order receipt on my phone.

The associate proceeded to question if I wanted to exchange or return it despite my initial explanation. I told them that I wanted to exchange and the response was a flick of the wrist and “You’ll have to go get it”. I responded with a “Thanks, I’ll be right back”.

When I came back up to the register with the new controller, I thought I was in the clear. However, without a word, the associate walked away and spoke to a manager, who I believe was named Lauren. The associate then began to tell me that because the controller was purchased by an employee, they were unable to “give” me the discount and I would have to pay the difference.

Having worked in customer service for many years myself, this did not make much sense to me. In my mind it would be similar to purchasing an item during a sale and needing to exchange it due to a defect, but then having to pay the difference because the sale was over.

I was able to catch Lauren as I was exiting the store at the Loss Prevention station while she was talking to the Loss Prevention Associate. I asked if everything was correct and asked how a scenario would play out if she purchased a gift for someone. She told me that she tells anyone that she buys for that she has to return the item herself.

The Loss Prevention Associate then dropped into the conversation, laughing at the situation, and said that is not a proper use of the discount.

From start to finish, my experience at this store was less than phenomenal. Should I receive any gift from Best Buy moving forward, I will be requesting it be immediately returned and I will take my business elsewhere. An exchange of a known defect in product should not have been this much...