Best Buy — Local services in Katy

On 5/14/24 I had a truly awful and humiliating experience when I visited to return video games I had purchased along with a PlayStation 5. One unpleasant young lady was sitting on a stool right in the doorway when I stopped to get the games tagged at the entrance. I was informed in an incredibly rude and hostile way that opened video games (and all physical media) were not returnable. Both she and the manager who approached me stated this fact as though it was so obvious and as though I was an idiot for thinking otherwise. I am not a gamer nor have purchased any physical media since 2005! The purchase was therapeutic in nature as my Therapist suggested I take gaming up to deal with some of the stuff I’ve been dealing with including the death of my hero and father.

This Return policy runs contrary to what I was told when I purchased the games with the PlayStation. When I checked out, a few weeks earlier, I had a detailed conversation with the guy ringing me up about how I was not into gaming and was seeking simply to try it out. I asked MULTIPLE TIMES about the return policy and was informed that I had 15 days to return my purchase. That the video games were not returnable once opened WAS NEVER MENTIONED!!! The man then tried hard, multiple times, to sell me on a protection plan and membership. When I finally relented and agreed to the membership after hearing that the 30 days would quadruple to 60 the employee STILL DID NOT SPECIFY that only the console could be returned!!! He had multiple chances to inform me and did not.

When I explained all of this to the now THREE employees, including a manager, that were confronting me as I stood there at the entrance they all treated me as though I was making the entire thing up! The rude young lady on the stool had the nerve to ask me if I had a receipt (who does??? she’d know that purchases are linked to phone numbers wouldn’t she??!) and if I had even really purchased the games there!!! When I started describing who I discussed the return policy with she gave me this incredulous look and attitude and all but said “no one like that works here” while still continuing to treat me as though I was a liar.

I honestly felt quite ganged up on throughout this terrible and embarrassing experience as other patrons passed by/entered the store. I never made it more than two feet past the entrance despite returning a second time to discuss this misunderstanding and their treatment further.

I left Best Buy seriously angry and bothered as heck. So much for a therapeutic move.

I understand the policy. My complaint here is less with it and FAR more with their massively rude and hostile delivery of it as well as being misinformed at the time of purchase. All I was looking for was for them to do something - ANYTHING at all about me being totally mislead about my purchase and the return policy around it. As a total non gamer I NEVER would have purchased a $500 system a long with FIVE* $30-$60 games(!!!) if I could not return what wasn’t a good fit.

Best Buy, with employees and deplorable customer service like this you’re driving more and more of my purchases to Amazon.

Boy would I love an apology directly from these 3-4 specific individuals. That’s a lot of employees that need some training in just basic customer service.

Talk to these people and do better! I’ll be on Amazon far more often now using your story only to view in person what I may want to purchase with...

Been a consumer of electronics for 50 years. Huge chain, but if looking for car audio, Mike is the guy. I’d give 5 stars except... more below. But for him, the rating would have been worse. The installer did a great job, and the servive overall was great. The sale of the product itself could have been handled with perhaps more regard for the "fit" to the customer (me), and the product itself (a Pioneer head unit). The bluetooth is so buggy that it simply cannot be used reliably with an iphone via bluetooth, especially if you are charging it at the same time (the way my 2015 Toyota did for a decade without issues). The head unit constantly (every 5 min or so) disconnects from the iphone - the unit is junk when it comes to that issue, which is huge. I never would have upgraded the unit had I known that. I went to a brick and mortar to avoid issueslike this, so hopefully someone learns from my "rookie mistake." I would've figured that a Pioneer would be a good bet, but I should've stuck with Alpine or Kenwood or maybe even just kept my stock Toyota head unit (which although it was less than perfect it was far more reliable in connecting and staying connected). Luckily Mike helped me solve the problem by simply using the hard wire connection method and turning off all the Bluetooth stuff. I'm satisfied with the solution because the sound quality, and the quality of the back up camera image on the decently sized display, make it functional for me because I usually plug my phone in anyway. Not exactly what I thought I was buying but at least I can use it now. I will also offer this... even if it didn't have the Bluetooth connection issues (Which are significant and very real), The interface is terrible. There is an android like delay in the touchscreen responsiveness or should I say lack of, And navigating the radio is terrible. The other thing that I would suggest strongly is to not consider a unit that does not have a rotating knob for volume control. The failure to include that is just one indicator of the cheapening of the manufacture and adjusting the volume on the touchscreen or even with your steering wheel volume controls (which will work) makes the volume adjustment somewhat unpredictable and definitely slower than a knob. There is a noticeable delay in the steering wheel control and the slow as molasses touchscreen response. Spend the extra $50 and get one with a knob. None of these issues are the fault of Best Buy per se but I have to believe that when you go to a brick and mortar store that the salesman would tell you these things rather than let you figure these things out after you bought the product... otherwise what are they really even there for? I guess that's not 100% fair as he also helped me schedule the service and he did also figure out which parts were necessary to make it fit properly with the Toyota controls. Pretty sure he simply read the list off thescreen and checked inventory, but it was something. He was also objective about where to settle as far as the most practical upgrade to sound quality, And is it reasonable for me to expect these salesman to know the quirks of all the various units that Best Buy sells? Maybe not but I'm sure that they do know how damn slow the touchscreen is and how much happier people are with the volume control that they can simply adjust by turning as opposed to tapping and waiting tapping and waiting. Anyway there's my...

To whomever this may concern at Best Buy management department on Fry rd. & i10.

I visited your store on October 16 at around 7:10PM. I was greeted by the woman in the front and she pointed in the direction of where my Apple Pencil pro item was located and camera products I wanted. I was unable to find my items, I ask the cashier and she just stays sitting in her chair the whole time and just points somewhere and that’s it.

I go to where she points and nothing… I ask another gentleman who works for Best Buy toward the back electronics section and he says go back to the cashier and ask them about it. Additionally, I saw other store employees who were playing on their phones and when I was approaching them to ask for assistance they walked away to the back/ side section of the store where only employees may enter.

I walked around your store aimlessly and mind you I hate this store and only came here out of necessity and try to avoid this store for good reason as this is always the case of how the customer service is here and idk much about tech things so I’m someone who needs assistance when shopping here and assistance is an extremely rare and difficult thing to find at this Best Buy.

In contrast, at around 7:40PM a young gentleman with earrings and a nose piercing named Lenard who was already assisting another customer came to me and asked if I needed assistance and I definitely said yes and he walked with me throughout the store and got me everything I wanted and explained the products to me and how to use them and what to watch out for. He was very knowledgeable and I was very lucky he assisted me. In addition, he was very pleasant, sociable (I enjoy socializing with others so this was a big thing for me and made my trip here very nice) and overall a very respectful, hardworking, knowledgeable and pleasant human being.

Lastly, he assisted me in checkout too because he knew I was not happy with the other associates at the cash register area and that is when I asked him about customer review surveys but Best Buy doesn’t include those on their receipts so I took the liberty to have him write his name down on the receipt so I could make this review to shine a line on the diamond in your fry and i10 location compared to all the other terrible associates.

Therein, I do believe he is owed additional compensation for doing not only his job but carrying the weight of all the other poor quality associates that he is forced to work...