Best Buy — Local services in Marina

Due to the recent power/internet outage, I tried to utilize a mobile hotspot I purchased from Best Buy last year. It had run out of data, so I went to Best Buy this morning to purchase a new allotment of time for $49.99

After trying to activate the new purchase over several hours with the Simple Mobile tech team, they finally notified me that the products SIM card was “out-of-date” and that I needed to buy a new SIM card.

At this point I am pretty angry, as it is not like I purchased this product in 2012, my business is only 3 years old and I got it in the second year of my business. 

It is extremely frustrating that Best Buy wouldn’t let people know that if they are buying more time for their mobile hotspot, then they need to purchase a new SIM card if they bought it before X date.

If it had ended there I wouldn’t be writing this review.

I found the SIM card at Best Buy online, and purchased it. I was dreading if it would actually be there since it said “last one in store”, but to my pleasant surprise it was there when I picked it up. 

But little did I know, my nightmare had just begun.

I tried to update the SIM card and the purchased data on the Simple Mobile website, and even though I clicked Hotspot, it kept asking me if I wanted to keep the old phone number or get a new one.

I DO NOT WANT A PHONE I JUST WANT INTERNET FOR MY BUSINESS.

After another hour plus on the phone with tech support I come to find out that this SIM card is for phones only, even though it starts with the “8901” prefix that they told me to look out for. Furthermore they do not sell the other ones locally but “I can get one mailed to me by next week”.

So at this point, Best Buy not only sold me a faulty product that I paid more to try and fix, only to find I cannot use anything I paid for (including the original product, the $49.99 plus tax in data I purchased this morning, plus the new “SIM card”). Naturally these are non-refundable items. #SCAM

More importantly, I wasted a whole day of work trying to get WiFi when I would have been better off going to the library or Starbucks to work.

No wonder bricks/mortar chains are going out of business! Sadly, I can get better customer support and attention from the online behemoths.

This is the LAST time I even shop, enter, or otherwise say or type the word “BEST BUY”.

More like WORST BUY...

i have unfortunately had to deal with this location several times for a variety of things, and every time i have gone it has been an uphill battle. in august of 2021 my computer (bought from them) completely stopped working so i took it in for maintenance. i was told i could expect it back in 2-4 weeks, however 6 weeks later i received it back “fixed” for it to only shut off again not even thirty minutes after i had returned home. i had to turn around and drive back to resubmit it for more maintenance when they informed me the paperwork was done incorrectly the first time and it couldn’t be sent in again. after the workers got help from a manager, i was told they overrode the incorrect paperwork an were able to send it out once again. 2-4 week estimated time, 6 week actual time once again. this time when it was ready for me to pick up they told me that something had happened and they simply couldn’t repair it (after making me pay twice to get them to repair it) and instead gave me store credit to purchase a replacement. whatever, that was nearly a year ago at this point, it’s done. however just recently i placed an online order for an Ipad to help with school because online classes require a lot of attention and my laptop is a little to big to lug around everywhere. i was told it would be ready for pickup within an hour, only to call several hours later and be told that a verification process was going to delay the pickup until the next day. that’s fine. the next day, it’s 5pm and they close at 8 so i call to see what’s going on. first i’m on hold for 30 minutes and the representative picks up only to hang up the call so i, once again have to call back and wait. this time i get a representative so doesn’t hang up but instead tells me that they’re waiting for the payment to go through. my bank has already taken the money out of my account so when i told him - no it’s already gone through - magically the reason it’s still not ready is they’re just a little busy right now. this store is by far the most disappointing best buy i have ever encountered and i have never once had an easy experience getting...

I recently spent a over 25 min waiting for someone to help the get an item from a glass shelf at a non-peak hour (The store was pretty much deserted). After the nearby employee didn’t really care to help (was busy on his computer), I decided to look for another employee around the store. When I finally found a female employee, she angrily told me that if I needed the product out of the shelve I had to wait to wait as long as necessary (I understand) BUT she went on an unnecessary rant saying they are understaffed and that help is NOT available for EVERY customer. Excuse me? Not every customer deserves help? what did she mean? Was I discriminated? As a paying customer, I have NOTHING to do about their understaffing problem! That's the company management's problem. I understand employees must be stressed for this, but honestly, that’s something they have to discuss with their management and NOT with customers. They need to understand customers are not the source of the problem, but the greed of the company itself (I am sure less people want to work for mediocre salaries). Surprisingly, the guy at the entrance told me it was better to not come until January. In my opinion, it is quite concerning that an employee feels the need to tell customers to stay away from the store during the holiday season. Management at the Marina, CA location need to pay attention to scenarios like this and I am sure employees must behave in a polite manner, without such entitled behavior. I am taking my business elsewhere until they get they things...