Best Buy — Local services in Mayfield Heights

Products we buy at Best Buy are usually commodities, we can find the same product, in the same box, with the same specifications, at (perhaps) a different price.

But those "rules" seem to change on Amazon's Prime Day. Every store selling similar items bends over backwards to match Amazon's price. Even me, a man who was put out of business by Amazon takes a look to see if something I want or need is on sale. But I hesitate because Amazon has problems.

It’s faced allegations of these practices:

Product Knockoffs / Business Impact: Amazon has been accused of copying seller’s products and using its platform to launch competing private-label products. That hurts business competition.

Monopolistic Practices: Federal honchos allege Amazon engages in anti-competitive practices to maintain super-dominance in e-commerce, like promoting its own products over competitors in its search results and charging high fees to sellers to show up in the search if they want to.

Workers' Rights Violations: Unsafe working conditions, long hours. (Don’t think this one warrants explanation.)

Tax Avoidance: Amazon has created complex corporate structures to minimize corporate taxes. So, you’re paying taxes Amazon rightfully owes.

Privacy Violations: Some say they harvest and use customer data inappropriately. (There’s a data broker out there who knows you pick your nose.)

Use of Conflict Minerals and Weak Supply Chains: Sourcing practices involving questionable labor conditions and conflict minerals.

Amazon's impact extends far and wide. But hey, you and I want our stuff in 2 days or less and at the lowest possible price, right?

But I digress. I recently moved to Cleveland so I have a lot of stuff I've got to buy. For example, I left my vacuum cleaner behind (I wonder if it misses me.)

I looked at Amazon and determined the make and model I wanted, then I took a look at Best Buy’s web site. The identical vacuum was offered at the identical price as listed on Amazon. Also, if I ordered it yesterday afternoon I’d have it the next day—TODAY. And I did!

I ordered yesterday afternoon and had it in my hands today at 10:43AM!

I think Best Buy subcontracts its local deliveries. I didn’t meet the driver but I think they’re smart enough to use NAS Logistics. The driver texted when he was on the way and then again when he arrived at my apartment complex. This complex is huge and tough to navigate (I'll bet that's why they call it "complex."). He arrived too early to access the package room so he had the good sense to take it to our mail room – and he texted me so I’d know. Smart guy.

I like Best Buy a lot. If you want, you can see and hold what you’re considering before you buy it. And you can ask questions knowing you won’t be pitched to buy more, or bigger, or newer. (or have your attention diverted with a popup that reads, "people like you also considered vaporized mouse droppings." What is “a person like me?" That’s frightening.)

(FYI, it's my understanding if you find something in a Best Buy store and see it advertised online for less, Best Buy will match the...

I live about 5 miles from this store, but I will drive 15 minutes to the store in Mentor. The employees, for the most part, are very nice, but they are wildly uneducated on their products. On more than one occasion, an employee has handed me the product I 'needed' -- citing their knowledge of what I was looking for -- only for me to get home and have it be completely wrong... More than once, they've talked me out of the proper product for a different product. The latest example? I was in store buying a replacement FitBit Charge HR charger for my Mom. The girl who was 'helping' me handed me a charger for the FitBit Charge, although I told her that the Charge and Charge HR used different chargers, she swore that I was incorrect and even pulled rank telling me that she knew all of FitBit's products and accessories. Her famous last words? "Worst case, if it doesn't work, you can always return it..." Wrong again! When I returned to the store, with the charger and receipt in hand, I was unable to return the $20 charger because it was open.

This all seems to be a reoccurring theme at this store. The sales associates are so eager to tell you what you need and get you to the point-of-sale in their department in order to earn their commission, anything you ask will be in one ear and out the other. I've corrected them on an iPad case, Samsung S2 Classic charging dock, Apple Pencil, and MacBook Pro charger during my last handful of trips. I'm obviously not the only one as is evident by their mile long customer service line for returns. Not to mention my biggest problem, getting scammed on a $50 gift card... The cashier 'mistakenly' dropped my gift card after swiping to activate it, only to bend down, pick up and hand me an identical looking non-activated card, keeping the $50 card for himself. Smooth. But hey, I guess cashiers need to make up some of the money their sales associate counterparts are getting by tricking you into a sale to get their commission, and letting you, the customer, deal with the repercussions of returning the item. It really is a charming store.

Ultimately it's my fault for going back, time and time again. From now on, I'm exclusively driving the extra 15 minutes to Mentor (as opposed to about 5 minutes to the Mayfield store) so that I at least have a chance of getting what I'm looking for. I'll spend triple that amount of that extra travel time standing in the customer service line at Mayfield anyways. It's not worth your trouble -- At the Mayfield store, the best thing that can happen to you is wandering into one of the many department where employees just stand around talking and glancing at you out of the corner of their eyes, hoping they don't need to end their conversation to assist you. At least that way, you stand a chance.

In short... Save yourself the trouble. Just order the wrong thing from Amazon, spend 45 minutes prepping it for return (to mimic the line you'll wait in), then just punch yourself in the face a few times. It's the Mayfield Best Buy experience, in the privacy of...

I tried to buy a laptop and some upgrades on the mobile app, but all I managed to do was trigger a fraud alert from my bank. I assumed the problem was their app, so I tried ordering on their website using a different credit card. That order went through, processed by my bank, but then Best Buy cancelled the order. Cutting my losses, I went to bed and would tackle the problem this morning. To add insult to injury, Best Buy enrolled me in their new computer email marketing, so I received emails congratulating me on my new purchase, and all these cool services and products I could by to maximize my pleasure. It’s like they were taunting me. This morning, I called the store and was greeting by an AI who was confused and not completing sentences. I mashed the zero key to talk to an operator, which proved frivolous, though finally I found a path to customer service. I was finally going to speak to a human! Nope, the joke was on me… my new AI friend informed me that the store wasn’t opened yet, even though their app, website, and Google business listing showed they are on holiday hours, opening at 9am. I tried everything I could to make this work, but alas, i lost the battle with the AI overlord. My old laptop dead, I was burning daylight, desperate to get a replacement so I could work today, on the Lord’s day, so I could pay my mortgage and so my wife could fall asleep without stress brought on by this horrible economy. You may be wondering why I took so much time to write this long review… well, I have some time to kill because I ordered a comparable model from microcenter and I’m waiting for the confirmation email to go pick it up. All I have left is to call my two banks, remove the fraud alert triggered by Best Buy’s AI troll, and I can go on with my life, hoping for a brighter future as we as a society cascade towards the technological singularity when AI will go full skynet and destroy the world. Thankfully, we have already scorched the earth and become so collectively stupid that there will be nothing left for it to rule over. Alas! I received a confirmation order that my new laptop is ready, ahead of schedule. Oh Best Buy, how the mighty have fallen. Please remove the charges from my Mastercard. I know this isn’t the place to ask, but I feel my chances of getting help are significantly higher here, in this rambling Google review, than in your stores or through your app....