Best Buy — Local services in Pueblo

I found a phone I was looking for in stock at a store 47 miles away from me, at this location. I called them to confirm that the phone actually existed and was in stock and I was - quite rudely, actually - informed they have 1 left but they won't hold it for me. At 1:30pm, I made the hour drive down to Pueblo from Colorado Springs to return my current phone and pick up the new one.

The gentleman helping me seemed very annoyed that he had to help me. He didn't offer any small talk, he didn't smile, and he sounded irritated whenever he spoke. There was another young woman that was helping intermittently that was way more personable and easy to talk to. They both tried to process my order several times, and it kept failing. They didn't tell me what the failure was or what the system was saying, only that they didn't know why it wasn't working and they're sorry. I was pretty irritated after having traveled so far to be told that, so I decided to call customer service to see if they could figure out what was wrong with my order. I spent almost an hour on the phone with customer service - most of it on hold - and was asked by them if the employees in the store had filed a ticket with their internal help system, or called anyone else to help. They hadn't, so she told me to try again and tell them to call their help desk. When I went back in, both employees tried one more time, with the same results. When I mentioned that customer service told them they should call their support desk, they both said that the support desk is useless and wouldn't solve the problem - and even if it did, it would be too late to help me. They again didn't really end our interaction and eventually just moved to help other guests.

Around 4pm - nearly three hours later - I drove the hour back north and I went into the local Colorado Springs store to return my device, and was very ably assisted by a specialist who helped me fix my order. During this, she discovered that whatever Pueblo Best Buy had done while I was there had messed up my account and created duplicate returns. To fix this, she had to call Verizon and clear everything up - she spent around a half hour helping me and fixing these errors - which was greatly appreciated. After ALL of this was taken care of, I had an hour to get back to Pueblo to get the device I was after - it was 8:10pm and the store closed at 9pm.

The manager was informed I was coming (per my home Best Buy) several hours ago - but having returned my phone to the Colorado Springs Best Buy, I was unable to call him to let him know. I drove very quickly back another 47 miles, and I arrived precisely at 9:01pm. The gentleman from the door - who was there earlier and saw my struggles - said they were closed. I asked him if I could please buy the phone, since I had just driven an hour from Colorado Springs and it was my third hour of travel to Pueblo that day. He said he was sorry, but he sent his mobile team home already. During this conversation, I could see the mobile team in the store behind him, and other customers still moving about and making purchases.

This was incredibly frustrating and infuriating, not only because I was late because they messed up my account - but also because they know how far I had been driving all day to solve this. I had to spend a day without a phone for work, AND I had to drive down to Pueblo and back again in the afternoon to get it. If any other store in the state had what I wanted, I would refuse to visit that store again, but I'm unfortunately forced to. I was helped by employees who didn't know how to do their job and proceeded to damage my account, I was dealt with by incredibly rude and thoughtless people, and I drove almost 300 miles and spent over 9 1/2 hours total between the phone and the two stores on both days to try to deal with Best Buy - somewhere I'm not sure I'll ever be inclined to shop at again, outside of my home Best Buy and the employees I know. Every problem could have been solved with some simple kindness and a tiny bit of extra...

Story time. I purchased a screen repair from Geek Squad for an Apple phone. I was told by Noah it would be completed by noon the next day at the latest so they would need to keep my phone overnight. Noah also said that they would call if there were any issues and gave me Geek Squad's direct extension should I not hear anything.

At 1:00 p.m. the next day, I hadn't heard anything, so I gave them a call for a status update. The first time I called and put the extension in and didn't get an answer and was prompted to leave a voicemail (I didn't leave one because who checks voicemail?). I called again 10 minutes later, no answer, and went to voicemail. Called a 3rd time and got through to someone. I gave them all my information and they said they would go check. They came back and told me the phone was ready for pickup and I could come by anytime.

I show up 30 min later, give the Geek Squad associate my info, and they go to get my phone. I wait about 5 min, then he comes out and tells me it's not ready and won't be ready for another 2 hours...

I asked for an explanation as I had called and checked already, and they denied ever getting a call...

I asked who I talked to then because I called their direct extension and they said they didn't know but they were sorry. I asked for a manager and Stefan, the GM, came to talk to me. I explained the situation and they said they were sorry, but someone called in, so they were behind. I said understandable and asked who I talked to on the phone then that told me the phone was ready and they said the phone calls go to a call center if they don’t answer. (How is that possible if I was sent to Voicemail twice before...?)

They completely denied ever talking on the phone and insisted that I talked to a call center rep. I asked why a call center rep would lie and they said they weren’t sure.

Stefan then said that I shouldn’t have come to Best Buy if I wanted fast, on-time service. Stefan said I should have gone to the Apple Store instead if I expected that kind of service.

At that point I realized they were never going to admit to their mistake and were just going to continue gaslighting me. Everyone makes mistakes, but you need to own up to them when you do. It’s better for business rather than blaming the customer or a constituent that can’t defend themselves.

I will take their advice though to use Apple instead...

This was one of the most ridiculous experiences in my life. I needed to pick up a computer from the Geek Squad - a 5 min task. I arrived at 8:00 pm the store was quiet except for 2 people at the Geek Squad counter. Within just a few minutes the mother and daughter who were in line told the man, who joined the line just a few minutes before me, that they had been there since 7:20 pm. The one person that was at the counter soon came out of the back and took a tour around the store, doing what? no one knew. He even had time to stop at one of the other check out centers and check out a customer, then visit with the person. The man in line started calling to him that we were in line and that he needed to get back to us. He slowly came over disappeared behind the curtain and was gone for several minutes. I called out to the 5 clerks who were standing around doing nothing, the store was not busy, that we needed assistance and that the people at the front of the line had been there for 1 1/2 hours already. A second clerk showed up and started to help the man. Much to my dismay they both were purchasing or had phone problems. The two clerks took over 45 min helping the 2 people and seeming to teach them how to use their phone, I had spoken to a clerk when I first arrived and she had informed them I needed a simple pick up. My three year old grandson and I left the store at 8:59. Once the two people were waited on it took 3 min to get me my computer, tell me about it and for me to leave the store. I understand about line, but what about customer service and common sense. I live on the far south side of town and Best Buy is on the North side. To justify the process the clerk told me they only have one computer for their business, and that it often takes more than that amount of time to get checked out at the Geek Squad counter in Pueblo, Colorado - Buyer beware and make sure you bring a book and leave the children at home unless you bring...