Best Buy — Local services in Santa Maria

I’ve had mixed experiences at this Best Buy, so I’m settling on a two-star rating. The store isn’t my favorite, and while there were some highlights, they were overshadowed by a disappointing return experience.

On my first visit, I came across a small clearance TV that was reasonably priced due to being an open-box item. It didn’t include a remote or stand, but since I planned to mount it and assumed I could easily find a remote online, it felt like a solid deal. The employee who helped me at checkout was friendly and professional, and that made the purchase process enjoyable. She is the only reason for the second star.

However, once I got home and looked for a replacement remote, the only compatible one I could find cost thirty dollars. At that point, buying the remote would’ve made the open-box TV more expensive than just purchasing the same model brand new. So, I decided to return it.

When I came back to the store, the mood was entirely different. The employee at the customer service counter seemed more interested in chatting with his coworker than helping customers. My fiancée and I walked directly to the desk, but instead of assisting us, he instructed us to walk through the entire maze of ropes—just to end up back in the same spot. It felt more like he was trying to be difficult than following any real policy.

To make it more frustrating, the person who ended up in line ahead of us wasn’t even heading that way until we were forced to turn around. It was clear we weren’t trying to skip anyone; the timing just made the situation unnecessarily annoying. The associate then took his time helping the person in front of us, making it feel like we were being deliberately delayed.

While my initial trip had left a good impression, the way we were treated during the return completely changed my perspective. I don’t plan on shopping at this...

Extremely unprofessional and disrespectful. I walked into the store and nicely asked to return a product I purchased for my wife’s graduation. The girls who spoke to me kindly told me that because I purchased the product over two weeks ago it was outside of the return policy. I informed them I was unaware of this and I went based off the best buy website which clearly states I have up to 60 days for general returns. The girl said she would get her manager to see what he can do. A short bald man with an orange beard approached very stand offish and defensive right off the bat. He wouldn’t let me get a word in and wouldn’t even look at the website FAQ where it clearly states general returns are accepted within 60 days. He kept aggressively pointing at the receipt saying it’s my fault I went off the website and not the receipt and they try to tell their employees to let us know we have two weeks but it’s still not their fault the employee who checked me out didn’t say anything. I tried to tell him if I had known I wouldn’t have waited 3 weeks to bring the product in and cause a scene. He looked at me and cut me off mid sentence and said I can either walk out or call corporate and escalate but that he wasn’t reading anything I’d show him and he wasn’t going to return anything. I wish I got his name but it baffles me people like that can be promoted to a store manager. I’m definitely calling corporate. I don’t even care about returning the product at this point. Best Buy needs to do better.

Edit: After going through the reviews, it’s clear I’m not the only one who’s experienced this. They need...

It is very obvious that store management does not care about how they treat their customers. Just look at all the poor reviews. We should up for a geek squad appointment and nobody was at the desk. They finally called someone over and she eventually showed up from another part of the store. She proceeded to tell us that they got the appointment wrong and that they had taken someone before us so they couldn’t take care of us anyway. Do not buy anything from this store or have anything repaired here. It will be a bad experience! Update (11/09/23): I tried contacting the store today and their overseas call center, that I was forced to talk with, told me there was no way to contact the store directly. The agent sent an email asking someone to call me. I never heard from them. I stopped by the store to talk to a manager and there was no manager in the store. I have now emailed the GM. it will be interesting to see if they respond. Update: 11/21/23 No one at BestBuy has contacted me. It is very evident that they do not care about customer service. It is such a simple thing to reach out to a customer and hear them out. Update: 01/09/24 BestBuy general customer support contacted me to say they could not do anything to help me! Wow, all I wanted to do was express my concern over the poor service I received and nobody at BestBuy cares. I will never spend my money at a store who thinks so little of...