Best Buy — Local services in Valdosta

Just bought a $2,000 TV from them a couple of months ago with no issues. However, this week my daughter's phone had to be sent back to Samsung to be repaired so I thought I would buy her a cheap tablet to use until her phone is returned. I chose a $150 dollar Lenovo tablet and a universal case. I did notice they had some open box of this item available at this store but $150 is already cheap so I chose new. I purchased online with the hopes of using curbside pick up after working all day. When they brought the tablet out to me in a bag, everything seemed OK. However, when I pulled the box out of the bag, I immediately noticed it had been opened as the seal had been broken and the tablet itself had fingerprints on the back of it. I told myself I don't even care that I paid for a new tablet and they have given me a used one, its just temporary, and I want to get home. The battery was completely dead so I had to charge in my car for a few minutes. When the tablet came on, it asked for a PIN to be entered. I got out of my car and went inside to explain that I didn't care they had given me an open box tablet when I paid for a new tablet but the tablet needed to be reset. I was told the manager would work on it. After 25 minutes, they gave me the tablet back and it had been reset. I thought it interesting they never addressed the new vs. Open box issue but..whatever. I go back out to my car. The tablet prompted me to enter an email address as part of setup. However, after entering my email address, the tablet informed me that it was already associated with another email and that email would be needed to access the tablet. At this point, I'm becoming aggravated. I re enter the store and speak to the young manager who had reset the tablet earlier. I try to explain to him the situation (honestly I'm confused why I'm having to explain to a manager of an electronics store how tablets are useless once an account has been established on them unless the account is removed so a new one can be established). He tells me that me putting in the wrong password is not the stores fault and there is not much he can do. I realize I have no idea what the lady had told him the first time I came in because I had not spoken to him directly. So I tell him that I'm not sure what he was told but the tablet was open box and that is why it has requested a PIN previously. He tells me there is no way it could have been open box and me forgetting a password is not his problem. At this point, I'm starting to wonder if they did not know the tablet was used and were pulling something funny here. I tell him I have no reason to lie about the tablet and that, what was supposed to be a nice surprise for my daughter had turned into a nightmare. Honestly, had they helped me resolve the issue with the tablet so it was rendered usable, I would still have been fine taking it. However, the manager Tristan said do you want your money back and I said, after how you have acted, yes. I also told him I was literally in shock because I have been dealing with best buy for years and had had zero issues but the mangers had mostly been older and more mature. He spends 20 minutes (you just can't make this stuff up) trying to issue me a refund..sorry but it shouldn't take a manager this long to carry out a simple task that he does frequently. He then tells me that he can refund me today without the tax or I can come back tomorrow and he can refund the full amount. At this point, I have zero reason to trust this boy will follow through on his word. He pushes the tablet toward me and I inform him that I don't trust the tomorrow idea so I'll just take my money today minus the tax although I did not understand the reason the full amount could not be included today. I try to explain that people make mistakes and it's ok..that the tablet was open box..he tells me, oh, a mistake was definitely made but not on our end. Wow! No words. A manager has called a customer who spends alot of money in this store per year a liar, not once, but twice in this exchange. This...

First when i dropped off my laptop for a potential junk out, i told the kid behind the desk that i had my own ram in it and asked to get it back. He proceeded to take the stock ram out with it too, making the laptop incapable of being sent out. His lack of knowledge and training, AND the lack of communication on the store’s end lead to a week and a half of waiting. Growing impatient, I called the store to learn i had to drive an hour to go and return the ram so it could be sent out. When i got there i gave them my ram as well as the stock ram, and when i received my laptop back, as it wasnt junked out like a different store had previously assured me would happen, my ram stick had been replaced with another stock stick of ram for some reason. Mine was returned to me. (This makes me question why it couldnt be sent out without my returning the ram in the first place)

Furthermore, i had placed a custom pc in their hands for diagnostics and suggestions to fix an issue with consistent rebooting. They said it was my ram, and I told them IF i get my money back from the junk out (which didnt happen) i would upgrade the ram, and didnt approve the installation or pick out any product to replace my ram. When i showed up to get my computer, it was left open in the middle of being worked on (for what reason i couldnt possibly know). There were no technicians at the store authorized to close it up and the geek squad member behind the desk was unable to close it up themselves so she got her manager to do it. When we plugged it in to check it out, i noticed some extra rbg lights on the ram sticks. They had replaced it without my consent, and even gave me what im going to assume were a more expensive product than necessary. Then because there was no technician to take it out, the geek squad associate insisted i ring up for the ram, which was 80 dollars. At this point i was pretty understandably upset for getting upsold, so i grabbed my computer and put my old ram back in it myself, signed my papers and left. Absolutely disgusted with the service i received from this store.

Train your employees, hire more people so there are always technicians in store, stress test the issues the customer is bringing their products in for, my laptop can run a live stream, a high end editing software, and stream anime to all different screens at the same time, (this next part happens no matter what) but still freezes occasionally while ONLY live streaming relatively consistently, making what i want to be my job nearly impossible. This shouldnt be an issue and i was told I am running properly because they didnt even try and recreate my issue. I was factory reset and had windows re downloaded, and my computers came back just as dirty as they were when I dropped them off.

Not to mention i could have factory reset and redownloaded windows myself, so now i just feel like i wasted nearly a month of my time eith...

I was building my computer and ordered some parts off Newegg. My local Best Buy had a graphics card I wanted in stock, so, since some of my parts were on back order, I decided to get the card from them to save some time. Well, my parts finally came in almost a month after buying the card from Best Buy. I opened the box and found out it was not the card I purchased, but a much older card that was returned in the box. I did not think to check inside the box after purchasing because I knew it would be a while before the other parts came in. So, being being a Best Buy Elite member, I was still in my return period. I head to the store, let the guy behind the counter know what happened. He goes and gets a manager and she comes back and says she won't accept the return. The only way she said she could accept it was if I came to her within a few days of purchase to let them know. Now, why would I open a graphics card and look at it if I wasn't going to install it? Why would I risk damaging or run the risk of a static discharge messing it up? I have been a Best Buy Elite member for 2 years now, meaning I have spent over $5000 over the last 2 years at that store. I asked to speak with her manager and she says she's the only manager there. I asked the district manager's number and she said she won't give it to me, to just call the 1888BESTBUY number. So call them I did. I explained to them my situation and how I was treated. She looked up my account and the purchase and said I was within the return period and well within my rights to return it. She told me to go back in the store and hand the phone to the lady I spoke with. The rep talked to the manager and told her to give me the refund. The manager refused. She gave her the same line she told me. The rep then told her to take it as a trade in and give me the trade as a gift card. Guess what? They don't take graphics cards as trade ins. So, I'm out $250 and I will no longer spend any money at best buy. Losing $2500+ a year from a customer might not make a difference, but hopefully those of you who read this can steer clear of this store. Another thing about this store is you can hardly get someone to wait on you. Even though they all stand around, and sometimes in groups, they've would rather talk about who they slept with or who they were going to hook up with than to help a customer looking to spend hundreds of dollars at a time. And most of them know very little about electronics. I over hear crap they spew to people, just for me to help the other customer with the correct info so they can make a better decision on their purchase.

Best Buy just lost a long...