Best Buy — Local services in White Marsh

This review is more specifically about The Geek Squad. I need to preface this by saying that I spent the better part of 15 years in retail management and as a result I have a significant amount more patience and compassion with and for retail workers than the average Joe. Also, taking COVID into account for why they may have been short staffed, if that is their excuse. However, with COVID, the flow of customers is very obviously less than normal as well. All that being said there is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for why I had to stand and wait for 1 hour and 40 mins for a job I was specifically told would take 15 MINUTES!!!! I had a scheduled appointment the have my brand new IPhone 11 fixed after it got stuck in a “boot loop”. My appointment was for 4:10pm and I arrived at 3:55pm. I was the second person in line and was being waited on by 4pm. The gentleman said to me “ok your phone is stuck in a boot loop” and I said yes (he already knew because I had to include the info to make the appointment). He then proceeded to tell me it would cost $40 to fix and would take about 15mins. I said ok and he then had me sign a paper, took down my address and said I was good to go. I asked where the bathroom was and if I was ok to wander the store and he said yes. This whole conversation lasted less than 2 minutes. I returned to stand near the counter about 15-20 mins later. There were 3 gentleman tending to the customers including the guy that had waited on me. I continued to stand around near the desk waiting PATIENTLY. After a little while one of the other guys asked if I had been helped and I said yes I am just waiting. A little while later the other guy asked the same and I replied the same. I then went to the bathroom again hoping when I returned it would be done but still nothing. One of the other 2 guys was walking past, it is now 5:36 (I looked at my phone so I could tell him how long I had been waiting and was actually a little surprised myself that I had been there waiting that long), so I say “excuse me can you check on what’s going on with my phone? I was told it would be 15 mins and it has now been an hour and a half. He says “sure that’s my tech guy right there. I’ll ask.” I knew it was him I just didn’t want to be rude because he was actively helping another customer. So the guy I asked walked behind the counter and past the tech without saying anything and started waiting on another customer. I continued to be patient until they were then all standing around doing nothing... 5 mins later. Then the guy finally decided to ask the tech what was happening. The tech was visibly confused so the other guy then went and asked the 3rd guy who was also visibly confused. I am then asked “it was a phone right?” And I say “yes”. Then the tech walks in the back and brings my phone out. One of the other guys comes out on to the floor and makes a joke that “it’s raining, nobody knows what they are doing” and laughs it off. The tech then says “here ya go it’s all ready, sorry it took a while.” No part of it was a genuine apology which actually really irritated me so I said “yeah a while, you said 15 mins and it has been an hour and 40 mins” and his response was... “oh yeah they forgot to remind me” and laughed about it!!! What in the actual F!!!!!!! This is some of the worst customer service I have seen in a long time!!! I finally walked out of the store at 5:43pm!!! I am appalled that this is how considerate your company is of other people’s time!!! I arrived early because I am respectful of other people’s time. If I was going to be late I would have cancelled my appointment so as not to be disrespectful of your companies time and that of others who needed help!! This whole experience was TERRIBLE AND YOU ALL SHOULD BE ASHAMED!!!! If I had any other choice I would not have gone there and in the future I will absolutely avoid this store at ALL costs and I will be sure to share with others to...

This company is so arrogant you can't even talk to someone at the store. You get someone who seems to be in another country. When I called, the man eith a heavy accent told me they were not at the location. When I explained I needed to speak with someone at the location, he said they couldn't put me through because "they don't take calls." Imagine that, running a business but you don't take calls!

I am rethinking my warranties with Best Buy as I've learned about skillful local repair people who aren't nearly as expensive as if you had to pay out of pocket at Best Buy, and you can actually speak with them on the phone because they aren't too good to take your phone call.

The call center guy also said the Geek Squad desk can't wait for you for more than 5 minutes. They already take days before you can bring a broken item in despite having a warranty that you paid for. When you go there, you have to wait way more than 5 minutes for them most of the time, in a long line, and it's not like they sit there with nothing to do if you're more than 5 minutes late. So your appointment time isn't honored on their end. I am so over companies and businesses acting as though their time is so valuable that your time doesn't matter in this way. A 5 minute grace period and then they can't possibly take you despite them taking people and lining them up and making them wait holding their heavy items for extended periods of time despite having an appointment, and people without appointments in the same line. Then having the arrogance to say they can only wait for 5 minutes!

Heck, I spent 5 minutes wasting my time arguing with their computer that I didn't want to have a desk repaired and I wanted to talk to a person, that before I could even get to the lousy call center.

I can't believe that's why I tried to save money in this way. This is 2025. Didn't businesses figure this out about 15 years ago, that human beings don't like these call center setups? Studies have found it's one of the biggest sources of customer dissatisfaction - offsite call center help. There's no way Best Buy could have not known it would decrease customer satisfaction significantly but they thought it was worth it apparently. I'm not going into the joy of setting the appointment in the first place. They even tell you in an email they sent to avoid a reschedule my making sure you do some things ahead of time so they really just want us all to be like steps on an assembly line.

I think if more people knew local repair people Best Buy's service desk would fail completely because they're terrible in how they do things. The actual techs are not terrible, but the company is. That call center model is so rude and so one-way and this is so well known that I hate even giving them one star.

Normally I'm polite to customer service people because it's not their fault, but in this case this man actually said to me in a semi snotty tone as if it is perfectly acceptable that they don't take calls. Like they're the President. I wasn't nasty to the man but I did let him know it's a terrible policy and a terrible forcibly automated system, and saying they don't take calls when they are happy to take my money for doing nothing most months comes across very poorly. It's not good to run late but it happens sometimes and to treat customers who trust you with their computers and to give you their money in this way down to that warning in the email about avoiding reschedules, which shows they know that is I really upsetting thing to have happen and are even using it to hold over the heads of customers to give them to do what they want, these people don't deserve our trust or our money. We need to get away from these big corporations and find local businesses to support. That's my intention. I've given these guys enough...

I stopped by this store on Sunday December 15th to pick up a surface pro with keyboard bundle deal that was for that weekend only. It was for 1 specific model which is what I went in for. I stopped by that evening after work after confirming online that they still had a couple left. When I got to the store I told the rep what I was looking for and he confirmed that they did have it. The rep grabbed the device and rang me out. Quick and painless. It was a Christmas so I went home and wrapped it and didn't think anything of it until later after Christmas when it was opened. Turns out that the rep only sold me the surface pro and not the bundle. I assumed the keyboard was already in the box since it was large enough to encompass a keyboard as well as the surface pro. So anyway I now have the computer without the keyboard. I contacted customer care and they instructed me to go back to the store where I purchased it. So I stopped by today after work with hopes that someone would be able to help me. I was greeted by the GM Trong or Trang something along those lines and she seemed like I was inconveniencing her from the very beginning. I was friendly and calm when first dealing with her despite her despondent stare and complete lack of empathy for my situation. She basically told me since she had no real way to verify that that's what I came in to purchase since the rep didn't ring me out properly. Common sense would tell you that is exactly what I came in for since I came in on the last day of the sale, purchased the exact model that was part of the deal, and paid the promo pricing. Why would I pay a promo price on a surface pro alone when I could get the keyboard with it for no additional money. And of course the original rep that helped me wasn't working today nor did she offer to reach out to see if that's what actually occurred. A gentleman from the Geek Squad came over and tried to offer an alternate solution but unfortunately it wasn't viable. She said the best she could do for me was sell me a keyboard at a discounted price. Why should I have to pay extra for something I had already paid for? I asked if she could just damage it out of inventory but she said that wasn't an option. I work in retail sales and I know that there are ways to zero out items especially accessories. I wasn't even offered a store credit. I told her that this wasn't an option and I shouldn't have to pay for the mistake of one of her employees. She told me that we were at an impass and nothing else can be done. This did not sit well with me so I became loud and demanded multiple times that she give me what I paid for. She told someone to call the cops so I cussed at her and left. Could I have handled myself better? Yes. Am I proud of how I acted? No. But I was furious at the complete lack of empathy on her part. If this is the type of person that Best Buy wants representing them they should do some serious reevaluating. I can honestly say I don't think I have ever had a worse in store experience. I have been a loyal Best Buy customer for over 20 years and have purchased all my electronics and appliances from them but after today I don't think I will ever make another purchase from them ever again. I will gladly pay full price for another keyboard from any other vender. I will not spend another dime at Best Buy unless someone from corporate reaches out to me and makes this right. It's not like my request was unreasonable. I just want...