Best Buy — Local services in Wyoming

I'm leaving this review because I tried calling the store directly, and I was directed to a call center where I would have to wait on hold for ages only to talk to someone not directly at the store. No thanks.

I had an appointment today to install a car alarm on my Kia. I made the appointment online and was told to block out 3 hours for the installation. Not ideal on a holiday weekend, but I really wanted the alarm installed as soon as possible.

When I arrived, the employees were grilling out for the holiday. I was directed to the main desk at the installation bay, where I was told that there had been no details with my order, so they didn't know what I needed to have installed - despite the fact that the part was ready and waiting with my name on it. That seems really suspicious to me. If the order details were blank, as he claimed, why did no one attempt to contact me to check so that they could be prepared for my appointment? Or why didn't they simply look at the part that was waiting for me and put 2 and 2 together?

The employee said that they needed a particular cable to be able to install it, and he opened every drawer and cabinet in the place and claimed that they didn't have it, and that I would have to get it installed at another local location. At no point did he offer to have someone go pick up the cable from the other location. Instead, I was given an appointment at this other location, and the soonest they could get me in is a weekday two weeks from now. So I'll have to request time off work and drive to an area I'm unfamiliar with and wait several more weeks with my car not being secured, as I had hoped.

I got a really bad feeling from the whole thing. Why was I able to book an appointment for a service they can't even provide? What an absolute waste of time. I'm keeping the appointment because I already paid for it, but I'm very frustrated that there was no attempt to accommodate me, and that I couldn't even reach a human being from this location by phone, and I certainly won't be using Best Buy's services again.

Editing my review to add: Best Buy has now responded, saying "the best point of contact for this remains the local store's Leadership Team". Clearly they didn't actually read my review, because I made it clear that I tried calling the store and was directed to a call center. How exactly am I supposed to contact the leadership team? I reached out here in the hopes that someone would try to make things right, but I can see now that there's no way that's going to happen. I am so beyond frustrated. Best Buy clearly doesn't care about...

I bought an Xbox headset for my son on my Best Buy Credit Card. I have spent enough in the past to be a Silver Card member that extended return policies etc... I have spent thousands of dollars over the last 20 years at Best Buy. I tried to return a $199 headset one day later than the return policy (15 days now that I’m not “Silver status”) and said they could do a store credit. Tricia at the customer service counter said no return exchange or store credit only. I had receipt and all original packaging. I asked to speak with the Store Manager and she replied she is in Hawaii for 11 days so I asked for the Manager on Duty. She said fine but he will tell you the same thing. Exchange or store credit only. So he we go. She set the scene. So knowing this MOD is going to be anti customer and pro Best Buy I knew what was coming. Being in retail for 25+ years from cashier to DM I anticipated the worst but had excellent customer service in the past at the Holland location. I’ve purchased gaming systems, controllers, games, lap tops, software, routers, external hard drives, home sound systems, 2 TV’s, speakers, headsets, cell phone accessories....from Best Buy. So a younger gentleman with a bald head and Mohawk named Eric was brought to the desk. He backed Tricia with the Return/Exchange policy so I asked there are no exceptions to the 15 day policy? He said yes if it’s within $50 dollars. So I asked since I spent $199 I’m penalized and he said yes. I asked for the DM name and phone number and he referred me to the website. I called the 1-800 number immediately afterwards from the website and the lady Laura that was handling the case seemed to try her best and said she ran it through 2 Managers and they both supposedly said the couldn’t do anything since it was bought in store. If bought on line it may get be diffferent since they can’t tell the stores what to do. SO DO NOT BUY ANYTHING AT BEST BUY IN STORE. JUST GO TO BEST BUY TO USE IT AS A SHOWROOM TO SEE IF YOU LIKE THE PRODUCT THEN GO HOME AND ORDER IT ON LINE FOR THE BEST PRICE BECAUSE THE RETURN POLICY IN STORE IS NO BENEFIT FROM BUYING IT ONLINE CHEAPER. After many years of loyalty and money given to Best Buy and getting bent over for being 24 late on a return my hard earned money will be dedicated elsewhere...

So this is a tough review to leave, but here goes.

I find it hard to understand a company that not only refuses to make any attempt at getting close to a competitor's price, but doesn't even make an attempt to get close to their own online pricing.

They'll give you the song and dance about the fact that their online presence is not the same entity as the physical local stores as a way to justify the price discrepancy, but a company this unwilling to meet customers halfway is certainly doomed.

More recently, they've been all about the "price match guarantee", but the last three times I've been in, armed with pricing from three online (and brick and mortar), well-known and well-respected retailers, they've found a way around their own "guarantee" to prevent them from having to match the price.

Last time in, specifically, they called to verify the price with the competitor (which was clearly visible online to begin with), and since the competitor didn't currently have any in stock (more were on the way, hence my need to go to best buy in the first place), they refused to match the price.

Normally, although pathetic, all this wouldn't be enough for me to leave a negative review, which leads me to the last and, to me, final nail in the coffin - Each and every time they refused to price match, they did so with an air of arrogance and snobbery with almost a "ha, we found a way around our own price match rules and found a way NOT to price match, so there" attitude.

No apology, no tact, no understanding, and certainly no attempt at even trying to have me leave the store on a positive note. Just rude and shockingly poor customer service.

I will absolutely not be returning. I will happily order from B&H (check them out, they're incredible) and Amazon. There isn't anything I Ever Need that I can't wait a day or two to have.

And as a side note, you can verify from my over 1000 Google reviews and contributions, it's incredibly rare for me to leave any negative comments or reviews, so this is not a typical review from me, just an...