An example of the worst possible service you can get – complements of Best Buy Inc.

I rarely slag of companies in public but this experience has been so appalling I feel the need to share it with the world

I recently move apartments so on September 4rd I duly commissioned GeekSquad (a subsidiary of BestBuy) for the second time (repeat customer no less!) to come and install my projector in my new place. I should mention this is a pretty heavy piece of kit, quite a high end spec that cost me over $4000

The GeekSquad team arrives. With ATTITUDE I should add. From the start one guy was constantly winging about how X or Y or Z was not mentioned in the work order. IT WAS. And I know that because I had the same issue last time so this time I itemized everything in granular detail. I even sent them the full spec, the amazon receipt and the whole shebang. They even mentioned that I had to move my own furniture around as they are prohibited to move other people’s stuff. Question: how the hell do you get a projector on the ceiling without moving something? Including the projector! Idiots. That’s already my equipment.

I left them to it and was unpacking other things to filter out their winging. A few minutes later I hear a loud BANG! One of the two idiots (they share a brain cell between them at best and that’s on a good day!) dropped the thing on the floor and smashed it.

Fair enough. Mistakes happen. I tried to keep upbeat as they reassured me I would soon get a call from their insurance to ‘sort it out’. Mean time their manager – another incompetent idiot called Miguel – called me to tell me the next steps. The only issue was – he didn’t know what they were! He told me he would find out and call me back

In the end they left me with an Insurance claim number and went their way.

The sequence of events that ensued is just a comedy. And this is just the summary:

First. Nobody called. Naturally. No insurance, no Miguel. Nothing.

So therefore I tried to call myself. sWhenever I called they number they gave me I was stuck in a queue and when I finally got through they recommended I go to a BestBuy store. Great! So now I’m not only not getting any answers but I have to go out of my way to a store for a problem they created.

So I go to the NOHO store where the initial order was placed and explain the issue to the store manager to home entertainment who seemed MOST uninterested. She kept dismissing me and said customers paying for new items took priority so I patiently waited my turn. When my turn arrives she couldn’t locate the claim number and so created a new one and said there was nothing else she could do. I asked for any INKLING of a HINT even of what happens next and she shrug her shoulders and said ‘you will get a call’.

Two week went by and no body called. I was then traveling to Europe and delegated the matter to my assistant who called them persistently until she had a replacement visit confirmed for Wednesday the 24th. They gave us a slot from 12- 3pm. I duly stayed home to make sure I am there to get this resolved. Given how little trust I had with them by now I had my assistant call twice and confirm – all looked awesome!

Of course nobody arrived at that time. To make it worse I called GeekSquad and they had no record of the order at all. Nothing

After holding on the phone for 2 hours I was told the following stories all of which conflict fabulously with each other. A screenwriter couldn’t do better if he tried!

  1. It was the Insurance company that was supposed to come out not them. Question: since when do insurance companies install projectors?
  2. The order got lost because there were two claim numbers (complements of the genius at NOHO store of course but now it was my fault)
  3. The projector was not ordered at all. So what were they installing?
  4. I should contact the insurance company directly. Oh! Great service folks – you damage someone’s equipment and flog them off to an insurance company that YOU hired not me. Did it ever cross any of the handful brain-cells you posses that you should be making my life EASIER not harder given the mess? Nope? Nothing?

So left with no options I get on the phone to the insurance. Not surprisingly it goes to voicemail. I leave a message BEGGING them to call back. Nothing. I call back BestBuy and ask for a contact to email. After being passed off from one person to the other numerous times I was told they are not allowed to give names or emails! Great, so we have a ghost for an insurance, they don’t return calls, and to make it worse I cannot get an email, direct line or name of anyone.

After another hours on the call, the conversation ended with – take a guess?.. “you will receive a call”

So the defacto solution seems to be – JUST WAIT FOR A CALL. At least in that answer they were pretty consistent. Maybe they put all these Neanderthals in a room for training and tell them: when in doubt, say “you will receive a call” They make an amoeba look hyperintelligent, seriously.

My desperation now moved to agitation. So I resorted to Twitter,=. Thank God for social media. I got a swift reply – against all the odds. But all it said again was that ‘I will get a call’.

A few tweets later I do get a call. F to be told by the insurance company that damages on installation are not covered by them!

At this point I started laughing. After 3 weeks of waiting, about 10 hours of time wasted on calls an visits to their store between me and my assistant, all the time waiting for that stupid call, what I get is “we cant help you”. Question: how on earth do GeekSquad managers, and the BestBuy managers who got involved to solve this NOT KNOW that this is not covered by the insurance? And if this is not covered then WHAT IS ?

Back to social media. This time I mention the CEO Hubert Joly hoping someone will get down from their high horse and deliver some customer service.

I then got a call from someone at BestBuy. This time, having acknowledged that the Insurance wont cover it they told me they will look for a projector of a similar spec because mine was too high spec and they don’t stock it. Like – seriously ? I had sent them the Amazon receipt and the link, one would have thought that after all of this someone would just write a darn cheque for the damage or get it ordered online and delivered. Not a ‘similar spec’. Either the same one or cash you morons.

So now, 3 weeks later, and after having gone through this mess, I am waiting for these muppets to figure out what the closest spec they can order is on order to get it replaced because no one apparently can chip in their pocket and cover the cost of the original purchase.

In an ironic sort of way this has been so painful its started to become fun! It went full circle, I now feel like I’m in a suspense movie waiting to see what will happen next! So stay tuned… !!

  1. Unbiased Blonde says:

    Sounds like Hubert Joly better pull his socks up. Insightful analysis Mr Thrasyvoulou. Thank you.

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