Bad Service at Best Buy (Another One for the Best Buy/Ketchum Viewers)

Best Buy's customer service leaves much to be desired - Pay Attention you Best Buy and Ketchum folks still checking out my entries about boycotting Geek Squad for corrupt practices.

Ms. Uneven and I went to two different Best Buy locations last night since both our laptops have crapped out in the past week (My real boycott effort/annoyance is aimed specifically at Geek Squad, and not Best Buy per se). The first location we went to (Best Buy in Potomac Yards off Route One - Store 493) we had to stand in line for 45 minutes just to get some service. And then we had to go to the other Arlington location to get what we needed.

Per the norm, the Pentagon City store (Store 276) was so understaffed we couldn't find anyone to help us. We knew specifically what we wanted (due to the help we received at the Potomac Yards branch), but we couldn't find a sales associate and no one bothered to help us for 20 minutes. Due to this poor service, we walked out only with the new laptop and nothing else despite our intention to purchase a significant dollar amount of periperals.

The fact that customer service is so bad at those locations is a real problem. Best Buy's poor service at that location lost them several hundred dollars in sales from me.

PS - I have over 5 years experience working in retail and customer service. Best Buy needs to take lessons from some of the other retail giants on how to provide good service.

Geek Squad Paranoid of Boycott Effort

Best Buy Executives and Ketchum folks (their PR) firm have been checking out my last post on boycotting Geek Squad all week. Apparently, some folks at Ketchum and Best Buy haven't figured out how to mask their IP addresses from the Stat counter. The Best Buy and Ketchum people spent over an hour on the site. Apparently figuring out how to respond to the original article I linked to and commented on.

Some Circuit City people have been checking it out too. Possibly to figure out how to benefit from this.

Why You Should Boycott Geek Squad

This horror story about Geek Squad's corrupt corporate practices, is enough for me to never use them again. It is simply unconsionable, that they would charge for services not performed and refuse a full refund for forcing the customer to fix what they claimed they couldn't.

After reading this post, you may think "where else should I go to get my laptop fixed? Well, if you're in DC, there is an excellent laptop repair service in Dupont Circle called Cyberlaptops. They have repaired three of my laptops at very reasonable prices and have excellent service. I have no affiliation with the company other than satisfied customer.

If we all start boycotting and helping the little guy, Geek Squad will be forced to provide better service at lower prices