Last year, we went to Best Buy for phone upgrades. They had a good deal of "BOGO" on the Droid and didn't have the rebate like our carrier did. It was a pretty good experience. The girl was nice, seemed to be competent (which in this area is a rarity) and we were pretty happy we got a great deal. We were going through the motions of the upgrade and we got to the insurance part. (Full disclosure, considering the field I work in, I SHOULD have read the fine print. I know better. This day was my blonde day.)
She rambled off about how expensive it is to have insurance through the phone carrier and that for 2 bucks more a month, we could have an insurance policy that covers everything except theft and loss. She informed us that if we had any problem with the phone at all, we could return it to the store and get a new one of the same model or one equivalent. No questions asked. It sounded pretty good. So we stupidly fell for the scam, left the store with our phones and life was good.
Fast forward to yesterday. Last week, before vacation, my camera just stopped working and now the phone won't recognize it. Even after a complete reset, it still won't work. Well, I figured, no big deal, I have the best buy insurance, I can just got get another one. WRONG! I went to the phone counter and found one of the techs, who directed me to the Geek Squad desk. (umm...what?) and I stood in line for days and finally made it to the "Geek". He proceeded to inform me that my phone had to be sent out to a third party and for a $150 refundable deposit, I could have a BASIC loaner phone. I have a phone that carries a data plan and is expensive...I am NOT about to use a basic cell phone, What really grinds me is that if I had insurance through my carrier, I could have had a new phone fed exed within a day. We got into a pretty heated verbal spar (mostly on my end) and I left. I got home and found the "insurance policy" and to my disgust, it wasn't an insurance policy, but an extended service plan for the Geek Squad "Black Tie Service". We had been flat out lied to by the girl.
After an angry email to the hubs, who was equally livid, I tried to calm down.....but then I got on Twitter. I fired off a very angry tweet to Best Buy (since deleted) Not even 2 minutes later I got a response. The chick was concerned (probably because it's her job to squelch negative publicity) and I emailed her privately to say my peace and left it. I am now cancelling the service agreement...I can upgrade again in 8 months, I can go without a camera that long.
I think the thing that irks me more than anything (and yes, I am going to sound like a hypocrite, but I've been out of retail 6 years so I have a fresh perspective) is that the virtue of "The Customer is Always right"no longer exists. It's almost as if these businesses don't really care about their customers, and why should they? People still go and buy their "manufactured in china" crap. They don't have to care because the money continues to roll in. and it's sad. We have even bought enough crap to be platinum rewards members and for what? 10% off? Not worth it anymore. I long for the days when you could go into a store and be treated as person (I will give a huge shout out to Kohls though, you guys are doing it right. LOVE the return policy)
So I write today, that I am done with @BestBuy. or in the words of the twitterverse " #worstbuy
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