Testimonial #67: "Your sister will get no DVD and like it!"

My incident began while I was looking to order a birthday gift for my sister living in St.Paul, MN. Knowing that she wanted a specific DVD, I looked at Amazon.com, CircuitCity.com, and BestBuy.com. When considering the free shipping, BestBuy.com had the cheapest price for the same product.

The free shipping was ground shipping up to 6-10 days delivery. I placed my order 9 days before my sister’s birthday and figured that the 10 days was worst-case scenario.

My sister’s birthday came and her gift did not. When I called the customer support number, I was first told that the On-Line orders had their own number and I would have to call them. When I did talk to someone in the On-Line Customer Service, I was told that I would have to wait until the full 10 days had passed before they would talk to me about it. So the following day (day 10) I called my sister, still no gift, so I called them back... During my transfer from service rep to service rep, I repeated my situation countless times. Eventually I was told to call another number. During the first 3 phone calls I was told that I was not able to speak with a customer service manager. After much arguing, I called back and asked again. Finally one person put me through to a manager. That manager e-mailed me a form, which I was told would get me a replacement DVD ordered. What I received was a lost order claim form. I called them back again. This time I was told, "We don’t replace the order. We will do an investigation on the missing order and send you a refund after 60 days. Until then, you’ll need to reorder your merchandise." I told them that all I wanted was for my sister to get her gift, and that if I were to replace my order, it would not be with them. I then placed a call to the corporate headquarters in Minnesota. There I continued to call until I was able to speak with the head of customer service. I somehow kept my cool, and calmly explained the whole situation to her. I even said "look, I know you’re located in the Minneapolis area, is it possible that someone could drop off a DVD at my sisters house on their way home... or even make one available to her at her local Best Buy?" Again, they said they don’t do that. I then pointed out that their cost on a 20.00 DVD can’t be more then 5.00... is loosing a customer for life worth 5.00 to her? All she said was "I’m sorry you feel that way, but it’s not our policy." Wanting to have the last word I threw in "You’re company has the single worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. I will never set foot in your stores again. I hope you sleep well knowing that."

The following day the refund and been credited to my account... hummm... what about that investigation? Or the 60 days? Sounds to me like a way to harass customers. My whole family no longer shops with Best Buy, some of which have had their own experiences. I also work for a very large media company, and I started a post on our company board.

Oh... FYI... I replaced my order at Amazon, and received it within 3 days


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