Weird Negative/Positive Experience @ Best Buy

[yiujun]

Last Dec, before Xmas and Boxing Day, I bought a 32" Samsung LCD TV.
It was marked at 499.99 at FS, but in BB it was 599.99.
Since I was busy at work, I had my brother go in for me to PM the TV and pick it up from BB (I have a BB RewardZone card).

The salesperson would match the FS price at 499.99, but flat out refused to lower the price by 10% of the difference (10 bucks). His reasoning was that the manager had told him this is not allowed.

I told my brother on the phone to argue with the rep, but he was very insistent and since it was only 10 bucks we let it slide and my brother bought the TV.

This is not the only time this has happened. Some time ago when I bought my camera at FS, the camera person refused to lower the price by 10% of the difference "because the price is too close to cost" - OBVIOUSLY he was just trying to earn more commissions! That camera dropped 3 times in price in the same month after I bought it and I had to keep going back to get my price difference!

I was incensed. I was determined to get some form of written communication through email from FS and BS customer service so that if some salesperson gives me the same bull, I would whip out the piece of paper and wave it in their face.

The customer service people were very useless. All they kept saying was that there was a right for the salesperson to refuse any PMs if the competitor that I was PM'ing to was not authorized reseller (IT WAS FS FOR PETE'S SAKE!) or that the product was a doorcrasher or had limited quantities (which was DEFINITELY not the case). I pushed it with further replies and finally another representative replied asking me for full details of the Samsung TV transaction.

I gave them my name and number and details of the situation. They wanted to know the salesperson's name but we had forgotten. Anyways, all this information was forwarded back to the BB store that I had bought my TV from.

A few days later, I found a missed call from BB. A couple days after that, BB called again. It was the store manager of the BB store that I had bought my TV at. He apologized again and again about the price matching and assured me that this would not happen again. He told me that if someone refuses to beat the price by 10% in the future to mention his name. He also offered to give me a 20 dollar GC the next time I go to the store (which I had already received).

So all in all, it was a pretty ok comeback for BB after these horrible PM experiences. But I'm not too confident about their PM policies even now.
Sometimes you just have to fight for your rights.

[randomdef]

that strikes me as a negative experience.

[Hunter316]

That sounds negative to me as well. You did a lot of work and had a lot of aggravation for what amounts to $10 since you were already owed $10 from the price match.

[EmperorOfCanada]

that strikes me as a negative experience.

I disagree. In the end they made it right (even though he had to fight for it).

[nave]

I think that as for customer service the main goal is to make sure the customer walks away happy, and in this case that happened. But some people just can't be happy unless they are nearly given the store. Sometimes it just takes an apology on the spot and in other cases it takes money, many times if the issue can be resolved quicker the less it takes to keep customers satisfied. The people stores hire are the front lines in customer relations and lets face it, as hard as you try hiring and finding the right people for the cust service bus. is harder than we all think. Not only are the people that are great with customers hard to find but there is almost no money in it, and if there is money in it anyone will want their piece weather they can deal with customers or not.

there is no point to this rant but its frustrating for both business owners and customers when complaints arise and aren't handled correctly.

[yiujun]

That sounds negative to me as well. You did a lot of work and had a lot of aggravation for what amounts to $10 since you were already owed $10 from the price match.

What made this a positive experience is the fact that I never expected anything more than a written email from some person in the customer relations department restating the fact that Bestbuy/Futureshop is supposed to price beat each other.
I was not pursuing a refund of the 10 dollars, nor an apology from the store manager.

I sent a few emails out and took one call to get to my end result. How is that a lot of work?

Their follow-up was unexpected, and therefore appreciated.

[Hunter316]

What made this a positive experience is the fact that I never expected anything more than a written email from some person in the customer relations department restating the fact that Bestbuy/Futureshop is supposed to price beat each other.
I was not pursuing a refund of the 10 dollars, or an apology from the store manager.

I sent a few emails out and took one call to get to my end result. How is that a lot of work?

Their follow-up was unexpected, and therefore appreciated.

I guess I was looking at how annoyed I would be at the situation and factored my own personal experience with the company into my thoughts on your situation. It is true that different solutions will make different people happy so I am glad that you feel they have fixed the issue.

[Snicla]

Every CSR at BB looks like they're having the worst day of their lives.