Maybe Best Buy Would Compete Better If Their Employees Acknowledged Customers
The commenting system at The Consumerist has been offline since the last time mysterious hacker types caused problems… so when I see posts like this come up I’m forced to fight my desire to reach through the screen and choke the person sharing their story.
Long story short, person goes to Best Buy to purchase a tablet. He finds what he wants on display, but can’t find the actual tablet to pick up and purchase. So he waits about 15 minutes, watches various Best Buy employees moving about, doing their job, and grows frustrated that not a single one has come over to hold his hand. He finally decides to break out his smartphone, thinking that one of the employees will have a moment of clarity and realize ‘Hey, this guy on his smartphone isn’t checking his email or Facebook, he’s price matching! He’s going to buy the tablet on Amazon! Red alert!’ Nobody came after another 8 minutes or so, and he finally went ahead with purchasing the tablet via Amazon on his phone.
Now folks, I’m no Best Buy fan boy. I’ve had more than one experience where I wanted something that was listed as in stock, that a phone call verified was in stock, only to get there and not have it in stock. I’ve dealt with their idiotic price-match policy which refused to cut me any slack when a competitor 10 minutes away through the Holland Tunnel could knock $500 off the TV I wanted to buy. They’re no saints, they’re in trouble, and it’s really no secret why.
All that being said, is this guy serious? You’re not standing in a Tesla dealership, you’re one of many consumers standing in a busy big box store with a bug up your ass thinking that some lowly blue-shirted minion should be kissing your ass instead of every other person in the store. See, here’s the thing folks – there are businesses run by assholes, and assholes who sometimes run to businesses. When I’m out and about, shopping at a store, do I always rely on a representative coming to me and offering assistance? Nope. Most times, when I’m asked – I already know what I’m looking for and where to find it. Still, I’ve been in the same situation as this guy, where I can’t find what I’m looking for, or when I need some help – and that random offer from a rep would be a great help.
In those cases, I take a moment to realize that I’m not standing in the formal menswear department at Nordstrom, or peering through the window of a Fiat 500, I’m in a big ass department store surrounded by several dozen other nameless, faceless consumers who also may need help. I could sit there, and get pissed off that nobody is coming over to hold my hand and tell me its all going to be OK… I find the nearest rep in that department, and I actually ASK THEM FOR HELP.
So yes, Best Buy isn’t the best – but part of good customer service is the “good customer” – and if the original poster for this story was really hell bent on buying that tablet and having it in their hands that day, they would have found a rep and asked them for help. The fact that they supposedly waited nearly a half hour and bought it on Amazon just tells me they’re a pretentious git who would rather have something to bitch about than expound the effort required to ensure they’d have nothing to bitch about.
I hope his delivery is delayed… twit.
