An insider tells us the best way to get back at a bad Best Buy employee is a bag of potato chips:
Customers who are unhappy with their service, buy something ridiculous like a bag of chips from that employee. The managers will never give the regional/area office’s number, but receipts allow you to fill out a survey where you can sneak around that. Surveys, and the text given go directly to district management. You WILL be heard, because nobody actually fills out the survey and when it is, action is taken based on it. Information for the survey is at the bottom of the receipt.
Make sure to check the box that says you want a manager to contact you. Alternatively, if you were really pleased with the level of service you received and want to make sure someone in charge knows about it, this method works as well.
(Photo: adonis hunter’s ‘stuff”)
More From Consumerist
-
I Report A Plastic Thingy In My Snack Bag, Utz Showers Me In Chips
-
Pepsi Marinated Chicken Wings & 3 Other Potato Chip Flavors We’d Have To Be Drunk To Try
-
Pepsi-Chicken Lay’s Potato Chips Are Tastier Than They Sound, But Only Sold In China
-
At Walmart, “Clearance” Means Trying To Finally Sell Chips With A Year-Old “Best Before” Date
-
Chicken & Waffles, Garlic Cheesy Bread & Sriracha Finalists In Chip Hunger Games
Great, now when I ask for a bag of chips, the employees will get wise to this, and pretend they don’t have them.
@PunchesSmallAnimals_GitEmSteveDave:
You could trick them and buy a $20 USB cable!
@chipslave: Or a $130 HDMI cable…
@Nick1693: @chipslave: Pray, is it a Monster Cable? Cuz those have electrolytes!
@PunchesSmallAnimals_GitEmSteveDave: It’s got what TV’s crave!
@PunchesSmallAnimals_GitEmSteveDave: Monster Cable: The CRT Mutilator!
@RaptorsAhead_GitEmSteveDave: @FunkmasterC: @plyhard13: I hope we didn’t give Monster an idea. Monster Chips! I wonder what claims they would make about them?
@PunchesSmallAnimals_GitEmSteveDave:
Monster Cables: ROCKET EDITION!
@RaptorsAhead_GitEmSteveDave: so when will monster cable sue DreamWorks for Monsters vs. Aliens?
@PunchesSmallAnimals_GitEmSteveDave: However, you will only get Wise if you do not buy Lay’s.
@RaptorsAhead_GitEmSteveDave:
Or you’d get an open bag special full of pebbles.
@RaptorsAhead_GitEmSteveDave: Just buy any old thing, take the survey, then immediately return the item.
I almost fell for it, but I know this is just Best Buy’s way of selling high profit margin junk food to combat the recession. Nice try Best Buy!!
Even if it were legit, once they figure out customers use it they will ignore it.
A bag of loose chips? I understand some of their laptops come that way too.
@stanner: Zing!
@stanner: your a regular Don Rickles
@stanner: Oh, Snap!
That info is almost correct
…the surveys do actually end up on reports where they can be viewed by the district staff…so if you leave a bad comment and leave the employee’s name and the situation, a local store manager will see it while viewing the customer satisfaction index report. Here is the trick, at the end of the survey it will ask if you want a member of the management staff to contact you. if you say no, everything goes back to normal, they’ll skim over your complaints and that’s it. If you agree to have a manager contact you over this issue, the store’s AMs and GM will get an email with your complaints and they have 3-7 days to contact you. If they do contact you, case closed. If they do not however, an email with all your information including your complaint goes to the District manager.
@Supasam83: Thanks for the tip! Ben, this might make a good update to the article?
@Supasam83: “If they do contact you, case closed.”
and what stops them from lying to the computer saying that they called you when they didn’t? Don’t say honesty.
@Supasam83: Soooooo…how do they know that the manager called the customer in question? I would guess that the manager puts some comments in a text box, and clicks the “I called” button. What would keep them from putting in some BS comments and saying they called anyway?
@Donathius: This is correct, and it happened to me at Futureshop(Best Buy’s Canadian sibling) I said call me, i got no response. Emailed again, and they told me i had been called. Magic phone again, it rang with nothing showing up on my voicemail or caller ID. woah.
I’m pretty sure you don’t have to buy the item specifically from that employee. Any receipt from the store should work.
@Segador: But this way you get the employee number, instead of having just their name like “Tim” or “Mike”.
@AlteredBeast: Yeah, but won’t employees eventually wise up to “OMG I HATE YOU AND I HATE THIS PLACE, please sell me a bag of popcorn” ?
I wonder if they sell Pringles. Because every time I shop at Best Buy I feel like I’m getting something in the can.
@Ash78: Then why do you shop there?
@howie_in_az: Some people like it in the can.
So the end result is you have to purchase something from them to even get a complaint heard? What a brilliant business model…treat someone well and you have a loyal customer, or treat them like crap and you still at least make 25 cents off them.
@Canino: You could just buy/return.
Damn! Rap Snacks! I remember those. They included a loaded gun and a dimebag with every purchase. It was like crackerjack for today’s generation.
I’m more interested in these “Rap Snacks” as I’ve never heard of them, where can I get these?
@PittDragon: I don’t think they make them anymore.
@PittDragon: [www.rapsnacks.com]
@PittDragon: Dude, Rap Snacks were awesome. IIRC, at least some of the bags challenged the eater: “Can you rap AND snack?” And I think one of the flavors had an empowering message to young ladies on the back of the package, encouraging them to tell their suitors “No RING, no THING!”
@PittDragon:
The only time I ever saw them was during the time I spent going to school in Philly. I streets were littered with empty bags.
@Metropolis: Yep, they’re still here. The ones you saw while you were in school, I mean – Philly is a dirty town.
Why not buy something, leave it in the box, fill out the survey, then do the return the next day? That way you haven’t really spent money at the store.
Of course, my solution to bad service at BB is just to shop elsewhere. Not as antagonistic, but hey, it seems to have ironed out the kinks in circuit city’s service. Ironed out… with extreme prejudice!
@tc4b: Sounds good, but you’d probably spend more money in gas and time than what a bag of chips is worth.
@PinkBox: I agree. Seems like something to do if you’re a real red-ass, with lots of free time and pent up hostility. I mean, WTF? It’s just some person making a little less than a living wage to get treated like crap by management AND customers, do I need to take time out to make his life even LESS enjoyable? He has to wear that stupid shirt, let that be punishment enough.
What if I buy a can of Whoop-Ass?
@Trai_Dep: Do you plan to open it in the store?
@tc4b: You should. It might contain tiles.
@tc4b: I try to be pacifist, so I’ll just glare menacingly while it sits there trembling in the can.
Unfortunately, even the candy at Best Buy is overpriced! Last time I was there, it was something like $1.39 for a pack of M&Ms!
@Juice Box Hero: Not to mention the 50 cents for the extended warranty on the bag of chips
@Juice Box Hero:
Hey, Circuit City currently has them at 10% of MSRP!
You could also call 1-888-BESTBUY and ask to speak to consumer relations. That was always the most effective way customers got results when I worked there. Often, I would have them call while still in the store, consumer relations would speak to a manager, and results would be almost instantaneous.
@mrm514:
On a side note, reading customer complaints was my favorite weekly activity.
surely a consumerist would pricematch that bag of chips guaranteeing the lowest price as well, correct?
@discounteggroll: Yeah, but who that they consider a competitor will have them cheap?
I want Rap Snacks, but they don’t distribute them in Canada afaik.
We need more flavor variety.
@Ecks: lol what, 9 kinds of cheese / buffalo wings and blue cheese / tandori / god knows what else flavours aren’t quite enough?
(and if you go into the asian / international aisles, there are fruit-with-fish flavoured jerkies, etc.)
This is a dumb post. I worked at bestbuy and these surveys can be viewed by any employee in the first place. Managers read these surveys and just laugh from my experiences because customers write the most rediculous things in there. If you had a bad experience stop crying and go somewhere else. After all you need to remember working retail sucks and for most young people why would they care about it.
I wanted to buy just chips but found myself talked into the extended warranty on them.
Only 69.95 for 3 years….great deal, huh??
@celticgina: Only if you get the Geek Squad Black Tie service. They will install them into your small intestine and scan for viruses.
@chipslave:
certainly one thing I really would not like to have backed-up
@discounteggroll: Thats the Black Guy service. Completely different…
that bag of chips requires a monster HDMI cable and a geek squad installation sir.
I don’t see why having a bad experience would make you want to buy anything else from them, even if it is chips.
Best Buy sells chips??
@IT-Chick: The profit margins on chips and soda are huge. That’s why almost any store (except department stores I noticed) will sell them as impulse buy items.
@mike:
I’ve only ever seen candy and soda. Those damn Sour Patch Kids get me every time.
Save a bit of money and just look around the store entrance for a receipt. I’m sure it won’t take long. Or ask someone else for one, again, they might not care.
Why give that Best Buy money?
Or for the ultimate in annoying an annoying sales guy: buy the chips. Get the receipt. Return the chips for a refund. Try not to LOL while they have to cut the paperwork for a $.040 bag of chips.
End result, TWO receipts!
Or you can just do things the easy way, and stop shopping at Best Buy.
I could buy a penny guide, but they’ve started pulling them from the stores. Yargh!
Great tip!
I bought a bag of chips from Best Buy and inside there was a bunch of ceramic tiles. When I went to exchange the chips, the return clerk said I ate the chips then tried to scam them on the return.
So I bought another bag of chips so I could complain via a survey and inside that back was a 73″ Plasma TV! I’m still mad.
I wanted those chips.
This is rather hit or miss depending on the store. The store I used to work at had an incredibly high survey-completion rate, and your comments could be, and usually were, quickly lost.
How much for the extended service plan on my bag of chips?
Can I get the extended warranty on those chips?
I use to be the Supervisor for the S Philly Best Buy. The Computers department, according to my managers, had the most “opportunity”. They say this not for advancement but because it was the most challenging. You see, computer do not have a lot of margin (profit). WHen a computer is on sale, it is being sold at cost(excluding Apple. They make 20% margin) The numbers game is like this; every sale is tracked on a goal sheet, or at least it should be. The overall goal is to sell Geek Squad services because services are a lot of margin, next are PSP, mainly accidental damage coverage on laptops. A 3 year ADH plan on a $400 to $599 laptop cost $249, or half the price of the laptop! Cables, printer ink, surge protectors all make up margin dollars! The more you can “attach” to the sale, the better you look. If you cannot attach accessories, geek squad, or service plans, they usually transfer to a less challenging department like media! Trust when I say managment loaths a sale of a computer or HDTV without any services or warranties attached. Best Buy builds a relationship with the customer in stating they have the end to end solution, but in the end the only goal is to build up GMD (gross margin dollars) in the daily business matrix. HDTv have more margin on the TV, somewhere around 15 to 30%, but they make a killing on installation and warranties. Just ask the Customer Experience Manager. Their title IS NOT to ensure the experience of the customer, it is the make sure every department is working on their daily numbers, which build toward their monthly goals, which are measured against the other store in the district. Our DM LOVED tracker sheets on every sale associate’s clip board, and they sound the alarm when they see the numbers slip for even a week. Especially now, in this economy, more than every are the contacting customers and spending time telling them what they “need” for their computer or HDTV
When I worked for Circuit City several years ago managers would get those online surveys and hang them on a wall in the breakroom.
No idea if there was one about me…
A few more tips on getting attention at other stores:
* Problem with Wal-Mart? Go to the returns desk – the Store Manager and District Managers’ names and phone #s should be clearly posted. Call the DM – a secretary will answer – ask for his mailing address and send a note. No purchase necessary and, if your complaint is legit, the offending employee will learn the true meaning of Hell on the DM’s next store visit.
* Look for postage paid comment cards at or near the cash registers. Fill one out but do NOT drop it off in the store – mail it in (or attach it to the front of an envelope containing a detailed letter). The majority of stores take these comments seriously. Not only are you likely to get an apology; the offending employee will be (at the very least) called on the carpet for their behavior.
Finally, please take a few minutes now and then to use these tactics for complimenting employees who gave excellent service. A few “thumbs up” for an above average employee from customers may help them get promoted, rewarded for their efforts and put in a position where they can hopefully train others to do the same.