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!

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.

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.

I'm pretty sure you don't have to buy the item specifically from that employee. Any receipt from the store should work.

@chipslave: Or a $130 HDMI cable...

I wonder if they sell Pringles. Because every time I shop at Best Buy I feel like I'm getting something 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.

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?

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!

@Canino: You could just buy/return.

@tc4b: Sounds good, but you'd probably spend more money in gas and time than what a bag of chips is worth. :)

@PittDragon: I don't think they make them anymore.

@PittDragon: [www.rapsnacks.com]

@Supasam83: Thanks for the tip! Ben, this might make a good update to the article?

What if I buy a can of Whoop-Ass?

@stanner: Zing!

@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.

@Trai_Dep: Do you plan to open it in the store?

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!

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?

I want Rap Snacks, but they don't distribute them in Canada afaik. :( We need more flavor variety.

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.

@Nick1693: @chipslave: Pray, is it a Monster Cable? Cuz those have electrolytes!

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??

@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!"

@stanner: your a regular Don Rickles ;)

@stanner: Oh, Snap!

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.

@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

@PunchesSmallAnimals_GitEmSteveDave: It's got what TV's crave!

@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.)

@PunchesSmallAnimals_GitEmSteveDave: Monster Cable: The CRT Mutilator!

Best Buy sells chips??

@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. :P

@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?

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?

@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.

@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.

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.

@discounteggroll: Thats the Black Guy service. Completely different...