Michael is buying his mother a new computer for Mother’s Day, because he’s a good son and she’s moving away soon. As long as he was buying a computer, he wanted to get some reward points from Best Buy on his credit card. Only he couldn’t. While the product page bragged of “free shipping,” Best Buy was not willing to ship the item. At all. [More]
What Are America’s Most Damaged Brands Right Now?
By April 26, 2013
How mighty brands fall. Bad leadership, bad planning, a run of bad products: any of these can damage a brand in a short amount of time, and it can take years to recover: if, indeed, the brand recovers at all. What brands are the most battered in the United States right now? 24/7 Wall Street rounded them up, based on which publicly-traded major companies are currently dealing with aggressive competition, reputation disasters, and a lack of direction. [More]
I May Or May Not Have Preordered Samsung Galaxy S4 From Best Buy
By April 18, 2013
Trevor might be getting a Samsung Galaxy S4. He might not. His order went through fine the first time, but it turned out that he made an error, and had asked for the wrong phone number to be upgraded. Oops. He called to cancel the order, but didn’t have a credit card handy to place a new one. That is how his saga began. A saga of trying to place a preorder that Best Buy apparently doesn’t want to accept. [More]
In-Store-Only Digital Downloads Are Not The Way To Get People Flocking Inside Best Buy
By April 10, 2013
For brick-and-mortar retailers, getting customers to walk into their stores has always been a challenge. Today, it’s even more so. But the secret to success in the third decade of the e-commerce era probably isn’t making digital downloads “In-Store Purchase Only.”"I wanted to buy some Microsoft points for Xbox…..ummm, I’m not quite sure I understand this one Best Buy,” reader Aaron writes. “Digital Download in-store?” [More]
Customer Has Positive Experience At Best Buy, Is Shocked Enough To Write To Consumerist
By March 18, 2013
We opened our mailbox earlier this week to find something that wasn’t quite right. An account of a shopping experience at Best Buy that ended…well? That can’t be. We thought that Dave must have been mistaken, but no: he was happy and the customer service he received was excellent. It even involved an open-box item. [More]
Best Buy Posts 50% Off Coupon On Internet, Forgets How Internet Works
By January 22, 2013
It’s happened over and over again, and retailers never learn their lesson. A big-box store e-mails a coupon to their customers, then freaks out and backpedals when customers actually show up at the cash register and try to use it, withdrawing the coupon and accusing customers of trying to scam the store. This time, the retailer was Best Buy, which offered a coupon for $50 off a purchase of $100 or more as long as the customer used a Mastercard. The coupon excluded most of the items you’d expect it to exclude: prepaid cell phones, iPods, certain brands of TVs and cameras. One very key thing that it didn’t exclude: gift cards. [More]
Why Some Best Buy Stores Need Two Forms Of ID To Give You $5 For A Junk Cell Phone
By January 17, 2013
You may remember the adventures of S., who wanted to turn a drawer full of junky cell phones into Best Buy gift cards, but ran up against a baffling store policy that requires two forms of photo ID to do so. He complained, then flounced to another store that didn’t have this inexplicable policy. Turns out that this policy is pretty explicable: it involves local laws regulating pawn transactions. [More]
Best Buy Gave Me A Free iPhone. What Should I Do?
By January 15, 2013
After he had already picked up his iPhone 5, Edmund got received an e-mail from Best Buy reminding him to come get the phone that he had ordered. He didn’t think much of it until he received another e-mail telling him that his preorder was canceled…and then he got a refund of the purchase price of the phone that he allegedly didn’t pick up. He’s not about to take the phone back, but he wonders: is he obligated to even let Best Buy know? [More]
Best Buy Needs 2 Forms Of Photo ID To Give You Five Bucks For A Broken Cell Phone
By January 14, 2013
Quick: in your wallet right now, do you have two photo IDs? I do, but only if you count a BJ’s card. If you don’t, don’t visit Best Buy to trade in your junky old cell phones. In the subject line of his e-mail to us, reader S. declared his weekend to be the “Worst Best Buy Experience Ever.” We wouldn’t go that far, maybe because our bar is set a little low for what the “worst” experience at any given retailer should be. It was pretty irritating, though.
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Best Buy Makes Sure Gift Card Arrives Safely, Sends It Packed In Air Cushions
By January 2, 2013
Kevin took advantage of a totally amazing Best Buy deal where he could buy a $100 iTunes gift card for only $80. The card came in the regular old mail instead of being virtual, though, and Kevin assumed that it would arrive in some sort of envelope. What with it being a small, flat object and all. But no! Instead, Best Buy sent it along in a cardboard box filled with air pillows. [More]
Best Buy Founder Gets A Little More Time To Figure Out How To Buy Company Back
By December 14, 2012
Just yesterday it seemed Best Buy founder Howard Schulze would have a stressful weekend, as he was supposed to come with an offer, any offer, to buy his company back by Sunday. But it seems he’s been issued a bit of a reprieve, as the electronics retailer said today that it will give Schulze until Feb. 28 to make his bid for the company. We can feel the relieved exhalation from here. [More]
At Best Buy You Can Pay $3 More For Someone Else To Open A Product For You
By December 14, 2012
Consumerist reader R. came upon quite a non-deal at his local Best Buy and simply had to snap a photo using our mobile tipster app. Because otherwise how could we believe that Best Buy would display a higher price for an opened item than for a brand new one? Well, actually, we’d believe it anyway but proof is always fun. [More]
Best Buy Customer Returns Extra iPads Sent By Accident, Feels Like A Sucker
By December 14, 2012
We were surprised, last week, to hear about a Best Buy customer who ordered one iPad, then received a box of five. It was even more surprising when we heard from another customer who had the same problem. We keep hearing from more people who have received iPacks instead of iPads. One of them was Eric, who took them back to the local Best Buy and received a $50 iTunes gift card for his trouble. He was surprised to learn from a fellow commuter about our series of posts. Especially the part where Best Buy offered to let the other customers keep the four bonus iPads. Now he feels like a sucker. [More]
Best Buy Can’t Actually Find Your Reward Zone Certificates For You
By December 13, 2012
David had some rewards certificates from Best Buy available, and they happen to have the BluRay version of the movie “Rudy” in stock for only $7.99. In theory. The disc was actually marked $19.99, but rang up at $7.99, because nothing in life or at Best Buy is ever simple or straightforward. Great, so they straightened that out: now, could they pull up his certificates from within the store? Of course not. [More]
Best Buy Sends Me Wrong Microwave, Promises To Come Swap It Out, Doesn’t Show
By December 12, 2012
This is an exciting but stressful time for Terry’s family. His wife is pregnant, and they also just bought a new house. They ordered new appliances: matching stainless steel items for the kitchen, including one of those space-saving microwaves that goes over the stove. Best Buy technicians delivered and installed the bigger appliances, and the microwave arrived on the doorstep a few days later. It was the wrong color. That’s where Terry’s battle with Best Buy began. [More]
Hey, Best Buy Also Sent Me Five iPads When I Only Ordered One!
By December 6, 2012
As our post from last night about Best Buy’s five-for-one iPad deal burned up the Internet, some people wondered whether this had happened to anyone else out there. No, that couldn’t be: this is an expensive mistake. It can’t happen all the time. Then we heard from Nick, who has four spare iPads stashed in his closet, waiting for Best Buy to come back for them. [More]
My Mom Ordered One iPad And Best Buy Sent Five
By December 5, 2012
Alexa’s boyfriend got an iPad for Christmas from his mother. Well, that’s not quite true. His mother ordered one iPad, and had it shipped to him. What arrived on their doorstep was a very large and heavy box that was big enough to hold five iPads. Because it did. [More]
Best Buy Employee: We’re Not Always Trying To Upsell You Credit Cards And Warranties
By November 28, 2012
Over the summer, a handful of Best Buy employees wrote in with tales of mismanagement that didn’t paint the rosiest picture of what it’s like to work at the store. But one woman who works at Best Buy says you can’t judge all the stores based on a few stories about bad ones. [More]
