Daryl left his grill behind the last time he moved, which was very sad. Now he’s a homeowner and wanted a new one as the grilling season kicks off in the Northeast, where he lives. Still in the box. To assemble himself. If you’re a longtime Consumerist reader, you see where this is going. [More]
Lowe’s Assumes Everyone Owns Pickup Trucks, Still Pre-Assembling Most Grills
By April 15, 2013
Samsung Mini-Stores Coming To A Best Buy Near You
By April 4, 2013
One day after Best Buy announced it was pulling the plug on its Geek Squad experiment with Target, comes news that the electronics retailer is partnering with another big brand. [More]
Geek Squad Too Geeky For Target?
By April 3, 2013
Back in October, we told you about Best Buy and Target experimenting with putting Geek Squad dorks behind the counter at a handful of Target stores. Shock horror, this didn’t really shake things up at either retailer, so they have decided to just go their separate ways and then maybe occasionally say hi in the hallway between class before eventually deciding it’s easier to just pretend they never went on those couple of awkward dates. [More]
Best Buy VP Tells Consumerist Why He Thinks The Company Can Still Compete
By March 8, 2013
It’s been nearly a year since brash Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn stepped down amid a cloud of scandal. In the months that followed, the company’s stock price sunk, its founder and chairman Richard Schulze exited, then attempted unsuccessfully to buy the company back, and a French guy from the hospitality industry is now in charge of righting the ship. Can it be done? [More]
Best Buy Banking On Amy Poehler To Break Its Super Bowl Ad Losing Streak
By January 23, 2013
In 2011, Best Buy joined the exclusive club of Super Bowl advertisers to promote a buy-back program (which we spoiled weeks in advance) that has all but vanished. Last year, it hired a roster of tech biggies to bolster its image as a knowledgeable electronics retailer — and was greeted by chirping crickets. [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]
Geek Squad Expands To Target And eBay
By October 8, 2012
Have you recently gone to make an electronics purchase somewhere other than Best Buy, but found yourself wishing you could engage the services of the Geek Squad onsite, or buy one of their special Black Tie warranty plans? If you’re one of the regular readers of this site, probably not. But plenty of other people do, and the Nerd Herd is expanding outside of the walls of Best Buy. [More]
New Best Buy CEO To See What It's Like To Actually Work For Best Buy
By September 4, 2012
New Best Buy CEO Hubert “Don’t Call Me Q*bert” Joly is settling into his comfy new digs at the company’s HQ this week, but the former hotel & restaurant chain exec says he plans to jump into the Best Buy pool with both feet by finding out what it’s like to work for the retailer he now runs. [More]
At Geek Squad, Every Day Is Opposite Day
By August 22, 2012
Diane took her notebook computer to Best Buy’s Geek Squad, not knowing that at the time that this was a terrible idea. She requested that whatever the geeks did, they were not to remove or back up her hard drive. She signed a waiver stating that she didn’t want her data backed up, and left instructions that they weren’t to do anything with the drive. Perhaps calling this “opposite day” is unfair: the geeks did follow her directions partway. They didn’t back up the drive, but they removed it and replaced it with a new one. [More]
This Amateurish Sign Pretty Much Sums Up All Of Best Buy's Problems
By August 21, 2012
A lot of people here on the Internet love rage comics: simple, four-panel comics made with a pre-designed set of faces that tell stories of rageworthy situations ranging from tragic to mundane. I’ve never found them very funny, but clearly many people do. It’s unlikely, however, that they’re popular enough that the average Best Buy customer is going to recognize a rageface as a beloved icon. Even less likely if they’re hanging out at the Geek Squad counter. And that’s just one of the things that are wrong with this adorable homemade sign that Wes noticed on a recent visit to Best Buy. [More]
No, Best Buy Employee, I Won’t Come To Your House To Get My Stolen Racy Photos Back
By July 20, 2012
Just because you hand over your phone to a Best Buy employee does not mean they’re allowed to pilfer your photo collection and burn said pictures onto a CD. A Virginia woman claims an employee promised to help her transfer her iPhone’s contents onto a newer model, and after stealing her racy photos, invited her over to his home to get them back. [More]
Best Buy Layoffs Larger Than Expected; 1,700 Additional Employees To Get The Axe
By July 6, 2012
UPDATE: Yet another Best Buy tipster has come forward to share details and confirm/clarify information regarding the recent staffing changes. [More]
Layoffs To Leave Best Buy’s Geek Squad Short Several Hundred Geeks
By July 6, 2012
UPDATE The Wall Street Journal has confirmed some of what our tipsters have already told us, and adds that 1,800 Best Buy retail employees are also set to be dismissed in the near future.
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In the big media push that started with its most recent Super Bowl ads, Best Buy had been trying to position itself as a store that provided the one thing its online competitors couldn’t — knowledgeable, tech-savvy employees that can deal with customers on a face-to-face basis. Well, forget all about that hogwash, because the company has told its employees that it is laying off at least 650 Geek Squad staffers in the coming weeks. [More]
Best Buy CEO-For-Now Promises Change, End To Showrooming
By June 21, 2012
Best Buy has been shaken up by the recent, unexpected departures of both CEO Brian “My Work Here Is” Dunn and company founder Richard “I Need a Better Nickname” Schulze. And interim CEO Mike Mikan says more changes are coming to the electronics retailer. [More]
Best Buy Sells Me Exciting New Geek Squad Anti-Warranty
By June 21, 2012
What is an extended warranty? We were under the impression that it is a plan that extends the original manufacturer’s warranty, paying for repairs in the case that a consumer product is defective in some way that is not the owner’s fault. That’s what Pam thought, too, and she purchased one for the new Westinghouse TV that she bought from Best Buy. When the set broke down–six months into a four-year Geek Squad service plan, naturally–she tried to get both Best Buy and Westinghouse to repair the set, but no one carries the part she needs, and Westinghouse isn’t picking up the phone. Literally. [More]
Wait, Best Buy Replacement Plans Don’t Fix Or Replace Discontinued Gadgets?
By June 11, 2012
In October 2010, less than two years ago, Best Buy sold Jason a $630 camera and a $120 Geek Squad protection plan for it. The plan included repair past the manufacturer’s warranty as well as accidental damage. His camera didn’t just get damaged: it fell onto some rocks and shattered. Wow, good thing he bought that protection plan! He brought the shards to a local Best Buy to see about getting the camera replaced. He was told that since Sony no longer makes that particular model, he was out of luck. That would be a nice racket for Best Buy if they don’t have to honor their plan for models that have been discontinued. [More]
Best Buy Music Department Cares About Your Guitar Very, Very Much
By June 7, 2012
The surprising thing about this story isn’t that a reader received excellent customer service from a Best Buy store. No, we’ve seen that before. It’s that reader Cameron’s local Best Buy store has a full-service music department where you can get instruments repaired by actual professionals. When Cameron brought his guitar to his local store for restringing and repair, he expected just that: new strings and the specific adjustment he needed to the instrument’s neck. Instead, he got a fantastic restoration job on the now shiny, like-new guitar, and didn’t have to pay extra. [More]
Interim Best Buy CEO Admits Company Isn't The Greatest At Shilling Electronics Anymore
By May 22, 2012
Best Buy hasn’t been enjoying much success lately: Its CEO departed amidst allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with a female employee, prompting the exit of Chairman Richard Schulze for not handling that situation well. And oh yeah, it’s not selling as much stuff as it used to. Interim Chief Executive Mike Mikan isn’t parsing any words on that front. [More]
