CUSTOMER SERVICE BE DAMNED! ... September 28, 2002


Well, boys and girls, I certainly started THIS page just in time!


I don't ask too much out of life, but hoping for respect and general courtesy from people whose jobs depend on my satisfaction and business apparently is now considered "too much."

Long story short, I've been trying like hell to replace a recently deceased computer monitor for the last several weeks. My quest for a decently-priced replacement led me two weeks ago to my local BEST BUY store (Greenbrier Parkway, Chesapeake, Va.) where I found a nice model for just under $100.

Long story even shorter, the monitor I bought started having problems 2 or 3 days after I got it home (the display kept tinting yellow at random times), so silly me tries for the entire 2 week period to exchange it only to be told "we're not getting anymore of that model in, but we have to keep it on display until October 9th."

FINE.

After several DAYS of being on hold trying to find someone that cares, I'm finally offered quite a deal -- Best Buy will exchange the monitor I have for the next NEW available one they have in stock from the same manufacturer (MAG); I ended up with a newer model at the same price.

Now, the real problems start.

The replacement's replacement gets to my house (in a fully sealed box), and WITH WITNESSES, gets opened up only to find parts missing from the box (power cord, base), and the part of the styrofoam that seats the actual monitor to prevent damage is nowhere to be found. On top of all that, the display is clearly marked with fingerprints, scratches, etc. and at that point I announce to everyone in attendance that "this piece of sh*t is used, I canNOT believe this crap...", or words to that effect.

I return less than 10 hours later to the same BEST BUY store with my purchase only to receive "well, sir, we check all of our returns when they come back, sealed or not, so you could not have gotten a used monitor in this box." Let me tell you children, after this chick kept me in that store for 45+ minutes, only to end up standing there calling me a liar in front of everyone there, I heard the words come flying out of my mouth, "look, if you're gonna stand there and call me a liar over and over I want a manager NOW!"

Long story shorter again, the monitor was finally exchanged (reluctantly) along with a reminder that even though I was JUST leaving with the replacement, that the original 14 day return period expired at midnight and I would not be able to return it if anything was wrong with it. That part of the story is still in progress, since the replacement is having other display issues that (after troubleshooting) are found to be NOT caused by my PC. Apparently MAG monitors suck just as hard as the entire BEST BUY/SUNCOAST/SAM GOODY corporation.

My question is this (as this story continues to unfold): when did the customer who *used* to be always right become a blatant liar? When was our word second-guessed and invalidated despite having all necessary paperwork and receipts to back everything up? When did the consumers (you and me), who are responsible for these companies staying in business so that these rude insulting MORONS can have jobs, become anything less than top priority? To stand there, rather that even entertain the notion that someone else had previously returned something and it had accidentally NOT been checked by BEST BUY staff, and out-and-out call me a LIAR is not only rude and offensive, but it SHOULD be at the very bottom of ANY list on "how to treat customers."

Needless to say, as inexpensive as BEST BUY is on so many things, they've just lost ALL of my business along with the business of (at least) one of my best friends. That doesn't sound like much, but my calculations over the last 6 months show that just the two of us have spent over $1000 at this one store just on computer parts, CDs, VCRs, and DVD players.

Let's just hope they all keep working -- God forbid anything ELSE needs to be exchanged...


THANKS FOR READING!

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