Review: Best Buy

[hugh]

The purpose of this thread is for Digital Home members to review and relay their experience with Best Buy

This is NOT a discussion thread so please limit yourself to one post which includes your review.

We welcome the input and opinions of all members whether they are good or bad, however, please note that this thread is NOT for rants. Whether you had a good or bad experience with this vendor we want to hear about it but in an OBJECTIVE manner.

If you post a rant or childish comments like, these guys "suck" or they're all a "bunch of idiots", then your comments will be considered trolling and your post will be deleted.

When you post, please try to include the following information:

• What product or service you purchased.
• Approximate timeframe you ordered the product
• What location you dealt with if it’s a company with many stores or service locations
• Your overall level of satisfaction
• If you had a positive experience, please explain what made it such a positive experience.
• If you had a negative experience, please read our guidelines below.

Guidelines for Posting Negative Reviews

The truth is no retailer or service provider is perfect and occasionally even the best companies can disappoint. Our experience is that good companies have problems but they typically make every reasonable effort to resolve problems.

If you had a problem and are posting a negative review, then please note what efforts you made to resolve the problem and the feedback you received. If you think the efforts to resolve the problem were NOT reasonable then please explain why. Saying you phoned up and talked to some idiot, suggests the problem may lie with the consumer and NOT the company!

[Chevalde3]

They change stock quantity or pre-order dates all the time. Some DVD titles are advertised as stock and you order it but you usually get an Out of stock memo 3 days later. Also I believe some products do not even exist yet (ie: Blu-ray version of DaVinci code) and are advertised. Then guess what it is out of stock if your still order!

[PrimeBane]

I ordered several items(360 games, 360 quickcharge kit, SC sat receivers, HD-DVDs) through November and December online for instore pickup (Calgary Northland mall location).

The email received states you will get a notice for pickup within 3 hours. Only twice did I receive these emails within the 3 hours. Of course this was the busy season so I can understand why it did occur.

This is mostly just to warn others that it can happen and normally the order goes through the next morning.

[OpticDisc]

Yesterday, I decided to bite the Bullet, and buy an Open Box Samsung Blu-Ray unit (BDP1000). The sales guy went into the back and brought out all the manuals and cables while someone else took it off the demo stand.

I get the unit home, and discover they gave me the wrong remote. I phoned them and they tell me that they can't find the remote, and to order one from Samsung.

I call Samsung this morning, and they tell me it will cost $50 + Shipping for a remote. I call Best Buy and they say they can't get one for me.

Needless to say, I'm ticked, and am returning the DVD player today.

[stampeder]

OpticDisk, I've responded to your thread here:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=62425

You should only be blaming yourself.

[OpticDisc]

And I've replied back. I've calmed down now.

[dejrfan]

... I just got off the phone with a friend who I told to buy the DVR-530. He went shopping at Best Buy for cables to connect his sat receiver to his panasonic DVD recorder. While there some little best buy dweeb sales person convinced him that he "needed" to buy an HDMI cable because "the *choice receiver doesn't natively display 1080i and is only capable of 720p... your tv needs to be connected to the *choice receiver via an HDMI cable so the tv can up-sample the image to 1080i".
My friend gets home and wants to know where the the HDMI output port is on the back of his receiver because the best buy sales guy assured him there is one. Now, insult to injury, he got talked into buying the $200 HDMI cable because "it really makes a difference". By the time he had called me he had opened the package and the town we live in is a four hour drive from best buy... so I guess he just learned a $200 lesson.
This was either the most mis-informed sales person in history or it was outright theft... I'm not sure which.

[Anteater]

I haven't had many problems with Best Buy either but I've only made one order. I got a Sony digital camera from them and service was friendly but not without hard-to-understand accents and it arrived before the estimated delivery date (Canada Post).

[Tezster]

Ordered a wireless router and a couple of USB adapters to go with it during the online 'boxing day' sale on the 24th. Shipment arrived today, talk about a quick turnaround.

[ryankenn]

I bought a Hitachi 50V720 and matching stand through FS last year in June. It was a floor model and at the time I liked the package price of $1400 with the stand. Being that it was a floor model I opted for the 3 year extended warranty. They also threw in the $9000 dollar three foot HDMI Cable I would never buy under regular circumstances.

After about 2 months. Blue dot. Now blue glob. More blue glob, everywhere blue. Quick internet searches revealed that this was a common problem on Hitachi's. I called their line and was told in the first year, Hitachi would handle the claim. Gave me the number. I called, the tech came out and determined the whole light engine needed to be replaced. It was put on order. 10 days. 30 days. 45 days. I called Bestbuy and they informed me after 60 days, if the TV can't be fixed it falls back onto them to replace it. 60.0001 days later I called them back. I was given a code, and that code was forwarded to the store of my choice ( Surrey, King George ). I took my TV and stand down and waited for 2 hours. Now this part I rate as bad. It was more the line of people than my particular problem, but even at the counter it took a while to sort it out.

Now the good.

Hitachi is dead. BB stopped carrying them. So they have to give me an equivalent TV, based first on size. So the worst rear projection they have is the Sony KDS-50A2020 which at the time ( Nov 07 ) was $1899. Then I said my Hitachi had a matching stand and that’s why I bought it, so they had to give me a stand, and it turned out to be a $299 unit from whatever their house brand is. Glass, nice. Also, because BB had to replace it during what should have been the manufacturer’s period, the 3 year warranty that is normally consumed by this process was transferred to my new TV. Nice!

So I went from $1400 worth of Hitachi 720P floormodel to ( at the time ) $2200 worth of Sony 1080p and retained my 3 year extended warranty. Plus, the correct Sony TV and stand prices are on the new receipt so should anything go wrong a few years down the road, the bigger value will be warrantied to.

The waiting for the manufacturer’s repair was not fun, but once BB got going it went well and I couldn’t be happier with my free upgrade.

[stern_howie]

I've purchased a number of items from BB over the years 57" Toshiba TV was the biggest ticket item. In the first week I thought I noticed an audible hum from the set and best buy sent a tech to my house to check it out (no charge).

'She who must be obeyed' bought me a nice mp3 player from there with the extended warranty, after about a year it went bad...I went in to the store flashed the receipt and mp3 player, they just glanced at the receipt (didn't look at the player) and said..go pick another off the shelf. I ended up with a slightly better player since they didn't carry the same model anymore...in out 10 mins.

They've always been helpful not pushy and I like going in there just to browse around.

[tomm4004]

My experience with Best Buy so far is incomplete - I hope it has a happy ending.

With the Olympics starting on Friday, I thought it'd be a good idea to finally spring for an HDTV. I decided on a 40 Samsung LCD for $969 (in store and online). Then via email I received a notice of BB's online sale of $100 off for spending $1000. I figured a cable and a DVD and I'd be over the top.

The Samsung says that it's available for online ordering and in store pickup. It also said that it was available in both London South and North locations. Great. I ordered it and it said that in store pickup was not an option. The first glitch. It said that I could have it delivered Aug 6th or 8th - both for $55. Fine. It's big and probably best to have it delivered anyway. I ordered a cable and DVD. Even though they were available for in store pickup it would not let me do this (I guess since I also had the TV coming) and charged me $3 for regular delivery. This is strange since the cable and DVD are coming through the mail and the TV via big truck.

Anway, this was Sunday night. Today, Tuesday, I check my order status and beside my TV it says OUT OF STOCK. It doesn't say this on the product page. Even though the email said I could cancel products not yet shipped, my page does not give me this option. Nor does it give me the option to substitute another product, or give any indication how long I may have to wait.

I called Best Buy and after three tries got a human being, although the reception was horrible. I did understand them saying that I had to wait five days and if it wasn't IN STOCK by then they would give me an estimate. When I asked if I could cancel or change to another product I was met with silence.

Will the TV get here before Friday's opening ceremonies? We'll see.

My other option is to buy a TV somewhere else and simply return this one unopened when it arrives. Or call my Credit Card company and ask them not to accept the charge and for me to refuse order when they ship. I guess I'll give them a couple days. But it's annoying to be sold something that they don't actually have and have no idea when they are getting. It seems unethical somehow.

[MAXAM]

Over the years I've bought several items from B.B. with no problems. However, the last three times I've been to their stores (one in Burnaby and the one in New West) they had music playing so loud from a boom box that I had to leave in a hurry. You could actually feel the deep hyper bass notes hitting your chest it was that intense!

[beacher35]

Not a fan of the B.B.. I'll go just about anywhere else. The story is too long and drawn out to go into details, but I avoid them period.

[leemoreau]

BestBuy is completely hit and miss. I wanted the iPod shuffle headphones, the ones by Monster where the Shuffle sits on the headphones with no cables. Apple has them for $59, BestBuy is $89. I know BestBuy has price protection so I go to the one near my house Warden and Eglinton.

I pick them up ask for price protection they say go to Customer Service and they can do it. I get there she says sure, so she loads the Apple Website. I'm waiting, waiting, 2 other guys come over the finally find it there so great. Then the manager comes over, says at Apple it's minimum $75 or so for free shipping, so to get them for $59 from BestBuy I have to pay $15 more in other items. I say forget it I'll buy it at the store. The guy goes ohhhh they have them in stock? If so then that's fine. I'm like I imagine so, so the girl CALLS the Eaton Centre store to find out. They say they don't have them, and that headphones by Monster are only sold online. She says sorry can't match the price then so I told her to stick it and left.

The next day, I figure I'm being stupid I'll just buy something for $15 since I needed blank DVDs anyway. This time I go to Downsview near Yorkdale which is near my work. I pick them up go to Customer Service, tell her I want price protection. She looks funny and goes, oh you just go to the front cash and tell them that? I'm like okay, so I do.

I get up there tell the girl I want price protection from Apple. She asks how much they are, I say $59, she says who approved it? I'm like the girl at Customer Service said come here. She goes okay, marks it down to $54.99 and tells me to have a nice day.

No idea, first store had me never wanting to buy from them again but second was much better.