Best Buy In-Store Pickup Terrible & Men's Wearhouse Takes Forever

I like the idea of shopping to find a bargain or a treasure. But also when you really need something, and you are trying to save money (due to the bad economy) the customer always comes first.

There's a couple of places in the S.F. Bay Area I like to call... just terrible customer service for failure to address issues, and complete tasks in a timely manner:

Best Buy (Colma, California): As you may know, you can now buy your items from Best Buy online and if it is in stock at your local store, they will retrieve it and have it ready for quick pickup. As a penny pincher, my preferred airline offers bonus miles if I shop online, so I did the in-store pickup process.

I purchased a small 4-port USB hub for about $16 on sale, and after finding that my local store had it available, paid for it online and waited for a confirmation e-mail that they retrieved the item. I made the purchase at 7:40PM and Best Buy tells you that it takes approximately 45 minutes to retrieve the item. 9PM came by and the store was closing, and I received no confirmation.

So the next morning, I woke-up and noticed no confirmation e-mail that the product was ready for pick-up or was unavailable. The store opened at 10AM, and I tried calling the store at 10:30AM to ask what the heck was going on. After attempting THREE TIMES on the automated system to speak to an employee with no success, and I had to drive down to the store. At 12:00 Noon, I informed an employee and they started looking around, and told me the item was not there.

I demanded a manager because it was very poor customer service where you are expecting a confirmation e-mail if the item is available or not within their 45 minute average time, but was now OVER THREE HOURS (7:40PM to 9PM closing, & 10AM opening to 12 Noon) without an e-mail.

I even informed him that last year, I did the same in-store pickup process at that location for a brand new Xbox 360, one video game, Xbox remote control, and a Xbox live membership card, and the store decided to e-mail me back that ALL THE ITEMS WERE UNAVAILABLE. What are the damn odds of that happening? It was like the employees didn't give a shit.

And what does the manager tell me? They had a person doing the online stuff and failed to meet their goal to retrieve the item in a timely manner (Akit's interpretation: your employees are fucking lazy and slow). So the manager asks for my paperwork and tried looking again and finds the item. But since they informed Best Buy online that the item was not available, they hassled for five minutes on the cash register to fix the problem and charges me the correct price. I then had to call Best Buy customer service on the phone to cancel my online order so I did not get accidentally charged on my credit card.

The lesson: With the economy going downhill, a store's customer base must be treated with appropriate respect, therefore meeting the customer's and corporate's expectations of customer service, and this helps keep loyal customers to shop at your place. Best Buy says the average time from the time you order online to when the item is ready for pickup is 45 minutes. But when the store is open for three hours since posting my online order and I'm forced to spend my gasoline to drive to the store to demand answers because employees don't also feel like answering the telephone after three attempts, you just lose the trust and confidence of customers to shop at your business.

Men's Wearhouse (Colma, California): Right now they are offering a "buy one, get one free" sale on their suits, but I was not there to get a new suit, I just needed my existing suit re-tailored since I did my suit tailoring at that location.

It wasn't until they chalked my suit up and told me when it will be ready for pickup. They said about 25 days (nearly a MONTH). What a joke. They claim that they are heavily backlogged with tailored coats and slacks. Then why not hire a temporary tailor or send it off to a location with less demand to do the job? I don't have this kind of time to stall around.

I even asked them about getting a new sport coat I bought someplace else, tailored. They said they give priority to customers who bought items from their store, but was willing to do the job on my new sport coat. They told me that it would take an additional two weeks, WITH NO GUARANTEE DATE of completion because it can be delayed further due to their "priority" system. This literally means that my new coat would be waiting to be tailored for OVER A MONTH or LONGER WITH NO PROMISES.

Lastly, one of their promises posted online that promises to give free pressing of your clothing at any location in the nation, and claims it is "perfect when you're on the road." Well, truth be told, I asked for one of my slacks I bought there to be pressed, and they gave me a claim ticket to pick it up in 48 hours. That's what you call quality service? If they claim it is perfect when you are travelling, 48 hours is too damn long to wait.

Xbox 360 Broke Down - Best Buy Replaced it for Free, but also wanted $150

It's the thing I most dread about video game systems... it breaks down and doesn't work anymore. That's what happened to me Thursday with my Xbox 360, but it wasn't the "red ring of death" (three red lights), I had an overheat signal (two red lights in left quadrant) when the system was completely cold.

So after several attempts, I totally confirmed that it does not work, unhooked everything, and packed it in the original box to send to Best Buy. Fortunately, I purchased a two year replacement plan for $59, knowing that the odds were high that my system would break down. That replacement plan sure came in handy.

So I head down to the Best Buy store in San Francisco (Geary Blvd.) with my receipt and the box packed neatly with everything. I was served very quickly by a lady, but then the long nightmare started. She asked a Geek Squad member to test out the system, and it supported my theory that the overheat mechanism was not working properly and kept shutting down the console. Then she called over a co-worker because there was some sort of problem with the registry about my purchase and I had to wait over 20 minutes to get it resolved. I eventually got my new Xbox 360 system, and it was actually an upgrade from my previous console (old console: 20 GB, new console: 60 GB with two free games).

The really bad news is that initially they told me that I could keep my old hard drive because it had all my saves, map downloads, and my Xbox Live registration. But when the new console was near ready to leave the store, I asked them about my old hard drive. The employee stated a "new" policy that forced me to leave my old hard drive and I was forced to accept the new hard drive. I was a little confused, so I asked them if it is possible to transfer the data from the old hard drive to the new one.

So the employee talks to the Geek Squad guy and comes back and says "sure" they can transfer the information to the new hard drive, for $150. I yelled out, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS?!?! ARE YOU CRAZY? Even the folks waiting to return items were in shock. I told the employee, hell no, and walked out with the console, but I also expressed grief with the store manager when leaving.

I told the manager, "it seems a little unfair that Geek Squad wants to charge me $150 to transfer the information to the new hard drive." The manager said to me that the price seemed odd to him even though he knew that I had to get the console REPLACED, and after said "bye" to me. I was half-way pissed, but happy that I got a new system. Then I suffered 3 hours of updating the Xbox 360, including the 400 MB map pack for Call of Duty 4. I also lost all my saves, except for Call of Duty 4, which remembered my high scores and my full completion of the game.

Here's my summary of why I'm a little disturbed at Best Buy:

• They took much longer than expected to replace my console.
  
• They initally promised to swap my old hard drive with the new one.
• They backed away from the swap, attempting to scam me out of $150 to transfer the data, when the system broke down and should have been done as a courtesy, since I had the replacement plan.
• After explaining my concerns to the manager, he should have taken action immediately to find out why the price is so high, especially after giving his comment that the price that high was so odd.

Now I just noticed, 360 sells a hard drive transfer cable. They should have told me about this and let me keep the old hard drive so I can do it myself (since the old console is dead). You rip-off bastards.

Getting the Most Rewards out of Buying Stuff

I enjoy shopping for some cool things, especially video games and some expensive stuff. As always, gasoline prices are not going to go down to $1.50 a gallon anytime soon, so maybe its time to get a little payback for what you buy.

Many of you may have a rewards credit card that usually gives you about 1% of your purchases, back; but how about if I can get you a better return rate on your purchases?

Here's my list of tips on what to do to get back even more money, sometimes up to 5% back.

• Talking about gasoline prices, there are a few gas stations that have "cash only" options for slightly less than credit only. But in about 85% of cases, the gas station you visit does not really care which way you pay, as long as they get their money and you got gas in your tank. Here's how you can get back more.
• First of all, always use your credit card with a rewards program. If you pay in cash all the time, you get ZERO PERCENT BACK. Remember that by using a credit card, you do not pay interest if you pay the entire amount back when your next bill comes along.
• Most rewards cards are 1%, but here's one that can get you 3% or even 5% if you have a business. I use the Costco American Express card and it provides me 3% back at all gas stations, including Costco gas, where it is relatively cheap. 5% is for any business member that gets a business American Express card. Do your research, you might find a better return if you get the right card.
• I spend about $1,000 a year on gas, so 3% back is $30 of fun money I can spend on something else... say more gas. As for my folks, I don't know why they use a gas station credit card, they can only use it at one brand of gasoline, and the REFUSE to fill-up at another gas station that's cheaper. Sheesh, did you know that San Francisco's gasoline only comes from two refineries?

• How about shopping online? Here's how you can kill three birds with one stone, and it only takes a little bit of extra effort to do. Here's the steps:
• First of all, get a free membership with Mileage Plus on United Airlines and once you get your registration done, go to the "earn miles" section and you find the Mileage Plus Online mall. There, you can go shop at many of your favorite online stores, including places like Best Buy and Barnes and Noble.
• Second, make sure to charge your purchase to a rewards credit card.
• Third, make sure you are registered for that store's loyalty program.
• Now, it's time to use all three. I'll give a perfect example, let's use Best Buy!
• The United Airlines Mileage Plus online shopping mall offers Best Buy, where you get one mile for every two dollars you spend. You click on the link to enter Best Buy, go shopping and pick what you want, choose for your item to be shipped or express pick-up, charge it to your rewards card, and register your "Best Buy Reward Zone" loyalty membership to your purchase (Every $250 gets you $5).
• Lets do the return rate math:
• United miles earned: 0.50% return rate
• Rewards credit card: 1% (or possibly more)
• Best Buy loyalty membership: 2%
• TOTAL: 3.5% return rate.

So... think creatively! You can get back more than you think you can.