My experience with BestBuy

[mangaman]

Around six years ago when I got my first Xbox 360, I was using a USB flash drive to store all of my game's data. Half a year later, I decided to get a hard drive for the Xbox 360 since many of my games were taking up a lot of space on my 8GB flash drive. I found some great deals online at Amazon, such as a 250GB one for $25. However I wanted to buy it sight on scene and did not want to wait a full week or two for ti to come in the mail.

I went to BestBuy with my dad to look for Xbox 360 hard drives. At the time, I found some 250GB models for $150 with "free games". Obviously I could not afford it, so I asked an employee if they had any cheaper Xbox 360 branded hard drives. He told me that the Xbox 360 can use laptop hard drives without any issue, and that I can choose any branded model. Today, I know that I total BS, as the Xbox 360 will only recognize internal hard drives with Xbox 360 software inside of them. However back then I did not know, so I bought a 500GB laptop hard drive. Once I got home to put it into my 360 it would not work. I was a bit surprised buy this.

After looking around online for answers, I finally realized that the guy straight up lied to me. There is no way he could have confused an Xbox 360 with a PlayStation 3, as the PS3 can take laptop hard drives, unlike the 360. I also said very clearly "Xbox 360 hard drive" not "PlayStation 3 hard drive".

I returned it, but BestBuy's return policy only gave me back money in their gift cards, and not a full cash refund. And yes, I got the hard drive off of amazon a month after returning the laptop hard drive, and it still runs fine six years later.

I can post more of my experiences with BestBuy if you wish. What are your guy's experience with this tech store?

 

[Gam3r01]

Most of the time the average employee you talk to only has basic knowledge about tech/products in store.
6 years ago regarding consoles/PC hardware, probably even less so. Either they had bad information, or made assumptions, honestly not that big of a surprise.

The employee probably knew any brand external drive worked, but assumed internal was the same.

Their return policy either changed, or you dealt with someone who didnt care:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-t...cy/pcmcat260800050014.c?id=pcmcat260800050014
"With a few exceptions, we will reimburse you for returned items in the same way you paid for them. If you prefer, you can make an exchange for the same item. "

 

[mangaman]

Most of the time the average employee you talk to only has basic knowledge about tech/products in store.
6 years ago regarding consoles/PC hardware, probably even less so. Either they had bad information, or made assumptions, honestly not that big of a surprise.

The employee probably knew any brand external drive worked, but assumed internal was the same.

Their return policy either changed, or you dealt with someone who didnt care:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-t...cy/pcmcat260800050014.c?id=pcmcat260800050014
"With a few exceptions, we will reimburse you for returned items in the same way you paid for them. If you prefer, you can make an exchange for the same item. "

Kinda figures, but if they do not know the exact answer, they should be able to ask an higher up or someone who is more experienced. Nothing wrong with asking someone for help.

Also I do think the return policy changed. I did ask for a full cash refund at the time, but the guy said that I would not get full cash back.

 

[Gam3r01]

I do agree that it should be acceptable to simply tell a customer "I dont know, but I can help you find out"

 

[hang-the-9]

I would not judge a whole retail chain based on what some guy told you one time 6 years ago. I bought stuff from BestBuy for years, all my gaming keyboards, my monitor and my current phone was from BestBuy purchases. When I got my phone, the guys at the kiosk had a good grasp on their stock and models, and got my service moved over in one go. Also BestBuy is one of the only stores around that has a good display of gaming accessories on display so you can try different keyboards and mice, as well as having speakers hooked up and actually working for demos.

This is true of all stores that have humans working in them, what info you get from them or the class of service you will of course vary, they are hiring a ton of people for retail work for cheap, often with high turn-over so some guy may be there for a week and gone. They are not some IT department in a company that can pay for experience and knowledge and top intelligence.

Another thing that is a good idea not to buy in a store unless it's a clearance item, is any small doo-hickey like cables, chargers, power strips, storage boxes, etc.. since those are often marked up a lot. I still remember when CompUSA was around and a friend of mine got wholesale pricing from them because of Digital, he bought a CD rack for like 80 cents, that was priced at over $5. He kept that price receipt for years, may still have it LOL

 

[Printed Circuit Bro]

sight on scene

Hehe.

 

[mangaman]

I would not judge a whole retail chain based on what some guy told you one time 6 years ago. I bought stuff from BestBuy for years, all my gaming keyboards, my monitor and my current phone was from BestBuy purchases. When I got my phone, the guys at the kiosk had a good grasp on their stock and models, and got my service moved over in one go. Also BestBuy is one of the only stores around that has a good display of gaming accessories on display so you can try different keyboards and mice, as well as having speakers hooked up and actually working for demos.

This is true of all stores that have humans working in them, what info you get from them or the class of service you will of course vary, they are hiring a ton of people for retail work for cheap, often with high turn-over so some guy may be there for a week and gone. They are not some IT department in a company that can pay for experience and knowledge and top intelligence.

Another thing that is a good idea not to buy in a store unless it's a clearance item, is any small doo-hickey like cables, chargers, power strips, storage boxes, etc.. since those are often marked up a lot. I still remember when CompUSA was around and a friend of mine got wholesale pricing from them because of Digital, he bought a CD rack for like 80 cents, that was priced at over $5. He kept that price receipt for years, may still have it LOL

I agree. Humans makes mistakes and we are not perfect, but I've had mixed experience with that particular BestBuy store.

I also wanted to buy a very simple composite to Svideo adapter, nothing fancy or complex. A new guy who was working there took 10 minutes of his own time to actually help me find it. With no luck, he directed me to a more experienced employee to help me find it. The more experienced guy was very busy when I approached him, so I let him do his thing for a few minutes.

When he finally had the time to help me, I told him what I needed. All he said was "It should be over there" while pointing his finger in a general direction. I can tell he was busy, but that was very unprofessional.

I just ended buying it off of Amazon. Also purchased a few monitors from BestBuy, with little to no issues, since I always buy monitors sight on scene. Same with my UPS's at BestBuy. No issues. So ya, mixed with that particular store. Maybe it's just my area.