ADVENTURES IN CUSTOMER SERVICE – BEST BUY EMBRACES THE SUCK

I bought my Netbook!

Since Monday,  I’m the ecstatic owner of an Acer netbook!  This little baby has everything I need, and it’s tinier than the Filofax organizers we all used to carry around in the 1980’s!  Having my netbook is almost as great as having a small dog for people to exclaim and coo over!  Everyone who has seen it so far wants one.

Using my netbook has been easy, despite the dearth of documentation included in Acer’s so-called guides.  However, I can’t seem to get the netbook’s battery to charge – or if it is charged, it doesn’t reflect the status in the power meter.  I’ve already been on the Acer support page with the question and have been impressed with the prompt acknowledgment of my request for assistance.

Why wouldn’t I just take it back to Best Buy?

Well, that would seem the logical thing to do.  But I won’t, until I exhaust all other avenues.  Here’s why:  We practically had to beg Best Buy to buy this thing.

Now, the lack of, or maybe to be fair, spotty customer service at Best Buy is pretty much common knowledge. Knowing the head of the entire music division at their corporate headquarters never helped me get any better service out of their Ridgedale (Minnetonka) store – nor did it help said executive’s wife and family over the years, according to my Deephaven neighborhood’s lore.  You’d think they would’ve taken extra care with the boss’s family, right?  Nope.

We knew all this on Monday.  We had item numbers and pricing printed out from the web for exactly what we wanted to purchase.  Lured by the prospect of saving $20 over the competition, we entered Best Buy on a mission, ready to purchase.  This, you’d think, would be any blue-shirt nation citizen’s dream scenario.

Why do Best Buy systems and procedures suck the life out of customer experience?

Anyone who has been in sales for more than a minute knows this:   if a customer is buying, get the hell out of the way. This includes any obstacle – even someone who might be a member of your so-called team.  The hapless employee we beckoned had evidently missed class on the day this subject matter was covered.

There was no Acer netbook on display.  There was one in a box, however, imprisoned in a wire cage below the display.  This cage was secured by a magnificent padlock for which, it seemed, no one had the key.  This struck me as a medieval system – sort of like the manor chatelaine who held the keyring as part of her duties running the household.

Once we had transcended the 3 levels or so in the hierarchy of the sales floor, an individual was located who could actually unlock the prison cell holding the inventory.  Now, with plenty of years in retailing, I’m fully aware of the need for on-floor measures against what we euphemistically termed as “shrinkage” back in the day.  But, truly, can’t you empower your employees to a level at which they could actually show a customer one of the products you’re trying to sell without having to scurry around like an idiot to access said product?  Just sayin’.

It was then that the Best Buy customer experience blasted into the orbit of the surreal.

The aforementioned adolescent that we had successfully culled from the flock of blue-shirts proceeded to the computer department’s dedicated cash register.  With boxed computer in hand, he readied himself to punch keys.  We had yet to see our purchase from a distance of less than two feet.

“Hold it, ” Pete said as the youngster looked up, startled.  “We’d like to take a look at what we’re buying.”

We were handed the box in surprise.  We noted the price, though reflecting a discount, was different than that advertised on the web. When queried, our young man responded off-handedly, “Oh.” We waited for more.   After an uncomfortable pause, he added, “It must be a floor sample or something.”

“Maybe you could open the box so that we can see it, ” I chirped.

“Well, it’s really taped up,”  he responded.

“I know.  That’s why I want to see it, and perhaps you could tell me why it’s $10 more, even with the discount, than your online price.”  He took off with the still-boxed computer.

Teamwork reaches an entirely new level at Best Buy

A not much older young woman, dressed all in brown (no blue shirt to identify her?) was examining the box when we made our way over.  She looked over our printout and said, condescendingly, “This one has a different item number than the one online.”

Pete responded, “Well, it seems to me that we have the same features, the same memory, the same everything, except for an item number.  Shouldn’t the price be the same? What’s the difference, especially since this one has been opened and probably returned?”

“The difference is the item number.”  She looked at us like we were idiots. Oh.  Right.  It’s the same computer, down to the last specification, but the item number is the almighty arbiter.

“Why can’t you just knock the ten bucks off and sell it at your advertised price? It’s your last one, and clearly it’s been opened, or it’s been on display.”

“The discount has already been taken, you can see right here.  You’re already getting a fifty buck discount.”  Well, alrighty then.  Clearly, we were doddering fools in need of a drool cup. It must have been amazing that old codgers were even thinking of using a computer to begin with! Whatever.

So we proceed back to the checkout, and ask to see the computer outside of the box.  Would there be an electrical outlet so we could actually plug it in, and could we get it out of the plastic and open it up to physically experience the size of the keyboard?  Well, he supposed we could, but it was evident this was going above and beyond what our young man was prepared for.  He struggled a bit with the tape, valiantly stabbing at it with a pen.  I realized not only does Best Buy not trust the downstairs help with padlock keys:  Sharp objects that might be used for something as simple as getting a product out to demonstrate it to the customer must also be verboten.

The box came open.  He still seemed loathe to let me touch the netbook, however. Perhaps he thought I might not be gentle with it, much as we caution young children around baby animals and such?

Satisfied that the box did contain the desired item, and yes, it did power on, I quickly wrote the check, and we prepared our escape.  We still had to clear our receipt at the door while it was checked against our little parolee, but we’re used to that sort of thing.

Best Buy mistreats its customers

It’s not like we haven’t had crappy customer service at Best Buy in the past. But with the demise of Circuit City, there hasn’t been an alternative emerge to compete against their dominance in this town.  Home Depot has its Lowe’s, Office Max has its Office Depot and now Staples, we have choice in grocery items, but for computers – well, Best Buy is it in this town, except for Microcenter – which we patronize when Pete needs a Mac fix.

Some kids, I was told when one of mine was bullied in 3rd grade, just don’t realize that they shouldn’t even try to befriend an abuser.  Their strategy is to keep coming back for more, giving the bully an opportunity to strengthen the dysfunctional dynamic, and repeat the damage.

This is what played out with us on Monday.  Best Buy didn’t treat us with outright hostility.  They treated  us as if we were inconveniencing them by asking questions and wanting to see what we were buying.  That, friends, is a highly dysfunctional relationship with the customer.

A lousy customer service experience takes the joy out of having a new toy.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with my little netbook.  It’s fun!  I love it!  But purchasing it from another retailer who actually gave a rat’s behind about the customer experience would have been so much nicer.

It’s not that hard to demand and train employees to uphold high customer service ethics, and to empower them to ensure their customer service is seamless, logical, and enjoyable.

Yo, Best Buy?  Next time, we’ll go elsewhere with our business.

Related:

• Best Buy Offers 4,000 Employees Buyouts [Economy] (gizmodo.com)
• Acer to phase out 8.9in Aspire One netbook? (reghardware.co.uk)
• Acer takes the “most netbooks sold” crown from ASUS (engadget.com)