Never ordering anything from Best Buy again. Period; I spent three weeks running in circles to get my laptop while they lied through their teeth as much as they could. I think we wasted sixty bucks in gas just running circles because of the crap that they pulled.

Like the fact that they told me that I did not need my ID - three times - and turns out I did.

Or the fact that they lied several times regarding the arrival date of my computer and the status on whether it was there or not.

And then, on top of that, my laptop was already damaged on arrival. (I never got it fixed though...)

Best Buy is the Wal-mart of computers and electronic equipment. I will shop there if necessary, but I will always be able to buy a better item for cheap online. A BB computer salesperson was actually my first job when I turned 16. They have general run-of-the-mill slimy corporate practices: up sale things people don't need, run an efficient standard for ever store regardless of customer base, increase competition amongst employees while diminishing benefits, etc.

Oh, I never shop at Best Buy. They're horrible. I buy all my computer stuff at New Egg or TigerDirect.

I like Best Buy.  They have a lot of cool gizmos in there.  I like to buy some of the games there as well.

skye565 :

Glad to know that they suck as much internally as they do externally. That was the worst customer service I'd ever received.

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Crazy Li :

See, my grandfather wanted to buy me this laptop so I didn't have a choice because Best Buy is where he chose to shop. But none of us are using Best Buy again because of how bad the service was.

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mr.pace :

Glad that you had a decent experience. Yeah, ordering things from Best Buy, for me anyhow, wound up being awful... maybe if it is stuff that they have on stock. Then again, our Best Buy could possibly just suck more than average. There's an OfficeMax right next door, however, that I do like to frequent.

Oldschool41 : I suppose that's true... but if your computer comes DoA because of shipping damage, they're going to replace it for free anyway. It's not like you lose your money because of bad shipping. You have to have at LEAST 30 days to return any product if it has issues.

I never buy whole computers though... I usually order the individual parts and assemble them myself because it's cheaper that way.

Oldschool41 : You technically CAN... but the everyday person can't. You have to be a certified laptop technician to have the capability of pulling that off. Even certified PC techs don't know how to properly work with laptops. It's in a class all of its own that's far more complicated. The people who can assemble them are the same people who do that sorta thing professionally because those are the ones who HAVE to do it... but I think you need a lot of extra resources for it. I never tried. I'd be afraid of destroying all the parts. The most I've ever done with a laptop is change the RAM and HDD. Anything beyond that, I can't access.

Laptops are a lot safer to have shipped than desktops, though. They're a bit sturdier due to their compact designs. I did order a laptop online before and have it shipped.

Oldschool41 :
This laptop that I got from them was an order because they were out of stock in-store. If they hadn't been, I could have just picked it up there. I wish I'd known that OfficeMax next door sold computers and computer tech... would have just gone over there instead.

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Crazy Li :
I prefer to build my own computers too. However, I haven't really had the money or option. This computer was bought for me by my grandfather as a gift.

Best Buy isn't bad for things like blank disks, or games, or consoles. But for computers/ computer parts, I would much rather use newegg. I'm sorry to hear they pulled so much crap on you

I glad that I don't order stuff from best buy. I mean why the heck they would do that to their customer. It just doesn't make sense to me, and they damaged the computer. That is just plain stupid.

metal572 :
Mobouis1 :

I am very surprised that any company would treat customers the way that they did. I suppose it's not surprising though; I haven't seen everything, after all. As for them damaging the computer - there's no telling whether it was Best Buy or the shipping that damaged it.

Ktanaqui : I got a laptop from best buy for Christmas that my mother picked out for me and picked it up in store. No problems at all with the laptop and am in fact very grateful that I have this laptop because my main computer has been down since July. Although I have been limited to what I can do work wise, it’s not the laptop’s fault.

Far as Best Buy I think what you should focus you’re frustration on is what was the carrier that shipped the laptop for Best Buy? I personally do a great deal of my shopping online because of the discounts and such. I order a lot of electronic stuff, blank media and accessories and such. I am a long time Amazon prime member.

About two years ago I ordered two 100 packs of Verbatium DVD-R’s from Amazon. Well the discs were defective and caused burn rings on one of my recorders. After realizing what it was doing I didn’t use another disc and immediately contacted Amazon. Not only did they refund me but they also gave me credit toward a future purchase and apologized, I don’t know if it was merely a problem with the discs or if it had to do with how it was handled while in shipping but I really appreciated how I was treated and will swear by Amazon on almost anything. In regard to blank media though I have opted to go with Meritline primarily because that is also where I order my cases from and because of prices. When it comes to online shopping, much like everything else in life you need to Research, Research, Research.

If you’re laptop was damaged in some way on arrival then it was most likely due to something while it was in shipping. I would focus all my energy on who the carrier was. In most cases the shipments are insured by major retailers like Best Buy in the event something like that happens. Fact is the company can’t be held responsible once they have shipped something, it simply isn’t in their hands at that point and becomes the responsibility of the carrier but like I said if your order was insured by the company when it was shipped and I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be because it’s standard practice now of days for companies to insure their merchandise prior to shipment to the customer then you should be okay.

I hope I helped you a little bit. As I said I do a lot of shopping online so feel free to ask me anything if you are worried about ordering from a company or questions you should have before something ships to you.

Best of luck to you.

I'm actually not a regular at Best Buy, but I'm a bit surprised at some of these complains.  I think Best Buy is WAY overpriced, but I generally don't have too many problems with them.  The worst problem I had with them was with my last purchase.  I wanted to get the free anti-virus on my new net book and they didn't give it to me like they were supposed to.  So then they made me go to customer service and 'return' and 'repurchase' it so that they could package it together.

THEN, I got home and found out that the net book didn't even have a CD drive.  -.-  Like really?  They couldn't have told me that??

I've had Best Buy people sell a friend ink for a printer that came with ink, insisting that printers never come with ink. Either they don't really know the products or they lie to make extra sales. I would never do that.

bvd1022 :

My primary issue wasn't the damage. It just annoyed me; the damage is fixable. Probably a loose wire. And it isn't detrimental either. What really annoyed me was the outright lies - like the ID bit. First, I didn't need an ID. Then, I did and would never be told that I didn't even though I had two other witnesses and I confirmed it three times, at least, that I would not need an ID to pick it up.

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Crazy Li :

I'm honestly thinking that it's not quite so much the issue of the company as it is the issue of the employees. I wonder if the company does some sort of "must sell this much" type of requirement - which thus causes people to lie to get the sells that they need. Just a theory. Doesn't matter, I suppose.

It's possible that they work on commission. I know Radio Shack's a commission-based job, so maybe Best Buy is too.

Crazy Li : Wow really??? I didn't know there were any sales jobs like that which had commission based salaries!  Do you think it's too encourages better customer service, or because the products are higher end and thus hard to sell?

Or perhaps it isn't customer or profit based at all and instead its to encourage employees to work harder?