I wanted to share my recent experience with Best Buy online orders. Since sending one letter of complaint to a department probably will go unheard and maybe even unread. It seems when you call customer service the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and the call center must be in different locations or so big that no one knows each other.
Before I continue I want to point out that I have been shopping with Best Buy for YEARS. My Best Buy Mastercard is the ONLY credit card I use and the perks are of higher value to me than earning miles. Especially since this card does NOT have an annual fee like most mile earning cards do. This was my very first bad experience with them and it had me blowing smoke out of my ears.
I am an Elite Plus member and I bank my points. When I am ready to make a purchase, I redeem my points and then use the rewards certificate that very same day. Last week, on 9/17, I created my online order, redeemed 1500 points for a $30 reward certificate and used it. I remember seeing the order go through and went on with my day. I have always trusted their online buying system because for years I have NEVER had a problem. Being in Hawaii, the expedited free shipping is a plus. I normally get my items in 2 days which is very fast by Hawaii shipping standards.
A week goes by and I never got my order. So, I start to go through my emails to find my confirmation. I couldn't find it. I go to best buy online to see my order history. My order is not there. I check my best buy mastercard account and my small charge was not there either. I then tried to recreate my order and use my reward certificate again because now I think I'm going crazy. My reward certificate was coming up as REDEEMED. OK. So I have a lost order. (I am now kicking rocks because the order number pops up after you hit submit and because I always trusted them, I never write it down.)
I email best buy over the course of TWO days to find resolution. This person was of no help at all. I kept getting canned responses and not one ever addressed my simple request. "Can you find the order that was attached to this reward certificate?"
After two days of getting nowhere, the girl that has been emailing me calls my work cell phone and I was on lunch. When I get back I call the 1-800 number. I get passed around to different departments, NONE of which could understand my dilemma or give me a solid answer. AND, no one knows each other. Each time I'm passed off I have to explain my situation AGAIN and confirm my identity AGAIN. All I want is my credit back so I can place my order again. Not one person is able to help me. In fact, the lady on the phone from Best Buy online tells me I need to go to My Best buy for help on the rewards. I stop her and tell her that I was JUST on the phone with them and they passed me to YOU for help because they stated that they cannot find the information I am looking for and YOU can. She babbles on and on and talks to herself while banging heavily on the keys to do more "digging" for nothing. Mind you, the entire time I'm on the phone with her, her voice sounds muffled, there's static, and the sound is just plain horrible. (Really BEST BUY?) She kept saying I was getting cut off or she couldn't hear me. I took it as a blow at me for being on a craptastic phone. I'll have you know I was calling in on a hardline desk phone holding a hardwired handset. Not using my usual bluetooth headset.
She passes me BACK to my best buy to talk to them again about my situation. This time, the guy HANGS UP ON ME. He picks up and asks me to once again identify myself and confirm my account info and the line goes dead. Cut off, hung up, whatever you want to call it. Now, I'm LIVID.
I call back and this time I refuse to maintain my pleasant tone. I told the operator that I was just hung up on and I have been trying to find resolution for an HOUR for such a simple request. She apologized profusely but at this point, I was about ready to reach out and choke someones neck.
She forwards me to "John". Finally, someone who can speak clear english and can comprehend it as well. He asks me (as well all the others did) how I'm doing. I flat out say in an exasperated tone, "FRUSTRATED". He apologized and allowed me to explain myself. This time, rather than go through the whole rigmarole, I said in a slow and calm voice, "I need to know what order was attached to this reward certificate and when it was redeemed."
In under 15 minutes, he managed to find that my certificate shows redeemed but the order number is MISSING and it was lost. He confirmed that there was a GLITCH in the system the week prior and MANY orders were affected, not just mine. I breathed a sigh of relief. My god. How is he the ONE AND ONLY person in the entire best buy universe to KNOW there was a fricken GLITCH!??? It took me an hour or more to find this ONE person who knows whats going on over there.
He put my points back in my account and I managed to redeem my certificate again and finally get my order through.
The difference in service I received with John was he LISTENED before typing. He LISTENED before digging. And he LISTENED to understand my full question.
Because I have lost complete faith and trust in their system, I will be keeping all screen shots, print outs, and emails until my orders are received complete. Thank you JOHN.
Note to Best Buy: You need a better communication flow through all your customer service departments. Give your employees BETTER HEADSETS! And teach them to speak clearer english. ENUNCIATE. Talk slower, and LISTEN before speaking. They cannot get a full understanding of the situation if they do not allow the customer to talk first.
Moral: Always write down order numbers. Never rely on the confirmation email. (Something I already knew, but a reminder is always good.)
Of course, in this case, the order number wouldn't have mattered because the entire order became a ghost. It was the reward certificate information that saved me.
Before I continue I want to point out that I have been shopping with Best Buy for YEARS. My Best Buy Mastercard is the ONLY credit card I use and the perks are of higher value to me than earning miles. Especially since this card does NOT have an annual fee like most mile earning cards do. This was my very first bad experience with them and it had me blowing smoke out of my ears.
I am an Elite Plus member and I bank my points. When I am ready to make a purchase, I redeem my points and then use the rewards certificate that very same day. Last week, on 9/17, I created my online order, redeemed 1500 points for a $30 reward certificate and used it. I remember seeing the order go through and went on with my day. I have always trusted their online buying system because for years I have NEVER had a problem. Being in Hawaii, the expedited free shipping is a plus. I normally get my items in 2 days which is very fast by Hawaii shipping standards.
A week goes by and I never got my order. So, I start to go through my emails to find my confirmation. I couldn't find it. I go to best buy online to see my order history. My order is not there. I check my best buy mastercard account and my small charge was not there either. I then tried to recreate my order and use my reward certificate again because now I think I'm going crazy. My reward certificate was coming up as REDEEMED. OK. So I have a lost order. (I am now kicking rocks because the order number pops up after you hit submit and because I always trusted them, I never write it down.)
I email best buy over the course of TWO days to find resolution. This person was of no help at all. I kept getting canned responses and not one ever addressed my simple request. "Can you find the order that was attached to this reward certificate?"
After two days of getting nowhere, the girl that has been emailing me calls my work cell phone and I was on lunch. When I get back I call the 1-800 number. I get passed around to different departments, NONE of which could understand my dilemma or give me a solid answer. AND, no one knows each other. Each time I'm passed off I have to explain my situation AGAIN and confirm my identity AGAIN. All I want is my credit back so I can place my order again. Not one person is able to help me. In fact, the lady on the phone from Best Buy online tells me I need to go to My Best buy for help on the rewards. I stop her and tell her that I was JUST on the phone with them and they passed me to YOU for help because they stated that they cannot find the information I am looking for and YOU can. She babbles on and on and talks to herself while banging heavily on the keys to do more "digging" for nothing. Mind you, the entire time I'm on the phone with her, her voice sounds muffled, there's static, and the sound is just plain horrible. (Really BEST BUY?) She kept saying I was getting cut off or she couldn't hear me. I took it as a blow at me for being on a craptastic phone. I'll have you know I was calling in on a hardline desk phone holding a hardwired handset. Not using my usual bluetooth headset.
She passes me BACK to my best buy to talk to them again about my situation. This time, the guy HANGS UP ON ME. He picks up and asks me to once again identify myself and confirm my account info and the line goes dead. Cut off, hung up, whatever you want to call it. Now, I'm LIVID.
I call back and this time I refuse to maintain my pleasant tone. I told the operator that I was just hung up on and I have been trying to find resolution for an HOUR for such a simple request. She apologized profusely but at this point, I was about ready to reach out and choke someones neck.
She forwards me to "John". Finally, someone who can speak clear english and can comprehend it as well. He asks me (as well all the others did) how I'm doing. I flat out say in an exasperated tone, "FRUSTRATED". He apologized and allowed me to explain myself. This time, rather than go through the whole rigmarole, I said in a slow and calm voice, "I need to know what order was attached to this reward certificate and when it was redeemed."
In under 15 minutes, he managed to find that my certificate shows redeemed but the order number is MISSING and it was lost. He confirmed that there was a GLITCH in the system the week prior and MANY orders were affected, not just mine. I breathed a sigh of relief. My god. How is he the ONE AND ONLY person in the entire best buy universe to KNOW there was a fricken GLITCH!??? It took me an hour or more to find this ONE person who knows whats going on over there.
He put my points back in my account and I managed to redeem my certificate again and finally get my order through.
The difference in service I received with John was he LISTENED before typing. He LISTENED before digging. And he LISTENED to understand my full question.
Because I have lost complete faith and trust in their system, I will be keeping all screen shots, print outs, and emails until my orders are received complete. Thank you JOHN.
Note to Best Buy: You need a better communication flow through all your customer service departments. Give your employees BETTER HEADSETS! And teach them to speak clearer english. ENUNCIATE. Talk slower, and LISTEN before speaking. They cannot get a full understanding of the situation if they do not allow the customer to talk first.
Moral: Always write down order numbers. Never rely on the confirmation email. (Something I already knew, but a reminder is always good.)
Of course, in this case, the order number wouldn't have mattered because the entire order became a ghost. It was the reward certificate information that saved me.
RSS Feed
