RE: Open letter to @BestBuy #CrappyCustomerService

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from: Twitter (Best Buy) <twitter@bestbuy.com>

date: Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 4:20 PM

subject: RE: Open letter to @BestBuy #CrappyCustomerService

Good afternoon,

I’d like to start by saying how truly sorry I am for your poor experience at the White Marsh store.  I can understand completely why you would be feeling frustrated and disappointed.  I’d like to personally apologize for the lack of customer service you’ve received.   

Also, I’d like to thank you for taking time out of your day to provide us with feedback and allowing us to improve as a company.  I’m going to document a formal complaint here at Best Buy Corporate against the store.  We take these complaints very seriously.   Finally, I’ll send an email to the management of the store to make them aware of this situation and John’s excellent customer service. 

Again, I’m sorry for the hassle you’ve had to endure throughout this process.  I hope that you’ll give us another chance to show you how much we value you as a customer. 

Blake

Community Connector

Best Buy Corporate

Open letter to @BestBuy #CrappyCustomerService

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to: Twitter@bestbuy.com
date: Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 12:53 PM
subject: Open letter to @BestBuy #CrappyCustomerService

Per tweet (@suzanneisabella Susan, I'm so sorry to hear about the lack of service you received. Please send an e-mail to Twitter@BestBuy.com) I am copy/paste-ing this letter into an email for you. It was not an actual letter that I sent but rather a survey that I completed (at www.bestbuycares.com), earlier today - and then posted on twitter

Open letter to @BestBuy #CrappyCustomerService

Wow. I went to Best Buy (White Marsh, MD - Store #159) right when it opened (10am). I was looking for a memory card for my blackberry phone; I checked near USB drives, myself, but they were not there. I saw an associate sitting on the floor there (long, curly light brown hair) with a clipboard/inventory sheets and so I said "Excuse me, do you work here?" but she could not hear me over her ipod headphones. She took a headphone out and said "Excuse me?", like I was interrupting her. (Also she had a light gray sweatshirt on so it was not obvious that she was a Best Buy employee.) I know these inventory people don't usually like to be bothered so I said "Excuse me, do you work here?", to which she said "I work for the Best Buy COMPANY, but I don't work for THIS Best Buy." Wow. All I could do was turn away, say "WOW" to myself and walk away.

I next went in search of an associate who might actually want/be able to help me - but they are hard to find! I wandered over to the laptop department and told the guy I was looking for a memory card for my phone; he didn't look me in the eye but pointed across the store and said "Camera department", again not super excited to help. (No such thing as walking the customer to the product he/she is looking for, atBest Buy!) I wandered over to that department but had a little trouble finding the memory card - looked up to see if there was an associate for the camera department? Not at Best Buy! I finally found what I was looking for - thank goodness I at least knew what I was looking for?

The one thing that I CAN say for Best Buy is you guys have good prices. And it was cool that I got a 32GB memory card for like $30 - the price sticker even said that it was usually $69.99, so that was cool too.

I took my product up to the front - I also wanted to buy rechargeable batteries but at that point I was so pissed off about the (lack of) customer service that I didn't want to give Best Buy any more money than I was already going to give them. (I can get rechargeable batteries anywhere - can't always find memory cards everywhere.) I went up to the cash register, noticed three different Best Buy employees on my way from the camera department to the front of the store who were just leaning on counters/desks and/or chatting with each other. Awesome.

At the front of the store (register) I had my one pleasant interaction of the experience with an employee named John (cashier). He was polite and efficient and helpful and he also smelled nice, which I noticed as I stood there. He did not hand me a "Best Buy Values Your Opinion" card - but I noticed that he had a small stack of them next to his register and so I asked for one. I made sure to also ask for his name as he was the one pleasant employee that I crossed paths with.

I realize that a lot of people maybe go into Best Buy these days just to look at products and then go home to make their online purchases (either from Best Buy's website or elsewhere). Maybe your company has taken this into account and scaled back on actual employees/sales force on the floor, I don't know. Or maybe your employees feel this way and so they don't actually care enough to really help out the customers. But as a customer, I left the store actually mad about it - and so I made sure to come fill out a survey to let your company and your employees know that customers DO still notice.

On another note, I think that your "take a short survey and enter for a chance to win a $5000 Best Buy shopping spree" is silly and not really much of an incentive. With an (unrealistic) prize like that, I don't really believe that "Best Buy Values Your Opinion". Personally, I believe "Win One of fifty $100 gift cards" would be more realistic - meaning that the consumer would feel like it might actually be worth his/her time to respond, whereas some elusive $5000 shopping spree probably doesn't even really exist.

I was coming here to give my opinion, regardless of whether or not the prize exists. I'm just saying, so you know.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Suzanne B.
@suzanneisabella on twitter

Best Buy Support ‏@BestBuySupport 16 Apr @suzanneisabella Thank you for your feedback and allowing us to improve as a company. I hope that you'll give us another chance. ^BH

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@suzanneisabella Thank you for your feedback and allowing us to improve as a company. I hope that you'll give us another chance. ^BH
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) April 16, 2013

@suzanneisabella You can even send the same letter you posted. We would love to be able to document your complaint properly. ^TT

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@suzanneisabella You can even send the same letter you posted. We would love to be able to document your complaint properly. ^TT
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) April 16, 2013

@suzanneisabella Susan, I'm so sorry to hear about the lack of service you received. Please send an e-mail to Twitter@BestBuy.com.

***For the entire thread, click here***

@suzanneisabella Susan, I'm so sorry to hear about the lack of service you received. Please send an e-mail to Twitter@BestBuy.com.
— Best Buy Support (@BestBuySupport) April 16, 2013

Open letter to @BestBuy #CrappyCustomerService

***For the entire thread, click here***

Open letter to @BestBuy #CrappyCustomerService Wow. I went to Best Buy (White Marsh, MD - Store #159) right (cont) http://t.co/GMMFhscj1U
— Suzanne B. (@suzanneisabella) April 16, 2013

Open letter to @BestBuy #CrappyCustomerService

***For the entire thread, click here***

Originally posted to Twitlonger, click here

Wow. I went to Best Buy (White Marsh, MD - Store #159) right when it opened (10am). I was looking for a memory card for my blackberry phone; I checked near USB drives, myself, but they were not there. I saw an associate sitting on the floor there (long, curly light brown hair) with a clipboard/inventory sheets and so I said "Excuse me, do you work here?" but she could not hear me over her ipod headphones. She took a headphone out and said "Excuse me?", like I was interrupting her. (Also she had a light gray sweatshirt on so it was not obvious that she was a Best Buy employee.) I know these inventory people don't usually like to be bothered so I said "Excuse me, do you work here?", to which she said "I work for the Best Buy COMPANY, but I don't work for THIS Best Buy." Wow. All I could do was turn away, say "WOW" to myself and walk away.

I next went in search of an associate who might actually want/be able to help me - but they are hard to find! I wandered over to the laptop department and told the guy I was looking for a memory card for my phone; he didn't look me in the eye but pointed across the store and said "Camera department", again not super excited to help. (No such thing as walking the customer to the product he/she is looking for, at Best Buy!) I wandered over to that department but had a little trouble finding the memory card - looked up to see if there was an associate for the camera department? Not at Best Buy! I finally found what I was looking for - thank goodness I at least knew what I was looking for?

The one thing that I CAN say for Best Buy is you guys have good prices. And it was cool that I got a 32GB memory card for like $30 - the price sticker even said that it was usually $69.99, so that was cool too.

I took my product up to the front - I also wanted to buy rechargeable batteries but at that point I was so pissed off about the (lack of) customer service that I didn't want to give Best Buy any more money than I was already going to give them. (I can get rechargeable batteries anywhere - can't always find memory cards everywhere.) I went up to the cash register, noticed three different Best Buy employees on my way from the camera department to the front of the store who were just leaning on counters/desks and/or chatting with each other. Awesome.

At the front of the store (register) I had my one pleasant interaction of the experience with an employee named John (cashier). He was polite and efficient and helpful and he also smelled nice, which I noticed as I stood there. He did not hand me a "Best Buy Values Your Opinion" card - but I noticed that he had a small stack of them next to his register and so I asked for one. I made sure to also ask for his name as he was the one pleasant employee that I crossed paths with.

I realize that a lot of people maybe go into Best Buy these days just to look at products and then go home to make their online purchases (either from Best Buy's website or elsewhere). Maybe your company has taken this into account and scaled back on actual employees/sales force on the floor, I don't know. Or maybe your employees feel this way and so they don't actually care enough to really help out the customers. But as a customer, I left the store actually mad about it - and so I made sure to come fill out a survey to let your company and your employees know that customers DO still notice.

On another note, I think that your "take a short survey and enter for a chance to win a $5000 Best Buy shopping spree" is silly and not really much of an incentive. With an (unrealistic) prize like that, I don't really believe that "Best Buy Values Your Opinion". Personally, I believe "Win One of fifty $100 gift cards" would be more realistic - meaning that the consumer would feel like it might actually be worth his/her time to respond, whereas some elusive $5000 shopping spree probably doesn't even really exist.

I was coming here to give my opinion, regardless of whether or not the prize exists. I'm just saying, so you know.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Suzanne B.
@suzanneisabella on twitter