Saturday, July 23, 2011

Not the Best Buy

Hey guys,

I just needed a place to rant, and so this won't be about makeup today. Feel free to skip this post if you're totally uninterested! Today, I'm upset about respect. Humans should treat other humans as though they are humans... right?  I'm so freaking sick of being treated as though I'm a pile of poo just because you are waiting on me at a restraurant or checking me out at a store. I treat everyone with respect. Its just how I roll. I don't care if you are a sanitation worker, Im going to treat you the same as if you were the president of a multi national corperation. I don't see why it's such a big deal to expect to be treated with dignity anymore. Here is the situation that really broke the camels back for me.

I LOVE gadgets and technology. I adore getting new toys to play with. My new obsession lately has been with the white iPhone 4. I have been researching it for months. Comparing it to other cell phones. Reading reviews and watching videos.  I can safely say it was something I wanted and had been very much looking forward to getting.  My husband and I decided that Thursday July 21st would be iPhone day! We are on graveyard hours and decided the best place to get the phone would be from Best Buy. They are open till 9pm in our area and we shop there often. That evening, we got ready and left the house both of us buzzing with our nerdy excitement to get the new phone. Unfortunately, we left disappointed. Below, you will find a letter that I have sent to Best Buy regarding the events that transpired that evening.


To Whom it May Concern, 

Hello there.

This is to discuss an event that occurred with a customer service representative who was working at the _________ location in ________,WA at your mobile phone sales desk on the evening of July 21,2011. The gentleman's name I didn't get. However, what I did get was being treated with disrespect. I will refer to this man from here on out as "Joe" to simplify things. I went into the store roughly 30 minutes prior to 9pm which was the stores closing hour. I stood in line and watched as 2 representatives helped other customers. I waited patiently for my turn which took 20 minutes without any acknowledgement from any other store employee. The man in question, "Joe" finished with his customer first. I smiled and started to walk over to his desk.  As he finished, he jumped up from his desk and spoke towards my husband and myself. He asked us if we had a quick question he could help us with? I replied that no, we didn't have a question but that we were there to upgrade a phone on a plan. I explained to him that we wanted to purchase a white iPhone 4 for the Verizon network. He responded quickly with a snide laugh and said that Verizon didn't have an iPhone 3. I repeated myself again and he stated that he,personally would be unable to do the upgrade for us because he needed to leave the store promptly at 9pm. "Joe" turned to his associate and spoke to us, he stated that this other man would be able to help us just as soon as he was finished with the customer he was helping, we would just have to wait a moment for his help, but he repeated again that HE had to leave promptly at 9pm. The other representative replied that he was untrained on how to finish a request like that and "Joe" replied to his co-worker that he would be able to ask any number of  other people who were still in the store working for help when he needed it. The other rep continued to shake his head and asked why "Joe" wouldn't just stay a few more minutes and help us instead. "Joe" replied that he MUST leave at 9pm.  "Joe" turned to us after arguing in front of us with his co-worker for a few minutes. He told us that he wouldn't be able to fulfill our request after all. He stated at this time that it was 9pm and the store was closing. He said that the transaction would require a minimum of 30 minutes to complete and that his manager was "cracking down" on hours and that they HAD to leave promptly at 9pm. He stated that it was company policy for them to leave at 9pm due to pay cut backs, and that no one would be allowed to stay. He asked if I would mind coming back the following day.  At this point I was quite confused and upset that I had been treated as though  my time had no value. I had indeed come in prior to closing time THAT day. I had spent my time waiting in line, I spent my time in my car to drive there, my time online researching what I needed to get so my transaction would run smoothly, I spent money on resources to get there. I was told that I would be helped, and then I was told minutes later that  it was against company policy to help me. I told "Joe" that if I wasn't going to be helped that evening,  that I would take my business elsewhere the following day. He immediately shrugged and stated "OK, that's fine." and turned away from us to leave. (His tone was very much uncaring, a "thank god they are leaving" tone) I did not expect "Joe" to keep the store open for ME, I didn't even expect to get my purchase that evening. After all that had transpired. But what I did expect from him was sincerity and kindness. I expected him to apologize for not being able to help me that evening, and possibly INVITE me back stating possibly his hours and what times he could help me if i decided to change my mind. An interest in helping me and keeping me as a customer.  Instead, he blatantly disregarded me and my business. He never acknowledged that I had waited any amount of time prior to closing, nor did he apologize for being unable to assist me with my purchase at that time. I took his uncaring attitude as to weather or not I came back as a sign that my business was UNNEEDED at Best Buy in general.Not just as a sign I was unwanted that evening. I feel as though, if the store is open and operational until 9pm then I should have been treated with as much service as all the other patrons in the store. I left the store with tears in my eyes, because he had treated me with such disregard, not because I didn't have my product. The following day, I went to a Verizon store miles away from the Best Buy I had gone to the night before. I was treated wonderfully. They helped me with smiles on their faces and because I knew exactly what I wanted to purchase the entire process took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.  The reason I'm writing this lengthy email is solely to inform you that your customer service representatives are not doing customer service, nor representing your company in a very respectful manner. The one I spoke to had NO regard for me or my purchase. I use to spend hundreds of dollars a year at Best Buy. My purchase that day would have been well over $200.00. But it makes no difference if I was there to spend 1000$ or 1$, all customers should be treated with the same respect. He gave me no respect. He was selfish and rude, and dismissed my business as though I was a speck of dust he was wiping from his shoulder. Because of this I will no longer be shopping at any Best Buy stores. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. I do hope that this might help in the future so that no other customers will have to suffer the disrespect I did that evening from this employee.

Sincerely,

Jenifer


In the end, I was glad I walked away. I didn't loose my temper or throw a tantrum in the middle of the store. I felt like I probably should have spoken to his supervisor but I didn't want to be so fully emotionally engaged when I spoke to someone about the incident. I don't like speaking out of emotion alone, because I feel I may regret things I say during those times. I was alot happier with the end result and the fact that I had gone to the different store where I was treated so well. I'm also very happy with my new purchase. I mean.. in the time it took this guy at Best Buy to shoo us away, he could of just made the sale and made everyone happy. And even if if truly was unable to sell it to us due to time restraints, because I realize stuff happens and some days you really have to leave at a certain time. But there was plenty of time for him to be polite to us, in fact, that's his job. He makes a salary to be polite to me and he still wasn't able to manage it. Lets try to find a little more respect for one another guys PLEASE.

Have you been treated with disrespect somewhere? How did you handle the situation? 

/end rant. thanks for reading & commenting! *hugs*

6 comments:

  1. Ugh, I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience. I personally hate shopping at Best Buy because of the terrible customer service and frankly because the associates don't seem to know their products very well. Also, many times it has felt like I have been treated differently just because I'm female. This is what happened a few weeks ago:

    The fan on my power supply in my computer died which caused my whole power supply to overheat and die. I usually buy from Newegg but I use my computer practically 24/7 and didn't want to wait for a power supply to be shipped. So I went to Best Buy. I went in and asked an associate (several were standing in a group and none made any effort to stop their conversation among themselves and ask if I needed help) where they had power supplies. He said, "Oh you mean the the little bar with outlets in it that you plug things in to," in a very condescending way. This pissed me off. I told him just as condescendingly, "Um no. And I think you mean power strip, not "little bar with outlets in it". I said, power supply. You know, the ones that go in a computer and have a little fan on them and have lots of wires and make the computer work?" He just glared at me and pointed in some vague direction. It took me 30 seconds to find the one I needed. When I was leaving I walked by him and I gave him my sweetest smile and said, "Thank you so much for you help! I don't know how I could have done it without you!"

    I don't claim to be an expert in computers or even really know how to fix them, but I know what parts do what and basically what parts are compatible with what other parts. Much more knowledge than this guy was giving me credit for. Seriously, I think even my mom knows what a power strip is... Let us know if Best Buy responds back. I want to know what they say.

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  2. How terrible! I honestly don't understand how someone can disrespect other people so much. What is the world coming to? :( I feel for both of you! And gosh, sales people seem to get very angry when you wait patiently for them to serve you while they are obviously wasting time having chit chats. I have waited for at least 15 minutes in a perfume store that I had made many purchases from, only for a girl (in her 20's like me) to serve 2 people ahead of me when I was clearly there first. When I turned to my friend and said, "I don't think this girl is going to serve us", she looked at me, gave me a filthy look and sniggered. To be honest, I was pretty upset by her behaviour. I didn't complain that night, for the same reason you did, I called the following day and was told by the manager that she had noticed this girl being rude in the past and that she would be "let go" and I was offered a discount on my next purchase, but I have not returned and that was a couple years ago now, one bad experience puts you off forever. Being treated nicely in store is something you should expect, you are there to hand over your money! You worded your letter very well and I hope to hear the outcome :) Good luck!

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  3. That's a horrible story. So rude of him!

    Once at my dermatologist's office there was a new nurse, and she did a chemical peel on my face incorrectly, only dotting it in certain places (you're supposed to cover the entire face). I asked my dermatologist about it when she came into the room, and she had the nurse redo it, but left the room as she was. When we were alone in the room together, the nurse started bitching at me.

    "Oh how do you know where I put it if you didn't see?" Her tone took me aback. I didn't say anything bad about her, and I didn't think poorly of her. I just thought she was new so she made a small error, and even her boss (my dermatologist) didn't seem too upset by it, so I didn't understand why she was being so hostile. Obviously, the way I knew was that I felt where she touched my face with the stuff without spreading it at all.

    Anyway, I explained this to her very politely (I was still surprised by her sudden anger and thought I must've misinterpreted her tone or something). She argued with me, and I explained she couldn't have put the chemical peel on x parts of my face, because my face makeup was still on (it would've come off with the peel).

    She started outright berating me for wearing makeup. I was really upset, because the other nurses had (firstly) never made mistakes with my peel and (secondly) never been anything but really fun and friendly (I knew most of them quite well since I've visited every month for two years). She told me I "wasn't allowed" to wear makeup to the office anymore. Uhhh? That wasn't in her authority, and had never been a problem: they usually just asked if I was wearing any (and quickly wiped my face down with a makeup remover if I was) before the peel, which was another thing she didn't do.

    I left the room before I started crying, thank goodness she didn't see me. The receptionist, whom I also knew very well by then, stopped me to ask me if I was alright before I left, and I explained what happened. She offered me a tissue and thanked me for explaining telling me that they have no way of knowing what nurses behave like when they're alone with patients except when patients tell them, and apologized on the rude nurse's behalf for me, offering me a tissue. She also told me if she were my nurse in the future, I should feel free to refuse to go with her and wait for a different nurse instead.

    I still go to that office, because I don't think it was really their fault that this new nurse was, for lack of a better word, a complete bitch. And for the record, I think there were probably others who complained about her, because I *think* she's been fired.

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  4. OH!! You guys! I'm so sorry to hear all your stories, but THANK YOU so much for sharing! This is SO important. TOO often we are upset for a day and talk to maybe one person, or maybe not even anyone about situations like these. For them to STOP we have to start openly discussing them, in the hopes that people will open their eyes and see that we are ALL human and deserve a certain level of mutual respect.

    I'm not talking like we should go back to Victorian era etiquette ,(how cool would that be though!) But.. honestly.. we are so beyond even caring how loud our music is for our neighbors or holding the door open for someone that a little extra effort in the polite department wouldn't hurt ANYONE.

    Thanks again!!

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  5. That sounds about right....myself and my fiance have had similar experiences with Best Buy. Despite their excellent prices, we do not shop there anymore.

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  6. *hugs* I'm so sorry you had to go through that, I probably would've cried too or blown up at him. I haven't had a truly atrocious service experience before, (well I did have one at Illamasqua but they were lovely and resolved it), but when I was in The Face Shop recently this sales assistant followed me like a hawk and everytime I swatched something and put it back, she would pick it up and unscrew and rescrew the top or wipe it off like I had fucking syphillis. I actually meant to blog about that, so maybe I will in the next week or so.

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