Best Buy Makes Amends and Other Words of Wonder
While many of you are still hanging around waiting to find out what happens to the stalwart Colonel in the nexus, I apologize, I will get back to that as soon as possible. In the meantime however, I thought I should ensure that you knew the end of the story on the Best Buy Saga that I’ve been blogging about.
The nice lady from Best Buy corporate sent me an email telling me that everything had been fixed, and the store called my back to say the computer was ready for pick-up, about five days after I turned it in. (Note that this is slightly longer than the guaranteed 72 hours). If I wasn’t satisfied, she said, the store would exchange the computer or give me store credit in spite of the return policy.
I arrived at the store after work, and as I approached the Geek Squad counter, a geek (professional title, not a slur) was standing behind the counter staring at the door. As I approached the counter he said, in a tone of voice that hinted at having said the same thing over and over for some time, “Are you Mr. Jervis?”
“I am.”
He sighed relief then turned like Vanna White to show me the computer, my daughter’s computer, on display behind him. It was connected to a printer and the internet, and he quickly showed me that all the programs worked, though he explained how many drivers they had to download and how the settings had been changed to allow running of older programs. He showed me a test page, then printed another for good measure. He surfed the web briefly.
“Is there anything else you’d like to see, Mr. Jervis?”
“No, I think that will do it.”
He began to disconnect the computer and get it ready for me to take away, then handed me back all of the programs that I had brought in. As he worked I stood there being further annoyed, but keeping it in check. All the talk about how this operating system would not run older programs, and how there was nothing that could be done, and how I had to understand that there would be a period of transition from programs that ran on older systems to newer systems, had been…well…wrong. They had managed to get everything to work, in spite of the number of geeks who had told me they couldn’t. They just needed a gentle corporate push in the right direction.
How much trouble could I have been saved if the manager had just interceded to allay my concerns in the first place?
I applaud Best Buy corporate for interceding in my dilemma after-the-fact, but I still feel that a better business practice would have been to handle the issue at point of return, without having to rely on an internet clean up crew.
The store gave my daughter a one hundred dollar gift card so she could purchase new software if there were other programs that couldn’t run on the HP. I will not take her back to the store to use it, I will not likely shop there again any time soon. My wife plans to take her there on a future outing, but isn’t too keen on it either. While the corporate office cleaned up the mess made by the store and ensured that my daughter’s computer works, they cannot take away the feeling that I was treated poorly in the first place.
At least they attempted to make amends…perhaps there is hope.
