Computers & Home Networking

[Jaybird]

I swore years ago to never return to Best Buy.  When it comes to Microsoft and Best buy, they are an ugly combo.  Last time I visited Best Buy , they automatically started charging the credit card I used for monthly MSN internet access.  This time they state they will deliver Windows 7 on 10/22/09, yet that was never the intention.  Of course, multiple attempts to get an answer result in silence.  Aghhh!

[miniwhip]

I posted a thread here asking for an explaination as to why I haven't received my product yet.  Instead of a response, my post was promptly moved to the "customer service" section. 

NOW THAT'S SERVICE!   Hey mods, just give us an answer, when did you expect your customers would receive their orders?  Whats the delay, and why isn't someone from BB responding with an ACTUAL answer for all of these people?

[John-BBY Community Connector]

Hello miniwhip and all,

I also preordered the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade earlier this year.  Street date delivery was not offered or guaranteed.  I haven't received my copy either.  I hope this helps clarify the original offer.

Sincerely,

[miniwhip]

Nice Psychology on the response!   Put yourself in the same shoes as the people complaining.

  You're right 100%, street date was never guaranteed.  I guess it's ALL our faults, because we assumed that BEST BUY WOULD BE LIKE EVERY OTHER COMPANY THAT OFFERS PREORDERS, AND DELIVERS THEM ON THE RELEASE DATE, WITH NO GUARANTEE NEEDED!!!!!

  Mea Culpa Best Buy, Mea Culpa.  You got us on a technicality.  I still got charged $7.98 for shipping, did you not promise that either???  I'll call in and get that fixed myself. 

   A lesson learned, I will never preorder from BB again.  This is really too bad, because I have always received excellent customer service in the store.  I guess I will be looking elsewhere for the hot new products.

[ndoto]

John,

Clarifying the offer after the fact is all well and good, and I think the fact that Best Buy had never intended to ship the orders for release date delivery is something everyone here understands at this point.  But even beyond the initial information on this matter apparently not being prominent enough for the customers to see properly on the original order page, in addition to the fact that the fact one of the official posts in one of the other threads on this subject essentially boiled down to "if you wanted it on release day you should have just walked into a store and bought it rather than pre-ordering it online," - regardless of all of this - is the fact that some of us, myself included, were previously given misinformation by differnet sources at Best Buy themselves.  It really seems as though not all of Best Buy's employees were on the same page about how this launch was being handled, and when that misinformation gets back to the customers themselves, we can't help but lose some faith in you guys as a company.

I believe most - if not all - of the angry customers in this thread probably took advantage of the pre-order offer in order to get the 50% off the retail price that Microsoft had partnered with retailers to provide, and that 50% savings is the only reason some of us are even still holding out hope of getting our pre-orders from Best Buy.  Knowing that I could waltz into any other retailer, right at this moment, and buy Windows 7 for twice what I paid to pre-order it - at this point, I would almost RATHER pay $200 to someone else than to let Best Buy keep the $100 I already paid for this copy that is in limbo.

Friends of mine who took advantage of the same pre-order offer from TheNewegg or TheAmazon were literally tweeting that they'd received their copies before noon the day of release.  The bottom line is, yes Best Buy never offered a street-date guarantee on our pre-orders--but WHY NOT??  If so many other major retailers were doing this, can you blame customers for assuming that Best Buy would do the same?  What this boils down to is that we are now being PENALIZED for attempting to take advantage of this pre-order deal by ordering through BestBuy.com.  That is hardly the kind of message that you should be sending to your customers.

[robster2001]

The bottom line here is simple.  Because Best Buy didn't go out of its way to provide the same level of service that other preorder vendors did, Best Buy has seriously aggravated quite a few customers.

And keep in mind that we're pre-order customers.  The most involved, most interested, and most loyal (if treated properly) customers Best Buy could have.

And Best Buy has treated us cavalierly -- "Thanks for the early preorder, and sorry you won't have it for a week after the rest of the world.  Too bad".

I'm never pre-ordering from Best Buy again, and in a few weeks, it'll be a shorter drive to my closest hhgregg store than my closest Best Buy store.  One guess where I'm going the next time I need electronics.

This didn't have to happen.  Best Buy simply had to understand that we pre-order software/hardware/games/whatever in order to have it in our hands on release day.  Not a week later.  And somehow, despite all of its years of experience, it failed that simple test. 

Honestly, I think it's corporate arrogance.  With the electronics store with the red circle logo whose name I am not allowed to speak here dead, Best Buy doesn't think it has to try harder. 

It's wrong.

I'll be voting with my wallet.

[Envirotech]

I pre-ordered In hopes to have it delivered on the day of or the opportunity to get it in the store.  When they tell me the only way to get it in the store is I have to cancel my order then purchase at full price I was appalled.  I will definitely never pre-order from you again.  As to going to the BM store I will only go there as a last resort on an item I have to have. If I have other means of getting the item even at a higher price that is where I will go. You have lost my business. And it is sad since I purchase alot of items from you.

[Ron1950]

To be honest I have never been more angry! I was told by a customer service person that I would get Windows 7 on Thursday earlier this week. I did a lot of work on my computer preparing for a clean install. Now I am stuck waiting waiting waiting. Best Buys response was slow and horrible. Global ExPress Mail was quick to reply to all of my questions even though I did not like her answers. I have literally spent thousands of dollars at Best Buy and I have decided NOT to buy a flat screen TV there!

[Zedsdead]

I talked to "customer no-service" today and the corporate office. Here is what I was told.

• "You ordered the software for the discount" (so I guess I am traveling in coach and should not expect delivery anytime soon).
• "your order was released to ship on Tuesday October 20th (today is Friday October 23rd) but we are not sure when it will actually ship it could be any min or in a few days"
• "It could have been because we converted our system to a new platform, I am not sure why it is not being shipped"
• "Since your order has been released I cannot let you pick it up at a store"
• "BestBuy is not a Mom and Pop outfit. We cannot just change your order once it has been released"
• "you can call the corporate office and complain but it is not a toll free number"
• "what do you want me to do?.......... let you pick it up at the store? I can't do that!"
• "Thank you for using BestBuy"!

[miniwhip]

---

Zedsdead wrote:

I talked to "customer no-service" today and the corporate office. Here is what I was told.

• "You ordered the software for the discount" (so I guess I am traveling in coach and should not expect delivery anytime soon).
• "your order was released to ship on Tuesday October 20th (today is Friday October 23rd) but we are not sure when it will actually ship it could be any min or in a few days"
• "It could have been because we converted our system to a new platform, I am not sure why it is not being shipped"
• "Since your order has been released I cannot let you pick it up at a store"
• "BestBuy is not a Mom and Pop outfit. We cannot just change your order once it has been released"
• "you can call the corporate office and complain but it is not a toll free number"
• "what do you want me to do?.......... let you pick it up at the store? I can't do that!"
• "Thank you for using BestBuy"!

---

Sorry, even though I'm infuriated at the way Best Buy is handling this, I don't believe that a single one of these happened. 

Even poor customer service reps wouldn't speak to a customer like this. 

Bottom line, BB disappointed a lot of customers, and STILL haven't owned up to the mistake.  It's sad to see a company hide behind semantics, instead of apologizing for the mistake THEY made!