Best Buy's Customer Service is a Joke

When attending a business school, one naturally expects to learn a few things about customer service. One of my teachers related to my class a tale involving the clothing retail giant Nordstrom's accepting the return and refunding the purchase of a used car tire. This and other such stories have given me a standard of customer service to hold my future business to, and my current dealings with existing businesses. I think you'll see why I was upset when the events described in the following letter transpired. I've thrown down my gauntlet....


Wednesday 04 December, 2013 17:47

To Lisa Smith, Vice President, Enterprise Customer Care at Best Buy:

This Black Friday, I purchased a MacBook Air on the BestBuy website at a $150 discount. I was sent a confirmation email that said my order had been processed and was ready to ship. So you'll understand why I was surprised and dismayed to find this in my inbox:

Hello Olivia,        

We're sorry, but the order listed below has been canceled because we are unable to ship to the address provided.        

Be assured that if you paid by credit card, it has not been charged, and any other method of payment has been credited. If you used a Gift Card for this order and no longer have it, please call the number below and we'll send you a replacement. Please note that this cancellation might affect your order's free shipping eligibility, bundle pricing, or gift-with-purchase eligibility.        

If you have any questions — or if you'd like to place this order again — please contact us at 1-888-BEST BUY (1-888-237-8289). If possible, please have your order number handy.        

Once again, we're sorry for this inconvenience. We hope to hear from you soon.                                              Sincerely,

Lisa Smith

Vice President

Best Buy Customer Care

My first reaction upon reading your reason for cancelling my order included wondering why I was not simply contacted to verify my address, give a different address if necessary, or just arrange for an in-store pickup. As requested in your last line, I called the Customer Care number listed in the email and spoke with an associate named Yolanda. She was as helpful as she could be, and was very patient with me. She confirmed the address I had given for shipping, and upon finding that it was indeed correct, informed me that there was no good reason why my order should have been cancelled. Why, then, was it? I asked to reorder my purchase and requested that the sale price I originally paid be honoured. She told me this wasn’t possible and apologised for the inconvenience. Additionally, Yolanda informed me that this exact same scenario had happened more than once this weekend!

This is a mockery of customer service. I, as well as customers facing similar predicaments, was promised a price and paid it, expecting the computer I ordered. I was not expecting this transaction to leave me empty-handed. Unless I am allowed to reorder the computer at the promised price, you can expect no further business from me or my friends and family.

Looking forward to your response,

Olivia Sunday 

....think they'll pick it up?

Time and Space

My how the time's flown! Dad just called me today and we discussed our trip for a long time. We fly out to Paris on July 2nd, which is almsot exactly one month from now.

In other news, Aislynn and Ronan's birthday is coming up as well and I'm working on a tunic for Aislynn. It's gonna be so darling! I've made a sleeveless tunic base with purple jersey, and am covering it in 4.5" circles that have been folded to make ruffles. The circles go up the top about 2/3s of the way, so it's got an empire waist. I can't wait to see her in it! I shall take many pictures and put them up here.

...and now I have to think of something for Ronan. FAST! I only have a month! What would you make for your ten year old brother?

Also, I've gotten to the End of Time in watching Doctor Who. Since I've never written about this before: I only started watching this in November, but I wanted to do it properly so I started with Series One, with Christopher Eccleston. So I've yawned during Aliens of London, cried during Doomsday and all through the Runaway Bride, couldn't blink for a week after Blink*, and had a heart attack as I watched Silence in the Library in the dark. And now, apparently, Rose has her own living copy of Ten. I'm jealous. So, now I've reached the End of Time, and now I'm depressed. Because I've enjoyed David Tennant as Ten. And apparently he regenerated in this special. Why do all the bad things happen during specials?

*So, about Blink. Possibly the scariest episode during the Tenth Doctor's tenure. It's called Blink because the creatures in this particular episode are angels that turn to stone if you watch them, but as soon as you look away, or even blink (they're wicked fast), they can move. And kill you. And poor Sally Sparrow (and her friend's brother) has to fight them off with only a video of the Doctor to help.

I watched it for the first time with my cousin Mikey.  She and I were in my room, in the basement, in the dark, at flipping 1:00 a.m. My mother was napping (yes, at 1:00 a.m.) upstairs. She had a pretty good rest too, until Sally and that other guy realised they had looked away from a certain angel. Mum was none too pleased about being woken up by our screams. Yeah. I couldn't go into a dark room for weeks.

The West End of London

Imagine you are standing on the precipice of a bubbling volcano inside of which lives a vicious, kitten-eating Volcano Beast. A man is with you who looks very much in charge, and he has two baby kittens. He asks you, "Now, which one shall I throw in for the Volcano Beast? I'll leave that up to you."

Isn't that the most terrible situation to be in? I'm pretty much in that boat, except I don't have to sacrifice a kitten. I have to choose which musical I want to see when I'm in the West End in July! There are so many different musicals showing then, but most of them are really weird, like Shrek: The Musical, Ghost, or even Priscilla - Queen of the Desert. So I've narrowed my choice down to three: Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked. I mean seriously? How do you pick?

I've seen a movie of Les Mis, based on the book, but it wasn't the musical. I've played out of the sheet music book for it, so I know most of the songs, but I know there are a few more that are....inappropriate....My mum told me they use a revolving stage for some parts, to have multiple scenes going simultaneously. Mum told me just to see that one, but there's a scene that I'm positive a West End theatre won't spare the audience from that a smaller production might. And I'm also fairly positive that it will make me Les Uncomfortables.

My dad has never seen Phantom, and I would *love* to see it with him!! All I've seen is the DVD with Gerard Butler as Erik, but it's soooo good! The music is so genius and big and gorgeous and gaudy....but what else can we expect of Andrew Lloyd Webber? Now, if CATS was showing I think I would just have to go crawl into a hole and die. Because CATS has been my all-time favourite musical since I was five, and Phantom my second favourite. But...

I've NEVER seen Wicked. Never heard the soundtrack, except for one song that was played rather obnoxiously in the car by a friend on the way to a party. I liked it, I guess. I know what it's about, and I could always do more research and YouTube-ing. It sounds really sweet, and recently a large group of people from the high school went to see it. They all came home in awe, and I was pretty envious while reading their tweets from within the theatre.

I may have to resort to eenie-meenie.

So what's you're favourite musical?