Geek Squad

This is more of a Geek Squad Review. But does touch on Best Buy's customer service philosophy.

I was looking forward to having my newly purchased Sony XBR55X900E TV installed today. But it was not to be. Upon my Geek Squad Tech arriving, I showed him where the XBR55X900e would be mounted. As well, I showed him the brand new, never used full motion wall mount I purchased elsewhere. Without any effort to inspect the mount or exploring how the mount attaches to the wall, He dismissed my mount as "unsafe" even though it is rated for 55" TV's up to 89 pounds, and sold by a major retailer. The Tech did offer to sell me a different wall mount off his truck, a proposition that I found distasteful. Interestingly, BestBuy offers many similar mounts with identical attachment hardware. The attitude conveyed is if ‘you don't buy my TV wall mount, you don't get your TV installed’.

One positive comment for the Tech, was he remained courteous throughout our brief encounter. While the discouraging downside is the overall impression conveyed that he was more interested (as it turned out, the impression affirmed by the BB manager as well) in refunding the transaction. In fact, the attitude was rather cavalier, more so - we would prefer to refund rather than satisfy a customer. When asked for the name of the Tech’s managers, I was informed that the Tech currently does not have a manager, or any other supervision. He did volunteer that a colleague was filling the role until a manager is hired.

The broader downside (which BB is eager to explore) is to ignore the impact of poor service on future sales. In my case, I was planning to replace all my appliances via Best Buy. My decision is largely influenced by the conduct of my sales representative as well as my overall in store experience. That said, given the rather lack luster service side of the transaction, accompanied by the clear implication that my business is not valued, and dismiss-able, I will shop elsewhere.