Best Buy In-Store Pickup Terrible & Men's Wearhouse Takes Forever

I like the idea of shopping to find a bargain or a treasure. But also when you really need something, and you are trying to save money (due to the bad economy) the customer always comes first.

There's a couple of places in the S.F. Bay Area I like to call... just terrible customer service for failure to address issues, and complete tasks in a timely manner:

Best Buy (Colma, California): As you may know, you can now buy your items from Best Buy online and if it is in stock at your local store, they will retrieve it and have it ready for quick pickup. As a penny pincher, my preferred airline offers bonus miles if I shop online, so I did the in-store pickup process.

I purchased a small 4-port USB hub for about $16 on sale, and after finding that my local store had it available, paid for it online and waited for a confirmation e-mail that they retrieved the item. I made the purchase at 7:40PM and Best Buy tells you that it takes approximately 45 minutes to retrieve the item. 9PM came by and the store was closing, and I received no confirmation.

So the next morning, I woke-up and noticed no confirmation e-mail that the product was ready for pick-up or was unavailable. The store opened at 10AM, and I tried calling the store at 10:30AM to ask what the heck was going on. After attempting THREE TIMES on the automated system to speak to an employee with no success, and I had to drive down to the store. At 12:00 Noon, I informed an employee and they started looking around, and told me the item was not there.

I demanded a manager because it was very poor customer service where you are expecting a confirmation e-mail if the item is available or not within their 45 minute average time, but was now OVER THREE HOURS (7:40PM to 9PM closing, & 10AM opening to 12 Noon) without an e-mail.

I even informed him that last year, I did the same in-store pickup process at that location for a brand new Xbox 360, one video game, Xbox remote control, and a Xbox live membership card, and the store decided to e-mail me back that ALL THE ITEMS WERE UNAVAILABLE. What are the damn odds of that happening? It was like the employees didn't give a shit.

And what does the manager tell me? They had a person doing the online stuff and failed to meet their goal to retrieve the item in a timely manner (Akit's interpretation: your employees are fucking lazy and slow). So the manager asks for my paperwork and tried looking again and finds the item. But since they informed Best Buy online that the item was not available, they hassled for five minutes on the cash register to fix the problem and charges me the correct price. I then had to call Best Buy customer service on the phone to cancel my online order so I did not get accidentally charged on my credit card.

The lesson: With the economy going downhill, a store's customer base must be treated with appropriate respect, therefore meeting the customer's and corporate's expectations of customer service, and this helps keep loyal customers to shop at your place. Best Buy says the average time from the time you order online to when the item is ready for pickup is 45 minutes. But when the store is open for three hours since posting my online order and I'm forced to spend my gasoline to drive to the store to demand answers because employees don't also feel like answering the telephone after three attempts, you just lose the trust and confidence of customers to shop at your business.

Men's Wearhouse (Colma, California): Right now they are offering a "buy one, get one free" sale on their suits, but I was not there to get a new suit, I just needed my existing suit re-tailored since I did my suit tailoring at that location.

It wasn't until they chalked my suit up and told me when it will be ready for pickup. They said about 25 days (nearly a MONTH). What a joke. They claim that they are heavily backlogged with tailored coats and slacks. Then why not hire a temporary tailor or send it off to a location with less demand to do the job? I don't have this kind of time to stall around.

I even asked them about getting a new sport coat I bought someplace else, tailored. They said they give priority to customers who bought items from their store, but was willing to do the job on my new sport coat. They told me that it would take an additional two weeks, WITH NO GUARANTEE DATE of completion because it can be delayed further due to their "priority" system. This literally means that my new coat would be waiting to be tailored for OVER A MONTH or LONGER WITH NO PROMISES.

Lastly, one of their promises posted online that promises to give free pressing of your clothing at any location in the nation, and claims it is "perfect when you're on the road." Well, truth be told, I asked for one of my slacks I bought there to be pressed, and they gave me a claim ticket to pick it up in 48 hours. That's what you call quality service? If they claim it is perfect when you are travelling, 48 hours is too damn long to wait.