Truths: “Best Buy” proves “Bad day”

Okay, so the saga at my house continues… Bill and I ventured to Best Buy in McHenry on Friday night – armed with our wallets and new Best But credit card and our hearts set on some new TV’s for our new basement.

When I arrived (doesn’t everyone go to the store in two cars?) Bill was already being hypnotized by the Direct TV salesman who was promising he could beat the price we pay for Comcast and give us better service. None of the really mattered – the real fact is that Direct TV is the only TV provider that offer the NFL ticket. And with a new basement dedicated to being an in-home sports bar – we had to have the NFL ticket. How embarrassing it would be if we had an entire 1200 square feet dedicated to the Green Bay Packers but weren’t able to watch a game?

At any rate, Bill had basically agreed to signing over our first born (we don’t have any kids together but you get the point) and I was left to fill out all of the paperwork and pay for the “great deal” we were getting. I have to admit that giving less of our money to Comcast did feel good.

Well, a half hour later and we were introduced to Jared. A nice sales specialist who was more than happy to sell us a TV. No, he really was nice and in the end spent about 3 hours with us – going through all of the TVs and sound systems and explaining to me how I would be able to listen to Pandora through my new Bosse speakers. It seemed like a dream come true.

Sure Bill and I, at one point, almost justified spending a whole lot of money on a 5” bigger TV (no jokes here, please)…But, in the end we “settled” on a 60”. And yes, I do believe, at some point, my husband was salivating. This was the part of the basement he had been waiting for all along. The Packers on a 60” TV – on any given Sunday.

300 minutes later and whole lot more money poorer and we left Best Buy – dreaming of our Super Bowl party.

That was Friday… on Sunday Bill decided to unwrap his precious 32” TV for over the bar. The 60” wouldn’t be installed for another week. He was like a kid at Christmas. – Totally excited that by 7pm he would be watching the Packers play Dallas at his new bar. (That yes, is already stocked with cold beer)

Well, like Christmas when Santa decides you haven’t cleaned your room all year, Bill’s Christmas came to a halt. The TV was missing a part to connect to its base. I could feel the disappointment from across the room – where I was washing down the furniture. (he was playing with his toys…)

So, that began a turn of events that even Michael Moore would want to make a documentary about…

Just to set the scene – remember that we bought everything on Friday at the Best Buy in McHenry.

So, Abby had a soccer game in Algonquin – we decided to return the TV there and get a new one. We went there – they were happy to exchange it but they didn’t have the TV – the store in West Dundee did. So, we drove an extra 15 minutes and picked up the TV there.

You can bet that we opened the box and made sure it had all of the parts and then headed right home to set it up. We still had a few hours before the big game.

We opened the box, Bill hooked it up and there we stood looking at the TV – wondering what the two large blobs of blue were. Yep, they were cracks right up the front of the screen. You couldn’t see them unless the TV was on.

Could this really be happening?

So, as we do almost every Sunday – we went for pizza in Crystal Lake and decided we would return the TV there (our 4th Best Buy in two days). We walked into Customer Service and that is when things got really ugly… Michael Moore ugly.

The customer service girl got the manager who told us in no compassionate way – that there was nothing he could do. I expressed quite vocally the amount of money we spent on Friday and he really didn’t care.

Bill decided that foul language would bring us the results we needed – but instead the Manager, Aaron A. (A must have been for asshole) kicked us out of the store! I wish I were kidding but I am not!

Here we are two middle aged, professional people – being escorted like criminals out of the Crystal Lake Best Buy. And if that were insulting enough – Aaron says, “Have a great day.”

Of course Bill responded – but we won’t repeat what he said.

Now, you can only imagine what we were feeling. Frustration doesn’t even cover it… Out raged – enraged – furious - . If shooting people wasn’t illegal…

We got in a car and sped to the McHenry Best Buy. At the time, we didn’t even think – we just got in the car – hoping beyond hope that Jared would be there and make this all right.

We walked into the store and headed right to the TV’s – I spotted the manager Jason who had helped us Friday night and basically, in tears, unloaded on him everything that happened in the last 6 hours – and I believe that I said it all in two minutes.

I was gasping for air and Jason was saying, “It is okay… calm down…we can fix this.”

At the same time, Bill found Jared and was frantically expressing the last few hours of our life… and Jared was saying, “Bill, it is okay, we can fix this.”

And that is what Jared and Jason did – they fixed it all. In 15 minutes, we were leaving the store with our new TV – that we plugged in to make sure it worked. We were breathing again and not feeling like dirt or criminals but the decent people we really are.

Jared and Jason saved us from insanity that day and they saved the reputation of Best Buy. Had that gone any different – everything that we purchased on Friday would have been returned.

But, Jared and Jason did what was right. It might not have been policy – but they used their own judgment and treated a good customer with respect and dignity and trust.

And along the way they did manage to say that they have had complaints about the Crystal Lake store before. I guess Aaron A. (asshole) isn’t just an ass to us.

Of course, being the person I am – it will come as no surprise to anyone that Monday morning I spent 2 hours writing letters and sending emails to the general manager of the Crystal Lake store, the general manager of the McHenry store, corporate Best Buy and of course, a personal letter to Aaron A.:

Dear Aaron,

Since you were so concerned with our situation on Sunday, November 7 – we thought it was important to share how it ended.

After you so politely kicked us out of your store, we drove to the McHenry Best Buy and spoke with their manager, Jason. Instead of agitating my husband and allowing the situation to escalate – Jason took the time to listen to our frustration and used his managerial skills to calm us.

And, after realizing that we have spent over ****** at Best Buy in just the last month (******* of it at YOUR store), he knew the right thing to do was replace the broken TV. With in 20 minutes, we left the store with our new TV and once again felt like respectable human beings unlike leaving your store where we were treated like dirt and made to feel like criminals.

Aaron, you should re-consider being the manager of any store. You do not possess the ability to work with people and instead of addressing the situation at hand and overcoming the conflict – you choose the easy way out and force good customers right out the front door, slamming it behind them so they have no reason to return.

Best Buy should be ashamed to have chosen you for a manager and should realize that you are a liability to their image.

And as you so insultingly put it Sunday night, “Have a great day!”

Sincerely,

The Monroes

While I was eager to express my anger and disappointment with the way we were treated – after spending 10 years in Human Resources, I also know the importance of sharing compliments – when people do a good job… So, I made sure to include in all of my correspondence the outstanding job Jared and Jason did.

So, it has been a Hell of a couple weeks for the Monroe household. First the fridge broke, then the stove didn’t fit, then the sink wouldn’t go in and now the TV didn’t work and Aaron A. at the Crystal Lake Best Buy kicked us out of the store… Seriously, you would think that we would just high tail it out of the country, right?

I have said it before in my blogs – but the important part of all of this is that I am happy I get to share these horrific mishaps with my husband. After all the sweat and tears – it still comes down to us – making each other laugh and smile when it is all over – which we did when we finally sat down on the couch and watched the Packer- Cowboy game on our old, reliable TV in the family room!