Jeremiah Owyang

I’d like to believe that, on the whole, Best Buy has improved customer experience through their social media practices. However, my own personal experience with them recently gives me cause to pause before cracking open the Dom Perignon and whipping out the Cohibas.

Last month, I purchased what was represented to me as a Sprint 3G broadband mobile Aircard, but it turned out to be an EVDO instead. Then when I asked for an exchange, the rep told me that the EVDO was better than the 3G, so I accepted his advice and went away. Several days later I met a person who showed me their Sprint 3G broadband mobile Aircard, which we tested against my Sprint EVDO broadband mobile Aircard. His card was vastly superior. I returned again to Best Buy to ask for the exchange, and the rep finally admitted that they don’t actually carry the Sprint 3G broadband mobile Aircard. How difficult would it have been to tell a customer this on an upfront-basis instead of selling them something else, misrepresenting it as 3G, and later compensating by trying to fool the customer into believing that their best interests were being served?

On the 30th day, I returned the device in question. Where the Best Buy staff finally did the right thing was in their being persistent with SprintPCS in obtaining the RMA without letting launch the unfortunate travesty that SprintPCS was fully prepared to perpetrate. Thank heavens for the little blessings, but I am still left with a sickening feeling in my gut about being a “Black Tie” Geek Squad service subscriber for my new laptop, as that too has its’ own horror story.