Best Buy

Terrible customer service. Cannot connect with a local store -- ended up with someone somewhere else. I have a simple question, and the chatbot wants me to set up a Best Buy account before helping out. Why would I want to entrust this place with a computer that needs repair if I cannot communicate with a human being?

Best Buy staff will try to sell you an extended warranty service plan that they tell you will cover the product an extra couple of years depending on the product. They will list additional benefits but it is essentially a warranty/service extension.
What they don't tell you is that you need to pay annually for this coverage. If you cancel you lose the coverage you thought you were purchasing at time of sale. In essence if you cancel the first year or even the 2nd year you likely were covered under the manufactures warranty and had no benefit for this up-sale. This is being sold without clear explanation about the program (at least in my case). I am sure there are many thousands of Best Buy customers who have similarly been coaxed into buying this plan with insufficient and misleading statements as to its value.
I tried to contact customer service but anyone who has attempted that will know exactly how THAT turned out.
Has all the hallmarks of a class action!

I've always been a fan of Best Buy, and am delighted they have survived the migration to online retail. Now, I find myself shopping mostly at Amazon, Costco, and Whole Foods, but Best Buy probably comes in 4th. I drop by annually for Black Friday, almost a tradition at this point. Their prices can be hit or miss, but they frequently have door busters and deals that beat Amazon and other competitors.

What I like most about Best Buy now is they have built a strong online presence and integrated the in-person and online experience. In particular, every item you buy in person (as long as you use your free Best Buy membership card) is stored online in your account. It's easy to view your receipt even years into the future. And in fact, they even default to emailing you the receipt!

For example, I just sold a TV stand I purchased at Best Buy 4 years ago. I was surprised how easy it was to go into my account and get all the details about the TV stand to put in my listing. Felt just like Amazon!

Return Policy: Pretty standard, I think 30 days on most items. Around the holidays (Thanksgiving + Christmas), they do extend until mid-January, which is nice.

Service: Most of the staff isn't incredibly knowledgable, but I found each person has an area they know well - so you might have to talk to a few people to get the right intel. I always complemented it with looking up on reviews on Amazon. But everyone we talked to was friendly.

The only way to buy a new TV is to go to a retail outlet where you can directly view the TVs -- usually grouped in a cluster with similar images -- and assess the picture quality in person. Seeing these TVs in an online store is useless for this key step -- arguably the most important attribute for any TV purchase.

So we went to Best Buy in SF (1717 Harrison St) and the first pleasant surprise was the ample parking lot right out front. This is not a given for SF retail and parking can be a major hassle if the store has little or no dedicated spots. This also means that if you purchase anything large or heavy, the trip to the car is short and we got help from our excellent Sales Associate, Puna.

Puna made the TV buying experience easy & fun. He was extremely knowledgeable and answered all of our questions, even though some of them must have sounded stupid. He gave great advice, and instead of sending us to a cashier, he personally jumped on the sales counter and processed the sale himself so we did not have to wait. He is a huge asset to this Best Buy store in SF and exceeded our expectations for service and support -- it was a real pleasurable experience.

I know Best Buy has been battered by online competitors and the pandemic lockdowns, so was not surprised that staffing levels here fall below the minimums they should have for the size of the store, but this is true across every retail business I have visited this year. The fact they have hired and retained top-notch talent like Puna shows me they are trying to come back strong. Go Puna!

Deserves negative stars! Stopped by this location 3 times, in the last week, in order to buy a SONOS surround sound system. Every time I dropped in, to buy the sound system, I was either waiting to be helped or looking for someone willing to help! Dropped in again today, waited an hour, was told their was only one person assigned to the tv and surround sound system section. The woman, super unhelpful, assigned to the entry area, I assume she's nothing more than a greeter, refused to send someone else to help!! Horrible customer service! Instead she barked orders telling me I just had to wait.. I'll be sending a letter to BestBuy headquarters documenting all the names of the sales people that could not spare 5 min of their precious time to sell me a sound system.

I ended up buying the full sound system setup from SONOS directly. Better customer service and pricing if you buy directly from SONOS!

Don't loose time going to this location, the sales reps are super unhelpful and lack the ability to think outside the box and pull another sales rep from a different dept in order to close the sale.

Best Buy lost another lucrative sell due to their horrible customer service.

This store is conveniently located for me... but that's about it.

Customer service here is horrible... and the store only keeps going downhill.

If you want ANYTHING, you are better off going anywhere else to get it... even if it is China. You'll probably get your item delivered a lot quicker.

I ordered kitchen appliances 7 weeks ago and on delivery day one a third was delivered. the fridge was broken and the microwave was missing. I have made 2 payments on these appliances and don't have them. when I called Best Buy customer care, no one cared, they passed the buck from person to person. Gave me a fake phone number to call back and told me I will have to wait until end of May to get replacements.

called the local store and got the same treatment. No one cares!!! pay a little more and stay away from Best Buy! they don't care. this was the worst exp I have ever had.

Horrible- Buyer Be wear.

I needed a new printer with specific printing abilities, so I went to Best Buy. When I saw Adrian helping out a customer buy a printer, I realized he he really knew what he was talking about and I decided that he was the person to help me.

He explained all the pros and cons of various printers and recommended some printers to me. I decided on one and bought the extended warranty, because well, printers always have issues at some point within 4 years.

After taking it home and using it, I decided it was going to be too costly, because of the ink. I came back and saw Adrian and he hooked me up with a better printer for my needs with no hassles whatsoever!

Adrian is one of those rare retail salesmen who is passionate about customer service and goes the whole nine yards for you.

Thanks again, Adrian!

The parents were looking for a new TV, and after doing a quick search on the Best Buy website, it boggled my parents mind that they could find 55"+ TVs that are under $500. Even the Samsung's and LGs of the world.

Any who... the holiday rush wasn't too bad, and after browsing the Tv section an customer service rep was able to direct us to find the TV we were looking for at the price range we wanted. Decided to go with a 65" LG. They had the team members bring it out and helped load it into the car.

Then we got home, did the unboxing, and as soon as we powered it on, the screen was busted! Round 2 to Best Buy, the return Line was brutal, but manageable. They tested the screen and were able to process the exchange no problem. Took the 2nd TV home and thankfully that one worked perfect! Two trips to Best Buy, 3hrs with the back n forth, not ideal, but still made it in time to catch the Warriors game. Happy camper I was.

It's a crazy time of year, and I witnessed irate customers, and it reminded me of my old retail days. The holidays are already a crazy time, pair that with a pandemic, yet the Best Buy team still provided exceptional service. Not the place that I'll go browse aimlessly, but convenient enough to pick up the things I need when it comes to electronics, plus they got a big parking lot, all good things when moving around SF.

I give one star because there's no mechanism by which I can give 1/10th of 1 star, but honestly they deserve negative number of stars since buying Best Buy cists you far more money than the purchase price. This is done knowingly and strategically, rather than provide honest, pleasant customer service. I had the Total Tech Protection contract, which I renewed year after year after year, using it rarely. Better to have protection when you need it, right? Not with Best Buy - not at all their game.
I also purchased the extended warranty. When my receiver died, I brought it down to Best Buy Geek Squad. They told me...yup, it's dead. It would take 5 weeks for repair, at the end of which they might (or not) replace the unit (warranty in effect). FIVE WEEKS!! And the manager there was a total *ss about it, treating me as if I were some idiot troublemaker, instead of the loyal customer I have been for more than a decade, and who has spent a fortune at Best Buy (products, service contracts, warranties, etc.). The manager declared, as if I were unreasonable to expect more, that (a) they do not have the expertise in-store to make repairs, (b) there is an extreme shortage of personnel and skills at Best Buy nationally to do repairs expediently, and (c) that the "Best Buy" best course of action was for me to buy a brand new device (complete with extended warranty and Total Protection contract!!).
Now, I'm not a business strategist but doesn't it seem an absolute priority, if you have a 5-week turnaround for warranty and/or Total Protection repairs, that you either acquire the technicians necessary or farm it out to a contractor -- whatever it takes to bring that turnaround time down to no more than two weeks?!?!?!
So, basically, both the warranty and Total Protection policies were worthless, and so were the Geeks on Squad. Apparently they thought that I, and customers on the whole, are worthless as well. How do they get away with this? They are the only large electronics store left in San Francisco... and, in fact, there are no viable smaller store options either.
** DO NOT BUY FROM BEST BUY. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT BUY ANY FORM OF SERVICE CONTRACT BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT HONOR IT. **
Buy from Amazon; they have extended warranty and excellent service plans, too.