Best Buy - 86th St. and Lex. NY, NY

To whom it may concern,

Let me first tell you that I freelance as a computer tech, and do data

backup for my clients. This leads me to need at least 20 external hard

drives a month. In the past I would get them off the Internet, J&R Music

World, or B&H Photo.

About a month ago I noticed a good sale price on the WD 500GB My Book

external drive on BestBuy.com. I decided to give the Best Buy on 86th and

Lex. (store #835) a shot at my business.

What I was met with when I got there was EXCELLENT! The Department manager

of the computer accessories department (I believe his name was Brian) and

has team were GREAT! They were very busy, but were able to accommodate my

needs in a timely fashion. I decided to look into your price guarantee so

that I could continue to buy my hard drive from Best Buy on 86th (based on

Brian and his teams performance). I continued to buy my drives there,

Brian would great me with a smile (remembered my business) and his team and

him took great care of me.

Now that leaves us with today. I came into the 86th st. store at

approximately 6:45pm, and proceeded to grab a couple more WD 500GB My Book

external drives. I found one of the salesmen that I have dealt with before=

,

and told him of my price match (JR Music World Product Link:

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=3D4107282 ) and he instruct=

ed

me to the Check Out counter. I was told by the sales representative that

the cashier would be able to change the price for me, and that if I had any

problems to have them page Brian. This seemed like normal procedure, sinc=

e

the last time I was there my price was changed the same exact way. I was

brought to the normal check out counter, where the salesmen told the cashie=

r

of my price match, and she proceeded to call someone to override the price

and I was on my way. As I waited for the manager to over ride the price,

she pleasantly asked me if I'd like to sign up for the Rewards Card, which =

I

did. A complete and total different situation was experienced today.

Today... I get to the front of the check out counter, I then explained the

situation, where the price match was from, and the conversation I had with

the salesmen in Computer Accessories. She then alerted a young women on he=

r

cell phone that was standing a few feet away from her. As I would find ou=

t

later this young lady was your store operations manager Atia. Atia told me

that she was unable to change the price from the Check Out counter and that

I would need to go to the Customer Service counter. Being as I was just in

the store 3 days earlier buying another 3 hard drive and had the price

changed at that very p.o.p. kiosk. I was a little confused as to why I now

had to wait on the long Customer Service counter line (I had already waited

on the 10 minute Check out line, at the salesman's request) to do what had

been done for me at the Customer Service counter 3 days earlier. I have

worked in retail on and off for over 15 years, and was just recently workin=

g

as a department manager of a electronic retail store... I KNOW that that a

manager such as Atia has the approval right to change such a price. I ask

Atia if she would accompany me to the Customer Service counter, so that I

don't wait on the line again just to have the same kind of issue I had at

the Check Out line. She said, that she will not accompany me and that she

can't do anything... "I MUST go to the Customer Service counter". I ask

Atia if she would page Brian for me, she informed me that it was Brian's da=

y

off. I then asked to speak to a manager, she informed me that she was in

fact a manager. I then asked her if I could speak to the SALES or STORE

manager, she told me that she WAS the sales manager / store manager (I foun=

d

out later that she was the operations manager, and that Adam and Moreen wer=

e

the actual Sales Management team) I ask Atia if she had a business card, sh=

e

refused. I asked for the cooperate phone number, she gave me the 888-bestbu=

y

number. None of this built any trust that I wasn't just heading off to the

Customer Service line for another hassle.

Be that as it may... I gave in and walked to the Customer Service counter,

I proceeded to wait another 10 minutes to get to the service

representative. She asked me for a print out of the price from JR Music, I

explained that I had already been told that I could have the price by my

sales representative, and sent to the service counter by Atia to get the

price. She then explained that with no print out, she would not give me th=

e

price... then asked me to "step aside". I then ask the customer service

representative if she could use one of the many Internet terminals that wer=

e

behind her to validate the price, her reply was simply no. I asked if she

could call JR Music world to validate the price, her response was again no.

I then (getting rather frustrated by the situation) asked her to page Atia.

She complied, moments later Atia arrives... I continue my discussion with

her from before and asked why if she was the one who is needed to change th=

e

price, did I have to wait on two lines to do so. She tells me to "stop

getting upset, your getting your price!" as though she was very upset about

it, and she was doing me a favor by honoring your posted price guarantee.

I'm my retail past it was very important to myself and my company that the

customer feels as though you are nothing but happy to match a competitors

price. As my reward card and credit card were processed, Atia and the

customer service lady whispered between each other... and would seem to be

having a negative conversation at my expense. I told Atia that I would be

contacting corporate and that I was very disappointed with my shopping

experience... she replied in a rather hostile way "Go ahead! Have a great

day sir!"

To make a long story, longer... although I have had good experiences at

your 86th st. location in the past, I'm not sure if (do to the

circumstances) I can or will continue to shop there, or with the Best Buy

company in general. It would have been disappointing enough for me to have

had an experience such as this with a salesman or cashier, but with an

upper management employee such as Atia to respond and conduct business in

that matter with an obvious return customer such as myself (or with anyone

for that matter) is very disappointing to say the least.

I then spent over an hour of the evening on the phone with a telephone

customer service representative, with equally.. if not worse results. The

phone call went like this, it started with a 30 minute wait to speak to a

customer service representative by the name of Effe. I calmly explained th=

e

situation to Effe, and she told me that she was going to call the store to

get Atia's side of the story. I was then put on hold for another 20 minute=

s

(these are not exaggerations, I would ask you to check the call log=85 and

complaint recording for better reference) as Effe discussed the matter with

Atia. When Effe returned her response was nothing short of offending. She

proceeded to ask me "Did you eventually get the price match you were lookin=

g

for?" I answered "Yes, of course=85 I just explained that to you" She

replied "Well (laughs).. then what's your problem?" I then explained t=

o

Effe that this was not an issue over the $40 discount on the drive, but an

issue of the way I was treated, and the manner and time in which it took to

get my Best Buy Price Guarantee honored. At the end of our phone

conversation I told Effe that I do not feel that the situation had been

resolved by her, and I would like to continue the conversation with a

member of the regional management team, or someone from the corporate

office.

A matter such as this should not be taken lightly, as if I can have an

experience like this... one must wonder who else has this sort of

experience. Unlike myself, I would assume that many do not have that

patience to wait the 30 minutes it took for me to speak to someone in your

complaint department, or to write an email such as this.

I hope that this letter winds up in the correct hands, as for if I don't ge=

t

a response from a Best Buy representative that understand my concerns, is

thankful for my continues business, and who can offer a resolution to this

matter... I don't believe I will shop with your company an further.

- Andrew Y.