Best Buy Connection Solutions

Refers to Best Buy Connections Solutions order 304792867.

Tried to buy a cell phone from the Best Buy store in Abilene, TX on Friday May 18, but the sales associate said she couldn't port my existing number. Knowing that under FCC law any cellular provider -- third-party or otherwise -- has to allow me to port my number, I called Best Buy to check. The associate I spoke to there referred me to Best Buy Connection Solutions where I was told my number could indeed be ported, and could be done right then over the phone. I placed the order that day, at which time my card was charged for a Motorola KRZR phone and car charger. I was promised the phone would arrive no later than Tuesday, May 22.

For the next 48 hours I was inundated with emails advising there was a problem with my order. I called up, waited half an hour on hold each time to find they needed to verify some piece of information they already had. Four times this happened and the phone still hadn’t shipped five days later! At one point they assigned me a totally new phone number and told me I’d have to call the carrier and port the number myself. I asked repeatedly to speak with a supervisor, but was always told that I was already speaking with one. I asked to speak with whoever was in charge, but they just put me on hold.

Finally I told them to cancel my order, that I’d go somewhere else to buy the phone, but I was told the phone was already activated and they couldn’t cancel it, even though it hadn’t yet shipped. I told them to find a way, and get my money back to me immediately. The associate put me on hold, then came back and told me he’d cancelled my service to phone number such-and-such, then read off my current phone number. I told them they couldn’t cancel that number, because it’s my only phone. So he reinstated the order, but told me the car charger I ordered at a discount had been cancelled and would have to be reordered at full price. The order still doesn’t show up online as being shipped or even reactivated, so now I don’t know if I’ll have a phone at all.

I called Best Buy customer relations and was told they can’t do anything because they don’t have access to ‘that company’s’ information. They did not offer to comp me the charger and told me I’d just have to continue working with ‘that’ company. As if ‘that company’ were not a Best Buy partner to whom I was referred by a Best Buy associate! Now I’m left with nowhere to turn and no one who will attempt to resolve my problem.

All that’s left is to warn others not to use Best Buy for their cellular phone needs. In that attempt, I will be posting this complaint on the following websites:

www.complaints.com

www.fcc.gov

www.ftc.gov

www.bbbonline.com

www.consumeraffairs.com

www.thesqueakywheel.com