Best Buy

Been coming to this store for 6 years now. The service is always prompt and most sales reps have moderate to profound knowledge on the products they are in charge of. When I think the item I want to buy is overpriced, I show the rep Amazon price and they always match it, which is always nice. Not to mention you can take it right back if the item is defected. Love this place!

On my past visits to this Best Buy over the years, the staff has been, shall we say, less than attentive. That’s why I was dreading returning an item today. To my surprise, the two people I dealt with (one was a Geek Squad member) were helpful, efficient, and friendly. Perhaps Best Buy management has woken up and is starting to hire better employees for this location or is training them better. Whatever the case, things seem to be improving in terms of customer service at this Best Buy location.

This store does not honor the Best Buy «price match guarantee» — they would not match a current, valid Walmart price. The management was unapologetic. No wonder this business is doing so poorly.

I went to buy a surface and when I went there, the salesman, who looked to be only 17 was so pushy and told me the only thing I ended up liking I would have to get with this other lady without telling me that it would be the same thing as an online purchase, then I had to wait for it in the mail and the worst part was when it came in the mail, it didn’t work. Now since this was my first surface, I thought I was doing something wrong, but I showed it to my dad who was a computer engineer that also didn’t know and then I actually went to microcenter and had them look at it. The guy told me it was used and the person had tried to restart it, this was news to me because I had just received the «new» surface that I have literally never used and couldn’t even figure out how to start using because it had wanted me to put in my password when I had never made a password. Anyways i’m the type of person that doesn’t like returning things and hate when people try to manipulate or trick me or are pushy. usually I don’t say anything and I keep the thing I originally want to return but honestly this was a lot of money and I didn’t have a lot of money to be letting it go. I was scared when I got there that they would give me some crap about oh it’s past the date to return or something, you know places that just always give you bs reasons for why you can’t do something that is completely reasonable to do. but anyways so I get there and I am mad because I literally had to wait for this surface in the mail that I really needed to start being able to use when I had gone there in person, then when it came it didn’t work, so then I had to go to different places to try to figure out what was wrong with it! this is a brand new surface, that I paid for at a brand new price, nothing should be wrong with it! So okay now I’m at best buy to try to return it or exchange it at least or something because honestly this is not right. I go there and I’m mad but I’m trying to hold back because I know it’s not the people at the returning section of the stores fault. And granted the first guy I talked to was okay, he was pretty nice, but then this guy out of no where, sees I’m fuming mad and wants to argue with me, and repeatedly wants to not believe that it came like that in the mail. He says he’ll fix it for me, WHY IS IT BROKEN BRAND NEW! They don’t end up having another in the store so I couldn’t even really do an exchange and the nice guy was like we can give you your money back and the guy that keeps implying I’m lying after I had to go through soo much hassle just trying to do something simple keeps trying to tell me I’m not entitled to my money back. It’s like excuse me but I think I really am. Honestly if I was a business and I messed up sooo bad I would offer the customer something for their troubles instead of making them feel worse about it. But honestly I wasn’t trying to get anything out of it I just wanted to be done with the whole thing. I finally was able to return it and just got the same thing from microcenter and guess what I got in person when I went and it worked and was brand new, from the first day, this should be basic for any company, really people.

I’m surprised by the bad reviews, as our experience was wonderful. We walked in this past weekend to look at TVs, and ended up purchasing an open box one that was a great price and works perfectly. The person that helped us, I think his name was Pete, turned it on for us so that we can make sure everything was working properly, was very helpful in explaining what their open box policy is, and he and another employee we interacted with were both knowledgeable and helpful. Not in any sort of exuberant way, but just in a way that made my husband and I feel that they just wanted to have all the facts laid out.
We were pleased by how thoroughly and efficiently we were taken care of. I really can’t think of how it could’ve gone more smoothly. Perhaps it’s hit or miss depending on the employee, but overall, the times we’ve been there, everyone has been really helpful without being pushy, and patient with our questions.

This was such a great experience for me to go to, I had to upgrade my phone and Verizon downstairs was totally inefficient in doing so. I walked right in, Francis in the phone department helped me out and in 20 minutes I was good to go. Very helpful, and super nice. They helped me transfer my upgrade to a new phone, were intelligent and very conversational. Thank you Francis, and to the gentleman with the awesome mustache for helping me out. Kudos.

Horrible. Frustrating. Not at all interested in customer service. I bought a washer/​dryer almost a month ago and I still don’t have it in my home. They keep canceling delivery with no clear explanation. Unless you have endless time and patience stay out ofBest Buy!

Am surprised by the negative reviews. Every time I’ve been here, every single employee (and honestly there are a lot of people on the floor at once) has been friendly and helpful. Most recently I bought an iPhone 5 adapter here but a week after buying it I realized I didn’t actually need it. Only problem was that I had gotten rid of all of the packing for it– the box, the instructions etc. I had the receipt but that was all. They still refunded me completely, no questions asked.

The guy that directed me to my chrome book was friendly and knowledgeable, not an expert but was able to explain things «on my level»

Brutal service. They asked if I needed help finding anything, and pointed down the escalator and said it’s downstairs. I need a very specific cable and wanted their help. The overall attitude at this store is that nobody cares.

Today I upgraded my phone. AT&T was all out so they sent me to best buy. I waited in line for 5 minutes. Andre helped me with everything. He was so sweet. He even showed me how to use the phone. He took time and explained everything to me. What a real nice guy. I didn’t feel rushed, I feel like he answered all my questions. He took care of my worries… I would recommend him

I bought my laptop, and a two-​year accidental damage protection plan, at a different Best Buy last January. This March, I spilled some water on the keyboard, rendering select keys useless, and in turn calling for a trip to my nearest Best Buy (aka Best Buy Cambridgeside) for repairs.
Let’s start with the good:
–First «Geek» I talked to encouraged me to buy an external to back up all my data before sending the computer out, which I had been meaning to do for a while anyway, so I did just that. And I’m glad I did– ’cause whaddya know, they ended up replacing the hard drive.
–I was told it would be a two-​week turnaround for my computer to be sent to some corporate repair place to get fixed. I think it ended up being more like six days.
–Second «Geek» I worked with (after going home and backing up data) was helpful and apologetic for actions of first «geek» when I ranted (see below)
–They actually honored the service plan, so the fix was 100% free, except for me buying the external (which was my choice). I was actually kinda shocked by this.
The bad:
–I get to the help counter, «geek» starts helping me and notices guy behind me in line. Asks guy behind me if he has an appointment– says that he does. «Sorry, I cannot help you, you did not make an appointment,» geek says to me. SAY WHAAA? This is awful customer service if I have ever seen it. You have to have an appointment at Best Buy?! Luckily, the person behind me said we was willing to wait. If that hadn’t happened, I would have left and taken my business elsewhere.
–I must have missed the fine print that says all repairs are done with refurbished parts. So the hard drive, keyboard, and battery replacement are all refurbs. I am not too crazy about this and I wish that had been clearly stated beforehand– when I got my BB-​purchased iPod replaced with a refurb a few years back, they made that policy clear from the get-​go. Tsk tsk.
–I would echo the statements from other Unilocalers about understaffing. As someone who’s worked in retail, I pity the employees here. It’s no excuse for awful customer service, but I would probably be cranky, too, if I worked here.
All in all, I came here because I knew I could get a $ 100+ repair job done for free. But when my protection plan expires, I plan to support local businesses instead. Sometimes it feels like much of Cambridge is a giant friggin’ «geek squad», so why go to Best Buy when you clearly have other options?

I visit Best Buy in only two opportunities: when I am acquiring something new and when I am fixing something that broke. The former was the case last Saturday.
I had called in advanced to make sure they would print the two year guarantee that I have purchased when acquiring my Samsung Laptop in August 2012. Fortunately, when I visited the mall the store was not crowded, though the requested print out was nowhere to be found. I walked them through all my personal data and finally they found it. Unfortunately my computer needed to be shipped to the manufacturer so that will take at least TWO weeks! Thank god for friends with spare computers!
Nonetheless, just to be on the safe side I requested a backup. This is when the nightmare started:
1) They first tried to convince me to send the computer to a Lab… the cost started at $ 250 and was told that could reach $ 500. I burst into laughter and told them that I could not care less and that was happy to lose the information.
In light of my initial reaction and after some persistence, I got the tech guy from the Geek Squad to check whether my disk was readable. Surprise, surpise: it turn out that it was! So they would be able to do it in house.
To think they wanted me to pay $ 500
2) The tech guy left and I was dealing with a teller, when she started to walk me through the options and the tech guy jumped in saying I had agree to the most expensive one. Imagine how outraged I was: I demanded to be walk through the differences and was given inconsistent information. It was not only after I grabbed my memory with the intention of leaving the shop that the teller acknowledged her behavior and called the original tech guy. I was finally explained the difference. Since I was only interested in retrieved the pictures from my last trip, I was not willing to pay for the unlimited back up unless strictly needed.
The only reason I am not giving Best Buy one star is that the tech guy checked three times to make sure I would not risk losing any important information. If it had not been for his final attention this would have been a 1 star review.

So I bought a $ 500 Denon 5.1 Home Theater system, and the box had 2 speakers missing. I called in, and they took it back without problems. Gerald, one of the supervisors, even gave me 10% back in cash, and ordered a new one (and offered to ship it to me for free at my convenience).
Things like this happen, and I’m very pleased with how it was handled.

Let me be the first to say, I am not a stuck up customer. I don’t mind if the person helping me is abraisive, curt, or downright rude. Working customer service sucks! People are rude and no one wants to give you the courtesy you deserve. That being said, what I experienced going to Best Buy last night was something worse than these «sins on consumerism». The staff was «indifferent». I found it almost impossible to even check out at all!
I went specifically into the facility just for a specific DVD. I picked up said DVD and was on my way to check out only to discover that there were over 12 staff members there, all making direct eye contact with me, and NO ONE available to check me out. I was told they weren’t cashiers they were there to «watch the door» or plain ignored. Had I have bothered to walk out of the facility with the item in my hand and NOT pay, I might have gotten better service than what I was receiving.
The final straw for me was when I stood in line at the Customer Service desk (for returns) to purchase my DVD and after about 10 minutes waiting, someone told me that there was someone at the cashier now available to check me out.
Why does Best Buy have 7 registers and no one to man them? I understand the economy is tight but the manager should be fired because they aren’t doing their job.

So I went into this place with some serious, Unilocal-​fueled trepidation. I had five things I needed to do, and they ranged from trade-​in, recycling, buying mobile credit, and so on, and I wasn’t sure whether it would all work out. At first, I waited aimlessly in the Customer Service line — watching the terrible combination of (1) harried staffers (this place is seriously understaffed) working feverishly fast, and (2) sometimes TWO staffers helping ONE customer at a time (inefficiency, my eyes!!!).
*Then* magic started to happen. One of the staffers noticed me waiting, or noticed my proto-​exasperated vibe, and immediately called me over. He worked quickly, smartly, and openly: he helped me recycle (securely wiping my data — or as secure as my tech-​dumb eyes can make out) an old phone, an old Kindle. He explained how to remove a hard drive from an ancient laptop I want to donate — and said he’d have to charge me $ 50, but — instead — he just showed me which screws to remove. He told me my ye olde Kindle would only get $ 5, since I was missing the cord… but then gave me a $ 10 gift card anyway. Mistake? Or special secret gift?
Anyway, I was then directed to the mobile guys, where I needed to grab some T-​mobile credit on my snazzy new phone. Thinking the previous guy was a fluke of niceness and great customer service (his card did say he was a supervisor), I went to the mobile guy… who was ALSO excellent! He was also fast, funny and helpful. And he ALSO warned me of all of Best Buy’s annoyingly hidden service charges for, e.g., taking out your SIM card, or mini-​SIM-​ing your normal-​sized SIM.
Overall, I was in and out in maybe 40 minutes, which is NOT BAD considering all the crap I needed to do. So — this still isn’t the place I’d buy most electronics from (Amazon does it for that), but in terms of taking care of existing electronics, not bad at all.

This Best Buy is seriously the worst. Where to start… My main qualm is with the mobile department, which is either horrendously understaffed or no one is there at all. I once brought this up with the guy who does the scheduling, and he was very defensive and claimed that no one shops in mobile department or separate store (on 2^nd floor) in the morning. To date, I’ve tried to stop at both about 20 times and have maybe received help three times. I usually go between the hours of 11a-​1p. The guy did nothing to take my feedback and instead was very insistent that there was always someone there.
Secondly, the mobile scheduler guy was very, very rude to me when I said I was waiting to upgrade to the Samsung s4 when it comes out. He gave me this big speech about how if anyone would know if it’s coming out, it would be him. He was so disrespectful and provided terrible customer service especially considering anyone with an internet connection and access to Google KNOWS that the phone is being announced on March 14^th.
That being said, Best Buy’s pricing for phones does consistently beat Verizon. That’s probably the only good thing about them. The Verizon guys on the 1^st floor of the mall are amazing, always helpful, easy to talk to, always available, and for those reasons, I’ll probably be upgrading through them once the s4 comes out even if it does mean paying more.
I’m not surprised in the least Best Buy is going out of business, especially after my experience with their mobile department.

Terrible location with rude employees.
Used this store for online order pickup. Got there and there’s no line. Guy working the counter is on the phone and refuses to make eye contact. Finally looks up and says «what do you need?» to which I say «I’m picking up an online order.» No response, just looks back down and keeps going with his call. 10 mins in total pass. Another guy, Nick, who is a customer service «superior» (presumably «superior idiot») comes over and tries to help me. He of course can’t find my stuff in the huge mess that’s behind the counter… So he keeps poking around, radioing people, etc… nothing. Finally he just goes off and wanders around the store… Am I still being helped? Talking to customers is clearly not his forte. In any event, after about 30 minutes (I was literally in the store for 40 total) he comes back and says they don’t have it. Ugh.

I was clearly walking around looking for something and no one asked if I needed help. When I went to a register the line was hardly moving because of some computer error, so I went to another and there was no one there so I had to find a 3^rd! I asked about the return policy because I was not sure if the laptop case was enough and the girl just said ‘yeah bring the receipt’.
They gain a star for having a lot of product, since the store is massive.

The mall was packed this past Saturday afternoon, and Best Buy was pretty crowded as well.
My boyfriend and I were looking for three GPS watches for birthday presents, and the sales associate we spoke with was pretty helpful, offering to call the Best Buy in Fenway to hold a watch for us. He also put two GPS watches on hold at customer service so that we could look around the store.
One of the minor inconveniences that day was the escalator going up and into the rest of the mall was out of service so people had to wait for the elevator.
Then when we were leaving, the sensors went off. We looked around at the few associates nearby and no one made a move toward us so we walked out of the store again. Same thing — turned to see if anyone was going to check our bag or say anything. Nope. Finally, after the third attempt of leaving and setting off the alarm, we decided to approach a cashier who was having a conversation and would not help us until she was finished. She finally disarmed the sensors, and we were able to leave without setting off the alarm.