Best Buy constantly lets me down, but now they even lie to their customers…

I had just applied to be a member of the Best Buy team. I even had an interview, and from the way that the manager talked about my interview, and about the position, I felt like a shoe-in. I was applying for a job in the Computer Sales area, so I decided to mosey on over and spend some time with my future co-workers. When I arrived, one of the women who worked in the area was helping an older woman and her son purchase a new laptop.

From what I saw initially, she was just helping them with a smile on her face. Also, the store was recently redesigned, and the new tags listed only three items: Hard drive space, Memory, and Price. Not even the processor speed was listed. The boy that the Best Buy salesperson was helping had his eye on two specific notebooks, a Toshiba and a Dell. She initially reccommended the Dell on the grounds that “The model is being discontinued, so the price is lower.” I don’t know much about economics, but this sounds reasonable to me.
I was planning to purchase another mouse for a laptop I just purchased, so I decided to just creep around the area a little longer. I pick the mouse I wanted, and head for the register.

The woman and son are now checking out, and ended up picking the more expensive of the two notebooks. The girl continues on to her regular warranty sales pitch. The mother and son politely decline.

This is when it got bad. The woman must have realized that her customers were not computer savvy, or she was not savvy herself, but she decided to sell the buyers a Geeksquad virus protection program. In order to convince them, she said, and I quote “Well, do you play computer games?” The boy, like most kids his age, responds positively, getting into the games he plays. She continues “Sometimes, those games come with viruses. The viruses can break your computer. If you have Norton or something, it won’t detect it, but if you have our antivirus, it will detect that. So if you play games, you should definitely get the antivirus.”

I wouldn’t mind a simple overstatement for a few extra dollars in most cases, but when we’re talking hundreds of dollars for a completely ridiculous, useless service, I get a little hot.

At this point, I simply could not take anymore.

“Please, don’t lie to them to sell them something.”

“What? I don’t know what you are talking about!”

“Everything you just said was crap, none of it made sense. Ma’am, I implore you to decline her offer. If you need antivirus software, I’ll show you some places where you can get excellent protection for free.”

“But they won’t get the protection that Best Buy can offer, which is obviously the best!”

I just look at her quizzically, as I’m not sure if she is really serious. I return to the the woman, “Please, don’t buy this. If you need any help, take my email address, and I’ll provide any help I can.”

After that, I just walked back to the manager, asked her for my application, snatching it from his hand and tore it up. As I was storming out of the building, I continued to make a scene. All this time, I had forgotten to put down my mouse, and when I tried to walk out, I was grabbed by the security guards. I didn’t even hear the alarm go off. I just explained the situation, gave them the mouse, and continued on my way.

That is why I’ll never return to Best Buy. They no longer try to help customers make the best decision, instead, they only attempt to profit as much as possible. I guess I’ll go talk to Office Depot… .