Big Box Electronic stores!

[Raphael]

RANT TIME!!

Ok, my friend bought something from an online Big Box store. When she tried to hook it up, she found that there was a problem with the cables, one of 'em wouldn't attach properly.  So, she went to the website and sent an email to their Tech support email address, asking if there are different types of these cables. Not a difficult question.

She got a reply back saying that they (customer service) can't answer product questions and she should call the local BB store, and they included a link for a list of the stores. 

Lovely. We have ONE Best Buy store in all of Atlantic Canada, so that means the nearest store for some people could easily be a  12+ hour drive! All to find out about a cable.

I decided to try, and used the handy form that's on their "Contact us" page, selected "Help with a product" and posed the question again, only I got more specific about the ends of the cable. I got a slightly more explanatory, but still useless, email, directing me to call the local store.

I emailed back, asking what a person was to do if their local store was hours away...and asking if maybe I should have emailed tech supprort directly, or if I should have selected "Parts & Repairs" as my topic.  And...I got an email saying that customer service can't help with products, please call the local BB store, here's a list...

Ok, now I'm feeling just a wee bit sarcastic. (no, really?)  Here's my response:

Ok, so I just want to confirm...you have an email address for Technical support, but no one can actually give technical support via email?
 
And you have an option on the preset form for asking about "Repairs & Parts", but no one can actually answer questions about parts via email?
 
And people who order online, because the nearest Best Buy store is 12-15 hours away, have to contact that store anyway to ask any questions about parts or technical support?
 
Ok, thank you for clarifying.

And their reply?

Thank you for your support inquiry.

You may contact a BBStore location by phone to speak with a technically trained representative who can answer all of your repair and parts inquiries.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause and if you wish to speak with support staff for your inquiry please contact your local BBStore. For store information please visit the following link:

WHY THE HECK DO THEY HAVE THE CONTACT INFO FOR TECH SUPPORT PEOPLE WHO, APPARENTLY, ARE NON EXISTENT?????  And why bother with a 'contact us' page? All they need is a page to say "Here are the local stores, please contact one of them for support".

OY

[Leonardo]

I don't suppose they offshored the so-called Technical Support....

What a freagin' nightmare.
Give them the Wrath of Raph!!!

[Amicitia]

Smells like an automatic response.

But you can't blame them. They're all busy saving the World (of Warcraft).

[Raphael]

I think they employ people whose entire job is figuring out how to reword the "Please contact your local store" bit so it doesn't sound the same each time.  Between my friend & I, we've gotten 4 replies, each saying the same thing, and each one slightly different.

Customer Service? HA! What a joke...

[Aignatius]

I'll keep that in mind when shopping for another TV.
Shop locally, and make sure they have at least one person on the premises who remotely gives a hoot about tech related problems.

At the risk of sounding insipid, uhm, hopefully you will find the right cable, and soon? 

[Raphael]

I think my friend is going out this weekend to check out the cables.

Oh! Forgot to add the add'l bit...

Our office is located over a mall, with another electronics store, so I thought I'd pop and just look to see what they have. I have no idea what 'ends' she needs for her cables, so I was definitely not buying anything, just looking. Anyway, the clerk goes into this whole "Well, the S-Cable is good for blablabla and this one is better and blahblahblah". (this after I said a few times that I was only interested in which ENDS the various cables have)

He concludes that he can't really make any recommendations because neither of us know what her tv & DVD/VCR machine have. True enough. As we start to walk out, he notices some other cable that's on sale - and there's only one left. "Oh, you should pick this up, this is a great price!  I may buy it myself." *Pause* "I'll give you till Friday to decide, that's when I get paid". And he chuckles.

Ok, so just after saying "Can't recommend anything", he tries to pressure me into buying some abitrary cable which may or may not be something I can use, or my friend can use, or...???   Uh, yeah...

[Aignatius]

LOL! A guy trying to sell you a random cable. I thought maybe you were going to say the one that was on sale you went and bought it anyway, and miraculously, it turned out it was the very cable your friend needed!
He must have been talking to your inner Tello, who is likely to get things on sale because chances are he'll need it at some point for something. Tellos have to have plenty of everything for when they decide to build or modify something, so their room resembles a somewhat smaller version of Radio Shack.

Welllll, we went and bought a TV at Wal-Mart today. Because that was the first store I went to, and had a look, and the people working in there are helpful enough, sooo, I got one for about $150. And glanced at the HDTV flat panel LCD and plasma TVS, and said, hmm, nice. And then hauled our smallish medium sized tube TV home. 
I'd been going nuts trying to comparison shop and read reviews but it doesn't do much good if the ones they have available are different from the ones being reviewed, and vice versa. Said, bah, and bought the first one that looked good for the price. Because they generally last about the same, anyway. I've had cheap ones last me for 10 years, and other cheap ones that lasted maybe... 4 years. Eh.