Thursday, October 27, 2005

Best Buy In-Store Pickup Waste of Time

I purchased a Seagate Hard Drive from Best Buy today (good deal after rebates).

It was out of stock online, but available at my local store. Rather than stand in line and search for the product, I decided to use their in-store pickup service. This was the wrong decision.

This service is actually more work than going over to the store, getting the item off the shelf, and checking out through the standard checkout line.

Here's the way the process works.
  1. You need your ID, the same credit card you used online, and a special printout that they email you. It took 15 mins to get my special email telling it was ok to come pick the item up. That's not a big deal.
  2. When you get to the store, must go to a special pickup line. There's no one there. Wait for someone.
  3. Present your ID, your special printout, and your credit card. Clerk leaves with these items. Why? They show I have the credit card and I am who I say I am.
  4. I assumed the clerk was going to the back room to get my purchased item. Instead, she leaves and goes out into the regular merchandise and has to locate the item and get it there. What was to prevent someone from purchasing my hard drive before I got to the store? Why isn't this done already? What's the purpose of this service?
  5. Clerk returns with my ID, the hard drive, and...a receipt to sign. Huh? How is this any different than the standard checkout?
I learned my lesson.

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