Sears is for my Grandparents & the Best Buy A+ Team Members

My experiences with BestBuy have probably not been the best throughout the years. A few months ago I went through the hassle of exchanging a mouse that I bought at their store which was under manufacturers warranty; Apple and Best Buy made it a bit complicated to exchange.

I have to put the fault on Apple because they don’t have an easy way for customers like me, who buy Apple products and live in Puerto Rico, to get them replaced under their manufacturers warranty.

In short it took me a month to get a magic mouse replaced and it was replaced thanks to Best Buy’s online team listening to my concerns. They contacted local management and  mouse was replaced.

Even after waiting a month, their local management made it a hassle to pick up the magic mouse. The folks on their online customer service teams listened agained to my concerns and were nice enough to send me a $25 gift card which I planned to use for something miscellaneous. Little did I know I would use it for a big purchase.

“Tiny” Refrigerator Glitch

For the past 7+ weeks I have been trying to get the refrigerator at my apartment to be replaced or repaired. At first, did not want to bother the landlord and decided to call a repairman. The repairman was very nice and honest. He did his best and he recommended not spending any money on repairing the refrigerator because it had too many issues. It would be favorable to get a new fridge than continue fixing that one.

The Serial Killer’s Used Fridge

I contacted my landlord and since he was pretty busy, it took him about 4 weeks to replace the fridge. When he finally called that we were going to get one, we were breathing a sigh of relief.

The fridge was delivered to us and on the outside it looked fine. When we opened it, we pretty much figured the previous owner of the fridge had only taken care of cleaning the front doors of the fridge and the rest literally looked like a serial killer had used it to store corpses. We went into deep cleaning the fridge. As a vegan, I was having issues accepting the fact that old blood from meat had been stored in certain areas and the smell of that was horrible.

At our household we are very focused on eating healthy and having a refrigerator that is clean is part of living a healthy lifestyle. After a whole night of the fridge from hell being on we realized it did not work. We had just bought groceries the night before the used refrigerator was delivered and all we kept thinking was how we had just blown $200 plus dollars worth of food. If I had to guess, it was given away to my landlord because it did not fully operate; but who knows maybe it was damaged in transit.

After doing a deep clean up of what looked like a crime scene (yes I am exaggerating a bit but it has to be in the top 5 nastiest things I have done in my life), we gave up on the fridge and decided to buy a new one for ourselves.

Sears is for my GrandParents

I originally planned to go to Sears at the mall and look at the refrigerators. A few months ago I gave Sears a chance even after I had an issue with their online teams and decided not to visit the place. When I had to replace the apartment stove, I got a bit annoyed at their complex pricing structure for a simple appliance. The price of the stove I purchased was $650, with all the add-ons that are not optional to get it running, I paid $800 and felt deceived. So arriving at the mall, I decided to visit Best Buy First.

Blue Shirt that Saved the Day

As I walked into Bestbuy, I saw a Samsung refrigerator which was on display and it looked similar to the refrigerators that had caught my attention on one of my many trips to the Samsung Bloggers Lounge during SXSWi.

I was quickly greeted by Jose L., a friendly Best Buy employee. As I made my decision for the refrigerator, I decided to ask many questions and Jose was precise in his responses.

Having someone like Jose greet you and take his time to explain every feature and how they work, was a pleasant experience. By far that it was the best experience I have had buying an appliance and buying from Best Buy.

No Price Check, Just Buy

I decided I did not need to shop elsewhere; I did not even do a price check on the fridge. I just trusted Jose because he exuded trust. I made the purchase of a Samsung fridge since it seemed to be the most energy efficient for its size. I took out my debit card and used the $25 gift card given to me by Best Buy’s Customer Service team.

After making the purchase I left Best Buy with a smile and a feeling that there is still hope for good customer service everywhere. I realized that although most places have individuals who are just there to clock in, every once in a while you’re going to bump into a rock star like Jose L.  and he will make up for all the other inconvenient issues you have had at that place.

Thanks to Best Buy for reaching out and doing a bit more when I had my not so pleasant experience. I went to them first this time and if Best Buy’s has more employees like Jose, they will be my first place to visit when buying appliances.

Once again great job Jose L. from the Carolina, Puerto Rico Best Buy Store and Blake the community Connector from Best Buy’s online teams.