In any case, I knew I was going out for other errands and tossed them in the car. As I was out, I passed a Best Buy, not the one I normally go to, but since it was there, I decided to go in. I walked in, there were 2 people at Customer Service, and a relatively quiet store at 2:00 on a Wednesday afternoon, and so I stood next in line, waiting for either of the CS people to finish with a customer so I could be helped.
At one register there was a gentleman that obviously had some warranty issue with a laptop. From what I could gather his had died and they couldn't replace or fix it, so the senior CS girl was planning on giving him a slightly more expensive one since that was the best match they had in stock. On one hand that's a great customer service move. Help the person out then, even if it's not the most price conscious or efficient thing to do for that purchase. Earn some goodwill.
On the other hand, I stood there for 15 minutes while the girl tried to get the computer guy and then the manager to approve the transaction. Apparently that required a call to corporate, so the manager came over, talked to the guy, then went in the back, then came back, then walked around waiting for a return call. I'm not sure what happened since I was out of there by then, but the guy was a little torqued. He had a cane and had to keep leaning on the counter and shifting position. I felt bad for him.
In the meantime, before I got helped after15 minutes, the line had grown from 1 (me), to 6 people behind me, all of them a little annoyed. I have to admit that I was tempted to leave, and then to complain, but instead decided to see how bad it could be. I thought about this blog while waiting.
The other CS person was sitting on the phone, on hold because she wasn't pressing buttons or saying anything. Perhaps she was listening to a lecture, but after 10 minutes I doubted it. Eventually while the manager was walking around, the senior girl with the computer guy decided to get things moving, she told the second girl to just do something and hang up the phone. Then she must have approved something on that register because the CS girl started processing the lady there.
While that was happening, the senior CS person walked to the Pick Up register and called me over. She smiled, apologized, and quickly processed my return and then apologized again. About 45sec to get that done and I appreciated her effort, though it took awhile.
What could be done better?
When I typically go into Best Buy I browse around through a few departments, looking to see what's there. I often have something in mind, but I like to see what's new. In walking through MP3, Cameras, Computers, TVs, in 15 minutes, I'll usually have no less than 5 people ask if they can help me. It gets annoying and I need to write Best Buy.
However in standing in line, watching the return line grow from zero when I arrived to 6 in 15 minutes and nothing move, is pretty bad.
Immediately the first girl could have either
- Handed the phone to the customer and asked her to listen for someone while she helped others
- Put the phone on speaker and listened for it
- Asked the manager after 2 or 3 minutes what to do.
Any of those should have resulted in lady 1 being processed quicker.
The senior CS girl, who was more on the ball, could have started processing other things while waiting for someone to square away the computer guy. It wouldn't have helped him, but it would have gotten things moving. I should mention that she did process an in-store pickup while waiting, which was good to see. I didn't watch to see how quickly she got others through the line, and I wish I would have.
The manager is most at fault. It would be bad if she wasn't aware of the growing line, but it's worse that she walked over there twice, with at least 5 people in line both times, and didn't call someone up there.
Best Buy possibly should just give a little more power to their CS people. You'll lose money on a few transactions, but that's nothing compared to the goodwill you earn. I can get really, sh**ty service like that at Wal-Mart and pay the same or less.
If Best Buy can pay a few dozen people to walk around and constantly check on people that are browsing, can't they move a few of them up to help process people in lines? I can see letting the line grow slightly at check out to see if people will buy more batteries, DVDs, candy, etc. that are on display, but it's the 21st century.
If you run a retail or service type business, ensure that your people are cross trained and can help customers out. You want to help them process through as quickly as they want to be processed. Or as slowly. If they want to talk, you want CS people to talk with them. If they want to return something, don't make it a hassle. It makes it that much more likely they won't come back. Or they'll start trying out their competitors.
My next trip will be to Ultimate Electronics. Just to see if they're better.
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