It’s true. I’m proud and unabashed about trumpeting our customer service successes and I’m always happy to call out helpful Blueshirt employees by name (via Twitter) when they live up to the promises of the Best Buy brand. But, if I hope to have any credibility at all, I have to be willing to talk about less-than-stellar experiences, don’t I?
Before we dive into the details of my experience heavy on the lousy, I am going to say that the vast majority of interactions I have at Best Buy are overwhelmingly positive, and make me feel good about the company for which I toil.
Far more often than not, the Best Buy person I encounter on the sales floor takes the time necessary to answer my questions and help me find the product(s) I’m looking for (one went so far as to go out back and pull a CD off the delivery truck before it was unloaded; another consulted the store product map to find an obscure cord I wanted that was “21 feet from the aisle”), to make sure I’m fully and completely satisfied with my shopping experience.
(I should point out that I never tell store employees that I’m a Best Buy employee – until it comes time to claim my discount – so there is no “favoritism” of any kind. I am a regular Joe looking for something cool).
Got a call from the local chapter of the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) several weeks ago, asking if I’d be willing to be interviewed about the communications job market for an article in their monthly News & Views publication. They must have figured since Best Buy is a big local company with a well-regarded communications function they could pass even me off as a subject matter “expert.”
Best Buy has launched a Twitter help (“twelp” -- get it?) initiative called Twelpforce to give customers a way to ask questions about products and receive instant, or near instantaneous, response from the company’s customer-facing employees, be they blue shirts, Geek Squaders, customer service call center reps or even corporate headquarters types like yours truly. [More]
Interesting blog post on Getting the best of Best Buy. The concept is simple: You’re in a Best Buy store. Use your cellphone to order products at the lower online price, wait 20 minutes or so and pick them up in store.
News just in from Brandweek.com: Best Buy has been named first runner-up in Interbrand Design Forum’s first ever survey of the top 50 retail brands. Brandweek’s twist focuses ever-so-slightly more on Walmart’s ascension to the top spot, but this blog has chosen not to acknowledge that tiny, unimportant detail.
This all leads me to my latest head scratcher: [More]
