"I placed an order online and paid via PayPal. A few minutes later, the order was refunded with the explanation that "we were unable to verify your information". I tried to place the order again with my credit card, and it was shortly after canceled with the same excuse. Called customer service; they did not know why my order was canceled(!) They offered to place my order by phone so I gave them my information. Two minutes after I get off the phone I get the familiar "Order canceled" email.

My shipping address is verified with PayPal, and my shipping address is the billing address of my credit card - and I copied it directly off the statement to make sure it matched. I ended up placing the order a fourth time and having it sent to a store, which was a two hour drive away, because I couldn't find any place closer that carried a similar product.

To answer Nick's question...

It was BestBuy's fault. The transaction was approved by PayPal and my bank, then refunded or voided a few minutes later by BestBuy. It if had been a bank issue, it would have been declined immediately. (I did contact my bank and PayPal just to make sure.)

Given that I spent about an hour placing my order and two hours driving, for a $30 part, I think my rating is appropriate. I'm glad people take these reviews seriously and I hope BestBuy does too."

"I bought a Canon camera from Best Buy. I have had it six months and it has never worked. Every time I take it in to Geek squad for repair, they created a new problem! They will take no responsibility for it and I consider Best Buy to be one of the worst companies I have ever seen. Also, they lost my camera for THREE WEEKS."

"A good example of Best Buy customer service. Pls go to page 2.
http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-Buy-Geek-Squad-Policies/COMPLAINTS-FARMINGTON-NM-STORE/m-p/582886#M77570"

"Where to start with my complaints! I will NEVER shop at best buy again. I got a credit card through best buy and have spent about $7,000 there in the last 2-3 years so i have much experience with best buy. First off, i bought a tv mount and did not even open it. I decided i didnt want to use it and i tried to return it UNOPENED and since it was a little over thier 30 days i couldnt.. Ok i understood.. Then i purchased a laptop for about $450. I loved the laptop it was nice but out of no where the screen had black ink spattered inside of it and the screen was blue. I took it in and they looked at it and said it would cost me over $200 for them to fix it and it wasnt covered even though it was only 2-3 months old bc i didnt have accidental on my warranty!! I was ticked!! Then i ordered a bookshelf, received it and it was broke. I returned it and its taking forever and i still have not gotten the replacement one yet. I have many other complaints but i figured this is enough! Dont shop at best buy!! :( "

"Difficult to order online. Not all products are available for shipping and the phrase "Usually ships within x days", should be "Rarely ships within x days". I was, however, told that my shipping would be refunded. Save yourself the trouble and find somewhere else to buy your electronics. "

"I ordered Teen Titans: Season 4 from Best buy and put in for 2-3 day shipping. The product came early, 2 days instead of three, and nothing was broken, the item was safe, and the communication was great. I got my item early and in excellent condition. There are no complaints on this side of the transaction."

"Shipping date confirmed but not honored. 2 weeks late! Ship date on line stated 9/26. Verbal confirmation stated 9/26. Less than 3 hours later an email was sent to change delivery date to 10/1. Called customer svc and was told it was moved to 10/4 and that wasn't even confirmed!! Then rep tried to tell me this was special order item and it was posted on line as such. IT ABSOLUTELY was not. I specifically ordered from this company because of the early delivery date. And of course they don't have the notes of yesterday's conversation in their computer so they don't know who confirmed the 9/26 date. How convenient. All they could tell me was no one SHOULD HAVE told us that. And that someone SHOULD HAVE looked further into the order and they WOULD HAVE discovered the extended delivery date and that's what we SHOULD HAVE been told. Absolutely RIDICULOUS. After spending $5,300 and being delayed 2 weeks for a corporate order, all we get is SHOULD HAVE and WOULD HAVE. This was after 5 phone call attempts within 12 hours to their installation dep’t. I received an email to contact them for the installation of the appliances. Each and every time I and my coworker called we were transferred to a department who’s phone lines were not working properly. We could hear them but they couldn’t hear us. We continued to tell the first CSR of our troubles and all she could tell us was there was nothing she could do, that she HAD to transfer us to this line. And we should keep trying that line until someone could hear us! Are you serious???? I guess they’re doing well enough to not care they just lost a major corporate buyer. Their loss."

"Best Buy Store suck!!! They don't know how to treat their customers! They should rename their store.. BAD BUY instead!!! I bought a Mac computer at BAD BUY and it was still under warranty, instead of trying to fix the problem the manager suggested that I take the computer to a
Mac retail store to fix the problem.!!! Are you serious??? Then next time I should buy the dam computer at the Mac Store. This is my 3rd Mac computer and I've have always bought them at a Mac Retail store and they have great customer service and they have always been willing to fix any problems I have. I don't know for some reason I decided to my last computer @ Best Buy.... what a huge disappointment!!! BAD BUY instead of best buy is never going to have my business again!!!!"

"One more to say that: HORRIBLE.
Stay away if you care about service. They think we all need them.
Unfortunately tourists are not aware so they will keep buying them - but you can recommend other stores with much better service where you live."

"I always tell myself that I won't shop at Best Buy anymore. My first gripe with them was when I bought a computer in the store and the price was so high because they had told me they removed viruses from the new computer. I though to myself, "why would there be viruses on a new computer?", then they admitted it was adware that comes in it from the manufacturer. They also made me buy this extra warranty because they said it was already on the product, I asked them to remove it and they said no that they can't. I needed the computer so I had to buy it. I later read all the reports online about that ripoff they do with the computers.

I stayed away from Best Buy for some time because of that and then I figured I'd try the website, it has to be more honest, right? Wrong! I ordered a product, they sent the wrong item. They blamed me that I ordered the wrong thing yet I know what I selected. I had to pay return shipping, was told there would be a restocking fee on the item, and so on. I said fine. I sent it back and still have no refund of anytime. I call to complain and they said they never got it, they said to provide the tracking number and they'll get back with me. It shows delivered o them and nobody gets back to me or helps me. Stay away from Best Buy, the company is run by greed and rotten service. Just read the reviews everywhere online about them. NEVER AGAIN!"

"I recently purchased a Kindle Fire at a Best Buy store as a gift. At home I unwrapped it and plugged it in to charge. When I unplugged it a couple of hours later the screen went black so I assumed it was not charged enough and plugged it back in. When I unplugged it a couple of hours later it went black again so I started looking at the unit. There was a huge gap on the left side of the device that continued through to the top of the device. It appeared that it would just snap back but it wouldn't. When I took it back to Best Buy they insisted that I had pried the unit apart and they would not replace it. I contacted Amazon and they mailed me anew one that arrived a day later. Best Buy has permanently lost my business and Amazon, once again, demonstrated why I continue to increase the amount of business I do with them!"

"I don't want to gripe, yet bad experience one after another cannot be ignored. My most notable involves a laptop purchase and return. This Best Buy experience happened during the tax-free weekend for school supplies that includes related electronics.

I went shopping for a Macbook Air at the local Apple Store which is located in Downtown Charleston. Unfortunately, I could not locate the Apple Store since it is found in a heavily traffic congested part of King Street. Actually, I drove circling the block that I thought Apple was located quite a few times, and since I never actually been there in-person finally gave up.

My last resort was Best Buy. For this special tax-free weekend, Best Buy had a special station for customers wanting to purchase computers and laptops. I promptly was stopped from making my way to the Apple section, and the Best Buy employee told me to take a number to wait in-line. The employee explained that this was the most efficient way to shop for a laptop since everyone would be busy helping other customers.

I looked around the computer section and saw a couple of employees just chatting with each other. Realizing, I fell into a trap slowly I tried to get away. But the employee insisted that I wait and look over the Geek Squad products. Finally, I was escorted to the Apple section of the store where I picked out the computer from the displays that I wanted to purchase. This employee went to the back of the store to retrieve the product.

Out of a different section of the store, two other employees wandered over. And they ask questions after question. Obviously yet clumsy, they were trying to sell more "Geek Squad products. As they were giving their sales pitches, I just kept thinking exactly what everyone infamously thinks who walks into Best Buy, "I can't believe I had to go to Best Buy to get this!"
Finally, my product emerged, and I was escorted to the cashier. Where before paying had to endure another sales pitch about "Geek Squad" products and extended warranties.

The worst part is that I decided to return the unopened Macbook Air. The customer service desk had to call a manager to process the return. And I don't know if this was part of a sales strategy in order to push their accounting ledgers, but they completely acted as if they had no idea how to process a return. After making a scene, they switched registers to the back of the customer service station.

After a two-week ordeal to find out what happened to my refund, which I posted on Best Buy's forums:http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-Buy-Geek-Squad-Policies/Returned-Item-Refund-to-Debit-Card-PLEASE-HELP/m-p/562598#M75978

Shockingly, I discovered that in-store they did not process my return. I had to go all the way to the corporate level to file a dispute. And speak to an employee whose only job is connecting customers who cannot resolve their dispute in-store with management. Here is a message from a BBY connection employee :

"Okay, so I just spoke with Derek, one of the store managers about your situation. Together we pulled up your receipt, and here's what happened: the original sale never went through due to a register re-boot. Therefore, you were never charged for the Macbook Air purchase and thus, would not receive a refund back to your account. With that being said, during your conversations with your bank, did you ever notice or ask if you have any record of this sale on your bank account? I'm just asking because if you have documentation that you could send me, then I can surely continue to work with the store to get this resolved for you. I'm very, very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you. Let me know if you have any questions or comments."

Who would not realize a $1,000+ transaction on their own account!?

Really, I don't want Best Buy to fail. Although, they definitely lost me as a customer. Their retail location is huge, they employee 1000s around the globe, and what would replace their enormous brick-mortar location? But, what really can be done to stop Best Buy from failing? When Best Buy does not care about their customers.

These are my experiences and opinions. I do encourage you continue shopping there. And try, really try, not to lose your temper."

"Absolutely horrible.

I placed two identical orders for the same item. One I was not charged sales tax on for some reason.

The 2nd order went through fine, the first I got an email saying theres a problem with the order. I checked my paypal and sure enough they charged me $19.99 and $21.84 for each item. Even though they already took the money out of my account for both items, they will only give me one.

I cant reorder since the items out of stock. They cant change the order at all on their end or bill me the extra $1.85 somehow, and they wont just give it to me for the $19.99 price after I drove all the way to bestbuy to pickup both items.

I was refused a supervisor when I called customer service several times and then was hung up on when I did get one. Best Buy is run by horrible people who care nothing about customers. Hope theyre happy they permanently lose another customer over $1.85 "

"Best Buy isnt the proper name, Worst Buy is more appropriate. I received an air conditioner that was cracked and only made noise when plugged in. I called and spoke with one idiot after another about sceduling pick up for their damaged item. Each time I spoke to an idiot I mean representative, I received a different story. Apparently, everyone in their customer service department should be retrained because no one seems to know Best Buy's policy including the so called managers. It's been 3 weeks and I am still going back and forth with them and still have the broken air conditioner in my living room. I don't care if Worst Buy is offering their products for free, I will not purchase a single item from them AGAIN!!!"

"I love bestbuy. They are often busy because so many people shop there which I think is weird because so many people complain. You won't find a sales rep in Walmart or Target or sams or Costco or anywhere you shop. I've never had a problem with returns or exchanges and when my card wasn't being found to buy a iPad the employee called the bank and talked to them for 30 minutes to get my account. I'm a faithful shopper and know many employees. They even price match a case I was going to get from Walmart for me I live in Georgia"