Kevin and I both have Sirius in our vehicles. We also have it set up so that we can listen in the house and the shop. With our recent vehicle do-si-do, we had to switch our systems. As mine has an antenna problem and Kevin's has a display problem, we decided to buy a new receiver so that we were good to go again.
We went to Best Buy on Saturday, against my better judgement to buy a new one. We talked to a young kid (aren't they all, these days?) who then referred us to the installer, who happens to be a girl.
Disclaimer: as a girl that lives in boy world, I get it. I get that it's difficult so I try to be open-minded. That being said, 85% of the time: it's a disaster.
Continue...
She pointed out which receiver to buy, indicating that it said XM because Sirius was being bought out by them. We were skeptical as they just merged into one company and we hadn't heard anything about it. We're both Howard Stern listeners and he is a major stockholder yet he had said nothing. But why would she make it up? So we bought it, actually not that expensive all told.
Kevin spends an hour Sunday morning taking out the old system and installs the new one. He has me call Sirius to activate the new receiver, which has always been very easy.
This is where Sirius says I can't do it. Because it's an XM receiver and not a Sirius one. I told him about the "merger" and he is completely surprised by this news. Go figure. I had that sinking feeling that a mess was about to begin.
I called Best Buy to complain. First I get just whoever answered the phone then I get a "manager". I explained what had happened and that Sirius was Completely Surprised about this merger that the installer said was happening.
The manager assured me that the installer was probably right because Sprint once sold their cellular tower but didn't tell their customers that their service was changing until after the fact.
Did you understand that? I was momentarily befuddled. WTF is she talking about?
So I asked her "You're telling me that an installer in NW Washington State knows more than a customer service rep at that Actual COMPANY?" She continued to defend her. Clearly no progress was to be made. My guess? They're friends.
She essentially told me that we were out of luck, implying that we should have known better and there was nothing that can be done on behalf of Best Buy.
We could return it but that the receiver we needed is $70 more. $70 MORE.
When I began to lose it, she offered a WHOPPING 10% discount. 10 Whole Percent!!!!
This is where sarcasm comes into play. "That's about, what? $10-15 dollars? that's RIDICULOUS! Your EMPLOYEES receive a better discount than that." She offered that the discount will pay the taxes on the new receiver.
Oh, very well then, you'll pay the Taxes! That's just so helpful, I don't know why I'm still mad. She mentioned that of course Best Buy couldn't sell us a more expensive receiver at the cheaper price. (*cough* bullsh*t* ahem) I told her that I didn't expect that but I did expect her to make an effort as the installer/cashier sold us the incorrect receiver based on a make-believe story.
She, foolishly, stuck to the 10% discount.
I told her that she had just guaranteed that I won't be a Best Buy customer again and she didn't respond. Not at all.
I did the mature and reasonable thing and hung up with a curt thanks.
I called Sirius back to ensure that I didn't get a bad customer service rep. I didn't. Imagine that. They did clarify that they are going to sell new receivers that aren't provider specific but that there was, in fact, no buy-out.
Not to be thwarted, I looked up Best Buy on the interweb and found the 1-800 customer service number. Now I'm on a roll. Time to get my bitch on.
I got a wonderful guy named Will who was audibly surprised at the managers behavior. He scoffed at the 10% discount and was incredulous at the defense of the installers mistake. He too questioned the knowledge of an installer from podunk nearly Canadians versus the actual Sirius company.
Thanks to Will, there is an $80 gift card on the way to us right now to cover the difference in cost of the receivers with huge apologies on behalf of the company.
The best part? The installer/cashier wrote her name on the receipt and encouraged me to complete an online customer service survey!!! *happy hand clapping*!! I am going to have Such A Good Time! Perhaps I'll just provide a link to this.
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