Post by "Pop" Stran on Nov 15, 2015 10:01:26 GMT -5
As a direct result of a testing phase with another service (see: scamalert.proboards.com/thread/241/cardpool-com ) we have created yet another entry to the "Inefficient and unimpressive" catagory for the BestBuy.com customer service department, specifically relating to the gift card services division.
Here's the scenario:
I received a bonus from an employer in the form of a gift card, which I shared with family. The remaining balance was for myself, and I hadn't found anything that I wanted at the time. A few days later, that balance disappeared.
Contacting the card's issuer (not Best Buy), I explained the situation and they referred me back to the Bestbuy CS department help desk system with a generic 800 number.
Step 1: This started an automated loop of entering the card number, click 3 to report the card stolen, and being transferred to a number/department that does not exist.
Step 2: This time I enter nothing, press no keys, in the hope that the system is still setup to default my call to a live operator. It worked.
She repeated all the previous steps, ie: card number, last transaction was in Las Vegas (No, that definitely wasn't me), hang on while I transfer you....and the line goes dead.
Step 3: Start over. New operator. Same process. Collect the info, last transaction was unauthorised, hang on while I check this information...Click.
So far, I have wasted eight (8) calls to the Best Buy call center / help desk at 888-237-8289 with half of them automated and the other half assisted.
I have accomplished 2 pieces of fairly useless data with all that effort; the balance was stolen 3 days after I used the card, and it apparently happened in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As for what we are going to do about it:
How much time of my ever-shortening life am I willing to waste listening to the hands-down world's worst 'on hold' music
(seriously. It is completely indistinguishable and sounds like someone dropped a transistor radio into a barrel of water* ), endlessly repeating this moronic dance that has so many times walked me down the same dead-end alley.
Am I willing to walk away from the money? Maybe. Does it tick me off to just let the thief get away with it? Maybe.
How can I be expected to help stop this type of criminal activity when Best Buy is working against me and in effect making it so much easier for the criminal get away with it?
All I want to do is report the card's balance stolen. Being under $200 it is considered a petty theft, so what is really the point?
No one is going to jail for it. It would cost more to prosecute them than was stolen, at a time when department budgets are being cut to the bone.
That's isn't really the point though, is it? The point is efficiency. It is maximizing the investments in service center personnel and customer call systems. And that is where Best Buy has failed, at least in this case.
*My first thought when the hold music started playing: Seriously? That is your "888-BESTBUY" representation? HTH can you expect me to trust your audio expertise to design and recommend a sound system. I've heard better sound from tin cans on a string. No lie. Talk about dropping the ball. #USUK
Here's the scenario:
I received a bonus from an employer in the form of a gift card, which I shared with family. The remaining balance was for myself, and I hadn't found anything that I wanted at the time. A few days later, that balance disappeared.
Contacting the card's issuer (not Best Buy), I explained the situation and they referred me back to the Bestbuy CS department help desk system with a generic 800 number.
Step 1: This started an automated loop of entering the card number, click 3 to report the card stolen, and being transferred to a number/department that does not exist.
Step 2: This time I enter nothing, press no keys, in the hope that the system is still setup to default my call to a live operator. It worked.
She repeated all the previous steps, ie: card number, last transaction was in Las Vegas (No, that definitely wasn't me), hang on while I transfer you....and the line goes dead.
Step 3: Start over. New operator. Same process. Collect the info, last transaction was unauthorised, hang on while I check this information...Click.
So far, I have wasted eight (8) calls to the Best Buy call center / help desk at 888-237-8289 with half of them automated and the other half assisted.
I have accomplished 2 pieces of fairly useless data with all that effort; the balance was stolen 3 days after I used the card, and it apparently happened in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As for what we are going to do about it:
How much time of my ever-shortening life am I willing to waste listening to the hands-down world's worst 'on hold' music
(seriously. It is completely indistinguishable and sounds like someone dropped a transistor radio into a barrel of water* ), endlessly repeating this moronic dance that has so many times walked me down the same dead-end alley.
Am I willing to walk away from the money? Maybe. Does it tick me off to just let the thief get away with it? Maybe.
How can I be expected to help stop this type of criminal activity when Best Buy is working against me and in effect making it so much easier for the criminal get away with it?
All I want to do is report the card's balance stolen. Being under $200 it is considered a petty theft, so what is really the point?
No one is going to jail for it. It would cost more to prosecute them than was stolen, at a time when department budgets are being cut to the bone.
That's isn't really the point though, is it? The point is efficiency. It is maximizing the investments in service center personnel and customer call systems. And that is where Best Buy has failed, at least in this case.
*My first thought when the hold music started playing: Seriously? That is your "888-BESTBUY" representation? HTH can you expect me to trust your audio expertise to design and recommend a sound system. I've heard better sound from tin cans on a string. No lie. Talk about dropping the ball. #USUK