Best Buy to customers: Scram!

I'm in Best Buy the other day to return some computer memory, and I had a not-so-pleasant experience. Our desktop computer desperately needed a RAM upgrade, so we bought 2 chips to upgrade us to 1.5 GB of RAM. As it turns out, our desktop can only be upgraded to 1 GB, so I had a chip to return.

Before going to the store, I decided that I could exchange that chip for a little more RAM in our laptop, so I brought it along. I'll try to install just about anything with a desktop computer once, but I have no experience doing anything with or to a laptop other than booting it up and using it. Best to leave that to the experts, I thought.

So, the exchange is done, and I walk around to the other side of the customer service desk to have the self-described "Geek Squad" install the RAM. A couple of minutes, I thought. Putting RAM in the desktop took all of 10 minutes, and that included 5 minutes of blowing the dust off of the motherboard.

Well, I waited 20 minutes, then the 18-year old who's standing there asks me in an accusatory tone, "You bought it here?!?" Showing him my receipt, he starts to enter me into the system. After 10 minutes of this, he says to me, "That will be $40."

"What?!?" I inquire, more than slightly pissed.

"$40," he repeats.

"Forget it, I'll figure it out myself," I bark back, putting the laptop back into my bag.

What kind of shit is that? We spend $89 on 512 MB of RAM, and they want $40 for a 5-minute job. Fuck that. If I wanted to spend $40 more, I would have bought the 1 GB chip and installed it myself. When we get back from Mexico, I'll figure out how to install the RAM, saving us $40.

I've had generally good experiences with Best Buy, so they aren't making the boycott list, but a few more of those interactions and they will be.

I'm sick to death of companies, once you purchase something, telling you in so many words to go away. Companies the world over spend billions every year on advertisements, logos and branding concepts and strategies trying to build up customer loyalty, but then at the customer service end, you get treated like you're some sort of bother.

Reminds me of the cliche - it takes years to get a customer, and seconds to lose one.

If I just dropped close to a c-note, put the goddamned memory in my computer. Free? That's unrealistic, but how 'bout $10, or $20 at most?

In case you're wondering, my boycott list is as follows:

Circuit City
AOL (more on its joyful demise in a minute)
Tom Cruise
An ice cream shop on Fairmount St. near us
Wachovia Bank (happened under the First Union Banner)
Ed Devlin - a contractor in the Philadelphia area who turned out to be a major skunk - do NOT use him!

Not that the list matters to anyone, but if you want to know why any of these have made the list, leave a comment with your e-mail address and I'll get back to you and tell you why.