Remarking later to my sister about the experience, I jokingly said that aside from using their showroom to test-drive various products, I had no real reason to go there again.

A few years after that, my sister and I decided to buy my mother a new TV for her birthday. Needing to get something quickly, we opted to buy a TV online at Best Buy’s website, and then pick it up in the store. I paid for the TV, but I wanted her to pick it up for me, since I had to catch a flight the following day. No option was available online to let someone else pick up the order for you, so I called the store to ask. I was transferred to a female manager who very curtly replied, “NO, we can’t do that, you have to pick it up yourself and BRING ID.” Then she hung up on me.

Fast forward to now, with this wonderful article from Forbes. Larry Downes has hit the nail squarely on the head with regards to Big Box chains.

Quoted for truth, from page 4:

[Amazon.com's] Phone support is instant, responsive, and knowledgeable. Returns are simple and unburdened by restocking fees and other gotchas. Inventory is precisely managed in a single system that spans all distribution points and third party partners.

Best Buy could have done all of this years ago, and done it better. It had decades of experience in retail, in customer service, in distribution, in forecasting, in marketing and sales. It had, one presumes, computer systems that could have been upgraded to integrate with a new online front end. It had expertise in the electronic products it sells, and potent leverage over key manufacturers to ensure favorable terms and access.

But Best Buy squandered all of those assets. And now, along with many of its big box peers, the company is caught in a death spiral.

It seems that the boxes have never really figured out. We don’t like going to your stores, we don’t like dealing with your incompetent staff, we only do it because of supposed convenience, or, in the case of Best Buy, exclusivity arrangements with manufacturers. And when you continue, year after year, to make those experiences even worse, customers will continue to reject you in favor of better experiences.

Amazon, on the other hand, gets it quite clearly. When they heard from customers that they wanted faster shipping more often, they introduced Amazon Prime. Flat yearly fee, and you get upgraded to free 2nd-day shipping on almost all items, nearly negating the biggest downside of ordering online, the wait. They’ve also started local delivery, having more distribution centers closer to their customers, allowing delivery the next business day without exorbitant overnight fees. Meanwhile, it took Best Buy over six years before they offered the option of having someone else pick up the item for you. And even then, they don’t have the items ready for you, the process takes forever, and often they bring out the wrong item or simply can’t locate it in the store.

Best Buy will go the way of Circuit City before we know it, but it won’t be soon enough.

When I passed by it again today, the lights were out completely. I walked up to the car to look at the light switch stalk, and it was still set to on, which means no one had used it and the battery was completely drained. Trying to help out, I called 411, got the number for PCS, and gave them a call to let them know.

I was greeted by a series of menu options. The two that were relevant to me were as follows:

Or if you are a member experiencing an emergency, please press 1. [..]
To speak with an associate, please press 3.

Since I wasn’t a member and just wanted to speak to someone (and pressing 0 repeatedly didn’t jump dump me to an operator like on most systems), I hit 3. Shortly thereafter I was transferred to a rep who asked me for my membership ID. I told her that I wasn’t a member, but I saw a PCS car that was now surely dead, and I wanted to let them know.

Instead of thanking me or trying to get any information from me, the woman on the other end said, “Yeah, that’s an emergency, try pressing 1, then listen.” I was then promptly dumped back to the main menu.

Upon pressing 1, I heard another menu. After listening to that, I got to another rep who immediately demanded a membership ID number. I told I wasn’t a member, gave her the location of the car and that it had to be dead at this point. Instead of saying thank you, she asked for the license plate info. I said, “I don’t know, I didn’t write it down…do you want me to go back and get it?” She gave me an attitude, then told me not to bother, because it was the only car at that location. Then she hung up on me.

I’m not saying that I wanted a damned key to the city for calling in a dead car, but I potentially saved someone a lot of trouble by letting them know preemptively that the car was not in a usable state. A simple “thank you, sir” would have gone a long way. Instead, I was berated for apparently making the wrong choice on the decision tree.

Here are some ways that they could have made this experience better:

1. Change the tree options. I’m not a member and I’m not experiencing an emergency, so why would I go to that decision first? My goal is to speak to a rep first & foremost, who can either direct me to the proper department, or take the information from me.
2. If a general operator isn’t available, train your reps to transfer misdirected callers in a courteous, respectful manner. Most people would have hung up after the first rude rep dumped them.
3. Offer a hotline number solely for problems with the car. Put the number on the car itself, so strangers who see a vandalized/dead/damaged car can easily call without dialing 411 or needing to look up the number online.
4. Don’t berate non-members for not having all the data. I know, even as a non-member, that the cars are assigned to pods, and I know they can look up a car based on the location of the pod. Therefore, the location & the make and model of the car is all the needed data. Don’t insult the caller for not having a license plate number available if they gave you other datapoints that are necessary for identification. What if the vehicle was damaged, making the plate unreadable? What if the plate was stolen?

Following any number of these suggestions would have likely made for a better experience. But when you insult the Good Samaritans, you do yourself a world of trouble. Remember, it’s the people who experience bad customer service who are likely to talk about it. After all, I took the time to type this out, I surely wouldn’t have done a similar-lengthed article to talk about a normal transaction.

So to sum up, I’m not a member of their service, and you can rest assured that I won’t ever be now.

I have to admit, I was a bit worried, because their delivery notice via email & paper reads:

“At its option Shure will repair or replace the defective product and promptly return it to you. If Shure elects to replace the defective product, then Shure reserves the right to replace the defective product with another product of the same model or a model of at least comparable quality and features in Shure’s sole determination.”

Right there in black & white, Shure can give you a different model than the one you send in. Now, ostensibly that language exists for discontinued products and things of that nature, but it does put you in a spot that if Shure decides one day that the new SE3xx line is “of at least comparable quality and features”, then they can send you that model instead, and you can’t do squat about it. Fortunately, that clause was not used in this case.

What’s particularly impressive about Shure is that they don’t just replace the item that’s broken. I sent them just the upper portion of the headphones, I did not send back to the box, carrying case, ear pieces, line attenuator, or any of the other accessories. But they sent me a brand new set, complete with all of those items. And this is now the second time they’ve done it. Which means I have 3 Shure 90 cm extension cords, 3 line attenuators, 3 carrying cases, 3 sets of earpiece adapters, 3 earwax cleaners, 3 airline adapters…you get the idea.

So, once again, a sincere “Thank You” to Shure for their impressive turn-around time, no-charge warranty coverage, getting the headphones here despite my travels, and for providing me with a third pretty little box of headphones.

The attendants single-handedly turned a very annoyed group of fliers into a very relaxed, chatty, jovial group, which is something not easily accomplished.  I was impressed, and it actually made me (briefly) forget about the demeaning way in which we all had to line up by number to board the plane, as though we were in kindergarten.

Today: TDI racing, Flying Saucer, and general relaxation.