I’m going to Best Buy tonight to try to order a computer. An iMac. Using a gift card as part of the payment.<\/p>\n

Everything about this I know is setting off alarms in my head. I have become so cynical towards customer service from past experience (and not just from Best Buy), that I am not putting a lot of faith in this foolish endeavour. At the first sign of stupidity I will throw my hands up in the air and run from the store in tears, sit on the pavement outside the store and light my Best Buy credit card on fire like some well meaning Vietnam Buddhist monk.<\/p>\n

I know what you’re thinking – Why not just go to the Apple Store<\/em>? Due to the impending cruise our cash has been vented to the vacation, meanwhile our Best Buy card has been gathering dust since our TV purchase. My need for a new computer outweighs my desire to keep my sanity intact, it seems.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I tried calling around to various Best Buy stores to see if they had the particular iMac I wanted – the BB site sucks for inventory reporting. After calling a couple locations I knew the sequence of buttons to get to the Computer Hardware Department line but apparently at the Downsview store, pressing the same sequence of buttons lands you in some freaky alternative universe of goatee-wearing Best Buy employees:<\/p>\n

BB Girl: Thankyouforcallingbestbuy. How can I direct your call?
\nMe: I’m calling to see if you have the 21.5″ iMac in stock.
\nBB Girl: Is that… pardon?
\nMe: The Apple iMac…? 21.5″ model…?
\nBB Girl: Is that a computer? I guess you want a computer!<\/p>\n

Holy crap. A Best Buy employee that didn’t know what an Apple computer was? Meanwhile, she transfers me to a dead line.<\/p>\n

If I walk out of the Yonge and Dundas outlet with nothing more than anger I will utterly gobsmacked. Stay ‘tuned!<\/p>\n

$\"Happy$ <\/a>
Happy Dead Robot<\/p><\/div>\n
Update: We walk into the Y&D Best Buy store and after trying hard to wave someone down we hung out near the staff door near the back. We flag down a woman going off the floor and she calls on her headset for a manager to come by to help us. The manager is not really interested in helping us since he has no more iMacs in his store. Can we purchase it now and wait for it to be shipped? No. Can we purchase it now and have it shipped from another store? No. Can you tell us the nearest store that has one. Sigh. From his terminal he finds one out by the airport. Thanks buddah!<\/p>\n
However, the staff and service out at the Etobicoke store was polar opposites. We got help within seconds, we fixed our BB card with the CSR within moments (apparently they changed finance companies that day – hence the inability to purchase the computer online last night) and had the iMac in my hot grubby hands within 15 minutes. Night and Day, my friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m going to Best Buy tonight to try to order a computer. An iMac. Using a gift card as part of the payment. Yeah I know! Crazy! Everything about this I know is setting off alarms in my head. I have become so cynical towards customer service from past experience (and not just from Best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":430,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[21,439],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9WjY-1j3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5025"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}