Why I will never shop at BestBuy again

Do you remember the good old days when the Good Guys and Circuit City stores were the place to go to check out portable cassette and cd players? I remember going to a local the Good Guys store on Vann Ness street in San Francisco to buy a pair of yellow Sony sport headphones for my Sony walkman. The store was filled with new and very expensive gadgets, many of which today collect dust in the Computer History museum in Mountain View.
When the Good Guys and the Circuit City store chains went out of business, a new store started popping up around the Bay Area - the Best Buy. It claimed to have professional and trained staff ready to help shoppers to make a right purchasing decision. I liked Best Buy because it was huge and it let me touch and twist every knob on every device I could reach. But then came Amazon and things have changed. I hardly ever went to Best Buy - the Amazon prime was much more convenient. Despite the competitive pricing at Best Buy, Amazon offered me the shopping experience I have been looking for: you do not need to talk to anyone. Even if you can't feel the item before you buy it, shopping at Amazon was better.

I cant remember why I recently went to Best Buy, but I walked out with a brand new 4 TB My Cloud. I do not really remember why I bought it, but mainly I wanted to give Best Buy another chance. Especially since Amazon now charges sales tax and Best Buy matching Amazon prices, waiting two days for free Amazon prime delivery becoming less and less attractive.

That must is all true until you: 1) have to deal with sales people and 2) have to return an item that is defective or no longer needed.

1) Best Buy sales associates are clueless about technology. They pretend to know everything about anything they sell at the store, but when you start asking in-depth questions they will lie. In fact their misleading answers will make you feel really stupid. My advise do your research at home before coming to the store or, if you are already at the store, use your phone to learn as much as possible about the item you are about to get. The reason I say this is because when you get home there is a chance it won't work as advertised.

2) Now you spent countless hours trying to figure out why the cool gadget you just got does not work and decide to return it. Remember the return policy at Best Buy is 15 days. If you are outside of the 15 days return window, you are out of luck. But if you try to return your item within 15 days, the Best Buy customer service will give you hard time. Make sure you have a clear story why you are returning the item, because a simple "I do not want it" might not work.

Conclusion, if you are frequent Amazon shopper and rarely shop at Best Buy, think twice if you want to change your shopping habits. Best Buy policies are terrible and clearly out of date.