Thursday, September 5, 2013

Best Buy Union Square

OK, I was here ONCE a couple of years ago and after telling an all-smiles salesgirl exactly what I was looking for in a flat screen TV, she insisted on trying to "upgrade me" well above what I told her I wanted and when I sputtered that out to her, it made no impression whatsoever! She kept trying to "sell me" ( eyes all lit up with hopes of a bigger commission, I'll bet)

I left pretty quickly after that

BUT let's see what other people have to say--Mixed reviews, but a recurring note is that " this is why big box electronic stores are going out of business.."  YET some people very pleased...

I wonder if a lot has to do with what sales person you get?

Best Buy

2.5 star rating
94 reviews Rating Details
Category: Electronics  [Edit]
52 E 14th St
Ste 64

(between W Union Sq & 5th Ave)
New York, NY 10003
Neighborhoods: Greenwich Village, Union Square, East Village
(212) 466-4789
Nearest Transit Station:
14 St. - Union Sq (4, 5, 6, 6X)
Union Sq - 14 St. (L)
14 St. - Union Sq (N, Q, R)
Hours:
Mon 8 am - 12 am
Tue-Fri 12 am - 12 am
Sat 12 am - 10 pm
Sun 10 am - 8 pm
Price Range:
$$
Accepts Credit Cards:
Yes
Parking:
Street
Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes
2.0 Miles from Best Buy
Sid H. said: "Hey...just want to give mad props to Felix.  He totally helped out and sorted my gf and I with new phones.  He is a great guy and made the process seemless and…" read more »

Review Highlights   What's this?

  • "...become a living nightmare being on Union Square right in time for the..." In 10 reviews
  • "...I found myself a natural at sales, especially the Apple products." In 2 reviews
  • "...for those nights you just can't wait to get your video game fix." In 4 reviews
Rating Distribution | Trend
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94 reviews in English

  • Review from

    Brooklyn, NY
    6/10/2013 2 check-ins here
    Well I was looking for an otter for my dumb phone, yes I said it my phone is dumb!! I am smarter than my phone but for some strange reason my phone gets more attention than me...mmmmmmm Thats not right.

    Well I found the otter box and it has worked out great protecting my dumb phone. Workers  are really friendly in helping you find things here. Overall I have never had a bad experience with this store.
  • Review from

    • 49 friends
    • 71 reviews
    New York, NY
    Updated - 8/12/2013
    I have a 2000-words, 3-part review (linked below) for my Best Buy experience, but long story short, basically my roommate and I ordered an AC from Best Buy with same day delivery but Best Buy managed to give us our AC 3 days later with much trouble. I have a thing against one of the managers at Lexington store Best Buy, because he cancelled my order purchase with a stupid made-up reason and tried to make me live without AC for 2 days. Luckily he failed to cancel my order to go to the store but he succeeded in selling my AC to someone else because he didn't put a "Sold" slip on my AC. Long Island City Best Buy is pretty bad too. They failed to give my AC to the delivery guys because their employees went to lunch during the handover.

    Lessons:
    1: NEVER order an item from a store that does not hold the item (in my case, ordering from Union Square Best Buy for an AC at Lexington Store Best Buy, then at Long Island City Best Buy because Lexington store sold my AC)
    2: Know your rights. If you ordered same day delivery and they failed to deliver on the same day, you have the right to ask for refund
    3: When you call Best Buy and they say they would call you back, THEY NEVER DO. Just go to the store if you can and leave ONLY when you know they got everything down (for my case, I needed to know Long Island City Best Buy gave my AC away, AND the delivery guys picked up the AC [double check])

    On a side note, portable AC sucks. The hose gets very hot and cancels half of the cooling effort. Get Window unit if you can. Cheap and efficient.

    3 Previous Reviews: Show all »

    • 7/28/2013
      (PART 3, FINAL) Monday July 8th:
      At 8:34am, I received two duplicate emails titled "Order ready for… Read more »
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 13 reviews
    Manhattan, NY
    4/29/2013
    Great customer service, even if it took a while to find someone. I was in and out in 10 minutes flat.

    Will defiantly come back to this location.
  • Review from

    • 1 friend
    • 18 reviews
    Brooklyn, NY
    3/30/2013
    It completely makes sense to me now why big box electronics stores are going out of business.

    Screw the whole price matching thing. I checked on their website to see if they had a speaker in stock at this store. You can't even try out most of them, but whatever, I figure I can try it out and return it if it sucks and save time by going to the store.

    I go there and find the speaker I'm looking for. Two employees are fiddling around with another speaker next to me. I can't find the black speaker they have on display, so I ask if they have any more. "It's right there," the guy says, pointing to the red one. "No, I wanted to black one," I respond, pointing to the model very clearly displayed on the shelf, not the really obviously different colored one below it. He clearly wasn't colorblind, since he then stated that it appeared they only have red and purple in stock.

    Doubting his ability to keep perfect mental inventory of the store's backstock, I ask, "Do you have any black speakers in the back?" He says, "I'll check," and wanders away.

    Two minutes later, the guy comes back. I'm standing a foot back from where I originally asked for help, but he proceeds to ignore me and messes around with a cord he brought from the back and a speaker for a full minute. Maybe he has more important things to do, but I have pretty bright hair so I'd be hard to miss and isn't the purpose of a store to sell things? As he finishes and turns on shitty showroom music for the ugly music projectile device, I ask, "So I'm guessing you didn't have any in stock?" "No," he replies, and walks away.

    THE BEST PART: I go back on the website and sure enough, they're still in stock at Union Square for store pickup!

    Thank you so much, Best Buy, for wasting my time and money (subway fare ain't cheap). Prioritizing setting up a speaker in lieu of multitasking to check backstock for a customer AND retrieve speaker wire at the same time is a GREAT business strategy. When that "For Rent" sign goes up, I won't be surprised and will gladly welcome a TJ Maxx in your place.
  • Review from

    Brooklyn, NY
    3/4/2013 1 check-in here
    I've been to this location just twice but always a lifesaver. The first time I was frantically looking for a router a day before a big event and they were one of the few stores in the city that had it.

    I came back a few weeks ago since my Apple charger just failed on me (in its defense it's had duck tape on it for months). I got a charger for $10 off just because the package was open which was a good enough deal for me. The charger was new and didn't look like anyone used it at all and yes, it still works.
  • Review from

    Ridgewood, Queens, NY
    2/14/2013 1 check-in here
    Best Buy is merely a showroom for what you can find cheaper online.  This one is more or less open 24 hours but you will have to hunt if you want to find a salesperson.  My experience with service has been uneven here (some of the staff is really good while some are total morons and/or jerks); if you need to find out if they have something, you're usually better off finding it on the shelves yourself.  Plus, I'm not big on supporting this place when there are much better retailers out there & I think the small businesses could use some love.

    If you think of it as a showroom & the store of last resort, it does just fine.  Otherwise, if I can avoid giving this business money I will in a heartbeat.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 2 reviews
    New York, NY
    8/26/2013
    STAY AWAY.... FAR AWAY.... Although they claimed to have improved their return policy, I can tell you they have not done much. An unopened AT&T cordless phone system bought on 08/07/2013 $49.99 did not meet our needs. We wanted more, I didn't want any money returned I actually wanted to return this one and spend more money for a better system with 2 lines. But I missed their 15 day return policy, didn't think there would be any problem before 30 days when your not looking for your money back. I was basically told your stuck with this..... BUT AN EMPLOYEE HAD THE NERVE TO OFFER TO SHOW ME ANOTHER MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE SET WITHOUT A PENNY OFF FOR THE EXCHANGE. I guess that 2 week vacation I took, the first in 3 years, was my big mistake..... And BTW I have bought 2 flat screen TV's , 2 digital cameras, 2 backup drives and the phone system I started out to replace at this store. BEST BUY HAS THE LAST DOLLAR OUT OF MY POCKET!!!
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 5 reviews
    Manhattan, NY
    7/17/2013
    Like other people before me have said, its no surprise big electronics chains like this are going under. The reason to go to a store like this versus ordering something online is for the personal service and interacting with people face to face. When you go to this place, you don't get that.
    I needed a basic, no frills DVD player for my guest room in my apartment. I went here to check out the selection. That personal service and face to face interaction I mentioned...well it was non-existant. All the people who were working were either on their cell phones texting/emailing, or busy chit chatting with each other and to be frank, some of their conversations were shocking to hear coming from employees working out on the floor (profanity, vulgarity, etc)
    I finally had to approach someone to ask them to retrieve the item I wanted, rather than anyone asking me if I needed any help.
    I'm not in the retail industry but it doesn't take an insider to understand why this sort of thing goes on. Its a lack of care or involvement from the management/supervisors. A good leadership presence would never allow these sorts of things to go on if they had a clue or were involved.

    Save your time and buy from Amazon.
  • Review from

    • 30 friends
    • 141 reviews
    Brooklyn, NY
    3/7/2013 1 check-in here
    My review for this Best Buy is pretty much identical to the one at Atlantic Center so not going to go on an in-depth review here...

    Pretty much just a good selection of electronics. This Best Buy in particular is cool for someone who may be wanting to purchase music equipment being that they have a particular section for instruments and such. Everyday electronics, laptops/tablets/sound systems/TV's are definitely in well stock...just like with the other Best Buy I mentioned though, the customer service is lackluster. Especially with the good looking female associates...in which there are definitely a few. I don't know if they may not want to approach customer in hesitation that they may feel that they'll get hit on or just that an arrogant or obnoxious customer may not take them seriously with product knowledge but they didn't appear to be outgoing.

    Located in the Union Square/Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, the Best Buy is as the other one in a good location especially for those just getting off of work of weekend shopping. The area itself isn't as hectic as it is in the Atlantic Center area so you're not going to have too much heavy congestion coming and going here but still gets fairly busy.

    So, not a bad Best Buy but customer service could use improving.


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