Today I went over to our local Best Buy (Merry Hill), the new-to-the-UK electronics superstore chain, which originated in the US. I only wanted a couple of bits, namely new notebook bag, couple of DVDs etc, and some bits for our wireless network that I’m in the process of re-working. Best Buy have a fantastic ethos behind it, and have staff that are actually knowledgeable on the equipment, which makes a change! Everything is also laid out a lot more user-friendly as well, really nice store to browse.

Unfortunately, today there was a slight issue! When I went to the tills to pay for my things, the card payment system wasn’t working. Not a problem, we just tried a different till. No joy again. Tried one more till in a different area, and still nothing. Very odd. They checked with some other staff, and it seemed the whole shop’s system was down. Not only that, at that point, them having rung one of their technical departments who deal with their payment processes, revealed that the whole of Best Buy UK’s stores had gone down as well! They were rather embarrassed, given that they’re a technology store, and did everything they could to get the system up asap. Unfortunately, I had to leave without my purchases as I had time constraints.

However, I cannot blame anyone in that store, as they did everything they could with the restrictions they had – trying to get the card payment service providers to fix the problem; they kept me informed every step of the way, had profuse apologies from not only from my till operator, but also the manager, and, without me remotely asking for it, immediately had a 10% off voucher thrust into my hand for the inconvenience. Absolutely spot on customer service skills, really cannot fault them; there was absolutely nothing they could do at that moment, and they’ve certainly not made me despondent about shopping there again.

A lot of UK shops and superstores could learn a thing or two from companies like Best Buy! Well done guys….

Richard Heathcote