This weekend I visited hhgregg, the company that seems to have taken Circuit City’s place (even using a very similar color palette). While I was in and out in a few minutes, that was thanks more to my preparation beforehand than the store’s ability to move things along quickly. In fact, I think I could have adopted a child or purchased a house with less paperwork.
I walked in and was greeted by a bored employee in the empty store. He shook my hand and asked me my name. When I told him what I was looking for, he asked for details, “What do you plan on using it for?” I already knew what model I needed, so I was able to just get that and have him check me out.
Sadly, it seems hhgregg pulls the same crap as Best Buy where prices in the store are different than online. I had to ask him to price match the difference, which was a full 20%. Then, he asked for my phone number, which he said was required for returns (??), so I gave him my voicemail number. He then asked for my address, which I told him, “No thanks” and he didn’t bother asking me for my email address sensing how annoyed I was getting. I paid by credit card. He asked to see my driver’s license along with the physical card itself. Then, I signed the receipt. And then I had to sign another paper saying I’d picked up the product and was taking it home with me. Good lord.
After all that, I was finally out the door. It really would be nice to be able to just walk in a store, ask for help only if you need it, pick up and item and purchase it without having to go through that whole rigmarole. Yes, I said it: rigmarole.
Posted in Consumer Commentary
Paul February 20, 2011, 9:12 pm
Bummer. hhgregg is coming to Chicagoland soon, but I’ll probably just continue ordering online. Boo hoo.
Dave Walls April 21, 2011, 1:33 pm
Is it said that for customer service, I found Best Buy BETTER than hhgregg? We upgraded our TV a week before I got laid off in January (GREAT timing, I know). The hhgregg store (aside from being overpriced), had employees that were more pushy than a desperate used car salesman. Further more that they had only marginal knowledge of which TV had what features, and we went off to Best Buy.
The surprising part is that Best Buy (Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE) had helpful employees, who actually helped find us discounts on a better TV than the one we were originally looking at, patient, and overall, very pleasant to deal with. Three months later, I’m still kinda shocked how easy it was to do business with them.
Of course, I’ll probably run in sometime to get something small, and pull my hair out in anger. Still, I expected a lot more from hhgregg, and found that they were almost as bad as the old Best Buy.