I found IdeaX as very interesting.
Now that a few months have gone by since IdeaX was launched, I would be happy to hear your insight – Would you call it a success? Were there any ideas that Best Buy actually implemented? Are you sorry that IdeaX was not supported by a media campaign (to drive customer to thew website and encourage more participation) ?

By the way kudos to your store in Tempe, AZ – #1002. I take my MBA students on a walk-through every semester to teach them about merchandising techniques and the store staff is always great about it. Seems to be a well run store in general as well. Even the security and customer service folks recognize me now and give me ideas of things to point out to my students.

Now my family and I have literally spent thousands at Best Buy to include product replacement warranties. This came in handy last year when the power supply in our Wii fizzled out. My wife went into the store with the broken Wii and walked out with a new Wii.

In mid April my GPS started shutting off inexplicably during rides. This is very frustrating for a cyclist who hordes his training data, counts every mile, nuance and detail of his training rides.

I printed out my Order Receipt and went to my local Best Buy to get a replacement. The service representative was very helpful. She went and pulled a new GPS from the display case and started to process my order. She then had to call the warranty deparment and this is where my horrific experience began.

The warranty department informed her that she could not simply replace my GPS off the shelf. Instead, a gift certificate for the amount of the original purchase price would be mailed to my home address. The service associate confirmed my address and repeated to me from the warranty department that I should expect to see my gift certificate within 3-5 business days.

Two weeks later, no gift certificate. Round II

I call the warranty department and am informed by a representative, that there was some sort of mistake and the request for my gift certificate was not processed. He told me he would place the request but I would have to wait an additional 10-15 business days from the date of our conversation. Needless to say I was not happy with the situation and asked for assurances. The service representative then at that time told me to call back in 3 business days for a status update.

10 Business days later, no gift certificate so I call for a status update by which I am informed there is no means for the Warranty Department to know the status of a Gift Certificate and that only the Gift Certificate Department would know. I asked to be transferred to the Gift Certificate department and was then told “there is no phone number for that department.”

I then asked to speak with a supervisor to see if something could be done to escalate my situation given I am now 6 weeks into this ordeal.

Round III The Supervisor

The supervisor was very polite but completely unhelpful. She informed me that she had no means of internally contacting the Gift Certificate department via phone. So I asked her, “how do you communicate? Do you simply send off requests into a black hole and hope a gift certificate comes out on the other side?” She then informed me that they do communicate by email. I asked her to send an email to check the status of my request. She promptly refused and informed me that I was still within my 15 business day window. I curtly informed her that was the 15 day window from the second request because they screwed up the first request! In truth I was sitting in total on 30 business days since the ordeal started.

The supervisor informed me there was nothing she could do except to wait for another five business days. If I had not received my gift card by then, I should call back.

I asked her what would happen if I called back, it was then that she informed me that I would need to provide her an “alternative address” and the clock would be reset for another 15 business days where I would have to check somebody elses mail (my alternative address) for my gift card. I then asked her what would happen if the gift card did not arrive at the “alternative address”, what would my recourse be then? Her only answer was that we would have to “keep trying”!

I then bluntly asked her, if she had the choice to purchase an item with a Product Replacement Warranty online or in a store which would she choose. She refused to answer my question stating that I was trying to “trick her” into putting down the Best Buy online store. I told her there was no trickery involved at all, I simply wanted to know if she would ever purchase a product with a Product Replacement Warranty from the online site. She still refused to answer. I then let her know that her non answer was all the answer I ever needed.

Lesson Learned, never, ever, ever buy anything from Best Buy.com if you desire to have a Product Replacement Warranty attached to your purchase!!!

The research we have done in this area proves that companies that capture feedback or complaints, actively try and interpret it and feedback to customers the actions they have taken as a result of that feedback do perform better on the full range of business metrics. It sounds so simple and yet most businesses do not seem to have the discipline to do it….

A complaint is like a gift, it is a chance to do better

On accessibility, I totally agree it is cultural and values based. Just think we would not have been able to have this conversation a few years ago but now there are no technological barriers, only cultural ones……

I like the site layout and particularly the fact you can vote on the feedback to help surface common ideas or issues… I have already voted on few ideas…. keep up the good work! I will be interested in your learning’s

This looks good and a nice start. I agree with the comment of connecting to existing channels. Eventually you will find that it is there they reside. You’ll need to go to them for the most part.

Noticed your twitter re:How to go digital with consumers not having email addresses-may have a solution for you…

Best, Rick

I honestly love the thinking and corporate philosophy/mandate behind this site. And the site looks great. One idea though: Open it up to existing social networks via applications and their single sign on services. Most users don’t want another username/password, but if they can use Facebook Connect to quickly log-in and interact… well, you may get more participation (as the consumer has to do less to interact), and then it’s also easier for consumers to spread the word…

Just thinking out loud. Good luck with it.

Best,

Jack

I like the comments from Robert Stephens that you shared on your blog. I am a big believer that customers always want to provide feedback and have lots of it. These include some great ideas for the company. Lot of companies have taken this concept and implemented it in different ways. For example P&G and Staples have successfully used this for new product innovation.

My personal opinion is that we need to take the underlying concepts of ‘Leadership’ in corporations and open it to the customers. For example we know leadership is about ‘engagement’ and ‘inspiration’ and these happen when you as a leader are accessible. Similarly when a brand is ‘accessible’ and ‘actively listens’ it engages and inspires its customers creating a following. The world of digital marketing/social media provides a lot of opportunities to make this happen.

Now to specific feedback on the bestbuyideax.com site. I like the site in general (interesting to see the Rubyonrails implementation). I think the site gets the core message across and I have seen quite a bit of activity over the last week. What I wish for is:

a) ‘Humanization’ of the site. The site has a prominent call to action but it doesn’t engage me if I am not ready to take the action. I do see that some changes were made over the last week but they are all below the fold. I think some work is needed on the overall usability of the site.

b) Can you not create a Twitter account @ideasforbestbuy or other social media accounts that feed directly into this site? I am sure you have a good reason for making customers sign-up/log-in for comments but I would have preferred providing an anonymous option.

c) I like that you will connect the site to Bestbuy.com and I think it will be good to include links in customer transaction emails, etc. to get traction. I am sure you are thinking about how to boost the link building to the Best Buy site(s) as part of this to improve SEO rankings.

These are some quick thoughts I have and hope they are helpful. I also hope that there is a framework or holistic strategy that weaves all these digital initiatives to Best Buy’s advantage.

Overall I love the work that Best Buy is doing on the digital front and appreciate you sharing it on your blog.

Best regards,
Gurmeet