Reasons not to ever use HHGregg

I suppose any time a new electronics store comes on the market people naturally want to flock to them because they offer Finally!  At Last!! relief from the age-old iconic electronic store Best Buy.  I admit, even I was a little excited at the fact that HHGregg opened right across the street from my neighborhood and couldn't help but think how easy it would now be to roll up in that joint to buy a replacement tv when our current 65" finally kicks the bucket (if that ever happens.  I'm actually willing to take bets on it). 

My company is in the process of building out a brand new training room as we roll out our new training courses.  As part of that, we decided it would be best to go out and buy a rather large TV to use as a monitor to display the training programs.  It would be much more versatile and in the long run, cheaper than buying replacement bulbs for our projector (man those things are expensive!)  So, after some deliberation we settled on a beautiful 70" flat panel that we bought from none other than HHGregg.  The price was right.  The rest was not.

On a scale of 1-10, one being easy-peasy and ten being the worst exerience of your life, how difficult is it to schedule installation services from HHGregg?  Somewhere in the range of 12.

First, we purchased in-home consultation for $99.00 that would then be applied to the overall installation fee of $299 should we decide to use their services for installation.  The $99 CREDIT that we should receive was lost on all employees we talked to; they tried instead to charge us the full $299 telling us that we already paid for the in-home consultation and now we have to pay for the installation.  Only one employee understood the situation, and I will call him Kyle from here on out.  Unfortunately Kyle was out of the office the first few times we tried to schedule install services, so here is what transpired over the next few days.

Then, we were given a phone number to the installers HHGregg uses to schedule an install date.  They tell us they do not schedule installers; HHGregg does.  HHGregg tells us they do.  They tell us they do not install TVs that large, and to call HHGregg.  HHGregg finally admitted they schedule installations . . . but . . .

We called and deliberated over the $99 fee/credit with a random assortment of employees.  When we finally were just going to give up and just get this thing installed already, we were told that we have to pre-pay for installation services in order to 'unlock' the software that allows them to actually schedule an install date.  Here's something to remember, boys and girls -- never, under any circumstances, should you prepay for a service like this.  That should always be the first clue to a shady company.  One we tried to fight, to no avail -- afterall, we were due a $99 credit eventually, right?

So we argue over prepaying and finally get worn down to 'fine, let's just pay it and get it overwith.'  So we say we'll put it on a credit card -- and then are told no, we have to pre-pay in person at the store.  You would think that a cutting-edge fancy schmancy electronics store would have the ability to take a payment over the phone, but no.  That is simply not how they do things.  So we hold off until Kyle is able to help us.

All of that took place over the course of three business days and one weekend.

Finally, we talk with Kyle and he gets the whole credit thing, no problem.  But we still have to show up in person to prepay for services in order to even get an install date.  He says there's no way around that; that payment has to be made to bring up the correct page in their scheduling software. 

He lied.  I was standing right there.  I selected the payment date before he even took my credit card.

I hate HHGregg.

But know what I hate even more?  The third-party installers HHGregg uses.  If I thought that company was full of uneducated employees, I have no idea what I think of the install company.

I'm called at 11am on the date of the install (This past tuesday).  I'm told by the installer (we'll call him David) that we are the next stop on their schedule.  Excellent; we had arranged for the 12p - 5p timeframe, and it sounds like they'll be right on time.

Boy I couldn't be more wrong.

3pm rolls around, and we haven't seen or heard from anybody.  Must have been a really long, tough job they had before us, right?  We get a call around 3:15 from someone asking if the installer had arrived on-site.  Nope.  "Ok, well, he has until 5pm to show up."  So I'm told.

About 10 or 15 minutes later, around 3:30p, the installer calls.  "Traffic is terrible!" he tells me.  "I've been all around Sterling, Reston, McLean, Herndon -- it's just terrible all over, but I'm on my way."   . . . Does that mean I wasn't actually the next stop on the list, as I was told earlier?  "No ma'am, you misunderstood me.  I said I was on my way to the next job, and that you would be next after that."  So what time will you be here?  "Oh, traffic is so bad, probably not until right around 5."  Ok, I'll call you back.

I discuss this with my company and we all decide that 5p is too late.  So I call him back and let him know that.  "Ok, well, I mean, I can probably install the TV by 5:30 . . . "  so I ask him where he's coming from, and he tells me McLean.  McLean?  It's going to take an hour and a half to get to Reston from McLean?  So I ask him that, and he tells me "No, ma'am, I'm on my way to build a table in McLean -- I'll be to ya'all after that.  Probably leave McLean around 4:30 or so."

Lies, lies, lies.

I tell him forget it, we'll have to reschedule, because at this point he's told me three different stories, none of which make me satisfied that he'd actually show up to our location by 5pm.  So he said he'd have someone call me to reschedule.

That never happened, of course.  We had to call them back -- and got a new scheduled date for today.  We played it smart though; we opted for the 8a - 12p timeframe, thinking they'd find some way to screw it up and would actually be here in the afternoon.  Michelle made sure to show up before 8am just in case they got here on time.

At 9:15a they call and tell us they will not be at our location at all today, because the scheduler overbooked himself.

I took that call and in no uncertain terms told them that since they missed their initial installation, they were to have someone here no later than 12pm.  That's all.  So the scheduler says ok and that she'll find someone; calls back within the hour and tells me someone will be to us by 2pm.

We'll see.

One of our employees called and demanded a credit to this missed installation -- but HHGregg told us that since the money goes to the third party installer, we'd have to call them.  They don't seem to understand that it's THEM we are doing business with.  HHGregg took our money, not the installer.  So they owe us the money, not the installer.  Basic business principles 101. 
 
I hate HHGregg.