Has customer service died, or, are businesses that arrogant?

 Sigh, companies are doing less and less for consumers and charging more for what little they keep in stock.  They must think that with limited (in their eyes) competition we have to take what they offer and be grateful for that.

• Tried to buy a scanner, no scanner, but, we do carry muti-function printers with a scanner.  I told them I didn't want a MFP, I wanted a scanner and they pointed me to a competitor up the road!  Smart move Best Buy!
• Tried to buy a replacement drive for a laptop. No we don't carry those, but, we do have inexpensive laptops if you are interested.  They also mentioned the same computer shop up the street from where I live where I could buy a replacement drive. Way to go The-Source!
• Next up, I tried to buy replacement batteries for my wife's watches. "No we can't open up the back and replace the batteries" according to the sales person.  Another win for The-Source!

The-Source used to be Radio Shack until they got bought out by another company. I loved Radio Shack as they carried a great selection of materials and they knew their stuff and were willing to help.  The-Source is carrying less and less items that would be of use to me and the prices tend to be higher than ALL of the competitors. To rephrase what their web page has at the top "They don't have that" or "You can't have that".

This weekend capped off a perfect several weeks where I wanted to purchase an item.  I wanted to get my wife a simple Android phone from Virgin Mobile.  Pay for the phone up front and go pay-as-you-go.  The first place we went to was Best Buy and for five minutes we were ignored by the sales staff, I guess they had more important personal business to do rather than make a sale.  We went across the street to the mall and The-Source.  I was approached by a sales person quickly (yay) and I told him what I wanted.  He told me "They can't do that".  Excuse me?  Last year we got two Virgin Mobile phones, paid up-front and went pay-as-you-go at that same store.

It looks like I will be stopping in at the Virgin Mobile store in the downtown mall and buy a phone there and go pay-as-you-go and Best Buy and The-Source will get $0.00 for their effort and Virgin Mobile gets all of the money.  I like Virgin Mobile as they give good value for the money, very helpful when I call with a question/issue and know what customer service is!

Update 2016/03/15:

I stopped in at the Virgin Mobile store yesterday at lunch in the Rideau Centre here in Ottawa.  As soon as I walked in I was greeted and asked if there was anything he could do.  I explained I was looking for an Android phone on a pay-as-you-go plan.  No problem, he asked any specific model or price range.  I replied max $250.  He had the model in the range and allowed me to check it out.  I liked what I saw and the specs so I told him it was a sale.  A few minutes at the checkout, buying a bit of time so the wife had a few minutes call time to start with.  From the time I entered, paperwork and leaving it was max 20 minutes.  I liked the service and the attitude "How can we help you" and "We can do that".

I brought the phone home and my wife LOVES the phone.  It fits in her right hand easily and is very easy for her to use.  That is very important as she had a stroke and has problems using her left hand.  She was able to phone home and my cell phone without any problems and launched Google calendar for one of her appointments!  This is all that I wanted to get for her and two businesses lost an easy sale!

Thank you Virgin Mobile for making a simple task simple!