After five telephone attempts to connect with the Magnolia Center at Best Buy, I got into my car and drove to their location. The store was relatively empty with many blue-shirted Best Buy employees talking among themselves, laughing and enjoying the night in retail.

I stood in the Magnolia Center for about ten minutes before I walked to the front of the store and asked a salesperson/guard checking receipts if he could help me. He told me that he could not and suggested that I go to the Magnolia Center and wait for a customer service rep to help me. When I explained I just came from the Magnolia Center, he said, try again.

I did.

This time, I caught the eye of a sales person who said he would be right with me. I was patient and sat watching television, until I realized that the DVD was coming to the end, and my salesperson was no where in sight.

I asked another salesperson if she could help me and she said she was going to break and would send someone over to help me. So far, I was in the store about forty-five minutes when I got the idea to call the store from my cell phone and see if anybody would answer.

So, I phoned and was told that everyone was busy but eventually someone came on the line and told me that he could not help me with a service call because I would have to be in the store to sign for the service call. When I asked were he was standing, he said he was in the store. When I told him so was I, he hung up the phone.

Here are my two complaints: first, why should anyone have to travel to Best Buy Dedham to have a service call on a complete entertainment center they installed. It seems to me, if I were a valued customer, I would be treated like one and not like some common criminal who is trying to hustle them for a "free" service call.

Secondly, when you lie to a customer you run the risk that the customer may just know as much or more than you do. I know that my customer service rep was lying to me because as I was leaving I overheard him in the corridor, directly behind and to the side of the Magnolia Center tell a fellow employee, "You won't believe the &^%$ hole who called store from in the store. )(*& him! He can wait forever."

Well, I hope if you're in the market for a new television, or entertainment center you consider every other place in the universe before you consider Best Buy. One thing is almost certain, you'll get better service from almost every other place in the universe than Best Buy.