Chris Havens

By Chris Havens Company News

16 Nov: 3 Best Buy stores shuttered by hurricanes reopen

Three Best Buy stores that had been closed because of hurricane damage reopened Friday, just in time for the busiest shopping week of the year.

Two of the stores are in North Carolina and sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Florence in September. The third store is in Puerto Rico and had been closed for more than a year since Hurricane Maria battered the island, causing widespread flooding, infrastructure damage and loss of lives.

When disasters shutter stores, we look to find employees shifts at nearby locations, if possible.

By Chris Havens Community Relations Company News Uncategorized

09 Oct: Best Buy volunteers help Phoenix students build laptops

As groups of students entered a Phoenix Convention Center meeting hall on Monday afternoon, 260 Best Buy volunteers cheered and gave high-fives.

The Best Buy employees were on hand to help the students build their own Kano laptop computers. The volunteer event helped kick off the company’s annual Holiday Leadership Meeting, where company leaders from across the U.S. come together to get ready for the holiday season.

Working with the kids “just makes you feel good, and it’s fun for us because we’re learning too,” said Jennifer Dieckhoff, general manager of a store in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area.

By Chris Havens Lifestyle

23 Mar: Vacation Adventures Mix Outdoor Activity and Technology

Vacations and active outdoor sports are a natural pairing. If you’re itching to get off your beach towel this year to burn some calories instead of your skin, why not try an active outing such as hiking, mountain biking or stand-up paddle boarding? You’ll enjoy a healthy dose of fresh air, and all three activities can easily be done by beginners.

To help you get ready for your new adventures, we asked the outdoor gear and activity experts at REI for some helpful advice.

By Chris Havens Lifestyle

21 Jan: Employees Tie the Knot Inside Indiana Best Buy Store

There’s that old wedding saying about something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Well, this couple had plenty of blue. They got married in a Best Buy store.

Caleb Mace and Taylor Spurlock exchanged vows Thursday evening in the warehouse of the store where they both work in Muncie, Indiana.

Why there? “It is special. It is where we met,” Taylor said. “We like it here.”

The couple admits they’re not traditional and didn’t want a big wedding. “We’re young, and we don’t have a lot of money,” Taylor said.

By Chris Havens Company News

15 Jan: Mayo Clinic Offers Health, Wellness Info Through Best Buy’s Assured Living Program

Expert health and wellness information from Mayo Clinic is now available to clients of Assured Living, Best Buy’s independent living service for seniors.

Mayo Clinic’s trusted online tools are where users can find guidance on how to manage their health concerns or find accurate health information to support their wellness goals.

Assured Living clients are now able to use the Ask Mayo Clinic online symptom assessment and Mayo Clinic online wellness assessment tools to research a broad range of health symptoms.

By Chris Havens Geek Squad Lifestyle

14 Mar: Pi Day Celebration Baked into Geek Squad Culture

Any way you slice it, Pi Day is a big deal for Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

March 14 represents pi, an important mathematical number that begins 3.14 and goes on and on from there (3.14, get it?). It’s also the birthday of genius Albert Einstein. And if you add an “e” to make it pie, you get a tasty treat.

Think about it: mathematics, Einstein and food. “It’s a geek’s holiday trifecta,” says Andy Bork, Commander, Geek Squad Cultural Systems and Operations.

By Chris Havens Company News Geek Squad Lifestyle

01 Sep: Geek Squad’s ‘Agent 100K’ Gets His Badge

The anticipation had been building inside Geek Squad Agent Cayle Conkey over the last 18 months and, finally, on Thursday, the wait was over. He got his badge.

The number on it: 100,000.

It’s a milestone number, signifying the past, present and future employees who have helped to build the tech support service into what it is today. It has taken more than 20 years (Geek Squad was founded in 1994) to reach 100,000.

“It’s awesome. I’ve really been working toward this,” Agent Conkey said after he was presented with his shield during a ceremony Thursday on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Charleston, South Carolina.

By Chris Havens Company News Geek Squad

15 Apr: The Bond Between an Agent and a Geekmobile

Geek Squad Agent Richard Hart got to know his Geekmobile really well. After all, they drove nearly 95,000 miles together.

Agent Hart and his Geek Squad colleagues across the country drive to 13,000 house calls a day to help customers learn about and enjoy technology. And, over the years, the Geekmobile has become a highly recognizable symbol of Geek Squad’s reliability, trustworthiness and tech expertise.

With Best Buy announcing the selection of the Toyota Prius c as the new Geekmobile vehicle earlier this week, it seems like a fitting time to reflect on the bond between Agents and their cars.

By Chris Havens Company News Technology

22 Jan: Get Your Home’s Wireless Network Up to Speed

Everything is connected to the internet today; it’s called the Internet of Things for a reason, right? The average American household has at least eight devices connected to the home wireless network.

[callout]Check out this Geek Squad video
about upgrading your home network.
Learn more by reading Best Buy’s
home networking buyer’s guide. [/callout]Being so connected is great, but when you have that many devices under one roof working at the same time, it bogs down the Wi-Fi.

And a bogged-down network only means one thing: buffering.

By Chris Havens Company News PR News Alerts

12 Jan: Keep Your Tech Safe When Winter Weather Hits

While you’re busy bundling up to stay warm when icy Arctic air hits, don’t forget to protect your tech devices from the cold weather, too.

Frigid temps can sap battery life and crack screens. Snow and slush — any moisture, really — can wreak havoc on batteries, circuits and speakers. And wild temperature swings from moving between indoor heat and outdoor cold can damage screens.

Here’s some advice for protecting your smartphone and other mobile devices when cold and wet weather hits, as well as a tip for trying to save a wet gadget.

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