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Best Buy Says Customers Not Always Right
linuxwrangler writes "Best Buy is one of the retailers that has now decided that the customer is not always right. Best Buy consultant Larry Selden has identified "demon customers" like those who file for a rebate then return the item. OK, I get that one (hey Best Buy: dump those customer-despised rebates and you won't have that problem...). Other categories like customers who only buy during sales are more interesting. Best Buy declined comment on how they are dealing with those customers. Some stores have actually "fired" customers. Welcome to the end result of all that customer information data mining."
Actually the CEO of Best Buy Refused his last bonus offering and had it dispersed among lower ranking employees
4 /05/17/daily12.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/200
Beware ignorance.
There is evidence to prove both Democrats and Republicans are lying cocksuckers. Vote independently.
"On the other hand, I did run an ISP, so I know what it's like when you give a customer an unlimited account, based on a pool of bandwidth, only to discover they are a leech, and bring down the quality of service for all customers. "
you offer unlimited, and they us eit, they are not leeching, they are using what they paid for, the ISP is the one who screwed up. Don't give me expected usage, or worse, avaerage use as an excuse. The ISP said, here take all you want, so they did.
No different then going to an allyou can eat buffet, and then eating all you can eat.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
No highly modded post has mentioned this yet, so I'll do it. From the article:
/. summaries are) is wrong. The Best Buy VP specifically said "firing" customers is wrong. I'm not saying I like Best Buy or their rebate policies, or pushy sales reps, or questionable return policies, but they (apparently) are NOT looking at "firing" customers.
"Best Buy executive vice president Philip Schoonover said the idea of "firing" some customers is one place where Best Buy disagrees with Selden. The company will try to find ways to make money-losing customers profitable, he said."
In other words, the article summary (as so many
-Trillian
You don't even have to wait for the sale. I've grown the habit of always asking for 10 or 15 percent off any item over US$100. The worst that I get is "no", and that's rare. The only places I don't try it is restaurants and warehouse stores -- basically any other place where I have face-to-face contact with a sales agent.
When I go to Best Buy, I just ask for 10% off, tell them I saw it in a competitors advert. If they need help w/ the register transaction, I tell them "to hit F6". If I'm feeling frisky, I'll ask for 20 or 25, then play down to the 10 that I wanted. I've done this at least a dozen times at Best Buy, and it's worked each one.
You'd be surprised at how often the posted price is up for negotiation. I guess it's that we've been trained well as consumers to not ask for a break on price.
I work for a major department store chain as a your basic associate (younger geeks have to find crap first jobs as we all know). Now I agree with all of you when it comes to the shopping experience: leave me the hell alone, if I need your help I'll ask for it.
But the thing is, it's not how you or I want your shopping experience to be, it's how the management wants your shoppping experience to be.
I didn't say hi to you within 30 seconds of your walking into my department? Bad associate!
I did say hi to you, but a manager walked by so now they insist I have to say hi to you again, even though that just makes you mad.
Done shopping? NO! How about more of the stuff you've got now, but in different colors/styles or accessories even though you told me you only came in for a pair of socks.
Now you're done shopping? Would you like to put this on our store issued credit card? Don't have one? Well what's holding you back from opening a 25% interest account? I must insist!
(Incidentally they feed us BS saying that the real reason they issue cards is because those customers who have them tend to be more loyal and spend more than on your standard everyday credit card, but if that was the case why charge so much interest?)
Now that our transaction is complete, and all you want to do is get the hell out of here, would you like to fill out a feedback card describing your shopping experience and determing my worth as a human being to my superiors?
Unless your dealing with just a complete asshole, odds are the employee is as equally annoyed as you are by pushing those nonsense extras.
Cut us some slack ehh?
I always find "No thanks, under EU law it's covered by the manufacturer for five years anyway" is a great way to shut them up.
"Extended warranties" are just a cheap form of insurance policy, with a one-payment premium, no surrender value and {probably} a claims procedure designed to discourage claims. Great for the insurance company, but to get the best value out of it as a customer, you really need your own paper recycling facility. Yet, incredibly, people are stupid enough to pay for them. This suggests to me that they don't know how something works, whether that's the insurance or the electronics. But then again, there's a fine tradition of getting fat off other people's ignorance .....
..... drops sharply over the first few months, stays constant, begins rising again after a fixed time). In fact, we used to deliberately pre-stress many of the units we made, by running them for a few hours at high ambient temperature and then rapidly cooling them, before giving them a final test. Better an important component fails in our test chamber than on the customer's premises ..... especially if the thing is strapped to the engine of a muddy tractor ..... And for the failure rates we experienced and the cost of corrective action {most of the failures were repairable ..... unless they went on fire ..... it was always fun when that happened} this testing was still cheaper, and less work, than honouring a warranty.
Having worked in the electronics industry, I know about the bathtub curve (the probability of failure plotted against time resembles a side view of a bathtub
The point is, if just about anything electronic doesn't break within the first year -- where it's covered by law -- then it'll probably last ten years or more. {Of course you have to allow for the Six B's (batteries, bulbs, brushes, belts, bearings, blades); but since these are usually designed to be field-replaceable, they fall outside the scope of any warranty.} Extended warranties are almost never worthwhile -- if you ever have to claim on it, a new appliance even better than the one you bought probably will not cost you much more than the extended warranty plan.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Looking at the mail address ajs318 might be british. I don't know if they have legally mandated coverage, but here in Denmark we have 2 years (with a change in the "burden of evidence" after six months, after that the customer needs to argue that the defect was not caused by treating the item wrongly). There are of cause stores that try to weasel out, but then there is a cheap (~$10, refunded if you win), government sponsored organisation to complain to, and in the worst case the courts and the media to help you (obviously this does not work in all cases, but if you avoid really shady businesses it gives quite good protection).
i have a laptop sitting here that they absolutely refused to repair/replace under their "PSP" the backlight died 2 years into it's life and I have 1 year left on the PSP...
i was pointed to the clause specifically EXCLUDING the LCD screen. I pointed out that the PSP Ibought does not have that wording and I was told "we change the terms and wording all the time, and we reserve the right to do so without notification." and had it pointed out to me...
Then all smiles, "I can get an associate to help you buy another laptop."
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I worked at Best Buy while looking for a full time programming job and I can tell you everything you want to know about the computer department.
:(
It is true that the managers receive bonuses based on the performance of their departments but it is based by monthly performance, so if you don't want to buy a PSP and don't want to be badgered by pressured sales people, go to buy from beginning to mid month.
Also, as any customer service or sales representative will tell you, being hostile will get you nowhere. If you antagonize me or address me as if I am beneath you, you will not get any help from me. From someone else, you will get some lip back, because it is not a job people regret losing (low paying, crappy hours, dealing with customers like you).
Last but not least. PSP (at least in my store) was a good buy ON CERTAIN ITEMS. (like emachines) We had an extraordinary number of them returned due to problems and Best Buy does not deal with manufacturer warranties. The reason people tell you "You know that you can't bring it back here if it breaks" is because many idiots bring an item back without a service plan, past the return period, and demand Best Buy to repair or replace the item. It wears down everyone in the customer service and the tech department when the customer should know that they need to contact the manufacturer.
That said, I worked in a great store, while it was a great store. Rule of thumb is: Go to a newly opened Best Buy if possible, or one where there is a lot of competition. The managers there are more experienced and customer (as well as staff) oriented because they are either:
a) training new staff or,
b) trying to retain customer base.
Our good management went away after a while (promoted internally) and supervisors, while good sales people, moved up into management and just were not so good. After that our entire computer dept. left because we could not deal with the management.
After my stints in sales, and customer service, I was amazed at how many people can be just plain rude and hostile just because someone has to ask one question (I never repeatedly asked for PSP, but I was knowlegeable about computers and thus had a better sales record, and thus was retained as an employee)
My dream is to make a "How to be a good customer" website, describing techniques of being nice AND getting what you want from the sales person (not mutually exclusive).
TANSTAAFL