Slashdot Mirror
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."
The last two paragraphs are a great example of putting in a worthless interview that has nothing to do with an article, solely to defend an undefendable topic.
If best buy is sick of people using rebates, then stop offering them. Rebates work by the majority of people not using them, while thinking they are buying it at a great price. If people are going to use rebates without actually buying the item, Best Buy is going to have to live with that. If they think they can get it both ways, they are wrong. It is just another example of horrible customer service and deception backfiring, and then the company having such a great monopoly that they can somehow blame it on the customers, the very people they rely on to make money. Just absurd.
What on earth is wrong with waiting until a sale is on til you buy whatever it is that you have your heart set on?
If it is an urgent purchase that can't wait, then buy it then and there, but if you're happy to wait until whatever it is goes on sale due to it no longer being the newest and shiniest widget, what is wrong with that?
This is penalising people who are swimming against the tide of instant gratification that our credit driven society has pushed.
People have done this from time immemorial in raiding the new years and mid year sales at department stores they don't otherwise shop at
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World" 1 John 4:14
Normal costomers like my mom are alright. I mean she thinks, "oh, I need a TV" so she goes to BestBuy or Costco or whatever, finds one that looks pretty, and buys it. Big profits for the store.
If I need a TV, I wait a few weeks until I find a good deal on dealsea or FatWallet. Then I price match to someplace with massive coupon discounts, then I try to even pricematch the rebate. Then if they try to get me to pay for shipping I bitch about it and get that charge taken off. The stores make nothing.
If I was running a business, I wouldn't want people like me as customers. I would want people like my mom. It's just plain business sense.
"Firing Customers" is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've heard today.
No, in certain unusual situations, it's the best thing you can do. (And it's a term I've heard for many, many years.) I worked in a graphics/print shop for a while, and some customers would drive us nuts, and lose us money over the stuff they did. ie. bring in questionable originals for copying, choose the cheapest photocopy option available, then return a 10,000-sheet job because there was a speck in the copies. Or, in a low-end design job, argue over nickle and dime issues for hours, eating up the designer's time that should have been spent on better-paying work.
A few times, we gave them the phone number for a competitor, and told them not to come back.
In the service industry, the customer who is paying the least, will invariably demand the greatest amount of service and attention. Big dollar-customers know what they want, know the value of what they are purchasing, and trust you to do it properly. I imagine there are similarities in the retail industry.
As a person who has (thankfully no longer) worked retail, I can tell you that this very often doesn't work. If it's clear that you're going to be an ass just to get your way, a lot of managers will fight back.
What's funny is when someone would go "Oh yeah, I'll go over to store-in-next-city and they'll return it". So I call the closest few branches of our store and say "Hey, this guy blew up his radio and want's a refund, don't give it to him", and they don't.
Being a prick isn't always the best route.
I've found the best route is to be as understanding as possible w/the clerk and they will often help you out. For example, I had a cell phone die, and they wanted to repair instead of replace it. I calmly talked to the repair manager "Look, I know about your policy. I've been in your position and I know what a pain in the ass this is... thing is, I gotta business trip tomorrow, and I REALLY need it, " etc. etc. She was like "ok, I understand" and helped me out.
I made sure to thank her again the next time I went to that store, and they got my business. When my burner needed service, they expedited it for me.
Oh, and Mods.... this fellow might be abrasive, but it's not a Troll, c'mon...
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
My old man was a cheapskate, but he grew up in Europe without a lot of money. I was with him one trip when he pulled up to the Texaco in his Jaguar and bought $1 worth of gas. (OK, that was 2 gallons in those days, but still...) That would keep him going until the Esso where he could use his Esso Credit Card. Oh, and he got a fantastic deal on the Jaguar...
I don't have that kind of brass, or I'd be the "you're fired" customer. If I go to Joe's Eats, I don't know what a burger costs til I walk in the door and read the menu, and I don't know how good it is until it arrives. If I was brassy, I could then reject it and walk out without paying , but it's so much simpler at the big franchises. Plus, sometimes (often) my wife and I will split a single meal; I feel imposing to do that in a small private business (lack of "brass"), but McDonald's couldn't care less if you order nothing but a small coffee and a cup of water.
People will agree that getting rebates on returned merchandise is theft, but I don't think BB will win customers by telling them not to take advantage of sales. I think they'll win more friends with a "let's get simple" approach. Also, here in Canada, eh?, you pay sales tax on the price before rebate - no rebate on taxes - 14% or more! Hmm... I wonder if they claim GST (VAT) back on that rebate? Rebates are a practice I tolerate because I have no choice - and usually take months for the cheque to arrive - and oh yeah, the bank will charge you a service fee to deposit - another 50-cent insult...
The rebate is a gimmick that (a) allows them to advertise a lower than true price - exaggerrated low price gets you in the door so the salesman can work his magic... - and (b) puts some limit on the quantity you buy (If like many box stores, the small retailer says "Their retail is lower than my wholesale!". The Grocery chains enforce limits with their "club" cards, but food is a whole different class of retail.
Those stupid warranty programs are a rip. When Sears first tried selling me one years ago for my fridge, my response was "are you suggesting you expect this product to fail??" When we bought coverage for our car tires from the dealer, and had to claim while away from home, it was almost as more trouble than it was worth. "Sorry, that warranty is through the dealer 1500 miles away, talk to them..." Had to buy a used tire as a spare and ask the dealer later for reimbursement of extra expense. Good thing they liked us...
BTW, notice that the world's biggest, most successful retailer is the one that offers NO gimmicks or sseasonal sales or other crap? Just "everyday, low prices". OK, so they're not always, but for all the (many) complaints thrown at Wal-Mart, the rarest are "I just bought it and then it went on sale", "I found it MUCH cheaper at another store", and "they tried to sell me an extended warranty".
Reminds me of when I tried to buy a mobile phone in Phones4U (a UK chain). I did my research, told the salesman which phone I wanted and on which priceplan. He tried to upsell me to a different phone; I said no. He tried to upsell me to a different price plan; I said no. He tried to sell me insurance; I said no.
He then started to plead with me that if I didn't buy anything extra or more expensive, he wouldn't make any commission. Eventually he said he'd need the manager's approval to sell me an item that was advertised on the shop floor and that I was trying to buy! At that point I walked out of the store, to his apparent amazement. (Though the amazement was all mine when I saw the same guy working there a year later. If he's as efficient at getting rid of other customers as he was with me, it's amazing the store is still open.)
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
In 1999 I bought a stereo system from BestBuy. I was going to get a free sub-woofer but they were "out" of them so i got a rain-check. After visiting the store about 10 times over the next 6 weeks to get the woofer, I finally became so irrate that I virtually turned the store upside down talking to the managers.
After the heated discussion, I went out to my car and got a book I had laying in the car and went back to the same manager, now engaged in another discussion with a customer and said "Here! You take this book since I believe you have an urgent need for it!" The books name was "Customer Service for Dummies". I ended up getting a much more expensive woofer than the cheap one they bundled with the stereo system.
BestBuy hear this: Since 1999 I have not been inside one of your stores and I have spent over $20000 on consumer electronics. Money that your stores could have gotten if you had people with the faintest clue on how to treat customers. Remember BestBuy, it's customer like me who pay your paycheck!
If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
"Do not mention the fucking PSP again, this is abusive, I have stated clearly 3 times that I am uninterested and have also kindly asked you to simply just stop talking to me about it at all. You don't seem to get it. Here can you understand this "I don't want the fucking PSP"
Rule #1: Never drop the f-bomb. It gets you noplace and changes the basis of the conversation. Forty years ago, it was shocking and people would react by surrendering. Today it just makes them angry and you immediately lose any opportunity to win the argument.
"Get real," yourself. A refund hardly seems out of their reach, or asking too much. The monitor was still being manufactured, Best Buy had just stopped carrying it. And if they couldn't provide a replacement that did what the original did-- a plain old refund seems like the best option. Store credit is no help if the store no longer stocks what you're after. I ended up with a crappy monitor and $200 left over to spend at Best Buy, when what I wanted was a good monitor.
If I had been older, richer, and had the time, I would have sued them. The terms of their warranty were clear-- they agreed to uphold the terms of the manufacturer's warranty. THAT warranty was quite clear that replacement, if the original model was unavailable, would be with an equal or better product. As it was, I was a poor recent college grad, and didn't realize I had such a high chance of winning. Lesson learned, though-- the next time it happens, we're going straight on to small claims court. Nothing else will work when a company refuses to do the right thing.
And while we're at it, why does *everything* suck so much? My recent experiences include the previously-mentioned fiasco with HHGregg ("it will be done in a week" when the part wasn't even ordered for another three weeks, despite knowing what was wrong) as well as:
1. Moved, set up new phone line. Three days later, SBC cancels both new AND old phone lines, removes DSL orders. 7 hours of phone calls later, I had my line and a $150 credit. But it shouldn't have happened, and it shouldn't have been that hard to fix.
2. Had Brighthouse cable at old house. Picture was snowy (not just "i'm a picky video nut" snowy, but roughly 50% noise) but technician claimed that quality was acceptable. When asked, technician was unable to read text on CNN on a 43" screen.
3. T-Mobile sidekick. So poorly built that I needed four replacement units in six months. Service was terrible-- calls never ring, etc...
4. DirecTV installer missed two appointments, failed to install grounding block (while lying to say that he had, and I just couldn't see it from the ground...) Installer at new house was better, but was still three hours late for his four-hour appointment window.
5. HHGregg delivered TV to wrong address.
6. Hotel on vacation last month tried to double(!!) my booked rate on checkout. I was lucky to have a printed receipt with me-- they claimed they had never offered the lower rate.
Does ANYBODY have good customer service anymore? Or is screwing us just "good business" now? I spend an awful lot of time fighting just to get the things I paid for. Which makes me laugh about this article-- the article makes it sound like Best Buy *just recently* decided that it wanted to treat customers like crap. It's been standard operating procedure there for years.