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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."
You will always get scammers, like people who the article description described (send rebate, then return), as well as people who purchase extended service plans, then static zap their video card, hook it up to 110 AC, or otherwise kill it after a couple years, and get a much better card in replacement. At least with data mining, you can identify suspect customers instead of just going on the manager's whim.
Pretty much all rebates are on the condition that you send the box's UPC and your original receipt, right?
How are the customers returning goods that 1) are not fit for resale if they're non-defective (cutting the UPC pretty much does exactly that), and 2) don't have the original receipt of sale?
It would seem to me that the individual stores need to lay down the law on their return policy--and stick to it ridgidly--before they have any right to complain about their customers.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
I had vowed to never go back, thanks to all the awful support in store, and online that I received.
Things like discounts not being applied, sale prices not showing up on the final invoice, etc.
I was dragged back in as they had a "great" Comcast deal. It would turn out to be a free cable modem, after rebate(s).
There were 3 rebates.
- $25 store credit
- $20 rebate from Linksys (for their modem)
- $60 rebate from Best Buy for buying the Linksys modem.
I used their kiosk, with their employee. I expected to wait the obligatory 6-8 weeks.
In very short order, the store credit showed up. Followed quickly by the Linksys rebate. 2 weeks later, the denial letter showed up from BB. They said I hadn't bought a Linksys modem. Interesting that they returned my orignal submission, and that receipt clearly showed the modem that they had on rebate.
When it arrived the rebate program had ended, so they screwed me out of $60.00. Another lesson in BB's incompetence.
I sold the store credit to somebody else. I wanted them to have to pony up that money for something, but it wouldn't be me.
Ergo, they're evil.
My mom says I'm cool.
Argh... I *hate* the way they aggressively push that damned ripoff service plan. I once bought a TV at Worst Buy, and the last thing the clerk said to me wasn't "Thank you", it was "You realize that if it breaks you can't bring it back here."
Actually, they are exactly the kind of company I want to buy from. :-)
I hate Fry's Electronics! However, if they have some loss leader product that I or my company needs, then I make sure I buy it from them so that they will incur the loss.
I guess I should be buying from BestBuy more often.
Your humble build engineer.
1. Big Company assumes no matter what, people will come to store.
2. Big Company pisses off customers by getting way too aggressive with a very small minority of bad customers.
3. Big Company loses customers.
4. Big Company slashes prices more to bring people back, forgetting the price wasn't why people left.
5. Big Company loses more money, wonders why.
It's the SERVICE, stupid. It's why the Gateway store in my town always was best in its district... it was the only Gateway in such close proximity to a Best Buy. They couldn't help but look like geniuses in comparison to the untrained warrany-whores placed in the computer department at BB.
-=-This sig brought to you by The Cheat; and by Viewers Like You.-=-
Honest to god I was told by a Best Buy sales associate that "If I didn't like the mp3 player, I can return it, file for rebate and come out on top." I think Best Buy needs to invest in employee training first before moving on to "firing" customers.
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One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
My suggestion is shopping clubs.
Get together a group of good consumers, mums on the school run is a prime recruiting ground. Organise until the number of participants is significant; and issue a membership card.
Then visit the shops.
Tell them that the group will promise to use a particular store for a particular type of shopping in exchange for a discount off all elements in store on production of the membership card. Organise an auction process for a type of shopping for an entire quarter and get the shops to bid against each other.
Providing the manager sees the take goes up for those stores in that quarter, everyone wins.
That way you can exercise the power of the mass market in the same way the shops use their marketing size to drive down supplier costs - the enticement of the large numbers with the threat of losing those numbers if they don't play ball.
In fact, since one thing Slashdot does have is size, that model would work well for Slashdot membership and computer goods...
Side 1 - people suck - have you ever read any of these "deal forums" (Fat Wallet and AT Hot Deals are two I read from time to time. Jesus fucking christ these people would walk a mile through the desert barefoot while eating salted peanuts for a fucking $10 rebate. Sometimes the "sequence of events" required to get these deals is more fucking work than just well, working and BUYING it for regular price, pricematch here, rebate there, obscure coupon code over there, print someone's reciept from some other store in some other state, and you might get a $79 item for $64 or something equally lame. I get a chuckle at the enormous lengths people will go to to save a couple bucks.
Side 2 - Best Buy sucks - reading this site is like a traffic accident complete with ripped off limbs, you can't stop looking but you know you should. The damn near criminal "support policies" they push and push and push on you, and the "piggyback" magazine subscriptions make me want to do things that would get me on the news. I'm currently getting bills from Entertainment Weekly because when checking out at BB a few months ago I let them "send me 4 free issues" just to get them to shut the FUCK up. Now they want me to pay for the stupid magazine like I give two drops of spit about EW (ew is right).
I don't know who to root for in this fight... Best Buy or the "demon customers" socking it to them. Goddamn I hate rebates, I go out of my way to avoid deals involving rebates because they just PISS ME OFF so bad.
Really I'm not ranting...
--- www.f-theocean.com
I see that Royal Bank of Canada sends wealthier customers to the head of the phone queue, while making ones with smaller accounts wait and wait. This is a classic example of abusing the facelessness of phone transactions, leveraging it to their advantage. Could you imagine customers putting up with this kind of stuff in a face-to-face setting? You walk into the bank, and they tell you to go to the "poor people" line? Or say you go into a department store, only to be told that you will have to let other customers cut in front of you, because they are buying more expensive items? That sounds almost like it should be illegal. But hey, what do you expect for a gigantic, faceless corporation?
I worked as a Tech at Blue&Yellow Hell a few years back, and I ended up quitting after getting into it with the weasly little sales manager over screwing over the customers with that ripoff service plan.
Hell, if you think the company is customer-hostile OVERTLY, you should see the kind of crap they tell the employees at those micky-mouse-micromanagement "Huddles" every morning before opening.
I don't have any sympathy for bad retailers who offer ridiculous deals to customers, with profit margins based on the fact that customers will not exercise options (eg, rebates) or will buy accessories to supplement the original sale.
:).... And *all* my problem customers left me, taking up the offer.
They deserve what they get.
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.
Still, they purchased the service legitimately, so I wasn't going to ban them...
So I sent them 3-month gift certificates from a competing ISP
My competitor wasn't too happy when he found out years later, but I was left with a pool of good customers, and those customers I didn't want respected me also, and often recommended me to their friends, many of whom weren't leeches.
Overall, I didn't abuse the customer rights, and I still managed to offer a premium service at a reasonable price. And at better profit margins than my competitors. Not once did I have to make excuses like fair-use policies do.
The moral of this tale? Treat your customers with respect and they'll respect you in return.
GrpA
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
Watching the show Airline on A&E is a great example of that same kind of aspect.
"What do you mean I'm 20 minutes late?! I need to get on that plane [insert drunk hiccup here]!
I'm never buying another ticket from southwest again!"
It always seems that everyone thinks something corporate is trying to suck them dry, but the truth is its a two-edged sword: We need to be happy as customers, and they need to turn a profit.
Just whatever hat you appear to wear at the time dictates whether you feel for the customer, or for the poor soul that has to tell someone that their part is still on backorder, or that your baggage got lost...
oh god, don't get me started.
one day I went in to get a replacement xbox. No one wanted to help me, but thats cool cause I didn't need help. As soon as I picked up the xbox box, a salesperson came up to me to pitch the product replacement plan. Then, after she left, another salesperson came up to pitch the same thing. After I explained that I had already been approached, she told me that I should probably get a memory card and xbox live, and that the console only came with one controller. Politely I declined and headed up to the register. At the register, the clerk again asked me if I wanted to buy the product replacement plan (honestly, I expected the lady at the register to ask me, so that didn't bother me). Then the door greeter leaned over and told me I should buy a product replacement plan. Then the manager of the store came over and told me I should buy the product replacement plan.
If 1 simple 'no' would have sufficed, having 5 people confront me probably wouldn't be so bad. But when you have to tell each person no at least 3 times, it gets a little old.
So, I promptly chewed out the manager for having pushy employees, cancelled my sale after the credit card transaction when through, and vowed never to return to another Best Buy. Only once have I slipped up, and that time the same shit happened. My buddy was buying two DVDs, and got the store manager to come up to say "Hey, looks like you are buying PS2 games. You probably want a memory card to go with that."
My only regret is that I didn't adequately express my disgust to the store manager. I have a feeling that she liked the fact that her employees were pushy. I'm guessing for every person like me that walks out, there are 5 that cave in and buy that damned PRP.
I've delt with drug dealers that were less pushy then Best Buy employees. Now, I drive the extra 30 minutes to go to Fry's where no one bugs me until I ask a question.
"However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation."
From the article: Anderson said Best Buy was tightening its rebate policies in the case of customers who abuse the privilege, but declined to say what else his company was doing to discourage its most costly customers.
There is a simple way to stop mail in rebate fraud. Give the rebate when the sale is made and record it on the reciept. But computer stores will never do this because of how many people forget to mail in the rebate in time. I for one hate mail in rebates, and think it is deceptive for stores to list the price of a product as the price after the rebate (with the rebate listed in small unreadable font). On second thought, I wonder if what he really means is how to screw people from sending in the rebate, like forcing them to print out their own rebates from some website or shortening the time window.
Now while Circuit City is no better with the rebates, at least there they really try and help you with what you buy. I purchased a laptop from them, saw 2 weeks later it was $100 less at another store (on-sale), and went to get the price match. The manager gave me the money plus 10% of the differance with no problems. She told me she was happy I was a customer and looked forward to servicing my needs again. That was good service.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
Even worse - when I bought a Playstation 2 there, The clerk gave me her pitch and said multiple times that she doesn't get commission. Then after I told her I wasn't interested, she let it tip over and fall on its side as if she was emphasizing how easy it was for it to break. Yeah, they know how to treat their customers right.
I happen to work at Rite Aid, and hear customers complain about *my* Single Check Rebates. They say how they hate all that paper work, and that the fact that we are showing that you can get say $3 back for such and such an item, but we can't do it at the register is misleading. But what no one seems to understand is that the rebates are actually manufacturer rebates. Rite Aid goes out AS A SERVICE TO THE CUSTOMER to find out what the manufacturer is offering as far as rebates are concerened. Rite Aid then places it in a little booklet, and advertises it on the item in question. Then, AS A SERVICE TO THE CUSTOMER, it takes care of most of the paper work. Instead of you the customer, filling out a form for each manufacturer to get 1 to three dollars here and there, you fill out one form FOR THE WHOLE MONTH, and Rite Aid cuts you A SINGLE CHECK for all the REBATES you are entitled to during that period. With rebates, the store in question is not trying to make the customer jump through hoops for an extra buck here and there. They are just trying to help you save a few bucks here and there that you might not other wise know about. I am sorry about the rant, but if you don't like rebates, tell the manufacturer. The local store really feels like its doing you a service and, like me, doesn't quite understand why the anger is directed towards them.
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Hippie Logger Jock
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I agree. I went looking for a Canon S9000 'larger format' inkjet/photo printer at some point. They had the S960 which is a very nice printer, but only 8x11. I asked if I could do a test print from a CF card, but no go. But I *could* take it home for 14 days, use up all the ink and return it if I liked - according to the sales dude.
So do that I did. Returned it, and mail ordered an S9100 from somewhere else that would actually order it for me.
Clerk: "Have you considered our extended warranty"?
Me: "Do you mean to tell me your products are so inferior that you can't guarantee them past 60-90 days? What the hell am I buying here"??? (Then I walk out)
Un-news
I worked at a very small specialized retailer (running store) for about three years.
We had our normal "problem customers". People who would buy a pair of shoes and then bring them back after several long runs on the shoes and try to exchange them. People that would complain about our prices, and so on.
The fact that the owner of the store was there most times to make the final decision, what helped more than anything was having firm, clear-cut policies on things.
If you never took back shoes that had obviously been run in, then the person who was always trying to bring them back worn was going to have a problem. And, I admit, sometimes that meant calling the customer a liar, sometimes to their face.
The customer was always free to go elsewhere. There were even times when I would give directions to another store.
We would never refuse to sell someone a pair of shoes, and we would never treat a customer any differently than any other person off the street. If someone came in trying to return his tenth pair of shoes, I could objectively look at him (and the shoes) the same way as someone who was coming back for the first time to return something. Had the shoe been obviously worn outside? Would I feel comfortable selling this shoe *as new* to another customer? Would I feel comfortable buying this shoe myself, as new?
If the shoe passed those tests, I would take the shoes back, tenth pair coming back or first.
And I will add something on about the rebates - others posting are correct. If you have problems with rebates, *get rid of them*. No one likes them except the retailer, and if the retailer is having problems with them, then no one will be stopping them from getting rid of them.
Now, I also see a difference between a retailer rebate and a manufacturer's rebate. I dislike them both, but the retailer rebate is the worst.
SprintPCS, for example, is making a big deal about this new promotion for existing customers. If you have been a customer for over 18 months, you can get a new phone.
Fine print: SprintPCS will send you a rebate check for up to $150 if you buy the phone, even if you buy is straight from Sprint! So I give SprintPCS my money, and then I have to prove to them I gave them my money, and then 6-8 weeks later they will return *my* money to me?
Insane! Just give me the stupid phone up front!
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
I'm an Australian and I went on a trip to the US not so long ago for only a week on a business trip.
My first impressions of service in the US (other than the really fancy joints, and the customers on the business trip) was pretty appalling. People talk to you as if you, the customer, are a problem that has to go away.
Let's see... well apart from certain airline stewardess being a bit careless about which passengers they make fun of about on a flight, to the endless cancellations from hotel to hotel and at short notice.... to the rude replies when you ask a simple question:
"Excuse me, can you show me where the bathroom is?"
"Huh? YOU WANNA KNOW WHERE THE BATHROOM IS? WELL! IT'S STRAIGHT DOWN THADDAWAY!"
Oh yes... the image of the bored-out-of-her-mind angry waitress I saw in the movies actually existed!
Then some woman decided she'd check my ID for beer (I'm creeping up on 30 if you don't mind. But hey, nice to feel under 21 again), in a manner which made me feel like I did something wrong.
The taxi driver tried to rip me off, which reminded me of a similar experience I had in a third world country (Well the driver WAS from a third world country), but I'm not sure that this is the kind of experience vistors to the US should be getting. Made more sense to fork out for a limo.
I only tipped for good service (and believe me, it wasn't that often!).
I dunno, but maybe this talk down to the customer thing is just the way of life over there. Maybe you guys are all as tough as nuts and don't get easily offended - but the ordeals were a bit uneccessary. Everybody seems to be competing to be the alpha-male... for some reason.
Makes the RIAA spats against customers seem a little more realistic in my mind.
Oh yeah... and what the hell is it with you guys and Atkins anyway?
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
I work at Best Buy, and I can partially agree with the stance the company is taking. People don't realize that not only is the customer not always right, they're not always honest either. Every day at my store we get at least two instances of attempted "Rocks in a Box" returns (when a customer purchases a product, swaps the product out with something different or broken, and tries to return it). Other customers like to bring back products that they didn't buy at our store. We know because they're things that the company has either never sold, or haven't sold in years (like exercise equipment, Acer desktops, or clothing).
In terms of the service received, many of you probably have legitimate complaints (like that guy talking about 'smurf herds', when all the salesmen stand in a group and chat, and not acknowledge customers, which is something that happens every so often in the store I work at). But for every one customer who actually has a legitimate complaint, you get three who are complaining about problems they created themselves. The reason why that 'salesman' doesn't know anything about computers could be because he's an appliance salesman, and doesn't know anything about computers. The reason why that Tech (sorry, Agent) was rude to you could have been because there's a line 10 people deep at the Tech Bench (sorry again, Precinct) and you want him to come help you buy a TV. Maybe that Manager would give more a crap about what you say if you didn't smell like you've been rolling around in manure, or didn't act like a four year old with A.D.D. This is stuff that really happens, and what's worse, things like this are common, not extreme.
This is not an article about Best Buy practices. Its about how companies are coping with "Demon" customers. We have a "demon" customer that is slamming our tech support with questions unrelated to her service, but they will argue about the tie in and we need to keep our relationship. Its tough when people are trying to exploit your weaknessess. When the time it takes to patch the holes is time taken away from serving those who deserve it.
I was actually assaulted at a Best Buy for refusing to purchase a PSP (pushed), and then they refused to bring my item to the front register to purchase saying "You can't buy it now"
The operations manager was in the store so I found him and I told him what had just happened (had witnesses, and they have video surveillance) and I said I wanted an assurance that the two employees you assaulted and insulted me would be reprimanded, we went over to where they were and essentially I had to argue with them and the manager just to get the manager to get them to say they shouldn't have done that. I wanted those people fired after having been treated that way, I didn't want these two jerks bullying people there ever again. In the end the manager said "We will deal with them as we see fit" and after all that he says, well you can buy the TV if you want.
I said if you aren't going to fire two employees who assaulted and insulted a customer than I'm not buying anything from your store.
I never went back to that branch again, MAPLEWOOD MINNESOTA, I have had enough experiences with Best Buy that intrestingly enough I still am a customer... I did specifically spend money elsewhere for a few years after that experience however.....
There is evidence to prove both Democrats and Republicans are lying cocksuckers. Vote independently.
BAD. Just BAD. Ugh. My old boss used to say, "The customer isn't always right -- but they are always a customer."
My gosh -- talking about "demon customers" is just terribly bad PR. I've never shopped at a Best Buy, and after reading that, I don't think I ever will. I don't care if they think I'm the angel fucking Gabriel of a customer, if they're calling customers "demons" I don't want to deal with them.
It's one thing to scam the store out of money, for example buying sale items and returning for full price. It's another thing *entirely* to "take up too much of a salesperson's time." As defined by who? Some marketroid from Upper Management? I've often asked salespeople questions just because I was needed the information to make an informed purchasing decision, and eventually made an informed decision not to buy the product. Now, *I* don't think I was taking up too much of their time, but...
Or only buying at sales. Come on, think like a (skinflint) customer, especially if said customer isn't from the area and needs to drive a ways to get to your store -- gee, store X is holding a storewide sale again, I better check that out. You hold the sale, you deal with the skinflints. If the skinflints are a problem, hold fewer sales, don't just turn them away! You have to deal with the fact that not all of your customers are going to be consumerist sheep.
C'mon, people, the employees are there (or *should* be there) to help customers, and if they do a decent job the company should make money. If you need to resort to "firing" customers to make money, the customers may not be your problem.
The Discovery Channel series American Casino has already shown several situations where the security staff of the casino being covered has read from a card they keep in their pockets to unwanted customers a legal notice that tell them that they're now on notice that if they ever show up on their property again they'll be in violation of tresspassing laws.
That's not a section that specifically applies to casinos, anybody can tell anybody else they're not welcome on their property that way.
Thats the number of times I've been in a Best Buy. I've never made a purchase there. The sales people don't know their products. They will annoy you until you leave. The prices are within $5 of Circuit City.
Guess where I buy TV's and stereo equipment?
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
I've been spending my hard earned dollar at Best Buy for years, but no more. I (foolishly) purchased one of their "extended warranty" plans for an after-market car stereo.
I realize that what I've been through might be minor, but when I see crap about the customer not being right, it makes my blood boil. The reason is simple: companies like Best Buy take "the customer is always right? not anymore" to an extreme - where the customer becomes some kind of pinyata for them to beat on until all the coins drop from your pockets; where they try to make the customer feel like the bad guy for taking them up on sales, warranties, etc.
Here's a short version of the story:
Under this plan, I tried taking the stereo back because it wasn't functioning properly. A week and a half later, they called and said it was fixed. I took the time to reinstall it, only to find that not only wasn't it fixed, but that their fix had caused a new and unrelated problem with the unit. I took it back to the store, where they called a few days later saying it was fixed. The initials on the repair slip indicated it was the same tech, who said nothing was wrong with the unit. Not the problem I originally had it in for, or the new problem. The thing was fine according to this hack.
I took it back a third time being very specific that I did not want this same tech touching it. This time they wanted two pieces of wiring - the harness and the antenna adapter, which cost me about 30$. No problem. I brought all three items to the store, and they sent them all out. A few days later I got a call saying that the unit had been "junked" - they were going to just replace it.
Well, this unit isn't available any longer. No problem, I'll choose a comparable unit close to the price I paid originally. I also asked if they were going to replace, under the warranty, the two pieces of wiring they'd taken. Nope. This is where it starts to get ugly.
The CS rep I'm dealing with at the store has disappeared and returned, and decided on a model he believes is equivalent to what I had. It is priced at about 50$ less than what I paid and lacked several features of my old unit. If I wanted anything else, I would have to pay the difference from the price of this "comparable" unit. No, I can't just take a store credit and be done with it, thats not how it works, he tells me. "Well feature A doesn't seem to be on this model, I really liked that about my old model. Don't you think thats important?" I ask the CS rep. No, he tells me flatly. At this point, I'm getting pretty pissed. No!? WTF?
Back to the wiring stuff. They took the wiring from me, but they're not going to replace it. The CS rep says he'll call the repair people and have it sent to me - it'll be 7-10 days before I get it in the mail. I want to know why it wasn't already on its way, and how I'm supposed to install my "comparable" unit without it. Best Buy repair people knew they had junked the unit and that they weren't going to give me new wiring. The CS rep responds by saying he just called and it is being shipped. I try to explain to him that he's totally missing my point, but he can't hear me. They took something that they're not going to replace - therefore the items belong to ME. My property. Why don't I have them already? Why does it take you calling to get MY stuff back? Why won't you just give me new ones and be done with it?
At this point, he says something to the effect of "well, you're obviously not listening to me, so you can go talk to my supervisor on the other side of the store."
I had to walk away because the attitude this rep was copping was starting to cause a scene (which maybe isn't such a bad thing), but I was about to do something that would have prompted security to haul me off. At this point, a supervisor SHOULD have made him/herself available - this was all going on right in front of the service desk.
I was (am) royally pissed. The guy was a complete prick, didn't give a ri
There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
I once worked in a department store in Australia. I sometimes performed the role of "door greeter", the person standing at the front door, the first point of contact for customers to ask directions etc. Part of this role was to immediately pick up the phone and contact security whenever one of a small number of "problem customers" walked into the store - known shoplifters, fradusters or problem customers who were rude or abusive towards staff.
...to which the manager replied "If you ever step foot in this store again, you will be asked to leave by our store security, or will be removed by the police if necessary."
On one occasion, such a person was in the store and started to argue and yell at the checkout staff, because she wanted prices from a sale that ended two weeks ago or something. When the manager arrived, this customer started to argue with him, and made one critical mistake:
Customer: "If you don't do what I want, I will never shop here again!"
Realising the error in her line of reasoning, the abusive customer simply turned around and left immediately.
At the store, the clerks look up up the printer and then they tell him they wouldn't let him exchange it. The printer he had had been discontinued for years and there was no way Best Buy could have sold it to him. Basically they tell him tough luck.
Now in Best Buy's defense it looks like he's trying to scam the store, but my buddy asks them two questions. 1) If they can look up the printer, can they not look up if the box had been returned previously. 2) They can certainly look up his purchase history and see that he was a good customer.
After some reluctance and some heated words, they find out that the box had been returned 2 months before my buddy bought it. My buddy had bought thousands of dollars of appliances, electronics, movies, etc with almost no returns.
In my buddy's case they let him exchange the printer, but wouldn't had they not had the data and if he hadn't been so persistent.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I've had staff members RECOMMEND that I do those things and take advantage of those annoying Best Buy "perks" that they are instructed to pitch at you.
Best Buy is totally aware that the customer would quickly think of ways of abusing the policy. But they already figured that would happen. They're banking on the gobs of people who are trying to be "decent", and Best Buy is just abusing that goodwill. Same thing with rebates. They assume (correctly) that most will forget about it, or not photocopy your UPC, then return the product.
The problem is that now, with the internet, these notions have spread far further than they projected. People do it out of spite, even if they end up wasting time and money doing these things.
So Best Buy could either demonize these customers who are acting just as they predicted we would, or adapt (maybe they could just provide better customer service?)
I guess customer profiling is the next best thing. It's like... you asked for it. Be prepared to fight for your right to abuse their policies... or get used to shopping with Amazon or Circuit City.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
I was looking for a second TV but I was being as frugal as possible, but I also wanted to get the highest quality I could afford. I was working with a Female sales associate who treated me just fine, I had some question she couldn't answer so she went back to ask a co-worker when she came back out two gentlemen (or not so gentle actually, as it turns out.) started to help me, I explained what I was thinking and that I had my eye on an open box Toshiba, they suggested the PSP and I said 'It's an analog TV it only needs to last me 2-3 years (till HD) and if it dies I don't really care as this is a secondary TV for my house) and if I buy that TV I can't afford the PSP.
Then (I shit you not) the one I had been talking with said "Well, you can't afford this TV then, you should get one that is cheaper so you can afford the PSP." I again politely said I am not interested in the PSP, I used toe work at Best Buy (yadda ya) I don't by a warranty unless it is 10% or less than the cost of the item because less than 10% of the electronics I buy either obsolete themselves or don't break within 4 years. The he was like "But do you know that the PSP covers.... I cut him off and said Look I don't want the PSP so please stop talking about it, I'm feeling harassed right now please stop asking me to buy it because the answer is No. Then I said I'd like this open box TV can you have it brought up to the register please. He said, "You should really buy the PSP." Then I calmly said "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"
Then quicker than lightning the other guy who was working with him was standing with his face less than 1/2 inch (really) from mine and said if you are going to swear I'm going to have to ask you to leave, you can't swear here. I said "I'm trying to leave but he won't stop badgering me about a PSP, he crossed the line and is being a jerk" - then the guy in my face pushed me, and I restrained myself entirely and said "Are you going to help me take the TV up to the front? He said "No." and then I said okay then I'll get a cart and do it myself, thanks for nothing. "He then said, you can't buy it" "I thought about engaging him in debate but said you don't have the right to tell me I can't you have assaulted and insulted me, you are not doing you job at all. Then I turned around and walked towards the operations center and talked with the manager we all went back to Home audio where they were now and I had to argue with them because all they would talk about was the fact that I swore (as a defense to the abusive tactics they were trying to employ). You know the rest I stated it above.
I did contact a Lawyer because I was so upset at how things had happened, however since it was at night I left a voicemail for him. I never got a call back and I just kinda let it go, knowing that people who act like that will eventually get theirs or learn to not act like that (either case is fine with me)
There is evidence to prove both Democrats and Republicans are lying cocksuckers. Vote independently.
As a non american, what is such a service plan? Is it really so that one does not have any sort of protection against faulty products through any consumer sale law for example? Or by "break" was it strictly refering to if *you* break it? Just wondering.
So, you're saying that these customer reps deliberately do what they can to piss off customers, even when they know the customers are not interested. And that we should just accept that some idiot gets paid to harass us as much as possible.
Why can't we just spend our money and get home to play with our toys, without being bothered by stupid sales people? And if the manager tells the sales people to behave like that, sure manager would be the one to complain to.
The good ol Bait & Switch is alive and well...
Car lots
Video game consoles & Spam
Job-related markets
and Vacation Packages
Finding the other half trillion examples is left as an exercise to the reader.
Bestbuy used to be ok w/ pricematch. Not long ago, they change their pricematch policy.
Any items pricematched are not eligible for rebate. And the drones at the CS desk has been instructed to give all kind of excuse NOT pricematching.
Consumer only get smarter from time to time.
U guys should visit fatwallet, they are the master of pricematch.
I KNOW why they use rebates. I STILL think that they just need to simplify somethings by just OFFERING IT AT A LOWER PRICE. I was thinking if you reduce all the overhead on store specific rebates, then you may be able to charge everyone the lowest price in the first place.
I just want to post one HAPPY story in this thread:
This week I had had it with my iPaq. It started to get to be a pain in the butt to charge. Something was going bad in the sync connector you use to charge the device. I bought one of the final tap plans with it offered by Compusa that include things like ooops I dropped it and you walk in and they replace it deals. It's not what I would call a extended warantee, but assurance program that helps Joe Sixpack get more comfortable with new technology. ANYWAY, I took my reciept and iPaq in to CompUSA and they of course did not have the model I had (5555....has only been out a year and is already discontinued...not like Toshiba's who have a model they had just brought out 6 months ago and you already can't get it). Anyway, I had paid around 650 for the iPaq last summer(when it was first released). They only had about 4 or 5 models to choose from with Windows Mobile OS. One of these was the 4350. Only 2 or 3 things it does not have that the 5555 has. The manager felt bad they did not have a equal model so they gave me that one (which is just fine), a free new tap plan (one where I mail it in and they fix it or ship me a refurb if I drop it and kill it) and 100 dollar gift card. When they were ringing the replacement up, they also had a 50 dollar gift card rebate and I got that as well. The manager just really had to give me a replacement and nothing more and he gave me a deal I will probably never get again. It's things like this that make me want to go back to the store. Of course when you talk rebates though, CompUSA is definitely the KING of rebates. I have no problem with rebates, but here's the thing:
DO NOT ADVERTISE PRICE AFTER REBATES!
Cell phone companies are guilty of this as well. I won't say that I get suckered in, but people like my Mom do sometimes. My thing is....advertise the price I need to pay at the register. If you want to say there's a rebate on it in the ad, then do so, but don't make it like that's the price I am going to pay at the register. Also, if a customer ONLY buys during sales...that SHOULD tell you something. It should tell you your price is too damn high!
Best Buy, I have no problems with you keeping lists of customers who commit fraud, but please don't penalize me for waiting until you put something on sale.
Gorkman
Well here's the thing: I don't. Whenever posssible, I treat you exactly as I want to be treated. Damn thing is, eventually this reaches my manger, which eventually reaches the store manager, which eventually reaches faceless higher up and so on. The store works in waves. It starts off at the peak. You have to do this, this, this, and this. Over a couple of weeks in becomes lax, and then a few weeks pass and a few more, and after a while we're at "bottom" (which ironically is more ideal). All this consists of is you handing me your money and my selling you the product. After this goes on a while we'll get a report from some bigwig "YOU'RE STORE IS NOT ON PAR WITH THE COMPANY'S PLAN!!!" and a crack down will ensue until we're back at the peak. And the cycle will then begin to repeat itself, over and again. I have told the managers about their BS (The credit card/interest lie, or how I'm annoying the hell out a customer because of them) they'll smile repeat the bogus lie, and walk away before you can confront them any further. And I agree with you. I am DYING to quit. But I can't leave yet until I've secured another position.
I can't speak for the original poster, but 99% of the time I don't want to be bothered by the sales staff. If I have a question, I'll ask. Otherwise, I'll go in, get what I want, and get out. On the handful of occasions that I've had a question to ask or needed other assistance, I've not had trouble getting it. Maybe Fry's Las Vegas store is better than some of their others...at least compared to some of their other stores, the Vegas store looks better-maintained.
I used to work at Best Buy (1994-1999, about 4 years at #289 and a bit less than 1 year at #122, both in Las Vegas). When I first started there, I thought it was cool that we were aiming to provide more or less the kind of shopping experience I'd prefer. Things stayed that way for maybe the first couple of years, but then there was a push from corporate to get more aggressive with accessories and extended warranties. (You know the deprogramming is complete when you no longer refer to extended warranties as "PSPs" and "PRPs.")
I think I continued picking up the odd gadget or two for about a year after I left, but a bad experience with customer service at one of the local stores has kept me away from Best Buy ever since. (They wouldn't exchange a book I had received as a Christmas present, even though I had purchased the exact same title there a month earlier as a Christmas present for somebody else. I wasn't even seeking a refund; I just wanted to turn it in and get something else. The Barnes & Noble two doors down had no problem taking it on exchange.)
Since then, I've had no use at all for Best Buy. Most of the time, the prices aren't that different going from one store to the next and there's nothing at Best Buy that I can't get elsewhere.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Ahh... but you see I have been basically asked to harass people. "Here comes [standard managerial figure], go talk to that customer" "But I already did" "Go do it again then!" "Sir, did you need any help?" "I fucking told you the first time, NO." Or what about if the service your asked to push really just plain sucks?
They just opened a store up in Renton, worth the extra distance compared to Beast Buy in Tukwila.
Their salesmen are attentive, and the way they seem to have the departments set up is at least 10 salesmen at any given time. One salesman had to take off while I was perusing scanners, but that was understandable, since I was browsing for over 10 minutes.
Their checkout counters are incredibly fast and efficient as well. I'm sure in the cases of sales there may be more congestion, but on the last day of one sale (dual mode DVD-+R/W for $69, and 25 blank DVD-Rs for $17), I was in and out of the store within just 30 minutes (including drooling at their HD sets and drinking at the coffee bar).
Ahhh, the coffee bar. They have a decent coffee shop with *gasp* reasonable prices! Can you say root beer float with real vanilla ice cream for $2 and change? That alone makes the trip worth it.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
At the end of 2002, I was delighted to find a pair of CDJ-1000 CD players on sale at bestbuy.com for the ungodly low price of $800 and change each. I bought two immediately. Then I received an email indicating that they were revoking the offer. That's not allowed under the law, so I called them up and offered to file for fraud with the FTC.
They treated me like shit, and refused to honor the price. I filed against them at the FTC (yeah, a lot of good that did me--ho hum). I also demanded that they not process the charge on my card.
Not only did they charge my credit card, they double-charged it to the tune of $4000! Consequently, I spent the week Christmas 2002 with my credit card maxed out for a pair of turntables that I wasn't getting.
Obviously, Best Buy should be shot dead on the spot and dragged through the streets like the scum-sucking frauds that they are.
I (unfortunately) work at an Office Max, and we have some customers who habitually try to abuse the system. We have one person who buys a printer, then wants to return it just before the end of the return period. After, of course, using up ALL the ink. Needless to say we no longer accept returns from him. Another went through 5 Palm Pilots, in about 10 days. I'm not sure what she did to break them, but these are the only five allegedly "defective" Palms we had all year. It's hard to believe it was just bad luck. When she returned the fifth one we told her that we wouldn't take any more Palms back from her, she'd have to go through the manufacturer warranty if she bought another Palm from us and had problems.
Then of course there's the "vultures" who come in every Sunday (arriving about an hour before we open and banging and kicking the doors because we won't open early for them) and get everything that's "free after rebate". They'll get things like Hard Drives but don't even own a computer, they just plan to sell them. Thank God we stopped doing "free" stuff.
On the other hand, we are FORCED to try to sell protection plans (and lose hours if we don't sell enough) and pester people to buy extra stuff. It's one thing to offer a USB cable when they buy a 3-in-1, but we're supposed to do it if they just buy ink or paper also. That radio in our ear is "reminding" us all the things that could possibly be associated with whatever your buying. At my store, at least, we make some attempt to have only one sales droid pester any given customer, instead of all of us one after the other.
BTW, the best way to keep the sales droids away is to hold a cell phone to your ear and pretend to be having a conversation. It's far from guaranteed, but it will help. And mail in rebates are, IMO, just a way for the store to make interest off your money. That's why they take 3 to 4 months to send the check. Wait untill the specified product is sold out and you may get (if it's a manufacturer rebate, not a store rebate) the substitute item at the "after rebate" price at the register. I picked up a DVD +-RW for $60 cash that way (list was $199).
Open Source for Open Minds
I found this article and all the comments really interesting.
Last fall, I needed a new refrigerator and saw one in a Best Buy ad that was at a decent price and was really just what I was looking for. I like it pretty well and had made up my mind to buy it, but then the Best Buy sales staff entered. I didn't *even* get to the arguing about the extended warranty part before their general rudeness had so thoroughly alienated me that I told them "I changed my mind; your bad service and attitude just blew the sale for you" and walked out.
I then drove a few miles to Sears, where I found a fridge with all the same features, and free delivery (which made it the same price as the one at Best Buy), and the sales people were great.
Best Buy's staff is the best advertisement their competitors could wish for. That would have been my first time to buy at a Best Buy store, and now I will not set foot in one again. I wouldn't care if they were beating Fry's, Circuit City, and everyone else on the price of every item, I'd rather pay more somewhere else than buy from Best Buy.
But then came the printers. Well, a local Staples was having a sale on a perfect unit. I'd charged $100 for them, and these Canon printers were normally $90 each. Taht would have been $120 profit on 12, but there was a $30 in store instant rebate, AND a $30 mail-in rebate on each one too, bringing my efective cost down to $30 per unit. I figured even if I never saw the rebates, it was still $40 profit per printer alone, not to mention the computers. I sent in all 12 rebate coupons with the receipts and serial number stickers (there were copies in the box for just such a purpose), and waited. A mere two weeks later I received a dozen $30 checks from Canon in my mailbox, all on the same day.
You'd be astounded how loose they are with checking multiple rebates. I just did it again a couple weeks ago with 4 Netgear wifi routers.
jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
I thought extended warranties ruined the consumer electronics market... Now I think rebates are taking it to a new low. Here's my story:
At an electronics store I worked at in 1985 and 1990, they were pushing "extended warranties" (essentially 2-year over the counter replacement plans), and were telling us they were over 90% pure profit for the company. These plans were about 8-10% of the purchase price.
I did my part as a salesman and always took the customer's word of a problem on any "replacement plan" return. I did have to see a demonstration of the problem (company rules), but once shown the problem I never argued about it and sided with the customer. One great example had a customer who bought a dictation recorder that had "auto reverse" when recording, so both sides of the tape could be recorded on without flipping the cassette. it was a very cool feature at the time and it cost a cool $99 back then. When it came back busted some time later, I told him that model was discontinued and we don't have any more. The only replacement was a $249.00 unit that was the only model that currently recorded in auto reverse. The customer balked and said he wasn't going to spend the extra money and the auto reverse was not that important to him. I gently reminded the customer that we are required to give him an "equivalent model" as a replacement.
He suddenly got a clue and said yes, the auto reverse is a very nice feature indeed. The manager came over and I told him this was the only model with the features of his broken unit. The customer got the $249 unit and left very happy (bought another plan too, at a prorated price). The odd thing is, management did not care how many replacements were done, they only wanted the number of plans SOLD.
That serves the company right for shoving these plans down the salespeople's throats, and I managed to do it all within the framework of the company's rules. My job was customer service and sales, and harassing customers over these things was not serving the customer. I thought replacement plans were very worthwhile on certain items only, such as cassette-type Walkmans (this was in the mid-late 80's). These saw tons of abuse by joggers and were lucky to last 6-12 months. I saw lots of these come back after a few months with unhappy customers and determined these were the only thing I ever thought a replacement plan was good for.
In 1990, the company switched to a 3rd party warranty provider that said basically said they repair it. If it breaks more than twice in a 2, 3 or 5 year period, it would be replaced. Then work really started shoving these plans that cost up to 33% of the product price down our throats. We were required to sell 5% of our total sales with these plans. Later, this rose to 8% then 10%. Failing to meet quota meant lowered commission percentages and possible suspension.
In the end I and another worker were suspended over not selling enough of these. I waited the full week, then called in to say I wasn't coming in anymore. My coworker did the same. It made no difference.
One year later there was an article in the paper over this 3rd party not honoring the plans sold by my company because the company failed to pay them their share of the warranty price.
Of course they are going to push something that is pure profit for them. It would be interesting to know what their claim payout rate is.
I frequent the Best Buy in Industry, California, and one day I stopped there to purchase some CDRs (this was a few years ago), and to check out all the usual new stuff. While I was standing at the tech section looking at memory, I heard an employee yell "HERE, CATCH!" and when I looked up, he was throwing a laptop that had been brought into service to another employee that was about 7 feet away. The receiving employee nearly dropped the thing and they had a laugh about it.
A simple "No, thanks" unfortunately doesn't work. Like I said in my parent post, if I had said "No thanks" and they walked away, I'd be fine with it. But I had to quite literally tell each employee three times that I wasn't going to buy it. It wasn't until I said "well, I'll think about it" or "I want to cancel my sale" did I get any response from the clerks.
Maybe that was your problem - wanting a response from the clerks. I see no reason why you had to even talk to a single one of them if you knew what you were buying and were able to pick it up yourself. Here was my last experience at Best Buy:
1. Walk in, head for the DVD player aisle.
2. Pick up DVD player box (I knew the model I wanted, and I knew they had it from the web site).
3. First salesperson: "sir, are you purchasing that? Would you like to hear about our service plan?" My response: "Not interested" and walk away.
4. Walk towards the cash register. Second salesperson, basically the same question. Same response, and same walk away.
5. Hit cash register. Pay for item. Leave.
The time before that, I bought a cell phone for my wife and actually had to deal with a salesperson, since they don't just leave them out. They also asked me about three times for the service plan and my reaction each time was "not interested". I ended up walking out with my phone with no more inconvenience than the 3 extra seconds it took me to say "not interested" 3 times.
I've come to expect the service plan pitch anywhere I go these days. You just have to know how to deal with it. Sure, it would be nice if BB didn't push it so hard, but you know what? It's their store, and they're free to offer you whatever the hell they want to. It's up to you how you decide to handle it. You can get all huffy and annoyed and get into a big lengthy conversation with the salespeople and their manager and do nothing but waste everybody's time and cause yourself even greater aggravation, or you can just say "no" and shut up. There's not much they can say in response to that. I liken it to dealing with telemarketers - their whole strategy is based on not allowing you time to talk, and making you feel guilty for saying no. But if you interrupt them mid-pitch and say "no, I am not interested" or worse for them, simply hang up, there is absolutely nothing they can do about it.
And if they do continue to press, just ignore them. The most I would ever say would be something like "look, are you going to sell me this TV or not?" And if they then persisted with the service plan, I'd just walk out. They're not the only store around and there's no reason to get so up-in-arms about the situation. If they're more interested in selling a service plan than the merchandise it covers, just take your business elsewhere. Just don't let them get to you, because it's not going to help you get your merchandise any faster. It's only going to cause you unneeded aggravation.
That guy should definately be sacked for pushing you. But still, you shouldn't have sworn at them. Sounds like a sorry tale of escalation - started by them, but contributed to by you too.
You're right. A similar story happened to my uncle in an electronics store here in the UK. The guys were pushing this insurance and insisted that he could get a refund on the insurance cost if his TV didn't break. He looked over the contract and saw nothing of any refund, but they told him "it's OK, it's just not written down, but you can get the refund". They offer a "cooling off" period where you can change your mind about the insurance, so he bought it...as soon as he got back to his car he calls the insurance people. There's no refund at the end of the insurance cover. So he goes back into the store and tells the guys to refund his money. He also complained because the guys blatantly and repeatedly lied to him. Just like in Best Buy, the managers couldn't see anything wrong. The guy who sold him the insurance eventually wandered over and asked what was wrong. My uncle said that there was no refund and he didn't appreciate being lied to, so he was getting his money back right away. The guy blinked, and then said "But it's very good insurance!"
My uncle later complained to the regional bosses of the store, threatening to complain to the regulators about mis-selling of insurance. I don't know if they have replied yet, but I am looking forward to seeing what they offer to placate him.
You are totally right about swearing. Never swear, shout, or do anything aggressive. If you do, they will make the whole incident about your behaviour and will use it as a cover for their own misdeeds. Don't let them do that! Just think of the sweet, sweet justice of these lying bastards getting fired, take a deep breath, and complain calmly to their boss.
For the last ten years, the big watch-word in IT was CRM - "Customer Relationship Management" - the idea that you had to really treat the customer right and constantly get in the customer's face with how wonderful a company you were so they'd all want to do business with you since you were such a great friendly place.
I knew it was a fucking joke the minute I read about it - because I KNOW management - and management's idea of CRM is dropping spyware on your computer so they can bombard you with crap advertising for products that don't work and nobody wants - and treating their employees - those people who are the front-line to their customers - like dirt.
"CRM" is a joke concept given the nature of business in this country (for that matter, in most of the world.)
The Corporation is NOT your friend any more than the State is.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
In a situation like this you go and pull out our cellphone (you likely have one), or if you don't have one go get another phone, and call the police. When it's all an video, it's all nice and clear cut. You would be amazed at what the threat of jail time can do to attitudes. Don't wait until later to get a lawyer or some such, call the police then and there. You may have to wait an hour or so (face it, getting pushed in a Best Buy doesn't rate as high on the list) but they will come, and if you press the issue, those repsonsible will be charged.
Ok, since this is a Best Buy Bashfest, I'll spill my story (the short version).
Went into BB the day after Thanksgiving '03 to buy a doorbuster DVD for $20. 6am, got in, got the player, and was headed out. Guy at the door stops me, insists on seeing my receipt. I have always refused such requests (politely), just on principle (Don't treat your customers like shoplifters by default). Years ago, when I worked at Computer City, I was advised by the manager that while we could request to see receipts at door checkpoints, we had no entitlement to it. If someone refused, we had to make an instant decision if we really thought that they were a risk, and detain them for the police. He said if we detained, we better be right! Anyway, after politely refusing to show my receipt, I paused to dispose of my now-empty coffee cup in a nearby can, and when I look up, here's this guy again, now just inches from my face, and he has his hands on my package (the DVD, pervs!). I immediately requested the manager, my full intention being to show my receipt to the manager, and while we were both inconvenienced, to explain to her how offensive the checkpoint policy was. As soon as she approached me, she advised a nearby employee to call the police. I then released my grip on the package to retreive my receipt from my back pocket, when the employee decided he was going to snatch the box out of my hands. Well, since he didn't meet the same amount of resistance as he expected, his motion toward me was very exaggerated, and (this sounds funny, but just visualize it) in a downward motion, his head struck my hand. THey took my DVD player, and returned it to my credit card for me. (where I come from, we call that stealin'!). When the police arrived, I was charged with Battery. The police refused my request to review the Surveillance tapes, and just said to "tell it to the judge". I am still battling this thing, but I intend to win. The court offered me a simple $100 fine to plead guilty, but I have opted to pay the several thousand in attorney's fees to defend my good name (and to ensure that the status of my CCW permit is not affected). After several hearings where Best Buy has failed to provide the videotape that would corroborate my story, they have been threatened with Contempt of Court. Oh, and it is in the police report that the mgr on duty stated that there _was_ video coverage of the area in which the incident happened.
Lastly, It should be noted that what started the whole thing was an accusation of shoplifting, but when they found that they were mistaken, they fabricated the battery story just to show me who was boss. If anybody has any similar horror stories regarding the LV locations of BB, I'd love to hear them.
A business is under no obligation legally to take back a returned item once sold, as long as it is not defective and was not sold under false pretenses. Businesses like BestBuy take returns in the first place as a courtesy to customers, because it's something people expect from large stores.
This is not true. Most states have laws on their books that say something to the effect of "Any buyer has the right to return an item within 3 days of purchase."
In addition, always buy with your credit card. Most credit cards have a 90 day return policy on any item you buy. They say, what they will do is refund your money if the merchant refuses to take the return back within 90 days. In actuality, they issue a chargeback to the merchant, and you get your money regardless. Of course the merchant is getting screwed, but remember folks, this is Best Buy. Fuck 'em. Until they stop using deceptive marketing practices like "FREE after rebate!". Of which, there are three rebates, and they purposefully disqualify you for some nitpicky reason like you forgot to dot an I on the rebate application, or each one of the 3 rebates requires the Original UPC code (not a copy), so you can only really get one of them.
The practices they have been engaging in for years are fraudulent and deceptive. They shouldn't be surprised to find out that some customers are manipulating these processes for their own gain (getting rebates after returning the items). The entire system would be far better if the FTC made rebates illegal. Everything would be one price, you would pay that price, and that's it. This will never happen though, because the government likes the higher sales tax they get, because customers pay the sales tax on the original price, not the price they get after rebate.
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
A reprint of an April 30, 2004 Washington Post article is at http://student-voices.org/news/index.php3?NewsID=1 0915
Quotes from the article:
"The principal of a private high school in the District has accused the new Best Buy store in Tenleytown of discriminating against the school's black students by having them followed as they shopped, subjecting them to searches and, in one instance, letting in a group of young white students to shop but barring a group of young blacks."..."Jennifer Schwab, a representative of Best Buy's customer care office, wrote that she was "disappointed we did not meet your expectations when a couple of your students were shopping in our store." She provided no response to the specific allegations."..."The principal decided to go public with his complaint after he said his students were subjected to further discriminatory incidents, including one witnessed by another school official."
You are totally right about swearing. Never swear, shout, or do anything aggressive.
I used to believe this too, however, a year or so back I purchased a fridge from Comet in the UK. When I brought it home, I followed the instructions carefully (dont plug in for 8 hours etc), but when it was turned on, it was clear the refrigeration unit was faulty. I took it back...
At first I was quite polite, but the customer service guy really didnt want to know. When he said "How can you know its faulty, are you a qualified fridge engineer?"... I snapped, and boy did I snap.
Some of the other customers in the shop left due to the commotion and others were gathering to observe the fireworks. This was clearly costing them lots of money in custom, and it didnt take too long before I was offered a full refund complete with apology (although I was politely asked never to return to the shop... which wasnt a huge problem for me... and it made this quite clear!).
Sometimes, being a bit of a yob can work, it is unfortunate, but if your complaints fall on deaf ears, turning up the volume can prove quite fruitful.
Actually, I have had two laptop LCDs and one handheld LCD replaced there over the last seven years, no questions asked. Also two motherboards and one complete machine replacement.
Not to disagree with the rant on Best Buy - I hate the heavy handed selling and the attitudes too, but I have had nothing but good experiences, especially with the laptops and the PSP
Remember that the one year's manufacturer warrenty is often only in effect if you mail it back to the manufacturer, and the PSP gives you the ability to have it worked on in the store. Generally, I have made money on the PSPs, spent around $990 on them over the years, and have had about $5,895 worth of work done, all of it long after the manufacturer's warrenty has expired.
/usr/bin/grep -i -E meaning life.txt
We still believe in the state protecting the weak from the abuses of the strong. But then I remember that those American business practices have already substantially eroded our culture. How long will this one last? How long will it be before we lose all that and have to beg to be allowed into a store promising to spend whatever the manager deems appropriate.
--
USA: home of the world's largest terrorist training camp.
This was pretty radical stuff back before 1998 - then Peppers & Rogers began pushing it in the CRM space.
Of course, this has nothing to do with CRM products like siebel, vantive, etc. But instead has everything to do with methodology - in this case Relationalship Marketing. In this methodology Peppers & Rogers are the thought leaders:
http://www.1to1.com/home.aspx?ItemID=548
As far as bestbuy identifying their worst customers. That's fine, nothing really that wrong with it. It will probably just result in them *not* sending promotions, sales info, etc to those customers.
I am an ignorant anonymous coward, you insensitive clod! ;)
Aight, I'll say this much for the PSP's - I bought a Sony Clie (NX600) from Best Buy, and didn't do all that much with it. But I did get a PSP for it. Two years later, the irreplacable battery dies, so I take my PSP and my Clie to Best Buy. (This is even in a different state.)
The Guy Behind the Counter (GBC): *looks at box*
GBC: What's wrong with it?
ME: Dead battery.
GBC: Hmph. Be right back.
ME: *waits*
GBC: We don't have anymore of that model.
GBC: Just want the $500?
ME: Duh... roger me with a spork!
GBC: Um... yeah.
So, I got the $500, but only as store credit. Which was okay, because I "cashed it in" by trading it for $450 cash with a friend who wanted something at Best Buy anyway, and got my sweet, sweet TH55. w00t!
So, it sucks how they try to shove the PSP's up your ass like that, but they *are* pretty good service plans.
Flamewar ensues...
-- GNU/Anonymous Coward
I vehemently believe that behind EVERY botched tech job, there was at least one greedy, obsequious player that was too afraid of telling the customer he is WRONG.
I bought a laptop from Best Buy about three years ago. I also bought the service plan, which actually "helped" me, because within five months, the laptop would turn on. So, I get it back, and it does the same thing again in about a week. Take it there, they give it back to me and say it was abused, so my warranty is voided. Pissed off (but needing the laptop), I took it to a local mom and pop shop, who opened it up. They found that there were two screws that were rolling around on the motherboard, shorting things out.
We filed suit, and settled for the price of the laptop.
Unfortunately I was once a Best Buy employee and didn't like it. It wasn't that you were mistreated as an employee but you were just mentally abused by all the bullshit. Every morning you'd go to work and have to watch a movie and/or listen to a long speech of how terrible the "team" was doing. I got so tired of hearing the word team that I was ready to hit someone by the time I left.
Thing is though, after a while it doesn't just settle in. It nags at you worse as time goes by. I don't think it's the managers' fault though. They have a job the same as I did and they were just relaying their orders on to the employees. I don't know who to blame but it's rediculous how much they push you to sell the service plan.
You think the service plan is bad though? It IS! However, you should also take into account of all the other miserable means of sales you have to go through. There is a "process" in which you are required to sell things. This entire process is what you had to watch in those movies in the morning.
Anyway, you were required to great the customer, shake their hands, introduce yourself and your name, ask the customer his/her name, little small talk in between (even though they didn't "advertise" that), ask them lifestyle questions, find out what they were into, match them up to things that fit the style of the person (which never worked), start the sales pitch on the service plan or replacement plan early in the conversation. After getting the sale you were then required to "attach" at least 2 accessories because a sale isn't a sale unless they get the complete package. After that you were then required to try and finish them off on the service plan.
Upon succeeding or failing on the service plan sale you were then required to do even more. Now it's time to pitch the sale of services and subscriptions. That includes DirecTv, Satellite Radio, NetFlix, Msn, Comcast Cable, Reward Zone, Magazines (which were just coming into play as I quit thank god), and Rhapsody. Of all those mentioned, the only one worth a damn was Reward Zone. NetFlix was cool but it wasn't for everyone yet we were chewed out because of that. Satellite Tv and cable internet were things that most people already had or they didn't want anyway.
It's just a shame that Best Buy is the way it is. I told them the day I started working there that I loved their store. I also told them I was coming to work because I loved the environment and how things worked and that it wasn't because of the money. The day I left I told them that I wish I had never worked there because it made me hate the store with a passion that I'd have never had, or at least not for a good while anyway.
So the moral of my rant here is that Best Buy employees aren't always the prime reason of hte problem. You guys will never understand the pressure they put on you to sell something and how low they run you into the ground mentally if you don't get the sale their way.
A woman I know bought a laptop at BestBuy a few years ago. Spent about $2400 and purchased the service plan. For her $200 she got two new batteries and, only weeks before the plan expired, she got a brand new $2400 laptop. She had brought it in to have a display issue fixed and they said they could not fix it. So they gave her credit for the full original purchase price towards the purchase of a new one. As was mentioned before, there were some hassles and a fair amount of paperwork.
I'm not claiming that the plan is always worth it, but in this case it paid off.
You're not a very well educated consumer. At that point you walk out of the store and purchase your playstation 2 elsewhere. Or did you not know that it's available in about a thousand other places
Best Buy may not think the customer is always right, but you as a customer always has the last say.
The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
After a few more problems with the way BB treats its customers I don't shop there anymore. There is a Circuit City right across the street.
My family has had several great experiences with Circuit City. We bought an open-box big screen TV (for a good bit less than a new one), which promptly broke a week later. As frustrating as that was, Circuit City delivered a brand new one the next day, at no cost to us. When this same TV broke again a few years later (bad model, i suppose) we called in to have it serviced under the extended warranty. Also another poor experience at first, as the repairman seemed relatively clueless and couldn't fix the TV, but a few weeks later when the TV still hadn't been fixed, Circuit City gave us store credit for the full price (unopened box) of the TV when it was new. That let us upgrade our 4:3 standard resolution TV to a bigger 16:9 HDTV for something like $60 more.
As much as I hate those 'extended warranties', Circuit City's definitely turned out in our favor.
But sometimes it can work out for the better. About 4 years ago, I bought a digital camera from there for $299. I figured technology would advance, so I came up with an idea. I bought the 4 year service plan for $49.99. Last month, I went to my local Best Buy, told them that my camera was draining my batteries (the camera used AA batteries), and that it needed repair. Of course it wasn't exactly true, but they said they would send it to their service center or whatever. Sure enough, a couple days later I get a call from Best Buy, telling me that the camera is too expensive to fix, and that I have to come in and pick out a brand new camera for the same price as I bought the original. So now I got a nice new up to date camera. I must be one of those "Demon Customers" eh?
Freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices. -Theodor Adorno
About 6 months ago, bestbuy.com had a deal - buy the Tenacious D DVD, get a free four-song EP with unreleased tracks. Considering the DVD was selling for less than I had paid for their full-length CD (and it was a 2-DVD set at that), I ordered it, and decided to pick up the DVD at the store that night and have the CD shipped to me.
When I picked up the DVD, the spindle inside the case they gave me was broken, and as a result, one of the discs was so horribly scratched I couldn't play it. "No problem", I thought, "I'll just return it as a defective item and get a new copy." The customer service rep I dealt with said that because I ordered the DVD online, they'd have to void the sale, charge the price back to my card, then create a new sale, but the end result would be the same - I'd get an unscratched DVD. They even let me open the box right there to insure that the discs were OK. So I went home, new DVD in hand, and was happy.
A few days later, when I was checking my credit card online, I noticed the original charge from bestbuy.com, and an additional $17 charge dated the next day. I called their customer support, and was told that since I voided the sale of the DVD, they were charging me full price for the EP. I spent about half an hour on the phone arguing about Best Buy's return policies (she suggested that I should've shipped the DVD I picked up at the B&M store to them at my expense in order to get the replacement), then asked to speak to her boss. Of course, he was unavailable, but I got his name, direct phone number, and a promise that he'd call within 24 hours.
I never did hear back from the manager, but after leaving him a voice mail (where I used phrases like "never shop with you again" and "I will call the Better Business Bureau"), I got the ridiculous price of the EP refunded.
I've never had a problem with the staff at the B&M stores, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I buy from their website again.
1. Those damn rebate slips!
2. Constant pressure to buy useless extended warrenty, even when I tell them in plain English that I don't want it.
3. After purchasing a washer and dryer at Best Buy and paying to have them installed, after three attempts of coming to my house they were still unable to get the darn thing installed. (First time they broke my exhaust hose then proceded to leave a big stinking dump in my bathroom, second time didnt have necessary parts and didnt know what parts I needed to purchase to make it work, etc). In the end, I installed it myself with a couple friends.
This is what you should have done: Phoned the police -- watch all three get fired when the district manageer (or whoever) gets wind that they allow this nonsense in a store.
the day-to-day operations of a retail outlet operates this way bc the employees are marginal and generally poorly educated. The District Managers on the other hand (or, whoever is actually running the company) cannot statnd for this nonsense... imagine if you had phoned the police, then the local news station "i was just assaulted by two employees because i refused to buy an extended warranty -- and the manager refused to do anything, the police are on the way)
I bought a cell phone and T-mobile service from Best Buy a few years ago because a friend of mine worked there. I decided to buy the warranty which was 3 years for 60 USD. That was the best thing I ever did. About every year the battery would completely die and they would replace the whole phone for me because they no longer had that model in stock. They would actually give me full credit then let me pick out a phone, and for a little extra money, I could upgrade. So for somethings that warranty is great.
Yep. They are used to being able to gouge the customers. My father wanted to buy a truck, and unlike the rest of us, he has enough money he can just up and pay cash for it. He went to the local Toyota dealer, negotiated a price on it, and then the guy comes back "oh Im sorry, this model has such and such, its a little bit extra" ($1200!), so my father renegotiates, they shake on the deal again, the guy comes back, "I'm sorry my manager won't let me sell it at that price, he says it has to be at least..." At which point, My father says something like "fuck you" and the salesman looses the easiest sale of his entire life.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
We just ordered a table and chairs. The sales guy was really pushing the "fabric protection" crap that they spray on for another $45. I declined several times and he went ahead with the sale. We were sitting on a couch waiting for him to do paperwork when the store manager came by and said "whenever someone declines the fabric protection I have to find out why." We explained that we don't feel the need. I said I'd get it if they waived the sales tax (which they do for larger purchases). They ended up taking off 3 percent (tax is 6) which made it about the same price WITH the fabric protection. I spent the whole trip home trying to figure out why that's so important. My conclusions is the manager must get a bonus for selling this stuff and did so at the stores expense in this case - We paid the same price and got the stuff in addition to what we were willing to take home for that price.
At least you won. I purchased an open-box Viewsonic monitor years ago, with the promise (printed on the box in huge letters) that Best Buy would honor the manufacturer's warranty. Six months later, the monitor went Kaput. Best Buy no longer carried it, or ANY monitor that met the specs it had-- and refused to replace it. I was offered store credit only. Nothing they had would match the refresh rate and resolution of the broken monitor. I went around and around with them for months, finally receiving an email from customer service that "this was the last email I would receive on the subject."
While I'll admit to having bought a DVD or two there in the intervening four years, they haven't seen a dime for hardware or software. Which, as in your case, has been a significant amount.
The problem, though, is that there is no real alternative. When BB screwed me, I tried other stores-- but when my HDTV failed it took HHGregg (local electronics chain) 4 house calls followed by SIX WEEKS in the shop to diagnose and repair it, despite promising 1-week turnaround. They missed four promised delivery dates to return the set after that.
Circuit City hasn't done it yet, but I can't imagine they're any more honorable than the rest.
What do you do when ALL your choices are like that? Stop buying, I guess.
Yea but isnt a service agreement really a contract that you paid for and signed? Presumably you might not have purchased that plan had it not covered the screen?
Or was there wording in the plan you signed that says they reserve the right to do whatever they please? If not then you have a strong case for getting your way. If it did say they can change whatever they like, then the plan is enterly useless since they could just tell you they no longer cover whatever it was that broke....
Yea that's fine, but after 14 days (pertaining to computer related items) or 30 days (everything else), you will have to deal with the manufacturer DIRECTLY (calling someone, mailing it in, etc...). Best Buy will not touch it after their return period has expired UNLESS you buy their product service plan...
You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
Read my story. After being chased into the parking lot for failing to be searched by their door nazi and threatened with police action, Best Buy has guaranteed that I won't be back.
-- Mark Lyon http://www.marklyon.org
Actually, I did have one issue recently, but that was with the individual not the store. I brought a TV abck that had a large magenta spot in one corner. After waiting for at least an hour in line, and being passed up several times for people who hadn't waited as long, I finally made the guy deal with me. He plugged the TV in, ran a magnetic wand over the screen, then said "there, it's gone." It most certainly wasn't, if anything it was worse, and I said as much. He argued for a minute, then I just said "look, it's still there, and I want a replacement or a refund, period. I'll talk to someone else if I have to." Without another word he put it through, I went and grabbed another, and that was that.
That was one guy, I've never had a problem like that before, and it was extremely busy that day so I couldn't really blame him for being on edge, though there's not a chance in hell he didn't see the spot, so he was deliberately bullshitting me. Whatever.
I can't say there are no problems at Best Buy, but that's not a universal experience.
I was at the Mall recently, and was parked such that walking through BB made sense. The DVD racks are on the main aisle, so my wife and I paused to look through them. We saw a movie we had been wanting to buy - it was $22.95. We started to buy it when I noticed that there was a "holiday special" or some such - that same movie and another by the same main actor (we wanted that movie too) were in a pack for $19.95. So, save $3, get another movie. There was another such pack with 2 other movies we wanted for the same price, so we got it too.
While I would never go to BB before that day, I now start to think about it on holidays - just to check out the dvd bundles ;)
'McCuskey, an industrial chemical salesman, said he shares Best Buy's frustration with "extreme price shoppers" who are so low-cost oriented that it's tough to make money off of them.' This comment floors me. It's like they're blaming the customers for having low profits. As if they deserve to be more profitable.
The last Best Buy salesperson I talked to told me that the size of their employee discount was based on the number of service plans they sold.
While I wouldn't go so far as to call them "demon customers", I can understand that "the customer is always right" belongs to an earlier era...one where people seemed to have a bit more integrity as shoppers. I always thought it should be updated to "the customer is frequently right, but can at times be horribly misinformed."
Two things I've done about stores like Best Buy. First, whenever you return something to the store for exchange, mark in heavy black marker on the inside of the box what's wrong with it, the date and, if you're feeling altruistic, give a throw-away email address.
Reason? Many retail stores don't bother checking returns to see if they work (or not) as the original purchaser stated. They simply re-wrap it, and put it back on the shelves. If someone else comes behind you and purchases that unit, they'll see what you wrote (write BIG), and learn to never deal with that store again.
Also, if you left an email address, they can contact you to let you know what happened (and possibly thank you). I was the "second buyer" in that scenario - (thanks, GeorgeC!), and will never buy from that store again (local chain).
Second tip, ask the store selling purchase plans if you can take their "details" home with you -- don't purchase anything...yet. If they tell you that their "Purchase Plan" is only viewable after you actually buy something (as is the case with one major retail chain, iirc), you're getting "MS EULA'd".
- Jack
The Best Buy guy actually wouldn't sell me my PS2 until I listened to him rant about "a design flaw in the fans" that made the extended warranty a must have.
I loudly asked to be helped by someone else as soon as he wouldn't take no for an answer. I actually had to turn my back on him and go to another register. He was so red I thought he might attack me, so I turned and stared his "would you like fries with that" ass down a little.
He had just sucessfully sold a $39 dollar plan on a $139 13" TV/VCR to the people before us.?!?!
Reminds me of the time, during a family holiday a few years ago, BS'ing at Circuit City with my uncles and brother I made an offhand comment "Packard Bell is a piece of shit" as we checked out the computer section.
Instantly this sweaty redneck salesman (looked like the asshole from the EPA in Ghostbusters, remember that guy?) jumps three inches from my face and fairly screams at me "Son, ah'ma sellin' more Packards outta here ever' day than anythin' else, you know sumthin' ah don't !!!!!?"
Having this festering excuse for a human face suddenly thrust inches from mine was a shock to say the least. I couldn't believe it and launched into a basically spluttering cursing tirade. The guy started to try and put his hands on me and my other uncle, the kung-fu instructor had to back him away from me.
Eventually, I was able to compose sentences enough to (truthfully) tell the guy that I fix computers for a living, that Packard Bell makes the worst pieces of shit going, and that they would probably go out of business soon. I also told him a lot of other things about himself, his parentage, the store, and his future. I'm basically screaming at this guy and everyone around was stopped dead watching us.
Sooo, that was interesting. Another story of Circuit City fun is the one about the "$100 derisive DIVX multiple upsell attempt gone awry"
First off... here's something I usually do at Best Buy (when I'm not just going there because I want to buy "something").
:)
I go to BestBuy.com and find everything I want and order it for In Store Pickup. You pay for the merchandise online, an employee will walk around the store and pick out everything and bring it up to the customer service desk. Then they e-mail you saying your order is ready. You just show up at best buy, show them the printed e-mail and the card you used to purchase it and be on your way. This is *wonderful* to do at Christmas time. I love walking into Best Buy, walking right up to customer service and leaving while watching the wrap around the store line. And I didn't even have to find any of my items. Use it!
Last time I went to Best Buy I bought a logitech wireless keyboard/mouse combo that cost me about $100. I'm used to the first thing out of my mouth being a "no" once I hit the cashier. It went something like this (keep in mind I worked customer service at a store for about 2 years so I know what goes on).
Rep: "Would you like to buy the service plan for $10?"
Me: "No."
Rep: "Well I work at customer service too and I see these come back a lot and if it breaks you'll need the service plan."
Me: "No, if it breaks due to it being faulty you'll exchange it without the service plan."
Rep: "Well... some people find that the range isn't long enough on this product so you'll need the service plan to bring it back if it's not good enough."
Me: "No, if it's not good enough I have several days to make that call and bring it back for a full refund."
Rep: *blank stare*
I really don't get what he was getting at. From past experience in customer service I know I probably could have returned the keyboard and mouse to them covered in peanut butter without a receipt and gotten my money back and a $25 gift card. Being persistent and pleasant tends to get you results. I almost wanted to not buy the product on the basis that if it was that bad of a product I should probably get something else... although I've yet to have problems with it.
The only two things I do have their service plan on is my TV (the tube did go out and the model was discontinued so I ended up better off for it anyhow) and my digital camera because I bought the display one (which was discontinued anyhow) and since they knocked a decent amount off the price it made up for the purchase of the service plan. Plus the plan entitles me to new free batteries for 3 years after I got the plan and the plan was $40 and the batteries cost a good $30. I've already gotten one new battery. Both of my service plans have been useful for me.
Now to go place an order on the BestBuy web site to pick up after work...
Okay, we all know how annoying BB is about the PSPs, but, having worked there for extra cash a couple Christmases ago, I would like to speak in defense of the sales associates.
While it's true they don't get commission, they WILL get fired if their personal numbers don't look good enough, and the main consideration there is how many PSPs they move. Increasingly, the only people who can move those damned things are the ones who are willing to outright lie about them. I sucked at it, but it's either that or get fired.
So although associates are supposed to offer it 3 times and let it go, it sometimes gets belligerent if their numbers are looking bad. That's one response to customers who aren't willing to throw their money away. The other (that I reluctantly started using) was just abandoning customers who wouldn't buy one. If you're finding that you are being hot-potatoed from one associate to the next, it's because no one's numbers are good enough that day to afford selling you that naked laptop (BB makes almost nothing on laptops if you don't throw a bunch of accessories and the PSP on it).
It's an extremely high-pressure job, which can be terminated at any moment, so please keep that in mind when you go there.
Here's how you get around the mess, though: If you're buying computer products, don't talk to an associate if you can help it. Look around the department for where the item is kept, and if it's accessible, pull it from the shelf yourself and take it to the front. The people on the front registers don't have the time or the sales experience to push the PSP more than one time.
If the computer product is not accessible in the department, look above the phones and TVs in the right-back corner. If there are some up there, you can ask one of the TV guys to get it for you. They don't know anything about the computer stuff, and your sale won't affect their departmental or personal numbers, so they will probably just get it for you to get you out of the way.
And regarding rebates, I think someone else already said this, but PHOTOCOPY EVERYTHING. Keep your own copies of everything, because the companies need the originals. Keep accurate records. Neither BB nor the manufacturer is going to be terribly proactive about GIVING you money, so you very well may have to fight them.
And finally, my thoughts on the BB business model: It's fucking doomed. Fewer and fewer people are willing to buy PSPs and ridiculously overpriced accessories--the only things BB makes any money on. BB is going to have to find a way to make money ON THE ITEMS IT SELLS. I kicked ass at loading customers with every cool gadget under the sun, because I knew about every cool gadget under the sun. But then I had to switch from "Isn't this cool?" to "Now I'd like to talk to you about our PSP," and sometimes the customer would just walk. As the business model is set up now, that customer walking is not seen as a bad thing, because the store is losing money on them. But what the model doesn't take into account is that that person probably never shops there again. And tells his friends. BB is flushing their reputation down the toilet, and they don't see it yet. They used to make money with volume and low overhead, but they are increasingly raising that overhead with pretty stores, resulting in them having to find products that don't exist, but that people will fork over money for. It's a crazy system and it's doomed to fail. People go to a store to buy SOMETHING, not NOTHING. If you can't make money on what people come to buy, you're fucked.
But, as with most PHB's, reducing the figure in the 'revenue' column is always more painful than reducing the figure in the 'cost' column.
"Stop whining!" - Arnold, as Mr. Kimble
"Another irritation is that even with the extended warranty, you can expect to be without your item for quite some time if it breaks."
... ] .... That was the last time I purchased anything at Best Buy (except a $2 bottle of Pepsi). Since this is basically becoming 'Best Buy Sucks' I might as well go off on that tangent.
... 'no'. So my girlfriend gets a sitck of gum and a bottle of pepsi and puts us at $35.15. Ok.
... one of the empoyees at the store in Albany (Guilderland actually, Crossgates) actually called me a 'Fucking bastard' shortly after purchasing the LCD monitor (same day). My father took it as much more of an insult than I did. Which reminds me of how they tried to buy off my sister and mother (both parents are lawyers) with a N-Sync CD because they accused her of shoplifting because she was carrying my mother's bags out to the car (they actually pulled her aside and accused her because she didn't have a receipt ... which my mom had because she was still talking to the cashier after the card cleared).
We had two Nokia 8290 phones that broke half-way through the 3yr service plan--apparently a known problem. We still have them. Best Buy has actually refused to do anything about them because they are no longer a T-Mobile reseller. Their compromise was 'go somewhere else and buy a phone, we'll refund you the price of this phone'.
This was all well and good, except you have to realize the price for the phones at bb were with a contract--they wouldn't include that in the price. Also, one of the phones at been purchased using a combination of store credit (returned item and gift cards) and credit cards, so that it was only $70 in their system, unlike the identical phone that was listed as $135.
The third phone purchased broke just under the 3yr mark (a Ericsson T28w) and we haven't even tried to do anything about this one.
[ another side-note to the nokia story. their handsets are tied to the SIM card ID--you can't return the handset without the SIM. This was irritating as I had given my sister, who owned one of the Nokias, my old phone and she was using her SIM so we didn't have it initially when returning the phone. We called her up, she drove out, and then we found out they wouldn't even take the phone back
I bought a 19" ViewSonic LCD for about $1000 after Albany, NY sales tax. This was the same weekend that they introduced their 'customer rewards' cards. Figuring I'd make my money back on the card ($10) from what I'd get with the monitor, I picked it up.
Several months go by, the above phone situation goes down, I finally get the play-money they send you (I was expecting one of their debit-gift-cards) and swear using the money is the last time I'll ever go into their store.
My girlfriend and I go into the store, pick up SSX-Tricky and something else, total cost is just under $35. We have seven of these $5 certificates. Unfortunately they can't do a portion of a certificate, so it comes out to $3 or something like that. I ask if I can just donate the remainder, or something similar
She has to start over ringing it all up. When she starts scanning the certificates, none of them are valid (except the 7th which she hadn't scanend before, but does now to show the manager).
All in all, it took us over 45 min to check out. Had I realized it would take so long, I would have just skipped it.
Final side note
Yeah, none of my family goes back to that store, nor do several of my friends.
I must be a "demon customer." When you think about it, most often electronics are "want items" not "need items." This means that you can afford to wait for the really good deals and this is what I do. When the big day to buy the new electronic item comes, I'm up early and hit the store just as the doors open. I walk directly to the department and try to locate the item. If I can't find it I ask a salesperson where it is. If I can, I simply ask them to point me in the direction of it and I get it myself. I try not to get "sales person assistance" if I can help it. I then take my purchase directly to the check out and I decline any "service plan" that is offered me.
If a sales person pushes, I tell them in no uncertain terms that I am not interested in plans, accessories, or other things. If they push a second time, I tell them I will not be pushed and that I do not appreciate their interference. That always stops them. If they make a "final comment" I will either abandon the purchase or ignore them (depending on how bad I want it).
When I have to make a return, I try to be as perfect as possible. I save even the plastic and the tiewraps and put the package back exactly as it was when I opened it. I return the bag and even the plastic outer-wrap. I never make up excuses, if it quit working, I'll say that. If it didn't meet my expectations, I'll say that. If I am making a return, only rarely will I accept an exchange. If the return is not going smoothly, I will give the clerk two choices, either immediately accept the return or call the manager. If they call the manager, I will tell him/her there are two choices, either accept the return or I will cancel the transaction on my credit card. That always works.
As far as I am concerend, I am the customer. In a sense I vote with my money. I am free to spend it where I want, when I want. If you want my money, you will do it my way or I will go somewhere that they will.
I guess that makes me a demon customer and damn I am proud to be one. It is what makes good companies profitable and bad companies go out of business. Businesses need to compete for my money. They need to offer products at fair prices, provide a good shopping experience, and give great customer service or I will vote them off the island. I am a demon and am proud of it!
Actually, lying is perfectly fine, except in very specific proscribed circumstances, such as when you're under oath or something like that.
If society didn't have a high tolerance, and dare I say expectation, of lying, don't you think there'd be some sort of law against it?
You know, I started doing this in 1992 when I started college. This was before the BB days, but I went to a HiFi Buys (which subsequently became Tweeter) and bought a receiver. It was cheap, but they still offered the PSP... I declined, but then got the idea to just take that $40 or whatever it was and stick it in a savings account. So, for the past 12 years, for big ticket items like TV's and Laptops and other stuff that would suck to have to replace, I've declined the PSP, but put the cost of the PSP in that savings account. Whenever something has broken beyond repair, I've used that money to replace it.
Today, 12 years later, I'm SO ridiculously far ahead of the game. By simply self-insuring on breakage, I've managed to amass about $4K in that account (and a lot of it is interest).
Just think about all of the cell phones, TVs, appliances, CD players, and other crap the average person buys in 12 years... a PSP is usually about 25% of the cost of an item, so you can well imagine that can add up to a large sum. With a failure rate of around 3% (infant mortality excluded because it's covered under manufacturer's warranty), that's a gigantic profit...
Fuck 'em!
The last time I went into a Best Buy was a couple of weeks ago to buy a washer-dryer set for my step-daughter and son-in-law, who had just had a baby and couldn't afford it themselves.
I had already shopped around (without any salesperson help) and knew exactly the units I wanted to buy. When I got there, the salseman in the Appliance dept. was busy with a customer, but he acknowledged me within 5 or 10 minutes and promised to get somebody there to help me. He did not, however, page anybody or do anything else, he just went back to helping the elderly couple he was with. After standing there for about 30 minutes, I finally got fed up, went to the front of the store, and told the guy who guards the door that I knew what I wanted, but could get no help in the Appliance dept. He had to page 2 people before a manager finally showed up to help me. After all that, they were out of stock on the dryer, so I had to go to another store anyway.
I will say that the manager was helpful in locating another Best Buy store nearby with both units in stock.
But I ask, who is the "demon" here? Why does Best Buy think their salespeople's time is more valuable than mine? Not to me! I'm probably on their "demon" list because I ALWAYS refuse the ripoff "extended warranty". On the other hand, I usually already know exactly what I want and where to find it, so I very seldom require sales assistance.
But if this is going to be Best Buy's attitude, they can count me out as their customer. I'll go away on my own. Perhaps they'll find that policies like this tend to "throw the baby out with the bath-water" and are counter-productive. It should be obvious - maybe they should consult with Wal-Mart before embarking on this path.
Now, if only Fry's would come to Kansas City! The 10 or so Best Buy's in this town will all disappear overnight when that happens. Fry's would blow them away!
Thanks for bringing this up since I intend to buy an HDTV in the nxt 6 months and planned on getting the PSP (If I'm dropping ~2500 on a TV, I don't want to drop another ~2500 once the warranty runs out). I will read the extended warranty info VERY carefully now.
-truth
I had a steady B+ in my AI class until I failed the Turing test...
I was in some kind of weird mood, so instead of just saying "No", I said "I'll forego that opportunity, thank you."
She misunderstands. She thinks I'm saying "yes". She looks at my Visa and says "this doesn't look like a Sears card." I say, "It isn't. It's a visa."
She says, "oh, my mistake. Well, you got 10% off!"
I leave the store, all smiles.
3 days is more than reasonable IMHO. If people can't wait that long, they've got some serious instant gratification issues to deal with. If you're unsure about what you want, then go visit a brick and morter store to find what you want - then go order it over the Internet...or at least price compare. If you can find it $50 or $100 cheaper off the Internet, then it'd be very stupid to buy it from Best Buy...3 days waiting is well worth both the savings and the satisfaction of not buying anything from Best Buy.
Except sometimes the immediacy is definitely a more pressing need than getting the absolute cheapest price. Two cases in point:
1) my power supply went tits up one evening. At first I thought it was the mobo that had died (i'd been doing some upgrades, and nothing powered back on). Luckily, I had a "spare" system that, while the power supply was woefully underpowered for the amount of hardware in the machine in question, at least allowed me to to verify that I could power up the motherboard, CPU fans, and case fans. A quick trip to BB, and I had a new PS. Sure, I grumbled about it, but I was back online *that* *night*, without having to deal with the pain of being offline for 3+ days. Sure, I could have gotten a much better deal online, but, well, I didn't have a computer capable of GETTING online. And I had someone @ home breathing down my neck because online projects were going to be due in a day or two. So immediacy won out.
2) due to a series of near-comical errors and overreaction at work, our entire network was taken down, from the pipe to the interet, inward. We're talking 2 machines in separate offices weren't able to communicate, because the decision had been made to disable all network ports until things could be rebuilt. However, we still needed to move files (custom kernels and configs) about in the early bootstrap stages of rebuilding the network from the ground up. A few of us had personal USB keychain drives. They proved so useful (and such a bottleneck, due to demand) that we went out and purchased another half dozen, in order to speed up transferring data around. And a 120G USB harddrive. And a USB CD/DVD burner. Yeah, we could have waited, if someone went home and ordered several hundred to a couple thousand dollars worth of equipment online, and saved some money. But when you have that many people sitting around idle or limping along, "time == money" rings true. It was cheaper to pay the premium for the immediacy aspects than to "save" a few bucks.
In both instances, there were overriding factors involved, some arguably more justifable than others. But in both, a time vs value judgement was made, and both technically being "emergencies", it made sense to hit up BB. Granted, if it's something I don't absolutely *need* *today*, then there's no contest, I'll buy online in a heartbeat.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
I worked a return desk for a little under 2 years at a discout department store. That pretty much killed off any compassion for my fellow human, after cranky, whining, obnoxious people trying to return blatently damaged by themselves stuff.
Holidays, ugh. Aside for the personnel staff saying no one was going to get time off holidays off was just lame. Then of course, in the season of guilt that happens every December, every shopper seems to become horribly cheap because the neighbor 3 blocks away that they never talk to just sent them a gift and now they feel guilty for not first sending a gift.
All working retail tought me do to was return stuff, hit the right buttons w/ the low paid person at the counter. Demon shopper, me, probably, and I'm fine w/ that.
Of course, customer service in general is dead. The larger markets, and bigger chains can afford to blow people/customers off because they'll draw in enough new people because they are who they are (BB are you listening?!?). I live in SE MN, pretty much middle of nowhere MN (I get told a lot of the chains that "our stores in the Twin Cities have it"). There are some chains, and yes, a BB, that I try to avoid (no I don't need your help, no I don't need you to install it, no I don't wan't the useless, waste of money PSP, I'll get CDs and DVDs there, that's about it). Anyway, for a few years just about every store had a "Help Wanted" sign, meaning all the overly paid burger flippers could go down the street to another job and abuse the customers if they didn't like the current gig. At this point, customer service didn't exists, no staff at any chain store cared. Now that there seems to be a low-paid lackey for hire surplus, things are slowing getting better at some locales.
Of course, once the department gets the sense to leave you alone, when you really do need there help, you can't find staff. There's a reason I'm a good store shelf climber, since I can't find staff when I want them.
I have learned that the mom and pop shops in the city where I live are quite useful, helpful, knowledgeable and non-nagging. They know they can't afford to blow people off, and it shows.
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
There have been many, many court cases which establish the right to lie as protected speech under the First Amendment. Freedom of Speech includes the freedom to say things that aren't true.
Don't make me out to be morally deficient simply because our society is skewed. On the contrary, I'd say our society's tolerance and even encouragement of lying is a far larger problem than whether or not I personally tell the truth.
Take a look at the lies surrounding any of our nation's recent Wars (Vietnam, drugs, terror) and you'll see that lying is endemic to our very way of life.
Don't shoot the messenger, bro.
That usually works, but not always. Sometimes the loans are just simple interest (which means you can pay off early without any wierd costs). Other times the interest payments are front-loaded, so you get stuck paying the interest even if you pay off early. The old way banks did that was the "rule of seven" which mimicks the IRS' sum-of-the-digits rule to accelerated depreciation, but truth-in-lending laws in the US seem to have put an end to that. Nowadays you are more likely to see stuff like points or origination fees but those are easy to spot on the truth-in-lending disclosure summary. Sometimes you will see early payment fees (yep, that's right, early fees) if you pay more than, say, a year ahead.
Sales agents will do pathological math (conflating present value with the sum of the payments, etc.) to make it look like you can turn a profit on your car loan. An offense against the sacred purity of mathematics, I say!