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Best Buy Offers Bogus "3D Sync" Service
Token_Internet_Girl writes "Fewer than two weeks after Best Buy offered the first Full 3D HDTVs for sale in the US, its latest Sunday circular (3/21/10) promotes a Samsung 3D TV deal consisting of a 55" 3D TV, 3D capable Blu-ray player, 2 pairs of glasses, a Blu-ray movie and Geek Squad delivery and installation. The ad states the service includes TV and Blu-ray player set-up, connection to your wireless network and 'sync your 3D glasses for an amazing experience.' The package price lists the 'geek' services as a $150 value. The offer's only problem is that there is no such thing as syncing 3D glasses. They sync automatically." Here's Best Buy Corporate's response to this hilarity.
I don't think this was a deliberate attempt to defraud customers as much as it was a poor choice of verb. People use the term "sync" when it has nothing to do with synchronization. When you "sync" your smartphone you're not doing anything that relates to time, you're just copying data to be the same in both places. When you "sync" your Bluetooth headset, you're actually "pairing" it to tell it which phone it belongs to. When you press the "sync" button on your keyboard, you're actually "pairing" it again.
While you don't need to set a clock on the 3D glasses, you do need to ensure that the glasses can see the IR emitter, with a clear path between the emitter and wherever the user will be sitting. That's the actual service they're offering as part of the larger setup package. I'm sure the advertising people will hear this brushback and correct future mentions of the service, but they're only technically wrong, and using words that better communicate to the people who would buy a Best Buy home install than the technically correct ones... even if technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Clearly hdguru.com needs to sync their database with their httpd.
Best Buy Responds To “3D Glasses Syncing Service”
(March 23, 2010) We asked Best Buy’s media relations department last week why Best Buy’s Geek Squad offers a fictional 3D glasses syncing service? (link to our original story). Below is the corporate response.
“I wanted to address any lingering confusion about the characterization of services support in the Best Buy Samsung 3DTV offer that was advertised in yesterday’s (March 21) insert. We by no means intended to confuse our customers or offer fraudulent services. The offer is new to our stores, and our own employees were trained on it just this past week.
Let me clarify the services that are included with this offer. Geek Squad will:
1. Set up and connect your TV + up to 5 components (Blu Ray, Cable Box, Satellite Box, etc )
2. Add your internet enabled Blu ray/Gaming Console or internet enabled TV to your existing wireless network so you can access online content such as Netflix and Pandora.
3. Make sure your 3D glasses work – some solutions we sell need TV settings adjusted so that 3D glasses are enabled – there are both 3D and non 3D settings for viewing
4. Review and teach you how to use all of your new gear.
We have some customers who aren’t quite sure how the 3D glasses work, or that the glasses automatically sync with their new 3D TVs. So we wanted to convey that they can depend on Geek Squad to answer their questions during installation and set-up. There is no additional charge for this – and the Geek Squad 3D installation and networking services are included in the total price of this offer.
You know we’re as enthusiastic about 3D as you are, and equally committed to help educate consumers about how to get the most from this home entertainment experience.”
The last thing I need is for people to walk into my house and see me sitting on my couch wearing some goofy looking glasses.
You know how like... some things don't look as ridiculous if several people are doing it at the same time (like, dancing, for example)? Well 3D glasses don't change that. A whole theater full of people still look individually absurd in a way that their numbers somehow do not correct for.
The type of people that would pay someone else $150 to set up a basic home theater also likely don't know you need to "sync" the glasses to the TV. The fee isn't JUST to "sync" the glasses...they are just including it as part of the whole set-up package.
I rarely defend Best Buy, but I agree...there is no malice in this offer, at least no more than Best Buy would usually muster.
Living With a Nerd
...they don't tell you about needing to adjust the framistat (and the additional charge) until they show up for the install.
Several times. I thought that the corporate response was handled in a way as to detract blame from them, nothing more. It was still worth sharing that Best Buy as a company will try to trip up less savvy users into services they don't really need.
Sure baby, I'll give you my phone number...in Hex
Chances are someone in the marketing department saw this and added 'syncing' of their own accord. They saw a buzzword, didn't know what they were talking about and made the ad accordingly. I doubt this was intentional fraud, and their answer sets the record straight on that. As one version of the old saying goes, "never attribute to malice that which is simple incompetence". Hopefully best buy will learn and have someone who is technically savvy review things in the future. After all who hasn't occasionally seen something like a dual core 2Ghz chip advertised as 4Ghz or a system advertised as having 1TB of memory?
Man, if only bullshit was source of income. What a second, I feel a political career beginning!
My work here is dung.
"24K gold-plated connectors help protect the cable's optical lens to ensure consistent signal transfer"
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketfish%26%23153%3B+-+8'+Digital+Optical+Cable/8315147.p?id=1174694191675&skuId=8315147&st=optical
--
Here's how marketing people work...
They identify the features of a product, translate that into an advantage, then translate that into a benefit.
People buy benefits, they don't buy features (most people anyway).
So, if you have some commercial software package that zips the reports, it might go like this:
Feature: zip tool
Advantage: compress and encrypt
Benefit: Secure and quickly transmit your reports
In this case, they're trying to justify their Geek setup services:
Feature: 3d glasses delivery and setup
Advantage: not worrying about compatibility
Benefit: Sync your 3D glasses to your TV
Sure, it's not accurate, but marketing people don't always know the fine details of what they are talking about. If they did, they would be techies.
As programmers/developers/techies, we hate to deal in Benefits. They are so hard to quantify and define. We like to deal in features, which can be validated (it's there and it works, or it's not there or doesn't work).
If a pair is available. How many pairs do you get with the TV? If you have roommates who generally watch their own TVs, or friends who only come over infrequently, will you have enough glasses for them? Can you be sure someone won't misplace one or more pairs of them? I'm certain pretty much every time we used them one of them would go missing (my wife seems to like finding new places to hide things (completely unconsciously of course)) so I'll probably never get one myself, though I'd like one.
This type of thing has been going on for months, try walking into a best buy and buying an "on sale" notebook that doesnt have a $39 Geek Squad "optimized" sticker on it. I tried a couple months back when an Acer was on sale that I wanted for my son, after arguing with the sales guy who told me they were basically unusable without it I left. Instead of a notebook I walked out with frustration and a determination to never step foot in a best buy again.
Best Buy is the worst of all the computer/tv/tech stores I've purchased from. They charge for ridiculous 'products' and 'services' that are little more than outright scams. They have been indicted for some of them. Their prices are terrible, and they outright lie about matching others prices. This IS NOT your usual non-techy "I bought the wrong part" or techy "I know better than you" complaint. The complaints against Best Buy have to do with their criminal behavior.
http://consumerist.com/2007/05/best-buy-employee-confesses-to-scams-similar-to-ones-outlined-in-racketeering-lawsuit.html
http://bestbuyscam.blogspot.com/
http://digg.com/tech_news/Yet_just_another_Best_Buy_scam
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/11/04/best-buy-scams-hdtv.html
http://gizmodo.com/241220/best-buy-admits-they-scam-in+store-customers-with-secret-website
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-bar-tender/2009/10/lawsuit-best-buy-lies.html
http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2007/03/buyer_beware_best_buy_caught_t.php
Seriously, Best Buy is evil. Do not shop at Best Buy.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Oh man. You really blew the top off of that sinister conspiracy. And to think that the vile "neglecting to update your CMS's generic footer so that you end up claiming a copyright two years shorter than the one you actually get" cartel was about to really cash in...
Time for new competition.
Wait, wait, you need to paint the room matte black so those photons don't bounce off the wall and enter the wrong lens by mistake! That's why they make the screen border and all your home stereo equipment black, you know!
If the 3D effect isn't working, make sure the cable isn't kinked. (Like a garden hose, it causes data flow problems if the cable is kinked.) If you're using the component cables, they have to be rotated JUST RIGHT or it doesn't work. I know it's a hassle, but spend the time and you'll get the absolute best picture you can get!
*tips hat to parent poster
3D TV = Laser disc. 10 years from now we'll see these things sitting in goodwill and laugh our asses off.
Inasmuch as these aren't actual 3d displays such as this or this, but simply stereo displays, very limited single-perspective (same as 2d) "flat-image-per-eye" technology from about 1900 or so, it seems somewhat beside the point to complain about entities marketing installation with the word "sync."
The market has already looked at the jug, poured the koolaid in its mouth, and swallowed it entirely on its own. There's little point in claiming they didn't want any koolaid.
It's 3D if the display offers more than one viewing angle, composite or not. Or to put it in a way that even the most uninformed consumer can grasp, if a one-eyed person (or a person with one eye closed) can view the object in the perspectives we expect from the real world, it's actually there to perceive. That's something worth characterizing as 3D display.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Wearing the glasses upside-down or the wrong way round would cause incorrect left/right shutter sync and resultant loss of 3D effect.
Anyone that would buy a TV from Best Buy must have limited intelligence, so Best Buy thoughtfully provide the glasses-sync service where they permanently epoxy the glasses to your head in the comfort of your own home. This value-for-money service prevents later user-error so ensures users will always get the full "amazing experience".
This helpful service is already under attack from other tv manufacturers as they have identified it as anticompetitive due to the implicit vendor lock-in following installation.
I hope this doesn't hurt the Geek Squad's reputation.
Seriously -- you have to be on glue to buy shit from that big box store in the first place.
A 3D movie is intended to be an immersive experience. Not background entertainment. If you want to use it that way, just turn the 3D off.
I, for one, am sick of people treating movies this way. If you're not going to commit to the screening, then fuck the hell off, and don't disturb the people who are watching the movie.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Threats don't generally work as well as you'd think. A threat to call the police may invite you a quick exit from the store.
I'm just satisfied that I bought their loss leader without any upsells, which means they lost money on the sale. :)
The one I got didn't come with Bluetooth, and they wanted something like $60 for a USB bluetooth receiver. I went over to CompUSA when I was done, and spent $20 on one. :) (and yes, I'm in one of the markets where CompUSA still has stores)
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
I, for one, am sick of people treating movies this way. If you're not going to commit to the screening, then fuck the hell off, and don't disturb the people who are watching the movie.
I'm with you.
It is entirely reasonable to throw on some movie in the background, I guess. I probably wouldn't do that, I don't like having distracting narratives running in the background while I'm trying to do things, I prefer music, but whatever, plenty of people seem to be okay with that.
If you do that, you, duh, wouldn't turn on the 3D.
The 3D is when you dedicate 2 hours of your life watching a movie. You turn the lights down, you get a snack and a drink, you get comfortable, and, oh yeah, you put on the glasses and push the 3D button. That's how I watch movies, minus the 3-D part. Hell, that's how I watch TV shows.
If you gain more people during that time than glasses, well, you probably paused the movie anyway, and you push the 3D button while it's paused and take off the glasses. It's not rocket surgery.
That said, I'm probably not buying 3D anytime soon. I watch maybe three movies a month on my TV, the rest is TV shows. And even the movies tend to be old-ish ones.
There's a rather idiotic break-even point on 3D TVs. I mean, if, every time you wanted to watch a 3D movie, you instead went to a theater and saw it in 3D, it would take years to break even....and that's assuming the experience is equal and you get your blue-rays for free.
Of course, the same thing can be said about any early-adopters of home theaters...but at least those had the advantages of at least having a bigger pictures, even if you were watching analog broadcast. But a 3D TV isn't going to show 99.99% of the stuff out there even slightly different than normal, and stuff isn't going to be remastered off original film into 3D.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
What is this, the assburgers guide to annoying retail workers? I expect you people to be dorks but holy shit, at least pretend you've heard of society when you choose to enter into it.
Honestly, I don't. To me its funny because I know better. It reminds me of the "egress" trick PT Barnum played on customers, granted in his circumstance it was more to get people to leave an overcrowded museum. Honestly what ever happened to caveat emptor? Its an optional service. Do some damn research and for god sake don't pay for it. If you've done the research to get such high end equipment go the extra mile to see what is necessary to configure it. What ever happened to informed decision making? If I'm laying out that kind of cash you can be damn well sure that I'm going to know every single piece of equipment down to whether or not the individual ports are gold plated. Bravo Best Buy, while its scheister-iffic, I applaud your idiot tax.
Go on, then, and when the police arrive tell them what lead to you calling. You'll be lucky if YOU aren't charged with wasting police time. "Officer, I entered these private premises to buy a product for them, but they attempted to sell me more than I was looking for. Rather than leaving the store, I called 911."
Sounds like a Social Adjustment Disorder...