Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.”
Maybe, if this was an isolated incident with Best Buy. But a quick search on Best Buy, Geek Squad, and Ripoff will get quite a few hits. I'd love to give someone the benefit of the doubt, but this is a bit of a pattern with them.
The margins on selling electronics are painfully thin (ask CircuitCity). Creating a misleading "oh but that's not how we meant it" as they sell low value for the money services is a common thread for electronics retailers.
Read the article not just the blurb....
"HD Guru called three Best Buy stores. After confirming each employee received training on 3D TVs and installation services, we asked them to explain the process of “syncing” the 3D glasses. We received three different but oddly similar responses.
Blue shirt one said the glasses need to be synced with the Blu-ray player. The second geek referred to the 3D glasses needing to sync to the player via the USB port within the glasses, an impossible feat as there is no USB port on the glasses. The third stated the need to acquire the glasses’ IP address to sync with the Blu-ray player. There is no IP address for 3D glasses; they have no connectivity to the Internet or network. The Samsung battery powered glasses “sync” to the 3D content wirelessly via an infra-red pulse emitted by the TV."
Best Buy has a consistent record of the same issue. How you choose to look at it is one of three things. 1. Their "experts" are worthless and don't know anything, 2. They are intentional trying to defraud consumers, or 3, they assume consumers are all retarded and wouldn't understand something explained to them in clear English. You can choose the one you want to believe. One or all of them are true.
"Great masses of people will more easily fall victims to a great lie than to a small one." -Hitler Question everything.
If it's not a conspiracy then there's no story, and if there's no story, then why are you here?
Now put your tinfoil hat back on and get in line with the rest of us!
We were promised cake if we just stand on this moving walkway.
Hold on, I'll be right back after I sync my mug with the coffee machine.
http://dilbert.com/2010-12-13
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
> He's a witch! Burn him!!
WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does he weigh as much as a duck?
Well, he SYNCS like a duck! Burn him!!
Best Buy is a multi-billion dollar corporation that can well afford copywriters. You can bet they don't make "poor choice(s) of words" when they're writing the fine print on their overpriced extended warranties.
To suggest that this was just a "whoopsie" is absurd. Funny that the "poor choice of words" costs the customer an additional $150. How often do you think they made a "poor choice of words" that was in favor of the customer. And believe me, if that ever happens, there's going to be one out-of-work employee.
Plus, this roll-out of the "3D" televisions is supposed to be one of the most anticipated product category introductions for them. Retailers like Best Buy are betting on a huge wave of "trade-ups" to 3D and they're counting on it saving their bottom line for years to come.
The notion that they'd make an "innocent" mistake that happens to mislead customers to pay an additional $150 stretches the imagination.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I hope this doesn't hurt the Geek Squad's reputation.
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...