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Best Buy Chairman and Founder Resigns Ahead of Schedule
lightbox32 writes with the news as carried by MSNBC that "Best Buy's chairman and founder Richard Schulze has announced his resignation from the board of directors Thursday a year ahead of the planned transition at the helm of the struggling retailer. The resignation of Dunn and Schulze come after Best Buy reported a quarterly loss of $1.7 billion after same-store sales dropped 5 percent." This sounds like a bad omen for people who get their electronic fix there. For all its imperfections and limited range, when I'm looking for computer stuff new, at retail, and in person — meaning it's not at the Goodwill and I need it right now — I'm usually glad to be near a Fry's location. What brick-and-mortar stores make sense where you live?
Good move.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I dunno, could we see a renaissance in local computer shops as a result?
If you're lucky enough to live near one. They provide the "I need this thing right now" fix, while matching NewEgg's prices. Their sales people aren't perfect, but they're generally a tick or two above the TV salesman at Best Buy. You can't buy a washer/dryer combo there, but I count myself as fortunate to live near one. They're always busy, so I truly hope they're making money.
-Arthur
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules
Answer: any that aren't Best Buy.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Maybe if they did not obsess over metrics written by some MBA by hounded customers on geeksquad protection plans and credit card sales there would not be any drop. I went to a job fair yesterday to get some extra part time work under my belt and all the retailers are doing this. At JCPenny you can not be a cashier unless you have experience selling credit cards at 25% to poor people and that is the only metric that follows.
With 1 trillion in debt people are no longer consuming because of shady deals like this are strangling their customer base for those who are dumb enough to use them. Geeksquad is a ripoff and it is so annoying when all you want is a job.
The upper management are really clueless and they make sure all mice and keyboards are wireless only because they can then bundle geeksquad protection plans. IT is just an insane customer experience when you want a wired gaming mouse and they can not even carry it.
http://saveie6.com/
I can hardly wait to be gouged by local owners rather than corporate owners
OR I'll just buy stuff online (which, from my understanding, is what killed BestBuy in the first place)
If we loose BB, all I have left is Target, Wal-mart, Staples, Office Depot and of course the INTERNET. My last 3 laptops came from Staples. Good Prices, Good Selection and NO pushy salesman! AND no LOUD music.
Never trust a man wearing a coat and tie!
What brick-and-mortar stores make sense where you live?
Not many honestly. We don’t have Fry’s here in Nova Scotia (Atlantic Canada). A basic rundown of the geeky stores in my area:
- The source (basically circuit city/radio shack) go there if you want to have a teenager try to sell you a big screen TV or a high end power cord made by monster cable.
- Future shop (basically best buy but the employees are on commission which makes shopping their support annoying). They are basically the place to go for cables (they have monster cable too... but they also have reasonably priced stuff), memory sticks, or if you really need a hard drive.
Those are the “mainstream” ones. We also have some smaller local shops:
- Greenlyph / robotnik ... small hole in the wall computer shop. Very shallow inventory. Rarely have what you want in stock.. so they have to order it for you. Sometimes worth it to get a case or other heavy item through them.. but for the most part may as well buy online. Greenlyph is also really bad when it comes to getting back to you on parts coming in. They actually lost my business because of this. Very annoying to call for an estimate on when something might be in and finding out it’s been sitting there for 3 days.
- Jentronics – This is the one positive one on the list. Local electronics (resistors, diodes) shop. Great people who know their stuff. More expensive than digikey or mouser... but I still tend to shop their first. This is how you compete with the big online guys. By accepting you can’t beat the prices or selection and focusing on the service. They don’t try to up-sell me there... in fact they’ve down sold me a few times (“that’s overkill.. this would work”). I go there because I _enjoy_ the experience of browsing the isles and talking to the staff there. I avoid future shop because I can’t walk down an isle without 3 commission hungry kids attacking me (and then when I find something.. they want me to check it out immediately so they get credit for it..).
Thankfully, we have a Microcenter in the area. It's more computer-centric, but that's usually what I'm shopping for.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Here's an idea that could definitely save these retailers.
People need entertainment, right? And they want something they like, right?
We'll hire a bunch of college kids, call them the "Media Squad" and have them review movies, video games, and music, and recommend them based on each customer's particular tastes. By sheer coincidence, they'll recommend things most that are brand new, and stuck with a high markup. To prevent the kids from getting any silly notions like recommending Hulu or other things we don't make profit on, we'll give them sales quotas.
What could possibly go wrong?
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
I don't go to Fry's often due to their return policy.
I've had far too many instances of them blaming a defective product on me and wanting to charge me the restocking fee.
The item will have the security/warranty tape on it as an indicator of tampering but they will say I took it off and broke it, then put a new piece on. BB is no questions asked pretty much.
Also BB is MUCH better for browsing for newer movies. Fry's has a bigger selection, but with them so cramped you can't just browse.
I put on my hat, replace my wallpaper with a high res picture of the brick wall, and head off to newegg.com.
I hope to see worst buy die in flames. Terrible company, terrible business practices, terrible prices.
Probably not because they have to compete with the Internet too. If the highly-efficient Circuit City or Best Buy could not do it, it's doubtful some mom/pop store could do it.
Small stores might fill the same roll as 7/11 does (quick gratification for purchases needed immediately), but will also have the same higher prices on goods that 7/11 has.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
"I continue to believe in Best Buy and its future..." Schulze said in a statement.
followed immediately by "Schulze also said he was exploring options for his 20.1 percent stake in the company." and an accompanying article from here
Looks like he's getting out as much as possible now.
Hurray for Microcenter?
Exactly. I ran up the street to the local convenience store to get some milk once, big mistake. One day until the sell by date and 150% the price at the grocery.
Thankfully, I have Microcenter in my city.
.. pa-ra-bo-la, pa-ra-bo-la, 2 pi R, 2 pi R, where's your latus rectum, where's your latus rectum, 2 pi R
I think Best Buy is just another victim of the low low margins on TVs. As a store selling TVs it's future is grimm.
Anecdote is anecdote, but I have never had an issue returning stuff to Fry's, My volume of sales is pretty high, they can see it when doing the return and im sure that reflects how they handle my requests. My only issue with Fry's was when i returned something as defective and I saw the kid put it in the "return to shelf' bins. I had to remind him that I was returning it as manufacturer defective.
Good-bye
We dont have Frys or MicroCenter. Just best Buy Walmart, Target, Sears. Cone are Circuit City, Compuware, Ultimate Electronics ...
He's angling for Mitt Romney's VP Slot!
It's the only explanation.
Why should Schlutze stay to the bitter end? It makes sense to get out now. Especially if he has a good exit deal. He still owns 20% of the company, and is "exploring options" for unloading it.
I wonder if Zuckerberg will ever come back from his honeymoon. FB stock is in a screaming dive (it just dropped through $26.50). Revenue per user is down. Traffic stopped growing in mid-2011. A new study indicates that 80% of Facebook users never, ever buy anything from a Facebook ad. This would be a great time for Zuckerberg to leave and pursue other interests.
(So much for using users' personal information for ad targeting. There's getting to be a consensus in the targeted advertising community that the only really valuable info is what the user has previously purchased. Amazon and eBay have such info, but Facebook does not.)
Micro Center Though the only thing I regularly buy there is blank optical media as the shipping costs offset the frugality of buying it online, unlike many other things.
Probably not because they have to compete with the Internet too.
The Internet doesn't have a showroom that lets me touch the keyboard of a laptop or smartphone before I buy it.
I'm one of those people who eschews chains in almost all of my shopping, but still I've not been tempted in many years to "go local" when it comes to tech because it's the exact same thing as online but more expensive.
You could do a lot worse than check out Milwaukee PC. Reasonable prices, knowledgeable staff. Even if their website does suck. ;)
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
Here's my order of preference:
1. Local computer shop, few dollars more, but great service, and great at building customized solutions for me.
2. Microcenter, about 15 miles out of my way, with nearly everything, however, untrained staff and horrible wait in line.
3. Best Buy
Best Buy wasn't always so bad.
Circuit City was poorly managed and loaded with debt. It is not the internet per say, but rather management losing their focus. BB had its doom when it acquired GeekSquad. Since it was a ripoff and such a high margin they strong armed their managers into making sure it was bundled with every computer since customers would have to use it anyway etc.
Then the warranties could only be serviced at geeksquad. Then components were geeksquad insured. Then the cashiers were required to meet quotas, now BB wont even sell gaming keyboard and mice because they are not wireless which means no geek squad protection. Even their car audio and home entertainment installers are called geeksquad and are pushed. These are not real computer geeks
Now they sell things people do not want because they can bundle geeksquad, customers get hassled as employees need to piss people off just to keep their jobs, their greed makes them sell expensive things so you are more likely to buy a geeksquad protection. Their credit cards are a terrible deal too and they are hitting on those.
They lost what they are known for and that is great products at a reasonable price. Metrics can ruin many companies and CEOs who chose other lucrative markets devalue their assets. They are a retailer and not a computer shop.
http://saveie6.com/
Fry's and Microcenter.
Bestbuy? What do I need them for again?
Best Buy is the last place left in my area where I can possibly find any computer parts or techie stuff locally. Their selection is for shit and their prices are often ridiculous (god help you if you're looking for cables). But when I absolutely need something TODAY, they're the only place to turn. If they go out of business, all I've got is Staples (and their blu-ray selection sucks).
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
I don't like Best Buy. They are overpriced and their selection sucks. Fry's on the other hand has had a great selection, good prices, but their customer service sucks. I can't imagine it would be that hard for some investor to create a similar model to Fry's and offer them some competition. If only I won the lottery ;)
At odd hours, Best Buy and Future Shop (same store, actually).
Otherwise, Canada Computers.
That's about it. If Best Buy goes bust, Canada will have no nation-wide electronics chain at all (well, at least not a box store chain, there will still be the ghost of Radio Shack now "The Source" or "Bell Store").
could we see a renaissance in local computer shops as a result?
Best Buy's selection and markup were already bad enough. I can only imagine the piss-poor selection and crazy markup in a low-volume little storefront.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
He was pushed out of his position because the board uncovered an affair he was having with an unknown woman, and didn't want to be embarassed by the scandal. It has nothing to do with poor performance, which was projected and expected.
- Posting anon for very obvious reasons
Why on earth are you buying anything at BestBuy? They charge $30 for an HDMI cable. The only stuff that makes sense to buy locally are things that are so cheap that it doesn't make sense to pay the shipping on them. But BestBuy price gouges on the very things that might get me into the store so heavily that it's usually cheaper for me to buy the cable from newegg and get next day air shipping. A few weeks ago my wife lost the cable for her iPod, so I stopped by Bestbuy... they wanted $20. So I went to walmart: $5 (almost paid that) then I checked amazon and got it for 50 cents, free shippnig.
Now, when I walked out of BestBuy, angrily I might add, I had to drop a mouse pad, some speaker wire, and a book light that I had almost impulse bought. Way to go Bestbuy. I could have spent about $20 at your store, but because you decided you wanted to make 1000% profit on a 2 foot cable you're going to go out of business instead. Congrats.
There aren't many physical store where I'd go for my electronics needs, with the exception maybe Costco, the Apple store and a handful of stores in the NYC area. The rest over-charge and are staffed by feckless incompetents. I've gone into Best Buy, and like Circuit City or CompUSA before them, always had the impression that no one, including management cared about offering any kind of service or value. Walk into those stores and there's this persistent sense they're trying to scam people. It's something your average consumer can sense, numerous little details, and sometimes big ones, all rubbing them the wrong way.
Having worked with clients on the other side of the process, companies carrying product in these stores, it's evident they're also being screwed in much the same way. They've got all these little schemes, payment structures and whatnot for guaranteeing shelf space. And even then you're banking on employees actually investing any effort into keeping shelves neat and stocked.
It doesn't take a genius to see that the American retail model has some serious problems. Thinking back a decade or more, even before I knew what I know now, I could see that it was only a matter of time before these stores were out of business. What's surprising is that Best Buy has stuck around this long. They're losing money hand over fist, but they had the money to spend on a tacky commercial featuring big name internet entrepreneurs, playing up the same selection of mobile phones everyone else carries. Just think about it, they're so incompetent that they couldn't even capitalize on the failure of Circuit City and others.
Just like when Circuit City went down, they're going to blame everyone but themselves. Circuit City's differential for years was that it had commissioned salespeople who were actually knowledgeable and gave a shit. Then they pulled their commissions, and when the economy started to falter, they died. They then turned around and blamed it on the recession, when everyone knew that their stores just sucked. So is it with Best Buy. In smaller markets, Best Buy is the only electronics store in town. You can count on walking the store and seeing many of the shelves empty because the merchandise is not in stock. They pay the salespeople diddly squat with no commissions, so you can count on having to browse the store yourself with little to no help from anyone. The only time you do get help is when you checkout the cashier will try to sell you an extended warranty that you don't need. Everything is overpriced, and most of the items they stock are of inferior quality.
I don't think anyone will ever try it, but here's an idea for how to run a store:
1) Hire people who know technology, and pay them adequately/treat them well to work the floor. Keep track of how much time your average customer walks the store without anyone offering to help, and work towards reducing that time.
2) Don't insult your customers with insane markups on things like cables, or with bullshit warranties, credit card offers, etc.
3) Instead of offering a wide range of choices with many of them shit, offer choices that someone has actually vetted as working properly, and keep them in stock. Don't waste the consumer's time and money with having to buy crap. In turn, you can expect your loss from returned merchandise to go down.
4) Make it a pleasure to shop your store and I might actually go there. Right now, it's a better experience to shop online. I can get reviews of products, narrow down my selection to the best possible one, and have a pretty good idea of what I'm buying. Much better than wasting time browsing some store. This is before considering that shopping online is actually cheaper. If when I went to your store I saw the same salespeople who had offered me good advice on other purchases I had made there before, guess what? I'd keep coming back because I'd value their input. The prices should be fair, meaning only a slight markup over what I could get online + shipping,
Gonna have to call bullshit on this one. Have you ever noticed the absurd markups at Best Buy? Even the one location mom n' pop shops can beat their prices.
When I bought my GTX 680 I looked at Best Buy. Turns out Best Buy doesn't sell high-end graphics cards (or any high-end components, really.) Then I checked NewEgg and Amazon -- both were sold out. Then I went down to my local shop, and they not only had it in stock, but their price was the same as NewEgg.
tl;dr: Best Buy was always a joke for computer components, and their selection and prices are both easily beatable.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
The Internet doesn't have a showroom that lets me touch the keyboard of a laptop or smartphone before I buy it.
Smartphones don't have keyboards anymore, perhaps that is Best Buy's problem. You just need to run your finger along a plane of glass before a purchase now.
As for laptops, you now have two general buyers:
1) People buying a Macbook so they already know what it feels like.
2) People hell-bent on buying the cheapest damn laptop and so who cares what it feels like? It feels cheap. That is the point.
If Best Buy were at least the store that had cables I needed on occasion I might go there sometime, but they couldn't even do that right.
Personally I think they should transform the whole store into selling Kinect only games along with paid hourly rentals of same (that you play at the store) and turn the rest of the place into the widest selection of iPad covers ANYWHERE!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Did they inspect his bags before he left?
That's a good point however with more and more states pushing for Internet Sales taxes, (California, Texas etc.) the Internet price advantage will not be as aggressive. In Texas, they're starting to collect sales taxes from Amazon as part of a deal, meaning with shipping and taxes etc. would a local store be able to compete more in terms of price plus the benefits of being able have a tactile experience as well? I don't know, but for a long time the "Internet Sales Tax" holiday has done quite a bit more in terms of electronic store consolidation than anything. In my area we still have Fry's but I hate their service and return policy (as mentioned as well by other posts) and Micro Center is just another Fry's, so what's left?
Also, Best Buy isn't disappearing but yes they also have to change their business model a bit. The whole return policy has been troubling for years, i.e., labeling people who return items as bad customers etc. That's one of the reasons I won't shop there, the ridiculous policies that somehow limit my choices and minimize me as a customer. With Amazon for example, if I want to return it, I take it to a UPS place, with a pre-paid label and it's done. No hassles no putting me on "Bad Customer" lists etc.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Local stores are nice, I miss Action Computers on Lawrence Blvd in Sunnyvale, CA (next to HRO). Mainly used PCs but they used to have bins of various cables, connectors, accessories, boards, cases, housings, etc, etc, etc. and for very competitive prices. And they used to have old computers, got a Pentium2 PC for $30, loaded up Win98 OS and works great for programming old stuff (i.e. two-way radios). But lately (appears from new owners) have streamlined the store by getting rid of a lot of crap so the place is much cleaner. Problem is along with the junk they no longer stock, they also got rid of lot of misc stuff. I used to stop by to "stock up on supplies." It seemed every month or so I'm short of a VGA, s-video, serial, or a "special connector" of sorts. Now, I don't really bother and go to Frys or Microcenter to get stuff (new, meaning money that will go to China instead of staying here).
mfwright@batnet.com
There are ways around stores that refuse to issue a refund on a broken item:
- Put the item for return in an envelope w/ delivery confirmation.
- Mail it back to store.
- Wait 30 days and then call the credit card company & file a dispute that you returned the item but never received a refund.
- CC company issues refund.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
"If the highly-efficient Circuit City or Best Buy could not do it, it's doubtful some mom/pop store could do it."
In most cases a smaller business will run more efficiently, have less overhead, and complications. The big business gains the advantage in costs by buying much larger quantities than the smaller stores.
BTW: I have never seen anything efficient in CC or BB.. Is CC even around anymore? They closed up shop in NE/NW Ohio.
...with Prime. It gets here in two days. One if I'm REALLY desperate for $3.99. I used prime way more than enough to get my money's worth. Not to mention they threw in free streaming to sweeten the deal. I was happy as can be to watch the Best Buy near my house go under. I went in the get a micro USB cable and they wanted something like $10. Staples was even more ridiculous, which is why I went across to Best Buy. But really, $10+ for several inches of cable.
And that doesn't even include the horror stories I have heard people tell me about Geek Squad rates. Inane. It _might_ be worth it if they were any good, but again from the stories I get regaled with I'm betting not so much.
There is the whole supply and demand thing. If you jack up the price enough they will go elsewhere or just stop buying. It's seriously Economics 101 and they don't get it. Their version is we demand money and you supply us with it; it just does not conform with reality. No, no pity for them. I'm glad the store near my house closed, so I could point and laugh. And if/when Amazon gets too greedy and someone else takes their place I'll point and laugh at them too.
It is my understanding that, in broad strokes, retail locations are forced to accept smaller margins on pricier electronics and make it up on accessories and services.
If somebody is dropping $500 on a graphics card, or $1000+ on a TV, or what have you, they are likely to comparison shop. Even a few percent markup over the next-cheapest guy will look sufficiently large, in absolute terms, to drive the customer away. The retail guys have to suck it up and then try to sock you for a few hundred percent on that displayport->DVI adapter or gold-plated Belkin USB cable on the way out...
(Also, while the quality can be variable, the better class of local PC shop is is a hell of a lot better as a resource for non-techies than the geek squad, and sometimes easier to find than a convenient nerd relative...)
I've been burnt by BB in the past with their service. Since then I have not purchased a single item from them. Having said that they where one of my few choices. BB, Office Max and if I'm up for a drive ... Fry's.
I might have to find a local shop to start a relationship with. If I can find any with personality I like.
Hurricane Island Outward Bound
OB
What brick-and-mortar stores make sense where you live?
ok you asked. for the bay area, my 2nd home (it seems) is halted (hsc electronics). excess solutions, weirdstuff, maybe some other lesser known bay area surplus electronics stores. but a special place in my heart for halted; great people and just a fun place to browse.
now, you won't find new chinese made-to-export gear there. this is a 10-50 year old surplus equipment store. lots of dust, resistors and ic sockets all over the floor aisles, etc. the same clerks seem to have been there for the past 25 years or so (about as long as I can remember going to the store).
its about the farthest thing I can imagine from the blatant consumerism crap you find at worstbuy. I dread having to buy new things, these days. I know the quality (inside) will suck compared to the old school stuff I am used to and grew up on. I do NOT relish having to even set foot in a worstbuy or even a frys, for that matter.
I'm not their target audience (worstbuy) but I lost interest in things 'new' since they are built progressively worse and worse each year. knowing how they should be built and seeing what you get for your money, it just makes me a little sick.
I escape to the past in the surplus stores. and I avoid 'the malls'. but you asked, so I answered.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
As they say "posession is 9/10ths of the law." I too can attest this works, but I did it differently:
- Try to return the item nicely
- If that fails, leave the item on their return counter along with a copy of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
- Take a picture of them both on the counter.
- Record a video of you leaving.
- File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
- Issue a chargeback. (I did this via mail I think.) In the chargeback letter, include the pictures, the letter, why you returned it, and a copy of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
Perhaps I was overdoing it a tad. In my case, it was a small vendor with a "NO RETURNS" sign (also took a picture of that). Like the other poster, it took 30 days but they sided with me. It was a small vendor, so maybe a larger vendor would fight it?
I live in Nashville, TN, and the only physical stores we have are Best Buy and Radio Shack. Our former CompUSA franchise was the high-water mark of sophistication before it went under.
Last week my brother and I traveled to San Diego on vacation, and since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to stop by Fry's and see what the hubbub was about. It's the frickin' geek Promised Land. I felt like a 10 year old kid wandering around the starship Enterprise.
Why can't we have nice things too? Atlanta has *2* Fry's, *2* Microcenters, and a TigerDirect. Nashville has precisely bupkis (BestBuy equals zero for any value you plug into it).
MBA's love to cluster because they assume their competitor sees gold in them thar hills and it's harder to be blamed for a bad decision when your competitor is doing it too. But doesn't it make sense to open a store somewhere else, someplace where you would *BE* the market?
I think Best Buy is dying, mostly because they can't offer me (and lots of other people, it would seem) any reason to buy from them..
But the guy is retiring. That a) means diversified holdings are a lot more attractive now that he doesn't have a hand in running the company and b) stable, fungible assets are higher priority holdings. Even when you're quite wealthy, it sucks to wake up and find out that your paper worth took a huge drop because most of it is a single equity holding run by someone else.
I don't find the comment to be particularly interesting. At least, not when balanced against multibillion dollar losses. That's far more interesting and indicative than a retiring guy not being interested in maintaining an investment.
action moved. they are no longer next to the subway hoagie shop (yes, that's right, I said hoagie. deal with it!) but are next to st. johns burgers; the place that takes 3 hours to get past the lunch line.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
BestBuy failed and continues to fail because their business model continues to be based on selling to people who don't know any better. When the market moved to a point where the person walking into BestBuy is more intelligent, more informed, and more able to gather correct information from the Internet than they get from the 18 yr old sales clerk, BestBuy became irrelevant.
Newegg.com and Amazon.com, even Walmart.com provides better selection, better information and better customer service. The question isn't why BestBuy's sales dropped 5%, it's why didn't it drop 25% or 75%. It's only a matter of time.
You only got a refund because the store decided not to fight the chargeback.
Visa, MC, Discover, and Amex rules say a store can have a "no returns" policy as long as a sign is clearly posted.
You were supposed to return the item to the manufacturer.
ABT in Glenview, IL is a good place to get TV's / home theaters / home appliances.
and they care about the workers there.
"What brick-and-mortar stores make sense where you live?"
None. I learned about PCs without access to worthwhile local stores and now I could care less. I don't even know what local stores offer. I don't need them.
I can find out everything I need to know online before shopping, which also means I don't need to spend the time and fight the traffic and burn expensive fuel to go moon about a brick-and-mortar computer store.
Newegg and other online vendors have been very good to me over the years. For used parts, there's Ebay where bidder feedback is vital to the seller. Brick-and-mortar stores could give a fuck about that.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
I agree with the previous poster about GeekSquad really hurting the company.... but at the same time? I have at least 4 Best Buy stores in my area and still found them convenient on occasion, even completely ignoring the GeekSquad aspects of the business.
What I think really contributed to their decline was an overall floundering.... a loss of sense of who their customer really was and what he/she really wanted.
For example, one of our stores here (Crestwood, Missouri location) slowly cut back their selection of products over the last couple years. First it was their computer section shrinking, eliminating multiple aisles of software titles. (Somewhat understandable with so much going to online download purchases, but still premature, IMO, when there were so many Windows PC users who still wanted a one-stop place to view all the latest game, educational or application titles and grab one to go, with no hassles.) Then they started eliminating all the desktop PCs, trying to only sell portables. Next, the home audio section shrunk, and even the little corner of the store for car audio got to the point where every time you asked about an installation accessory, it was something they "could order for you" but never had in stock. It's abundantly clear that they selected their inventory completely by some sort of computer generates sales metrics. If X number of units didn't move in Y amount of time, they stopped carrying it. Eventually, it turned them into a giant Blockbuster-like store, full of console game titles, movies and music, a bunch of cellphones, and an appliance section along one edge of the store. It still has a fair bit of TV stuff in the back corner opposite the car audio too, but let's face it. Flat panel TVs just aren't a hugely profitable item anymore. The market is pretty much saturated so people only buy to do the occasional upgrade or to replace a broken one, and the biggest innovation they're pushing is 3D; an option of questionable real value. It's no wonder this is one of the stores on their slate of locations to close!
At other, larger locations? They've tried everything from selling Segway scooters in-store, to having mini music stores within their stores, a la Guitar Center franchises. (And I'm sorry, but Best Buy has NO chance of competing with Guitar Center! Not only do they lack staff with music knowledge, but they'll never have anywhere near as good a product selection, and likely not as good of pricing either. Why even try?) And that pathetic attempt at selling boutique high-end AV gear under the "Magnolia" name? No .... just, no.
What originally made Best Buy stores memorable for me were the early days, when everything that was returned would be put back up for sale as an open box special with a 20% discount or so, and clearance tables were constantly full of managers' "red tag" sales of various items. You never quite knew what they'd have to sell you on a given trip, because they just seemed to randomly get ahold of any cool electronics gadget they could -- but they still managed to keep each section of the store well stocked with items that fit the category. If you walked in with a gift card, you walked out buying something cool, whether you had any idea what you wanted first or not.
These days, they're so bad at being a computer shop (GeekSquad service is obviously a joke, but on the retail side, you can't get anything remotely "hard to find" --- so basically just the same staple items like keyboards/mice and 1TB SATA drives that WalMart sells), they may as well bail out completely, or start doing it right again. Prices are far from being a "best buy" too. Their very name is just a reminder of their former self.
I recently saved just over $200 on a new HP laptop thanks to BB's price-matching policy. It's my only shopping experience with the store and I couldn't be happier, although I'm well aware of the chain's poor reputation (especially Geek Squad, which I steered clear of during my visit). I received fantastic customer service over the phone when I called to confirm that the policy applied to the online retailer I was using to compare prices, as well as in the actual store where I paid for and picked up the laptop - both reps (both female, FWIW) were extremely courteous and gave me prompt, accurate and CONSISTENT information.
It was honestly one of the better customer service experiences I've had. There's an exception to every rule, I guess!
Better stay current on further development, the second hand store might soon have cheap khakis and blue polo shirts.
http://milwaukeepc.com/interns.asp
The goal is to help the intern get valuable hands-on experience in the IT field. and to do work for customers with 0 labor cost.
highly-efficient Circuit City or Best Buy
Really?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
hhgregg just as bad and 100% commission with draw that can get you fired just for being in a slow store. Having to work long hours does not help as well have to buy uniforms at a high cost.
http://www.franczek.com/frontcenter-Employee_Fired_Jury_Service.html
I'm very rarely in the position of needing something RIGHT NOW, but when I am, I have a Fry's in Renton. For cables: monoprice.com For everything else: newegg.com I hope Best Buy rots in hell.
Costco
So you are comparing prices on an item BestBuy doesn't carry?
Do you listen to yourself?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Ah, Action Computers is gone? I don't live in CA anymore, but I used to go there.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
and maybe Staples for simple stuff. I only use Best Buy for stuff like my 55" Sony Bravia, etc. I've been burnt a couple of times buying desktop computers there, and don't get me started with Circus City (mis-spelling intended).
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein
Dallas has *4* Fry's but only one Microcenter. Things were nice when I was there. There are a million people here in Jacksonville, FL, and we don't have anything better than BestBuy and CompUSA. With all the corporate offices we have here, you'd think we'd have enough techies to warrant something better....
meh most of the identity is lost when the homophone is created. And your giving me too much credit. My spelling is just terrible. Nothing to do with TV shows or comic book characters.
The first I heard about them opening here was the widespread news coverage of them closing down!
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
I'd like to think so. Here in Canada Best Buy hasn't been around that long but Future Shop (which is now owned by the same company) has, and they have been treating customers like crap for decades. As a result, a lot of people started going to the computer shop which used to be just up the street from my place. In fact, so many people started going there that they opened a new location. Then they opened another, and another. Now they have 14 locations in BC and Ontario as well as website where you can buy any of their products online, or check stock quantities if you prefer and in-store purchase.
These days, Frys is pretty good. 12 years ago? a figuratively fucklong nightmare of inquisition.
Of course the really issue to look at is not how difficult it is to return stuff, but 'Why are you returning so much stuff.?'
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
huh, I just talk to the manager and they take care of me in no time.
But, hay making up stories about carrying contract law in your pocket and making videos is fine to.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It IS totally possible for a small mom-and-pop to compete with online. In the Portland Oregon area, there's a locally-owned store called ENU that is basically just a warehouse with a counter. They sell all kinds of computer parts, generally OEM white box, at prices that are competitive with online when you factor in shipping costs. You probably can save a couple bucks if you shop online, but if you're buying parts that you might possibly have to return, or you need something right away, you really can't beat a store right in your neighborhood. Their prices are competitive with Fry's Electronics, and since I live almost 30 miles one way from Fry's in Wilsonville Oregon, I save even more if I factor in the price of gas.
ENU has two stores in the area: Portland and Hillsboro. Check them out at http://www.enuinc.com./ I don't have any affiliation with them, I'm just a long-term satisfied customer (they've been around for at least 10-15 years and I've been shopping there all that time.)
BB here in Canada is not bad I'd say. We have their evil twin brother Futureshop here with pushy sales on extended warranty and monster cables. I've stopped shopping at FS and only go BB here.
When a manager yelled at me because I was some "dumb kid" for trying to return a defective canon printer I vowed never to return and held to that vow.
My Mac dev testing machine died a few months ago, and I needed something ASAP as a replacement. The closest Apple store would have been closed by the time I got there, so I went to the Best Buy a mile and a half from my house.
I had to wait for over an hour to speak to the one person in the store that was authorized to sell me the Mac. Ready to drop 3k+, and made to wait over an hour. Following that wait I had to answer a Mac "questionnaire" from said individual. I was livid. I wanted to walk out. I wanted to throttle them all to within inches (multiples of 2.54 centimeters) of their lives. Unfortunately, I absolutely had to ensure that my app was fully functional in Safari on a Mac.
After the Roku release, their inventory system claimed they had 3 Rokus in stock. I went in every day trying to see if they'd found it, one of the salespeople even told me they'd even set up a pizza-pool for whomever was the first to locate it. It never happened. I gave up and drove the 30 miles to Fry's on the fourth day.
For me they are simply an electronic emergency store. I'd rather visit Wal*Mart, and if I never never set foot in a Wal*Mart again, it'll be too soon.
CircuitCity at one time wasn't badly managed. But they did switch to bad management, and got rid of their differentiators (knowledgeable employees) to save some money which set them down the path of irrelevance.
Is there anything at Best Buy you have to get "right now"?
Hay is for horses.
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In Deee-troit we have a Microcenter which is where I go most of the time. It IS geek central. The prices are pretty good, the selection is great and it is busy as h*ll all of the time. But.... I recently bought a Roku, a couple of iPads, a Nano and a Shuffle at Meijer of all places. They are a general merchandise discount department store based out of Grand Rapids MI. Think Midwest Super W*Mart. They keep sending me 15% off coupons that are good for all of their electronics plus there is stuff on sale all of the time and the 15% still applies. Try getting any kind of discount on the Jobs stuff most places. Plus it's a department store so no high pressure. Three caveats staff expertise is mixed, you need a Meijer credit card to get the discount and I'm sure part of the profits go to fund the founder's family's statewide political campaigns. They keep trying to be the Michigan Governor or Senator. So far unsuccessfully I'm happy to say. Like their store, their politics... not so much.
Posting anonymously for a number of reasons. My mother bought a Mitsubishi Diamond series 46" flat panel from them in a large-market Magnolia at BB. She was pressured into the extended warranty just to get the discounted price marked on the display model she bought (it was mounted high on a wall out of reach so it at least seemed innocuous). About 3 months in, it's kaput. She lives in a podunk BFE town and contacted the nearest BB for service. They insisted on replacing it with the lowest-end Sony of similar size (but of course missing a number of features the Mitsu had). Store manager told her "take it or leave it", no option for negotiation or arbitration. I called Mitsu on her behalf and they sent their local rep to repair the set within a week, replacing the LCD itself. Given Mitsu's stellar handling of the situation, she wrote a letter to the manager and cc'd the regional managers updating them and stated that it would be a "cold day in hell before she'd darken their doorstep again". No response, no care. In the year elapsed since, for her geek purchases she's made the 6-hour drive to that same large market area and purchased from Office Depot (3 laptops for family) and Micro Center (Desktop, laptop for her, tablet, assorted accessories, network hardware). That much trouble just to avoid BB.
Been nice knowing ya... not.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Maybe the returns grief is specific to your local store? I've shopped heavily at the Fry's in Wilsonville Oregon and both Fry's in the Phoenix Arizona area for at least the last 15 years, and all of them have never given me grief for returning anything for any reason - and I returned a LOT of stuff over the years. In fact that's one reason I shopped there so much, because I knew I could return the item with no questions asked. Never once was I charged a restocking fee - this is the first I've ever heard of Fry's having a restocking fee in fact.
In "rural Hawaii" (meaning "any island that's not Oahu") my choices are WalMart, OfficeMax or RadioShack; if I shop online, Amazon is the only vendor with reasonable shipping policies, so I don't buy at NewEgg even though they have better selection.
Circuit city was ran by morons.
Walked into store and find the iriver I wanted on website is priced higher in store. store manager refused to match the price. I stood there and ordered it on my phone and told the moron sales manager that I'll get it for that price anyways from his store and walked over to the pick up counter to get the iriver for $25.00 less.
They would have had me buying other items with it, but they lost that sale. I waved at him and said, " you lost an additional $100 accessory sale because you were a jerk! have a nice day!"
Best Buy is now run by the same morons, so they are soon to hit the "everything must go" sale soon.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Circuit City is till on line and selling but prices are still over the TOP
Terrible employees, bad policies... Sure they have some things you might want, but you hate to go in. Both companies completely lost sight of their customers and became more like used car salesmen.
Best Buy doesn't get any of my money if I can help it. It's not just the prices, it's everything about how they operate. Look at Best buys website, looks more like a corporate back end and you NEVER find the lowest priced items like memory in stores. If I have to mail order it anyway, why would I bother with them? And why would I pay $30 for a 6 foot usb cable? Are you nuts? Just because you can take advantage of impulse buying, doesn't mean you can conduct highway robbery and expect no one to catch on.
We have a Microcenter an hour away, but otherwise it's a matter of figuring out what other store might carry what we need for a reasonable rate or we just simply mail order it.
Ever tried WeirdStuff? The selection is a bit more random, but it's not far from Action (just head up Lawrence and go over 101 until it turns into Caribbean, it's on the left).
Schulze currently has a 20% stake in the company and is "currently exploring all available options" including, presumably, liquidating them. What really bugs me about that place is the way they push the extended warranties. Grossly overpriced. I know enough to avoid them but many people that are less tech savvy are taken in by them. If I want to check out tech stuff in person (vs. online) I go to Frys. Best Browse has lost it's way. Reminds me of Blockbuster.
We have a small town local computer store, which carries all the usual overpriced peripheral stuff, available on the Internet for 1/10th of the price. I think he's doing reasonably well.
They also deal in second-hand computers, sold at a very decent margin I'm sure.
If you think about it, most domestic PCs get bought from Dell, are loaded with crapware and succumb to the malware by year 3, rendering them so slow that they're unusable. This guy is buying those PCs, cleaning them up and re-installing the factory OS, without the crapware. For many people, it's almost better than a new machine.
He is genuinely adding value, since you can bring it back to be looked at, under his warrenty. The customer has built a relationship of trust with the vendor, and nobody (really) loses out.
He builds bespoke PCs too, so he always has the upsale and upgrade potential.
Circuit City sucked balls. Slightly less than best buy maybe....
My one big experience with them.... THEY COULD NOT SELL ME A PRODUCT!
Monitor blew up. Off to the stores. i must have one NOW!
Best buy everything was out of stock and they could not sell me a floor model.
Exact same deal at circuit city.
I'm running around town with a handfull of CASH trying to buy a monitor. You know who had one? The tiny little pc place with one location.
Best Buy failed and is and will go down even MORE - Have staff who know what they are talking about - End the big Sunday ADS - End sales - START ever day prices LOWER -- Drop prices - Sell in volum YES that $1,200 washer and dryer is NOW = $900 every day - that HP computer for $900 is NOW - $600 every day! They can come back if they cut back on crap = ads - sales staff who do not know nothing or pretend they do! Cut TV ads - sell in volum - it can be done and if they do not do it SOON Best Buy as we know it will be gone! End the 400% mark up and SELL thousands of washers and dryer and HD TV set - move to 2012 NOW Best Buy or go by way of See Yeah................. Wish we had a Fry's - I buy from them on line at times and free shipping still bests Best Buy! BB make the changes SOON.......
and as soon as you left they put it back in the return to shelf bin
Uh... we live in tennessee. That's why we can't have nice things too.
People are generally nice here. And that's about it.
Infastructure kinda sucks. (tva anyone?) Our roads are a mess. People are generally lazy overall. Things get done damm slow in tennessee.
The politicians are kind of insane as well. And it's very very dumb down here overall. Liquor store would be a good idea. Electronics store... not so much.
It is nice down here tho. And warm.
But after living here for 6 years, i can understand why other places are a better option when it comes to profit and return on investment.
I was set up by a lokel yokel business with my first box back in 1993. His patient training got me past the point of playing games and into actually developing a new career in IT. I'll always be grateful to him for that.
even easier than writing stuff down, just use one of the many barcode scanners
Provided that you're already spending $360 per year extra for a data plan, and provided that your phone's camera is autofocus. These sorts of stores tend not to have public Wi-Fi with which to use a camera PDA (such as an iPod touch 4 or a Galaxy Player), and the barcode scanner apps tend not to work with low-end devices with fixed-focus cameras.
If only all of bestbuy would go away things would be much nicer.
There was a day when they werent too bad and they were an ok store, but ever since circut city going out of business bestbuy has become shit buy. Prices, products availible, customer service, company policies, everything has gone right down the shitter. Ill never shop with them again.
I fucking hate that company and gamestop. I wish them both nothing less than complete and total bankruptcy.
and spoiled children try to justify their actions like that. that doesn't make it any more legitimate.
I've never had any problem returning things to Fry's, 12 years ago or now. Even when it's my mistake and I admit to it, as long as I ask for store credit it's pretty much "OK, that's cool". (Maybe they'd hassle me more if I asked for cash back, I dunno.)
My main issue with their return policy is that often you'll go to their stores and all the items on the shelf will be returns at a microscopic discount (often less than 5%), and you never want to take a risk on a returned Fry's item because it's a total crapshoot. (On the other hand, if you have time to waste, it'll be easy to exchange or return...)
I assume you are speaking of the Fry's off of I15 near Mission Valley? Yeah. That place was awesome (don't live there anymore). You should have seen Clairemont Mesa Blvd before 2005! Dozens, possibly hundreds of small stores all selling parts of different sizes, qualities, and prices. It was to die for (to turn a phrase).
I agree about clustered stores. It always baffles me when I go to visit relatives and friends and they do not have a Frys-like store within 500 miles. Sometimes, a Best Buy or Staples will be within 100 miles, but just wow! That is a LOT of revenue to throw away and it is likely one of the biggest drivers of internet purchasing. I would really like to know where the majority of the stuff bought on the internet gets shipped to. My guess for American addresses is that the majority of revenue comes from areas that are not properly served by decent electronics stores such as Kansas, New Mexico, Iowa, etc.
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
MicroCenter can do it. Yeah they have some overpriced stuff (I never buy cables from them) but often they match Newegg and Amazon for price. There is always something on sale. I'm picking up a video card from them tomorrow. It's not the specific one I want, but it's the same specs and gets good reviews. Same price as Newegg. Sales tax is just the price of having it tomorrow: "free" shipping is only free if you don't need something right away.
Anyway, the key behind MicroCenter's success is not putting them everywhere. My city has one MicroCenter, and 8 or 9 Best Buys. There isn't enough room for that many big box electronics retailers who push high margin items when people know they can get better deals online, where there aren't dumbass sales staff who burn them by pushing crap they don't need.
24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
"What brick-and-mortar stores make sense where you live?"
When it comes to consumer electronics, really none of them. Every brick n mortor consumer electronics store is loud, disorginized, littered with unknoledgeable staff who ignore you, or worse swarm you like hungry wolves, item cards which give you less information than a half paragraph during a google search, and fuck with you on price.
about what killed Best Buy. It's convergence. I can get any cable I need at Walmart. Why? Because There are only 3: USB, ethernet & HDMI. There are some off balls, but not enough to keep a man employed. For those there's Newegg. What's killing Best buy is there's less and less electronics stuff every year. Pretty soon you'll have a tablet and a TV screen and that's about it. Heck, if this gigabit wifi stuff works well enough then in 5 years the only cable will be power cords.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
If it's store policy, it's store policy. Live with it. Frankly, it's not worth it to the employee who is getting paid $8/hour to go out on a limb by breaking rules that were beat into them during orientation. If it means breaking policy, the employee would much rather keep his job then help you out. If you don't like it, complain to a manager at the store who isn't afraid of losing his job by breaking a rule.
Did you miss the news a couple years ago? Circuit City went bankrupt and liquidated.
You're saying sales are bad.. yet Fry's has *several pages* of ads in the newspaper basically every day, and a ~8 page section that prints twice on the weekend (used to be once a weekend, now it's Fri & Sun, the times I've checked the same content). ..and most of what I get at Fry's is on sale -- hard drives and the video game on sale of the week.
Do you know anything about Best Buy *at all*?
Disclaimer: I am a Best Buy employee... and I work for Geek Squad. I have for a year and a half.
Geek Squad is the only thing keeping this company afloat. Before you laugh, read on...
Before there was Geek Squad at Best Buy... There was the Best Buy Performance Service Plan. Before there was Geek Squad Autotechs, there was Mobile Install. All this shit you despite so much existed before Best Buy acquired Geek Squad (Or, as the joke goes in Geek Squad culture, "Geek Squad acquired Best Buy.")
The only difference is that Best Buy purchased a company full of passionate people who love to help others and completely shit on the brand. Next time you see a Geek Squad agent at your local Best Buy who doesn't know shit about any of the products in the store, it's because Best Buy management is in charge of hiring people in the stores. The Geek Squad supervisor ("Deputy of Counter Intelligence") still has to answer to store managers in blue shirts, and often store managers promote their salesmen to Geek Squad job codes because they'll make more money there.... even if they don't know shit about computers. So no... Geek Squad didn't ruin Best Buy, Best Buy ruined Geek Squad.
I know many of the guys who work at Corporate for Geek Squad and they are exactly what Slashdot nerds would want for Corporate Agents. They are extremely strict about client data privacy, about licensing the correct tools (and the Geek Squad MRI Technical Tools team are amazing guys and create some of the best internal Windows repair tools around). However... next time you read an article about some Geek Squad goon reading clients' email and installing pirated software on a laptop... remember, the management in charge of the store are in blue shirts, and THEY hire and manage the people who end up in Geek Squad Precincts. Geek Squad Corporate unfortunately has little power in the world of BBY. There have been rumors of changing it so that the Geek Squad supervisor doesn't answer to store management, and answers to the USO (USOs are basically home base for in-home and business Geek Squad agents) instead. However, that's just a rumor at this point.
But if it wasn't for what Geek Squad brought this company, they would have gone down the shitter with Circuit City years ago. However, if BBY doesn't turn things around soon, we will be following...
You need to stop voting Republitarian, and get the rich to actually pay the same percentage of taxes that we all do.
Not to say the dem's don't fuck things up either, but at least they're not the birthday cake party.
And even the Liberatarian CATO Institute's research says: "Starve the beast is a failure.".
You only got a refund because the store decided not to fight the chargeback.
That's probably true.
Visa, MC, Discover, and Amex rules say a store can have a "no returns" policy as long as a sign is clearly posted. You were supposed to return the item to the manufacturer.
They can have the policy, they just can't enforce it in this case, in my state. The item was not what they advertised it to be. So I believe it failed the implied warranty of merchantability, at which point the store must take it back. MD Code Comm. Law 2-314
I don't know what geeksquad is (haven't been inside a Best Buy in a very long time)but I thought it was just a trademark for the techs, sort of like Apple Store Geniuses. No?
What does this have to do with wireless peripherals?
Am I totally wrong about what geeksquad is? Is it .. something like Bluetooth, but a Best Buy proprietary variant? That's hard to believe, but that's how people are talking about it.
People are also talking about it as though it's some kind of extended warranty... and I don't get the wireless connection there, either. You can't sell extended warranties on things that attach using cables?
i am not mocking; I genuinely don't understand.
I got a broken case about six years ago. When that couldn't be returned I vowed, and stuck to never shopping there again.
It's because your area is poor and uneducated. There isn't a Fry's in Haiti, either.
Where I live (Anchorage, Alaska), we have more local shops than national chains. In fact, Best Buy is the only national chain left since Comp USA closed down a while back.
Unfortunately, all of the local shops insist on charging crazy prices for the hardware. Stuff like, CPU's at the original MSR price, two years later. I want to support local guys, but I'm not going to get ripped off just to do it.
It's also got ties into the UCC, and common law.
If someone sells me a toaster that does not toast, it's no different than selling me a computer that does not compute, a cable that does not conduct, or some RAM that does not remember.
There's so many different angles on it that it's almost meaningless to discuss them, but simply: If I trade them money for a widget that does X, they owe me a widget that does X. If it turns out that they cannot supply such a widget, they can return my money instead, and we'll both move on to other things.
IANAL, but I've never been unsuccessful in returning (or simply exchanging for something else that Actually Works) any item, ever.
Kid-proof tablet..
And I tell them why I am mad.
And I tell them to tell their superiors, all the way up, that I am mad and I will do everything I can to avoid doing business with them in the future.
We have to stop being sheep for this bullshit, otherwise it will just get worse and worse.
Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have to check them out. For the neglected part of Northern Illinois, some of those Milwaukee PC stores seem a hell of a lot closer and easier to get to than the stuff in or around Chicago and its nearby western 'burbs. (Not a big fan of tollways with traffic from hell and possibly overpriced parking if downtown, and lugging what may be bulky and/or expensive goods on Metra just doesn't seem like the best idea. Venturing north into "Cheese-head-land" is soo much easier, even if it covers the same distance.)
Those guys should buy some ads on WIIL or other radio stations in the area. I think they'd be surprised once people find out where the stores are.
There really is a somewhat large gap between Chicago and Milwaukee given the population density in regards to this particular service. If you did a poll, you'd probably find the majority of people into computers primarily shop via mail order, even if they'd honestly like to check stuff out or do a "gotta have it now" kind of purchase. Not like Fry's or Micro Center or similar is paying any attention though.
With no real computer stores, there's Target, Office Max or Office Depot, and Wal-Mart. Best Buy still occasionally has a little bit better selection but it's likely not that big a loss if they go. Still in the "meh" territory, but better than nothing and good for those things like hard-drives or power supplies. And I honestly can't say Radio Shack, as they haven't counted worth squat for years now. (Pfft, maybe they're good for getting the CR2032 CMOS/BIOS battery, but that's about it.)
Of course there's still some random small Ma & Pa stores in the northern border counties, but those seem pretty much hit-or-miss when compared to bigger chains. Given the selection usually available, you're still better off shopping online.
...a $5 cable for which he can pay $45.
And for peace of mind, he can add an extended warranty for just $17 more....
I seldom purchase from Fry's myself, but anytime I've had a return it has always been taken care of quickly and without issue.
/* TODO: Spawn child process, interest child in technology, have child write a new sig */
Their credit cards are a terrible deal too and they are hitting on those.
I disagree. Credit offers can be great if you're smart about using them. Personally, I love my BB credit card. You get no interest financing for 18 months, and the last computer I bought was online through the BB Marketplace and I still got the financing deal. Here's my simple two-step method for not getting stuck with a the "terrible deal interest." 1. Get irst statement. 2. Set up automatic payments to pay off the computer before the 18 month expiration. It's that simple.
Make love, not reality television.
Everywhere I've lived I've found a local computer repair store with better prices and service than BB or Staples or any big chain. I live in CT right now and around here it's PCW computers. They have intelligent people who don't bug you unless you ask them a question, and they sell high quality individual components. I don't know how the repair services are at these small stores, but it can't be worse than Geek Squad.
A few months ago I tried to set my Dad's computer up for wireless, so I went to BB for a standard PCI wireless card. They had absolutely none. I asked a salesperson if they had any, and he goes, "here's a USB one." He said USB is just like PCI, except it's on the outside of the computer. I explained that the computer has a lot of PCI slots, so I didn't want to waste a USB port on it. He goes, "computers don't even come with PCI slots anymore." I told him thanks for his time, I'm going to Staples. The guy at Staples had no idea what PCI was, and when I explained that it's a slot inside the computer, he couldn't believe that I'd actually take a cover off the computer. So I went to newegg and just ordered one.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
I'd love to see a Frys or Microcenter in Maryland.
Last week I went to 6 stores, including Staples, Walmart a few small computer shops, and even a video game store, looking for a mid-range video card and had to fall back to an overpriced card from BB. I felt so dirty.
Online shopping is really the only way to go here.
I have had the quite the opposite experience with Fry's. They've never refused a return and there have been many.
is the same business model that is going to eventually kill BB. Circuit City used to have commisioned, knowledgeable employees. However, they were slightly pushy, and after CC went non-commisioned, expensive. BB had anyrandomteenager who didn't know anything, BUT they didn't pay them diddly so had better prices. People learned to use the internet to research products, and then would go to BB for purchases. This left CC in the lurch. Now, people do their research on the internet...and then just buy their too. Fry's is the only shop that might come out unscathed, and that's only because they still sell components. However, that didn't exactly save CompUSA so we shall see.
Oh yes, they never refused, but they made sure to try and charge me the restocking fee often enough.
Yep. All we have really other than worst buy here for a halfway decent selection of electronics is a microcenter store, and segregiously expensive mom &pop stores, so it's mostly online orders for me already as no brick and mortar locally matches the selection of places like newegg and others not to mention prices are much better online until it comes to large and/or heavy item shipping costs.
I bought a $500 video card from microcenter a year or two ago and the salesperson was trying to sell me on a $100 warranty. The funny/scary part is he mentioned that even if the card was subtly sabotaged, I could get a free replacement. I didn't bite because I have ethics and the card is already warranted through the manufacturer.
The bigger a business becomes, the more risk-averse. Chains are pretty big businesses. And you can't blame them too much; leasing, or worse, building a new location is a significant investment.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
Well, that's almost a sentence.
Theres 3 bestbuy's all within 15 min from my house, and i still refuse to go to them, i actually would rather take the 1 hour drive to the only Microcenter near buy because they usually always have what im looking for. Bestbuy is way way way too overpriced, they had some good deals but its usually on stupid stuff (tv's, sound systems, cameras) i never went to bestbuy for anything computer related, i used to go there just to look, but when i saw they wanted 199$ for a Radeon HD 5770, which is maybe 59$ on newegg, i just walked out of the store and dont ever want to go back. Plus their employees are all just brain dead, or at least the few around me seem to be that way. Geek Squad is another rip off, My primary job is a computer repair technician out of a small local computer store, all of our prices are pretty reasonable, but we have a chart that shows us compared to geek squad. If you cracked your laptop screen and its out of warranty/no accidental coverage, and you go to best buy, well first its about 150 for them to just look at it, which they dont, they just ship it off to texas, when it gets to texas they give it another assessment, where they tell you its going to be about 300$ to get it fixed.. ON TOP OF the $150 you already spent for them to "look at it". Where i work we do all the work in our shop and the average 15.4" LCD is about 170$ installed. Another thing that really turned me away from geek squad was for some reason i dont know why and i have asked them before and no employee will tell me (prob because they have no idea) but say you need a re-install of windows on your computer. Well off the bat geeksquad wants 180$, PLUS they wont even reuse the copy of windows you already paid for when you bought your computer.. instead they make u buy a new copy of windows, they install that on your computer AND they dont even give you the disk that you just bought! I honestly could care less if bestbuy goes under, they lost me as a customer years ago.
The Roseville Fry's had a lot of empty shelf space when I was there last month. This means they are not restocking the shelves when inventory is depleted. Anyone see this at other Fry's? I noticed the dwindling volume of LED flashlights while looking for an LED Mag Light and lots of empty shelves over by the external hard drives.
>>>huh, I just talk to the manager and they take care of me in no time.
You're assuming the manager is not a dick. I've run into them in various stores. Example: At Walmart I returned a $10 CFL pack that did not work. The manager refused to refund my money. So I had to call my credit card and they said *per the contract walmart signed* with the credit company, they have to take back the item.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
You're assuming the manager is not a dick. I've run into them in various stores.
In all of your "run ins" with "dick managers", there has been one constant. You. And given your posting history, I find it far more believable that you were the dick.
...when Best Buy is wiped cleanly and permanently from the face of the economic playing field. I only wish those executives who ran the company so badly could be prevented from ever having a position of power that could cause another company to inflict such damage on customers.
Best Buy needs to die - and Fry's should expand nationwide, as they are an actual technology retail company even through their floor employees suck just as bad as Best Buy's - so at least the displaced grunts would have a good chance at a Fry's
Probably not because they have to compete with the Internet too. If the highly-efficient Circuit City or Best Buy could not do it, it's doubtful some mom/pop store could do it.
Small stores might fill the same roll as 7/11 does (quick gratification for purchases needed immediately), but will also have the same higher prices on goods that 7/11 has.
A mom and pop store has an advantage. While their rents may be the same per square foot of space, the overheads (salespeople, managers, etc.) drop substantially. Many small mom and pop stores join buying groups. They pool their purchases to get discounts. They also many times ask for 24 hours to deliver the computer you see on the counter. And yes, the M&P stores do have much lower overheads, personal and persistant service. You know they (s/w)ould be around when you need them.
Actually, no... I don't think I was confusing cause and effect, at least in this situation.
My point is, all of those failed experiments at taking on markets Best Buy wasn't a good fit for cost them serious money... Money they would have better spent keeping stores well stocked with desirable goods for their existing customer-base, even IF those goods took a little longer to move off of shelves.
That and they lost sight of the fact that value/budget minded consumers were their core customers. They thought they could just wave a wand and "upscale" things, to attract a more wealthy demographic. Sure, that's a nice demographic to have as your core customer -- but you don't just tell everyone else to "screw off" (by making the "Reward Zone" program less useful, raising prices across the board, eliminating the ability to buy open-box goods at discounts, etc.) and then try to convince discerning shoppers to use, say, Magnolia home theater, instead of well-established local high-end AV shops with much better quality products and more knowledgeable installers.)
FWIW, when I worked at Geek Squad as a second job to pick up cash for the holidays they told us that our unit as a whole made only $19 of profit one month or something equally ridiculous and had some numbers to back it up. This might have been the particular store I was at, which definitely did not serve the "higher end" clients. At the time (2006ish), people would often bring in their stuff, pay $89 for a diagnosis only, get told that it would be $169 for a reformat/reinstall plus another $XXX to backup their data, and decide to wander over to the brand spanking new PC aisle and see what $500 would get them over there. Geek Squad was not purposely driving new PC sales but we generated a LOT of them. Of course, they still needed a data transfer service $$$, MS Office installed $$$, and some kind of thing that basically consisted of uninstalling vendor crapware $$$, but they often flat out didn't have the money for all that. Naturally, if they went back for the reinstall of their old piece of crap, only software that was provided on the installation disks would be restored. Lost your Office/Photoshop/expensive software X disc? It's gone. Lost your restore discs? We can charge you to procure new ones from the vendor. I quit soon after, since we charged a lot of people a lot of money they didn't have to give them terrible service and I just hated it.
It was a stupid move for them from the get go. We've already got our own, old established failing tech retailers battling it out for the last scraps of what's left of bricks-and-mortar tech retailing (Currys/PC World, Comet, Argos, Maplins, etc.). They're all heading very quickly towards going bust; what on earth possessed Best Buy to try to muscle in on that? They weren't offering anything special; they were offering exactly the same thing as the rest of the crowded market, without the benefit of a well known brand name.
They'd have been far better off buying Comet when it went into administration recently, and pulling a re-brand. It still would have been a stupid move, but at least they could have been a major player while it lasts.
Why do you respond to comments that you obviously did not read? What do you have to gain by doing this?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
A store can not have a more restricted returns/warranty policy than the minimum required by law for the items in question.
For second hand items of course, it is different.
If something is sold "as is" and you can walk in, I would demand to test the item before handing over dollars for what might be scrap metal.
If you counter "no returns" policy, with your own "no test, no deal" policy, you are less likely to be fleeced and scammed.