Best Buy employee commits fraud

[AndrewR]

Or, at least negligent misrepresentation. I was picking up an Acer 10x4x32x CD-RW, and the Best Buy drone tried to sell me one of the extended warranty plans. I attempted to blow him off, but he kept prattling on about the benefits. He saw that I was buying a burner and said that the plan would cover "recalibration" of the drive since if I were to burn a lot, it would require "recalibration". I wasn't really listening until he said that simply because he's obviously making stuff up to sell those plans. Since that's blatantly false, he's committed a tort. I'm tempted to go back and talk to the manager to let him know that his salespeople are opening the store up to charges of fraud. Maybe I'll get a discount.

He had just finished talking to a guy about a video upgrade and had apparently told the guy that the only card he could use was a Voodoo3 3000 (he was clearing the purchase with his wife and describing why he needed to get that one, "It has both TV [TV Out, I assume] and video&quot. He needed an AGP part and was standing in front of at least half a dozen AGP cards, but the salesman told him that only the V3 3K would work. The more I think about it, the angrier I become. That's insane.

 

[BiggieN]

best buy employee's are idiots. that's it. there are some exceptions but the majority are idiots.

 

[IBhacknU]

sounds like their making a hefty commission on that extended warranty.

sucks to buy at best buy!

 

[BigToque]

Where do these people pick up stuff like recalibration? geez, thats just as bad as when I was at future shop and told that MP3 stands for Music for Pentium 3

 

[PG]

I second BiggieN's comments.

People selling computer hardware are about as bad as used car salesman anymore. Consumers need to educate themselves as much as possible before going to a store.
If you ask the Best Buy's stooges anything other than, "Do you have more of these in the back?", when the shelves are empty you are wasting your time and breath.

 

[Train]

I was in a computer store last week, and i was telling this guy there about an IDE problem i was having, which by the way i fixed by listening to a post in these forums. But this guys made up some whack excuse as to why it was bad, and that he could sell me a new ide contrller, cables and HDD, like i needed any of those, what a moron.

 

[64bitloopy]

DO remember these people work for near minimum wage. They are not qualified or certified for what they do.

IT is our job, as consumers to go and fix their mistakes.

I usually go to best buy and comp usa and help people that either look lost or are trying to figure something out. It's better than church, because I leave those places knowing that I helped someone make a better choice. (unbiased, of course)

 

[BiggieN]

the only tech advice that best buy employees give out whenever you have a problem is either:

1. reformat your hard drive and reinstall everything. and then buy the newest hard drive and a formatting program, "because how else are you gonna reformat without a $49.95 program that does it for you?"

2. you need to buy one of these "power user top of the line" e-machines with 466mhz cyrix processors and 32 whole mbs of ram.

 

[bigvince]

64bitloopy


ya know i have done that several times and usaly i get kicked out of the store because after ive talked to one of their coustomers they end up not buying half the crap they were told they needed.

 

[AndrewR]

I know Best Buy employees are morons -- that's been proven many times. The problem here is that the guy lied (or, at best, is too stupid to know that what he's saying is false). If I was too uninformed to know any better and had purchased the plan, I would have been "damaged" for $30 and perhaps eligible to receive treble damages for the wrongful action of the employee (it's arguable what the actual damage would be).

In any event, it ticks me off to know that people are being sold crap like this on lies. I was going to give the other customer better advice on the video card, but he walked away talking on his cell phone. He wasn't buying the card right then anyway so maybe someone will straighten him out before he does. At least the salesman didn't tell him that he needed a Hercules Prophet II.

 

[64bitloopy]

i suggest half of 'em to their local computer dealer or the net, where they can get a better deal, or better help.

I've only been kicked out once, and it was for a different reason.

 

[Nessoldaccount]

Unfortunately I'm 17 and I work in the computer department at a best buy. Not for long. Been there 6 weeks, quitting real soon. I've seen enough. We get NO commission and are paid almost nothing for our work. If a certain percentage of our revenue is not in extended warranties, we get yelled at. On a good day, I could sell between $1000-$2000 in extended warranties alone and get paid only about $40 for it. We are all treated like crap. I go up on the top rails of ladders taking down monitors that weigh as much as I do, but if I get hurt I have no compensation. The managers make us BS about those stupid overpriced warranties. And not all the employees don't know anything. I know quite a bit about computers and I can usually answer any questions the customer has. The management is the worst though. Managers get commission off the warranties that the drones sell. The other day I was buying speakers and the general manager went off the wall because I didn't buy the warranties on the speakers.

Oh well, I'll be gone in a couple weeks. I go in for 8 hours on Black Friday. I'll show them how I feel about their store.

 

[PCAddict]

Best Buy's employees aren't all bad. They put a Guillemot GeForce SDR on their clearance rack last New Years Day because they thought it had no VRAM installed. I ended up getting it for a total of $95.00 when it was a $269.00 on the shelf. I posted about it on here when it happened. ROFL!

 

[BoberFett]

In their defense, I have probably run into as many knowledgeable employees at Best Buy as I have idiots. Want to see true stupidity? Try Circuit City. They're pure salesman there.

 

[PG]

AndrewR,

I agree completely with you. Some of them are liars and cheats.

I once bought an open box car stereo from BB. I got talked into buying the warranty, and the stereo did actually die after about a month. When I tried to get it replaced with a new one, they said that since it was an open box item they could not replace the radio with a new one, but would only give me credit for how much I paid for the original. I was pissed and talked to several people about it. I asked them to explain to me what their crappy warranty was for. Finally I got a new radio for no extra cost, but it took me over an hour of bickering to get what was owed to me by their so called warranty in the first place.

 

[BiggieN]

at least hte service is good at circuit city. at best buy i've been ignored and left alone. at least at circuit city they want to try to help you...maybe cuz they are on commission...

 

[EmperorNero]

the most knowledgable sales representatives are micro center's. less BS, great help..most of the time.

 

[goog40]

When I bought my computer the guy kept trying to sell me the warranty plan, had to say no like 5 times. Also, he emphasized that they don't get commission for it, so they're not trying to pressure me(yeah right). Anyone know for a fact whether or not they do get a commission or if its just part of their job to hassle customers?

 

[Senior Member]

Take a look at BestBuySux

 

[BiggieN]

it was said earlier that their managers get commision for it. basically the store makes a ton of money for selling warranties. so the more warranties they sell the more monay the store makes. the more money the store makes the more corporate likes the store. and because the store made a lot of money, those managers must know what they are doing so they get promoted and get raises.

 

[Russ]

<< he's committed a tort. >>



In public??!! Where are that boy's manners?

Russ, NCNE

 

[vi edit]

&quot;In their defense, I have probably run into as many knowledgeable employees at Best Buy as I have idiots. Want to see true stupidity? Try Circuit City. They're pure salesman there. &quot;

You mean the suit and tie didn't give that away

 

[atom]

I guess I'm lucky. All my experiences have been good at Best Buy. The typical conversation about extended warranties have been:

&quot;Would you like to buy an extended warranty for this product? You get replacement coverage....&quot;

me interrrupting him/her to save time

&quot;No thanks.&quot;

&quot;Are you sure?&quot;

&quot;Yeah, I'm not interested.&quot;

Never had a salesperson lie to me before, but then again I know enough to not have to ask for their advice.

 

[AndrewR]

<< but if I get hurt I have no compensation >>


Ness, if you are hurt on the job, you are entitled to workers compensation which is regulated by state and federal law -- Best Buy has no way to avoid that. Also, if you are hurt while being instructed to recklessly retrieve heavy objects from high shelves without proper safety equipment, you would have a nice little lawsuit to file against them for a considerable payoff. While I am much in favor of tort reform and don't advocate frivilous lawsuits, sometimes they are merited.

Besides, you're young -- you'll heal quickly.

 

[PCAddict]

Their employees also get spiffed for selling different items, sometimes the spiffs are paid by the manufacturer. A big part of their job is selling those warranties. A friend of mine used to work there and they told him they didn't care what he did as long as he made their quota for selling that stuff.