My experience working @ Best Buy!

[HonkeyDonk]

Most of the employees I've talked to were very friendly and didn't try to give me any BS when browsing. But then again, I always know a lot on the things I want to buy, so it never comes to the point where the BB ppl have to produce the BS.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: FinalFantasy
I posted this in the news section and wanted to share this with other people...so here ya go. Enjoy!

I've worked at Best Buy (actually the #1 profiting store in the nation and #1 test store for all this crap) previously in the past as one of their touted "Sales Specialist" and I can really say that Best Buy's employees are the worst employees I've ever seen/worked with...and PLEASE do not get me started on their "limited to" High School education Managers who are 40 years old and the kids who work for them know more then they do. Here are some points about BB that as a previous "insider" I can say this is what BB is like...

1. BB's so called "sales specialist" are nothing more then freshly graduated High School kids or early year college kids that they dress up in "blue shirts" (oh yea...new employees don't get the BB "blue shirt" until they "earn it"...and I didn't earn mine until 2 weeks later after being the #1 seller since my first day and even then other managers had to tell my manager to GIVE ME a blue shirt) and sometimes dark blue dress shirts if you're a "business pro" (which is nothing different then a reg sales person except they have dress shirt instead of polos...funny huh ;D ) that learn all of being eccentric and how to sell "products", instead of specializing and learning about the products they or even the store is selling!!!

2. BB's "sales specialists" have little to no knowledge about the products they're selling to people. Ask a BB employee a question and they'll turn red, get offended and give you some BS answer that most likely their manager told them to say or one that's completely based off of a very very very limited background. The only thing BB's employees are asked before they are put into their "specialty field" is what do they have experience in. As in my case, I knew about computers so they stick me in "computer sales", even they I requested to work in the tech bay numerous times.

3. Managers at the store will literally bend over backwards to help an "Angel Customer", who "looks like" he/she has cash to spend and wants to buy the $3,000 laptop w/accessories as opposed to the "Devil Customer", who only wants to spend $1,200. I've seen these guys walk in who know the routine....they have money and most likely own a small/medium business; they know BB's managers want their money and business. What the BB managers will do is knock off a good chunk of (15-20%) their total sale of whatever the person wants to buy, whether it be a TV with the laptop, with DVDs, accessories or a piece of software.....while they offer no such savings for a person who "just" wants to buy a avg. price laptop.

4. BB managers hate when their young employees talk about continuing school, going to or back to school and esp. scheduling your work hours to fit your school schedule instead of scheduling your school hours to fit your work schedule!!! BB managers do not "directly" put down going to school, but they sure do mention how they and a lot of other "successful" BB managers/seniors did not even go to college and now their "making the big bucks now" by working as a middle level BB manager that makes, what $40-50k a year with no room for advancement and can be transferred to another store on a whim....gj guys ;D The first day of their so called "training", (which basically teaches you Intel good, AMD bad...sell higher priced bad quality products, instead of selling lower priced good quality products to customers...you catch my drift?) is crap and worthless, they don't even train their employees on any of the products they sell, just "how to sell the product"....no matter how crappy it is.

5. BB employees DO NOT CARE ABOUT BB OR IT'S CUSTOMERS!!! If anything they HATE BB and their managers. My "friends" and previous fellow co-workers at BB would call in sick, not show up to "training" meetings (so they can learn how good Intel is, from one of it's reps and how a P Celly is better for gaming then an AMD XP 3200+ because of it's higher clock speed...wow) and do half-ass job that their supervisor assigns to them and then brag about it to other employees like it's cool to "disobey" an "order".

I can go on and on about how much "bad $h)t" went down at BB or how I SWEAR one of my managers had to be somewhat mentally retarded, but their stores are a candy coated tootsie pops filled with dog $h)t...the customers who want to actually "get involved" in the store and "sink their teeth into" BB's "good sales"/rebates etc get a nice surprised of a foul smelling, crap tasting, TWO-FACED store that in reality doesn't even want their business, while the other customers, who Brad Anderson, chief executive officer of Best Buy Co., classifies as "Angel Customers" sit back and lick the son of a b)t@#, never truly getting involved in one of the stores, therefore not having to deal with the "$h)t" in the middle...

The only thing I see BB good at, is deceiving their customer base into thinking their stores are based around well educated or at least knowledgeable employees that care about "the customer" when really all the stuff is just a load of BS...

/steps down from soap box

Um welcome to the retail world?
have you not worked for other retail chains?
this is pretty much how retail works..
Gamestop/EB Circuit City are the chains ive worked for and all have similar business practices....
why are you so shocked? this is a business remeber... they arnt here to come out on the bottom they are there to make money as a corporation.

 

[Ausm]

Further supports my boycotting of Best Buy


Ausm

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: FinalFantasy
I posted this in the news section and wanted to share this with other people...so here ya go. Enjoy!

I've worked at Best Buy (actually the #1 profiting store in the nation and #1 test store for all this crap) previously in the past as one of their touted "Sales Specialist" and I can really say that Best Buy's employees are the worst employees I've ever seen/worked with...and PLEASE do not get me started on their "limited to" High School education Managers who are 40 years old and the kids who work for them know more then they do. Here are some points about BB that as a previous "insider" I can say this is what BB is like...

1. BB's so called "sales specialist" are nothing more then freshly graduated High School kids or early year college kids that they dress up in "blue shirts" (oh yea...new employees don't get the BB "blue shirt" until they "earn it"...and I didn't earn mine until 2 weeks later after being the #1 seller since my first day and even then other managers had to tell my manager to GIVE ME a blue shirt) and sometimes dark blue dress shirts if you're a "business pro" (which is nothing different then a reg sales person except they have dress shirt instead of polos...funny huh ;D ) that learn all of being eccentric and how to sell "products", instead of specializing and learning about the products they or even the store is selling!!!

2. BB's "sales specialists" have little to no knowledge about the products they're selling to people. Ask a BB employee a question and they'll turn red, get offended and give you some BS answer that most likely their manager told them to say or one that's completely based off of a very very very limited background. The only thing BB's employees are asked before they are put into their "specialty field" is what do they have experience in. As in my case, I knew about computers so they stick me in "computer sales", even they I requested to work in the tech bay numerous times.

3. Managers at the store will literally bend over backwards to help an "Angel Customer", who "looks like" he/she has cash to spend and wants to buy the $3,000 laptop w/accessories as opposed to the "Devil Customer", who only wants to spend $1,200. I've seen these guys walk in who know the routine....they have money and most likely own a small/medium business; they know BB's managers want their money and business. What the BB managers will do is knock off a good chunk of (15-20%) their total sale of whatever the person wants to buy, whether it be a TV with the laptop, with DVDs, accessories or a piece of software.....while they offer no such savings for a person who "just" wants to buy a avg. price laptop.

4. BB managers hate when their young employees talk about continuing school, going to or back to school and esp. scheduling your work hours to fit your school schedule instead of scheduling your school hours to fit your work schedule!!! BB managers do not "directly" put down going to school, but they sure do mention how they and a lot of other "successful" BB managers/seniors did not even go to college and now their "making the big bucks now" by working as a middle level BB manager that makes, what $40-50k a year with no room for advancement and can be transferred to another store on a whim....gj guys ;D The first day of their so called "training", (which basically teaches you Intel good, AMD bad...sell higher priced bad quality products, instead of selling lower priced good quality products to customers...you catch my drift?) is crap and worthless, they don't even train their employees on any of the products they sell, just "how to sell the product"....no matter how crappy it is.

5. BB employees DO NOT CARE ABOUT BB OR IT'S CUSTOMERS!!! If anything they HATE BB and their managers. My "friends" and previous fellow co-workers at BB would call in sick, not show up to "training" meetings (so they can learn how good Intel is, from one of it's reps and how a P Celly is better for gaming then an AMD XP 3200+ because of it's higher clock speed...wow) and do half-ass job that their supervisor assigns to them and then brag about it to other employees like it's cool to "disobey" an "order".

I can go on and on about how much "bad $h)t" went down at BB or how I SWEAR one of my managers had to be somewhat mentally retarded, but their stores are a candy coated tootsie pops filled with dog $h)t...the customers who want to actually "get involved" in the store and "sink their teeth into" BB's "good sales"/rebates etc get a nice surprised of a foul smelling, crap tasting, TWO-FACED store that in reality doesn't even want their business, while the other customers, who Brad Anderson, chief executive officer of Best Buy Co., classifies as "Angel Customers" sit back and lick the son of a b)t@#, never truly getting involved in one of the stores, therefore not having to deal with the "$h)t" in the middle...

The only thing I see BB good at, is deceiving their customer base into thinking their stores are based around well educated or at least knowledgeable employees that care about "the customer" when really all the stuff is just a load of BS...

/steps down from soap box

Um welcome to the retail world?
have you not worked for other retail chains?
this is pretty much how retail works..
Gamestop/EB Circuit City are the chains ive worked for and all have similar business practices....
why are you so shocked? this is a business remeber... they arnt here to come out on the bottom they are there to make money as a corporation.

no, they take it to another level, trying to train their minimum wage slaves into devious dishonest little cretins. being honest and courteous with customers should all that be required of workers, esp non commission wage slaves.

 

[0roo0roo]

http://www.business2.com/b2/we...0,17863,652316,00.html

Best Buy's Selling Machine
He's 26. He wears hoop earrings. He's a demon salesman. And the electronics chain he works for is cranking, thanks to an army of folks just like him. But is that enough to save it from death-by-Wal-Mart?

By Michael V. Copeland, June 16, 2004
Standing on the polished floor between the wireless department and the Geek Squad repair center, Josh Solomon begins his workday. Knees bent slightly inside pressed khakis, he slaps his palms on his thighs seven times, then claps seven times. He rises up, clenches his fists in the air, and bellows, "Best!" Three more slaps on the thighs, three claps. "Buy!" Solomon builds to a crescendo of one slap, one clap, and "Best Buy, Best Buy, whoa, Best Buy!"

"That is the 7-3-1," Solomon, 26, explains, two silver hoop earrings swaying slightly with his big grin. "OK, let's do it," he commands, and the 20 salesclerks -- "blueshirts," as they call themselves -- who work with him at the Maple Grove, Minn., Best Buy (BBY) store bend at the knees and give it their best. Some are a bit off with the clapping. "We always have some people out of rhythm. It's the Midwest," Solomon says with a laugh. But they all chime in loud and proud with a final "Best Buy ... Wooo!"

such bs...
eh, someone have subscription to post rest? i read the actual mag, theres plenty more...😛

 

[FinalFantasy]

Originally posted by: ggnl

Originally posted by: FinalFantasy

Originally posted by: ggnl

Originally posted by: loki8481
sounds like every retail store in existance.

Exactly. I still can't figure out why BB bashing is so popular here.

Because Best Buy was not like this in the past. They were about bottom bargain prices, rebates and making sure the customer got the right products, instead of making sure the customer "gets a product" and definitely not as is it today where BB is going to come out and bash sale seekers and those who choose to use a rebate. I mean WTF...why wouldnt a customer who spent $200 on a monitor send in for their $50 BB rebate and $40 manufacture rebate...that's $90 that the person will save and most likely go back to BB and spend on a game or DVD.....I guess Mr. Anderson didn't think about it that way, right?

BB is not "bashing" anybody. They're simply not going to offer the deals that draw less profitable customers. You make it sound like they are going to stop you at the doors and turn you away if you're not going in to buy a big screen. They changed their marketing scheme, big fvcking deal. If you don't like it than you have your choice of 15 other big chains that are out to screw you just like BB.

Everyone here knows that that BB employees (for the most part) suck. Everyone knows that you can get much better deals online. But every time someone goes to BB and has a bad experience they immediately come back to ATOT to cry about how much they hate BB and give all the other whiners a forum to endlessly retell their own BB horror stories. Believe me, I have no love for BB, I'm just sick of the incessant whining. :|

1. The title is "My experience working @ Best Buy", not "Complaints against Best Buy".

2. Obviously you didn't read this part of the article:

"Shunning customers can be a delicate business. Two years ago, retailer Filene's Basement was vilified on television and in newspaper columns for asking two Massachusetts customers not to shop at its stores because of what it said were frequent returns and complaints. Earlier this year, Mr. Anderson apologized in writing to students at a Washington, D.C., school after employees at one store barred a group of black students while admitting a group of white students.

Mr. Anderson says the incident in Washington was inappropriate..."

This has happend at the store I work at...people were asked to leave the store by one of our managers on multiple ocasions. Now I thought "BB is not "bashing" anybody. They're simply not going to offer the deals that draw less profitable customers. You make it sound like they are going to stop you at the doors and turn you away if you're not going in to buy a big screen." ...and that's out of your own mouth.

Anything else anyone? So far this has been a mixed crowd of supporters and people who have little e-penises and are trying to making me feel as frustrated as they are.

 

[purbeast0]

i too worked at best buy and i agree with the OP's post %100. i actually hated the store MORE after working there than I did before (i actually liked it before I worked there). my whole reason I got a job there was because I wanted a new TV and realized I could get a discount. this was mid july and I knew I was going to school in the beginning of september (and I also had a current job, bb was going to be a 2nd job). so i knew i would be out of there by the end of august.

i got the job around the last week of july. i worked there as a video sales person. let me tell you, it sucked. i dont wanna go to detail because im sure you have already heard all the crap, but aside from pushing the PSP's w/out getting any kind of commission, if you had to unload the truck that night IT SUCKED! you wouldn't be out of there until midnight, and keep in mind the store closed at 9. and on top of that, each department has 1 person unloadin the truck. and when a palette for YOUR department is full, YOU had to bring it to your department, then YOU had to unload the palette, and then YOU had to take it back to the backroom. keep in mind, i had to unstack 27" TV's stacked 3 high, all by myself. I am pretty strong, but that gets heavy after unloading a truck all night. it was brutal.

needless to say, you need to work 30 days in order to receive your discount. on the 30th day, I purchased about $3200 worth of stuff for $1800. it was a great deal 🙂 and I even got the service plans for like $5 (yes they mark them up THAT much, they cost employees like $5 for a TV service plan). the next day I quit the job. i honestly would have kept working there just for a little longer because I wnated to buy some more stuff, but they wouldn't work w/school schedule. so i quit the day after i received my discount. screw them 🙂

and as far as service plans, i mean they are kinda hit or miss. out of all my things, i actually did have a defective receiver. i bought an $800 yamaha receiver for like $450 and I got the service plan. that fall semester after i moved my receiver out of my dorm, it wasnt working when I got home. so I had best buy fix it w/the service plan. it took 3 weeks, but I got it back working fine. it also happened another time. so if I had a lemon or whatever, they still fixed it.

and when i was there, i got my mom a DVD player as well, and the lense on it started to mess up and they fixed that for her no problem. so the service plans are kind of hit or miss. it really depends what you buy.

 

[FinalFantasy]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
i too worked at best buy and i agree with the OP's post %100. i actually hated the store MORE after working there than I did before (i actually liked it before I worked there). my whole reason I got a job there was because I wanted a new TV and realized I could get a discount. this was mid july and I knew I was going to school in the beginning of september (and I also had a current job, bb was going to be a 2nd job). so i knew i would be out of there by the end of august.

i got the job around the last week of july. i worked there as a video sales person. let me tell you, it sucked. i dont wanna go to detail because im sure you have already heard all the crap, but aside from pushing the PSP's w/out getting any kind of commission, if you had to unload the truck that night IT SUCKED! you wouldn't be out of there until midnight, and keep in mind the store closed at 9. and on top of that, each department has 1 person unloadin the truck. and when a palette for YOUR department is full, YOU had to bring it to your department, then YOU had to unload the palette, and then YOU had to take it back to the backroom. keep in mind, i had to unstack 27" TV's stacked 3 high, all by myself. I am pretty strong, but that gets heavy after unloading a truck all night. it was brutal.

needless to say, you need to work 30 days in order to receive your discount. on the 30th day, I purchased about $3200 worth of stuff for $1800. it was a great deal 🙂 and I even got the service plans for like $5 (yes they mark them up THAT much, they cost employees like $5 for a TV service plan). the next day I quit the job. i honestly would have kept working there just for a little longer because I wnated to buy some more stuff, but they wouldn't work w/school schedule. so i quit the day after i received my discount. screw them 🙂

and as far as service plans, i mean they are kinda hit or miss. out of all my things, i actually did have a defective receiver. i bought an $800 yamaha receiver for like $450 and I got the service plan. that fall semester after i moved my receiver out of my dorm, it wasnt working when I got home. so I had best buy fix it w/the service plan. it took 3 weeks, but I got it back working fine. it also happened another time. so if I had a lemon or whatever, they still fixed it.

and when i was there, i got my mom a DVD player as well, and the lense on it started to mess up and they fixed that for her no problem. so the service plans are kind of hit or miss. it really depends what you buy.

Sounds just like BB to under staff a late night truck delivery, luckily I never had to do one past 11 pm....

"and I even got the service plans for like $5 (yes they mark them up THAT much, they cost employees like $5 for a TV service plan). "

I forgot they mark up service plans so much. A $120 service plan for a computer can be had for about $36 for an employee.

 

[FinalFantasy]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: FinalFantasy
I posted this in the news section and wanted to share this with other people...so here ya go. Enjoy!

I've worked at Best Buy (actually the #1 profiting store in the nation and #1 test store for all this crap) previously in the past as one of their touted "Sales Specialist" and I can really say that Best Buy's employees are the worst employees I've ever seen/worked with...and PLEASE do not get me started on their "limited to" High School education Managers who are 40 years old and the kids who work for them know more then they do. Here are some points about BB that as a previous "insider" I can say this is what BB is like...

1. BB's so called "sales specialist" are nothing more then freshly graduated High School kids or early year college kids that they dress up in "blue shirts" (oh yea...new employees don't get the BB "blue shirt" until they "earn it"...and I didn't earn mine until 2 weeks later after being the #1 seller since my first day and even then other managers had to tell my manager to GIVE ME a blue shirt) and sometimes dark blue dress shirts if you're a "business pro" (which is nothing different then a reg sales person except they have dress shirt instead of polos...funny huh ;D ) that learn all of being eccentric and how to sell "products", instead of specializing and learning about the products they or even the store is selling!!!

2. BB's "sales specialists" have little to no knowledge about the products they're selling to people. Ask a BB employee a question and they'll turn red, get offended and give you some BS answer that most likely their manager told them to say or one that's completely based off of a very very very limited background. The only thing BB's employees are asked before they are put into their "specialty field" is what do they have experience in. As in my case, I knew about computers so they stick me in "computer sales", even they I requested to work in the tech bay numerous times.

3. Managers at the store will literally bend over backwards to help an "Angel Customer", who "looks like" he/she has cash to spend and wants to buy the $3,000 laptop w/accessories as opposed to the "Devil Customer", who only wants to spend $1,200. I've seen these guys walk in who know the routine....they have money and most likely own a small/medium business; they know BB's managers want their money and business. What the BB managers will do is knock off a good chunk of (15-20%) their total sale of whatever the person wants to buy, whether it be a TV with the laptop, with DVDs, accessories or a piece of software.....while they offer no such savings for a person who "just" wants to buy a avg. price laptop.

4. BB managers hate when their young employees talk about continuing school, going to or back to school and esp. scheduling your work hours to fit your school schedule instead of scheduling your school hours to fit your work schedule!!! BB managers do not "directly" put down going to school, but they sure do mention how they and a lot of other "successful" BB managers/seniors did not even go to college and now their "making the big bucks now" by working as a middle level BB manager that makes, what $40-50k a year with no room for advancement and can be transferred to another store on a whim....gj guys ;D The first day of their so called "training", (which basically teaches you Intel good, AMD bad...sell higher priced bad quality products, instead of selling lower priced good quality products to customers...you catch my drift?) is crap and worthless, they don't even train their employees on any of the products they sell, just "how to sell the product"....no matter how crappy it is.

5. BB employees DO NOT CARE ABOUT BB OR IT'S CUSTOMERS!!! If anything they HATE BB and their managers. My "friends" and previous fellow co-workers at BB would call in sick, not show up to "training" meetings (so they can learn how good Intel is, from one of it's reps and how a P Celly is better for gaming then an AMD XP 3200+ because of it's higher clock speed...wow) and do half-ass job that their supervisor assigns to them and then brag about it to other employees like it's cool to "disobey" an "order".

I can go on and on about how much "bad $h)t" went down at BB or how I SWEAR one of my managers had to be somewhat mentally retarded, but their stores are a candy coated tootsie pops filled with dog $h)t...the customers who want to actually "get involved" in the store and "sink their teeth into" BB's "good sales"/rebates etc get a nice surprised of a foul smelling, crap tasting, TWO-FACED store that in reality doesn't even want their business, while the other customers, who Brad Anderson, chief executive officer of Best Buy Co., classifies as "Angel Customers" sit back and lick the son of a b)t@#, never truly getting involved in one of the stores, therefore not having to deal with the "$h)t" in the middle...

The only thing I see BB good at, is deceiving their customer base into thinking their stores are based around well educated or at least knowledgeable employees that care about "the customer" when really all the stuff is just a load of BS...

/steps down from soap box

Um welcome to the retail world?
have you not worked for other retail chains?
this is pretty much how retail works..
Gamestop/EB Circuit City are the chains ive worked for and all have similar business practices....
why are you so shocked? this is a business remeber... they arnt here to come out on the bottom they are there to make money as a corporation.

no, they take it to another level, trying to train their minimum wage slaves into devious dishonest little cretins. being honest and courteous with customers should all that be required of workers, esp non commission wage slaves.

I agree...fine they don't want to people looking for sales, using rebates or using other money saving practices, but at least be honest and up front with ALL customers...not just the ones who make over $100k a year.

 

[Tremulant]

I applied to BB once. I didn't get the job. I also told them that I was planning on going back to school (missed a couple of semesters, family issues) and after reading this and the Fry's topic, I can see why I wasn't hired. I went back there a few days later and the cashier I went to (I was buying a cd) was the new guy that they hired (he was being trained as he rung me up). I was kinda mad that I didn't get the job, but in all reality, I'm not a very good salesman. I'd be a good tech, since that's what I do now (not for a retail store or anything though), but those positions weren't open for hiring at that time. I almost feel sad for the kid who got that job because whenever I'm there, he's there working. And he always looks like he's tired and pissed off.

 

[0roo0roo]

might as well bump the original thread since its getting parodied to death

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
http://www.business2.com/b2/we...0,17863,652316,00.html

Best Buy's Selling Machine
He's 26. He wears hoop earrings. He's a demon salesman. And the electronics chain he works for is cranking, thanks to an army of folks just like him. But is that enough to save it from death-by-Wal-Mart?

By Michael V. Copeland, June 16, 2004
Standing on the polished floor between the wireless department and the Geek Squad repair center, Josh Solomon begins his workday. Knees bent slightly inside pressed khakis, he slaps his palms on his thighs seven times, then claps seven times. He rises up, clenches his fists in the air, and bellows, "Best!" Three more slaps on the thighs, three claps. "Buy!" Solomon builds to a crescendo of one slap, one clap, and "Best Buy, Best Buy, whoa, Best Buy!"

"That is the 7-3-1," Solomon, 26, explains, two silver hoop earrings swaying slightly with his big grin. "OK, let's do it," he commands, and the 20 salesclerks -- "blueshirts," as they call themselves -- who work with him at the Maple Grove, Minn., Best Buy (BBY) store bend at the knees and give it their best. Some are a bit off with the clapping. "We always have some people out of rhythm. It's the Midwest," Solomon says with a laugh. But they all chime in loud and proud with a final "Best Buy ... Wooo!"

such bs...
eh, someone have subscription to post rest? i read the actual mag, theres plenty more...😛

LOL, I guess all retail is like this nowadays. At my part-time job they have a monthly brainwashing class as well. I could not imagine doing it before each shift though...

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roono, they take it to another level, trying to train their minimum wage slaves into devious dishonest little cretins. being honest and courteous with customers should all that be required of workers, esp non commission wage slaves.

What I find entertaining is Best Buy's belief that they can turn low-wage employees into real salespeople. It sounds as though they track individual employees sales in some way. What I don't understand is why BB won't just return to a commission model? After all, if they're interested in encouraging individual employees to increase sales and to provide good customer service, why not reward the good employees with a piece of the action and give them a stake in it?

 

[RaistlinZ]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

What I find entertaining is Best Buy's belief that they can turn low-wage employees into real salespeople. It sounds as though they track individual employees sales in some way. What I don't understand is why BB won't just return to a commission model? After all, if they're interested in encouraging individual employees to increase sales and to provide good customer service, why not reward the good employees with a piece of the action and give them a stake in it?

Speaking as a BB employee i can tell ya that it won't work. The only way BB makes profit is on high margin items, service plans, in-store services, and internet subscriptions. So in order to do that they encourage us to push accessories, PSP's, and what-not.

That's all fine and dandy. I can sell a crappy $300 E-machine but still tack on $300 in accessories to make the company money. If I was on commission then I wouldn't be concerned with selling any accessories. Not really. All that I would be concerned about is selling the high priced stuff. Why sell a $300 computer with $300 in accessories when I can just sell a $900 computer with no accessories and get more commision?

Good for me, but bad for BB since they only make about 8% profit on a $900 computer.

The only way I see commision being workable is if they tie it to a percentage of the actual margin on what we sell and not just the sales price of the product itself.

 

[Mik3y]

i hate best buy, but actually like compusa. i know compusa is overpriced like hell, but at least their employees are good and they have a lot of cool products.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: FinalFantasy
I posted this in the news section and wanted to share this with other people...so here ya go. Enjoy!

I've worked at Best Buy (actually the #1 profiting store in the nation and #1 test store for all this crap) previously in the past as one of their touted "Sales Specialist" and I can really say that Best Buy's employees are the worst employees I've ever seen/worked with...and PLEASE do not get me started on their "limited to" High School education Managers who are 40 years old and the kids who work for them know more then they do. Here are some points about BB that as a previous "insider" I can say this is what BB is like...

1. BB's so called "sales specialist" are nothing more then freshly graduated High School kids or early year college kids that they dress up in "blue shirts" (oh yea...new employees don't get the BB "blue shirt" until they "earn it"...and I didn't earn mine until 2 weeks later after being the #1 seller since my first day and even then other managers had to tell my manager to GIVE ME a blue shirt) and sometimes dark blue dress shirts if you're a "business pro" (which is nothing different then a reg sales person except they have dress shirt instead of polos...funny huh ;D ) that learn all of being eccentric and how to sell "products", instead of specializing and learning about the products they or even the store is selling!!!

2. BB's "sales specialists" have little to no knowledge about the products they're selling to people. Ask a BB employee a question and they'll turn red, get offended and give you some BS answer that most likely their manager told them to say or one that's completely based off of a very very very limited background. The only thing BB's employees are asked before they are put into their "specialty field" is what do they have experience in. As in my case, I knew about computers so they stick me in "computer sales", even they I requested to work in the tech bay numerous times.

3. Managers at the store will literally bend over backwards to help an "Angel Customer", who "looks like" he/she has cash to spend and wants to buy the $3,000 laptop w/accessories as opposed to the "Devil Customer", who only wants to spend $1,200. I've seen these guys walk in who know the routine....they have money and most likely own a small/medium business; they know BB's managers want their money and business. What the BB managers will do is knock off a good chunk of (15-20%) their total sale of whatever the person wants to buy, whether it be a TV with the laptop, with DVDs, accessories or a piece of software.....while they offer no such savings for a person who "just" wants to buy a avg. price laptop.

4. BB managers hate when their young employees talk about continuing school, going to or back to school and esp. scheduling your work hours to fit your school schedule instead of scheduling your school hours to fit your work schedule!!! BB managers do not "directly" put down going to school, but they sure do mention how they and a lot of other "successful" BB managers/seniors did not even go to college and now their "making the big bucks now" by working as a middle level BB manager that makes, what $40-50k a year with no room for advancement and can be transferred to another store on a whim....gj guys ;D The first day of their so called "training", (which basically teaches you Intel good, AMD bad...sell higher priced bad quality products, instead of selling lower priced good quality products to customers...you catch my drift?) is crap and worthless, they don't even train their employees on any of the products they sell, just "how to sell the product"....no matter how crappy it is.

5. BB employees DO NOT CARE ABOUT BB OR IT'S CUSTOMERS!!! If anything they HATE BB and their managers. My "friends" and previous fellow co-workers at BB would call in sick, not show up to "training" meetings (so they can learn how good Intel is, from one of it's reps and how a P Celly is better for gaming then an AMD XP 3200+ because of it's higher clock speed...wow) and do half-ass job that their supervisor assigns to them and then brag about it to other employees like it's cool to "disobey" an "order".

I can go on and on about how much "bad $h)t" went down at BB or how I SWEAR one of my managers had to be somewhat mentally retarded, but their stores are a candy coated tootsie pops filled with dog $h)t...the customers who want to actually "get involved" in the store and "sink their teeth into" BB's "good sales"/rebates etc get a nice surprised of a foul smelling, crap tasting, TWO-FACED store that in reality doesn't even want their business, while the other customers, who Brad Anderson, chief executive officer of Best Buy Co., classifies as "Angel Customers" sit back and lick the son of a b)t@#, never truly getting involved in one of the stores, therefore not having to deal with the "$h)t" in the middle...

The only thing I see BB good at, is deceiving their customer base into thinking their stores are based around well educated or at least knowledgeable employees that care about "the customer" when really all the stuff is just a load of BS...

/steps down from soap box

you are making a lot of generalizations here. like i said in the other thread, my department is prolly the best groupo of people i have ever worked with. they know more about computers than customers vould possibly imagine. most of them are CS/CS&E students, they really know their $hit

as for the school thing: 3 managers in our store have their MBA and my entire department attends school. ALL the managers are always encouraging us to stay in school. they are ALWAYS working with use to make sure we are not being scheduled during school hours and we are not getting more hours than we can handle. the managers even give us days off during the blackout period where we are not allowed to request days off

as for the calling in sick thing, i dont remember one single job that i have had that this hasnt happened in. And to be honest, it happens much less now than in past jobs. in fact, i would say somebody calls in sick maybe once a week, not much more than that. more often than not all the people show up

my point is that i dont think its fair to generalize about BB based on your store. the quality of the management and the employees are going to vary from store to store.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: FinalFantasy
I posted this in the news section and wanted to share this with other people...so here ya go. Enjoy!

I've worked at Best Buy (actually the #1 profiting store in the nation and #1 test store for all this crap) previously in the past as one of their touted "Sales Specialist" and I can really say that Best Buy's employees are the worst employees I've ever seen/worked with...and PLEASE do not get me started on their "limited to" High School education Managers who are 40 years old and the kids who work for them know more then they do. Here are some points about BB that as a previous "insider" I can say this is what BB is like...

1. BB's so called "sales specialist" are nothing more then freshly graduated High School kids or early year college kids that they dress up in "blue shirts" (oh yea...new employees don't get the BB "blue shirt" until they "earn it"...and I didn't earn mine until 2 weeks later after being the #1 seller since my first day and even then other managers had to tell my manager to GIVE ME a blue shirt) and sometimes dark blue dress shirts if you're a "business pro" (which is nothing different then a reg sales person except they have dress shirt instead of polos...funny huh ;D ) that learn all of being eccentric and how to sell "products", instead of specializing and learning about the products they or even the store is selling!!!

2. BB's "sales specialists" have little to no knowledge about the products they're selling to people. Ask a BB employee a question and they'll turn red, get offended and give you some BS answer that most likely their manager told them to say or one that's completely based off of a very very very limited background. The only thing BB's employees are asked before they are put into their "specialty field" is what do they have experience in. As in my case, I knew about computers so they stick me in "computer sales", even they I requested to work in the tech bay numerous times.

3. Managers at the store will literally bend over backwards to help an "Angel Customer", who "looks like" he/she has cash to spend and wants to buy the $3,000 laptop w/accessories as opposed to the "Devil Customer", who only wants to spend $1,200. I've seen these guys walk in who know the routine....they have money and most likely own a small/medium business; they know BB's managers want their money and business. What the BB managers will do is knock off a good chunk of (15-20%) their total sale of whatever the person wants to buy, whether it be a TV with the laptop, with DVDs, accessories or a piece of software.....while they offer no such savings for a person who "just" wants to buy a avg. price laptop.

4. BB managers hate when their young employees talk about continuing school, going to or back to school and esp. scheduling your work hours to fit your school schedule instead of scheduling your school hours to fit your work schedule!!! BB managers do not "directly" put down going to school, but they sure do mention how they and a lot of other "successful" BB managers/seniors did not even go to college and now their "making the big bucks now" by working as a middle level BB manager that makes, what $40-50k a year with no room for advancement and can be transferred to another store on a whim....gj guys ;D The first day of their so called "training", (which basically teaches you Intel good, AMD bad...sell higher priced bad quality products, instead of selling lower priced good quality products to customers...you catch my drift?) is crap and worthless, they don't even train their employees on any of the products they sell, just "how to sell the product"....no matter how crappy it is.

5. BB employees DO NOT CARE ABOUT BB OR IT'S CUSTOMERS!!! If anything they HATE BB and their managers. My "friends" and previous fellow co-workers at BB would call in sick, not show up to "training" meetings (so they can learn how good Intel is, from one of it's reps and how a P Celly is better for gaming then an AMD XP 3200+ because of it's higher clock speed...wow) and do half-ass job that their supervisor assigns to them and then brag about it to other employees like it's cool to "disobey" an "order".

I can go on and on about how much "bad $h)t" went down at BB or how I SWEAR one of my managers had to be somewhat mentally retarded, but their stores are a candy coated tootsie pops filled with dog $h)t...the customers who want to actually "get involved" in the store and "sink their teeth into" BB's "good sales"/rebates etc get a nice surprised of a foul smelling, crap tasting, TWO-FACED store that in reality doesn't even want their business, while the other customers, who Brad Anderson, chief executive officer of Best Buy Co., classifies as "Angel Customers" sit back and lick the son of a b)t@#, never truly getting involved in one of the stores, therefore not having to deal with the "$h)t" in the middle...

The only thing I see BB good at, is deceiving their customer base into thinking their stores are based around well educated or at least knowledgeable employees that care about "the customer" when really all the stuff is just a load of BS...

/steps down from soap box

Um welcome to the retail world?
have you not worked for other retail chains?
this is pretty much how retail works..
Gamestop/EB Circuit City are the chains ive worked for and all have similar business practices....
why are you so shocked? this is a business remeber... they arnt here to come out on the bottom they are there to make money as a corporation.

well said

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Originally posted by: 0roo0roono, they take it to another level, trying to train their minimum wage slaves into devious dishonest little cretins. being honest and courteous with customers should all that be required of workers, esp non commission wage slaves.

What I find entertaining is Best Buy's belief that they can turn low-wage employees into real salespeople. It sounds as though they track individual employees sales in some way. What I don't understand is why BB won't just return to a commission model? After all, if they're interested in encouraging individual employees to increase sales and to provide good customer service, why not reward the good employees with a piece of the action and give them a stake in it?

i'm pretty satisfied with my pay. and they do indeed track the sales with employee ID #

 

[Martin]

You think that's bad? I used to work as a bag boy (sorry, "courtesy clerk") at Dominoin (A&P) when I was 15-16. Everybody there hated the store and tried to rip it off in every way possible. The guys working in the meat dept used to mark down $30/kg meat down to $4-5 and buy it. One bag boy used to check in, then go sit in his car for 1 hr, then swing around again and go sit out there for another hour. I made up for my miserable minimum wage by making sure I ate enough stuff from the Deli (and not pay for it). I also used to take magazines (mostly gaming), lockmyself in the bathroom and read. Of course, I got caught one time and that was the end of my job 😀

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

What I find entertaining is Best Buy's belief that they can turn low-wage employees into real salespeople. It sounds as though they track individual employees sales in some way. What I don't understand is why BB won't just return to a commission model? After all, if they're interested in encouraging individual employees to increase sales and to provide good customer service, why not reward the good employees with a piece of the action and give them a stake in it?

Speaking as a BB employee i can tell ya that it won't work. The only way BB makes profit is on high margin items, service plans, in-store services, and internet subscriptions. So in order to do that they encourage us to push accessories, PSP's, and what-not.

That's all fine and dandy. I can sell a crappy $300 E-machine but still tack on $300 in accessories to make the company money. If I was on commission then I wouldn't be concerned with selling any accessories. Not really. All that I would be concerned about is selling the high priced stuff. Why sell a $300 computer with $300 in accessories when I can just sell a $900 computer with no accessories and get more commision?

Good for me, but bad for BB since they only make about 8% profit on a $900 computer.

The only way I see commision being workable is if they tie it to a percentage of the actual margin on what we sell and not just the sales price of the product itself.

I would have to disagree with you. I am payed hourly (8 bucks an hour) plus commision at Compusa. As for dealing with $300 emachines, it isnt a problem since the cheapest emachine we have right now is about 449 bucks. If I have a customer that is set on a Emachine I will always offer him the extras needed to get it going. About 80% of the time the customer needs a monitor and printer, so basically I am up to a grand still. Coming from Cicuit City (non commision) to Compusa, I really take care of my customers more then I would ever do at CC. Whether it be a $300 sale or $3000 dollar sale, I treat everyone equally because I know they will be back again because they liked my service. This really helps my commision in the long run. The reason why stores like BB and CC have such terrible employees is that they really dont care. Alot of them are hired with no knowledge and they eventually begin to realize that the 9.50 they are making is really not enough for the amount of BS they have to put up with. At CC I saw coworkers try to hide from customers because they didnt feel like answering their questions. Of course there will be a mad salesman corrupted by the commision, but for the most part they still offer good customer service because they want you back again. I am not trying to say that Compusa employees outside of my store are any better then CC or BB, but if you are on commision you are going to want to offer the best customer service possible, hoping in return that the customer will buy more product and return to you for their next purchase.

Working right next to a Best Buy, I have had many customers come from there telling me that they couldn't get any help and when they did, the salesperson had no clue what he was talking about. A lot of customers tell me that they are happy that I get credit for helping them out. At CC after finishing a sale with a customer some would ask if I got credit for it. When I told them no they would be bummed out because they were hoping that I got atleast some credit for helping them out. I usually just told them, "you mostly helped me out by keeping my manager off my back."

Being 19 yrs old and going through college, compusa is probably the best job for me right now. I make way more money than any other sales person at bb or cc and I am actually respected by my managers for my work. For the forum members that have a sales job at bb or cc, if you have a compusa in your area thats considerably busy, go apply. I cant guarantee you that the managers will be as nice as mine, but atleast you will get credit for what you are selling.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: FinalFantasy

you are making a lot of generalizations here. like i said in the other thread, my department is prolly the best groupo of people i have ever worked with. they know more about computers than customers vould possibly imagine. most of them are CS/CS&E students, they really know their $hit

as for the school thing: 3 managers in our store have their MBA and my entire department attends school. ALL the managers are always encouraging us to stay in school. they are ALWAYS working with use to make sure we are not being scheduled during school hours and we are not getting more hours than we can handle. the managers even give us days off during the blackout period where we are not allowed to request days off

as for the calling in sick thing, i dont remember one single job that i have had that this hasnt happened in. And to be honest, it happens much less now than in past jobs. in fact, i would say somebody calls in sick maybe once a week, not much more than that. more often than not all the people show up

my point is that i dont think its fair to generalize about BB based on your store. the quality of the management and the employees are going to vary from store to store.

In my post above this I forgot to mention that not all bb salesman are unkowledgable. Back at CC almost everyone knew there stuff besides a couple people. Couple of my friends work at the local BB and the managers there are also excellent on keeping their schedules balanced with school. I have never purchased anything more then a game or cd at bb, so most of my oppinion on their service comes from friends and customers. But your right, customer service will always vary from store to store. I work at one of the top compusa's in the southern cali region, but I have no clue how other stores in the region treat their employees and customers.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: Martin
You think that's bad? I used to work as a bag boy (sorry, "courtesy clerk") at Dominoin (A&P) when I was 15-16. Everybody there hated the store and tried to rip it off in every way possible. The guys working in the meat dept used to mark down $30/kg meat down to $4-5 and buy it. One bag boy used to check in, then go sit in his car for 1 hr, then swing around again and go sit out there for another hour. I made up for my miserable minimum wage by making sure I ate enough stuff from the Deli (and not pay for it). I also used to take magazines (mostly gaming), lockmyself in the bathroom and read. Of course, I got caught one time and that was the end of my job 😀

Supposedly, a partially retarded guy was caught beating off in the bathroom of a fast food joint I used to work at many years ago. He kept his job (at least until that chain pulled out of my area).

 

[MeanMeosh]

i work at best buy as a member of the geek squad currently, and when someone comes in with a product, a PSP and a legitimate claim, we always replace the hardware no questions asked. i dont do computer sales, but i know for a fact that the computer sales guys always mention (they're trained to do so) that the PSP only covers the hardware and not the software on a computer. i have seen so many crapped-out harddrives that we just replace under the PSP without saying a word. i have also had to format+reinstall windows on so many machines cause the customer didn't windowsupdate often enough / got spyware / got a virus and that kinda stuff is not covered under the PSP so the customer pays. i've seen people bring in portable dvd players with broken hinges that was obviously the result of an overzealous user (the hinge was literally sheared off the unit) and also bring in a PSP and we give them a new one without saying anything.

the screwing works both ways, that's all i'm saying.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Originally posted by: MeanMeosh
i work at best buy as a member of the geek squad currently, and when someone comes in with a product, a PSP and a legitimate claim, we always replace the hardware no questions asked. i dont do computer sales, but i know for a fact that the computer sales guys always mention (they're trained to do so) that the PSP only covers the hardware and not the software on a computer. i have seen so many crapped-out harddrives that we just replace under the PSP without saying a word. i have also had to format+reinstall windows on so many machines cause the customer didn't windowsupdate often enough / got spyware / got a virus and that kinda stuff is not covered under the PSP so the customer pays. i've seen people bring in portable dvd players with broken hinges that was obviously the result of an overzealous user (the hinge was literally sheared off the unit) and also bring in a PSP and we give them a new one without saying anything.

the screwing works both ways, that's all i'm saying.

Yeah people know big chains make a good amount off service plans so they think we are just trying to cheat them out. Every customer that has come in with a product that has coverage on it, we roll out the red carpet for them. You come in with your product without service plan expecting help and dont want to pay, your basically going to get the finger.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: Martin
You think that's bad? I used to work as a bag boy (sorry, "courtesy clerk") at Dominoin (A&P) when I was 15-16. Everybody there hated the store and tried to rip it off in every way possible. The guys working in the meat dept used to mark down $30/kg meat down to $4-5 and buy it. One bag boy used to check in, then go sit in his car for 1 hr, then swing around again and go sit out there for another hour. I made up for my miserable minimum wage by making sure I ate enough stuff from the Deli (and not pay for it). I also used to take magazines (mostly gaming), lockmyself in the bathroom and read. Of course, I got caught one time and that was the end of my job 😀

So you and your buddies were stealing from your employer? Niiiice :roll: