Yet another reason not to shop at Best Buy...

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: SelArom

Originally posted by: KK
I see it as they are allowed to do what they need to survive, and I gotta do what I gotta do to save a buck. Do I care if they cut back on promotions. No, I'll shop elsewhere. Usually the only time I buy anything there is if I need it now, or if the deal they have is better than anywhere else.

yeah! stop arguing fellas. if they want the rich people only and that bothers you then don't shop there. Either they'll realize they made a mistake and go back to the old way, or they'll prosper and totally abandon everybody but the rich. Does it really affect you either way? nah, there are hundreds of other places to shop...

besides, a new TV isn't THAT important, is it? hell, even if it is, just buy it from somebody else.

Sure it does . . . . BB is trying to put stores that actually have good business practices and customer service out of business.

Personally i hope Beast Buy goes out of business. Along with Gateway, they do not deserve ANY customers.

:thumbsdown:

 

[nealh]

I did not realize they have gone to a restocking fee...that is BS at a B&M retailer..I will stay clear of BB...looks like Compusa and BB have decided against the consumer...wait till the guy buys a $10000 home theater and needs to return ...

I really believe in the end this strategy will fail as I do not believe there are enough people willing to throw money away ...as they seem to think..I bet the stores they tried and started are in upscale areas

 

[DNvCross]

Originally posted by: KillyKillall
Everyone just go to NewEgg and be done with it.

 

[woodscomp]

Originally posted by: ZoNtO
OK I have two points to make on this topic:

1. Best Buy is a great place to go for cheap media, aka music CDs, DVDs, DVD-Rs etc... Hell they even have decent deals on games sometimes. You can't argue with a 9.99 introductory rate on most music CDs, at least "Punk" CDs which are the ones I buy. I go to Best Buy nearly weekly to check out the new releases. As for computer, etc.. stuff, they are like any other retailer. If you shop around, sometimes BB will have lower prices, sometimes it's CompUSA or Circuit City. More often than not though, these companies are neck and neck during different periods. Just how it goes...

2. I'm sick of people complaining about being offered extended warranties. I know that on a lot of things they are rather pointless, but listen to this situation and YES I WORKED FOR COMPUSA, but I would do this even if I hadn't:

I bought my PNY 6800GT the day they came out for 319.72 which is what it is priced at cost. The extended warranty for two years on the card is 64.99 retail, so for me cost around 35-40 dollars. What this means to me is that if ANY TIME during the next two years, ANYTHING happens to the card (I drop it, it fries, goes out one day, overclock it too much, whatever) I can take it back and I am GUARANTEED at least a 6800GT 256MB card in exchange. However, the beauty of this is that probably within two years, the 6800GT card will get discontinued to make way for the new-gen nVidia cards. If I go back and they don't have the 6800GT anymore, I get upgraded to the next available product with similar specifications but I will NOT get downgraded. Since I know about the card that basically means a DX9.0c card with 16 pipes, and performance no less than a 6800GT. This is a straight up exchange for my card. I take my card in, give it to them, they do a return for the price of the new card, and I get it out the door. I also have the option to rebuy another extended warranty on this new card. CASE IN POINT: I get every single next gen card that I want for no more than $64.99 which is the cost of the 2 year warranty on the high dollar peripherals, instead of paying 400-500 dollars every upgrade. Now who in here can tell me that that isn't a smart idea?? Everyone balks at the mention of a warranty, when sometimes they are rather beneficial!! I also have this warranty on my Audigy2 ZS, mx510 logitech mouse, and my keyboard. I'm set for those upgrades pretty much for life boys, and it costs me only the price of the new warranty.

Another point to mention is that having worked in a retail situation such as this, I understand where the employees are coming from. They are paid to do a task, and some tasks which are defined by the corporate offices involve offering additional products and/or services to their customers. What good does it do to yell and rage and bitch about the company? If you don't to buy the warranty, simply express your opinion POLITELY to your salesman or CS Rep, and if they are any sort of decent they will respect you in return and drop the issue. But please, at least hear them out once and ask questions to clear things up. AFAIK, Best Buy's warrantys are a lot crappier than the ones we sold at Comp, but that doesn't mean every one is bad. Find out all the information before you base your decision, it can save you a lot of money in the long run sometimes guys!

The reason I said "any sort of decent" above is that of course with any company there are exceptions. Some employees will constantly hound you to buy, buy, buy even with repeated "NOs" by you. Deal with it, some people are jackasses. Go somewhere else or ask for another salesman, or leave, whatever suits your personality. But what good does it do to form a petty hatred for an entire company/organization based on the actions of ONE of their measly little retail chain employees/managers. If the president was like that, it would be a different story ya know? I don't hate all minorities because one wanna-be mexican gangster swore at me in high school. GROW UP!

Your points are moot and I will explain why....

1. While your CD collection maybe found at BB, it is not the same everywhere you go. And for me they don't keep on top of the latest releases.

2. 90% of extended warranties are pointless including your 6800GT extended warranty and I will explain why.

While you may think that the PNY extended warranty is a good purchase it is not. Currently PNY carries a 1 year warranty on this video card, and will extend it by two more if you register the card with them which will cover your loss. So if filled out the registration and sent it in or registered online you wasted your money on that extended warranty. But in case you did not register it read on....

By purchasing the extended warranty you think that you will get something better? Wrong, ever heard of PCI-Express? AGP cards are about to hit the dust, two years from now you will still be able to buy AGP cards but they will be like PCI video cards of today, generally selling for $50 or under and featuring the same technology of today. In two years these companies will no longer be churning out AGP cards like they are today. You will not get something any better than what you already have. The Ultra versions will no longer be available and the GT's will be rebadges as the entry level cards. If you think that you will be guarranteed a certain number of pipelines or MHZ on the card think again. The same people that sold you that warranty don't care what the features are of your card. The general thought is that newer equals better. Which was not the case for the ATI 9500 series of a while ago.

That said if you bought this video card with the long haul in mind then when you do need a AGP card for next go around. You will find yourself doing what most people do, upgrade the board, memory, processor and video card all at the same time.

 

[soflawill]

It's one thing to implement a policy such as described in the WSJ article. It's quite another to have s**t for brains and cooperate in the dissemination of this policy to the public via the SWJ.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: ZoNtO
OK I have two points to make on this topic:

1. Best Buy is a great place to go for cheap media, aka music CDs, DVDs, DVD-Rs etc... Hell they even have decent deals on games sometimes. You can't argue with a 9.99 introductory rate on most music CDs, at least "Punk" CDs which are the ones I buy. I go to Best Buy nearly weekly to check out the new releases. As for computer, etc.. stuff, they are like any other retailer. If you shop around, sometimes BB will have lower prices, sometimes it's CompUSA or Circuit City. More often than not though, these companies are neck and neck during different periods. Just how it goes...

2. I'm sick of people complaining about being offered extended warranties. I know that on a lot of things they are rather pointless, but listen to this situation and YES I WORKED FOR COMPUSA, but I would do this even if I hadn't:

I bought my PNY 6800GT the day they came out for 319.72 which is what it is priced at cost. The extended warranty for two years on the card is 64.99 retail, so for me cost around 35-40 dollars. What this means to me is that if ANY TIME during the next two years, ANYTHING happens to the card (I drop it, it fries, goes out one day, overclock it too much, whatever) I can take it back and I am GUARANTEED at least a 6800GT 256MB card in exchange. However, the beauty of this is that probably within two years, the 6800GT card will get discontinued to make way for the new-gen nVidia cards. If I go back and they don't have the 6800GT anymore, I get upgraded to the next available product with similar specifications but I will NOT get downgraded. Since I know about the card that basically means a DX9.0c card with 16 pipes, and performance no less than a 6800GT. This is a straight up exchange for my card. I take my card in, give it to them, they do a return for the price of the new card, and I get it out the door. I also have the option to rebuy another extended warranty on this new card. CASE IN POINT: I get every single next gen card that I want for no more than $64.99 which is the cost of the 2 year warranty on the high dollar peripherals, instead of paying 400-500 dollars every upgrade. Now who in here can tell me that that isn't a smart idea?? Everyone balks at the mention of a warranty, when sometimes they are rather beneficial!! I also have this warranty on my Audigy2 ZS, mx510 logitech mouse, and my keyboard. I'm set for those upgrades pretty much for life boys, and it costs me only the price of the new warranty.

Another point to mention is that having worked in a retail situation such as this, I understand where the employees are coming from. They are paid to do a task, and some tasks which are defined by the corporate offices involve offering additional products and/or services to their customers. What good does it do to yell and rage and bitch about the company? If you don't to buy the warranty, simply express your opinion POLITELY to your salesman or CS Rep, and if they are any sort of decent they will respect you in return and drop the issue. But please, at least hear them out once and ask questions to clear things up. AFAIK, Best Buy's warrantys are a lot crappier than the ones we sold at Comp, but that doesn't mean every one is bad. Find out all the information before you base your decision, it can save you a lot of money in the long run sometimes guys!

The reason I said "any sort of decent" above is that of course with any company there are exceptions. Some employees will constantly hound you to buy, buy, buy even with repeated "NOs" by you. Deal with it, some people are jackasses. Go somewhere else or ask for another salesman, or leave, whatever suits your personality. But what good does it do to form a petty hatred for an entire company/organization based on the actions of ONE of their measly little retail chain employees/managers. If the president was like that, it would be a different story ya know? I don't hate all minorities because one wanna-be mexican gangster swore at me in high school. GROW UP!

With extended warranties, you are betting that the item you are purchasing will fail. If you're betting it will fail, why are you buying it????

 

[CasmirRadon]

Couple of years back I worked in their media department... which basically meant my job was to painstakingly (with an emphasis on pain) stock infinite amounts of CDs, DVDs, software and console games for uninterupted periods of 8 hours (starting at 4 am since it was the holiday season). Sometimes I would be tasked with greeting people, where I walk in a big circle around the store desperately attempting to find someone who wants assistance (do your local employee a favor, ask them where a movie is... they want to help you find that movie, they are soooo terribly bored). Meanwhile I get yelled at for stocking items slower than their little binder tells them I should be able to stock items (funny, I never once saw an employee that could match those statistics in the manager's binders).

I've worked in a number of godawful manufacturing jobs over the years on assembly lines, and Best Buy had the worst job satisfaction of any of them.

This, as you may have gathered from my description, obviously involved very little sales. And they didn't really care anyway since we had so little profit margin in my department (accept for accessories of course). Still, I will never forgot the hours and hours and hours I was forced to sit in the back room pooring over endless binders of information on customer service. Reading hundreds of pages on how to say hi, what to say next, how to identify people, how to sell things.... so many acronyms.

Oh yeah, my point is that Best Buy is a world of pain.

 

[SelArom]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: SelArom

Originally posted by: KK
I see it as they are allowed to do what they need to survive, and I gotta do what I gotta do to save a buck. Do I care if they cut back on promotions. No, I'll shop elsewhere. Usually the only time I buy anything there is if I need it now, or if the deal they have is better than anywhere else.

yeah! stop arguing fellas. if they want the rich people only and that bothers you then don't shop there. Either they'll realize they made a mistake and go back to the old way, or they'll prosper and totally abandon everybody but the rich. Does it really affect you either way? nah, there are hundreds of other places to shop...

besides, a new TV isn't THAT important, is it? hell, even if it is, just buy it from somebody else.

Sure it does . . . . BB is trying to put stores that actually have good business practices and customer service out of business.

Personally i hope Beast Buy goes out of business. Along with Gateway, they do not deserve ANY customers.

:thumbsdown:

If the stores have good business practices, then it's practical they would make good business. These companies (best buy included) don't get their money off trees. Consumers like you and me put our money in their pockets, so we decide who goes out of business. And I agree, if BB continues with this, indeed they deserve such a fate.

 

[udonoogen]

the only times i have gone to best buy in the past 4 or 5 years has been to get CDs or to camp out on black friday. i am a proud member of their 20%. i am also camping out at fry's now because i think their BF sales suck and the attitude they display towards their customers in that article suck even more.

 

[Ornery]

With extended warranties, you are betting that the item you are purchasing will fail. If you're betting it will fail, why are you buying it????

You're missing the point. The point is being able to upgrade cheaply. The sucky part about Best Buy's warranty, is that it can only be used once. I don't know about other retailers, but with Sears Protection agreements, you can replace the item as many times as needed during your warranty period. You will also be upgraded if the item is no longer available. How do you know it will break before your period expires? :roll: Text

 

[katka]

The bottom line is that best buy is NOT offer you anything that you can't get for the same or better price somewhere else. If they offer something FAR for instance that someone else isn't offering go for it. Otherwise take your money to some other company who appreciates it. Period. Not really anything to argue or debate about.

For the person who put up the stock picture, unless you know how to examine the books extensively don't buy your stock based on that picture. Their customer service SUX so it is unlikely that they are truely that profitable. For example, by having a rewards program they can likely claim that as a profit and or tax break some how. It is not really "profit"as they "gave it to you" after you were charged for the membership. Depending on the accounting rule/method that they are using it is just a shuffling of the numbers and not "real " profit. Also, people are likely to buy a more expensive item thereby contributing unwitting to those numbers, but not to the extent of those rising numbers.

In sum, BB is NOT that good usless you are pricematching to someone else. Not that profitable either if they are offering a rewards program as it is an accounting trick and a return customer trap!

PS notice how they are changing the rewards program at midstream. Some people are smart and not falling for it.

 

[anno]

Toys 'R' Us recently announced it was considering exiting the toy business.

:Q

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Any store would like to get rid of those customers. Those are the people that use loopholes to cause the store to lose money.

You mean, like taking hold of the opportunities presented by the store itself, such as their posted pricematch policies? And yet, when you do so, you get treated almost like a criminal and a thief by the staff?

The irony of it all, is when you've purchase new-in-box electronics items at BestBuy, and you take them home and open them, and you find out that they've been used and re-shrink-wrapped.

Trust me, I hold no love for BestBuy.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Balt
I'm certainly not defending the Ferengi, but the fact is that companies like Best Buy have those policies set up specifically to attract customers. They know that a high percentage of their customers will never use their rebates or price-matching policies but will still be attracted by them.

Now if Best Buy could just figure out a way to keep these attractive policies in place without ever actually having to honor them, they'd be happy. That seems a little unrealistic, though.

Oh, they've already mastered that, trust me. Here's a couple of threads on the subject:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...1072063&arctab=arc
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...1325343&arctab=arc

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: UTmtnbiker
It's a slippery slope they're going down. Although I think it's in their right as a for profit company, I quesion how far they're going to go with this. What's next, a credit check before you can enter the store? Maybe if you don't fit a certain profile, you're not welcome there. It's CAPS II with consumer electronics. :Q

It's one thing to close loopholes to prevent abuse of policy (opening, returning, and then rebuying as an open box is one), however, if you're working in THEIR SYSTEM and buying their loss leaders, what's wrong with that?

Everything! Just like you can't simply purchase a few burgers off of the "value menu" at your local fast-food schlop joint, you have to purchase onion rings and a large overpriced drink too... wait, no you don't. I buy nothing but a couple of $1 burgers at the drive-thru all of the time. (Yeah, maybe they do lose money on me, but they make it up in spades on the next customer that orders a SuperHeartAttackBurger, Quad-Damage Enhanced for only $0.79 more. I'm not too worried about corporate profits myself. If they drop the value menu, I'll simply stop patronizing their business any more. Simple as that.)

Speaking of open-box items at BustBuy:
http://www.wbns10tv.com/Global...95669&nav=LUERQ2ZQ
http://www.business-journal.co...GeneralSuesBestBuy.asp

The attorney general's office reported it has received hundreds of consumer complaints during the last few years with the highest concentration of complaints alleging, among other things, that Best Buy repackaged used goods and sold them as new, failed to honor rebates, failed to honor refund and exchange programs, and failed to honor extended service contracts.

"The sheer number of complaints coupled with the types of allegations my office received prompted us to file this lawsuit." Petro said. "The primary objective of this lawsuit is to bring Best Buy into conformity with Ohio's consumer protection laws and ensure that Best Buy's Ohio customers receive the service they deserve."

Violations of the Ohio?s Consumer Sales Practices Act alleged in the lawsuit include: failure to honor implied warranties of merchantability, substandard and inadequate customer service, and making false and misleading statements to consumers.

Good stuff, huh? Where have we all heard those same exact things before? Oh yeah, right here. (Emphasis mine in the article quotes.) Actual lawsuit text

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Ornery
They buy products, apply for rebates, return the purchases, then buy them back at returned-merchandise discounts. They load up on "loss leaders," severely discounted merchandise designed to boost store traffic, then flip the goods at a profit on eBay. They slap down rock-bottom price quotes from Web sites and demand that Best Buy make good on its lowest-price pledge. "They can wreak enormous economic havoc," says Mr. Anderson.

Actually, that's a lie. BestBuy doesn't price-match any internet sites, even those of their retail local B&M competitors that show the current weekly ads (for the B&M store) on their web site.

As far as someone purchasing something, applying for the rebate, and then returning it to the store - don't they already track purchase transaction numbers, and can therefore invalidate the rebate because of that? Therefore, I think that's a lie too.

Originally posted by: Ornery
Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?

You're right! BestBuy is staffed by an army of agents! No wonder they all appear so... not quite like ordinary humans. and they all seem to multiply and swarm around you when you are perusing a laptop or camera, all brandish these weapons of doom they call "extended warranties" and "product protection plan".

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: ZoNtO
I'm thoroughly impressed with the quality and relevance of your post. Who wouldda thunk the Matrix has actual "real-world" applications! ?!??!

Wait a second... wait a second! BestBuy's house-brand computer systems are called "Matrix"... HMMM...

The secret is out.

 

[db]

Free country: BB can make their policies, and I will respond. I hold grudges for a loooong time.
When they discover that they can't maintain individual unique stores and keep the prices down, and then want all their customers back--f**k 'em. I've been dissatisfied with BB for some time now, and especially lately.
BTW, their extended warranties are not what they used to be, ie if you "drop" a cell phone--even onto a feather pillow--the warranty is void. They will ask this question, so be prepared.


"Sorry 'bout sticking that pole up your @ss last year. We're buddies again now, right? Right? Uh, hello....? Anybody there?!
Where'd he go?"

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: nealh
I did not realize they have gone to a restocking fee...that is BS at a B&M retailer..I will stay clear of BB...looks like Compusa and BB have decided against the consumer...wait till the guy buys a $10000 home theater and needs to return ...

Best Buy has always had a restocking fee on some items such as video recorders and laptop computers. However, from the linked article, it appears the restocking fee could be applied to more items, too. Whether it truly gets implemented remains to be seen.

 

[Tom]

over time these big bos stores change their focus. Initiially they market based on price until they drive most local businesses out of business, then they switch to selling most stuff at retail, so you don't save any money versus the now closed local shops, plus you get almost no customer service or businesses with any sense of community.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Balt
I'm certainly not defending the Ferengi, but the fact is that companies like Best Buy have those policies set up specifically to attract customers. They know that a high percentage of their customers will never use their rebates or price-matching policies but will still be attracted by them.

Now if Best Buy could just figure out a way to keep these attractive policies in place without ever actually having to honor them, they'd be happy. That seems a little unrealistic, though.

Oh, they've already mastered that, trust me. Here's a couple of threads on the subject:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...1072063&arctab=arc
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...1325343&arctab=arc

The no price match + rebate policy makes complete sense. There are times when Best Buy and one of their competitors have the same deal on a product, but one of them just does a price cut, and the other does a rebate. They're both selling it for essentially the same price, but if they allow a pricematch you can get it for far less than the intended price. I got in on one of those deals before they added that policy - the Logitech Cordless Elite Duo. Best Buy had it for $100 - $50 rebate = $50, Circuit City had it for $60. Pricematch and rebate and you get it for $10. They didn't intend to offer it for $10, and none of their competitors offered it for $10, but their price match policy essentially forced them to do it. So why shouldn't they close that hole.

As for your "no internet sales" post, that's really misleading. I don't know of any store that will match a price that is not advertised in print, and with good reason. Consumer protection laws in most states require that if a store advertises a price, they have to sell the item to you at that price, even if they run out (with a few exceptions, like if it is advertised as clearance). If they run out, they must give you a rain check. That discourages retailer from offering an item at an amazing deal when they only have a few in stock, just to get you in the door. Can you imagine the problems it would cause if every store had to match every other store's closeout prices? That's what would happen if stores had to match unadvertised prices. I say unadvertised prices, because in your rant about not matching online prices, you could be referring to one of two things - the online version of the weekly sales flyer (which you could easily obtain by just going to that store), or just their online prices for items, in which case my comments about only matching advertised prices applies. But why shouldn't they match the prices in a competitor's online sales flyer? a. you could spoof it, b. why should they waste their time going online to look it up?, c. If you're too lazy to get the competitor's ad, you don't deserve the price match. d. Most consumers will try to blur the linse between an internet ADVERTISEMENT and an Internet SALES PRICE. "But it's on their website for that price, so they're ADVERTISING it for that price, right? Right?!" and then yell and complain until the store caves in and gives it to them for that price. That is even mentioned in the article. (Also, I'm not sure if state consumer protection laws would apply to Internet "advertisments.")

All stores have exclusions in their price matching policies, and contrary to what you would like to believe, they are not their to screw you. Without those exclusions their price matching policies COULD NOT EXIST, because they would cause retailers to lose a heck of a lot of money.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: Tom
over time these big bos stores change their focus. Initiially they market based on price until they drive most local businesses out of business, then they switch to selling most stuff at retail, so you don't save any money versus the now closed local shops, plus you get almost no customer service or businesses with any sense of community.

The Wal-Mart mentality has swept the nation and has affected many stores. A few years back, any store opening had better implement their plan like Wal-Mart did because people would only buy cheap goods or search for the lowest price. There is some evidence that other companies are also getting away from this mentality and Best Buy might be one of the first to announce it. But, I don't think the other retailers who are changing their formulas will go about it such as BB has done by indicating 20% of their customer base is undesireable to them and their desire to make mega profits.

 

[vood0g]

Originally posted by: ZoNtO
OK I have two points to make on this topic:

1. Best Buy is a great place to go for cheap media, aka music CDs, DVDs, DVD-Rs etc... Hell they even have decent deals on games sometimes. You can't argue with a 9.99 introductory rate on most music CDs, at least "Punk" CDs which are the ones I buy. I go to Best Buy nearly weekly to check out the new releases. As for computer, etc.. stuff, they are like any other retailer. If you shop around, sometimes BB will have lower prices, sometimes it's CompUSA or Circuit City. More often than not though, these companies are neck and neck during different periods. Just how it goes...

2. I'm sick of people complaining about being offered extended warranties. I know that on a lot of things they are rather pointless, but listen to this situation and YES I WORKED FOR COMPUSA, but I would do this even if I hadn't:

I bought my PNY 6800GT the day they came out for 319.72 which is what it is priced at cost. The extended warranty for two years on the card is 64.99 retail, so for me cost around 35-40 dollars. What this means to me is that if ANY TIME during the next two years, ANYTHING happens to the card (I drop it, it fries, goes out one day, overclock it too much, whatever) I can take it back and I am GUARANTEED at least a 6800GT 256MB card in exchange. However, the beauty of this is that probably within two years, the 6800GT card will get discontinued to make way for the new-gen nVidia cards. If I go back and they don't have the 6800GT anymore, I get upgraded to the next available product with similar specifications but I will NOT get downgraded. Since I know about the card that basically means a DX9.0c card with 16 pipes, and performance no less than a 6800GT. This is a straight up exchange for my card. I take my card in, give it to them, they do a return for the price of the new card, and I get it out the door. I also have the option to rebuy another extended warranty on this new card. CASE IN POINT: I get every single next gen card that I want for no more than $64.99 which is the cost of the 2 year warranty on the high dollar peripherals, instead of paying 400-500 dollars every upgrade. Now who in here can tell me that that isn't a smart idea?? Everyone balks at the mention of a warranty, when sometimes they are rather beneficial!! I also have this warranty on my Audigy2 ZS, mx510 logitech mouse, and my keyboard. I'm set for those upgrades pretty much for life boys, and it costs me only the price of the new warranty.

Another point to mention is that having worked in a retail situation such as this, I understand where the employees are coming from. They are paid to do a task, and some tasks which are defined by the corporate offices involve offering additional products and/or services to their customers. What good does it do to yell and rage and bitch about the company? If you don't to buy the warranty, simply express your opinion POLITELY to your salesman or CS Rep, and if they are any sort of decent they will respect you in return and drop the issue. But please, at least hear them out once and ask questions to clear things up. AFAIK, Best Buy's warrantys are a lot crappier than the ones we sold at Comp, but that doesn't mean every one is bad. Find out all the information before you base your decision, it can save you a lot of money in the long run sometimes guys!

The reason I said "any sort of decent" above is that of course with any company there are exceptions. Some employees will constantly hound you to buy, buy, buy even with repeated "NOs" by you. Deal with it, some people are jackasses. Go somewhere else or ask for another salesman, or leave, whatever suits your personality. But what good does it do to form a petty hatred for an entire company/organization based on the actions of ONE of their measly little retail chain employees/managers. If the president was like that, it would be a different story ya know? I don't hate all minorities because one wanna-be mexican gangster swore at me in high school. GROW UP!

i am pretty sure with these tactics, you'll definitely be in the 20% that BB wants to lose.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Ausm
Best Buy sux period!!

Ausm

No, Best Buy sux dot org!

 

[Oakenfold]

What's the big deal? This is a business decision and one not uncommon in industry whether it be finance, retail, services etc.
The guy is trying to cut losses, which have been identified as a portion of his customer base. If a portion of your company was not profitable you mean to tell me you wouldn't change it or sell that portion?