Retailers Hate Us

[chas0039]

Never forget the bottom line... as the head of GM once said many years ago, "General Motors is not in the business of making cars; General Motors is in the business of making money".

[Excellerator]

I can see SOME of their points. I work retail myself and one thing that gets me is when I waste time explaining a product and telling how something works only to let the cheapsakes go online and order it after I did all the work because its a few bucks cheaper. So now I don't give full details until I know the sale is made. This is in fact wasting my time, when I could be making money off "real" customers willing to shop at my store that are waiting for someone to wait on them.

[Excellerator]

If you go into the shops that advertise themselves on low cost then you have to expect a sacrificed level of service. If you want that knowledge, go to a specialised store but expect to pay higher prices.

I agree 100% I think you just said it perfectly. But people expect us salespeople give full service for internet prices also. I get sick of the "Do you price match xxxxxx.com?". I feel like saying "Sure" grabbing to item and ringing it up. "Next". But thats not what they expect, they want full service for dealer cost.

[hudsonf]

I live next to a state with no sales tax. By law if we buy something in that state we are required to pay a usage tax to the state I live in. I don't know anyone who ever paid this tax but it is the law. Getting back to the subject if a store doesn't want you to buy items on sale why have a sail. Sounds like to me they want to use a sale to get you in the store and only sell you a more expensive item (bait and switch). Now who's being evil? Almost forgot; If you let BestBuy install a external optical drive what do the do. Do they come to your home and plug it in for you?

[JohnnyCNote]

Almost forgot; If you let BestBuy install a external optical drive what do the do. Do they come to your home and plug it in for you?

They probably install the software and make sure it works - at least, that's what they should do....

[Invader Bugs]

hmm, well, this is strange, i go to Best Buy a lot, and i have had no problems, i mean, the worst things i can think of is when my DVD Player i got from there broke, and i had to give it to them to fix it, and it took about 2 months. other than that, ive had no problems with service.

[FulciLives]

hmm, well, this is strange, i go to Best Buy a lot, and i have had no problems, i mean, the worst things i can think of is when my DVD Player i got from there broke, and i had to give it to them to fix it, and it took about 2 months. other than that, ive had no problems with service.

Talk about clueless.

You have the nerve to say it took 2 months to get your DVD player fixed and then in the next breath you say had no problems with service

Does the word BRAINWASHED mean anything to you?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[kirpen]

Well when I do go to best buy cust service is the last thing I want. I do my homework before I buy and I go to the store knowing what I want. I dont want to spend $30 bucks to protect my $100 investment for 2 more years. Most things tend to break right away or get outdated long before I need repair.

[Nilfennasion]

In a town like this one, two months is not even unusual. The retailers here are well-known for acting like they do not want your business, and the distributors are not that much better. Hopefully, the DVD drive I put in for service won't take that long, but I won't be surprised.

[JohnnyCNote]

I'm sure there are plenty of good Best Buy locations, unfortunately, I haven't been to one myself in quite a while. I used to enjoy shopping there, and gave them a lot of business. However, things started to go downhill to the point where I finally experienced the last straw.

Briefly, they had a TV tuner card for a good price after a $20 rebate. I called the closest one to verify it was in stock, and they said they'd hold it for me. I arrived in an hour or so after having battled the heavy midday traffic in the area. When I reached the computer area, I was completely unacknowledged, even though there were several "prods" there. When I was in retail, I'd always take a couple of minutes to at least greet someone even if I was otherwise busy. The very least I could do was offer to find someone to help them.

So I waited for no less than 45 minutes before someone finally got around to me. "I'd like to pick up a tuner card that someone set aside for me."

"Oh, it's 'in the back'," said another "prod".

Then someone came up and said "it's right here" and produced a box with my name on it. I'd seen this box already, but was hoping it wasn't for me because it was the wrong item! Sure enough, they'd simply run to the shelf and grabbed a graphic card that included an integrated tuner. This meant I'd spent over an hour, 45+ minutes of which were spent waiting for someone to tell me they'd set aside the wrong item. And guess what - the item I wanted was out of stock!

I asked for a manager, who came over shortly. "Well, I'm sorry," he offered with a voice completely devoid of conviction.
"When do you expect to get more of these in?" I asked.

"Probably next week."

"What about the rebate?" I asked, pointing out that the rebate expired on Saturday.

"I'm sorry."

"Can't you do something about that, since I wouldn't even have come down here in all this traffic if your employee hadn't given me wrong information?"

"Well, I'm sorry," he offered in a lame attempt to blow me off. I had a network card in my hand, which I set down with a bit of force in frustration over his total unwillingness to even try to do the right thing. When I was in retail, we'd have offered to take the price off at the register without even being asked. Plus, I'd been treated much better at Circuit City in a couple of similar situations.

The bozo started to walk away, at which point I reminded him of how much I'd spent there over the years. "Well, if you're going to damage our merchandise, I can't help you". Of course, nothing was even close to being damaged, or he'd have asked me to pay for it. He simply used that as a pretext to end the matter.

I wrote the company's headquarters and they sent me $20 in gift certificates, which I spent at the other location. That was the last time I ever bought anything at Best Buy.....

[sacajaweeda]

How could you return an item that you sent in a rebate? Almost all of the rebates require the UPC to be cut/torn from the box.

I bought a Sony laptop at Best Buy and got a 250 dollar rebate and all I had to send them was a copy of the UPC off the box. Now I have a rebate check for 250 dollars and the box complete with UPC.

Should I take it back??

[Grimey]

I go to futureshop a lot, and I don't ave problems with their service becasue i don't use it. If i ever go there to buy anything other than just a movie or cd or something, I do weeks of research and know exactly what i want. If you're at all Indecisive about your purchase, they take that opportunity to try and sell all kinds of crap you don't need. So I find it's easiest to just go in, get something, and go out.

[Marvingj]

Most of the time when you go to Best Buy etc. they don't Know NOTHING So I walk around & see if I'm interested in something or just check out new stuff. Why would anyone let a Dumb Ass Saleperson help you anyway, they don't know shit. They only want to help push something expensive on some Joe Customer ( who knows less than them).

[sacajaweeda]

Actually when I went to Best Buy to get the laptop, the kid they had in that department was really sharp. Barely out of high school from the look of him, but definitely knew what he was talking about. Either that or he has a photographic memory and had all the product spec cards they stick everywhere memorized. That was my first suspicion though, so I threw him a few curve balls and he passed, so I think he may have actually known a thing or two. My only problem was the rate of speed at which the words came out of his mouth. Like if you bumped the switch from 33 to 78 on an old phonograph or something.

[ViRaL1]

You can't really expect a great deal out of the employees at Best Buy. Especially when it comes to computers. Most of the associates might would just as soon work at J C Penney. A select few, including the actual technicians do have more than a basic knowledge of computers or electronics. Last I heard Best Buy salespeople were non-commission, so whether you buy something or not they still get paid the same amount. They don't give much at all in the way of training and there's no need for any certification. Think of it an oversized electronics section at Sears. I miss Fry's.

[JohnnyCNote]

Last I heard Best Buy salespeople were non-commission, so whether you buy something or not they still get paid the same amount. They don't give much at all in the way of training and there's no need for any certification. Think of it an oversized electronics section at Sears. I miss Fry's.

In fact, they make a big deal of saying "we're not on commission" (or, more accurately, they're instructed to make a big deal out of it). Having been a commissioned sales rep myself, I was never the least bit impressed favorably by their presumed candor. All it suggested to me was that Best Buy was too cheap to pay commissions....

[Madz]

I was just curious, after reading this and some of the stories on BBS: Those people who saw posts of sales or special offers for DVD media @ BB in the "Media" forum and when you ran to BB to purchase said media, did they, A) ACTUALLY have it in stock??!; B) Try to sell you a service plan &/or magazine trial w/ it/them; C) All of the above?????

I avoid BB whenever possible especially after the time they tried to sell me a PSP for a $35 cordless phone and hassled me when I refused it. Problem? Said plan was nearly 50% AGAIN the price of the stinking phone! :P :P

[Moloko_Plus]

There were several deals last christmas that had rebates, all seperate products. I bought them, filled out the rebate and never saw anything from them.
Best buy is a retail chain quickly going down the toilet. I never shop in stores unless its something i need in a pinch, or something like a 250gb hdd for 150 bucks. Screw em.

[beric3236]

Along these lines, I received my copy of Computer Shopper, August 2004, and it rated several stores including Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, an others and the overall average was a "C" for everyone except The Apple Store which rated an "A". Best Buy, for example, was "good selection, but in our experience, the salespeople were more about the sale then about the people" - Selection "A" - Sales Staff "D" - Overall grade "C+". It is an article I encurage everyone to read.

[dun4cheap]

JohncNote, I will visit Fry's for you today. Love that store. I usualy never purchase anything from Circuit City or Best Buy, unless the price is right. For instance I just bought a Canon Optura 20 Cam Corder for $330 from them, included was a free tripod and bag and 15 months interest free. These stores don't like me because that camcorder is normally $500-$600 plus I ALWAYS pay the no interest purchase off before the deadline.

I typically buy most of my things from Frys or the monthly computer fairs in Costa Mesa, Pamona or San Diego. Bottom line is why pay $50, $100, $200 more for something when I know I can get it $5-$10 over cost at the trade shows. I don't have a heart ache with the vendors making their cut but most retailers are making a killing.

Frys however, sometimes you just can't beat their lost leaders EG todays add

160gig Maxtor 8meg cache $69
3GH/800mhz Retail plus Abit/ECS motherboard for $199
DVD-R 4x 50pack for $24.99
512MB PC3200 $59.99 after $25MIB


Bottom line is, if you don't have a Frys near you or a monthly computer fair then you are stuck with mail order or retail. With mail order you are typically paying the $5-$10 over cost plus shipping which is still better than buying retail but I hate dealing with mail. I need to put my dirty hands on it and take it home then.

If you are in the California Area/Las Vegas area you may want to locate a computer fair near you by going to lacomputerfair.com. Please note I have no affiliation with them other than I spend a lot of money at these places. One last example is Full Set of Generic ink cartridges for the Epson R200/R300 was $25 and they always work perfect for me.


Just the 2 pennies left over from Fry's the other day.

[JohnnyCNote]

Unfortunately, they don't have Fry's in North Florida (nor any other part of FL as far as I know). I'm familiar with them from what I've read elsewhere and from ads I used to see in Microtimes (if they still publish it). I get most of what I need from NewEgg, Costco, or maybe Circuit City or CompUSA, but not too often....

[Moloko_Plus]

Frys is a good store, they had it when i was living in phoenix arizona.

Best buy is terrible though, too overpriced and their marketting strategies of not selling items its just messed up.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I have been in best buy, and I agree their associates are NOT the sharpest knives in the drawer, but what can you expect?, don't receive training for selling computers...
Some of them are helpful, some of them don't... Some of them really wants to help you, some of them think that they are doing a favor just talking to you.
Like anywhere else.

[JohnnyCNote]

It's not the Best Buy associates I have any beef with, it's the company itself....

[mohammedomer1]

Speaking of rebates, I once waited over 8 months from 2nd week of september 03 to mid june 04 just to get a $50 US rebate check. that was the last time I bought any stuff with rebates on it. I go to best buy/future shop to check out the stuff I am interested in, (obviously they are 40% expensive than ebay at an average)buy it, test it out and return it. Once I am satisfied with the product, only then I pursue it on Ebay, It gives me the chance to see if there are any problems with the product with an opportunity to return.
(not that I am encouraging such behaviour) but such chain stores often simply charge way, way much more than the actual price of the product. and rip off innocent customers...who are not technically inclined

[ViRaL1]

No restocking fees?

[aero]

much superior computer for nearly half the price

HALF OF $399 ??? including monitor and printer ?

i smell a story here and it smells fishy .....

exactly, that is why most of these "storename-sux.com" sites are silly. they often have cranks who perceived some slight and make up an story about the store.

[aero]

This is what I read:
I've worked in retail and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

someone gives you a serious andswer and all you have that? lol.

there is a good reason why as the poster explained rebates now take so long. there is enormous abuse and fraud.

There are whole sites on the net dedicated to getting deals. Many are good and useful. some of them show how to abuse rebates, stack coupons where the coupon says it can't be stacked but a programming mistake allows it to be, or where their is just a plain typo in the pricing. Most of these sites are closely monitored by ebayers. which is why when there is a "slick deal" it goes out of stock so quickly. The ebayers try and buy 50 to 100 units. guys trying to buy one unit often call the retailer which tips them off.

Granted there is abuse on the retail side as well. My worst expereince is with set aside with B&M stores and coproate web sites. Take Compusa they advertise a low price on the net, and unlike circuit city (which is actually prtty good in terms of rebate paying, keeping items in stock etc), with compus you do not actually buy the item you "reserve it" you get there for in-store-pickup and it is out of stock. worse it isn't out of stock but the 10 units they set aside for the low price are out of stock and the 100 units of the sasme thing are not part of the "set aside." this never happnes with circuit city where you actually purchase the item.

What is going on is there are now companies selling lists of names, credit card numbers, shipping addresses, emails addresses, etc., of people who abuse coupons and deals. Some stores make these lists themselves internally and some buy from aggreagotors. It t doesnt mean you will be denied shopping for anything, but your purchase will trigger a lookover of the deal.

I am not defending many retail polices, but tagging a costomer by name or creditcard and scrutinizing his purchase or return more stringently isn't unethical. I worked in a small retail store in college. we would have costomers who constanty returned things we doubted they bought from us, etc. we knew them by face and wouldn't give them any benifit of the doubt unless they could prove everything with paper. we were less hard on costomers who had no record of abuse. nothing unfair there.

nowadays people can scour the net possible illigtimate deals and do them on a large scale. it is no different tagging those people people in databases.

[aero]

Along these lines, I received my copy of Computer Shopper, August 2004, and it rated several stores including Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, an others and the overall average was a "C" for everyone except The Apple Store which rated an "A". Best Buy, for example, was "good selection, but in our experience, the salespeople were more about the sale then about the people" - Selection "A" - Sales Staff "D" - Overall grade "C+". It is an article I encurage everyone to read.

Beric don't get me wrong, but do you have any idea of the differential in markup between Apple and Circuit city? Do you have any idea of the draconian forced pricing on Apple products? Circuit city, best buy and everyone else is forbidden by Apple from discounting from the list price. How about the fact that Apple makes everypurchaser go throught the childish stop of committing a minor fraud by claiming an academic discount? Do yuo know anyone who buys an apple computer that doesn't have an aunt or nephew buy it to get the academic discount, becasue other discounting isn't allowed? what is that about?

Apple can sit you down and give you a foot massage at their prices. Why would you expect a retailer working on 10% to give you the service of deler working on 20%?

[hech54]

Well I for one am glad to see retailers cracking down on a§§holes who wake up in the morning looking for ways to stick it to them. A§§hole customers have only themselves to blame for what is happening in retail today. Retailers have been taking it on the chin by repeat offenders for years and now the rest of the honest shoppers have to jump through hoops to return something that is genuinely defective.