State of Ohio sues Best Buy

[ViRaL1]

It's a Maxtor. Even the part # is the same.

[JohnnyCNote]

Speaking of CompUSA and sales...
They've 'had' a Generic (Maxtor) 250GB ATA133 drive on sale with an Internet Only price of $129.99.

I got a similar deal on the SATA version of this drive. It's great for storing large "backup" files....

[Thomas Davie]

I bought a laptop from Best Buy in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on October 17/03. I took it back one week later because of a single bad pixel. They couldn't see the bad pixel, but they gave me a new laptop without question or hesitation. Maybe the consumer protection laws are different where I live. Who knows. Also, they do *NOT* ask if you want to buy any extended warranty or service.

My 2 cents, and obviously I like Best Buy.

Tom

[indolikaa]

Best Buy...


I did my time in retail electronics sales. I worked with companies that expected anywhere from 3% of your gross sales to be extended warranties all the way up to Silo, who expected 7.75% penetration. I used to moonlight at electronics stores so I could get the huge employee discounts on audio and video equipment, but the constant 'push' for warranty and 'accessory' sales got to be too much.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is why I buy all of my electronics on the Internet. Can you imagine the end result of someone like me losing patience with a salesperson who won't take 'No!' on an extended warranty offer? Please!

I've not had much experience with BB, but so far as I'm concerned, they blow dog balls.

[JohnnyCNote]

I worked at the old Computer City for about 2 years, and can agree that it was mostly the pressure to sell warranties that ruined it for me. I was one of their best reps because I wasn't pushy, and I wasn't willing to get that way because I don't like them myself.

Of course, I also got tired of their dropping boxes on my, like a computer on my head, a monitor on my shoulder, etc. It kinda puts a damper on one's day....

[samijubal]

I don't like Best Buy or Circuit City either one much. They are always trying to push things you don't really need. I travel twice as far and go to Ultimate Electronics. Knowlegable sales people who don't try to push products you don't need. Very good customer service and return policies. Something wrong with the product or you don't like something they will bend over backwards to make it right. By far the best store where I live.

[hech54]

I find it amusing how many people base their love or hatred for a retail store on it's return policy. THOSE people are the reason why some retail stores are as bad as they are. Buy it, use it, abuse it, experiment with it...then take it back.
Consumer Reports and other testing institutions PURCHASE the products that they want to test with no intention of returning them. If you want to be a self proclaimed beta tester to impress yourself, your friends, or someone on a message board...then you should get a job with Consumer Reports.

[ViRaL1]

Return policies are ESPECIALLY important when it comes to things like electronics and computer components. Just because it's new doesn't mean it will work, or work as advertised (on the box OR by a salesperson). Some things may work fine on one system and not on another. Then there are compatibility issues. I personally have bought a great deal of computer and electronics equipment from a variety of stores. Granted, I'm not one of those 'beta testers' who purchase a new product from a store to try it out and get use out of it while they wait for their 'keeper' to come from Newegg, but sometimes stores who DON'T have a decent return policy just don't get the sales unless they're the only game in town.

My one bad BB story...

I bought the South Park 'Chef-Aid' CD off the shelf to replace the one I had lost earlier in the year. I looked carefully at the label to be sure I wasn't getting the edited version because I knew that there was one out there. No markings on the label or the CD indicated that I was getting anything other than the full unedited, uncut version. I got home and found out otherwise. They wouldn't take it back because it was open.
I had to open the damn thing and play it just to find out that it wasn't what was being advertised on the label. I even had a tech play the 1st track to see what I meant. They still wouldn't take it back. I don't buy music from them anymore.

[hech54]

1)Neither Best Buy nor Circuit City put labels on their CD's. Your beef is with the record company....not the retail store who sells it.

2)Try to return an "electrical or electronic" item or part at an auto parts store and see the response you get from the other side of the counter.
.....this is what you will see.

[ZAPPER]

There are two sides to every coin. Yes I am sure that BB has policy (written or unwritten) that provokes some of the bad service that is out there. And I am sure that uneducated buyers are the other half of the problem. I think that it is foolish to expect expert advice from a sales person. Also alot of these items that we are shopping for are luxury items. As far as I know BB doesn't sell pace-makers for your heart. You don't need a 72" TV right now. Yes you are intitled to have one if you want, but you have the time to shop around and you can shop anywhere. If a $20.00 savings is that important to your budget then maybe you shouldn't be buying whatever it is that you are buying anyways.

As far as the beta testers go. Again a two sided coin. Why should the store have to pick up the cost of you playing with something to see if you like it. They will have to return it or sell it at a loss. I know that there are possible system configurations that may not work with what ever you are buying and the only way to know is to try it out at home. But some of the better stores, or mom and pop shops will let you try a demo model. That is if you intended to keep it if it did what it is supposed to do. Buying something, using it for 29 days and returning it without ever intending to keep it is wrong. (at least the way I was raised) At least tell the store that you want to test the product before you buy, and that it may be coming back.

As for the auto parts store. If you take the old component with you when you buy a replacement you stand a better chance of getting the right part. Most part stores will test the old part before selling you the new part. And alot of the good guys will test the new part right in front of you to show you that it is a good part and you won't have to make a trip back. (Funny how an all sales final policy makes for better service)

Maybe if BB took the all sales final path they would be better off. It would save them on returns that is for sure. Maybe buyers would research their buys better before making them.(nah, I doubt it, too much work) And them pesky beta testers would have to stop or have one huge collection of test material.

[BJ_M]

Best BUY owns FutureShop here in Canada ...

the prices and service - on line and in store -- seem completely different between them ... at least for now ...

but they do now use the same rebate company's i notice --

[Alan69]

Best Buy...

I did my time in retail electronics sales. I worked with companies that expected anywhere from 3% of your gross sales to be extended warranties all the way up to Silo, who expected 7.75% penetration. I used to moonlight at electronics stores so I could get the huge employee discounts on audio and video equipment, but the constant 'push' for warranty and 'accessory' sales got to be too much.

There's an easy way to stop this crap too, and that is to limit them to 20% overall profit above actual insurance replacement costs. In other words $5 for the insurance policy instead of $40 since that $40 policy probably only costs them $4 in actual replacement costs. Stop the dishonest, obscene profit making and it'll pretty much correct itself..

Not sure what it would take, but if you proved it was done as an insurance plan instead of being an 'extended warranty' it might not be legal in many places already. There are profit caps on most types of insurance.

Alan

[ZAPPER]

Alan69:
It is best to keep the gov'ment out of it. Let the market fair is the best policy.

[Moloko_Plus]

It's a Maxtor. Even the part # is the same.

Ok so maybe it is a maxtor. But let me get this straight: If i drive all the way down to the compusa and pick it up, its 180, but if i order it off the net from their same supplier, same company, its 130? Seems likely as its the world of Retail and these 50 dollar mark-ups are typical. Could be that they're trying to pull a bait and switch. I wouldnt buy it for fear that im not getting a maxtor and have to waste all the time and money and return shipping to find out otherwise that it wasnt, not that i dont trust you but i wont have a valid reason to return the thing if it wasnt a maxtor.
It would seem a better business practice to make the prices the same. They would save on packaging and shipping it by making us drive and pick it up. But anyway, i can get a 250gb for 140 bucks, no sales or "generic brand drives" required, just a straight up maxtor with a good return policy.

[kirpen]

I find it amusing how many people base their love or hatred for a retail store on it's return policy. THOSE people are the reason why some retail stores are as bad as they are. Buy it, use it, abuse it, experiment with it...then take it back.
Consumer Reports and other testing institutions PURCHASE the products that they want to test with no intention of returning them. If you want to be a self proclaimed beta tester to impress yourself, your friends, or someone on a message board...then you should get a job with Consumer Reports.

I don't see many post here about people beta testing products do you? Items that tend to be purchased for one use and then a quick return also tend to have restocking fees, ex video cameras. All we ask is that they keep their promises and stop lying to consumers. They bad mouth so many of the products they sale the question should be asked why they carry junk products? The products must be junk if they keep telling you that you need the service plan because product A is always breaking. Then again its the same drill no matter what you buy .

[Supreme2k]

I've not had much experience with BB, but so far as I'm concerned, they blow dog balls.

So, basically, you're saying that it's safe to bring Buddy shopping there

[hech54]

I find it amusing how many people base their love or hatred for a retail store on it's return policy. THOSE people are the reason why some retail stores are as bad as they are. Buy it, use it, abuse it, experiment with it...then take it back.
Consumer Reports and other testing institutions PURCHASE the products that they want to test with no intention of returning them. If you want to be a self proclaimed beta tester to impress yourself, your friends, or someone on a message board...then you should get a job with Consumer Reports.

I don't see many post here about people beta testing products do you? Items that tend to be purchased for one use and then a quick return also tend to have restocking fees, ex video cameras. All we ask is that they keep their promises and stop lying to consumers. They bad mouth so many of the products they sale the question should be asked why they carry junk products? The products must be junk if they keep telling you that you need the service plan because product A is always breaking. Then again its the same drill no matter what you buy .

I personally have never seen a Best Buy employee packing a gun have you? Who exactly is holding a gun to the heads of these "educated comsumers" to buy the extended warranty?
I can guarantee you more lying is being done on YOUR side Best Buy return counter than anywhere else in the store.
Everybody claims to be smarter than the Best Buy employees....and in most cases this is true....but there is very little evidence of that in a whiney lawsuit or cheap talk on a message board.

[Moloko_Plus]

http://dealnews.com/artclick.html?71073,97462

There you go Viral, 119.00 for a 250gb maxtor hdd Shipping starts at 4.83$
Frys is a good place to get electronics :P

[ViRaL1]

Thanks.

[DVDDave]

the gard drive is a generix maxtor--good stuf. go to the store, ask them to pull up the model number via the net, then make'em sell it for the right price.

[JohnnyCNote]

http://dealnews.com/artclick.html?71073,97462

There you go Viral, 119.00 for a 250gb maxtor hdd Shipping starts at 4.83$
Frys is a good place to get electronics :P

That's nearly $100 less than most anywhere else. I wonder how they do it...

[junkmalle]

Fry's has sales on drives all the time. The going price is a little over 30 cents per GB now. These usually involve mail in rebates though. For example today's paper has a 160 GB Seagate ATA drive for $50 after $50 mail in rebate. If you don't like Seagate wait a few days and you'll find similar deals on Maxtor, Western Digital, and Hitachi. These are allways retail drives.

[sssax2003]

Frys had the Retail 8mb Maxtor 250GB 133/mb hard drive for $119.00 Friday thru Sunday.. and then last time they had the maxtor 160GB for $69.99...

[JohnnyCNote]

How are their prices on optical drives?

[kisrum]

I bought one 4-year extended service warranty on a Panasonic camcorder and used it once after my wife spilled beer on the camcorder. After five years I took it back thinking I could just pay them to do a general clean up again but they wouldn't do anything but run cleaning tape through it (no thanks) and tell me to send it to one of two authorized Panasonic service centers in the entire US (no thanks). Dumb.

Otherwise, I've had no problem with them, but of course I don't buy extended service warranties anymore.

I returned a scanner to them several weeks past the 30 day return, because it had a haze over the inside of the screen. Brought several web articles about how this had been a problem on this particular brand of scanner, bitched and whined about being "a very busy man" and they exchanged it for me rather than making me send it back to manufacturer.

The trick is to always blow past the lumpen and get to the guy in charge and then be prepared to go to the mat, describing how much money you've spent there in the past (insert time period), how easily you can drive down to the competition, "how can we work together to resolve this thing (insert name here)?" They'll get tired of you soon enough.

[JohnnyCNote]

The trick is to always blow past the lumpen and get to the guy in charge and then be prepared to go to the mat, describing how much money you've spent there in the past (insert time period), how easily you can drive down to the competition, "how can we work together to resolve this thing (insert name here)?" They'll get tired of you soon enough.

You've been lucky. Check out the customer submissions area at the BestBuySux website....

[hech54]

The trick is to always blow past the lumpen and get to the guy in charge and then be prepared to go to the mat, describing how much money you've spent there in the past (insert time period)......

That is too funny.
When I worked retail that was THE bullshit story of all time. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that and ".....and I'll never shop here again".....I'd be a millionaire....

The most fun I EVER had in Retail was when the company I was working for went out of business and went into liquidation. The liquidator asked me to stay till the end because I was the only one who knew his way around the AS400 system in the store.
Anyway I stayed....not for the cash bonus at the end....but for the "Payback"".
All Sales Are Final - NO RETURNS - NO EXCEPTIONS......these signs were EVERYWHERE in the store and those liquidators STICK to it. I thoroughly enjoyed those 4 weeks. NO became the word of the day....and every other day we had to call the police to throw out some idiot who could not read or take NO for an answer.....GOOD TIMES those were...)

[Jayhawk]

hech54, you seem to be making the most sense in this discussion (about Best Buy, not cheap Maxtor hard drives - can you say OFF TOPIC). There are hundreds of recommendations out there to NOT buy extended warranties except under special circumstances. Of course they're a rip-off, and of course they're extremely profitable, and of course BB is going to push them (so does CompUSA, Circuit City, etc). They also tend to have a whole bunch of fine print and since you're usually asked if you want one at the checkout line, there's never time to read them properly.

If I were buying one for a computer (most of the complaints at www.bestbuysux.org), I'd take the policy home first and read it completely before buying the the computer + policy. If you have a covered gripe they won't stand up too, take them to Small Claims Court. It's free, and if they don't send a lawyer you almost always win.

My experience with BB's return policy has been great. If you stay with the 14 (or 30) days, have your receipt, package it back up nicely with all the original stuff, there is never a problem (in my experience, anyway).

[jimmalenko]

Regardless of where you buy the product from, if you buy quality you generally get quality. While a store's policies may be questionable, it was you who decided to buy there in the first place. Lesson learnt.

As for staff, some pimply teenager getting $10 an hour and you expect him to be your personal home cinema consultant ?

[Supreme2k]

I don't mind if the BB monkey is ignorant (I do my research), it's the fact that they regularly heap this ignorance on the customer unsolicited.

If I ask if they have any more of the $40 DVD player that plays everything, I have a problem with them not answering my question and trying to sell me the $150 model that doesn't.

I rarely shop at retail outlets, but on the rare occasion that BB has a decent sale, it is big internal debate whether I'll "take advantage." I have to weigh the savings vs. the possible hassle that I may experience.

As far as the gun to your head: not getting me the sale item that they have in stock but not on the shelves sometimes seems like a hostage situation. They've badgered me about the warranty before getting the item. There was even one time when I refused the warranty, the guy goes "off stage" for a minute, then says they're out. I calmly say that they have twenty-six, but the guy stands firm. We both go to the customer service counter (since he refused to check stock in his area), and lo and behold, there's twenty-four available. So he says, "OH! That one. You said this one." He tops it off with, "There's only twenty-four, not twenty-six." Jerk.