Dell vs. Best Buy

[shelbyGT]

I have a friend that works for them in their car install bay, so I will buy things through him as long as he gets his discount.

[n3vino]

I usually buy computer related items at best buy. But I don't usually trust what they tell me. So I usually don't buy the first or maybe not even on my second visit. I make it a practice to talk to different salesmen on my different visits and then I evaluate everything I've heard and make a decision. A good source of info are the folks at the repair window. I always make it a point to talk to them as well and sometimes to more than one.

[glockjs]

holy crap...how much money and effort did BB spend in erasing their tracks

trying to make reference to this exact topic and not much is left on the web that looks legit. this was one of the top google search's. and both links at the top are now DEAD

[Quantum]

Best Blight has always pissed me off. years ago we were shopping for a laptop. The local BB store had them, but they were in a locked cage stored at the top of one of their shelves - about 20 feet off the ground. I'm sure they did that for security, but are the employees that bad that they have to keep it out of reach, with no display units?

The lock up cage is two fold. #1 To prevent theft. The amount of internal theft would amaze you. #2 To prevent the customer from purchasing anything in it without the aid of a salesperson to sell you an extended warranty first.

I used to work there. Your upward mobility in management is determined on your attachment rate of warranties and accessories. Your static survival also meant you couldn't drop too low. Management is also bonused in these categories. The actual salespeople are really non-commissioned, but the people driving them are. It was not uncommon for managers to instruct their employees to tell a customer an item is out of stock if they weren't going to buy a warranty. If a $4000 purchase of audio/video or major appliances came up without any warranties attached, managers would input the wrong data on the electronic credit applications so they wouldn't be approved. In their eyes they weren't turning away revenue or margin but a $4000 in revenue without any warranties attached.

[Tidy]

How interesting. Yet another person with a bone to pick.
Look, Best Buy is in business to make money. What the 'genius' said about his customers is true. And its true at the supermarket, the drugstore, the videostore. If he takes steps to move those 20% out of the way however he does tend to alienate those other ones. Ones which I am a part of. If its not cheaper there, I don't buy it there. All that said. Best Buy has the BEST BUY this week on blank DVD media. When I went in I also got an X-Box game. Guess I'm not the unprofitable type. Look at it if its your business. If you had customers who were ripping you off playing an exchange game with you you'd put a stop to it also. As for how several chains went out of business. Notably the Disney Store and Warner Brothers Store. Their business models sucked and they lost money, consistently. That's not economic piracy, or a conspiracy, that's just bad business. Happens all the time. Restaurants are also very vunerable to change. I don't know what the economy is in your town in Colorado, but if its like everywhere else its just fine and you are noticing nothing. If you live in a small town that lost a major employer, that's something different.

Best Buy has always been good to me. They are timely with their rebates. I can tell you stories about some others, but not them. They do not stock bottom line merchandise for computers anymore. So don't go looking for a bargain 8X burner. They'll sell you 12X or 16X. If you are a business and you want to maximize profit that's your business. And a retailer deciding to go upscale and steel HDTV and Home Theaters for max profit is just good business. Personally I think the WalMarts of this world won't be able to deal with stuff that high end and with the muss and fuss that goes with it. I could be wrong. Best Buy is just concerned someone's going to eat their lunch. People who target a retailer for their 'wrath' need to get a life. Better you get positive and find someone you support. Online works, I agree with the poster on NewEgg. I myself have issues with Tiger, who delivers promptly but has sunk me into rebate hell. If they don't pull me out of it, I'll buy from someone else in the future. Not try to sink Tiger, support someone else.

HOLY COW!! Do you have any clue at all about what it takes to run a business? Check with any successful businessmen and ask him if alienating any demographic of customers is a good idea? Poor customer service is a good business model? That is laughable. If you are having problems with return scams and so on then you need to modify your policy on returns not alienate an entire section of customers. For you to say that their business model of alienating an entire demogrpahic of customers is good, is laughable at best. The fact is that the "Wal-Mart's" you are berating in most cases take good care of their customers. Maybe the non-elimination of the demographic of return scam customers contributes to the fact they they are the LARGEST RETAILER ON THE PLANET!!! I think when a company attains the $300,000,000,000.00 a year mark in sales they may know something about customer service and marketing. I understand they are not perfect, and I understand they have moral issues but you can not deny that they are a VERY successful retailer with astounding growth even in the face of a terrible economy.

Best Buy has more reputation problems than any retailer I have heard of. Best Buy has long been lacking on the customer service end of the spectrum. I understand you have had nothing but good experiences with them and the fact is that there are exceptions to every rule. I have had good experiences with some retailers that most people hate. In fact I buy my media at Best Buy because they have good sales on made in Japan Fuji's here that always seem to turn up Yuden. That does not change the fact that their pricing is not competitive and that their sales people are SEVERLEY lacking in knowledge. In fact a couple weeks ago a sales Rep tried to tell me that a Linksys 802.11g router has a 25 mile range.

Back on topic, I will go there for things that are on sale. I walk in and buy my mdeia and walk out as fast as possible. I don't mean for this post to sound like a flame at all and if it does I apologize but to say that alienating customers (no matter what they do within reason) is a sound business model is laughable. Eventually the non alienated group is going to begin to wonder how long it will take for them to be forsaken. The fact is that making a public announcement that you are in business to make money without regard for giving your customers good value and products is NEVER on any planet a sound business model.

[DeeLnyc]

This is my story about BBuy , CCity and a small competitor.
Few months ago I wanted a HDTV LCD....I did my research and decided on a panaosnic 50 inch hdtv lcd....I did not however do any research on the store I was going to buy it from because best buy always seemed to have the best inventory and prices for them. So I went in and bought the tv for 3,000 dollars (2 week the tv came out). I picked up the tv and put it in my car and drove home. Few days later i went into CCity and seen the same tv. So i went up to the manager and said do you do price match, they said YES,wow I was surprised . Iimmediately went to best buy and asked them the same question they said NO. Ok so i went to CCity showed them the receipt from bestbuy and they said ok we'll sell u the tv for 2,600 ( 400 less ) DEAL, the only thing is they didnt have it in stock so i had to wait 1 week for it. i said no problem. I took the first tv and returned it to bestbuy with no problem.
I waited a week for the tv and they still didnt have it so i wanted to put some pressure on them so i went to Ccity and fliped out on the manager (good acting job ). The manager offered me 150 dollar gift card to Ccity for the inconvinience which I gladly took. On the way home from cc and stoped by PC Richards (havent been there in 10 years) i looked around and seen my TV. Ofcourse i went up to the manager and asked them about price match they said "we do that all the time". I showed them my ccity receipt. They said we'll sell it for 2,200 (400 less). I wanted to say yes but decided i will push and see what else i can get. At the end of the conversation the deal came out to be 2,200 for the TV , free 3 year warranty (300 dollar value) and the sliver tv stand with glass shelves ( 300 dollar value). They didnt have the TV in stock so i had to pick up from the warehouse which was about 30 miles away, that was no problem. I then went back to CCity (NOT the same store i bought the tv from) and since i never received the tv it was the easiest return i ever made.
I now had my TV with extras plus i easily saved over a 1,000 dollars and i kept the Ccity gift card. All of this took me 2 days of labor (5 days wait in between for the tv from Ccity) but it was well worth it WAWAWEWA.

the manager told me because pcrichards is a family owned business they have more freedom to decide what price they want to sell it as.Plus they spend less money on advertisement and its a smaller chain then cc or bb.

Every TV was bought with a credit card...i dont know how it would have worked out if i paid in cash.

its been over 6 months since i got my tv and when i look around i still cant find a better price then what i paid...........this is the tv i bought, later.

Panasonic 50" HDTV Monitor (PT-50LC14)