Help me BoyCott BestBuy

[Erick G]

Best Buy refused to sell me an HDTV couple years ago because I wouldnt buy their stupid service plan. The tv was $799 and the service plan was like $350.. And they kept trying to shoot me some bullshit about how hdtv works and how they break down alot, how they get misaligned and so on and this was a hdtv tube.. not a crt. Im an audiophile and laughed in their face and left. Clueless school kids work at bestbuy.

[Trev]

Originally Posted by Erick G

Best Buy refused to sell me an HDTV couple years ago because I wouldnt buy their stupid service plan. The tv was $799 and the service plan was like $350.. And they kept trying to shoot me some bullshit about how hdtv works and how they break down alot, how they get misaligned and so on and this was a hdtv tube.. not a crt. Im an audiophile and laughed in their face and left. Clueless school kids work at bestbuy.

Meaning they priced it at a level to get people in there, but were only making (enough) money on it if you bought the service plan, too. Probably had a limited number of them so they had to save them for the suckers.

[fetish1]

Dr B.,
Thought you may wanna add a link to this on your site. It's about the best buy Reward zone http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20040902/986/

Not too many impressed with it either!

[docholly]

At CES i was on a roundtable with major big box retailers. one of them was Best Buy and i presented to them 400 printed websites that were dedicated to "don't buy best buy" etc.. and Dr. B's was on top.

today on the Today show, they did a segment on customer service targeting 4 major big box retailers.. Best Buy was the 1st and got an F. because for 20 minutes on camera they couldn't get someone to help them...even the manager was too busy. Today even said.. the retailer that got an F was Best buy. (tho they showed the geek squad logo so we all knew anyway).

Home Depot got a C (the guy that helped them didn't know from the vacuums he was selling)

I don't know who the other 2 were.. i think the drug store was Duane Reade.
anyway NONE of them got better than a C.. pretty farking sad.

Is service with a smile a thing from the past?

[SirMoby]

Originally Posted by docholly

Is service with a smile a thing from the past?

Today is the day of cheap prices and low margins so that leaves little room for service. When shoppers can check prices at 3 different stores before they even leave the house is it really possible for a full service shop to make the sale?

[Dr Bizzaro]

Originally Posted by docholly

At CES i was on a roundtable with major big box retailers. one of them was Best Buy and i presented to them 400 printed websites that were dedicated to "don't buy best buy" etc.. and Dr. B's was on top.

today on the Today show, they did a segment on customer service targeting 4 major big box retailers.. Best Buy was the 1st and got an F. because for 20 minutes on camera they couldn't get someone to help them...even the manager was too busy. Today even said.. the retailer that got an F was Best buy. (tho they showed the geek squad logo so we all knew anyway).

Home Depot got a C (the guy that helped them didn't know from the vacuums he was selling)

I don't know who the other 2 were.. i think the drug store was Duane Reade.
anyway NONE of them got better than a C.. pretty farking sad.

Is service with a smile a thing from the past?

Awesome Doc. Thanks again.

Join the boycott: http://www.goodbyebestbuy.com

[docholly]

Originally Posted by SirMoby

Today is the day of cheap prices and low margins so that leaves little room for service. When shoppers can check prices at 3 different stores before they even leave the house is it really possible for a full service shop to make the sale?

Actually CEA (the parent arm of CES) did an entire study dedicated to shopping habits during the first 2 Q's of 2005. It found that most shoppers fell into 2 catagories..

Those who spec'd and priced everything out online then went to CE store to buy it.

and those who went to CE store to see the product and physically touch it or look at it.. then go home and price and shop on line.

Either way, Best Buy was at the bottom of the heap for CSRs.

[Mr Exotic]

Gotta love those stores that try to sale warranties that are half the cost of the actual item. I always just tell them NO, and then if they keep going on and on I say look if you want me to buy this thing then ring me up now. Another thing that shuts them up is tell them that the last time I had a "brand X" product and something went wrong they fixed it for me for free. There is this electronics store called HH Gregs (not sure if they are in other places besides around here) and I remember I once bought a 120$ discman there and they tried to sale me a 40$ warranty plan, hahahaha.

As far as Best Buy goes for me I have bought both the computers that I have owned there (both Emachines) and never had a single problem. Had the first one 4 years and the second going on 3 years this summer. Guess I am lucky I havent had any problems with my computers.

One thing that has pissed me off about Best Buy is their Xbox Stuff. I had a hell of a time getting an Xbox Live communicator, they sold me the wrong thing at first, when I didnt know the difference they sold me a xbox live mic/speaker thing and told me that was all I needed when it wasnt even a communicator, it was just a nicer thing to replace the peice of shit headset that comes with a xbox live communicator.

[SirMoby]

Originally Posted by Mr Exotic

Gotta love those stores that try to sale warranties that are half the cost of the actual item. I always just tell them NO, and then if they keep going on and on I say look if you want me to buy this thing then ring me up now. Another thing that shuts them up is tell them that the last time I had a "brand X" product and something went wrong they fixed it for me for free. There is this electronics store called HH Gregs (not sure if they are in other places besides around here) and I remember I once bought a 120$ discman there and they tried to sale me a 40$ warranty plan, hahahaha.

When I was buying a digital camera at Circuit City the guy wouldn't stop pushing the need for the extended service plan so I finally said, "OK, you convinced me that the products that you sell break often. Thanks." and I left. Since it was $1,000 camera the manage came out in the parking lot trying to get me to come back in the store. Instead of paying for the service plan they through it for free and gave me 5% off the camera.

[RawAlex]

bestbuy (and futureshop in Canada) make the mistake of having the extended coverage plans be too big a part of their employee compensation, and by spiking a target for the employees to hit each month for percentage of upsells made on this service.

I worked for 10 years in the car rental business, and one of the most popular CSR motivation programs was a cut of sales on "extras" such as class upsells, insurances, extra driver charges, etc. From a company stand point, encouraging the CSRs to offer these things to clients is a good bottom line choice, especially on things that might not otherwise get charged or forgotten.

However, at a point where the potential sales comissions exceed the salary of the employee, something weird but obvious happens: they become fixated ONLY on the upsell, and forget about the basic concept of the business (actually renting cars and making clients happy that they rented the car). You will actually see employees fighting to get shifts where more tourists come in (and less business travellers) because they know business men don't typically take extras. You will see them try to arrange breaks, days off, and such around the flow of the best potential upsells. Infighting and griping starts as a result.

In the end, the regular clients (weekly business travellers) get poor service, the one off tourist gets his or her ass kissed, and the business overall suffers.

Bestbuy and others have followed this to the nth degree, and have allowed the pursuit of upsells get in the way of basic customer service and actually just selling the product to the client who wants it.

Alex

[selena]

As I sit here looking at my brand spankin' new Dell monitor, I am vindicated somewhat by this thread. At least I know I am not the only one to have a crappy Best Buy experience.

I bought a MAG Innovision flat panel monitor from them in July 2005. Not an uber expensive one, but for my budget, at about $275, it cost enough.

It died Jan 6006.

I didn't buy the extended warranty, because the very mention of those things piss me off. I should not have to pay more money to have a product last a year.

So I have to ship (at my expense) the dead monitor to the manufacturer for repair.

[pornrex]

Originally Posted by selena

It died Jan 6006.

Must be a Cowboys fan.

I too will share a story with you. I bought an external drive from BestBuy the day before the new flyer was to come out. The Sales Rep assured me (with conviction too) that IF my particular model had any reduction in price coming to it within 14 days of purchasing my external HDD, I would be guaranteed the savings, as outlined in their flyer. As it turned, my particular model did indeed qualify for their summer sales event and I would be entitled to an additional $50 savings. So, I went to the store and presented the receipt. First they insisted that I bring in my unit as further proof to verify the model blah blah blah. I thought that to be rather odd but did as they requested. When I went back, I not only had to wait over 45 minutes (plus driving back and forth) to served by the same yo-yo that sold me the drive but after all that wasted time and effort, they refused to honor their advertised sale price. Needless to say, I too won't be going back there.

You can use that story too DrB.