Anyone had a bad "best buy" experience?

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:51 am

Geez man, these people are supposed to be non commision

BB opened at 8am for the launch of the PSP, myself and father in law go in there around 08:30 and I get ticket 032. Greeted with enthusiasm and glee I walk to the dedicated PSP stand which they had set up in the center of the store. So far I am enthusiastic about my purchase to be made

I tell the guy I want a PSP system and lumines. The assistant shows me the intec/mad catz and pelican branded peripheral starter kits and initiates a sales pitch on why its best to have this. I decline.. About 2 more minutes later I decline again.. then again. I tell him eventually "look (wanted to say asshole), I just want the darned system and this game". So he tells me the system is waiting at the counter and hands me my game.

Upon arriving at the counter, I get sales pitch no2. Buy the PRP (Warranty) for $40. I was like geez. So after 3 mins of the counter lady telling me why its such a great deal I say "look, im here just to buy the system, if after 30 days it goes wrong I will replace it for another and get the PRP then". Then, the hot shot salesperson comes over and requests that I tell her why I declined the PRP deal. At that point I was like "**** it, this is tiresome". So I told the lady, I just don't want it, do you have a problem with that? She didn't pursue it any further.

Whilst I was at the counter, my father in law was getting a PSP for my step son. He actually asked for 4 units and was given tickets 033-036, I had no idea he wanted 4 as I would of told him it was 1 per person. Whilst I was paying this guy ran from the door to the PSP stand at top speed shouting "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" like my FIL was a thief or something!

It was so loud I was quite taken back by it, then even more when I found out it was my FIL. Then the BB staff initiated a kind of interrogation and accused my my FIL of being a dealer/vendor, yeah right

. I didn't hear it at the time but my FIL actually said "if I am a dealer, tell me how many you want and I will see what I can do"

My FIL and I sat in the car in the parking lot and actually felt like we had done something wrong. The ruling states 1 per person, thats all we left with. Nothing more nothing less.

I for one will only consider BB for future launches if I am desperate.. My friends who shopped at other stores experienced no such harrassment. IMO, stores that do not profit from such a product should not stock it.

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 3:20 pm

They were only trying to sell you the add-ons because they've been told to as they are more profitable for the company (the margins on hardware are very low). You should have complained to the manager and he might have re-thought their in-store policies.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 3:47 pm

Don't blame the employees. They're just told what they have to do to keep their jobs. Anyway, I've definitely heard of assholes in Best Buy but have never encountered one myself.

stoneroses · Post by **stoneroses** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:02 pm

I actually went into a Bust Buy on Saturday just so that I could see the PSP. One dude who worked there was really nice answering a few questions and telling me about Luminaries (spelling?) and he gave me a $5 off coupon. But I was just looking, not buying. After seeing it, and holding it in my hands, I am sold. I now need one but I want to at least wait until after E3 to see all the next-gen systems (limited funds).

What I was amazed by was the fact that they still had the thing in stock a few days after it came out. I just assumed that it would be gone in a few hours last Thursday.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:53 pm

Ganelon wrote:Don't blame the employees. They're just told what they have to do to keep their jobs. Anyway, I've definitely heard of assholes in Best Buy but have never encountered one myself.

Agreed. I am working on a temp assignment for Sears, and they want us to sell maintenance agreements over simple technician appointments when people call about their out-of-warranty items. Don't meet the expected quota, you're out. I can imagine they are doing the same to the BB guys. (Guess what? I'll be leaving this job in two weeks.)

Problem is, if Sony is already including EVERYTHING you need on the PSP right out of the package, why people would be interested in purchasing other accessories? If they hadn't included the memory stick or the USB cord the way they do with their digital camcorders, them things would be flying off the shelf along the PSP systems.

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:49 pm

Yeah everyday I worked there! The customers suck, the managers suck, and...well the customers really suck ass. I remember working in the music section and customers coming up to me asking "do you remember this song?" and then putting on a horrible rendition of what they call "music." If I didn't know the answer, they'd tell me what a stupid person I was. For anyone who thinks this is helpful, please jump off a bridge and spare the world from a future filled with your dumbass children.

And the managers would get all over my ass just for being born.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:49 pm

Sucks for you guys, I like my BB. Nice people working there.

shiftace · Post by **shiftace** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:20 am

Best Buy gives me the fear. I haven't really been harassed by the employees over anything, but how little some of them know about their own departments bothers me. Also, one time, I saw some kind of LCD monitor that someone had traded in -- it was a different brand from anything they carried, and it had no packaging and no DC adaptor. How'd that get on the shelf?

The thing that bothered me most was the lameness of the game and music selections, but then again, I'm picky.

jp · Post by jp » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:22 am

Eh, my BB is alright. It has a damn nice CD/DVD selection.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:39 am

Once you say "NO". Thats the end of it in my opinion.

When they start "But, but, but, but".. Just get out of my way and let me leave.

I guess a few of you actually buy into the PRP and think its good customer service. Good customer service is giving the customer what they want, not forcing them to buy what they don't want. There is a difference.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:40 am

I deal with the same crap in Best Buy before. I was buying a $1000 laptop, they were keeping bugging me for the $200 warranty, I said no. For the next 20 mins, they were keep talking about the same crap! "If the laptop screen is broken, you get a new laptop for free." I just said this: "You know what A**hole, I'm not going to buy the god-damn laptop from you guys if you keep talking about the god-damn warranty that I don't want at all!!!" You know what, it WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never buy a warranty if the warranty price is about 20% of the item I'm buying.

Edit: The Best Buy store that this "true" story occur was the Daytona Beach, FL store, at front of the Daytona USA Speedway.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:43 am

Yeah, exactly.. And if your item malfunctioned out of warranty, you would have to buy a new one for full price. So its your choice.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:45 am

neorichieb1971 wrote:Yeah, exactly.. And if your item malfunctioned out of warranty, you would have to buy a new one for full price. So its your choice.

I never broke a laptop before, and the warranty price was way too high!!

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 2:07 am

shiftace wrote:Best Buy gives me the fear. I haven't really been harassed by the employees over anything, but how little some of them know about their own departments bothers me. Also, one time, I saw some kind of LCD monitor that someone had traded in -- it was a different brand from anything they carried, and it had no packaging and no DC adaptor. How'd that get on the shelf?

The thing that bothered me most was the lameness of the game and music selections, but then again, I'm picky.

No employee at Best Buy is required to be an expert at his/her department. You work the department long enough and hopefully you get familiar with it enough to answer a customer's questions. If an employee calls in sick or a particular department is overloaded, they are going to bring in people from other departments to work that department.

Sometimes you can pull this off like in the PC department. All the customers there usually just come in, buy their crap, and leave. You get the occasional computer nerd crawling out of his parent's basement, not looking to buy anything, just trying to pump up his low self esteem by stumping people with a PC question but those guys usually come in only once or twice a week. Never try this in Car Audio or Home Audio, the customers there are just hardcore and usually want the latest and the greatest. They need someone there who knows his stuff.

You would also be very surprised about what gets on the shelf and how it got there. One time someone put up a Walkman from 1986 on the portable audio shelf. It was priced at a severe discount. Turns out it was a slow day for the merchandising people(people who put stuff on the shelves). They looked all over for stuff to put on the shelves and someone found this antique, in the original packaging, waaay in the back. You can't keep it. You obviously can't give it back to Sony so...you sell it. The managers also sometimes take back some weird stuff in various states of repair. The customer won't get all his money back but he'll get some back. It's the manager's call whether BB takes it back anyway.

Stormowl · Post by **Stormowl** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 3:42 am

neorichieb1971-

i know exactly what you are talking about. it gets old, but the prices are hard to beat.

what keeps me going back to the BB in cedar rapids is not just the CD's though...there are 2 really hot girls who work there.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 4:00 am

May I suggest you dress in a sombrero and one of those ponchos, fake some spanish, and while they go and get someone who can translate their sales pitch for you, you dive for the register, hand the money for your merchandise, and get out of there.

Just keep on repeating "Yo el payment-o for el boombox-o. Muchas gracias, señor!"

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:41 am

Specineff wrote:May I suggest you dress in a sombrero and one of those ponchos, fake some spanish, and while they go and get someone who can translate their sales pitch for you, you dive for the register, hand the money for your merchandise, and get out of there.

Just keep on repeating "Yo el payment-o for el boombox-o. Muchas gracias, señor!"

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 6:19 am

What bothers me is that the people who work at Best Buy don't know when to restock and often forget to restock some games that most other places have. They don't even bother to look most of the time. When a person there finally did look, it turned out that they had the game and it just wasn't stocked yet.