Best Buy 'Fesses Up That Website In Stores Is Not BestBuy.com... And Often Not Your Best Buy
from the sneaky-sneaky dept
Last month, we wrote about some Best Buy customers alleging that retailer has a secret internal website that looks just like BestBuy.com... but may have different prices. Apparently, it was being used by store employees to convince customers that certain sales seen on the website were no longer relevant. In the comments, we had more than a few Best Buy employees confirm that such an internal site exists, though there were different explanations for why (some more justifiable than others). The company originally denied the existence of such a site, but has now admitted to Connecticut's attorney general that it's true -- though, the purpose of such a website has not been explained (the company insists it was not to deceive anyone). The company also says it's cooperating with the investigation. No matter what the actual purpose for the site, the fact that it was used to deceive customers seems pretty problematic.
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Ouch
Wow, talk about a PR f&ckfest. Let's see:
1.) I convince you to come into my store
2.) You tell me I can get it cheaper from you elsewhere
3.) You show me a "fake" site to convince me otherwise
Okay so 4.) is I don't shop at your store anymore 'cause last time I checked this is both false advertising and potentially fraud (assuming the sales really were still on). This is one of those times I'm glad we have a country full of trial lawyers!
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typical
ironic that their name is "Best Buy", eh?
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Don't assume the worst.
Here is the actual clip from the bestbuy employee newsletter. BestBuy is a great company and is not trying to dupe customers. The internal website is designed to show sales for that particular store. It seems some untrained employees don't know how to access the external site.
BestBuy.com Store Kiosk Prices Vary From Web BestBuy.com Prices
Have you ever had a customer come in with a BestBuy.com printout that reflected one price on a product, but when you looked it up on your in-store kiosk it was another price? That’s because the BestBuy.com kiosk in your store reflects your store’s pricing, not necessarily the online BestBuy.com offers.
How do I see the BestBuy.com Web pricing?
· Click Products, Services, Offerings, Lookup Info on Employee Toolkit. Then under BestBuy.com you’ll see links to both the kiosk/in-store pricing and the Web pricing. Click the BestBuy.com (Web pricing) link to see what your customer sees at home.
· You can also see BestBuy.com only promotions by clicking Ad Source and Promotions and selecting BestBuy.com Only Promotions under the Promotions header.
Be aware of these differences so you can price match the price the customer sees on BestBuy.com and avoid confusing the customer.
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Assume the Worst
Ever tried actually buying something promoted in flyer at a Best Buy? They won't have it in stock, that's a given. If it hits a flyer in a market like Denver, each store will be allotted 3, maybe 5 units. Ask for it 10 minutes after the store opens and they'll either sell you something which costs more, offer to let you pay now and pick up when it gets in, or issue a rain check. If you see one on the overhead, it will have a sticker on it identifying it as one set aside for someone who bought it months ago.
Other than the first obvious bait-and-switch technique, the other two seem innocuous at first, except that there isn't stock to back it up. If you pay for it, good luck hearing from them within six months, and the rain-check isn't worth the seed which grew the tree used to make the paper it was printed on.
Join all that with the incessant and hard pushing of the extended warranties and employees who make up facts to suit making a sale and I'll skip the big yellow tag, thank you very much. No matter what "Kyle's Mom" says.
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Best Buy website
So why would a retail salesperson at Bestbuy try to cheat a customer out of paying a lower price or getting a rebate by using the intranet website? Probably because they're not paid squat. Very likely they're on commission only and they're desperate for every nickle they can sell. Not the best way to provide great customer service. Pay them a decent hourly wage with a nominal commission so the salespeople take more interest in selling you the right product and less interest in trying to squeeze every single last dime out of you. Straight commission is a great way to lower costs, but does absolutely nothing towards customer satisfaction. Best Buys comments that everything they do is focused on the customer is BS. THE most important customer facing resource (the salesperson) is incented to neglect great customer service in favor of trying to jack up the invoice amount at all costs.
I doubt Best Buy created the website as a way to deceive customers. I suspect desperate salespeople have figured they can deceptively use it to their advantage. While there will always be a few bad apples figuring out how to cheat the system, poor compensation plans will drive otherwise ethical people to cross the line.
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Once again
WORST BUY
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Re: Best Buy website
FYI They aren't paid on commission and haven't been since the first store was destroyed by a storm wayyy back in the day. Check the company history.
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Best Buy did this to me!
At home I looked up a printer at Best Buy's website to get the price and to see if they had them in the store. 20 minutes later I drove to the store to pick up the printer and the price at the store was $25-$30 more. I told them I was just on their website at home and the price was less. They took me to a computer and went to Best Buy (.com) and the price was more. I'm so glad I left my web browser open, when running out the door. I printed it up, brought it back to the store and got the difference.
That's dirty that Best Buy would do that.
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Someone call Clark Howard! :-D
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Well, I don't know about your Local B&M BB's; but, mine has much better customer service than CC. The only place around here I would recommend above BB would be a specialty electronics store, but it would cost more.
As for high pressure selling, BB employee's don't work on "commision" the do get bonuses based on sales. I always shop everywhere before buying. A little web searching for the most info and best value. Then check the local stores to see if I can get it close to the same price quicker.
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I bought a digital camera back in November 2006. I checked online the model and price and then went to the store where the camera was $40 more. I told them to check bestbuy.com in there store and woah.....the price was not what I saw at home....I bought the camera anyways thinking the price I saw at home was a mistake............boy I got the runaround. What company can you trust these days!!!
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As far as not having ad items in stock its not bait and switch. All stores have at least the minimum quoted in the ad. If you arent there when the store opens on Sunday you dont get one. You do realize they lose at least 200.00 on every one of those they sell which is why they try to get you to buy accessories to go with it. They arent going to stock 200 of them in every store when they are a loss leader. If your too lazy to wake up on a Sunday morning to get one then you dont deserve one. Most of the cheap bastards that buy those 400.00 laptops are the same people that return them 3 days later because they are "slow". When the salesman tries to sell you something more expensive its not because he is on commision its because the laptop sucks and isnt good for anything beyond email and internet and when he asks what youre using it for and you say games he doesnt want you to be disappointed. Too many people think a computer is a computer and dont realize the a PC with 512MB RAM and a celeron processor with Vista on it is going to be horribly slow and useless. It doesnt matter if you go to Best Buy or Joe's House of PCs, you get what you pay for. Dont be cheap, spend at least 1000.00 on a laptop
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The attempt to drive a "Service Plan" down my throat is what turns me off of Best Buy
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Best Buy
Saw a great deal on a Sony FPHDTV advertised on the BB web site. Called a store and they had it in stock. Got there and their price was much higher than the web site. A srtore manager went to one of his PCs and looked at BestBuy.com - and the price was as shown in the store (higher). Something flaky was going on... I told my wife there was no way I made a mistake at home... good to know I can back that up.
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Re: Best Buy website
They're not on commission. They're just paid shit.
And Best Buy gets what they pay for.
And if you shop at the McDonald's of home electronics, you'll get what you pay for too.
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Hating to sound like an angry customer but I bought a $99.98 dvd/vcr on december 3rd, it showed up on my account as such until Jan 1st, then it changed to $259.98 and they refused to admit that happened. Even my rewards card showed I was charged $99.98 for it....I was/still am pretty pissed.
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P.S. I lost my job a week after buying it, now I'm claiming that and supposedly I don't have to pay a thing since I paid for the insurance to do so...not that I wanted to weasel out of debt, that's wrong, if you buy something you pay for it but we'll see how this turns out...
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Re: Best Buy did this to me!
Why didn't you just order it from the website and pick it up in the store? That way you pay the price you see and they tell you right there if it's in stock. I've never had a problem doing that.
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Re: Re: Best Buy did this to me!
Why didn't you just order it from the website and pick it up in the store? That way you pay the price you see and they tell you right there if it's in stock. I've never had a problem doing that.
Maybe he is like I am. Sometimes I want to view the device before I buy, I can't do that via the web, so I go to a store and then decide.
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Best Buy's Store Website
Whether the website in the Best Buy stores is an innoncent mistake by its employees or deliberately deceptive by management to deceive its own personnel, it is misleading to customers. And as a result it is hard to gauge the accuracy of product information and pricing. It gives new meaning to 'bait & switch' in the 21st Century and now acceptable as long as it is impossible to verify with the internet. And it's not just Best Buy or its under-trained employees, it's every retail store, website, and manufacturer. If you get a good deal, a product which actually works or the parts in the equipment you expect thank your lucky stars!
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Re: Best Buy's Store Website
I agree with you. It's every retail store. If you want to nickel and dime go shop online and find yourself a deal.
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Goodbye, Best Buy!
DIE BEST BUY, DIE! Class action lawsuit, anyone? :)
-Max
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Re: Best Buy website
You are fucking stupid. Why don't you get your facts right before you go making yourself look like an ass. NO ONE who works for bestbuy is on commission. It has been like that for at least 10 years. The only "employees" that work on commission are the vendors (Qwest DSL reps, Cellphone reps etc). No one with a blue shirt gets a cent of commission.
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Re: Goodbye, Best Buy!
dumb ass. go eat some arsenic.
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There's some poetically ironic in how Best Buy doesn't offer its own best buy.
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Re: Re: Goodbye, Best Buy!
Wow, don't get so defensive on me... lol.
I've been screwed by Best Buy one to many times to care if they disappear forever.
So die, best buy, die.
There, I said it again. dumb ass.
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Straight Shooting
"BestBuy.com Store Kiosk Prices Vary From Web BestBuy.com Prices
Have you ever had a customer come in with a BestBuy.com printout that reflected one price on a product, but when you looked it up on your in-store kiosk it was another price? That’s because the BestBuy.com kiosk in your store reflects your store’s pricing, not necessarily the online BestBuy.com offers.
How do I see the BestBuy.com Web pricing?
· Click Products, Services, Offerings, Lookup Info on Employee Toolkit. Then under BestBuy.com you’ll see links to both the kiosk/in-store pricing and the Web pricing. Click the BestBuy.com (Web pricing) link to see what your customer sees at home.
· You can also see BestBuy.com only promotions by clicking Ad Source and Promotions and selecting BestBuy.com Only Promotions under the Promotions header.
Be aware of these differences so you can price match the price the customer sees on BestBuy.com and avoid confusing the customer."
This material has been distributed to every employee in the company three weeks running. I've had it reiterated to me every morning for the last three weeks. Best Buy's internal website reflects store pricing, not sale pricing, which is unique to the flyers and the actual .COM. Any employee duping customers into buying it at the more expensive price should have been terminated.
Best Buy, as much as I hate working for them, really does put more focus on the customer experience than anyone who hasn't worked there could possibly realize. Most of us get up at 5 AM on Sunday mornings once a month for customer experience meetings where we brainstorm and talk about new ways to get consumers what they need.. Be it installations, or the right products, or whatever. We receive absurd amounts of training on products and selling strategies, all of which are mandatory on threat of termination.
Now, ultimately it's up to the supervisors and managers to make sure the employees are employing what they're reading and learning, but Best Buy as a company lives an dies by the satisfaction of its customers. I personally treat people like I'd want to be treated when I go into a store. I'm asking you questions because I don't want to stiff you with the wrong product, or something that won't fits your needs. I'm trying to upsell you to an HP computer, instead of that eMachine, because I know that eMachine is the biggest piece of shit ever. It doesn't matter which product I sell you, though, because the store is going to lose money on both of them. I'm checking if you have AV/AS protection because I want to know if you're going to get screwed the moment you're connected to the internet or not. I'm asking you if you want a Best Buy service plan because that eMachine you bought anyway can and will break, and I'd like to get you something other than the abysmal, one year limited mfgr. warranty.
My bonuses are not based on sales. I don't get paid commission. I don't even get bonuses. I don't even like working there.
But I want to help you get the right product, and I'm not afraid to tell you we don't carry what you're looking for. I can't help it that some of my co-workers on the company scale are flaming morons who are incapable of logically connecting a customer's needs to the proper product at the price they saw advertise.
People are dumb, and dumb people are everywhere, including Best Buy.
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Re: Best Buy website
Best Buy employees are not on commision.
If employees were paid $20 per hour, you would not get a best buy..ever been to walmart..low prices=low wages.
best buy pays better than most retailers.
loss leader ad items are part of a free market system. the company is in business to make a profit, not to stock thousands of obsolete products so joey cheapskate can come in and buy one to re-sell on ebay.
and
get a life..
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Re: Best Buy website
Best Buy employees are not on commision.
If employees were paid $20 per hour, you would not get a best buy..ever been to walmart..low prices=low wages.
best buy pays better than most retailers.
loss leader ad items are part of a free market system. the company is in business to make a profit, not to stock thousands of obsolete products so joey cheapskate can come in and buy one to re-sell on ebay.
and
get a life..
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@robert... you do realize those brainstorming sessions you have every sunday morning at the store are paid for by vendors, no? its called co-op money. the internal website, aka intranet, at the store is also paid for by the vendors. their goal is to sell products at retail not sale prices. the flyers are also paid for by vendors. the amount of money vendors provide decides which product gets featured on each page. so its not like best buy does not know the purpose of having the intranet website that has higher price than their internet website.
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Re: Straight Shooting
That sounds well and good, but Best Buy as a corporate entity has not been benevolent like you say. There are countless "horror stories" of people being refused refunds for broken or entirely missing items and Best Buy has become notorious for it. In light of that your post looks nothing more than a paid endorsement, as B.B. appears to care nothing of the customer once they have your money.
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Re: Re: Best Buy website
Re: Best Buy website by B.B. on Mar 3rd, 2007 @ 12:23pm
You are fucking stupid. Why don't you get your facts right before you go making yourself look like an ass. NO ONE who works for bestbuy is on commission. It has been like that for at least 10 years. The only "employees" that work on commission are the vendors (Qwest DSL reps, Cellphone reps etc). No one with a blue shirt gets a cent of commission.
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Chill big guy...I didn't quote any facts other than the principles behind straight commission. I believe I said "They're Probably paid straight commission", not that they "ARE". Also, last I checked, employee's of Qwest, Cellphone reps etc. get their paychecks from Qwest and the Cellphone company, not BB so they couldn't be "Employee's" of BB. Besides, how vendor reps are compensated is irrelevant to the discussion.
I'm glad to hear that they're not on straight commission which brings me back to my initial question as to "why" a retail rep would intentionally mislead a customer into paying a higher price? Unless there was some monetary gain in it for the retail rep like a 1. Commission, 2. bonus, 3. SPIFF 4. reward et. al. That's all I'm trying to ascertain.
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Re: Re: Best Buy website
hey Ugh... THEY'RE = THEY ARE. someone should change their name from Ugh to Duh. j/k.
and dont try to change what Mar said. you know he meant that vendors are employees of their companies not BB. he simply stated that those are the only commissioned employees in the store. it is pretty obvious they are not wearing blue shirts.
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Camera
My friend got ripped off this way when he was buying a camera so he can record his sons 1st birthday. They showed him that the camera is no longer on sale.. He checked the website at home before he left.
What a scam..
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They almost got me..
My wife saw a nice c2d laptop on the BB website for $849 in early February. It said in-stock at store. We went there and they said they don't know of any computer and left us (I don't think they make commission). I asked to check it out on their computer and they said "go at iit." I knew the make and model but could not find it on their website. We went home - five minutes away fortunately - and printed it out and they knew exactly where it was and we checked out in 5 minutes.
They have AWFUL customer service as far as computers/computer-related items go. They either know nothing or think they know something - when they don't.
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It isn't theft
They (the sales people) aren't trying to steal from you, they are just underpaid, inadequately trained, and incompetent. You go to a store looking to buy something advertised at a below cost price, then you claim you are ripped off when you find it is hard to buy something below cost.
Don’t blame the sales people, blame management, and then blame yourself. If you weren’t trying to get something for nothing you wouldn’t have this problem.
If they gave them the product the sales people would sell it to you.
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Re: Re: Re: Best Buy website
hey Ugh... THEY'RE = THEY ARE. someone should change their name from Ugh to Duh. j/k.
and dont try to change what Mar said. you know he meant that vendors are employees of their companies not BB. he simply stated that those are the only commissioned employees in the store. it is pretty obvious they are not wearing blue shirts.
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Getting testy, aren't we? OK..."THEY ARE probably ..." feel better? You're (as in "you are"...did I get that right?) missing the point. Unless the salespeople have an incentive to sell product at a higher price, I doubt there is any malicious intent behind the disparity between the intranet site and the internet site.
Most retailers are attempting to implement lean management practices which in part means tightening the supply chain to maximize inventory turns. Unfortunately without adequate SKU sales history to draw from, retailers end up out of stock situations. Since salespeople have no control over procurement practices, the only alternative to being out of stock is to upsell customers.
Since the salespeople apparently have no revenue incentives, I'd have to agree that the issue is inept management practices, poorly trained employee's and poorly implemented technologies. In the end, poor customer satisfaction.
By the way jaks_ass_talking, Co-op $'s (aka soft $'s) are $'s retailers earn as a % of their total purchases from a manufacturer. Vendors do not "decide" how much money to give the retailer, the retailer earns those dollars based on their volume purchases.
Retailers are allowed to use those co-op $'s to promote the manufacturers products/sales in a wide variety of ways. The Mfg. isn't "paying" for those events, the Retailer has 100% control on how they choose to use those $'s withing the T&C's of the manufacturers co-op guidelines. Mfgr's CAN and often do supplement activities at the store level by paying for additional events/activities, but the manufacturer doesn't have access to use a retailers co-op funds. Also, manufacturers are restricted by federal anti-trust laws from even suggesting that a retailer "should" sell a their product for a particular dollar amount. It's worth noting though that a large percent of vendor reps violate this multiple times every day in dealing with retailers.
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Don't see what the point is, since the right price rings up at the front anyway, right?
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Re:
They should be mad at you for wasting their time on that purchase lol
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FUCK BEST BUY
Boyott the Best Bastards!
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bestbuy
I guess thats just the way alot of American companys consider business as uasuall now days.
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Theft? No. Deception? Probably.
You go to a store looking to buy something advertised at a below cost price, then you claim you are ripped off when you find it is hard to buy something below cost.
Uhhh... no. You go to a store to buy an item that was advertised at a specific price. Whether it was above, at, or below cost is irrelevant, since most of us don't know or care what "cost" is.
Don’t blame the sales people, blame management, and then blame yourself. If you weren’t trying to get something for nothing you wouldn’t have this problem.
Uhhh... no. They're not trying to get "something for nothing", they are trying to get what was advertised. And this is their fault? I don't think so.
Looks like you are trying to infer that bargain-hunters are all bottom-feeders. Some are, but most aren't. Lay off the character assassination. It's not relevant. This discussion is not about whether or not an item is in stock, it is about whether it is available at the advertised price.
The fact that the in-store website is different from the public one is a deliberate decision by someone. To me, whether or not it is to confuse people into spending more hinges on whether the price variations are random (some prices higher than web, some lower) or not. If the in-store-web prices are always or usually higher than the public-web prices then there is a clear intent to deceive. And for that BB should rightly be spanked.
As for me, I don't shop at BB any more - I stopped a few years ago. The CC across the road has decent prices and more helpful staff.
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Not so Best Buy
I have seen BB sales slime sell laptop buyers battery backups "because you need one".
Sell sub $30 printers and then add a $34.95 USB cable.
Format a computer at the "Geek Squad" when replacing a video card because "it was required".
Format a latop when they replace the motherboard, with a defective motherboard at that "because they had to". http://www.theweeklygeek.com/best_buy.htm
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former bestbuy enthuisiast
first they refuse to allow their employees to say "Merry Christmas", now this
Who need's bust buy?
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And...
this is why I only go to Best Buy after I've researched and already know exactly what I want. I only go to Best Buy to see if they have the best price which they rarely do. I guess I have bad timing for shopping for electronics...
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Best Buy Intranet site
Not only do they use the internal site to tell you that a special has expired, they also have prices on the local shelves matched to the intranet site. If you walk in with a printed BestBuy.com page, they will give you the advertised web price, and tag it on the receipt as "competitive price match". They compete with themselves, apparently...
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Re: Don't assume the worst.
Anyone else thinks that BestBuy is supercharging their image recovery program? Kyles Mom and Robert seem to provide quite a few excuses for this crap. And so does BB_competitor (which he probably isn't).
The claim that bestbuy.com reflects only online prices while kiosks at the store reflect store prices is absolutely ridiculous. BestBuy.com shows prices in stores all the time, many of the ads state that explicitly. When the product is online only, it states so as well.
As far as having "customer satisfaction as a primary goal" I am sure that BestBuy likes to "service" their customers from behind long and hard.
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Why not have the internal site identify itself as
If the internal/kiosk site is meant to show in-store pricing, I don't understand why they didn't just modify the internal site to identify itself at the top of each page (a disclaimer, notification, whatever) - then the customer could read that when shown the page and not rely on the employee doing his "homework" and understanding the system.
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Best Buy
To all haters of ANY retail company: Retailers don't want you shopping in their stores anyway. Your pain in the asses, you whine, waste underpaid sales peoples time, are uneducated, usually have no right spending the money you do, and should go try living in a communist society, so everyplace you shop would be the same. You represent 20% of sales and 60% of the untold headaches you cause. Shop on the net, stay at home, and stop acting like your owed something. 80% of retail customers have a great experience, feel like they have been treated well and paid a good price. It's a free country, go find a store that will put up with you B.S, 'cause Best Buy, Circuit City, end all the other CE retailers you visit are a choice you make. Bunch 'O babies...
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Re: former bestbuy enthuisiast
Merry Christmas....I worked in a Sears, and heard a customer complain that there were no Haunikah Songs being played. Well, unless all the Christmas Fans want to hear dredel dredel dredel ,... and being of Yiddish descent I don't ...then NOTHING GETS PLAYED. No X-mas, Haunikah, Quanza..you name it. Thank the PC world you live in, don't blame retailers..
BTW Merry Christmas..
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Re: former bestbuy enthuisiast
Merry Christmas....I worked in a Sears, and heard a customer complain that there were no Haunikah Songs being played. Well, unless all the Christmas Fans want to hear dredel dredel dredel ,... and being of Yiddish descent I don't ...then NOTHING GETS PLAYED. No X-mas, Haunikah, Quanza..you name it. Thank the PC world you live in, don't blame retailers..
BTW Merry Christmas..
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yeah?
The point of Best Buy forbidding its employees from wishing someone a Merry Christmas means that they're fearful of lawsuits by the ever-hungry and misnamed ACLU. I do blame them for caving (after all, how does one person wishing you a Merry Christmas really hurt anyone?), but why they cave is based upon fear of economic pain, which is a real and everpresent threat.
As for being ripped off, I've not been ripped off by Best Buy myself. I shop there occasionally and always compare other shops to see who has the best product at the best price.
I'm not convinced that the internal web site was designed to deceive. It sounds like a typical lack of coordination between the online presence and the stores themselves.
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I saw the comment about Walmar's low prices=low wages and found that kind of rude. I work at Walmart and the wages are equal and above those at Bestbuy and other retail stores. Alot of people are thrown off when they insist that we are being paid barely above minimum wage and we tell them differently.
Walmart is a great place to work, and has it's problems, but beyond everything else, we don't have two websites. You can access Walmart.com from inside the store, and if you want to order the product through there you can use a walmart giftcard if you are uncomfortable using your credit card on a kiosk in the middle of a busy store, which i suggest.
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Joe & Walmart
I did not mean to be rude Joe. However, Walmart is not exactly know for customer service. The one in my village hires at $8 per hour, with very few full timers. Best Buy hires at $10 per hour, with a few more percent than Walmart at full time status. Technicaly proficient positions at my local Best Buy start at $11.50 and go up to $18 per hour. I guess if you live in Outer Mongolia, $8 is fine. The point is when I go into a Walmart, and ask for help, the sales person shuffles away never to be seen again. And as for the website, I always get the price that I bother to print out and show to the sales person. I’m sure Walmart is a fine place to work, after all, the employees always seem so happy. We are talking about choices here; where to work, where to shop and where to buy cheap fishing rods, bad meat, stale bread and where to get a 50” Pioneer plasma TV that looks good mounted on your wall. Choices man, choices..
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Wow Joe, I expected a reply by now. Walmart damage control should have a better response time. So, what do you get with a Walmart plasma TV. Does the customer get upto $250 off the TV by having it mounted on their wall and a HD Direct TV signal? Do your sales people tell the customer that the plasma will only look as good as the signal they put into it? Do you even have a salesperson that can talk to customers about this? Keep up the rancid meat and stale bread sales. Leave the CE products to the professionals.
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Wow Joe, I expected a reply by now. Walmart damage control should have a better response time. So, what do you get with a Walmart plasma TV. Does the customer get upto $250 off the TV by having it mounted on their wall and a HD Direct TV signal? Do your sales people tell the customer that the plasma will only look as good as the signal they put into it? Do you even have a salesperson that can talk to customers about this? Keep up the rancid meat and stale bread sales. Leave the CE products to the professionals.
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SIMPLE AS THAT!!!
So here it is, the honest simple truth about retail business. Retailers like Best Buy, and Walmart are in business for Profit and growth. Based on two bottom line strageties, (Revenue, and Margin). Ex: Walmart is a REVENUE model. Best Buy is a MARGIN model. With a REVENUE type business you will NOT get any type of SERVICE. With a MARGIN model, there has to be some "catch" or niche to gain your business. Simple as that....
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
SIMPLE AS THAT!!!
So here it is, the honest simple truth about retail business. Retailers like Best Buy, and Walmart are in business for Profit and growth. Based on two bottom line strageties, (Revenue, and Margin). Ex: Walmart is a REVENUE model. Best Buy is a MARGIN model. With a REVENUE type business you will NOT get any type of SERVICE. With a MARGIN model, there has to be some "catch" or niche to gain your business. Simple as that....
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
SIMPLE AS THAT!!!
So here it is, the honest simple truth about retail business. Retailers like Best Buy, and Walmart are in business for Profit and growth. Based on two bottom line strageties, (Revenue, and Margin). Ex: Walmart is a REVENUE model. Best Buy is a MARGIN model. With a REVENUE type business you will NOT get any type of SERVICE. With a MARGIN model, there has to be some "catch" or niche to gain your business. Simple as that....
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Best Buy = Mercenary
Best Buy has worked every angle since day one. The bait and switch is just one of many tactics and not the most lucrative by any means. They use the same tactics as Wal-Mart by strong arming their vendors for every service and inch of inventory space in their stores.
The most decietful bait and switch is their statement of values and ethics, that is completely contrary to the way they treat their "partners" and employees.
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The reality of BEstbuy
I work at bestbuy....it sucks, but it lets me pay for college. Firstly, you are brainwashed the first day you walk in. From interview to sales teachingstrategies, to what you wear. They brainwash you so you don't even realize how truly awful you are b eing to customers. secondly, they teach you to lie. There is a principle they call over coming objections, which basically means, whatever the customer says in contrast to the said box of crap they're looking at, lie your ass off to get rid of the observation, even if you have to tap dance. Thirdly, teh managerial system is so complex most don't know who there boss is, they have 9 mangers who do the exact same thing...walk around and act officous, if there is a customer issue shrug and say ...sorry call 1-888-bestbuy. The reason you always see people post wonderful comments like.."you obviously are stupid" is they are BB employees who have been brainwashed to see only blue and yellow. It is a vicious fact that almost once a week they all sit in a room and watch a video about "The BEstbuy Culture". In regards to the issue at hand. This is really hillarious to me, they have been using this trick for ages, the "local prices" are BS because we match internet prices, there is no reason to have a private secured server for each local store where the prices are manipulated. I have seen managers grin eavily as they look at the "local pricing" and shake their fist in joy as they say.."we can make revenue if we keep our mouth shut" I hope they burn bestbuy all the way to the bank and further for this because it is so many kinds of illegaammoralwrong I can't even begin to describe, and to you brainwashed employees who will no doubt fire back with "you are stupid" I pity you, this is not a place to work your whole life.
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Re: Best Buy website
Not to burst your bubble, but your "suspicions" are incorrect. Best Buy employees are not paid a commission in any way, shape, or form. I know this, because I am an employee of the company. So your argument that an employee would try to get customers to buy more expensive products for the sake of increasing their paycheck is simply untrue.
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Re: The reality of BEstbuy
What kind of messed up store do you work at? I worked at one for nearly 4 years in STL and there was never anywhere near 9 managers in total, much less working at any given time. There were usually 2-3 working shifts that overlapped slightly + a supervisor who is occasionally given the title Manager On Duty (his/her job is to try and appease unruly customers). At the time there was the following positions:
General Manager
Operations Manager
Sales Manager
Inventory Manager
MediaMerchandising Manager
Where did this number 9 come from? Especially since the last I heard Merchandising and Inverntory were combined lowering the Manager count from 5 to 4.
I worked in Sales for a year. It sucked. After my first X-Mas they started giving me 4 hours a week and told me that I wouldn't get more hours until my performance improved. Obviously baiting me to quit that way didn't work, so they transferred me to Merchandising (when I was 17, which was technically a violation of OSHA since they classify that as an 18+ job). I still didn't quit. I actually started to like the job. I was a part-time HSCollege Student who could chew out a supervisor for not keeping hisher department clean.
I blame this on poorly trainedstupid HS student employees, not the company. After I worked out well in Merch they hired a couple other people about my age and they all failed miserably at the job because one was a rich pansy whose Mommy said he couldn't go to work before 8AM and all of them were idiots.
If you want to find blame then blame the Employees and their Managers. They are the ones at fault and not the company. Best Buy, as a company, is actually pretty awesome sometimes (even though they do accasionally do something boneheaded).
Oh, and there is no "private secured server" for each store. It's all on a centralized Database somewhere in Minnesota. Pricing is done on a District basis not a Store basis, so that shoots that to hell. When I first started we didn't even have the .Com Kiosks, we had Green Screen dummy terminals to look up pricing and stock levels. We used those to look up prices for things that people were either questioning the tag price or didn't have a tag price. The kiosks replaced those terminals, so it makes sense that they display the same type of information.
Oh, and I have a degree in Computer Science from a respectable University, so I do understand better than you how such a system would work.
In short. Take your uneducated opinion and shove it up your ass. It's all bad management at the StoreDistrict level. I wouldn't want that job, most smart people don't want to do that their whole lives. Therefore they are going to get mostly assholes, idiots, and power-hungry-morons for managers. There are a few good ones, but they are few and far between.
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Re: Best Buy website
Before you tear apart the poor people working at Best Buy for working on commission you have to know that they do. And, in fact they don't. The poor useless highschoolers have no clue what they are doing. They follow marching orders.
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The Evils of Best Buy (Best Cheat & Lie)
I would love to tell you of our experience my wife and I add with the Big Blue Box (Best Buy) in Green Bay Wisconsin. Trust me if I would have know of your Web site I would have heeded the warnings and advice of others that have had just horrible experience with Best Buy.
Well here goes:
My wife and I decided to take some of our Tax Return to buy us a new Washer, and Dryer. Well as usual we went to BB as we have done for in the last (9) years to buy all of our Big Price appliance items, as we have bought our (3) Desktop Computers, (2) Refrigerator, (1) Dishwasher, (2) TV’s (3) DVD Player’s, (2) VCR’s, (3) Surround Sound Systems…. etc…well you get the picture, close to $10,000.00 over those (9) years.
Things seem to go smoothly with the purchase of both of them till the arraigning of the FREE delivery that was with the package deal. But the sales person worked out the glitches an made the delivery on Wed’s the 14th of February in the late afternoon. I informed the sales person that we had some serious plans made, and could they arraign it before or after the 14th. “No” was the reply that it was the only day they could make the delivery. Well ok I said, “but let’s make sure it happens”. No problem was the reply; a they would call us the night before to confirm the time in the afternoon. “Great”, I said, let’s do it.
The night of the 13th we waited till around 9pm for their call. Nothing, no call. So I called the store a talked to the sale person that sold us the Washer/Dryer, and asked when they would be delivered. I waited on hold for over 20 minutes. Finally I called back and asked for the Manager on Duty. Waited other 10 minutes till he came on the line. I explained the situation to him; he stated he would check into this. After other 10 minutes he game back on the line. He stated that the Order for delivery was CANCELLED and that there was not going to be a delivery. Well my jaw dropped to the floor. “What the Hell was going on”, I asked, I know we didn’t cancel the order for delivery. I informed him of this and said this was not acceptable and that they would need to make the delivery as promised and that we would not be available for any other day. And why the Hell had this had happen. After waiting for other 15 minutes on the phone he finally came back on with “ it will be delivered tomorrow between 4pm an 6pm” OK I said great. As I was about to thank him he hung up, without an apology of any kind, or any explanation of what was going on? Well this should have clued me into Best Buy’s customer service policy of SCREW’EM AN LOSES’EM. Well as promise they did deliver the machines on time, but not with out some hassles there too.
Where comes the good part:
The following week my wife an I decided to buy a new laptop computer, and of course BB was having a Package Deal on a Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista installed and also with Mini mouse, and carrying case. This sounded great, and in our price arrange too. So we went into the Store and as usual we had to hunt down someone in the computer department to help us with the purchase. After finding a fresh Snot Nose Narcissistic Kid barely out of high school to help us, we decided to ask a few questions about the New Windows Vista system. We wanted to know if this laptop would be able to communicate with the other (3) computers we have in our home running Windows XP? And would it work with our Linksys Network Router System? And will we be able to share files, and to use our Lexmark Printer with this new Windows Vista, and our Network? “ Well of course it would…was his reply, with no problems. “ Well with that, and the blind trust I put in people we bought the laptop, and the extended service plan. And back home with our new toy.
Well we got it home and started to set it up, and everything was going as smooth as silk till we tried to set up the Network to share files/folders with the other computers, and the printer. Now I am not illiterate when it comes to computers, nor am I an expert, but I knew something was a miss, and something was not right. Well it was late and we decided to wait till the morning to finish the setup.
The following day was the Worst Frkin Nightmare I have had in 35 years (showing my age of 55) of dealing with any big business, and of course the worst day I ever had with Best Buy.
I kept trying to make the Laptop communicate with the Network, and my other (3) computers. I would keep getting a Microsoft Windows Error of “not finding a Network”. After spending an hour on their web site I could find nothing, so I called them. I spent over 45 minutes waiting; finally I spoke to someone about the problem (because I thought since it was a Windows Error the would be able to help) no such luck. They said I would need to contact Toshiba about this since this was an OEM (original equipment manufacture) problem, and not theirs. “Great” Called Toshiba, nothing, this were their service person informs me that the new Windows Vista program will not work with the network, router, a printer if my other (3) computers are running Windows XP. “HOLY COW POOP”. This was Frkin Peachy. Toshiba suggested to call Best Buy to see what they can do for me, buy asking someone there if they could help set up the network to communicate with the other computers. Sounded like sense. So I did.
So I called the Big Blue Box (BB) and spoke to same manager I had dealt with on the delivery problem. Wow that was the most stupid mistake I ever made. This manager was the biggest “DICK” I ever spoke to. I calmly explained the problem to him, an how I was led to believe that there would be no problem with this Laptop running Windows Vista to work with my computers, network, and printer. He told me point blank told me that his sales person would have “never would have told me such a thing”. God I was outraged, not only was He calling me a Lair but also it was quite clear that this worthless manager was not going to help me at all. I asked to speak to his Boss, (the store manager) SHE was not there. Then I asked how to get in contact with his District manager…. guess what…that’s right, he refused to give me that info also stating he did not know how, an even if he did he would not give me that info, because all customer concerns, and problems are handled at the store level, and that this problem did not warrant any further attention. What a worthless piece of human waste. I asked what was the name of his store manager, at first he was very hesent, and then he gave me her name.
Well for the next (4) days I spent calling the Best Buy customer service line, (what a gdamn joke this is), calling their Corp Office, calling their District office, trying to get someone to listen and care about my problem. Again No-one gave a Royal flying Rats Ass about what was going on. Only to inform me that all the customer relation problems needs are handle at the Store Level. “My God, don’t they understand that here in lies the problem the Store Management and the rotten little peckerhead that sold me the Laptop. “NO>>>HELL NO”. So after nearly going to the Hospital because on my Blood Pressure I decided to give it up. Knowing that Best Buy had SCREWED ME IN THE ASS AN NEVER USED ANY TYPE OF LUB TO EASE THE PAIN. Then out of the Blue the lousy Store Manager called an gave me the lamest apology I ever heard but still would not help me with my problem only offering to send out the GEEK Squad to make my Laptop work with my other computers, an network. But of course this would cost me other $200.00 for their service. God what kind of sick joke these folks live under, what kind of CON-Game they are playing on the costumer, what kind of people believe they would have me come back an waste my money in their store after this kind of Bull Sh___t.
God I pray, and beg anyone reading this not to buy your need’s at Best Buy, they will Lie, Cheat, an screw you up the behind so hard, that you will see stars. If any one reading this and still believes they will get good service from BB, all you will get is a Stroke.
BEST BUY GO TO HELL YOU ROTTEN MOTHERF___KERS.
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Re: Best Buy did this to me!
Sometimes, the price online is different than the price in store because its an "online only" deal.
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Re:
So when you're TV, computer, or video system breaks after a certain period, dont go crying to them because you didnt buy the service plan.
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Re: Best Buy website
Your stupid... I can tell you that being on commission is much better for the customer than an hourly employee because of the fact that if I was to sell you a product that just isn't right for you. You can take advantage of a thing called he return policy. At which point the employee is then deducted the commission... So please tell me why I wouldn't want to make sure you get the right product again. Asshole, did you even think beffore you wrote that. Oh and just to mention all employees get the choice of commission or wages at the time of hire...
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Not so Best Buy
I myself work at Circuit City so i cant speak for Best Buy, we at Circuit City do not work on commission anymoe, for a while the tv department was getting commision but that has stopped. The employees really do try to help you get what your looking for, if you tell them that you have an 800 dollar budget for a laptop they will try to find one that suits your needs and your price range. It may seem suprising but profit margins are pretty slim for both Best Buy and Circuit City. Consider how many people it takes to run a store, consider the cost of electricity, and heating during the winter if you live in the north. An instore example for emploees is if a 200 dollar camera gets ripped off, we have to sell 100 cameras to make back the loss. If it really is as Best Buy says and they have the seperate instore pricing for local sales, then i could see how that would cause a problem. When i started working for CC i dident know my ash from a hole in the ground as far as how things worked. We have 3 ways of checking instore avalibility of products. One is the website that everyone and their brother sees when they type circuitcit.com, which is sometimes off by say 2 days, there is a turn around time from when a product is sold and when corporate updates teh site so when you gotta get it call ahead and ask them to confirm stock and pricing. The other 2 sceens are a little different. One is used as a quick referance for whats in the store and may be off by a day at the most. The other screen is a direct inventory screen, as soon as the upc is scanned and the sale compleated its updated. So we have 3 ways of checking whats in stock and how much it costs. The quick referance is used most of the time, so when someone calls in asking for a movie i check the quick referance screen then check the shelf. If i cant find it i tell them i cant find it. Some people say well im coming out that way anyway so maby ill stop by and see if i can find it. If they were set on getting it i offer to check the warehouse, as not everything we have in store is out on the floor. We do try to stay on top of it and keep things in their place. I do feel we are underpaid, but i can assure you the employees are always there to help and are not out to stick it to the customer. Also it never hurts to have employees if theres anyway at all the store can lowerr the price, had a friend save about 500 dollars on a 32inch lcd by asking that question. Once again we at CC dont get commision or end of the year bonuses for selling protection plans for that matter.
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Not so Best Buy
Someone mentioned a c2d laptop, had to look that one up because i havd never heard of a C2D laptop, found out C2D is an abbreviation for Core 2 Duo, if you asked me about a C2D laptop id have thought it was a brand and not the type of processorr, which is why it may have caused the sales associate some confusion when asked about this C2D laptop, because most electronics stores sell the same brands, Acer, HP, Emachines aka Gateway and so forth. The sales rep may have thought your referanceing c2d was the make and not the processor type, unless you speciffically said core 2 duo, in which case if you said that and he still dident know then yeah poorley trained associate. By the way i mean no offence to Almost Ripped Off, just trying to clarify what was said is all.
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Not so Best Buy
Ric im sorry to hear you had such problems with BB, i can tell you at CC if we dont know somthing we are told to ask another associate, were not supposed to guss on an answer under any circumstances. I work in whats called the merch department, thats where all the movies, music, games, mp3 players and software is. If someone asks me a question like which LCD tv has a better picture, i tell them thats not my department but let me get someone who knows tv's for you, if they aske me Im looking to hook up my television to my blue ray player for instance, i tell them it depends on how new their tv is, if it has HTMI then i reccomend the HTMI cables if all they have ae the Componant and S video cables i tell them to go with the componant video cables. Also the packages make it real easy with brands like Monster cables it shows pictures of the different types of cables and a listing of good better and best. If it says HDMI to HDMI best connection i tell them as long as their tv and dvd player have hdmi ports thats their best route to getting a good pictue. We dont want to sell you somthing you ont need or somthing thats out of your price range or somthing thats not going to work for you at all. We want to get you set up right the first time. If you happen to be dealing with a manager then they will probably try real hard to get you to buy the top of the line as well as their most expensive protection plan, as well as in home setup, and delivery. Its called attachment, meaning you maby only came in for a digital camea, but were going to try to sell you a camera bag, a memory card, lens cleaning clothes which even if you dont buy them from us buy them someplace like a wolf camera im a photographer myself so i know that those lenses are protected with a special coating that if scratched will make your 500 dollar camera pictures look like cra