Best Buy in trouble

DS1119

I still think they can turn this trend around but the author of this article makes some great points, one of which being the horrible layout of Best Buy's stores and sometimes total lack of knowledge by the staff. I remember shopping there five years ago for a TV and it seemed like everyone knew everything about televisions. Two years ago I went looking for a Blue Ray and not so much.


http://money.msn.com/investing/why-best ... orbes.aspx

thefixer9

That sucks, I love Best Buy.

LloydXmas

Insert pc Richard and sons whistle

nikita's keeper

Just bought a MP3 player there last week. Help was great.

donnystancato

best buy is just a show room for Amazon

DAMON

Reminds me of Lowes/Home Depot, both great stores as long as you don't need help! There a small Hardware store that I go to that has several "older" guys that know it all! In a good way.

Its just to easy to hire kids and pay them nothing, than to hire someone that has some knowledge...........

capthowdy1027

donnystancato wrote:

best buy is just a show room for Amazon

Very well said.

I worked at Best Buy for a couple years and once I quit I vowed to never shop there again. I go in there every once in a while with a friend or family member or something and it just amazes me how stupid the people that work there are. They treat their employees like shit if they don't sell the service plans, and I just choose to not give them my money. Geek Squad is the biggest joke I've ever seen in my life.

Jamminonthe1

I was crushed when Nobody Beats the Wiz went out of business years ago. Loved that place and the CDs were ALWAYS cheaper.

81

i remember when they were cool....

i stop in every now and then, but haven't really bought anything in years.

i get free computers from the office, tv is still kicking, and they don't carry the stereo equipment that i would buy.

SatansFuton

capthowdy1027 wrote:

Geek Squad is the biggest joke I've ever seen in my life.

A few years ago I was having a problem with my computer and I couldn't get it to boot up. I took it to Geek Squad and the guy told me my hard drive was fried, offered to sell me a new one and install it. It was going to be pretty high, because on top of the hard drive I was going to have to buy a new copy of Windows. I said "Thanks But No Thanks" and just took my computer back home. A month or so later I got a buddy who is good with computers to look at it, and he fixed it. There wasn't a hardware problem at all, much less a fried hard drive.

That was enough to let me know that I should never deal with Geek Squad. They seem to be the IT equivalent of unscrupulous mechanics. I'm sure a lot of people just pay them for stuff like that, not knowing any better.

marcos

I use to like Best Buy as well but quality and customer service at their stores has declined over the last few years as previously mentioned. They won't be missed unless they improve.

Target really seems to be my one stop for everything now that they have supermarket sections in their stores now in addition to to all their other conveniences.

81

marcos wrote:

I use to like Best Buy as well but quality and customer service at their stores has declined over the last few years as previously mentioned. They won't be missed unless they improve.

Target really seems to be my one stop for everything now that they have supermarket sections in their stores now in addition to to all their other conveniences.

i hate target.

meijers is where it's at.

but i'm still going someplace that isn't a mass merchant for my electronics...they typically carry lower end stuff

brianlux

Personally I miss the good old local stereo store where you could buy a receiver or turn table or whatever and get it serviced there as well. I think the last time I saw a place like that open was about 15 years ago. Kinda sad.

Suziemay

I do all my research online and go to Best Buy only to look at stuff in person. I stopped asking for help a few years ago, the people who work there are generally unhelpful, lazy and if I get through those hurdles and find someone actually willing to help, THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!!!

I am occasionally surprised, there was a camera guy who was really helpful and knowledgeable. Too bad I was only looking for a camera cleaner, not an actual camera.

Stardog3..

SatansFuton wrote:

capthowdy1027 wrote:

Geek Squad is the biggest joke I've ever seen in my life.

A few years ago I was having a problem with my computer and I couldn't get it to boot up. I took it to Geek Squad and the guy told me my hard drive was fried, offered to sell me a new one and install it. It was going to be pretty high, because on top of the hard drive I was going to have to buy a new copy of Windows. I said "Thanks But No Thanks" and just took my computer back home. A month or so later I got a buddy who is good with computers to look at it, and he fixed it. There wasn't a hardware problem at all, much less a fried hard drive.

That was enough to let me know that I should never deal with Geek Squad. They seem to be the IT equivalent of unscrupulous mechanics. I'm sure a lot of people just pay them for stuff like that, not knowing any better.

I agree. Had a problem as well. I had an issue with my relatively new MAC where it was randomly restarting. I took it in, they gave it to me back a few days later, and said that it should be fixed. After two days, it started doing it again and I took it back, and I asked exactly what they did to it, and the guy checked and said they did nothing. They took it again, and sent it to the service center and it was gone for a month and one week. Had to pay a little extra for an operational install, which basically they reinstalled everything into it, and they never said it was going to cost extra, but it did. I paid it, and within days it was doing it again. So I calmly went in and explained my issue and the "head of the geek squad", aka a huge grease ball tool, tried to tell me that all they could do was take it and play around with it, which is what they had been doing for the last 2 months. I had read my warranty I had bought (I had Apple Care as well) and it stated that if something were wrong, even if it was accidental, it should be replaced with a new one. So I explained this to him, he wouldn't do it even after I showed him the warranty so I had to get the store manager. When he came back, they ended up giving me the updated version of the MACbook pro, a free 2 year warranty extension, and a free external hard drive with my back-up information from my other computer. I'm assuming this was because she knew how big of a douche bag her geek squad manager was. Definitely just heading to the Apple Store for future purchases.

81

so best buy is closing 50 stores, 6 in the chicagoland area....

so i stopped by one to see if there were any good deals.

over heard a customer and a sales associate arguing over a tv. customer found the tv for $50 cheaper some place else, but the sales person wouldn't price match it. she was like i can't do that, i like my benifits and have 5 kids. i didn't quite get that statement. just say you can't do that, or as a customer, ask to speak to a manager

anyways, you know you are in trouble when you are closing stores and the prices are STILL cheaper at other retailers. :fp: :roll:

i didn't buy anything.

Indifference71

81 wrote:

so best buy is closing 50 stores, 6 in the chicagoland area....

so i stopped by one to see if there were any good deals.

over heard a customer and a sales associate arguing over a tv. customer found the tv for $50 cheaper some place else, but the sales person wouldn't price match it. she was like i can't do that, i like my benifits and have 5 kids. i didn't quite get that statement. just say you can't do that, or as a customer, ask to speak to a manager

anyways, you know you are in trouble when you are closing stores and the prices are STILL cheaper at other retailers. :fp: :roll:

i didn't buy anything.

That sounds about right. Best Buy is such a dump. Every time I have been there lately, there are always more people working there than customers in the store.

DS1119

They wouldn't price match a TV I bought that I ended buying from Amazon. The manager told me at the time it was Best Buy's policy to not price match anything from AMazon. :fp: Combined with the lower price of the TV and no sales tax it was almost 500 bucks lower.

81

DS1119 wrote:

They wouldn't price match a TV I bought that I ended buying from Amazon. The manager told me at the time it was Best Buy's policy to not price match anything from AMazon. :fp: Combined with the lower price of the TV and no sales tax it was almost 500 bucks lower.

most brick and morter stores won't match online retailer prices.

best buy really is just a show room for amazon, ebay, etc... yeah, i get there is expense there, but they just don't do a very good job at even trying to compete. guess they figure if they get you in the store, and then say no to the price match, you will just cave because you HAVE to have it NOW.

fuck that

DS1119

81 wrote:

DS1119 wrote:

They wouldn't price match a TV I bought that I ended buying from Amazon. The manager told me at the time it was Best Buy's policy to not price match anything from AMazon. :fp: Combined with the lower price of the TV and no sales tax it was almost 500 bucks lower.

most brick and morter stores won't match online retailer prices.

best buy really is just a show room for amazon, ebay, etc... yeah, i get there is expense there, but they just don't do a very good job at even trying to compete. guess they figure if they get you in the store, and then say no to the price match, you will just cave because you HAVE to have it NOW.

fuck that

Had the TV in four days and then the online retailer did something I never expected. They sent me a thank you gift about a week later with a package of microwave popcorn to "enjoy with my new TV". Kind of cool.

MayDay10

Its not surprising at all they are getting blown away. The place has gone to shit in the past few years and like Blockbuster, they are not adjusting to the times fast enough.

The 'workers' (to use the term loosely) on the floor are a joke. Complete waste of money. They always seem to be entitled college-age kids who dont want to do anything but stand in groups chatting or flirting. When I need help, they do nothing. Act like they are providing a huge free service if you need anything.

I preordered The Show for PS Vita online with them last month. I need to catch a flight and I show up to grab my entertainment. I get: "Theres none left, its gone". Then I stood there for 30 minutes while they looked for it (or plotted in the back wth they would tell me as I was red hot). They sent me to another Best Buy like 20 miles away.

That was the last purchase.

rick1zoo2

Day before the superbowl, we spent at least an hour picking out our first big screen HD tv. The sales guy was actually very helpful and nice, until we went to buy the one we wanted - none left. He tried to get one from another store that was 20 miles away, but they couldn't hold it for us. So we went to the HH Gregg (located in the former Circuit City building) and got the same exact one, same price - we spent a grand total of five minutes there.

SatansFuton

I went to Best Buy a month or so ago to get a new car stereo. The salesman was friendly and helpful, and helped me pick one out that had what I needed. It was about $100, he informed me the installation would be $50, and they might need to put in a dash kit which would cost $20-$50 more dollars. Anyways, I get my car back to the installation area where they said they'd get started on my car right away (as there were 2 guys working there and only one car) and it would take about 30 minutes. So I go back into the store and browse around for about 25 minutes.

I get back to the garage, expecting them to be almost finished, but to my surprise they hadn't even begun. One of the guys friends had pulled his car up outside the garage and they were tinkering with his stereo. Once they saw me they told him to go park it and they would get to him in a minute, then the guy got started on my car (apparently the guys in the installation center have no dress code as this guy looked and dressed EXACTLY like Fred Durst), and I just sat down out there to wait. After that every 5-10 minutes one of the girls who work in the shop would come in and complain there was something wrong with their phone or their car alarm remote, and both the guys in the garage would drop what they were doing to help them figure it out, getting on the internet to look it up and playing around with it.

In the end the 30 minute installation took almost 2 hours. When Fred Durst goes to check me out my bill that should have been around $200 is $550. He starts explaining to me all these extra parts he "had" to use. One of which was some sort of converter cable which he said every stereo needs if you go from the factory unit or from one brand to another, which cost around $80. I had told him when I first set up the installation that it had the factory stereo in it and he looked to make sure he had the right parts and dash kit, so why did he not include the $80 cable in the $200 estimate he gave me, if he knew it was going to have to be used? Long story short, he "forgot".

Naturally I was pretty pissed at paying $450 for installation of a $100 stereo, so I asked to speak to a manager. It was the principle of the thing, I felt like they were railroading me. Had they said to me while I was waiting there "oh, you're going to need this part, it will add X amount of dollars to your bill, and this one too which is X dollars" I might not have been so mad. But Fred Durst's ass just did it and piled it all on the bill then sprung it on me when it was time to check out, and too late for me to question it. Or so he thought. After some time with the manager (who was a nice enough guy) in which I complained about the service with all the employees coming in and tying up the techs, messing with their friend's stereo instead of the paying customers, the bullshit estimate that was almost 1/3 of the price they tried to make me pay, and the way he sprung all that shit on me at the end, he saw things my way. In the end I walked out of there with my original stereo re-installed in my car owing nothing to the store, and a $25 Best Buy gift card in my wallet.

The next day I went to a local car stereo dealer and drove out of there with the same stereo installed in my car. The stereo was $10 more at this place, but with installation and everything (and amazingly I didn't need some $80 converter cable there) cost me $260 out the door.

RiotZact

I hate it, workers are never any help, not really their fault they try to help but just can't because best buy doesn't teach them anything or make sure they know what their talking about before they hire them. I also talked to a kid in one of my classes that worked there years ago, he said that they made him work more hours that was legal for kids his age at the time and that sometimes he would get his break cut short or that they would push his break back really far sometimes to the point that they would just have to let him out a few minutes early cus he never got a break.

81

SatansFuton wrote:

I went to Best Buy a month or so ago to get a new car stereo. The salesman was friendly and helpful, and helped me pick one out that had what I needed. It was about $100, he informed me the installation would be $50, and they might need to put in a dash kit which would cost $20-$50 more dollars. Anyways, I get my car back to the installation area where they said they'd get started on my car right away (as there were 2 guys working there and only one car) and it would take about 30 minutes. So I go back into the store and browse around for about 25 minutes.

I get back to the garage, expecting them to be almost finished, but to my surprise they hadn't even begun. One of the guys friends had pulled his car up outside the garage and they were tinkering with his stereo. Once they saw me they told him to go park it and they would get to him in a minute, then the guy got started on my car (apparently the guys in the installation center have no dress code as this guy looked and dressed EXACTLY like Fred Durst), and I just sat down out there to wait. After that every 5-10 minutes one of the girls who work in the shop would come in and complain there was something wrong with their phone or their car alarm remote, and both the guys in the garage would drop what they were doing to help them figure it out, getting on the internet to look it up and playing around with it.

In the end the 30 minute installation took almost 2 hours. When Fred Durst goes to check me out my bill that should have been around $200 is $550. He starts explaining to me all these extra parts he "had" to use. One of which was some sort of converter cable which he said every stereo needs if you go from the factory unit or from one brand to another, which cost around $80. I had told him when I first set up the installation that it had the factory stereo in it and he looked to make sure he had the right parts and dash kit, so why did he not include the $80 cable in the $200 estimate he gave me, if he knew it was going to have to be used? Long story short, he "forgot".

Naturally I was pretty pissed at paying $450 for installation of a $100 stereo, so I asked to speak to a manager. It was the principle of the thing, I felt like they were railroading me. Had they said to me while I was waiting there "oh, you're going to need this part, it will add X amount of dollars to your bill, and this one too which is X dollars" I might not have been so mad. But Fred Durst's ass just did it and piled it all on the bill then sprung it on me when it was time to check out, and too late for me to question it. Or so he thought. After some time with the manager (who was a nice enough guy) in which I complained about the service with all the employees coming in and tying up the techs, messing with their friend's stereo instead of the paying customers, the bullshit estimate that was almost 1/3 of the price they tried to make me pay, and the way he sprung all that shit on me at the end, he saw things my way. In the end I walked out of there with my original stereo re-installed in my car owing nothing to the store, and a $25 Best Buy gift card in my wallet.

The next day I went to a local car stereo dealer and drove out of there with the same stereo installed in my car. The stereo was $10 more at this place, but with installation and everything (and amazingly I didn't need some $80 converter cable there) cost me $260 out the door.

Crutchfield.com

They include the dash kit and the adapter wire...yes you want this wire, no it's not an $80 part
Depending on the car, you might need an antena adapter

Then do the install yourself. It actually pretty darn easy

SatansFuton

81 wrote:

Crutchfield.com

They include the dash kit and the adapter wire...yes you want this wire, no it's an $80 part
Depending on the car, you might need an antena adapter

Then do the install yourself. It actually pretty darn easy

Maybe I didn't notice the adapter wire on my ticket since they didn't charge me $80 for it. I'll have to look at it again. It did need an antenna adapter, it was $10 at the place I got the install, I forget what it was at Best Buy. I know it's not all that difficult to install these things (I had a buddy install a CD player in my car for me in high school, and this guy was an almost perma-fried stoner), but I have absolutely no knowledge of how to do it or where to start.

81

SatansFuton wrote:

81 wrote:

Crutchfield.com

They include the dash kit and the adapter wire...yes you want this wire, no it's an $80 part
Depending on the car, you might need an antena adapter

Then do the install yourself. It actually pretty darn easy

Maybe I didn't notice the adapter wire on my ticket since they didn't charge me $80 for it. I'll have to look at it again. It did need an antenna adapter, it was $10 at the place I got the install, I forget what it was at Best Buy. I know it's not all that difficult to install these things (I had a buddy install a CD player in my car for me in high school, and this guy was an almost perma-fried stoner), but I have absolutely no knowledge of how to do it or where to start.

car forums are great for figuring out how to pull the old one....

but as for doing the wiring...it's so easy....blue with stripe to blue with stripe. solid blue to solid blue. red to red. black to black... that's really all their is too it.

if you run an amp, then it's rca left front to rca left front

it's so easy a caveman could do it.

SatansFuton

81 wrote:

SatansFuton wrote:

81 wrote:

Crutchfield.com

They include the dash kit and the adapter wire...yes you want this wire, no it's an $80 part
Depending on the car, you might need an antena adapter

Then do the install yourself. It actually pretty darn easy

Maybe I didn't notice the adapter wire on my ticket since they didn't charge me $80 for it. I'll have to look at it again. It did need an antenna adapter, it was $10 at the place I got the install, I forget what it was at Best Buy. I know it's not all that difficult to install these things (I had a buddy install a CD player in my car for me in high school, and this guy was an almost perma-fried stoner), but I have absolutely no knowledge of how to do it or where to start.

car forums are great for figuring out how to pull the old one....

but as for doing the wiring...it's so easy....blue with stripe to blue with stripe. solid blue to solid blue. red to red. black to black... that's really all their is too it.

if you run an amp, then it's rca left front to rca left front

it's so easy a caveman could do it.

If I cut the wrong wire will my car explode? I'm not fucking MacGuyver.

More like MacGruber

Travelar

81 wrote:

DS1119 wrote:

They wouldn't price match a TV I bought that I ended buying from Amazon. The manager told me at the time it was Best Buy's policy to not price match anything from AMazon. :fp: Combined with the lower price of the TV and no sales tax it was almost 500 bucks lower.

most brick and morter stores won't match online retailer prices.

One time, on the rare occasion that I needed something that day, I went to my local Best Buy. I had a hard enough time getting them price match their own online price. They claimed it was because Best Buy online is a different company. I claimed I could go elsewhere, and they folded.

81

if you are wire cutting, you have issues.

get get something like this



which you connect to the wires on your new head unit that plugs into your factory stereo harness. only idiots cut wires. :nono:

81

Travelar wrote:

81 wrote:

DS1119 wrote:

They wouldn't price match a TV I bought that I ended buying from Amazon. The manager told me at the time it was Best Buy's policy to not price match anything from AMazon. :fp: Combined with the lower price of the TV and no sales tax it was almost 500 bucks lower.

most brick and morter stores won't match online retailer prices.

One time, on the rare occasion that I needed something that day, I went to my local Best Buy. I had a hard enough time getting them price match their own online price. They claimed it was because Best Buy online is a different company. I claimed I could go elsewhere, and they folded.

at that point, you whip out your phone, buy it online with instore pick up.