Best Buy is garbage. The salespeople annoy you to no end when you don't want their help and yet when you go actively looking for one, they seemingly run in the opposite direction. The prices are terrible too. HDMI cables are the biggest ripoff they sell, no doubt. My sister used to work there and said that they would markup cables to almost double the wholesale price, if not more. She was able to buy them at said wholesale price. Same with TVs.
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iPad mini What's up with BEST BUY?? not selling Mini Ipads in stock?
- Thread starter cdesigns
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This is what's ruining Best Buy as a company. Their management has no clue. They're going down a road that only ends in a brick wall. There are plenty of geeks that would work at BBY for the $10 an hour, and provide good customer service, but they hire all the wrong people. Whenever I go in (which I admit is rarely now as bad as things have gotten), there are tons of employees hiding back in home theatre, watching a football game or movie. I want to buy something locked to a peg or in a case and they all shrug and say they don't know who has a key.
It's 2012... this is the year that will go down as the end of Best Buy. Do NOT blame online retailers... they'll try, but the fact of the matter is BBY destroyed themselves. Look at Apple, opening countless stores every month, even though their prices are much higher than you can buy the case for online. Incase iPhone case for $39.99 can be had on Amazon for $17.50 delivered tax free, laptops can be had for $200 off and free delivery, but Apple stores still drive people in and produce record breaking sales in store, at higher prices. Why? SERVICE. Best Buy doesn't get it, and never will.
RIP BBY
Maannn this is the exact experience I had during my last visit. You'd think all the workers have already seen TRON a million times already. Can I pleaassee have someone who knows if you have anymore of these headphones in back....Forget it how about I go in back and look myself...Through those doors right there, which side left or right??
BB will be gone by the end of Q4 2013
Who has the key? I dunno, I don't have the key. Sorry no key.
One time I wanted a Smart Cover, and god knows why I went to Best Buy... I think it probably was back when they had coupons and so I had 10 or 20 percent off... so I go to the iPad accessories, it was on a locked peg... wtf, an iPad cover on a locked peg? I guess they lock them because their employees are back watching tv instead of helping customers (which deters theft)... so I roam around, find a store employee, they say they don't know who has the key, and stare back at me like I'm just supposed to accept that and go home.
I wandered around and looked for a manager. He called loss prevention, who came to the iPad section. I guess loss prevention has a master key. The loss prevention guy said he left his keys at home that day. Lovely. So the manager asked me to come back the next day and he'll be sure to "hold one for me" lol... as if they're hot selling items locked to the peg.
When they walked away I just tore the cover off the peg and went to the front and bought it. When I walked out, the loss prevention guy chuckled and said "oh those jokers found the key?" ... and I just shrugged and said no, I just grabbed and pulled. He looked insulted.
Terrible what we have to go through as customers to give that company our money these days, ehh?
Generally when you say something like "retailers see it as a fad product" when there has been months of widespread shortages, either indicates your lack of education, or troll behavior. If you have a car that's selling well, as a dealer you order as many as you can and sell as many as you can. It's illogical to say they're holding back sales from people walking in who want them because it's a fad. They don't stock inventory for a year, they stock what they think they'll sell in a WEEK.
I'm not calling you a troll, but you may want to educate yourself in retail 101 and consumerism.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.
Threads been cleaned up now anyway.
the inventory wouldn't be all mixed together in the same cage if that were true. i'm sure there are plenty of consumers like you describe....but there are also plenty of workers who make you wonder how they even got an interview at a TECH store. There's a reason why Circuit City went out of business....and Best Buy will soon follow.
what i dont like is that with a bb gift card, i can't buy most of the crap they have on their online store. talk about deceiving
They don't hire people who are tech geeks, or into electronics, that's the problem. They hire 18-30's who just need a job and are looking for a place to hang out for a few hours a day and they can make work whatever hours needbe.
I'll be honest, I worked at BBY in high school for 3 months. I got tired of the managers not knowing our names... I look back and realize I probably wouldn't know names either if I were running a body shop of part time employees, but it just goes to show, how are they going to ever get to know the wants\needs of their customer base if they don't even know their employees names?!?!
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Yeah they've gone the way of Sears in this aspect, using "marketplace" sellers... not sure what's in it from them aside from the appearance of selling more stuff... Amazon does it, but it's easy to sort out them vs the marketplace sellers. . . and you don't expect it from a B&M retailer, but I guess it's one of the many arms they're trying to flail to stay afloat.
oh yeah i know that, that's the big issue. they don't pay enough so will hire anyone who wants to work...then they don't train them or the employees don't care enough to retain the knowledge. I remember about 8 years ago I had to do a presentation for a class and I needed a wireless remote to control my slides on the computer. I went to BB and immediately someone asks if I need help as soon as i walk in the door. So i just tell them i need this item and it's made by X brand. They laughed at me.... "sir, no one makes anything like you describe." I told them I even had a part number and more info on it...they would not help me. I told them to get the manager.....he was a kid that was my age or younger at the time (if he was really the manager). He said sorry they don't sell such a thing. I said whatever and walked off....took me about 5 minutes to find the right area and there it was on the shelf. Several of them were standing together talking and laughing as i walked by with my item. I casually raised it up and told them to get a clue. those places irritate me.
I know its a pain for all of you who have had horrible experiences at BBY, but let me offer a few words of advice - coming from a former employee (and I don't mean to toot my own horn, but had great relationships with most of the customers I sold/spoke to).
1. Every single store is understaffed. Forget the yahoos who sit in home theatre and watch football (never saw this at my store) - there many times just aren't enough people to deal with everything. Patience used to be a virtue....
2. Just because you got one dbag, doesn't mean every BBY employee is out to get you. If you can't go into that store without throwing a hissy fit, DON'T GO. I had grown butt men throwing product around the store because they misunderstood an ad and would have had to pay $5 extra dollars for the kindle case they wanted. I've been yelled at or told something was one way when I knew it wasn't, and I've been berated because some girl was having a bad day, or some guy was having a rough experience with some other Best Buy. The employees are people just like the customers. I'd get a kick out of the whole "the customer is always right" mantra....because more than half the time they aren't!
3. It's funny people complain about the sales staff being there when they don't want them, and gone when they do. Generally BBY's have someone at the door who is supposed to ask you what you're looking for....just grow a pair and ask! And don't complain when you say, "no thanks I'm just looking" and then can't find your item OR a person to help you.
Sorry for the rant - my store wasn't perfect, but given the level of entitlement, idiocy and misplaced rage I faced on a daily basis, I felt I needed to speak up for the employee. And remind everyone generalizations aren't a good thing....
1. Every single store is understaffed. Forget the yahoos who sit in home theatre and watch football (never saw this at my store) - there many times just aren't enough people to deal with everything. Patience used to be a virtue....
2. Just because you got one dbag, doesn't mean every BBY employee is out to get you. If you can't go into that store without throwing a hissy fit, DON'T GO. I had grown butt men throwing product around the store because they misunderstood an ad and would have had to pay $5 extra dollars for the kindle case they wanted. I've been yelled at or told something was one way when I knew it wasn't, and I've been berated because some girl was having a bad day, or some guy was having a rough experience with some other Best Buy. The employees are people just like the customers. I'd get a kick out of the whole "the customer is always right" mantra....because more than half the time they aren't!
3. It's funny people complain about the sales staff being there when they don't want them, and gone when they do. Generally BBY's have someone at the door who is supposed to ask you what you're looking for....just grow a pair and ask! And don't complain when you say, "no thanks I'm just looking" and then can't find your item OR a person to help you.
Sorry for the rant - my store wasn't perfect, but given the level of entitlement, idiocy and misplaced rage I faced on a daily basis, I felt I needed to speak up for the employee. And remind everyone generalizations aren't a good thing....
HEHE your story rings all too true for most. Where's the guy in this thread who was defending his beloved Best Buy he works at? he seems to have disappeared.
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Small towns are the exception in many cases. I live within 1 hour of 12 Best Buy Stores, and I can say they all suck. And I can also speak for other cities I've been to, large and small. And from a former employee (me), they sucked 10 years ago, they suck now.
Best Buy sounds exactly like PC World/Dixons here in the UK - pile of ****! Terrible staff, bad managers, no clue, no talent, no service. Do the consumers a favour and shut down!
Best buy will not be around much longer....they are closing stores at an insane rate. They just cannot keep up with online, and people are not interested in their overpriced appliances. They need to figure something out or they will be out of business really really soon. Same thing happened to circuit city
It's a shame that there isn't much Best Buy-sized competition around anymore. I truly enjoyed the Circuit City-CompUsa-Best Buy pricing wars.
They will\are. Here one day they just shuttered 2 out of the 15 or so stores overnight, no advance notice to the employees. They took the ones they wanted and moved them to other stores. These stores weren't even on the list they released of closing stores. You know when companies as big as BBY disappear, there's trouble on the horizon.... but I think BBY has sailed long ago.
Vote with your dollars though, people. Shop Apple stores, use Amazon, and don't support Best Buy. I haven't made a purchase there in a long time. I went in one time to try before I buy (on Amazon), which I guess gave them a purpose, but not a purpose I'd want to be as a retailer, hah.
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Not to mention CC's 25 minute or $25 gift card guarantee, haha. That likely drove them further into the ground because that relied on the competence of their staff, and in the end they became as bad as BBY. Imagine if best buy guaranteed the item ready for pickup when you get there... they say "Guaranteed ready when you get here" ... but there's no backing to the guarantee... and when I've done in-store pickup, I wait in line, tell them I'm picking up, they pull up my order, then run to the shelf, get the item, then come back with the item. Couldn't I just have done that?!?!?
There are probably a good dozen stores within an hour of me as well. Mixed reviews, some good some not. My point was, there are some stupid employees out there - but there are also a crap ton of stupid consumers....just don't be a stupid consumer.
EDIT: My computer/tablet staff was awesome. Management sucked (our supervisor was cool) but us salespeople were solid. Did we all know how to take apart and put together a computer? No. But we knew enough, wanted to know more and were honest when we didn't have the answer and man enough to find it.
I think it's fair to say most the consumers who participate in online forums like this aren't stupid. Some are irrational and have expectations that aren't in line with reality, but it's certainly not out of line to ask for customer service, some form of product knowledge, and a bit of respect when it comes from a retail employee. The customer is not always right, but the customer should always be respected, and when you tell a customer you don't sell something without exhausting all the resources your company makes available, that's an issue.
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Then congrats on going against the "norm" of behavior at Best Buy these days. Most stores aren't like yours. I find the further into rural america one gets, the customer service and overall care goes up, so being in McKinney, TX, I'd expect a better experience than say one of the Dallas, or Houston stores. I've been to the stores in Houston and Austin, and can say they suck just as bad as the ones here in San Francisco.
you're dealing with people regardless...so if it's a consumer or worker...still works out the same in the end. it all depends on the store and who happens to be working that day or shopping that day. you might have been the one employee that was knowledgeable.....but how many in your store were hired just bc they needed a job and didn't know/care about Tech stuff?
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the funniest story tho...i bought an open box Powerbook from Compusa that was overheating so I wanted to return it.....
I was told since I opened the box...they don't allow returns.
It was already an open box when they sold it to me!!! lol
I said to them if you sold me an open box in the first place it had to have been one that someone returned.
I got multiple managers involved and it was a pain, but they finally refunded my money. Soon after they went under....
Haha this doesn't surprise me. The other day I went to best buy to buy my ipad mini so I could get the 5% cash back on my chase freedom card (awesome card btw for anyone that's thinking about it). I asked a sales person if they had any Verizon ipad 16gb black in stock. She looked at the floor and said "the Verizon ipad mini hasn't been released yet by apple." I didn't even respond. I rolled my eyes and walked out the door and happily purchased it elsewhere.
If only people would apply that logic with religion, the world would be such a peaceful place. "If I can't see it, it doesn't exist". LOL ...
I have to say that my best buy is great..they go out of their way to help...I can't believe you guys have problems getting ipad minis, my local best buy has had them in stock both times I have went there in the last couple weeks..my local Meijer store had them also when I was there last week....
Are you kidding? People find any difference at all and use it as an excuse to kill each other.
Different religion? Kill.
Different skin color? Kill.
Different politics? Kill.
Different country? Kill.
Different language? Kill.
You have nice land? Kill.
From the wrong side of town? Kill.
Wearing the wrong color scarf? Kill.
You have something I want? Kill.
You wronged me in some slight way? Kill.
You looked at my wrong? Kill.
It is in our very nature.