Best Buy Complains About Walmart's iPhone 5 Holiday Sale, Claims $65,000 Profit Loss in One Day

[Morshu9001]

Originally Posted by gkarris

But really, I remember when ours opened, all the really cool long-time local Hi-Fi/Home Entertainment stores went out-of-business...

That's not terrible. Theoretically, they all went to work for BB. But I really like those little stores just for their novelty.

[tech4all]

Originally Posted by ouimetnick

awww Poor Best Buy

NOT

Bunch of clueless goof balls run Best Buy. Trying to sell Monster cables and Bose junk. And their extended warrantee.

The sales reps have no idea what they are actually talking about, and considering their geek squad is run by idiots, I don't like BB.

You don't seem to have a much of a clue yourself. Don't generalize please. You dealt with all Best Buy employees. Yea there's some clueless one's, but they're not all clueless. No, I don't work for Best Buy.

I like how you call Bose "junk." Great products, just overpriced. Course most here should be used to that sorta thing

[macosxuser01]

Originally Posted by bedifferent

Basing fact on whether the majority agrees is rather illogical. The majority does not equate to being "right". History has proven this many times, that the general majority may approve of X factor while Y factor may be actually correct. This all amounts to being ill informed or having little choice. In this instance, Consumer A shops at Walmart because there are few alternatives for a B&M store in their area, or they may not be fully informed of the effects their long term consumer practices may have.

What I find shocking is the amount of people cheering for BestBuy to fold. It was not too long ago that other electronics B&M stores folded - CompUSA, CircuitCity - leaving BestBuy as the only national chain left in this domain (aside from Fry's and others who are not as national as BestBuy). If BestBuy folds, this equates to less competition and more market dominance by one corporate entity. That means even LESS choice for consumers, and the good chance Walmart will raise their prices on goods they are the prime supplier of in X market.

Instead of praising Walmart for shutting down another competitor, why not write to BestBuy or support another business that may need help. More competition is better for us, the consumers. Less competition + market dominance = monopoly of goods and services, which almost always leads to higher prices. Think before cheering on another B&M store filing Chapter 11, it's not doing you or anyone a service.

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That was his point, he was being sarcastic as most people on MacRumors making those claims own products made - in China.

I agree. More retail competition is better but wishing for company to fail is unAmerican. If there was just Wal-Mart's and no BestBuy's or Target's, there prices on items would go up. Competition is better for the consumer. Now whether you wanna shop at Wal-Mart, BB, or whatever to get your product, you as in the consumer, get to choose what store you wanna get your iPhone from. Which is great.

For example, I just bought some Skullcandy headphones online at the Apple Store. However, a few days ago I was at target and I saw they had the headphones I just order in stock. So I bought them at Target because I didn't want to wait till 8 more days for my headphones to arrive. Now I will return the headphones I order from Apple once they arrive at my house.

[fredr500]

Funny story: Last year I went to BB for a tax program, asked them to pricematch Amazon price. They looked it up and said they could come within $5 but couldn't match it. I said OK I'll take it. She then rang it up and then gave me a $15 gift card saying "this comes with all tax software this week."

So after apologizing that they couldn't match Amazon they proceeded to beat them by $10 (assuming sales tax=shopping cost).

[IndoX]

I'd like to remind everyone that employee's who get hired at Best Buy receive little to no training.

They literally give you mandatory behaviors that you must do with every customers (such as pushing geeksquad even if the customer doesn't need it) and throw you on the floor when you're not ready.

Majority of the employee's who are knowledgable in their department are people who had previous job experience or are college students who are majoring in that area (or it happens to be a hobby).

I used to work at Best Buy and I feel bad for the associates and management who still work there. It's corporate and it's policies that are ruining the company - not the employee's themselves.

[JediZenMaster]

Originally Posted by IndoX

I'd like to remind everyone that employee's who get hired at Best Buy receive little to no training.

They literally give you mandatory behaviors that you must do with every customers (such as pushing geeksquad even if the customer doesn't need it) and throw you on the floor when you're not ready.

Majority of the employee's who are knowledgable in their department are people who had previous job experience or are college students who are majoring in that area (or it happens to be a hobby).

Then if that is the case there is the internet to learn things from. Im sorry its an employees duty to either educate themselves in a situation like that or leave

A long time ago back in the late 90s when I got hired at at&t the training didn't teach me everything. I had to learn things on my own. I don't feel bad for people who expect to be spoonfed knowledge for a job they are paid to do

[Thunderhawks]

Originally Posted by bedifferent

Basing fact on whether the majority agrees is rather illogical. The majority does not equate to being "right". History has proven this many times, that the general majority may approve of X factor while Y factor may be actually correct. This all amounts to being ill informed or having little choice. In this instance, Consumer A shops at Walmart because there are few alternatives for a B&M store in their area, or they may not be fully informed of the effects their long term consumer practices may have.

What I find shocking is the amount of people cheering for BestBuy to fold. It was not too long ago that other electronics B&M stores folded - CompUSA, CircuitCity - leaving BestBuy as the only national chain left in this domain (aside from Fry's and others who are not as national as BestBuy). If BestBuy folds, this equates to less competition and more market dominance by one corporate entity. That means even LESS choice for consumers, and the good chance Walmart will raise their prices on goods they are the prime supplier of in X market.

Instead of praising Walmart for shutting down another competitor, why not write to BestBuy or support another business that may need help. More competition is better for us, the consumers. Less competition + market dominance = monopoly of goods and services, which almost always leads to higher prices. Think before cheering on another B&M store filing Chapter 11, it's not doing you or anyone a service.[COLOR="#808080"]

This is not about the majority being right (10 millions flies can't be wrong...)
It is about the fact that people will just shop where the prices are low or are willing to pay or can afford.

You are asking Walmart shoppers to be educated, which not happening

No consumer cares about competition, until it effects them.

Best Buy going out of business doesn't effect anybody. The competition is now taking place on the internet.

The few Moms and Pops or not internet savvy left behind who don't do that, just pay more.

[ufwa]

Originally Posted by Morshu9001

The idea is that Walmart claimed a low price but actually had few iPhones in stock, causing Best Buy to have to match the price and get screwed while Walmart really didn't have the sale it advertised.

They are not obligated to give customers a price match to walmart's price or any local competitor.

I don't recall anywhere that Walmart claimed they had tons of stock.

It was a 1st come 1st serve sale. No Rain checks of any kind. Unlike the black friday sale where they'd gave out rain checks if you were in line @ a certain time for the ipad.

Best Buy's own price matching policy says/requires that a local competitor has it stock.

If Best Buy's own employees fail to follow through that's their own fault.

My cousin tried to get them to price match Fry's. My local best buy called all the fry's in the area and they had none in stock. 1 told Best buy they'll expect more in on friday and said they'd give her the price match if she returned on then.

[unplugme71]

Hmm I spend on average 2,900 annually at Best Buy. I am their Premier Silver rewards member. Now while their service sucks, I have to admit I never had an issue with price matching or returns. With their extended returns and price guarantee, I've saved a lot of money when their own items dropped in price 2 months later.

As for warranties, I buy them on TV's and higher end appliances. Why? Because almost every item bought needed something fixed.

TV - 3 repairs totalling $900, warranty cost $330, win
Fridge - 2 repairs totalling $440, warranty costs was less than 150
Camera, had 3 cameras break, all given cash value for to buy something else, costs of warranty was around 40-50 on 200-300 cameras.
Washer and Dry - had leaks and such, fixed no problems.

Everything I bought was on a best buy store card with 0%. So I considered saving several hundred dollars in paying interest charges to equate buying the warranties that still saved me money as well.

I tried others stores like Sears, Lowes, HD, and they all have their problems. I only buy named brand items like Samsung, LG, etc.

[Kyle2123]

Originally Posted by bretm

I'd like to hear of just one person that got an iPhone 5 for $127. I'm sure there is, but other than here, I didn't hear of anyone I knew getting it. It wasn't the talk of the season, etc. Why? Because they didn't exist.

I did, and they had 5 left in stock after they sold it to me. WalMart in South Lyon, MI.

[mantan]

Originally Posted by fredr500

Funny story: Last year I went to BB for a tax program, asked them to pricematch Amazon price. They looked it up and said they could come within $5 but couldn't match it. I said OK I'll take it. She then rang it up and then gave me a $15 gift card saying "this comes with all tax software this week."

So after apologizing that they couldn't match Amazon they proceeded to beat them by $10 (assuming sales tax=shopping cost).

I think your combining two totally separate promotions. The tax promotion was designed to encourage people to by a certain brand of tax software by offering a gift card. The free gift card is a favored 'discount' because they hope you go back and buy items were you may not have bought.

Shaking down a B&M store to match an online price just forces them to sell at a loss. Often times they will do it under the very misguided 'customer is always right' philosophy....otherwise you'd likely complain that BB is a crappy store because they wouldn't match an online price.

[cdow]

Yeahhh 98% availability was not the case at all when I tried to get my 5. I was already super reluctant to get an iPhone through Wal-Mart, seeing as I have my grandfathered AT&T data plan and was worried they'd screw me out of it. Went to 3 or 4 wal-marts (eek) on 12/23 and either the stores had none in stock, or the "weren't a store that carried AT&T" (which was BS). The closest I came was one store had only Sprint iPhones in stock. I had no way of knowing which specific store to go to because they seem to have a phone answering issue at every single store.... So I simply called a Best Buy at 7am on the 24th and went in and got my 5 for $127 with no hassles.

[QuarterSwede]

Originally Posted by bretm

I'd like to hear of just one person that got an iPhone 5 for $127. I'm sure there is, but other than here, I didn't hear of anyone I knew getting it. It wasn't the talk of the season, etc. Why? Because they didn't exist.

I did (for my wife) in the Falcon, CO Walmart. She got a 16GB white at&t 5. I was so glad because she was originally going to settle for a 4S because of the price and I wanted her to get a 5 for longevity. Needless to say she's happy and so am I as at&t didn't "accidentally" screw me out of my unlimited data plan

[gkarris]

Originally Posted by gkarris

The Best Buy by me - the people are really helpful and smart. Most are young adult part-timers that go to the local junior colleges and colleges in the area.

Will be too bad if BB goes under for them.

But really, I remember when ours opened, all the really cool long-time local Hi-Fi/Home Entertainment stores went out-of-business...

Originally Posted by Morshu9001

That's not terrible. Theoretically, they all went to work for BB. But I really like those little stores just for their novelty.

Actually, they got jobs at other stores not affected by BB or went to work in the Audio/Video industry.

BB didn't want to pay these knowledgable people.

[macs4nw]

Originally Posted by ECUpirate44

Wish amazon would put BB out of business already.

Music to the ears of Walmart, no doubt, but not good for us consumers in the long term. While I like low prices as much as the next guy, a variety of retail options is the best way to guarantee those low prices. Walmart has single-handedly put many businesses under and has all but decimated mom and pop stores in many smaller communities. The sad truth is that, once they have eliminated all competition, they will have zero incentive to offer us low prices.

[twigman08]

Originally Posted by Wicked1

They have become a showcase for people to look and see the products and then buy them online or somewhere else cheaper.

That is actually the only reason I use Best Buy now. If I or someone else I know is interested in buying something we just go into Best Buy to get a closer look at it or a little hands on time with it. Then go home and buy it online. About the only thing Best Buy is useful for now.

Yet I hate my current job so much I am currently trying to be hired as a computer sales rep there. lol. Anything to get away from my current job.

[jdogg836]

Whether you like Best Buy or hate them, this is a legitimate argument. Not a single Wal-Mart within 25 miles of me had the iPhone 5 in stock, and the tell-tale sign that they knew this was going to be a problem was the lack of rainchecks being offered. The only time I have seen Best Buy not offering rainchecks was if it was marked as a legitimate closeout with a low quantity, or a doorbuster type situation. It seems shady and underhanded on Wal-Mart's part to offer it and yet while they claim 98% instocks it's probably more like 1 phone at each location to get that number..... This was a loss-leader for the company to bring people through the doors, and look at who ultimately is forced to take the loss.

Best Buy going out of business is bad for the consumer, just like Circuit City before them. I HATED the idiots who worked at my local CC so I never shopped there, but I still recognized that while they are open that forces fair competition. Love them or hate them, you don't want Best Buy to go under.

[Amazing Iceman]

Com"on Best Buy, stop complaining and live up to your name. It's been a while since you really had the "best buy". Be creative or learn from Walmart.

[Greg.]

As a complete noob to how mobile phones work over in the US, what do you do when you buy this iPhone from Walmart for $127? Do you get sold a contract alongside it? Is it unlocked and you find a SIM only deal? Guessing not the latter as $127 seems too cheap, but don't understand how the likes of Walmart and Best Buy could give contracts out and where the likes of AT&T come into it?

[charlituna]

Originally Posted by Morshu9001

Best Buy isn't great, but I agree with them here. No company should be able to pull marketing gimmicks like those. Best Buy sells stupid Monster cables, but at least they're ethical.

Not always. More than once over the years I've had them lie about stock quantities because I didn't want their geek squad or I wasn't buying accessories etc.

How do I know they were lying. I went online and ordered the same item for in store pickup at that store and had it within ten minutes. No way could they turn it around that fast if it wasn't in store. Or I could see it in the upper shelves but didn't call the sales person on it. Ordering online means no bonus or sales kudos for them off me that day

[mdlooker]

When will people realize that we need brick and mortar stores way more than online stores. It's all extremely good for competition in stores and online but we can't forget about keeping unemployment low. While it's a joy to pay cheaper prices for stuff, it's no fun paying more in taxes to support those that would otherwise be working in those brick and mortar stores.

[Swordylove]

Wow... Toys R Us sells iPhones? Really?

[KdParker]

Originally Posted by IndoX

I'd like to remind everyone that employee's who get hired at Best Buy receive little to no training.

They literally give you mandatory behaviors that you must do with every customers (such as pushing geeksquad even if the customer doesn't need it) and throw you on the floor when you're not ready.

Majority of the employee's who are knowledgable in their department are people who had previous job experience or are college students who are majoring in that area (or it happens to be a hobby).

I used to work at Best Buy and I feel bad for the associates and management who still work there. It's corporate and it's policies that are ruining the company - not the employee's themselves.

I so believe that....

[Iamthinking]

Originally Posted by jreuschl

There's plenty of commission to be had on a phone sale. It might be less for an iPhone but they'll still make money.

I've read elsewhere that not many businesses count apple products towards an employee's commissions or even sales totals, since they "sell themselves". I sometimes wonder if this is why there is so much apple bashing at stores, especially phone stores, but best buy is up there in apple bashing too (in my experience).

Perhaps Walmart is simply trying to get people in the habit of thinking about going to Walmart for apple products. After all, the experience can't be any worse than arm-wrestling an apple product from bestbuy *without* the overpriced extended service plan, geek setup, blah blah.....


Iamthinking

[maverick1969]

So then why does Best Buy charge me tax on the full price ($750)of the iPhone 5 and not for what I actually paid for (sale price $126)? Can I complain just the same as they do?