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Best Buy and Apple - August 10th

Originally posted by tntoak
I'd suggest refraining from making such generalized comments about BBY employees. Judging from some of the posts in this and other threads relating to the BBY/Apple situation, I'd wager that there are a fair number of people on these forums who work at Best Buy, and probably wouldn't appreciate being characterized like that.
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Two weeks ago I was at a Best Buy listening to a man and his son ask about Windows XP, which came with the PC he was planning to purchase. The employee then proceeded to tell him that XP is all well and good, but he'll want to look into purchasing Windows ME in order to get the most use out of his system, and that ME was much more stable and is much newer than XP.

This isn't a Mac vs. PC thing. This is simply about lack of training or, unfortunately in some cases, an employee that just doesn't/can't know or care. Those are the ones that stand out.
 
Originally posted by network23
This makes no sense! Chicago already HAS an Apple Store, yet every single IL Best Buy listed above is Chicago area! Believe it or not, there is a lower 7/8 of Illinois that would love to see Apple products in a Best Buy if we aren't getting our own Apple Store!
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I don't think I could have said it any better. I recently moved to Illinois (there were no Best Buys where I came from), so it would have been nice to have some Apple products being sold in some of the other Best Buys. C'mon, the Chicago area already has THREE Apple Stores. Sure, they're nice and all, but Apple needs to distribute its stores a little better instead of just clumping them all together.
 
Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
I'll have to go check and see if the Best Buy near me in Crystal City has them. The one in Springfield is a little out of the way - and I'm wondering why they picked that one of all the ones in the area? Its not the easiest to get to....

D
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Apple has it's own stores in Clarendon and Tysons Corner....can't have too much competition for them ;-)
 
Originally posted by tntoak
I'd suggest refraining from making such generalized comments about BBY employees. Judging from some of the posts in this and other threads relating to the BBY/Apple situation, I'd wager that there are a fair number of people on these forums who work at Best Buy, and probably wouldn't appreciate being characterized like that.
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While I agree with you about making unfair generalizations....my unfortunate experience suggests that the original post is not too far off.

While there are great Best Buy employess (who actually know and use computers), there are many who don't even know PCs well, let alone Macs.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised some passed the interview.

With this, and in all fairness, the same can be said of the Apple Store, some know their stuff and others must have thought they were applying at a produce (meaning fruits) store.

Best Buy will be a very powerful sales vehicle for Apple though, if it is done well.

Tim
 
I went into the Bloomington, MN store yesterday and asked a few CSRs in the computer area in the back about Apple. The folks there were actually interested and hoping for Macs to show up. I consider this a good sign.
 
I think why that the test is mostly in the chicago area is because there is a huge population and people in the chicago suburbs usually make a very decent amount of money. I think its like the 3rd richest area in the country behind california and new york. This would allow for non mac users to see it and then actually buy it, not just already mac users. I actually used to work for best buy before I went to school and the stores in chicago area do around 70,000+ a day some do a 100,000+ and it would allow to see how more people react to it. I know I would find it annoying if i couldnt get to an apple store for hours but itll eventually happen if this goes like it is supposed to, luckly i have an apple store, compusa and 5 best buys less then 20 min from me javascript:smilie('😉') . My friend still works at best buy and he said they would be on bestbuy.com soon.
 
AZ Best Buy

I stopped by the Best Buy near Fiesta Mall in Mesa, AZ today. They have the mac stuff out, but not completely set up. The 15" and 17" iMacs were turned off. The eMac was turned on, but didn't have a keyboard hooked up. There was also a G4 Tower and 17" display out, but not running. Price tags were in place for the 12" ibook, 12" Powerbook, and 15" Powerbook (maybe the 17" too...can't remember), but none of the laptops were on display yet. Finally, on the shelves below the computers, they had some Apple peripherals (mice, speakers, Airport Xtreme, etc.), and a little bit of software (iLife, FC Express, Keynote, Jaguar).

The locations definitely have nothing to do with proximity to other Apple dealers. This Best Buy is located in the same shopping center as a CompUSA, and 10 minutes from the Chandler Apple Store. It appears as though the AZ stores that are getting apple are the ones that also got the new "Pod Design" store layout a few weeks back. The stores with the older, basic layout don't seem to be getting apple equipment just yet - even if they're much further away from existing CompUSAs or Apple Stores.

I also noticed the $150 rebate on the laptops, but didn't get the details. All of the apple resellers seem to have some kind of $150 deal going on until Aug. 2. CompUSA is offering a free Airport card and free $50 printer with Apple laptops.

Jeff
 
The Best Buy rebate is a straight up $150 rebate - not one of those conditional rebates (i.e., you don't have to prepay for 2 years of MSN or use the Best Buy Card or buy anything besides the computer itself, for that matter).
 
I have to agree with the general tone here. Apple does need to stop "clumping" it's stores together. The south has seemed well ignored in Apple Store placement, especially SC. NC has one with another possible store in Charlotte (so the rumors go) and GA has one. If you live in Columbia that's about a 4 hour drive to either one. Columbia really needs an Apple store but at least we have several Best Buys!
 
And then DC has two Apple stores. Its weird, there's no doubt about it.

But you know, I its nice to go there, but I'm not going to buy next machine there - I can get better deals almost anywhere else.

D
 
BB Elk Grove, CA has Macs and we have a new Apple Store

All but the 17" PB and the dual 1.2 were on display. Nobody jumped to help me as I made numerous changes on all the computers. I was in the store around 12:10 today.
 
I can totally see only having one pilot location in Maryland...but in Bel Air?!? Bel Air is north of Baltimore, and almost rural....the Baltimore Metro area is already served by the Apple Store in Towson, which is on the northern side. Clumping again.

Meanwhile, the very affluent suburban areas between Baltimore and DC are left to CompUSA, all the way down to Northern VA.

Go figure. I'd have chosen Columbia, Rockville, or Potomac...
 
Will best buy have them on their website? Im asking becaus ei have a friend who works at bestbuy and can "hook me up" she said she can get stuff at manufactuars price. Would that be better than the educational discount for the 12" from the apple store?
 
Well, I can say the so far we officially have nothing at the Best Buy in Shreveport (not that anyone's suprised by that info). I checked anyway because of some odd posts I've seen about there being equipment on the shelves in places it shouldn't have been (yet).

Oh well...
Anyone got news of Target selling iPods again?
 
Financing

On Best Buy's website they have the 12' PowerBook for 1799.99 with a 150 dollar mail-in rebate. They are also offering the 24 month no interest financing as well. That is about the best offer I have seen around.
 
Originally posted by you
Will best buy have them on their website? Im asking becaus ei have a friend who works at bestbuy and can "hook me up" she said she can get stuff at manufactuars price. Would that be better than the educational discount for the 12" from the apple store?
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unless your friend has discovered something more to the best buy discount program, no.
as a former best buy employee, i can tell you that the manufacturer price is the price best buy pays to get a computer/peripheral/software into their warehouse. Ergo, a PS2 costs best buy ~198.00. it is actually cheaper for an employee to buy it at face value than at the "discount" which is 5% above the best buy cost (in this case, 198.00). Best buy makes their money off the peripherals, the extended warranty, the video games, etc.
my guess is apple is similar to sony and does not give resellers big margins.
the only way your friend could "hook you up" is if she were able to get the order for the new computer in with a larger shipment. even then, its likely the edu discount would be more encompassing for your needs.
besides that, best buy (at least the district i worked in) was really strict on use of the discount, and they would keep a watchful eye on anyone who made a purchase as large as a computer with it...so they might get suspicious if your friend isnt careful.
just my advice.
--carly
ps: the best buy discount is excellent for peripherals-if you need a cable, mouse, etc definitely get it through her. i got tons of goodies that way. not worth the ****ty hours or bad management though.
 
quote:
"On Best Buy's website they have the 12' PowerBook for 1799.99 with a 150 dollar mail-in rebate. They are also offering the 24 month no interest financing as well. That is about the best offer I have seen around."

-------------------------------------

That doesn't make sense. The 12" Powerbook with Combo Drive is only $1599. If they're selling it for $1799 with a $150 rebate, then you still overpay ~$50.
 
i checked out the macs at Best Buy in Chelsea, NYC during lunch today.

They had applications installed, but nothing useful was in the dock of any of the machines. And the 17" display hooked up to a 1.25 PM was set at 1024X768.

Also, one of the screensavers was set to a .mac slideshow, which does not work if it isn't connected to the internet, which none of these machines were.

Anyhow, I was a little surprised that they would have been so poorly setup. Oh well, I couldn't leave them there like that - so I took a few minutes to select nice (properly functioning) screen savers, but cool applications in the dock (like Office). Open iDVD on the comps. w/Superdrives. And I just had to fix the resolution on the 17" Display.

Just thought I'd share my moment of dorkiness at BestBuy.
 
I do that all the time over at the CompUSA. They take very little care of their macs, it's quite a shame. Their PC's aren't in much better shape though. There was one 2.7Ghz custom built with a really awesome completely clear case and some blue neon lights and a Radeon 9800 and 1GB of RAM. Something to do the word processing on, basically.

The thing was though, the whole front panel was off and it kept crashing for an unknown reason. It would just die. Pretty shabby.
 
At a high volume best buy in pa, there is going to be a "training" held on august 10th to inform the prod spcs (sales staff) of upcoming events in the company. Included in it will be something about selling macs that they're being really vague on (they're vague on everything..heh). The actual products to be sold have not yet been deceided on so it's probably just going to be something about how the asls will come in and sell them and how our prod spcs should work with them to get the best results or something. As soon as I get the training materials I'll make sure I get the stuff about apple posted. As for bby people being idiots when it comes to computers, I'd like to mention that at our store we have someone who is an adc select member and a few other mac heads including myself. I agree it is a problem in many stores, but having product knowlege shouldn't be too much of a problem here 🙂
 
cough...right from the source 🙂

"News Item


Have You Heard? The Mac Is Back

Please note: The following story is from Retail Weekly for Best Buy U.S. stores.
While Macs will only be sold at select stores beginning Aug. 3, they will be available nationwide on BestBuy.com. That means everyone need to know the latest information on Macs.

With the same passion Democrats and Republicans often use to express their political views, PC and Mac owners can debate their computers’ superiority for hours on end. With its impassioned customers and loyal fan base, adding Macs back into the product assortment can only have positive results.

Customer-driven solutions
Selling Apple computers helps differentiate Best Buy from other retailers and helps provide specific solutions to a valuable customer segment. This is what being customer-driven is all about. Even though Macs won’t be carried at all stores, the assortment available on BestBuy.com means all stores will be impacted by its Aug. 3 rollout.

Know the ad
Starting Aug. 10, ads will drive customer traffic to our stores and to BestBuy.com for Macs. Look for Macs to be consistently highlighted in ads through much of August and September.

Service center info
Twelve service center technicians (one from each location) attended training at Apple’s corporate training facility in Cupertino, Calif. from July 21 to Aug. 1. This enables Best Buy service centers to be certified for factory warranty service on all Apple products.



Date: 8/5/2003 2:51:38 PM "
 
this is from best buy:

during the pilot, the best buy performance service plan available on all pc desktops and notebooks will not be offered with apple desktops and notebooks. Instead, the pilot offers the applecare service straight from apple. Also, starting august 10, the notebook mail in rebate of $150.00 will exclude Apple laptops as can be found in the small print. product specialists are also told not to suggest hardware upgrades and system tune ups at best buy for apple products because of the lack of tech training in the service dept.

i'll post more info as it comes
 
Anyone seen an Apple employee?

Has anyone had contact with any Apple employees working the Apple sections at the participating Best Buys? I am just curious whether they have already started work.
 
Bought my iBook today at the Best Buy in Davenport. It was a pleasant expirience. Staff had no appearant bias and was very helpful. To be honest I might not have if I had to drive to Chicago or Milwaukee to buy the thing. Best Buy's financing isn't bad either.
 
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