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Best Buy Sucks!

E

Exegesis48

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 2, 2009
202
0
So today I went buy Best Buy to try to do a bit of comparison shopping for a friend who is looking to upgrade the RAM in his computer. The problem is that Best Buy has moved all of their Memory behind the Geek Squad counter. This makes comparison shopping very difficult, not to mention I had to wait in line to even ask about the memory pricing. One of the CSRs actually addressed me after I had been waiting for several minutes, and I told him I was just here to check out the memory pricing. He then quickly spouted off a couple prices and then went back to helping the next customer in line. I then asked if I could look at the different options, and he told me he would help me once he was finished with the other customer.

I just think it's appalling in this day and age to have to wait in a line to inquire about a product. Not mention that the line is for a service I am not even interested in (Geek Squad is a ripoff). Anyway, Best Buy doesn't always have the best prices, but I tend to comparison shop and it's not like there's much competition out there anymore. I honestly think they do it because they know their memory is outrageously overpriced and they don't want you to have an opportunity to shop around. They also tend to carry a few "proprietary brands/model numbers" which makes it even harder.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this situation?
 
Stop shopping at best buy. They are always more expensive and their geek squad isnt worth the lint in my pockets. They suck. Shop online, the best memory you will find will be from CRUCIAL.COM. Other websites like newegg.com, amazon.com, macsales.com, clubmac.com. Those will be your best bets. Do yourself a favor, don't set foot in Best Buy unless you know exactly what you want and you did a price comparison before you set foot in the door.
 
I didn't realize that ram theft was so rampant. I presume the only other reason to have it behind there is to try to sell some sort of Geek Squad Installation.
 
Shopping at a store?

People still do that this day in age with the power of the internet? :p

Just kiddin. I think its awful how customer service has evolved. A prime example is wal-mart. 10 years ago I'd go in looking for something specific, ask an associate where I could locate it and I would be taken there. Nowadays, they point in the general direction and send you on your merry way. :rolleyes:
 
it really is shocking the service at those stores. they will tell you anything to make a sale. my sister(very non tech savvy) went in to buy a macbook and a PS3 and they told her several outright lies to sell her add ons. i couldn't believe it.
 
I've bought two MBPs there and a Cinema Display and an iMac. Buying the iMac was the best because there was an Apple rep there at the time. I also bought more ram for the iMac along with the iMac since he knew what kind it needed.

All the other tines, it was just BestBuy employees who really knew nothing about Macs.

Bad service can even happen at the Apple store. I went there last year to buy a Mac Pro and got ignored for an hour. Left and went to another Apple store and walked out with a Mac Pro in 10 minutes.

Last week when I bought the last MBP, the display model was missing a few keys on the keyboard. Not too good for sales I would think.
 
...last summer I was on vacation and wanted to upgrade a computer for the house I was staying at but I knew the price + shipping so when I went to the physical store, I knew what I was prepared to pay for the convenience of taking it home right away to do the install... funny thing about it, the best buy price was almost 3.5 times the cost of the same item on line including shipping (I ended up getting it at a Fry's for about $12 more than the cost of the item and shipping so that was worth the quick availability at the time)... otherwise, I only shop on line...
 
azboricua said:
Stop shopping at best buy. They are always more expensive and their geek squad isnt worth the lint in my pockets. They suck. Shop online, the best memory you will find will be from CRUCIAL.COM. Other websites like newegg.com, amazon.com, macsales.com, clubmac.com. Those will be your best bets. Do yourself a favor, don't set foot in Best Buy unless you know exactly what you want and you did a price comparison before you set foot in the door.
Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly second azboricua's recommendation for Crucial.com. NewEgg is also OK, if you're willing to put up with FedEx. (I add that condition from personal experience; FedEx are sticklers in my area for not leaving anything without a signature, so I've always had to arrange to pick it up at the local FedEx station.) Just about any place is better than Best Buy for memory, by a ridiculously wide margin.
 
If you must get memory from a store. Go to Microcenter or Fry's if you have one or both in your area. These places are worth the 60 minute drive when buying electronics.

As for Best Buy. Besides the nefarious reason of trying to trap you into buying the memory. I can think of two other valid reasons why Best Buy has the memory behind the Geek Squad counter.

1. The vast majority of people whom would actually go to Best Buy for RAM and spend a lot more money than online don't know what memory their computer uses. Nor do the useless sales staff. So the customer would have to speak to a tech anyways.
2. Since most people do not know what memory their computer uses. They don't list the prices so they won't have to explain why they must buy the much more expensive SDRAM for their Pentium 3 than that cheap DDR2 memory.
 
There are many reasons to dislike Best Buy... but waiting in line to ask questions is not one of them. The vast majority of consumers are not represented on this forum. They would not go into a store knowing what sort of RAM they need, or even what sort of computer they have. This setup might inconveience the select few who know more than is average, but it prevents regular consumers from buying the wrong RAM and creating headaches for them and Best Buy's staff.

If you want a reason to dislike Best Buy, let me tell you about the CSR who tried to convince me replacing an iPod battery cost $320 and that my warranty was instantly voided by installing non-iTunes songs.
 
Exegesis48 said:
I honestly think they do it because they know their memory is outrageously overpriced...
Click to expand...

Their pricing on memory is the same concept as charging $99 for an HDMI cable. In order to sell computers and TVs, they need to be competitive in pricing. Best Buy makes their money on the add-ons you get with the computer and TV. There isn't much of a different in a $5.00 HDMI cable from Monoprice and the one for $99 at BB. People don't realize this or they're pushing into thinking the TV won't work without the cable and they're told they need it now. Besides, a lot of people aren't confortable opening their computer to install memory, so they over pay for both the memory and the Geek Squad to install it. Ah, Capitalism as it's best.
 
mdgolom said:
Their pricing on memory is the same concept as charging $99 for an HDMI cable. In order to sell computers and TVs, they need to be competitive in pricing. Best Buy makes their money on the add-ons you get with the computer and TV. There isn't much of a different in a $5.00 HDMI cable from Monoprice and the one for $99 at BB. People don't realize this or they're pushing into thinking the TV won't work without the cable and they're told they need it now. Besides, a lot of people aren't confortable opening their computer to install memory, so they over pay for both the memory and the Geek Squad to install it. Ah, Capitalism as it's best.
Click to expand...

dam I actually bought one of those $99 HDMI cables

But I also hate BB I only use their stores to look at items that I want to purchase (half the time they don't have it) then I go on amazon and order for half the price. I also hate it when they tell customers that because it has 4gb of RAM its going to be fast even if it has a pentium M. BB is a complete ripoff... they didn't even know what a mini-display port adapter was
 
Best buy certainly has its place, but memory (and computer supplies in general) is not one of them. I just bought a 42" Samsung 42" plasma (720p) there for $540! I also just bought a Brother 2140 laser printer for $50 that is perfect for what I wanted. Sometimes their prices just can't be beat. As others have said though, look elsewhere for memory, hard disks, and the like.
 
Exegesis48 said:
One of the CSRs actually addressed me after I had been waiting for several minutes, and I told him I was just here to check out the memory pricing. He then quickly spouted off a couple prices and then went back to helping the next customer in line. I then asked if I could look at the different options, and he told me he would help me once he was finished with the other customer.

I just think it's appalling in this day and age to have to wait in a line to inquire about a product. Not mention that the line is for a service I am not even interested in (Geek Squad is a ripoff).
Click to expand...

Wait - you walk into a store and expect the staff to drop customers they are working with to help you???? Unbelievable.

You DO have to wait YOUR turn to inquire about a product - always have. Either look the prices up online (BestBuy.com lists all of their prices), or wait. You want to FLAME about Best Buy, then go ahead. But YOU were the problem in this instance.
 
I bought my parents a flat panel TV at Best Buy and the morons there wanted me to spend 100 bucks for an HDMI cable to hook up their U-verse set-top box. I bought an HDMI cable from Monoprice for about $5, it works perfectly.

The sad thing is, other people aren't as informed as some of us techies might be and would buy an expensive HDMI cable because they don't know there are cheaper alternatives out there that work just as well.

And GeekSquad is the Wal-Mart mechanic shop of computers. Just like I wouldn't trust the Wal-Mart greasemonkeys working in the tire and lube center to fill my windshield washer fluid tank properly, I wouldn't trust the GeekSquad morons to plug in a USB mosue properly.
 
+1 for Crucial.

I always got nice and fast shipping. And keep in mind I'm ordering from Mexico. Last time I ordered 2 Gb for one of our lab PC's, I ordered Monday and got the memory on my desk bu Thursday.
 
eawmp1 said:
Wait - you walk into a store and expect the staff to drop customers they are working with to help you???? Unbelievable.

You DO have to wait YOUR turn to inquire about a product - always have. Either look the prices up online (BestBuy.com lists all of their prices), or wait. You want to FLAME about Best Buy, then go ahead. But YOU were the problem in this instance.
Click to expand...

You should re-read his post. He asked a question and then the guy jumped to the next customer, apparently BEFORE Exegesis48 was done. The CSR should have made sure he was done with 1 customer before jumping to the next.

Geek Squad? More like Jackass squad.
 
velocityg4 said:
If you must get memory from a store. Go to Microcenter or Fry's if you have one or both in your area. These places are worth the 60 minute drive when buying electronics.

As for Best Buy. Besides the nefarious reason of trying to trap you into buying the memory. I can think of two other valid reasons why Best Buy has the memory behind the Geek Squad counter.

1. The vast majority of people whom would actually go to Best Buy for RAM and spend a lot more money than online don't know what memory their computer uses. Nor do the useless sales staff. So the customer would have to speak to a tech anyways.
2. Since most people do not know what memory their computer uses. They don't list the prices so they won't have to explain why they must buy the much more expensive SDRAM for their Pentium 3 than that cheap DDR2 memory.
Click to expand...

Also possible that people were grabbing the wrong memory by themselves and then returning the open packs when they figured out they didn't fit in their computers. With enough returns, maybe BB figured they had to make sure people are leaving with the right memory.

Of course, this assumes that the GS could really help you figure out what kind of memory you need...
 
I believe I just read something about Geek Squad charging $130 to come to your house, install your PS3, update it, and configure it (parental controls and online accounts)..... ridiculous.
 
I have to agree with you on this. I have had a similar experience at Best Buy. I think it has something to do with them being the only electronic giant on the block now days.

I only go into Best Buy to kind of see what's new or If they have a major sale on something I like. I highly recommend getting memory from CRUCIAL.COM this is your memory source & they have everything well priced. :cool:
 
buddyguyman said:
I believe I just read something about Geek Squad charging $130 to come to your house, install your PS3, update it, and configure it (parental controls and online accounts)..... ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Yup haha. I love that kind of service. I just bought a refurb PS3 from Gamestop for $230 (great deal IMO) and it didn't come with any instructions whatsoever. Call me crazy but color matching on those composite cords is so difficult these days. Not to mention having to go through the automated step by step walkthrough during initial set-up that makes you set up internet and then prompts you to download the latest system update and points you in the direction of the rest of the settings like parental controls.

I mean, it may seem steep, but $130 is worth it. I would have never been able to do it myself.:rolleyes:

I am still shocked that people buy into that stuff. Everything is color coded...

As far as RAM goes, crucial.com, newegg.com, or if you got a microcenter around you can shop in store. But online will probably be cheaper for you.

And just like you I am always in Best Buy shopping around, never buying anything, but just there to see the stuff in person before I go buy it somewhere else.
 
Exegesis48 said:
So today I went buy Best Buy to try to do a bit of comparison shopping for a friend who is looking to upgrade the RAM in his computer. The problem is that Best Buy has moved all of their Memory behind the Geek Squad counter. This makes comparison shopping very difficult, not to mention I had to wait in line to even ask about the memory pricing. One of the CSRs actually addressed me after I had been waiting for several minutes, and I told him I was just here to check out the memory pricing. He then quickly spouted off a couple prices and then went back to helping the next customer in line. I then asked if I could look at the different options, and he told me he would help me once he was finished with the other customer.

I just think it's appalling in this day and age to have to wait in a line to inquire about a product. Not mention that the line is for a service I am not even interested in (Geek Squad is a ripoff). Anyway, Best Buy doesn't always have the best prices, but I tend to comparison shop and it's not like there's much competition out there anymore. I honestly think they do it because they know their memory is outrageously overpriced and they don't want you to have an opportunity to shop around. They also tend to carry a few "proprietary brands/model numbers" which makes it even harder.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this situation?
Click to expand...


You sound just like any other stupid and whiny customer that walks into a Best Buy and doesn't have hand and foot service from someone who is probably multitasking 3-4 different customers at once. What makes you think your more important than that other customer that the sales person is already talking to currently, when you had already turned his/her help down previously? Sales people DON'T just walk away after spouting some prices, they ask you if you need any help. You by saying "no" or "just looking" relinquishes their duty from you.

Also, geek squad is a ripoff for those who know computers. For the people who have no idea, it is a life saver.
 
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