Don't You Just Love Best Buy

[TimDaddy]

I personally am not a fan of extended warranties. I have bought several and never utilized a single one. New products typically have a higher defect rate. As the bugs are worked out and production is ramped up, the defect rate declines. Obviously, nothing lasts forever, so further down the line the problem rate goes back up. The manufacturers warranty usually covers the early time frame. Extended warranties cover the time in the middle when problems are fewer. That way, most of the service plans are never used, as in my personal experience. Your products may start to wear out and break down later in life, usually when the extended warranty it up. I am not saying that a service plan is a waste of money. If there is no way you can afford to replace your product, you may need one. This is more important if your particular model is brand new. It has been documented, for example, that nearly every time an automoblie goes through a major model change, the defect rate rises on the first year of the new generation. (The introduction of the 2000 Toyota Avalon was the only time in history that the defect rate actually went down after a major model change of a mass-produced car.) Cars typically have good warranties that will cover this, and safety issues will mandate a recall. But, the same effect often happens with other products. This may be a good time to take that extended warranty.
I found this graph that illustrates the product failure rate over time.

 

[Makosuke]

This topic seems to be moving toward extended warranty discussion, so I'll add my thoughts.

That graph is exactly how I view extended service plans on *most* of my purchases (none of which, thankfully, have been from BestBuy or any other mega-electronics chain--I don't even have one in my area); if it's a desktop computer and it doesn't break in the first year under the manufacturer's warranty, it's highly unlikely that it's going to up and die for the next couple of years I'll be using it--there's just not that much going on in there.

As for technical glitches, that's what I do for a living, and I NEVER call tech support, since for most of the people I know and where I work I *am* tech support, so there's no benefit there for me. This is not necessarily the case for novice users, though, which is a good point that trueice made.

Exceptions: if the warranty is cheap, long, and the item has moving parts or is more likely to fail (a microwave, vaccuum, or new product for example), I'll go ahead and buy it--I have a microwave being serviced under the extended warranty right now for example, but the warranty only cost $25 for three years. Worth the bit of cash for the piece of mind.

And, I'd probably get Applecare on a laptop since, being banged around, it's a lot more likely to fail as time goes on than a desktop (that is, the valley in the graph above is shorter). I'd never buy a hard drive without a 3 year warranty, either, since I know those a prone to failure.

 

[Roger1]

I don't mind Best Buy too much. My kids love it when I take them there to play video games. Recently I bought a used pc, and needed an OS to put on it. So I went to price Windows, to see how much it is. Well they had xp home for $199, a little pricey for an old box used for email and games. So I see a copy of ME sitting there. How much? I ask. $199. Hmm, a little high for me. No sale that day. I wonder if I can get a service plan on software?

 

[Powerbook G5]

ME is absolutely horrid, definitely stay away from that one no matter what the price

 

[yamabushi]

I completely agree. If you ever get a computer with ME your best bet is to install a new OS. Windows 98SE, 2000, or XP Pro would be better versions to go with.

Best Buy pushes whatever they feel like selling you at whatever price they can get away with.

They also have refused to honor their promised rebates, which is both unethical and illegal.

 

[sigamy]

Best Buy Bank & Trust

I'm not going to shop at Best Buy anymore.

I purchased a 13" TV, a Leapfrog wireless video transmitter and a swivel stand for my wife for Christmas. $300 total, paid cash.

Well, the TV was too big for our small kitchen counter so we decided to return it. Went to Best Buy a few days after Christmas and waited for about 30 minutes in the return line.

I get up to the counter and give the items back and hand my receipt over. He does his thing and then asks for my address so that he can send a check in the mail. I said "What? I paid cash for these items". He said that any returns over $250 have to be paid as a check. I said ok then, you are going to give me $250 in cash and then write a check for $50. He says, "nope, once the amount is over $250 we have to write a check for the total."

I was furious. Best Buy had now become a bank. After standing in line for 30 minutes I couldn't even think straight so I just agreed. Now they had the returned products and they had my $300 sitting in an interest earning account making 6% return for them! I couldn't believe it. Unethical in my view.

I won't purchase from Best Buy Bank again.

 

[Powerbook G5]

Capitalism, don't you love it?

 

[Lucky736]

I've worked for Best Buy, Comp USA, and Circuit City.

Best Buy- A decent company. Yes they push service plans, yes I was one of the top salespeople in the company, yes I moved up, and yes I left. I don't like pushing people. I genuinely gave a damn when people took something home and it didn't work. I wanted everything that I sold them to somehow make things easier for them. Whether it was a computer, a cell phone, a TV with all the right stuff so they wouldn't have to make 10 trips cuse some idiot didn't tell them something was int he box. If you want to buy a warranty great, if not great. I'm sure once people saw I didn't push it they asked themselves twice do I really need it and sometimes bought it. A laptop? God I hope so, you do carry it around right? A desktop or a Tube TV? Seriously now.... how many time is this thing ever going to move, c'mon people don't be dumb...... PSP is great on some things, and whatever I did see usually got fixed the first time, and if it happened again they swapped it usually. But still, don't be dumb and buy it on dumb thing....

Comp USA- Well...... again, I ended up selling tons of Macs and Laptops...... why? B/c I couldn't stand the though of trying to sell a warranty on some desktop POS that was ridiculously priced. That and I think Applecare is great. I think it presents an excellent value and that the tech support it includes is great as well, only had to use it once for that but............... people gace a damn. Back to Comp USA though. They cater to business customers more than typical consumers it seems, but again. If someone didn't want it I wouldn't sell it. You know why? If I don't come across like an ass, which I am not, then that same customer will come back to me to buy things. I make money, they are happy with things they were going to buy anyway, and I didn't sell them on BS I sold them things they needed and still made the same $$$$$

Circuit City- What a joke. Computer warranties start 1 year AFTER the manufacturer warranty. So for the first year you still have to send it off anyway. Replacement plans are mailed in now, no longer swapped in store. Laptop warranties do NOT cover batteries or screens. I was there when it was commission, I was there when it wasn't. There is a reason the company has gone down the tubes. Soon it will be Best Circuit. TV warranties? Lol. The people who come fix your TV's have no idea what they are talking about, and have MANUALS on how to fix them. I don't want some guy learning on my TV!!!!!!! I have customers that call me, my personal customers, and people who used to be my customers who go in and ask for me at Comp USA from two years ago or Best Buy from 3 and 4 years ago who used to be regular customers. I send them to people I know will take care of them now, and it still makes me feel good to know that not 1 single person did I ever BS into a sale, funny huh, that's the mentality all 3 of these companies started with, it's too bad that it all went down the pooper.


Mike

 

[Heb1228]

A few thoughts from a "salesman"

I've been waiting for this thread... I work as a salesman at one of the stores that is getting constant mention here. Here's my off-the-record thoughts on different stores/salespeople/"warranties..."

Here's what I notice about different stores (generalities of course, your experience may differ).. Best Buy has a very clean, neat looking store with roomy isles and a somewhat skimpy selection of products as far as computer accessories (which is to be expected considering the range of products the store carries). Circuit City is not quite as neat and clean, but close. Less product selection there than Best Buy. CompUSA has by far the best product selection but sometimes their store looks kind of disorganized and messy. (I've only been in Fry's a few times and it seemed somewhere in the middle.)

If you want to talk to someone who knows what they are talking about (as far as computers)... CompUSA is by far your best bet. Now most of them won't be able to tell you anything about floating point calculations, but they do much more product training than the other stores. Every salesperson is different though. There are some people at Best Buy and Curcuit City that know their stuff too but they are much harder to come by.

Now on the warranties...

People who walk in the store with that attitude of "I hate warranties and I'm not buying one no matter what they say" are idiots. It is impossible to know the value of without knowing the cost of it in the first place. A $30 warranty on an $80 printer is admittedly too high. I don't blame people that don't get somthing like that. But $30 on a $250 or $300 printer only makes sense. Think about it like this... What if there were two printers side by side that printed EXACTLY the same with EXACTLY the same ink costs and everything. The price on one is $279 and the other one is $249. The only difference between the printers is that the higher priced one is made of better parts that absolutely would not stop working on you for 3 years... the lower priced one was made of cheaper parts and may or may not work for the same amount of time.

I know some people would still buy the cheaper printer. Thats fine. Those are the people that save $20 on a new car by leaving off power windows and locks. I don't understand those people. Most reasonable people would go ahead and spend a little bit of extra money at the beginning to know they were gettign a better product... one that they KNOW will last.

Service plans on desktops... if you know how to work on a computer I can understand you not wanting one. (I would still get one though... I've had them on both of my PC desktops and its paid for itself both times, but hey whatever floats your boat.) If you don't know how to fix cimputers yourself... It doesn't make much sense not to get it.

Service plans on laptops... HELLO? You'd have to be an idiot not to. Seriously...

After working in a store and seeing the problems people have with computer equipment, I get replacement plans/service plans on almost all of the stuff I get there.

As for this stuff about "If its gonna break, it'll do it within a few weeks of when I buy it..." As I think of the components that have failed on my PCs... (2 CD drives, 1 hard drive, 1 power supply) every one of them has been somewhere in the 6-24 month range, not right after I bought it.

When salespeople offer you these kinds of things, it usually because we want our customers to be taken care of if they have problems with their equipment (which is not as uncommon as alot of people think).

Anyways... my two cents...