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Gah, I hate Best Buy

jaw04005

jaw04005

macrumors 601
Original poster
Aug 19, 2003
4,589
620
AR
Well today I decided to purchase a new HDTV. Against my better judgement, I decided to purchase from Best Buy since I had around $150 in gift cards from Christmas.

So, I went to BestBuy.com and searched around until I found the exact HDTV I wanted. It said that the item was out of stock online, but in stock at my local store and was even available for local pickup.

I’ve never did store pickup before on BestBuy.com. Not knowing how long it would take, I decided it would probably be best to just print out the item page and drive down to my local store.

At the store, I found the exact TV. They had about 5 in stock on the shelf above the demo units. I found a Best Buy employee and asked about purchasing the TV.

He said that he can’t sell me the TV because they are holding all units of that specific model for their Sunday ad. I told him that I was ready to purchase today, Wednesday, and didn’t want to wait until Sunday.

Additionally, I explained to him and even showed him on my iPhone that BestBuy.com is showing the item in stock and available for in-store pickup.

He called “inventory control" on his headset, but apparently they reiterated that he couldn’t sell the item. I asked him what happens if I purchase the TV online right now and select in-store pickup. He said that it was likely the Web site would charge me for the order, but once the order reached the store they would “mark it as out of stock” so I couldn’t pick it up today with a new pickup date of this upcoming Sunday.

Is that not bizarre? I don’t know how they stay in business if they don’t want to actually sell people items.

Needless to say, I was pissed and decided to forgo the $150 in gift cards and just purchase the TV from Amazon. Turns out Amazon had the TV listed for $70 less than Best Buy with no tax and $3.99 overnight shipping. :rolleyes:

I’ll never purchase another item at Best Buy again if I can help it.
 
You should have asked for the manager.

I'll be more than happy to take those gift cards off your hands...... I wouldn't want you to have to set foot in there again......:D
 
Sounds kinda like the Best Buy "Mac Guy" trying to convince that I really needed to buy the Core2Duo version of the iMac and then started an argument with me when I insisted I did heavy graphics and photoshop work and wanted the quad core.

I explained that my previous computer was an overclocked i7 920 rig with 12gb's of ram, and that was what I was used to.

He then argued with me, telling that OSX was much faster and that the core2duo with OSX would be faster than my old i7 rig with Windows 7 on it.

Talk about FAIL:eek:

I ****ing hate that place.
 
You're talking to someone who makes less than ten dollars an hour. They'd **** up your burger at that price.
 
The floor manager came by while I was chatting with the home theater guy. He’s the one who told him to call back to inventory control.

What’s funny about the situation is there is really no “sale price” coming Sunday. Basically, the Web site has the TV listed for about $40 below retail and there was no retail price posted in the store. The model wasn’t even up on the floor. Before the home theater sales rep. found out it was being held, he said he didn’t know the store price, but they would just match the Web site price at checkout anyway.

Oh well. They lost a sale and I’m getting my new TV tomorrow. :)
 
That's weird. I bought my HDTV from Best Buy on a Wed or Thur and they were like "It's probably going on sale this Sunday. Check the papers. If it does, bring your receipt in and we'll refund the price for up to 30 days". Over the next 30 days, I got a total of $800 in price adjustments. :)

Don't see why they'd refuse a sale over something like that though. :eek:
 
Have you ever thought of buying it through Amazon? I bought my TV about 3 years ago from Amazon.com and I got it for a little over half of what Best Buy was offering.
 
Not surprised.

Circuit City used to do this same thing (I worked at both places a while back I know). They would hold items that were going to be sales items so that people would rush to the store for them and hopefully buy installs and or accessories.

As for the sales people the biggest mistake those chain stores make (and Circuit City made which led to its downfall) is not having commissioned sales people.

Back when CC was commissioned people drove from out of state to our store because the sales people were knowledgeable and HAD to know what they were talking about. If you sold the customer the wrong product and they returned it you lost money and eventually your job.

To get people with a high knowledge of all kinds of electronics takes good pay, and without commission, the sales people don't have good pay and therefore could care less what they sell or just simply not know exactly what they are selling since there is no incentive for them to research it after work hours.

There is an audio store where I live who's sales people are on commission and they steal all the business from best buy (and ccity when it still existed) because the sales people knew what they were talking about and did an excellent excellent job of explaining everything you were getting and why you needed different components.
 
My wife and I were in Best Buy this past weekend to buy a portable DVD player for her brother who is in the hospital (and has been for several weeks, and will be for several more). he is BORED crazy. We couldn't get a salesperson to talk to us to save our lives. We went across the street to Future Shop (same company) and got an excellent deal from a great salesman right away. I have no use for Best Buy either, now.
 
MultiM said:
My wife and I were in Best Buy this past weekend to buy a portable DVD player for her brother who is in the hospital (and has been for several weeks, and will be for several more). he is BORED crazy. We couldn't get a salesperson to talk to us to save our lives.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you walked into a Best Buy?;) I couldn't get one minutes peace in the place. The only time they left me alone was when I'm walking. Stop for a second to take a look at an item and they swoop down like rabid vultures.:eek: I don't frequent BB anymore because of that.
 
Mousse said:
Are you sure you walked into a Best Buy?;) I couldn't get one minutes peace in the place. The only time they left me alone was when I'm walking. Stop for a second to take a look at an item and they swoop down like rabid vultures.:eek: I don't frequent BB anymore because of that.
Click to expand...

Same here....I can't saunter in our local store without 3 people asking me if I need help. I'm the type of guy that likes to just browse and I get irritated when multiple people ask if they can help me.

Still, my local BB is about 1/8th mile from my home and I still buy things there from time to time. I have had no major complaints and they keep sending me Reward Zone certificates. ;)
 
I've always hated Best Buy. They SUCK. Those pimple-faced punks are usually too busy chatting with each other to help you if you need it. And when they actually try to help you, they know nothing.

The one store I miss is "the good guys." Now they did know what they were talking about. At least the few that I went to. The products were slightly more high end too. BB tries to emulate them with Magnolia, but it's just a glorified BB too.
 
Mousse said:
Are you sure you walked into a Best Buy?;) I couldn't get one minutes peace in the place. The only time they left me alone was when I'm walking. Stop for a second to take a look at an item and they swoop down like rabid vultures.:eek: I don't frequent BB anymore because of that.
Click to expand...

+1 I used to work there and would get hounded by the employees if I walked in off of work hours to look at something. I guess they never saw me much cause I was the one that drove the bug around lol.
 
mstrze said:
Same here....I can't saunter in our local store without 3 people asking me if I need help. I'm the type of guy that likes to just browse and I get irritated when multiple people ask if they can help me.
Click to expand...

I'm the same way. I've always thought that retail stores should have a stack of buttons at the entrance that say, "No thanks, I'm fine." People that don't like to be hassled can grab a button and wear it around the store to ward off salespeople.
 
Wow, I'm completely surprised to read the last three posts. Here in Canada, I'm not sure if something is different, but my main problem at Best Buy is GETTING somebody to help me. It seems like the only people who help are the ones who are the contract people who wear the HP uniforms and sell printers or computers.

I once waited 20 minutes before leaving, I just stood around the iPod display because I needed one out of the glass case, but nobody would help me.


:confused:
 
Love said:
Wow, I'm completely surprised to read the last three posts. Here in Canada, I'm not sure if something is different, but my main problem at Best Buy is GETTING somebody to help me. It seems like the only people who help are the ones who are the contract people who wear the HP uniforms and sell printers or computers.

I once waited 20 minutes before leaving, I just stood around the iPod display because I needed one out of the glass case, but nobody would help me.


:confused:
Click to expand...

+1. i even started to look for someone, but I guess they saw me coming. I'm not that scarey....
 
dukebound85 said:
so they hold it for a coupon price for cheaper on a later date

that is weird

money talks, but not this case apparently

why stock them if you wont sell lol
Click to expand...

I guess the way that they look at it is if the ad is [all ready] (<EDIT: FAIL) produced and when the day comes they don't want to be out of that exact TV that they are advertising. I would assume they could just say that they have sold them already but then you might have people who come early and it would look a bit fishy. But on the other hand I doubt the price is going to be low enough to where people will get up at the crack of dawn to purchase it.
 
I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum.

A visit to Best Buy is therapeutic for me. I really don't mind when people ask if I need help. They're just doing their jobs, after all. A polite "no, thanks" does the trick.

The TV situation is a bit strange, though.
 
I usally always go to best buy for Something that I know what i want and can grab right away the only time usually will go there for is Movies/games etc.
 
Love said:
I see you live in Calgary too. :)

I frequent the new Westhills and Deerfoot Meadows locations, and occasionally at North Hill mall.

Where do you usually go?
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I live over by the Westhills location, but this time I happened to be in the north East by Peter Lougheed Hospital. I usually end up at the Deerfoot Meadows location as a rule, though. Something about the Westhills store I don't like. Can't explain it tho...
 
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