the idea of a commission based salesperson is so that the salesperson will be motivated to sell and give you the best service possible, so that the customer will come back not once, not twice, but everytime they need help. that way, the commission keeps on coming, does it not?
in the case of an average best buy associate, it REALLY doesn't matter if their customers go back, or go back to them (let's be realistic, even if bb or fs loses
a customer or two, they're not going to go bankrupt) They still get paid the same way, regardless of whether or not they have customers for life.
However, what bestbuy provides is a comfortable shopping place. They emphasize that they are not on commission so they let you be so like most of the guys in here, they usually know their stuff so they just wanna go and check out prices and see whats new.
lemme ask you this: who will be more eager to provide you with information, a guy who only gets paid if you buy FROM him, or a guy who gets paid whether you enter the store or not?
futureshop associates not only have to give u a good impression of the store, they have to give you a good impression of themselves, or else even though i am buying from fs, i don't have to buy from the associate.
That is the IDEA of a fs salesperson. That being said, it often results in way too pushy salespeople, and people who want to slap a sticker on for a quick buck. that's also realistic. but if an associate is there for a career and not a summertime college student, they would think longer term and hopefully provide better service...it would prove better for themselves (if not you) in the long run.
and this is all without saying that some people who work actually CARE for their customers.
in the case of applecare vs psp
psp (bb and fs are the same) has power surge protection, performance guarantee, and replacement guarantee.
power surge = "act of god", surge zaps your macbook
performance = your macbook isn't broken, but it simply doesnt' run as well as it used to. IE - constant lagging, reaction time between typing the letter k and it hitting on screen, noises
replacement / no lemon guarantee: if either it takes longer than 90 days for them to fix your laptop, or the cost to fix your laptop is over 80% of the cost of the unit, they will give you a new unit (matching its specs 2 spec) OR if takes more than 3 major repairs.
i'd say those are the major differences. i'm not sure if applecare has their own version of the performance, but i know sure they dont' cover power surge.
at the expense of sounding like a desperate salesperson trying to make internet sales or something, i would say, like most things, do your research and make the wise choice depending on if you think its worth the money or not.
of course, in the OP 's case, you woulda saved yourself some money on the psp it seems if you had purchased it then.
myself, i didn't have the luxary of buying psp at the time and when it came down to buying applecare, i decided not to spend the 300 bucks becuase its very hard to spend 300 bucks on "nothing" after using it for a year already.
current problems i have with my powerbook that has me slamming my head against the wall:
cd player keep skipping and is REALLY REALLY LOUD
putting a cd in makes my entire computer freeze at times
my battery only charges up to 43 percent (battery is not covered in either of their warranties)
my charger broke. i bought an aftermarket mcCally for 40 bucks. ripoff. (85 for the OEM one)
wifi reception is in consistent
bluetooth is inconsistent.
and one more thing, a month after i hada bought the powerbook, my wifi died. after the mac guy inspected it several times, he had to order a new motherboard. computer geniuses on here can prolly tell you how much one of those guys cost.
with the exception of the battery, all of those things would be covered under either of the warranties, i believe. i'm saliving over that black macbook, but i dont' want to throw out the coin for it....a replacement plan sure would be nice right now.
i've had the pb since jan 05. just a little over 2 years.
that's my take. good luck to you either way.
ps- no, i do not actually sell computers for futureshop.
