Dumbest thing I have heard at Best Buy...

[BluNote]

I mentioned to the a cell phone rep that I was thinking about dumping my Moment in favor of an iPhone...

His reply:

"Why would you do that? They are basically the same phone..."

I just had to walk away...

 

[globalninja]

LMAO

I was told by a verizon rep that was at best buy (was advertising the droid) that the iphone is like the droid but the droid has a keyboard and google made it

 

[kiddk1]

from my past experience, retail workers at electronic stores generally dont know what they are talking about

 

[SlyFerret]

Talk about an over-simplification though... "basically the same phone"? ha!

If it's any consolation though... most people on forums don't know what they're talking about either!

-SF

 

[kingp]

from my past experience, retail workers at electronic stores generally dont know what they are talking about

in my experience, NO salesman really know what they are talking about.

I worked at a software company, where the salesman sold a VOICE RESPONSE system to a military base, and told them that it would provide WIFI to the WHOLE campus...for real.

That's what I call "Polishing the Turd".

 

[IOWA]

Wait wait wait, you mean apple doesn't make android?



/sarcasm

 

[Wingzfan61]

I work at Best Buy as a 2nd job (geek squad and sometimes sales), I wouldnt generalize too quickly. Ive helped at least 100 people get rooted as well as all the people Ive helped run leaked Blackberry OS', cook rom's for winmo, and jailbreak iphones.

I guarantee I could tell you waaaaaay more dumb crap Ive heard customers say to me than youve heard Best Buy employees say. For instance, the guy that when I asked his knowledge on pc's and he told me he was advanced however didnt have a damn clue on how to hit the connect button on his sprint card to get internet. Or the lady who when I told her that her router was blocking her mac address started yelling because "she didnt have a mac, she had a Toshiba". Then theres my favorite. The guy who bings his laptop in for a virus. Security tool is found on his pc and after explaining to him that what was showing as an antivirius software was actually a virus emulating windows security system. He told me he didnt need our help, he would just let the security tool program take care of it. He bought the program for 69.99 and the next day came back to tell us his credit card had been maxed out because, what do ya know, Security tool is actually a virus. His card was charged 20 times in one day because he told his credit card company he authorized that company.

The issue is 99% of customers dont have a clue about what theyre buying and once we start explaining its true features they get that deer in headlights look. Sales reps start dumbing down theyre approach to keep the average customer from getting confused and dumbfounded. Guys from sites like this go in with an ego because we are way more in tuned than even most cell phone developers. I guarantee one thing though, if you come to my store and make it known you have some knowledge on the product your purchasing you dont get the dumb downed version. However if you come in and start hyperventilating when I go into mounting and pushing files, you get the "Its like an iphone but better" speech.

 

[kiddk1]

customers are supposed to be clueless, that is why they are shopping asking for advice, and i said "generally" not all you are the exception



Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk

 

[Wingzfan61]

Im talking mainly to the guy who says "NO" salesman knows theyre products. As for customers being clueless, I dont believe that at all. You wouldnt buy a car without knowing what it did. Electronics should be the same way. Before they buy the "next cool toy" that helps you keep up with the jones' they should take a few and research what it is theyre buying and if its something they need and/or are interested in. BluRay players are the huge example. You know how many people demand they need a BluRay player and dont even have a HD tv?.

 

[IOWA]

Im talking mainly to the guy who says "NO" salesman knows theyre products. As for customers being clueless, I dont believe that at all. You wouldnt buy a car without knowing what it did. Electronics should be the same way. Before they buy the "next cool toy" that helps you keep up with the jones' they should take a few and research what it is theyre buying and if its something they need and/or are interested in. BluRay players are the huge example. You know how many people demand they need a BluRay player and dont even have a HD tv?.

Lol. And to the guy working at best buy, man you guys rape people on prices. I once put up a bunch of flyers in the best buy hallways with my prices for the same service at exactly half of what best buy charged, and I nust have stolen at least 5k worth of business from them.

 

[Wingzfan61]

belive me our prices are extremely high. theyre still lower than other stores but comparred to individuals and small shops theyre double if not more. your basically paying for the insurance of a large company backing theyre work and replacing your stuff if it gets screwed up. you wouldnt believe how many people spend 200 bucks on a repair i would do for $20.

 

[IOWA]

belive me our prices are extremely high. theyre still lower than other stores but comparred to individuals and small shops theyre double if not more. your basically paying for the insurance of a large company backing theyre work and replacing your stuff if it gets screwed up. you wouldnt believe how many people spend 200 bucks on a repair i would do for $20.

Like ram upgrades and reformatting lol!

 

[pastafarian]

belive me our prices are extremely high. theyre still lower than other stores but comparred to individuals and small shops theyre double if not more. your basically paying for the insurance of a large company backing theyre work and replacing your stuff if it gets screwed up. you wouldnt believe how many people spend 200 bucks on a repair i would do for $20.

You might think that for what Best Buy charges for the Geek Squad, they could afford spell checking.

BTW, Is working there as much fun as it looks like on Chuck? Do you have a hidden spy office beneath your store too?

I could get nasty and tell about what the Geek Squad tried to pull on my 78yr old mother, one of my wife's closest friends or my old boss, but I'll be nice and hate the game, not the player.

 

[Wingzfan61]

Typing in my car so spell checking isn't high on my priority list.

Its actually pretty fun working there. Met a ton of athletes and local celebs at my location. Don't know about Chuck as I don't watch it.

Like I said, its a 2nd job that happens to pay way more than it should and nets me one hell of a discount. I work there 2 days a week and in those 2 days I turn away probably 20 people and lead them to other solutions. Then there's the people I fix things for and don't charge them. Our general rule is if we can fix it under 15-20 minutes we just do it. We were told if we ever get caught raping customers for services they don't need we were fired on the spot. I know alot of other locations however will try and get you in for everything under the sun just to raise the bill.

I guess though my question would be is why are all your family and friends going to Best Buy to get stuff fixed when they have you? ;-)

 

[pastafarian]

I guess though my question would be is why are all your family and friends going to Best Buy to get stuff fixed when they have you? ;-)

Mom was in Florida, I'm in NY and she didn't want to be a bother. I'm guessing the person she dealt with at the Geek Squad though he had a pushover old lady. Wrong assumption! She hates BB so much now, I worry that one day she'll drive her car through a store. As for the friends? An all too common question is "now you come to me?". In large operations like BB, there are always a few good caring people (you?), a whole lot of bored inconsiderate placeholders and several predatory asshats who want to impress corporate with their ability to extract maximum dollars from every customer.

 

[i VTAK]

Whenever I show someone my phone and I know they have no idea what it is, I tell them it's like an iPhone only better. Everyone knows what an iPhone is and it gives them a reference.

 

[Wingzfan61]

In large operations like BB, there are always a few good caring people (you?), a whole lot of bored inconsiderate placeholders and several predatory asshats who want to impress corporate with their ability to extract maximum dollars from every customer.

Nail on the head, hence why I only work there a couple days a week. Keeps from getting complacent and corporatized (<--my new word). We had a guy like that over the holidays. No matter what was wrong he'd try and charge 200 or more. He was seasonal and trying to prove his worth to the G.M.. As soon as the supervisors caught on he was canned. I guess our stores a bit different. We give so many discounts on services its ridiculous. The last place I was at that did pc repair was absurd, I lasted 2 weeks before getting canned for telling a customer how to do a repair on they're own because the owner wanted to charge $300 to install a new mobo.

 

[kiddk1]

Whenever I show someone my phone and I know they have no idea what it is, I tell them it's like an iPhone only better. Everyone knows what an iPhone is and it gives them a reference.

dont get me wrong, I love my moment, but IMO it is not better than the iphone, maybe 2.1 will solve some issues and make it just as good but for now if sprint offered the iphone I would have one, I just dont want to pay ATT's high plan rate.

 

[i VTAK]

dont get me wrong, I love my moment, but IMO it is not better than the iphone, maybe 2.1 will solve some issues and make it just as good but for now if sprint offered the iphone I would have one, I just dont want to pay ATT's high plan rate.

Don't take offense to this but my wife has a Moment and I think it's a POS. I do feel that my Hero is better than an iPhone though. My wife had to have a physical keyboard.

 

[vbetts]

Or the lady who when I told her that her router was blocking her mac address started yelling because "she didnt have a mac, she had a Toshiba".

Awesome.

I'm told all the time that the Droid is a faster phone than the Moment. I was even told by a customer that it was faster than the Nexus one. The Droid maybe faster in software to the Moment, but in hardware the Moment beats it. The Nexus one, well just stomps on the droid. I've also been told that the Palm Pre is a windows mobile phone, and the g1 isn't an HTC phone, t-mobile made it.

 

[kiddk1]

Don't take offense to this but my wife has a Moment and I think it's a POS. I do feel that my Hero is better than an iPhone though. My wife had to have a physical keyboard.

no offenese taken, I debated alot between the hero and moment, I can from an HTC Touch and wanted a physical keyboard, that along with the faster processor sold me, now it is too late to go back, both my friends have hero's and love them

 

[Solo]

I just turned 20 last month, I been trying score a job at geek squad for a while now...someone told me they rather higher salesmen and teach them about the products rather than teach someone who knows what they're doing to be a salesman. Not sure how true that statement is but ive been re-applying all the time.

Side-note: I would also get an iphone, if it had customization straight out the box. I get bored with home screens on my moment and change them all the time and enjoy it. If android had more polished apps be 10x better [IMO] I don't even care about the games. I "think" official companies etc that make apps for the iphone, are turned off by all the android devices they would have to make them for.
Hopefully that changes b/c I don't see myself leaving the android scene anytime soon. *throws up android gang sign*

 

[Wingzfan61]

I just turned 20 last month, I been trying score a job at geek squad for a while now...someone told me they rather higher salesmen and teach them about the products rather than teach someone who knows what they're doing to be a salesman. Not sure how true that statement is but ive been re-applying all the time.

Somewhat true. Sales at BB doesnt pay commision so alot of guys who know the product dont care to get a sale so to speak. They will more times than not be more willing to inform a customer than get theyre money, myself included. Salesman however dont care about the product and are looking to get the sale to build theyre ego's. Unfortunately most sales driven companies are like this. I had a guy last week who a "salesman" told needed about 300 dollars worth of crap to get his movies from his camcorder to his pc. He brought it all up to the Geek Squad counter and asked me to install it. Once I found out what he was doing I took him back to the computer section and handed him the Dazzle HD setup that ran 80 bucks and installed it for him while he waited. Saved the guy about 200 dollars and chewed the salemans ass for it.

All in all its not a bad place to work or shop but you gotta be somewhat educated on what your buying and you gotta ask questions, mostly very general ones.

 

[i VTAK]

*throws up android gang sign*

ANDROOOOID WERD YO!

 

[Solo]

Somewhat true. Sales at BB doesnt pay commision so alot of guys who know the product dont care to get a sale so to speak. They will more times than not be more willing to inform a customer than get theyre money, myself included. Salesman however dont care about the product and are looking to get the sale to build theyre ego's. Unfortunately most sales driven companies are like this. I had a guy last week who a "salesman" told needed about 300 dollars worth of crap to get his movies from his camcorder to his pc. He brought it all up to the Geek Squad counter and asked me to install it. Once I found out what he was doing I took him back to the computer section and handed him the Dazzle HD setup that ran 80 bucks and installed it for him while he waited. Saved the guy about 200 dollars and chewed the salemans ass for it.

All in all its not a bad place to work or shop but you gotta be somewhat educated on what your buying and you gotta ask questions, mostly very general ones.

Thanks for the info, I'll keep that in mind and keep applying. I could really use the money to begin school this coming fall. *took two years off out of highschool to save*