Best buy = oxymoronic

[ajdroidx]

Why call yourself "best buy" when you are anything but? Never mind the fact I cannot find stuff in stock when I want to buy (only to be directed to order the stuff on line!) the stuff you do have, the pricing is horrible!

Okay, I got a few reward zone coupons, I figured I could burn off. More so, I was just being bored, looking at phones and stuff, just thinking about things. I looked up the note two because of some of the features, like multi window (would help rid me of an extra device during storm chasing) so I checked in the price.

Best buy wants 800 bucks for an unactivated device! why!? That is the MSRP! Which, I guess would not be so bad, other then the fact AT&T wants 150 bucks less for the same thing!

I guess with all the promos best buy is running, they can gouge customers, or just expect most customers will just take the lower contract device so they don't bother to lower the price on the unactivated device, which is the same thing with no contract.

What are they getting out of this!? Does BB get money back selling subsidized devices? I would expect they lose money to this. If so, then they try to make up their loss by charging full MSRP on devices.

Why does AT&T have the thing for 150 dollars less? Bulk buy? I suspect there are a lot of best buys out there and a lot of AT&Ts.

Bah, I am just rambling now....

I just found it ironic that I could buy a phone for LESS at a carrier store then a place that calls themselves the "best buy"

Done ranting (for now. I think )

I guess for that price, I could walk into AT&T, and buy out a contract, and move my device to my own line if that will save my mom some cash

 

[Rxpert83]

I check out products there, but any purchase I make gets done on Amazon where the prices are at least half off

 

[ajdroidx]

That seems to be the norm at my local best buy. They rarely have ANYTHING I am after at the time, including blu-rays. Most times I am told to buy online. Well, if I do that, I cam going to amazon.

Local best buy brick and mortar stores are just a shop front for online shopping.

 

[ocnbrze]

just an fyi guys.....Best Buy will price match most online competitors. They are trying to change their image and i think that they are doing a pretty good job. you also have a 30 day price guarantee and price match as well.

what do you guys want....another retailer going out of business like circuit city? and have more people out of work?

now i get it that some stores have better staff then others and that they do not always train their staff well....but times are tuff and we have to all help support each other. what happens when we all feel like this and then best buy goes out of business.....then what?

 

[ajdroidx]

just an fyi guys.....Best Buy will price match most online competitors. They are trying to change their image and i think that they are doing a pretty good job. you also have a 30 day price guarantee and price match as well.

what do you guys want....another retailer going out of business like circuit city? and have more people out of work?

now i get it that some stores have better staff then others and that they do not always train their staff well....but times are tuff and we have to all help support each other. what happens when we all feel like this and then best buy goes out of business.....then what?

When they tell us to shop on line, what does that say? 90% of the stuff I try to buy there I am told they have it online.

I do get what you are saying though.

 

[ocnbrze]

When they tell us to shop on line, what does that say? 90% of the stuff I try to buy there I am told they have it online.

I do get what you are saying though.

yeah i see what you are saying......... the best buy where i live will jump thru hoops to get the customer to buy thru them locally. if they have it online....they will order it for you and you can just pick it up there and not have to pay for shipping.

so.....this is just where management is failing the customers and the employees not trained very well as to what and how to offer assistance to customers.

i like best buy....i mean where else can you go and play around with most products before you buy it?

 

[jefboyardee]

Local best buy brick and mortar stores are just a shop front for online shopping.

That’s probably true for all sorts of product lines nowadays, but electronics may be the best example. I think BB will have to sell en masse to Amazon, at a ridiculously low price, just to keep its doors open. But Amazon may have no interest in running the stores they just spent ten years driving underground.

And if that’s true, online shopping will forever dominate, malls will crumble, and we won’t have anyplace to check out a product before we head back to our computer and order it online.

Pretty soon, ironically, the buying public will have the destoyed its ability to see what it’s ordering.

 

[Rxpert83]

I'm all for people having jobs, but myself and many other consumers have chosen to vote with our dollars elsewhere. Best Buys are closing stores all over and you see Best Buy mobile stores springing up where all they have are cellphones because that's what is profitable for them.

I was more than willing to buy my nexus 7 from BB. But 6 months later they still refuse to stock it and every time I asked the person didn't even know what it was. My opinion: it would outsell all of the $500-600 ipad and android tablets they have on the shelf so they won't stock it.

They'd rather cater to the iCrowd with the big display. They prefer to make their money on the uninformed consumer.

 

[jefboyardee]

The new riddle will become: would you rather buy something for a hundred dollars and be able to check it out first – hold it in your hands – or would you rather pay fifty, but have to buy it sight unseen?

 

[ajdroidx]

The last couple times I been in best buy the did not even ask if I needed help until I stormed away from the ipad case.

The did respond to a tweet and I give them props for that

 

[Rxpert83]

The new riddle will become: would you rather buy something for a hundred dollars and be able to check it out first

 

[jwp1223]

Will not shop in Best Buy. Will not go inside, but that's okay they have plenty of other customers. Used to work there.

 

[argedion]

just an fyi guys.....Best Buy will price match most online competitors. They are trying to change their image and i think that they are doing a pretty good job. you also have a 30 day price guarantee and price match as well.

Thats great for stuff they have in stock but if you have to order online you can get a better deal with another retailer.

what do you guys want....another retailer going out of business like circuit city? and have more people out of work?

Circuit City really is a bad example they went out of business because of over priced stuff and horrible management. If any retailer is following that business plan they will suffer the same fate.

now i get it that some stores have better staff then others and that they do not always train their staff well....but times are tuff and we have to all help support each other. what happens when we all feel like this and then best buy goes out of business.....then what?

Then we will go elsewhere just like we always do.

Personally I would have to drive an hour either north or south to find a Best Buy anyways. I live in a small community and well if wal-mart doesn't have it you either go on line or to Jacksonville.

to the OP. Stores are in business to make money not to save you money. Fact is they probably can't sell a phone with out a contract and get the incentives that the carriers offer them. I'm sure they get a nice deal from the "Sale" of the item by the carrier. Paying full price for the device without a contract is the only way they can make money on said device other than that they are losing to much to make it worth their while. I wouldn't doubt that they make more on the device with a contract than they do without it.

 

[Lean23]

I was more than willing to buy my nexus 7 from BB. But 6 months later they still refuse to stock it and every time I asked the person didn't even know what it was. My opinion: it would outsell all of the $500-600 ipad and android tablets they have on the shelf so they won't stock it.

A best buy employee told me that Google and best buy got into a "fight" recently, so they don't sell any nexus products anymore.

 

[jhawkkw]

It really varies with Best Buy in my experience. I've had really good service, and really poor service in the past year. Everything from clueless floor reps, to customer service people willing to do everything they can to make sure I leave happy. It might have been before they changed their policy, but when I was looking into picking up a Google TV box, they were selling it for 300 in store, and they refused to match the amazon price of 195. Granted I didn't end up buying it at all, but if they had matched it right then and there, I would have.

 

[ajdroidx]

Wow, did not mean to cause friction here.

 

[argedion]

Wow, did not mean to cause friction here.

no friction as far as i can tell

 

[dmodert66]

Service seems to be dependent on store and management. Example :

I went into the Best Buy by my house. I waited 20 minutes to finally ask a rep for the product I wanted (16gb Asus Transformer (TF300T)). I waited another 10 minutes while he finished up with a another customer. Then he flat told me "We don't have any" and walked away to another customer. Hoping service would turn around, I found someone else and asked if they had the 32 gig model. "Yeah, we have it, you want one?" (this was said with an almost standoffish tone). I said "No thanks" and left.

I then went to a Best Buy near my work. I was greeted right away and shown pretty much every tablet they had. The sales associate was professional and fairly knowledgeable (I knew much more than him, but he put in alot of effort so I let him do his thing). They had both the 16gb and the 32 gb. Because of his fantastic service, I opted for the more expensive 32gb, and made sure to tell his store manager that he did a fantastic job.

I've also had issues with price match. I went to one Best Buy to be told "We don't match online retailers" (this was a few years back). I went to another Best Buy (we have several near where I live) and they matched without batting an eye.

Seems to me Best Buy corporate really needs to get their customer service standards set with particular attention to hiring quality people to work there. I was going to go there to buy a PS3 and Wii U for my nephew, but opted for Gamestop instead. I received prompt service and they took alot of time (more than I needed) to try and help me (and the store was closing!)

 

[breadnatty08]

My local Best Buy is a 10 min walk from where I live. But, it's a cluster of a store. Pretty small and the staff are terrible for service.
I was visiting family in NC over Christmas and I popped in to their local store. I forgot just how huge it was. They even had a rep on hand to demo some Chrome books, pretty cool. But I was looking for a simple cable and had to ask a couple people just to find it.

 

[EarlyMon]

Mine's a bit of a drive and it's great.

Got to stack offers with my Evo trade-in, got my launch day LTEvo for $50, picked up a second one this month for free. And was treated very nicely on the free transaction.

 

[pastafarian]

Store management means a lot. Even with management change, once a bad attitude gets into a store, it's almost impossible to get rid of without a complete staff change. Still, my observation of the local BB is that they were much better when Circuit City was still around. I have very little reason to go to BB these days. Only receiving a gift card gets me there. For computer hardware, Newegg and Amazon ship it to me almost as fast as I can make the trip to BB, they're cheaper and I don't have to get dressed to shop there. No matter how well run they are, I think the whole operation is toast. Online shopping has already killed BB, we're just witnessing it slowly bleed out.

 

[iowabowtech]

Call me old fashioned but sometimes I like to hold a product in hand. Also, I'd rather return or exchange in person. And then there's the time where I want/need something now. I'm more than willing to pay more to bring it home and be back in business in a matter of minutes.

I buy a lot of stuff through Amazon et al. but I think it'd be a shame to lose Best Buy. I felt the same way about Circuit City going under. Losing brick and mortars is a bad future imo.

 

[ajdroidx]

On one side of the coin, they are doing this to themselves. On the other side of the coin, they are a one-size-fits-all kind of store and cannot carry everything for everyone.

I hate making returns, I try to do my research on stuff I buy before I even go look at it because I am often hounded by sales staff while I am just looking or browsing. But when I want to buy something, no one is to be found or they don't have the product!

If I have to make a return, I much rather take it back to the store instead of worrying about shipping, boxing things up, etc.

It is kind of funny, most questions I have about products I get, "umm....."

I am kind of glad for best buy. I was able to buy two kindle paperwhites from them, when Amazon had like a two week wait.

Oh, and Best buy support twitter account contacted me after I kind of rudely called them out on the 800$ price tag on the note 2. I was told they do price match. I kindly thanked them for the response, I did not expect it, so that was good.

 

[ocnbrze]

Call me old fashioned but sometimes I like to hold a product in hand. Also, I'd rather return or exchange in person. And then there's the time where I want/need something now. I'm more than willing to pay more to bring it home and be back in business in a matter of minutes.

I buy a lot of stuff through Amazon et al. but I think it'd be a shame to lose Best Buy. I felt the same way about Circuit City going under. Losing brick and mortars is a bad future imo.

i was just going to say exactly what you just said. there is just something about going into best buy and get to see the product and get a feel for the product.

i too was sad to see circuit city go...though they are still have their online store>>>>though looks like tigercity has taken over

i also like to buy things online from amazon, newegg and ebay as well. but i think that best buy with their new policies will continue to steer me in the store. loosing them would be bad for everyone.

how many more stores and business are we willing to loose? we just had an albertson's close down where i live. i knew the produce manager there. and now i have to go to fresh and easy ( the closet store that has any decent produce) or target for standard groceries.

sorry now i'm ranting.......sorry op

 

[Rxpert83]

The thing is you'll always buy your groceries locally. I don't see an online service like Amazon replacing going to the grocery store.

Best buy on the other hand has very real competitors online. I think they'll become less and less competitive as an older population that still prefers buying things in store gives way to a consumer who has grown up with online shopping