Is Best Buy the single worst-run company in the history of the world?
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@scottalanmiller said:
Best Buy isn't poorly run. The average BB customer doesn't want good advice, they want what BB offers - the social excuses of a bad store. People keep going back because they like what BB offers.
I assure you it's extremely poorly run.
People don't like what they offer, it's just the only game in town for a lot of things. Where I live you can maybe find an absolutely bargain basement shitty laptop at Walmart or Target, but other than that there are pretty much no other options than Best Buy, unless you know you want a mac and are nearer to an Apple Store.
It's why it'll be completely dead in less than 3 years, going the way of Circuit City. Everything from their actual selection of what electronics to carry on a model level down to how they advertise and handle returns and membership incentives, to how they price match, to the lack of training of their employees to answer simple questions ( though, this has definitely degraded in the past 5 years as they've been bleeding money to Amazon, they used to have some pretty knowledgeable people when I was first getting into programming ) to their web site, which is riddled w/ errors, misinformation, and an inability to correctly convey local inventory information, arguably its most-important function ( I've gone to local Best Buys 3 times that said items were in-stock in the store even when I was there asking reps to check the back, and ended up going home without them. I now call ahead choosing not to trust their web site, ever, and beg an employee to physically find the product and verify that it's there ).
But, in the end, I can't argue w/ $600 off
![😕](https://mangolassi.it/assets/plugins/nodebb-plugin-emoji/emoji/android/1f615.png?v=3hrg7a1ige4 ":\")
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@creayt said:
I assure you it's extremely poorly run.
People don't like what they offer, it's just the only game in town for a lot of things.
I can't agree. There is always an alternative and if business people believed that there wasn't an alternative and that customers didn't actually like it they would offer an alternative and steal that revenue. They don't because people are voting with their wallets and just like in other facets of life, the average consumer loves being mislead, treated like an idiot and sold things that they don't need.
People saying they are unhappy means nothing. People shopping elsewhere would mean they were unhappy.
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@creayt said:
People don't like what they offer, it's just the only game in town for a lot of things. Where I live you can maybe find an absolutely bargain basement shitty laptop at Walmart or Target, but other than that there are pretty much no other options than Best Buy,
NewEgg, Amazon, direct from the vendor... I would never consider BB, Walmart or Target for buying electronics at all. Where are you that those are the places you would go?
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Tiger Direct is a popular brick and mortar electronics store up here that went from online to first person retail. They usually don't suck. Ditto NCIX, a darling of the Vancouver tech sales scene.
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@creayt said:
It's why it'll be completely dead in less than 3 years, going the way of Circuit City.
That seems unlikely. CC was very poor and never had the BB crowds and was clearly on its way out long before it died. BB does appear that way at all.
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@MattSpeller said:
Tiger Direct is a popular brick and mortar electronics store up here that went from online to first person retail. They usually don't suck. Ditto NCIX, a darling of the Vancouver tech sales scene.
I avoid them because they were always worse than BestBuy for misleading people
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@scottalanmiller TD? Don't get me wrong they're not staffed with geniuses but if you're in this forum chances are you don't need much help from the staff at one of these stores beyond "stuff is that way"
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@MattSpeller said:
@scottalanmiller TD? Don't get me wrong they're not staffed with geniuses but if you're in this forum chances are you don't need much help from the staff at one of these stores beyond "stuff is that way"
That's all that I know them for. They've been around for a long time and their reputation is a horrible one. But like most consumer stores, give them some time and everyone forgets what they used to be like and shops there again.
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@scottalanmiller ¯\(ツ)/¯
First I've heard that but it wouldn't surprise me
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@scottalanmiller said:
@creayt said:
People don't like what they offer, it's just the only game in town for a lot of things. Where I live you can maybe find an absolutely bargain basement shitty laptop at Walmart or Target, but other than that there are pretty much no other options than Best Buy,
NewEgg, Amazon, direct from the vendor... I would never consider BB, Walmart or Target for buying electronics at all. Where are you that those are the places you would go?
I may not have followed the question. Seemed like you listed online options and then asked why someone would buy in-person if there are online options? Usually you wouldn't unless
- You're an instant gratification-er and want to pick something up today instead of wait a few days
or - Somehow one of these in-person retailers offers compounding discounts and incentives to make its price substantially lower than online-only options ( like the laptop that started this discussion ).
- You're an instant gratification-er and want to pick something up today instead of wait a few days
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@MattSpeller said:
Tiger Direct is a popular brick and mortar electronics store up here that went from online to first person retail. They usually don't suck. Ditto NCIX, a darling of the Vancouver tech sales scene.
That's funny. I had no idea they had in-person stores. I actually bought my first electronics device ever from them, it was a Toshiba pocket PC. All I remember about Tiger Direct is that they require rebates on most items I've ever shopped for to even get close on competitive prices and that their return policy was scary. It's interesting that they branched out to in-person. Where are you again?
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@creayt said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@creayt said:
People don't like what they offer, it's just the only game in town for a lot of things. Where I live you can maybe find an absolutely bargain basement shitty laptop at Walmart or Target, but other than that there are pretty much no other options than Best Buy,
NewEgg, Amazon, direct from the vendor... I would never consider BB, Walmart or Target for buying electronics at all. Where are you that those are the places you would go?
I may not have followed the question. Seemed like you listed online options and then asked why someone would buy in-person if there are online options? Usually you wouldn't unless
- You're an instant gratification-er and want to pick something up today instead of wait a few days
or - Somehow one of these in-person retailers offers compounding discounts and incentives to make its price substantially lower than online-only options ( like the laptop that started this discussion ).
Wouldn't both of those things constitute really liking the store, though? At want point does it beat out lots of alternatives and you still hate it?
- You're an instant gratification-er and want to pick something up today instead of wait a few days
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@creayt said:
@MattSpeller said:
Tiger Direct is a popular brick and mortar electronics store up here that went from online to first person retail. They usually don't suck. Ditto NCIX, a darling of the Vancouver tech sales scene.
That's funny. I had no idea they had in-person stores. I actually bought my first electronics device ever from them, it was a Toshiba pocket PC. All I remember about Tiger Direct is that they require rebates on most items I've ever shopped for to even get close on competitive prices and that their return policy was scary. It's interesting that they branched out to in-person. Where are you again?
Oh yeah, all kinds of rebate scams there.
They have a physical branch in Dallas.
I remember them as a magazine add company.
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@creayt Just north of Seattle, but they are popular in Eastern Canada
LOL they toned down the rebate scams after they had a physical store that people came to complain at
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@scottalanmiller said:
Wouldn't both of those things constitute really liking the store, though? At want point does it beat out lots of alternatives and you still hate it?
I'm not sure what you mean. It doesn't beat out anything. I'm saying someone like me would make an occasional exception to their normal buying habits ( Amazon ) and purchase through, say Best Buy, for those specific reasons. You can still have a terrible experience trying to do so ( which I have, so regularly it's ridiculous with Best Buy ), and can still hate the company ( Best Buy's online-to-in-person back end is so pathetic that one time I ordered an item they had in store online and did in-store pick up, and doing so had locked the inventory such that when I got to the store they said they could'nt complete the order yet because it was locked in processing, and weren't able to cancel the order, and because they only had one in-store they couldn't release the locked one so I could just buy it in person and I had to wait 45 minutes while they made various phone calls to try to get the "order released", I mean it's just incredibly poorly run if you ask me. ).
Which I think a lot of people do. Do you know anyone that actually loves Best Buy nowadays?
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@creayt said:
Do you know anyone that actually loves Best Buy nowadays?
"Loves" I would define as shops there regularly. And yes, tons of people I know shop there all of the time. Because there are lots of alternative, some really awesome ones like Amazon, that they choose BB over regularly.
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@creayt said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Wouldn't both of those things constitute really liking the store, though? At want point does it beat out lots of alternatives and you still hate it?
I'm not sure what you mean. It doesn't beat out anything. I'm saying someone like me would make an occasional exception to their normal buying habits ( Amazon ) and purchase through, say Best Buy, for those specific reasons. You can still have a terrible experience trying to do so ( which I have, so regularly it's ridiculous with Best Buy ), and can still hate the company ( Best Buy's online-to-in-person back end is so pathetic that one time I ordered an item they had in store online and did in-store pick up, and doing so had locked the inventory such that when I got to the store they said they could'nt complete the order yet because it was locked in processing, and weren't able to cancel the order, and because they only had one in-store they couldn't release the locked one so I could just buy it in person and I had to wait 45 minutes while they made various phone calls to try to get the "order released", I mean it's just incredibly poorly run if you ask me. ).
Which I think a lot of people do. Do you know anyone that actually loves Best Buy nowadays?
I needed to get some RAM in a pinch. I looked online and they had some for like $50. I went to the store to pick it up and it was $65 in the store. So I just did an online order while standing in the store and only paid $50.
Doesn't really have anything to do with your situation there. I just found it amusing.
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Radio Shack
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@johnhooks said:
I needed to get some RAM in a pinch. I looked online and they had some for like $50. I went to the store to pick it up and it was $65 in the store. So I just did an online order while standing in the store and only paid $50.
Doesn't really have anything to do with your situation there. I just found it amusing.
Nice. Yeah, that's happened to me plenty of times. This is another glaring example of a poorly-run company. Their online prices very often don't match their in-store ones, but here's the kicker, they'll price match their web site but... wait for it... it's a completely loose, at-the-discretion-of-the-employee policy. Which means that you can flash something on your phone ( which I did accidentally a few weeks ago ), and have it not even be the same product, and have them price match it to literally whatever you say sometimes. They didn't have the graphics card I went to purchase in-store, but had one whose box looked similar and was about $100 more expensive, and price matched it to the lower card because it rang up way more expensive. I didn't realize until I got home that I'd gotten the much better card for the cheaper card's sale price, which of course made me feel guilty and terrible so I returned it haha. But the point is: shitshow.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@creayt said:
Do you know anyone that actually loves Best Buy nowadays?
"Loves" I would define as shops there regularly. And yes, tons of people I know shop there all of the time. Because there are lots of alternative, some really awesome ones like Amazon, that they choose BB over regularly.
My guess is that they're either uninformed consumers, not that invested in making the best purchasing decisions, or just want instant gratification. In the 40 or more products I've purchased from Best Buy, just about every single one of which I've price checked against Amazon, I've almost never ( maybe there was one or two times ) seen Best Buy beat Amazon's price without the consumer being savvy enough to acquire and use a coupon.
I guess we'll see what happens. I'd heard they closed a crap ton of stores as they were plummeting towards bankruptcy but never bothered to fact check it. Maybe it'll get better.
I did just spend 20 minutes on the phone w/ Best Buy trying to get the correct laptop sent out and after that much of an investment my answer was "this was a special order fulfillment, and we can't help you, you're going to have to go into a Best Buy store and try to get them to return the item and then order you the correct one. We're showing that we shipped you the 32GB versions so everything on our end is ok." So, f[moderated] Best Buy.
