troy evans

Re: Silly Best Buy price match "Policy"?

John, I'm getting the impression Brian works for Bestbuy. Given the attitude he's shown and your experience at the store these responses are really no surprise. I learned from my dad that you can always tell how wrong something is by a persons persistence to defend it( retail stores policy). If somethings right it's right and needs no defense. Oh well, like you said it seems to be going nowhere.

The difference between a dumb ass, a smart ass and a wise ass is all in ones age.

JohnRice

Re: Silly Best Buy price match "Policy"?

Whatever the motivation is, I've argued this issue all I care to.

The Great March Historical Drama/Epic Challenge

Brian^K

Re: Silly Best Buy price match "Policy"?

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Originally Posted by troy evans Brian, with respect, you seem to have missed the point entirely.

Just because I don't agree with the point doesn't mean I "missed" it.

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Originally Posted by troy evans This wasn't John's first time doing this at Bestbuy. It was the first time the policies supposed rule was brought into play.

And others have mentioned that they were brought into play for them in other cases. They don't always do the comparison. They're not obligated to. This part of the "point" is therefore irrelevant.

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Originally Posted by troy evans The bottom line is, if a policy has a certain way it is handled then that should be done all the time and not whenever the employees feel like it applies.

Absolutely NOT. Business retain the right of DISCRETION. The only prohibitions is if that discretion is applied in a manner inconsistent with civil rights: They can't only apply the comparison a expression of a bias against any of the protected classes. Beyond that, they have an absolute right to apply their policy inconsistently, as long as when they fail to apply their policy to the letter (i.e., NOT doing the comparison) it is in the customer's favor. That is the case.

This is not a insignificant fact. This is a foundation of mass market consumer business. Every single business has that discretion.

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Originally Posted by troy evans You do have the right to your opinion, but, that doesn't make your opinion anymore right than ours.

Correct. Neither perspective deserves an unrebutted soap-box.

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Originally Posted by troy evans That's how you are coming off, however.

That is how you folks are coming off to me, as well. You don't want anyone to represent the business perspective in this thread. That's not a constructive approach to discussion IMHO.

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Originally Posted by troy evans My mom owned her own business and I've worked in retail for more than 15 years. I know more than a bit about how you handle customers.

With respect, I don't think you know much about how to handle the mass market. It is vastly different from managing a mom-and-pop business. Beyond that, I bet mom would be pretty shocked about how disreputable many consumers are today, lying, stealing, cheating, exploiting, etc. The consumer world has changed, especially where you have competition from online stores.

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Originally Posted by JohnRice My basic point is this. They should either honor the policy without games, or eliminate it.

I'd agree with that, but only if it is more profitable to do so.

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Originally Posted by JohnRice I shudder to think what would happen if certain people attain a position of power.

Come down of that high horse... you're straining my neck!

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Originally Posted by troy evans John, I'm getting the impression Brian works for Bestbuy.

In the last few months, I've been accused of working for Best Buy, Verizon, Comcast, American Airlines, The Disney Company, and Exxon-Mobil. It seems to be a very common tactic, for folks who don't like to see a pro-business perspective, to accuse the pro-business supporter of working for the business, instead of just being a real capitalist.

nolesrule

Re: Silly Best Buy price match "Policy"?

As a business owner and a consumer, I'd tend to side with Brian's point of view. There's a reason why mass market retailers have put the mom and pop stores out of business time and time again. Consumers want more for less. They don't care about customer service until something goes wrong. Since that doesn't happen 99% of the time, they take the risk by getting what they want at a lower price.

The only way for businesses to give the consumers what they want is to lower prices, which means reduce costs. Mass market retailers can do that through volume discounts from wholesalers and by paying wages that only "I don't give a rat's ass about my job, I'm only here because school's not in session and I need some going out cash while I live with my parents" or "this is my second job, it pays less than my first job but I'm here because I have to pay the bills" people will accept.

Mom and pop retail shops trying to compete with the BBs, CCs and Wal-Marts of the world can't retain the good employees or maintain a consistent turnover at low enough wages or get the lower cost items to compete on price so they are screwed.

My DVD Collection

Brian^K

Re: Silly Best Buy price match "Policy"?

And to be clear, my "point of view" is not my preference. It is simply a description of reality. :shrug:

troy evans

Re: Silly Best Buy price match "Policy"?

I guess my problem with that is, I've seen too many examples that contradict it. I have and will continue to shop at Bestbuy. About 3 years ago I almost said to hell with them. I seemed to have bad experiences left and right. I would go in on new release day and be told that things were sold out after asking about them, only to see them sitting in another part of the store. So, I was basically lied to. I brushed it off as a mistake the first couple of times, but, after awhile it seemed to be a consistent problem. Then there would be instances where I would be looking all over the place for a rep and when I finally got ahold of one they were like, "this isn't my section." WTF? In a last attempt to see if it was me or them with the problem, I wen't looking for a dvd which had exclusive bonus content to BB. I didn't see it anywhere in the store. I went to a rep and told him I wanted to purchase it and couldn't find it. He said," I'll check in the back and see if I can find it." I thought to myself, "yeah, Riiiggghhht." He came back out with it in his hand and said, "there you go." As small a thing as that may seem to be, it made my day. Over the years I've watched the service of the BB in my area improve. Now, I'm not saying it's the best by any standard, just way better then it was. So, what changed? Why the renewed interrest in customer service if people don't give a damn as long as it's cheap? The facts are, no matter how big or small the business, customers do matter and so does how the're treated. When this thread started it was about BB calling around to confirm a store had something in their ad so they could in turn do a price match for the item. We'll gentlemen, stores don't get bigger than Wal-Mart and as long as you have the competitors ad with the price in it they do the match no fuss, no muss and no phone call. Unless, you're saying that BB and CC's are, compared to Wal-Mart, mom and pop stores.

The difference between a dumb ass, a smart ass and a wise ass is all in ones age.

Brian^K

Re: Silly Best Buy price match "Policy"?

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Originally Posted by troy evans I guess my problem with that is, I've seen too many examples that contradict it.

Isolated anecdotes, perhaps, but if you rely on anecdotes, you'll be continually and bitterly disappointed with life. The vast majority of circumstance is what matters.

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Originally Posted by troy evans Why the renewed interrest in customer service if people don't give a damn as long as it's cheap?

Because it is going down, overall, despite your feelings that things are improving for you in one circumstance. And customer service is degrading because consumers take it and still make the purchase, or because consumers don't financially reward companies that provide better service.