What do you think of Best Buy? (1 Viewer)

[Kenneth Harden]

Any horror stories?

 

[Brian E]

I find BB to be no worse than any of the other big retail chains. At least I can usually find someone to help me at BB when needed, at the Circuit City near me it's nearly impossible to get any kind of help.

I generally go into these stores with low expectations & already knowing what I want. I don't usually rely on the employees there to actually be helpfull or have a clue.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I buy DVDs there when they're priced as loss-leaders (so they don't make any money off me), but because they keep playing a squeezed 16x9 picture on their 4x3 TVs, I will NEVER buy a TV from them.

 

[Dave_P.]

I don't have any problems with them. If they have the best price for what I want, I pick it up, pay and go home.

 

[Malcolm R]

As long as you're not trying to redeem any coupons, they're usually fine. But trying to get them to process one of their own coupons correctly is harder than getting a Twinkie away from Sally Struthers.

 

[Daniel_Burke]

I find that BB isnt really a good store to wrok at. From people who work there they say that management is pressuring the employees to sell. They make a sale but they do not collect anything in return. Other then not being harrased by management that day.

After going to good guys I found that BB's selection is very limited to the bottom line of all major brands. Sure they have some good brand names in the store but their selection is very limited to the lower end models. Its up to the buyer to be informed before going shopping. Find what you want and hear it in the store. If you can get a store to match the price that you find online then do it. Other wise I would get what I want at the cheepest price available. Its my hard earned money and I'm not going to give it away.

good luck shopping.

 

[Frank joe]

who would actually drop 10,000 grand at best buy for a home theatre system.you would have to have your head examined. stick to a spectialty shop for that price bracket. they are good for dvd's and cd's but audio no way. frank

 

[Mike.W]

Best Buy is about one rung above Wal-mart on my chart. I find the home theater selection at almost all of them to be cheesy at best. KLH abounds at the BBs I've been in...that about says it all.

 

[Jodee]

I always found it funny their employee name tags say "Team Member Since" with the year on them-- and 99.9% of the time it always says the current year!

It's like, why do they want to advertise their high rate of employee turn-over?!?

 

[Sean Frost]

I used to like Best Buy, but recently it seems like the store has become worse and worse. Go to this site for others that hate Best Buy http://www.bestbuysux.org/

 

[nolesrule]

I rarely ever have problems with Best Buy, but most of my purchases there are DVDs and CDs. When I do have problems, they are resolved rather quickly.

 

[RomanSohor]

I have a part time holiday job at Best Buy now in the Video department. The reason why many employees seem like they are doing customers a favor when they help them are because most customers either know absolutely nothing but want to know the most minute details about a product, and then say they don't know what that is and buy the KLH because it's the cheapest, or they are customers that are knowledgable and are belligerent because they think Best Buy sucks, and we're all trying to rip them off.

I work with plenty of A/V equipment and am probably significantly more knowledgable than the average BB employee, but I don't get why customers are so rude to the people that work in the store for no reason.

I, for one, don't push service plans too hard on things like $75 DVD players, because to the average customer, it's just too hard of a sell. The reason Best Buy stocks mostly lower-end stuff is because people freak out when they see too much of a variety in prices. I get the "OH MY GOD why is that Samsung HD-DVD player with DVI output and 720p conversion over $250 and this Sony one I want (because I LOVE Sony!!!) is only $89" question a hundred times a day. And it also gets really tiring listen to people say "Man, I bought a Betamax for $800 and then I had to buy a VHS for $500, and then they tried to get me to buy the big DVD's that looked like records. And now I want to know why this DVD/VCR combo is only $100 dollars and it copies my VHS to DVDs, and this DVD recorder (which I want to use to pirate movies from Blockbuster, of course) costs $700?"

Sorry... just the holiday season at Best Buy getting to me!

I try to treat everyone nicely, and am always SO THRILLED to help someone that either knows what they are talking about, or seriously wants to learn about the stuff.

I also point a lot of customers to this forum for reviews of stuff.

 

[Shawn_Sek]

i had no issues with Best Buy until their recent raising of DVD prices about a week before Black Friday. it seems they raise prices $1 for every 10. 9.99 DVDs are 10.99, Rivers Edge that was 9.99 is now 17.99 (3 bucks above retail), 19.99 ones are 21.99, and some like Natural Born Killers is $25.99 (1 buck above retail)

luckily Circuit City hasnt raised their prices and they sure are getting alot of my business this season. ive been spending hundreds of dollars per week there on DVDs since Black Friday. unless theres a good ad price at Best Buy, which there hasnt been for quite a while now, im done with them.

i have had a mcdonalds/best buy $1 coupon for a couple months and i havent even been able to find something worth using it on. its still cheaper at CC.

its also too bad that they dont price match their website because they do have some good deals there sometimes. 7.99 CDs on the website are 12.99 in store. its pretty funny that i can order it from the site for IN STORE PICKUP about 20 feet away and get the 7.99 price but they wont match the price and cut out the middle man. silly business. bye bye best buy.

PS- i see their new slogan on their Best Buy trucks says "NO PRESSURE". i guess that started after i bought my computer a couple weeks ago where they had a station in the back of the store where they started the pressure, and then again having 2 people at the pickup station pressuring to buy extras and service plans, complete with the "we dont get any commission" line right before they tell you how everything you just purchased is a piece of crap that will break soon. the one particular guy was smart, he proceeded to tell me, i had one of these computers, THOUGH I DIDNT BUY IT HERE, and it broke down very quickly. clever little twist. i let him finish his whole speech, if i had to wait in line i didnt mind him waiting with me, and the look on his face when i still said no when he got finished was priceless.

rambling over, thanks.

 

[GeorgeTW]

I have not spent much time at best buy, but I see the same issue there as there is at CC or Compusa...some items are best price while others are worst price. I can go to Walmart to spend the least on a USB hub, or go to best buy to get the best price on an mp3 player.
When I was shopping for an HT receiver, I used the HT specialty stores to review hardware in my budget, then went to the Internet to get the best price. BB had lower prices on Sony than CC, but no selection on speakers other than pioneer.

Unless you have an unlimited budget, there seems no one place to get the best deal for all HT needs.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I don't have any problems with them. If they have the best price for what I want, I pick it up, pay and go home

The same here!

 

[Phil E]

To avoid long stories, I will sum it up by saying that Best Buy is among the worst because, among other reasons, they won't stand by what they sell. Heaven help you if you have a defective disc. My family and I spent an obscene amount of money there each season but no more!

 

[ThomasC]

Heaven help you if you have a defective disc.

I've exchanged defective discs several times with no problems.

 

[Brian E]

I've exchanged defective discs several times with no problems.

As have I.

 

[LewB]

I buy most of my media there (CDs DVDs PC). Have had no problems with them at all. The displays of receivers, CD players and other audio equipment look like a bomb went off in them. What always amazed me is the fact that they carry $10K plasma TVs yet none of their receivers seem to be above the $700 price point. Not to mention the fact that they only recently started to carry Klipsch speakers, the only speaker there that I would even consider buying.

 

[GeorgeTW]

Two thoughts

$10,000 Plasma is still considered a niche product, so the fact a large retailer would carry it is noteable.

In the the past, $700 was a mere starting point at which a quality HT receiver was offered. With the prices coming down, Best Buy's market doesn't need costlier products. $700 should buy the average shopper everything needed in an HT receiver. There are plenty of specialized vendors for HT in the 4-figure range, and BB wouldn't give the sort of attention it requires anyway.

Ever notice that the majority of HDTVs at BB, CC, and the like are all connected to plain old video DAs? You can't even see their quality on the floor.