Originally posted by: dew042
Judging from comments on this forum:
1) BB is supposed to lose money in order to get you to shop there
2) Let deal getters bend the system to get products at below cost
If you for one second think saavy comsumers like yourself were not directly responsible for changes like these - you are seriously mistaken. I like a hotdeal as much as the next person, and I WILL take advantage of a situation if i can, but these deals are a privilage - not a RIGHT!
As someone who fields returns and technical questions all day everyday at a BB store I can also tell you that a large percentage of people who come to us are ethical and morally challenged. The vast array of customer expectations in today's market blows the mind. Since when are companies' responsible for giving you product at below cost, returning items which the consumer has physically broken, or even better yet - dropped in water??? I see this day in and out.
Take one second that think about the other side of the story. How would you feel if everyday someone came into your livingroom and took something of yours because they 'deserved' it? If you believe a companies' main purpose if to give you a product at below cost then very soon there will be no retailers what-so-ever. The probelm with modern America is ENTITLEMENT - plain and simple. If you don't like the policy - go elsewhere.
I don't feel sorry for folks when policies get tightened - If they were abused - then they need to be changed.
dew.
Please don't take this the wrong way, as these comments are directed at BestBuy the corporation, not you. I've spent a few years in retail too, and it's not always easy.
But the biggest complaint that I could have about BestBuy, and why I pretty much don't buy anything there anymore, is the number of electronics/computer items that my friends and I have purchased, sealed, sold as new-in-box, and yet when we get home and open them up, the item is obviously used, and usually missing some parts. This is *UNACCEPTABLE*. As much as there are customers that try to scam BestBuy (really too bad how morally bankrupt both the customers and corporations both have become), the fact is that the store employees are also too clueless as to be able to judge whether all of the parts are included, and even moreso, the fact that used items are regularly shrink-wrapped and resold as new at BestBuy. This "problem" has occurred at several stores, not just one, and seems to be an intentional thing.
As for the "abuse" of all of these hot deals, then maybe mfg's and stores should stop trying to illegitimately MANIPULATE the customer. If they simply offered a "good deal" up-front, without all of these manipulative psychological "gimmicks", then maybe customers wouldn't be driven, or in fact able, to create these "engineered" deals. It's the store's own fault, really.
I've change my mind somewhat on rebates, I believe that the high-dollar ones, and especially the "free after rebate" ones, are an *intentional* fraudulent scam, at least within the computer industry. Most of the other industries that rebates are offered, such as more mundane things like toothpaste and shaving cream, are usually a valid discount, when applied to purchases of multiple items. I've very rarely heard of anyone, outside of the computer biz, getting screwed by rebates that never show up.
I mean, how can any legitimate profit-oriented business make money on items that they are ostensibly (on the surface) giving away to customers for free? They CANT. So, in order for the company to *make money*, they have to *create* ways to *deny* those rebates. As such, the initial offer on it's face is FRAUD on the consumer. Those sorts of rebate offers should be BANNED BY LAW, PERIOD. (IMHO)
I downloaded a nice little PDF of a complain on the ftc.gov site, related to the Okie/Prime Peripherals CD-ROM (and other item) rebates, and what the company did, that lends credence to the idea that these rebate deals are in fact fraudulent on their face. The company started changing the terms of the rebate offer after-the-fact, in an attempt to deny a larger number of rebates.
You know, my parents used to tell me, "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is". So is it with rebates in the computer industry. Nothing is "free".
This rant has strayed a bit from the original topic, but if BestBuy doesn't want these "engineered deals" happening, then they need to stop trying to con the customer as well. This applies to pretty much every other store and computer industry mfg as well. If they want to play a con game, then it's fair play to con them too.