The Devils are in the details

[ElFenix]

At stores popular with young Buzzes, Best Buy is setting up videogame areas with leather chairs and game players hooked to mammoth, plasma-screen televisions.

the store at richmond and 610 here in houston is one of those

 

[PHiuR]

best buy is evil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Buzzman151]

Originally posted by: Robor
Shrek2

WalMart - $14.97
BestBuy - $16.99

Any guess where I got my copy?

its fvck'n 20 bucks here at my local walmart. Its going to be a sad sad time in 5-10 years when walmart rules the world.

 

[Winchester]

Dont forget that some items come with a store rebate then a manufacturer rebate, only one requires the real UPC, so people just send in for the one that just requires a COPY of the UPC and they are all set. They return the item then wait for a check.

<-- Does not approve of ^ method. But I dont approve of everything in ads having a mail-in-rebate either.

 

[phenderson]

Instant rebates are the key. They would do alot better if they had packages with punch out UPC's that the sales clerks could tear off and then apply the instant rebate.
That way you do not have any losers buying, applying for rebates and then returning the item.
If they return the item, they get only the money that they spent, not more....

$100-250.00 off a $5000.00 is very lame...

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Winchester
Dont forget that some items come with a store rebate then a manufacturer rebate, only one requires the real UPC, so people just send in for the one that just requires a COPY of the UPC and they are all set. They return the item then wait for a check.

<-- Does not approve of ^ method. But I dont approve of everything in ads having a mail-in-rebate either.

BB doesn't keep proper records - this canNOT happen at Curcuit City where your purchase is recorded and IF you try this they WILL catch you.

OTOH, if you LOSE your receipt at CC, they can find your records . . . lose it at BB and you are screwed.

:roll:

 

[cremefilled]

I understand Best Buy's motives. As a business owner myself, someone who busts his a$$ and works long hours, I find customers who want to haggle over nickle-and-dime pricing or who actually want me to take a loss to "stay competitive" to be profoundly irritating.

However, as a huge, monolithic coporation, Best Buy will just never be able to neatly separate angel/devil customers -- and they will certainly learn the axiom that "one dissatisfied customer is louder than 20 satisfied ones."

I do wish that we, at Anandtech and other sites, would do a better job of providing a moral policing -- and tell the kiddies that returning a book you got for free somewhere else for full credit, doing a return-then-buy-the-open-box scam, bitching and trying to get someone fired when companies refuse to take a steep loss because of some pricematch-the-other-guy's-price-mistake scheme, etc., is unacceptable and immoral.

If you are trying to make a company repeatedly take a loss, and then are outraged when they don't cheerfully comply, IMO you've got some personal problems.

Edit: I'll also add that it is vital for a business to have consistent policies, and I don't support companies singling out certain "types" of customers. Best Buy and others have set themselves up to be taken advantage of. But I don't understand the "righteous indignation" of a certain type of hot-deal seeker.

 

[phenderson]

It did not hurt me at all to get in on the PNY 6800 30% off deals that many other AT's got in on back in April....When I called every local store and even had friends in other states call about it, I gladly succombed to the idea that I would not get one. There was one guy ranted on and on and on about suing and what not.. but I was glad. Well God works in mysterious ways because I was able to get in on another deal and I basically traded a nice Athlon 64 3200 CPU and MB for a nice BFG 6800GT flashed to a 6800Ultra... and it basically costs me $250.00... So I got an even better deal...

To me Best buy is going after 2 kinds of devils. Those who are just deal seekers and then those who are straight up thieves, and I firmly believe there are less of those...

Best Buy is just tired of taking a loss period due to their own high prices and bad price schematics.

Like I said. It used to be that Winn Dixie and Kroger's were the leading groceries all over the US. But along came Meier's and Walmart, and boom...

I have had a Winn Dixie 5 minutes down the street from my house, since I moved in back in Feb 04. I can honestly say that after going there maybe 3 times, My wife and I decided that we would never do bulk grocery shopping there for our 3 kids. Stuff was usually 10-50% higher then at Walmart which was 10 minutes away. We glady drove 10 minutes to save 100's of dollars. I can honestly say that in 9 months of residence at my house, I have walked into Winn Dixie maybe 5 times. And I have never ever seen the parking lot packed out, never. It has always been sort of empty and I have never seen more than 15 shoppers there, and I have never seen anyone with a loaded basket. Today that Winn Dixie Store is now an EB James store. Eventually the same thing will happen to Best Buy. Why buy memory or a video card for $100.00 when you can get it off the net with S/H for about $60.00.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: Robor
Shrek2

WalMart - $14.97
BestBuy - $16.99

Any guess where I got my copy?

Real smart. Buy at a place which is anti-competitve in nature. Drives down wages, busts unions, screws workers, discriminates, doesn't give to the community, is run by a family who could give a rats ass about anybody but themselves and their 10's of billions, a family who doesn't donate to charity even 1% of what Gates does, a store run by morons, patroned by morons.


Go ahead, shop at ghettomart. When they have run everybody out of the picture you will pay higher prices and STILL shop at a crappy store.

 

[LegendKiller]

And if you didn't see this in the other thread...

You kids are funny, you think you are entitled to some kinda uber-deal every damn time you turn around. Then, you go and buy stuff, apply for rebates then return it after receipt. Returning free Ipods and crap like that only serves to raise prices for the honest customers.

I am sure your oging to come back with "BB can afford to lose, its their fault for not stopping me". Think about what happens when BBY loses cash. Not only does it affect me when I need to buy a higher priced item because of your sorry ass, but it affects their employees. Furthermore, it affects pension funds, mutual funds, teacher retirements, factory workers. EVERYBODY who has anything to do with stock returns is affected by your punk ass ripping companies off.


LK

 

[unclebabar]

> COLD: Best Buy declares war on us

Too bad they don't sell heavy duty business computer items like 1U servers or you could make make the topic summary: New Best Buy policies unpopular with E-rack people

 

[imported_elwood]

I think they just shot theirself in the foot. I can see their stock drrrrooooping as we speak. I hope they go bankrupt.

 

[hallf]

Well, I'm an upper income gadget freak (Barry-Buzz) who loves a bargain and put together my whole home theater system with a black friday projection TV deal and a lot of half price Sears electronics, Philips DVD player from an Amazon deal here, etc...once I have my home theater set up, why would I be interested in going in the "back room" at Best Buy to see their $12,000 set up? How many home theaters are people going to buy? What's going to make me want to keep going in their store if they don't have any deals?

 

[Nick5324]

Originally posted by: elwood
I think they just shot theirself in the foot. I can see their stock drrrrooooping as we speak. I hope they go bankrupt.

I can understand BB wanting to develop loyal customers and get rid of customers who cost them money, they are in business to make money. My problem with them is their employees (generally, not all of them) are undertrained, rude, and will lie to your face to make a sale. This is why I quit shopping there almost 2 years ago, and I strongly suggest shopping elsewhere to family and friends. Will this new strategy work for them, time will tell. The bottom line is that they are trying to create a high level of customer service to their profatable customers, give these customers something they can't get somewhere else. These customers will make future purchases and recommend BB to others with similar buying habbits. The problem is that the culture at BB (see description of employees above) is in direct contrast with delivering this new level of customer service. The employees will need to be well trained, friendly and basically customer-oriented as opposed to sale-oriented. These type of employees demand a higher pay rate for their superior work, and there will be other associated costs with this new strategy. It was metioned in the article that the stores using this new strategy are more expensive, and they will be in the short term. BB is looking at this as a long term startegy, and hope thier investment now will turn into more profits in the future. It will be difficult for them to execute their new strategy effectivly with a company this large. Given my (and many other people's) bad experiences with them in the past, I'm not hoping for the best for them, but still an interesting move on their part.

 

[knightc2]

Why did Best Buy even release this story to the press anyway? I think that was the dumbest move they could have made. This is a pretty ballsy stance to take, but I do agree with them. Best Buy is not in business to give away merchandise, they are there to make money. Sites like Anadtech, Fatwallet, Techbargains, etc. have really raised buyer awareness to a point where companies really are having trouble making money on those customers. It only makes sense that Best Buy would want to maximize profits buy courting other less informed customers. I have no problem with their stance although I think it may backfire on them and allienate too many customers. Lets remember that some people will do anything to get a deal including buying below retailer cost if they can. I certainly don't like to pay more than I have too so anytime I can get a deal I go for it.
Anyway, let Best Buy do what they want. There are other places to buy from and if their prices, promos, and sales are not to my liking I will shop elswhere. There are several other reasons to dislike Best Buy other than this recent news. Thankfully we have the right to choose where we shop and Best Buy appears to be giving us a reason to shop elswhere. I do not blame them for trying to make more money though. That is their right. I will have a problem with them if they try to discriminate against anyone trying to get a deal buy stretching their policies on a case by case basis. I hope that they at least have the integrity to treat all customers fairly. After all they are the ones that set their policies so if they want to stop abusers they need to change their return/rebuy/rebate/pricematch policies.

 

[MrNutz]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: NasdaqTrader889
Looks like I will continue to avoid Best Buy. They can keep their evil attitude to themselves.

They deserve to go out of business . . . . along with Gateway.

:thumbsdown:

And along with RadioShack. They have been employing these strategies for years... right down to specifically hiring employees who lie to get the sale and over pricing cables and batteries. Radioshacks cost on a/v cables is a 1/8th of what they charge and their cost on a 4-pk of AA batteries is $0.23. :disgust:

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Buzzman151

Originally posted by: Robor
Shrek2

WalMart - $14.97
BestBuy - $16.99

Any guess where I got my copy?

its fvck'n 20 bucks here at my local walmart. Its going to be a sad sad time in 5-10 years when walmart rules the world.

Same here. It was $15.99 at BB here.

 

[SDOG34]

This reminds me of what the DVD and music industry are doing. They are jacking up prices to cover for piracy, but are just pushing more and more people away at the same time with their higher prices. Best Buy has prices that are generally not competitive, so they have certain loss leaders to bring people into the store, especially on days like black friday. Any of us who have been to Best Buy on a black friday know that the vast majority if the people there, especially the ones there early in the morning, are ONLY looking to buy items that are super discounted. How does Best Buy not know this? Complaining that customers buy items is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. The whole buy, MIR, return, rebuy thing is bogus. The % of people who actually do that has got to be well under 1%. For one thing, it's not at all worth the time. You could just puruse the hot deals forum for better web deals, and sell those on ebay in much higher volume and much MUCH easier.
Another thing that Best Buy doesn't seem to understand at all is that it doesn't sell items that people need. I am sure there are some customers who have to go buy a new fridge or TV because their's broke, but the majority of people are going to BB to buy pleasure items. As such, people can wait to buy them until they are on sale. I wanted a flash drive, but I am not going to go pay $60 for something I don't need. I waited until BB had one that was $15 after MIR. Fine, sold. The devils/angels concept seems very ill conceived and the return vs. potential damage seems negligible. Whatever...I don't know a single person who has worked at BB and stayed there for more than a few months. If they go under, I won't cry for them. And I don't even know how to respond to the hifi $12k stereo room concept. That's the dumbest idea I have ever heard.

 

[knightc2]

I have to disagree about the Radio Shack post. I work at a Radio Shack and Integrity is a big issue in our stores and we would never lie to our customers to make a sale. I can't speak for other stores, but this would not happen in our stores. I take pride in giving my customers the best advice I can. I have even directed them to other stores if I could not help them even if it meant losing that customer.
As for product cost... Cost on a 4pk of AA batteries is not $0.23. At least not in our store. IF that was the case I would buy a lot more batteries. It is more like $0.40 per battery. ($1.60 for a 4 pk of AA) I do believe that the batteries are overpriced however. There is a decent markup on cables, but the store has to make money somewhere. If a customer comes in and buys a $10.00 cable and a $1.99 connector and the profit on that sale is $6.00, think about how many of those sales you would have to have to stay in business. Radio Shack does not sell 65 inch HDTVs that might garner a few hundred dollar profit so the money has to be made somewhere.

 

[cmv]

BestBuy is putting rebate and deal shoppers in the same group as thieves. I'd wager they are doing this in the published article because it makes their stance seem more acceptable to those not in the know that there is a difference between us and thieves.

Personally, I don't shop at BestBuy because nothing draws me there. I'm moving so maybe living within a couple miles of one would draw me in for the ultra-rebate-free deals but I'd rather shop online or do the office store deals.

 

[cremefilled]

Radioshacks cost on a/v cables is a 1/8th of what they charge and their cost on a 4-pk of AA batteries is $0.23

Even accepting those figures as fact, I'm not sure what the problem is. If you think you can get cables at 1/8 the cost, then do it. If you need the convenience of a store that's just down the street, then go to Radio Shack.

Do you have any idea what the overhead on a store in a mall is? Do you realize that Radio Shack is a franchise, and the corporation is taking a percentage out of gross sales for every store? Do you realize that national ads are not cheap? I seriously doubt that Radio Shack managers and local owners are making outrageous salaries. They are working-class people, just like most of us.

Anyway, selling a widely available item at a relatively high price is scarcely "evil."

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: MrNutz
Radioshacks cost on a/v cables is a 1/8th of what they charge and their cost on a 4-pk of AA batteries is $0.23. :disgust:

I hope you don't buy soda, or any liquid at a restaurant.

It's odd, but there are several items that are seemingly acceptable to charge huge margins on.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Concillian

Originally posted by: MrNutz
Radioshacks cost on a/v cables is a 1/8th of what they charge and their cost on a 4-pk of AA batteries is $0.23. :disgust:

I hope you don't buy soda, or any liquid at a restaurant.

It's odd, but there are several items that are seemingly acceptable to charge huge margins on.

Oh god people have no idea how much is made. Especially when it comes to beer or wine. When a bottle of wine costs $4 wholesale and we charge $18 for it in the restaurant. Or its $3.00 for a tap beer that costs $0.35. Or when someone gets a large soda for $1.75. Pure friggin profit.

 

[sapiens74]

This is nothing new. Capitalism is the struggle of business and the consumer of how much the business can get away with charging for an item or service and how much a consumer is willing to pay. With CompUsa, Circuit City, Wal Mart and the AAFES exchange service for the military, Best Buy has its hands full with competition much less its own customers.

 

[knightc2]

Yes, Beer (and other adult beverages) are marked up a ton, but no one thinks about the enormous cost a bar pays for the beer/wine and liquor licenses in the first place ($50,000 for a beer/wine license alone I believe in Michigan) not to mention the liability insurance costs that bar owners pay.