RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

Well, everyone's favorite shopping destination to hate is skidding out of control with a 90% drop in profits. In recent years I have shopped in Best Buy only a handful of times and each time resulted in an exercise in futility. So let's have this thread be a Best Buy forum where you can report your experiences both good and bad with the blue shirts.

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Shop there and worked there. Retail is a hard business.

Buying my Nikon P510 and the Canon SX40HS made me think my on-line searching gave me more info than the young lady that was working there.

Retail sales would jump if retailers would insure their salespeople knew what they were talking about.

Sarge

ngc1514 Loc: Atlanta, Ga., Lancaster, Oh. and Stuart, Fl.

Never had any problems with Best Buy. You knew their prices were not going to be rock bottom, but if you needed a new external drive on a Sunday afternoon, they were close and had the best variety of stock around.

And then Fry's and Tiger Direct came to the Atlanta area... Where else can you go to buy a handful of 1/4 watt resistors, a dual-trace o'scope and a Yamaha grand player piano under the same roof at 4 PM on a Sunday afternoon?

Haven't been back to Best Buy since.

ggttc Loc: TN

Have never had a problem with Best Buy...and with a 17 year old in the house who cant decide what he wants..their return policy is great

richnash46 Loc: Texas

Maybe they should ask for a "bailout" from the government, everyone else has? ;) ;)

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

Well I've never really had any issues with Bestbuy. Back in the day, when computers were my thing, I would divide my time between Bestbuy and Fry's.

Back then BB had a nice selection of movies--couldn't match the anime section at Fry's though....ah, memories....

My only thing with BB was the knowledge, or lack thereof, of some of the blue shirts.

I remember looking for a video card while I listened to a line of BS one of the blue shirts was feeding an older couple. He left to go verify something with his supervisor and I approached the couple, giving them the RIGHT information. He lost a sale that day and I felt better for saving the couple a couple days of frustration.

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

I have many stories...he's the worst one.

We bought a new $1200 Front Load Whirlpool Clothes Washer from Best Buy a few years ago. We paid for the extra warranty. About two years into ownership the washer stopped working with a load of clothes stuck inside. We called Best Buy explained the situation and told them that the washer was installed as a stacked pair with the matching dryer and the dryer would need to be removed from the washer if they needed to access the top of the washer to service it. Of course, the person taking the call said that it would not be a problem. Four days later a single service tech showed up looked at the stack and said he had to have two people and why didn't I tell them the dryer was on top of the washer. I said I did, he said they didn't tell him. He left telling me to call again and request two techs. I called that day and requested two techs. The girl on the phone said they could not send two techs without an evaluation by a single tech. I said he just left telling me to call for two techs. She said that the tech must make the request and told me to tell him to come to the phone. I told her he had just left. She said she would contact him. A week later (they only come to my area on Wednesdays.) Another single tech show up and says we need two techs and tries to leave. I told him to call and make the request. He called and the following Wednesday two techs showed up at my door. One fellow was about 4 foot 10 inches tall and weighed about 100 pounds, the other was about 6 foot tall and weighed about 350 pounds. The took one look at the dryer on top of the washer and said they couldn't lift it because I need to specify a lift team on the service request. The little who spoke only Spanish made the cal in Spanish to someone the larger fellow told me someone would be back. The following Wednesday two young strong and lean men came and lifted the dryer off the washer opened the front panel on the washer (there is no panel on the top of the washer) and said I needed a new board. They ordered the board. Two days later the board showed up and the following Wednesday the short guy and the heavy guy showed up and tried to leave because they were not a lift team. I told them there was no panel to access on the top and they made a call (in Spanish). The little guy opened the panel installed the board, plugged in the washer and the washer spun drained and opened. The clothes were ruined but at least my laundromat days were over. The following day I tried to use the washer and found that only half of the myriad of buttons worked. I suspected that they had installed the incorrect part and called Whirlpool. The person at Whirlpool walked me through opening the panel and removing the board. Sure enough the part was incorrect. Whirlpool sent someone the next day with the correct part. The washer was finally repaired. A month later I got a bill from Best Buy for $393.50 because Whirlpool sent emergency service which was not covered under the Best Buy Extended Warranty I had purchased. After three long phone calls the bill was cancelled.

ggttc Loc: TN

Had a similar experince with sears...new refrigerator...they took the old one out...then we realized that the doors open the wrong way from the one we ordered...bring the old refrigerator back in...take the new one back...10 days later bring the new refrigerator...doors open the wrong way...

photo guy Loc: Chippewa Falls, WI

I have seen way too many Best Buy blue shirts in the store nearest me who have little to absolutely NO knowledge of what they should know or do and know almost to for sure don't know anything about products in question. I visited 1 store back in December 2011 and asked some questions on cameras and both the employees didn't know anything about the models I was looking at and I ended up telling them some of the information. That is sad.

Coolcameragirl Loc: Bradenton, FL

Ditto! Stopped shopping there 2 years ago.

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

retail no longer trains their people. to get low prices they have cut out training, pay minimum wage, and then wonder where are the good employees? those who are competent they work to death. I have worked for best buy as a yellow shirt (loss prevention) sales for sears and dillards. both horrible employers.

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

Hey Doc ..... Best Buy gets sued for $54 million over a lost Lap Top

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9062621/Woman_sues_Best_Buy_for_54M_in_alleged_lost_laptop_coverup

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

I work with a guy who used to work for bestbuy....oh the stories he tells....

lost_found

Circuit City changed their compensation packages to get competitive with Best Buy. Lost their best sales people and went out of business. Now without the pressure from CC Best Buy is on the verge of disappearing. I guess $8.00 per hour help is not the formula of success in the electronics business. No wonder Apple puts their own people in there. Who’s next?

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

Greed has been the downfall of so many retailers.

1) Try to increase the profits at the expense of the employees.
2) Replace qualified employees with....uh....unqualified.....employees
3) Alienate customer base, thus reducing profit margins.
4) repeat steps 1-3 until company is dead.

In my youth, I watched this happen at my place of work...FEDCO.