[Novalug] Why I no longer shop at Best Buy [was] Singing the Domain Space Blues

Kevin Dwyer kevin@pheared.net
Sat Jun 16 09:54:06 EDT 2007


On Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 01:41:02AM -0400, James Ewing Cottrell 3rd wrote:
> I rarely if ever look for prices online. Perhaps that's because I grew 
> up without the net (altho I got on it way before most of you, in 84, 
> when I was 30...add another 10 years until the advent of the Web, and 
> another 5 before Internet Commerce really got going) so my shopping 
> habits are we established.
> 
> In any case, my good buddy Ed used to talk about New Egg and Zip Zoom 
> Fly. Well gee, whenever I wanted to look for memory or disk I never 
> found anything as good as Best Buy on sale.
> 
> Of course, they do beat the regular prices, so there is room for both, 
> and googling for an item lets you look thru many online stores.

On the average, you'll do better by shopping at a place like NewEgg.
BestBuy typically charges the MSRP, which is sort of like the baseline
of what not to pay.

> Best Buy has decent service and return policy too.

You may be the first person I know to hold this opinion.  But first, a
story:

I purchased a Samsung 191T from BestBuy about 3.5 years ago.  It was
effen expensive at the time (~$700 for a 19" LCD).  At the register, I
fell for the excessive BestBuy PSP warranty because of deceptive
statements like "if it breaks, just bring it in and we'll get you a new
one."  My instincts said that those deals were probably scams, but since
I was already spending a lot for a monitor, they managed to convince me
to buy in for a couple hundred more.

So, it breaks 2.7 years into its life and I bring it back.  First, no
one at Best Buy actually knows the warranty policy, so you're in for a
lot of run around (I guess no one ever exercises it?).  The Geek Squad
Lackey told me they would send it in to be serviced.  About a month
later I call in to find out WTF is going on and they tell me that the
repair shop couldn't fix it because they don't service these anymore.
Now I must come in to get a replacement.  So I go back to the Laurel
store and they tell me they don't have any more of the replacement
Samsungs, but I could go to Columbia to get one.  Fine, I just want my
monitor so I go.  Columbia's Geek Squad Lackeys finally get around to
helping me and then claim that they can not provide me a replacement
since I originally brought my broken monitor to Laurel.  I am beginning
to get pissed off at this point.  No amount of reasoning with the Geek
Squad Manager works.  So I return to Laurel.  No they tell me that they
are supposed to replace my monitor with one of their choosing, not one
of the same brand.  I object, since I paid extra to have a Samsung, not
a Gateway.  There is no reasoning allowed.  The GSL settles on one
monitor (seemingly at his own whim) because it's the worst quality, and
therefore closest to my original.  I am luckily conscious enough to nix
this because it doesn't even have DVI inputs.  He then spins the wheel
of LCDs again and comes up with a Gateway that does have DVI.  I make it
through the extremely long wait at the returns desk and finally leave
with a monitor that I have overpaid for.

Oh but wait, the monitor box has been opened before, and cables removed,
I find out when I get home.  So it takes yet another trip to Laurel and
another excruciating wait in the returns line to finally get an
unadulterated LCD.  I insist that they inspect the box this time and it
checked out.

So I object to your claim of decent service and policy.  I'm sure there
are countless other examples.  Also, in reference to your previous
e-mail, I don't think that they actually committed a crime, but they
absolutely committed deception.  This is basically their business model.

Cured of ever shopping at BestBuy and sad that they are going to ruin my
ISP,
-kpd



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