Sellsius real estate marketing blog

Sorry bud, I actually agree with the best buy associates...you can't just walk in and ask for a previous sale which happened god knows how long ago, period. It's not fair for anyone else who's buying at regular price price or for the people who diligently wait for a sale NOR should you hand someone a print out from amazon with a lower price and hope that he spots that it's after rebate...you should be up front with it or not even attempt to pass that off as a legit sale price at all (any company I know does not match sales after rebates). I understand that everyone wants a deal and you feel cheated since it was agreed upon but that agreement was formed under false pretenses and you had some part in that. And yes a large company could easily eat the money lost, but companies didn't become so successful by making non-profitable sales...surely you can see that you are perhaps asking too much

Yes, asking for the sale price was asking for something I was not entitled
to. And they told me no and I accepted it. But this story is about
something else--- an agreement to match a price by Amazon (actually higher
than the sale price), a handshake, and a renunciation. There were no false
pretenses. Everything about the price was revealed. Two managers saw it in
writing.

jfsellsius 11 hours ago:
"Correct. Tell me this and show me the door."

When you posted this response, I actually reviewed the other comments you posted throughout this web page, I am going to assume you are the author of this article.

So after the manager explained the policy, he should have showed you the door? That is good customer service? This entire article is a joke and a waste of time. This last response of yours is ridiculous, especially after conceding there are clear advantages to doing business with a Brick and Mortar establishment versus an On-Line retailer.

You have a very clear motive, to bash a company because you missed a sale. Your careful and articulate way of manipulating the situation in the store and in your story are very apparent. I hope you don't get paid for writing "articles."

The article is not about business price matching rules. It is about a
manager agreeing to a price, shaking my hand on it, saying it was my lucky
day, and then reneging. That is bad customer service.

I find it funny when people will not do business with an Online retailer because of the lack of service if something goes wrong, BUT will demand to get the same price in a Brick and Mortar store.

So why is an item $50 more expensive? Maybe because they have a convenient location 10 minutes away from your house, who is fully staffed during business hours, who can offer you customer service and assistance, etc.

Did you think that location, those employees, etc. were all free? No, the company paid for that. And because of that, the price is slightly higher. So what it boils down to, do you want the lowest price and wish to roll the dice? Or do you want to pay a little extra and get better service.

In my opinion, you knew about all these benefits and just wanted to waste some people's time. I reviewed Best Buy's price guarantee from their web site and it clearly states they do not match online competitors. I'm sorry bud, but this is a waste of an article.

Agree with you about justification for higher price. But what is justification for not keeping your word?

Pulled from Best Buy's web site:

"What is considered a local retail competitor?
A retail store located in the same market area as your local Best Buy store.

What is considered "proof" of price?
If you have already purchased the item, the best way to show proof of price is to bring in your original Best Buy receipt, plus the competitor's current ad. We reserve the right to call the competitor's store to verify the lower price and availability of the item.

How do you handle a price match if the Best Buy price includes a promotional offer such as a free gift card or rebate?
The Best Buy net purchase price is calculated by deducting the value of all instant and mail-in discounts such as rebates, free offers and promotional gift cards. Existing rebates and free offers associated with a product purchased at Best Buy will not apply if a price match is executed.

How do you handle a price match if the competitor's price includes a rebate or other promotional offer?
The competitor's net purchase price is calculated by deducting instant discounts taken at the register such as instant rebates. Mail-in rebates and other deferred savings are not deducted from the competitor's purchase price."



The justification of keeping his word seems to be invalid when you talk to the "Floor Supervisor", which I am going to assume is an actual manager for the store, who explains to you that they can not match that price.

Instead of taking that as is, the author continue to poke around the store and ask yet another person! Why if you know that price can not be matched, would you continue asking people throughout the store?

Now here is the interesting part of the story where I feel that this article decieved me. The authors choice of words for the people who he is doing business with.
Jim - Floor Supervisor
John - Store Computer Department Manager
Supervisors have less power. Managers control that business and are placed in power to make business decisions - they have authority.

Two things wrong:
1.) I highly doubt any retail outlet has multiple salary managers for each department in their store. The cost would be too high. Therefore I doubt John is any type of manager.
2.) John proves to have little power on the actual price match because he has to get approval from Jim, strengthing my idea that Jim is the actual manager.

So the author went into a store and was declined a price match because it was outside of their policy. Instead of stopping there, he continued to ask around in order to manipulate a situation... I'm just not buying this article. A poorly written and executed attempt to bash a company.

Correct. Tell me this and show me the door.

Just throwing my own two cents in from working retail stores (including electronics) in the past.

What always surprised me is the sense of entitlement that people feel they have the second they walk through the door. Quite often it seems they think they have the right to lose all sense of responsibility to think for themselves and act in a manner that otherwise would be embarrassing if in another type of social engagement. Hagglers in particular had always left an unsettling feeling in my stomach since they usually where unreasonable in the expectations of a strictly watched pricing policy. I have known people to lose their job for making deals that are out of policy. Quite often those who work in retail, especially at a low hourly wage, grow resentful of customers and when faced with situations such as a price match will find themselves once again dealing with an issue that usually ends in much unneeded stress and vilification just because someone decided that they are entitled to pay less then the average joe. If a customers is polite in the interaction and within the guidelines of price matching, then all is fine, and from personal experience I had no problem doing so. Sad truth is this is rarely the occasion. Most people are very rude, demanding, and will try every angle they can think of just because "they deserve it". Hell I had people actually have the balls to ask that I make it so they don't have to pay taxes! Nobody deserves or is entitled to anything. You must earn everything in the world and the best way is through common respect.

I do not disagree with you DotD. But I was not rude. My sense of entitlement is probably like most customers in the US-- we can ask questions & get answers, we can request information & get it, as well as wanting to be appreciated for our loyalty to the company (I was a Rewards member and regular customer). I think most customers are good people. I think big companies who show poor customer service disrespect them. They ought realize we customers are the reason for the company staying in business-- under this principle, the customers DO have a right to some entitlement. If entitlement is keeping your word, yes, I think customers are entitled to it.

I think this is ridiculous. Best Buy is ultimately a business. Right? or am I wrong? I mean they are here to make money. That is the point of the business. They have to stick to their policies. What if every customer came in and tried to haggle to a price below cost? They would lose any possible profit and then some. Ridiculous.

True. A business can go under by not making a profit on sales. But, they can also go out of business by making a profit on sales but loosing sales because of bad customer service. That's the point of the post-- bad customer service can put you out of business.

I agree that bad customer service can lead to the end of a store. I don't believe, however, that you received bad customer service. I think that if you read the price match policy at Best Buy, that they only price match local retailers. I think that by sticking to their policy they can have great customer service and EQUAL customer service. Some one did mention the sense of entitlement people think they have when they walk into a store like Best Buy...and I think its wrong. Just because they didn't make an exception for you...I don't think that is bad customer service. I think they stuck to their policy, and I think that's fair customer service.

Reneging on your word is not good customer service IMO.

Best Buy's price match policy is for local retail competitors only btw so Amazon wouldn't count no matter which Best Buy store you visit.

In response to "diamondback13": Pt: 2

1.) "You're a joke, and obviously an arrogant one at that." No, I'm just right. And you sound like a 2yr old that didn't get a toy at the toy store.
2.) " guess that you, as a consumer, have money to burn, and love to throw it away needlessly" Well, if that's your perception of things, then why do you even leave your house? Why not hide all your money under the mattress? Why do so many people feel that they are entitled to a discount on everything? Simply because you're a customer?
4.) "I've worked in retail/wholesale for 25+ years - the billion-dollar company that I work for is obviously doing something right, even in this economy" Does your e-penis look bigger now? Kids....
3.) "It's BB's policy to price-match, remember - so how is that negotiating or asking for a discount when it's part of their written policy?" Price-Match, Yes. Know the rules of the game before you play. Prict Match doesn't apply to online websites, nor does it include rebates, as BBY does not have mail-in rebates. If you like to wait for a rebate then be my guest. Really? Really??

I hate Best Buy...Grandville Michigan store threatend to call the cops on me when I demanded my "diagnostic" fee reversed. (BB wanted $260 to erase spyware) cost me zero dollars to reboot my computer and start from scratch) anyway, I informed the manager that I was a former Corrections Officer and Former Cop and to tell the cops to bring Tazers because I use Pepper Spray as steak seasoning....needless to say I got my money back and asked never to return, to which I informed the store manager that returning to Best Buy will not be a problem...

In response to "diamondback13":

1.) "Perhaps too many of you have forgotten that w/o those customers making purchases, the retailer makes no $" And yet if they give everbody who comes in a discount because they missed the sale and feel they are entitled to a discount then they would be out of business. You veiw is distorted. Think about what you say before you type.
2.) "We, the customer, pay YOUR bills." Really? There goes that ignorant sense of entitlement again. I like how you feel that since you are a customer you can A.) Not only come into the store and recieve anything at a discount. But, B.) That because you are buying that item, and wanting said discount, that you run the store. Again, get over yourself.
3.) "too many of you are jaded, minimum-wage whiners from the "entitled" generation" "mimimum-wage whiners"? Really? Yet you are the one whining about a discount on an item that has already gone off sale? Maybe if you didn't have a "minimum-wage" job you would be able to afford the actual price. "entitled" generation" Right! Yet, you're the one who feels like you're entitled to a discount. The price is as marked. Do you do this everywhere you go? Do you feel entitled to a discount of your "Big Mac"?
4.) "that don't want to try any harder than you have to" Allow me to fix that for you:
"that don't want to pay any more than you have to". Fixed!

You're a joke, and obviously an arrogant one at that. I guess that you, as a consumer, have money to burn, and love to throw it away needlessly - I'd love to have you for a customer. It's BB's policy to price-match, remember - so how is that negotiating or asking for a discount when it's part of their written policy? Obviously you're another one of those bitter retail-folks. I've worked in retail/wholesale for 25+ years - the billion-dollar company that I work for is obviously doing something right, even in this economy. But you short-sighted folks just keep on thinking what you're thinking - you'll be next...

LOL yikes calm down Wal Mart Employee. I think the point that most people need to understand is that price matching is 100% up to the managers in the store. There are a million variables that go into if they will do it or not. Day of the month, total sales/margin for the day,other product in the sale, even a customers buying history. It really is 50/50 if your gonna "get a deal" or not. The policy does say that it only match's local competition, but that really went out the window about 5 years ago for Best Buy. Once there strategic initiatives switch to acquiring market share they began to take all sales. The "policy" is just there to fall back on in case you cant verify something about another store or for anything that is to good to be true. Hell I had some dude come in and try and buy 3 50" plasmas for 1K each. LOL yeah right! Anyways obviously since your a quoting a book that I have read too you either know what your talking about or at least kinda do. Just take it easy cause most customer don't understand all the different variables that go into a decision on a transaction where the store is gonna loose money.

It's true most consumers, including me, do not know what goes into the
decision to match a price. And policy is not Gestapo law-- managers have
certain discretion to make exceptions-- as John did for me. His statement
"Today is your lucky day" says a lot to his power to jump policy for a
customer. It's an individual call. He made it in my favor. But then he
went back on his word-- I can only guess it was because of me passing onthe
anti-virus and warranty (but I have no direct proof). Forget everything
else, all that mattered to me as a customer was his word-- and his not
keeping it.

sorry, not a Wal-Mart employee - there are more than just them in that realm - that's ok, though, if you were trying to degrade me by insinuating that. Whatever... My whole diatribe on this started not because of his specifics on the "asking for a discount" or "price matching", but because of the wholesale venom spewed by everybody else that think that because they work at their minimum-wage retail job, that the customer doesn't matter - not realizing that the customer matters more that they think. It helps explain the terrible attitude that I see with retail clerks in general. There are many other books that expound upon it, but I doubt many of the folks that are whining have ever read them.

You guys who despise the customers are hilarious! Typical righteous retailers... Perhaps too many of you have forgotten that w/o those customers making purchases, the retailer makes no $, and therefore has no need for any of the salespeople (See: Circuit city). We, the customer, pay YOUR bills. Want us to walk away and spend our money elsewhere - all too many places, with much better customer service, are willing to take it. Talk about "Policy" - 1st off, "Policy", since it's written in terms of the company, not the customer, exists to tell them what they can't do for a customer, not what they can do - it exists to give the company a way to say "no". Try reading Jeffrey Gitomer's "Customer Satisfaction is worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless" - you can learn a lot - too many of you are jaded, minimum-wage whiners from the "entitled" generation that don't want to try any harder than you have to, even to make a sale, as you'll see another customer in then next 20 seconds. When enough customers have had enough, and take their business elsewhere, and spread that negative word-of-mouth, it will start impacting these businesses, which will impact your livelihood, and you'll ask yourself "why me?", when your attitude was taking you that direction all along... So, if you think consumers/customers are a dime a dozen, you're thinking like the dot-com folks did ("this will always be here"), and soon enough, you'll be wrong - mark my words.

The writer of this post sounds like a very annoying customer. A sale is a temporary offer from the company that is given for many reasons. Your sense of entitlement to that sale price, whenever you want, is unreasonable. If the price tag says x dollars, you get it for x dollars. Stop whining.

Missing the sale -- my fault. Not being a man of your word --- your fault (meaning Jim). My whining is over the latter.

Seriously, you started getting your undies in a bunch over the fact that they didn't want to give you the sale price on an item AFTER the sale has ended? Do you understand what a sale even IS?

Yeah, I messed that up.

I guess i will admit right off the bat i actually worked for Best Buy for years, and can honestly say they are a good company. LOL now with that being said,when the manager (which i doubt he was BTW) said he would give you the price, that should of been that, even if he didn't see the rebate that's his bad, not yours. But what you need to understand is that im sure if you bought that laptop without anti virus or a "service" plan they will no doubt loose about 200 bucks or so driving there GMD (margin dollars)and GMP(% of dollars that should be margin) down for the day. Once again not an excuse to screw a customer but im just saying that's why they were acting that way. As of a couple of years ago it was "policy" not to price match mail in rebates. Due to the fact usually Best Buy would get some kinda kick back from a manufacture when they sell a product with a rebate to make up for the margin dollars. I don't think this is exactly best buys fault here, simply a case of awful training and even worse leadership. The best advice i would give you as a former manager is to find out the address for there district office and send them a letter.Trust me that will get them in gear. That survey shit at the bottom wont do anything except make them laugh and calling that 1-800 line, well that will just waste an hr out of your day.The ironic part is that one of my former employees called me and told me about this article. Oh one more thing. The people walking around looking grumpy, another example of a bad managers in that store. Good luck man and sry about your shitty experience

Wow, one of the best comments in this thread. I thank you very much.

So I was watching TV and a saw a Best Buy add come on and thought of something for you to do. Go on BestBuy.com and go to store location. Put in your City State and other info and look at the store that you went to. Next to the store there should be a store # somewhere. Get that number and make sure you post it in your main article for people to see. Since I know for a fact that Best Buy employees are reading this maybe you will get the attention of that store or its District and some action will be taken. Anyways once again good luck man, i would expect someone would contact you one of these days about this, since negative publicity is never good and even worse in this economic climate.

Wow, one of the best comments in this thread. I thank you very much.

WOW! Very well put and I love the take on the topic.

1.) "I ask Dave, a friendly young saleman to look up the best price a specific computer had sold for." So, I would assume you would email Amazon and ask them for the lowest price an item has ever sold for right? And when you go out to dinner you ask the waiter what the lowest price the meal has gone for right? If you don't do this for everywhere you go, then why make a big deal about doing it here? 2.) "I then ask if they would match the Amazon online price, which was slightly higher." If Amazon had it in stock and cheaper, then why didn't you order it? Do you do that same thing with other retailers? If you see a shirt online for a good price do you go to Macy's and ask them if you can get it at that price? 3.) "John then appears & says “I’m sorry, we can’t match that price because of the rebate. You didn’t tell me.” Whoa now horsey, what’s that you say? I remind John that I had come to him to get the lowest Best Buy sale price & had only mentioned the Amazon price to get closer to it as we were negotiating." So you think because you didn't come into the store on the day of the sale that you are somehow entitled to recieving your own sale? Why even have a sale in the first place if anyone can come in and get the sale price whenever they want? When Amazon has a sale, and you miss it, do you e-mail them for that sale price 2 weeks later? Really, your sense of self-entitlement is disgusting.

I don't think my sense of customer service is disgusting.Do you?

You're the reason that Jim's face is permanently sour. The poor sap gets just over minimum wage, I'm sure, and you pester him to for some price he's not authorized to offer you. Trying to buy a laptop at a sale price.... how long after the sale expired? Do you know what expired means? It means the price is no longer available. Jim is neither authorized nor obligated to offer it at that price. If you want to haggle with kids over electronics, go to a third world country.

Asking questions is not haggling.

If the question your're asking is "will you give me this item for less
than the listed price", that's the definition of haggling.

Guilt of haggling by question. Asking to match a competitor's lower price
would also meet your definition of haggling. I disagree. I see haggling as
a back and forth arguing.

Guilt of haggling by question. Asking to match a competitor's lower price
would also meet your definition of haggling. I disagree. I see haggling as
a back and forth arguing.

Im not suprised they would do something like that. I bought my first computer at bby I got the full 2 year warrenty and all so when my power button broke in the frist year i took it to them. They popped it out and gave it back with in a week. It happened again so i brought it back took another week they did the same thing. The third time it happened my warrent was up thats when they told me what needed to be done to really fix it and it would cost 150$ to repair. I told them i had been here for the same reason 2 times before and why was this not done then when i had my warrent. the Dumb squad agent had no reply for me. I laughed and took it up the ass

I can't stand people who seem to think they are entitled to something special when walking into a store such as Best Buy. Here's a reality check - you aren't a unique little snowflake, there's nothing special about you or your money, and if you walk away from a sale you are only hurting yourself, not the company. Best Buy is in business to make money, not make you happy. That's their bottom line, just like you're bottom line is to buy the laptop at the lowest possible price.

You're right in saying that $40 won't break Best Buy's back, but why should they sell to you for less when they can sell to someone else for more? Surely you wouldnt sell something you owned for $10 when there were 1000 people within a 5 mile radius that were willing to pay you $100 for the same item. Why should you expect handshake John to make a similar sacrifice? Although John is just a low-level manager in charge of enforcing policy, he still has a store budget to make every month that both he and his employees rely on for their own personal income. If John doesnt hit his budget, he and his fellow managers and supervisors make less money, and the hourly associates on the floor will likely see a considerable drop in hours in their next schedule. But surely that $40 won't break Best Buy's back...yeah, get real. If every manager of every Best Buy shared your attitude and began slashing their prices to satisfy the unrealistic expectations of customers like you, Best Buy would cease to exist. The fact that you asked them to match an EXPIRED sale price is ridiculous in itself, and is where I would have ended the conversation with you if I was the manager.

If it is ridiculous to ask, I plead guilty. But maybe it's ridiculous to give your word and say "Today is your lucky day" when you are going against store policy, costing BB money, and doing something that can get you fired. Just sayin.

Hey you can get mad all you like at those people (John and Jim) It's Best Buy's policy... I'm sure those two men did not want to lose their jobs over your $40... You should probably take a close look at Best Buy's price matching policy... they don't match online and they don't match rebates.

A simple no from John would have ended it.

The thing most people don't realize is that Best Buy has to charge more for a particular product than Amazon b/c of the store front expense. Amazon doesn't incur these costs. They don't have to pay salespeople, a lease, utilities, etc for each store. I do agree that if the manager said that he would honor the price he should have honored it. When an employee checks the "lowest price sold" this is the lowest sale price in the last 30 days. When an item is on sale the particular product vendor does give Best Buy a "kickback" on the product which allows Best Buy to sell it below cost at that particular time. The ads rotate so the item he wanted will go on sale again. Morale of the store, be patient.

Thanks for sharing that.

What a douche that customer is. If I were Best Buy, I wouldn't want this flea-market-haggle-on-everything a-hole back in my store. It's jerks like that who make people like "sour-faced" Jim. Hell, I'd be sour too after that stupid ordeal.

You sir are the worst kind of customer there is. What makes you so elite that you think you can get items at sale price when it is not on sale? You have no respect or thought process for how things work in the real world. Very often notebooks go on sale that low in order to entice customers in the store, and they take a loss on every unit sold. They are trying to attract people into the store that will hopefully get anti-virus, warranties, and other items to actually make a profit... and stay open. Go to Amazon if you want that price, and quit wasting everyone's time.

I went to Circuit City to buy the computer. Customer service should work in
the real world. If you think BB gave good customer service, we will waste
each other's time trying to debate it.

What a douche that customer is. If I were Best Buy, I wouldn't want this flea-market-haggle-on-everything a-hole back in my store. It's jerks like that who make people like "sour-faced" Jim. Hell, I'd be sour too after that stupid ordeal.

Ouch. A question is not a haggle. A simple no from the mgr would put an end to any doucheness (is that a word?). Hey, but you're entitled to your opinion.

You have some valid points. Best Buy staff members do start to treat customers differently if they are not buying extended warranties or extra software or battery backups. But, Best Buy is a retail company whose sole purpose is to make money. They are not a flea market or bargain bin or even lets make a deal. If you wanted a better price on a product you should have bought it when it was 200 cheaper rather than going in expecting them to drop the price only for you.

I just think you make more money with great customer service.

I do not recommend ever shopping at best buy becuase if you need to return something you are out of luck. I recently attempted to exchange a 149.99 mac office program that my college daugter purchased. I found the same elsewhere for $50.00 less. We decided to return to best buy in the hussle and bustle of moving to college it turned out that my daughter thought we returned it and I thought she did until we (my wife) found it in a cabinet. We knew we could not get our money back because it was 5 days over the 30 but we thought we would exchange for a TV. NO WAY JOSE!! THE RUDE SUPERVISIOR ( THE GENERAL MANAGER WAS NOT AVAILABLE. SHE WAS QUEEN OF RETURNS FOR THE DAY SAID THAT THE REGISTER SYSTEM COULD NOT ACCEPT ANY RETURNS OVER 30 DAYS. SHE SAID IT SIMPLY WOULD NOT WORK. (YEA RIGHT) TELL THAT TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT HAD AN EXECTIVE POSITION IN RETAIL FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS. SHE WOULD NOT GIVE THE DM OFFICE PHONE NUMBER. OR THE CEO NAME OR ADDRESS. NO ALL THEY COULD GIVE IS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE #. I CALLED CS JUST A LITTLE WHILE AGO AND GUESS WHAT---NO DICE. THE CS REP CALLED THE STORE AND TOLD THEM MY SAD STORY BUT NO WAY NO RETURN.
I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE PLEASANT AND PROFESSIONAL DURING THE CONVERSION I MADE NO THREATS OF NEVER SHOPPING AT BEST BUY AGAIN PRIOR TO THE REP CALLING THE STORE. WHEN THE REP EXPLAINED THAT HE WOULD SUPPORT THE SM. I DID SAY THAT I UNDERSTOOD THAT HE WAS DOING HIS JOB AND HE IS NICE ENOUGH HOWEVER HE NEEDED TO KNOW THAT I WILL NEVER EVER STEP FOOT IN A BEST BUY AGAIN. I TOLD HIM THAT I HAD MADE PURCHASES OF A LAP TOP AND I POD MUSIC DVD ETC. BUT I CAN TAKE MY BUSINESS ELSEWHERE AND I WILL. SO WHO IS THE REAL LOSER HERR? I COULD NOT HELP MYSELF I CALLED THE STORE. AGAIN THE GENERAL MANAGER WAS UNAVAILABLE. I GUESS HE THINKS HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA OR SOMETHING. I SPOKE WITH THE MANAGER ON DUTY ( I GUESS) AND HE SAID THAT HE WAS THE ONE WHO SPOKE WITH CS AND REFUSED THE RETURN BECAUSE HE HAS TO BE CONSISTENT WITH ALL CUSTOMERS. I SAID NOT YOU DON'T.
I AGAIN EXPLAINED THE SITUATION AND TOLD HIM THAT I AM IN RETAIL ETC ETC. NO DICE. I TOLD HIM THAT I WILL NEVER SHOP BEST BUY AGAIN AND HE DIDN'T FEEL EITHER WAY ABOUT THAT FACT. I AM SURE HE JUST WANTED ME OFF THE PHONE.
I AM MAD AT BEST BUY--- YOU BETCHA---PS THE CS PERSON DID OFFER A $50 GIFT CERTIFCATE. I THINK I WILL GIVE IT TO SOMEONE WHO IS JUST WALKING INTO THE STORE FOR AN EARLY HOLIDAY PRESENT.

Jay

I would probably love your father because he apparently shares the same values I feel are important-- honesty and trust to keep your word. To old timers like me and your dad, a handshake was a symbol of trust. Evidently, that is no longer the case. Too bad.

The main reason I would not buy a computer from Amazon is mainly because I could not take it back to a physical store. In fact, when I did buy the laptop from Circuit City, it had a few bad pixels. I took it back the next day and they gave me another one-- no problem. Easy. If this would have happened with Amazon, I would have had to box it and mail it and wait.

Thanks for taking the time to give your opinion.

I agree that when John told you he'd give you the price with the handshake he gave you his word and I also agree that when someone gives you his word it should be honored.

That being said I am a Best Buy employee an can tell you personally that I would have acted the same way if I was in John's position. As much value as a place in giving my word to someone I can guarantee that sitting somewhere in an office in that store was a stack of paperwork he signed acknowledging policies and operating procedures and the consequences of breaking them(termination). As much as I want to honor my word, its not worth being fired over.

As far as the statements that if you would have bought the warranties you would have gotten different treatment all I can say is that would be different from person to person. I know some managers who would do that but I can say personally it doesn't make a difference to me.

When it comes to purchasing accessories or other things with margin, not only would it have been throwing the associate a bone, it would have also given him something he could have marked down to maybe make up for some of the difference.

Bottom line is we can only work within our means with what you are buying, and on an item like a computer that has little to no margin, there is not much we can do besides price match according to policy and take the loss.

I hear you Blue Crew. But one's word should trump profit margin- but hey, that's just my opinion. As a mgr. Handshake John, and the person he spoke to in the office w/my price printout, knew the store policy and all the things you mention. They chose to match the price. They could have chosen to say, "Sorry, but we just can't do it.. profit margin, price matching policy, etc." I could accept this because, as you say, one can only work within their means.

dudetou

Yeah, that's my wife's point of view too and I agree with you that money-wise, it's only $40 bucks to me. BUT it is also only $40 bucks to Handshake John & BB. And that 40 bucks cost BB a pissed customer. (heck, even the queen of england might be pissed :) who told all his friends how "you can't trust BB to keep their word". That's really the point of the story-- badwill travels faster than goodwill and Handshake John bought BB some badwill for $40. As a business, I don't think that's a good thing-- of course, you have your right to disagree.

And yeah, it's 40 bucks in my case, but what about if it happens to someone else and it's over more money-- does the fact it's only 40 bucks make it OK to renege on your word and handshake-- maybe it does.

Thanks dudetou for commenting.

selsius,
you're bickering over $40. so the manager changes his mind after a "handshake". get over it! this isn't the camp david peace accord. you aren't that important! and you're not worth the time you're sucking up by hounding every BB employee just to get $40 dollars.

hellooooo..., just because you're a shopaholic at BB doesn't make you the queen of england. there are millions of other customers for these BB employees to serve. You ain't that important. now go back to your dead end job and return back to the reality of your pedestrian existence.

Never trust people to actually take pride in being mans of the word. Its just not that way anymore. When i grew up your word was your bond. It's like scarface says all I have is my word and my balls and i dont break them for no one. That John should have made damn sure he knew what he was doing before he gave that hand shake. Forget the money whats is important is knowing who you can trust. one person might sell it for cheap but it does you no good if they stab u in the back and takes it back.

Hi Drew

Yes, I understand. Had John told me that when I asked, there would be no story. But Handshake John did match the price. Then he reneged.

That is best buy policy. We cannot match a price that is not a local retailer. Sorry Bud. Im not trying to be mean about it. Thats just the bottom line.

I, for one, am not going to quit asking if a merchant can do a price match just because some person at this site stated that a customer is "whiny" for doing so. (And, yes, I have worked in retail before, so I know about that side of it. I think that a customer who at least asks if a discount is possible is savvy. And, no, I don't mandate that the customer be rude, but the customer is within his/her rights to ask --- geez! Asking is not being rude)! I am not the whiny type NOR am I stupid. I like to keep as much of my money as I can in my own pocket. I don't just freely give it away. It is much too hard to earn to just throw away. I am willing to pay a fair price for a purchase, but why should one pay more than is necessary? My motto is the following: If you don't ask, you don't get. *** Sometimes, when you ask, you still don't get, but it is worth a try!

You remind me of my father, someone whom I absolutely LOATHED to shop with.

If it was such a big hassle for you to wheel and deal with Best Buy, why argue and argue your point and just click your fat lazy hands over to amazon.com and purchase the laptop on their website?

I worked at Best Buy for two years and although I hate the company with a passion, I have to side with them on this one.

Best Buy definitely loses money on all computers it sells. Want to know how I know? because with my employee discount (which was 5% above cost), I was granted a discount on everything except pretty much computers, and video game systems.

I do agree with your complaint about the service plans, etc. I seriously hated trying to offer those.

You are right anonymous. I sacrifice the reward zone because of my disloyalty to the BB brand. The brand did not stand by me, so I do not stand by the brand.

Why go to a competitor if they have the same price? They still dont have reward zone. If you instead bought everything from best buy, that was the same price, you would at least get a few dollars back. Yet if you are wealthy, unlike i, i suppose that doesnt matter.

Hi Susan. No, I am not still pining. I stopped after I got a better deal somewhere else.

What I am doing is acknowledging the comments of people who still take the time to give their opinion-- positive or negative. I do it out of respect for them.

PS I did not boycott Best Buy. An earlier comment made me rethink that (sorry I forgot who it was-- but thanks). I still go there to compare prices but I am no longer a loyal customer, or even a good customer. If Best Buy and a competitor offer the same price-- I go with the competitor.

(Yes, there are no perfect managers & I did not expect one-- only one who honors their word.)

OH MY GAWWWD, It's been over a year and you're still pining over this? You might embarrass your wife more by the grudges you keep.
Just boycott the place and you'll see that there are no perfect managers anywhere. BOO!!!

Thanks for commenting Metermax. Let me try to explain it better.

I asked for the sale price of the laptop--- the sale had expired. I was late-- my bad. Later, when I spoke to the mgr. I asked about a price match from Amazon. He could have said no & that would have been the end. He didn't. He agreed to match it (after speaking to another manager).

There was no sign on the details of price matching-- nonetheless, I handed THE MANAGER the price printed out from my computer that I pulled from Amazon. This was not a trick--- this was to honestly show him where I got the price (& the printout said rebate--- so what was I hiding?)

Now, if a manager does not know about Amazon or can't read a printout --- hmm-- maybe that's why he went to show it to another MANAGER. Gee. TWO managers and neither could tell me--"sir, we don't do amazon & we don't do rebates. See ya"

Yes, you are right about embarrassing myself in front of my wife.

SF Jim made that call after I turned down the warranties ---- if I took the warranties, Jim would not have called.

Yes, you are also right about people making mistakes. But I do not think it was a mistake here-- 2 mgrs, who know the business shake my hand on an Amazon price. But if it was their mistake, a businessman conscious of good customer service and goodwill would have still honored their word to a customer. Again, just my opinion.

You obviously knew that you were asking for the laptop at the price with the rebate. It was deceptive of you.
By their store policy and the policy of many stores, which I'm sure you already know, price matching does not include rebates.
You tried to trick a busy manager into giving you a price that was against store policy, and you got caught. You didn't value the manager's job, but he values it.
I can't identify with your poor customer service claims. People make mistakes, and he admitted that.
You obviously embarrassed yourself in front of your wife, and that's the real reason you didn't buy the thing.

Buy elsewhere if you must, to save face for yourself.

I have a situation with Best Buy that is another example of Best Buy's crappy customer service.

Back in November, 2006, our family bought a 47 inch Westinghouse LCD TV at Best Buy (for around $1700-not including the 3 year warranty). When we bought it,
we were told that if we bought the 3 year protection plan, the TV would be repaired or replaced in a timely manner no matter what happened to it (broken, struck by lightning, etc...), so of course we bought it. Well, the weekend of
July 8th the TV stopped working (it was working Saturday night, when we went to turn it on Sunday morning, it would immediately turn itself off). So, that same day I called the 1-888-Best Buy number you are supposed to call for
repairs/service and was told that they didn't have a technician available until July 23rd. Although I was very unhappy with that, I made the appointment for the technician to come on the 23rd.

Finally, the big day arrives and the technician comes (takes a quick look at the TV) and informs us that they need to order a part. He will order the part to be
delivered to our house and we have to call (the same 1-888-Best Buy number that took over two weeks to get a technician out in the first place) to schedule an
appointment for the technician to come out again.

Needless to say we were very upset at this news and asked for the TV to be replaced - we were told by the Best Buy customer service reps that because the technician says it can be repaired, it cannot be replaced. Then we found out
that the part has been back-ordered and wouldn't be shipped out until August 7th (a month since we've been able to watch our TV). Once again, we asked that the TV be replaced, the Best Buy rep said that Westinghouse will not allow it to be replaced if it can be repaired. So I called Westinghouse and was told that whether or not the TV is replaced is up to Best Buy. When I called Best Buy
again, I was told that our case was sent to the "Review Board" to decide if it could be replaced and we would get an answer within a week. I was called a few days later and told that the "board" decided that our case didn't qualify for replacement. Then we recieved a call to let us know that the ship date of our back-ordered part has been moved back to August 11th. I am at the end of my rope - I would think that when we paid that kind of money for not only the TV but the extra money for the protection plan, I think it is unreasonable expect for us to be without our TV more than a month (and if it takes over two weeks to get a technician appointment again, it will be almost 2 months). If my car was under warrenty and was in the shop to be repaired and it was going to take more that a few days to be fixed, the dealership would give me a loaner car - I asked if I could get a loaner TV, corporate said that was up to the local store, so I called the store where we have always done most of our shopping and was told that there is no program in place for that service. Another bothersome thought is, we don't know that this part will fix the TV (the tech said he "thinks" this is the problem) The customer service rep told me if that is the case, they will surely replace it at that point (After all this, I wonder what loophole they'll come up with at that point).

Today is now August 8th - 1 month since our TV worked - 1 day past the original back order date and 3 days short of the new back order date and we are still sitting with no television, although we paid over $2000 CASH for a
television/warranty. We have had to endure a summer with company coming to visit where we couldn't enjoy a movie or program together. Now (preseason) football is getting ready to start up, and still no television where we can
enjoy a game with our family/friends. You can be assured that we will think hard before we make any major purchases from Best Buy again - and I doubt seriously that I will
ever spend the extra money for a "protection plan" again - this has offered us absolutely NO protection. Best Buy has already lost a major purchase from us - last weekend, we purchased a laptop computer for our son at Circuit City - although a $1000 computer may be small change to Best Buy - it is the people who make the small, daily purchases that keep their company in business. Everyone we have told our story to is appalled that Best Buy has let this situation go on for a month now, with no end in sight. I would think that Best Buy would live up to their responsibility (even if they have to take a loss on the TV) to show that they appreciate their customers business. I would Like to know how to get a letter or e-mail to the president of Best Buy, I can't seem to get past "Tony" who wants to think he is the end of the line. You can't tell me that if it was one of the Best But Big Wigs that had been without a television for the majority of the summer, something would have been done about the situation by now.

I do not call it Best Buy, it is Worse Buy. I have had 9 instances of poor service. This last time has fried me. My son's laptop which was close to $2500, Sony Vios, went in for problems with the left mouse pad sticking. They sent it from Washington State to California, and in transit, they cracked his LCD monitor. They replaced it, sent it back and guess what???? It was broken in transit back. Now he has to return to college in less than a week and I was told it would take 2-3 weeks to fix.

My thought, you not broke it once, but twice, either replace or refund my money. The "manager" who I was told by customer service was not in, said there was nothing he could do. Guess what? I filed a small claims case and I will buy him another one. I will NEVER purchase from Worst Buy again. My lap has been in multiple times for the same thing. One time, they forgot to send it out, so it sat for 2 wks in the store until went in to see the process. That was last year. Just rec'd it back again and it is still not working correctly. But it was only 1/2 the price of my son's.

Dear mislead Protector:
Good work on being an appliance rep lets leave it to that rather than trying to represent OUR whole company. (HT rep) Your only going to bitched and moaned at if you take it. You tell them that its in the fine print and if they still dont like it you grab a manager, EASY as that. Sellsius you are right loyal customers are what we needm if you have a bad experience yoru gonna tell all your friends, if you have a good experience maybe it will get out, but if you have an experience with an employees name that name will get out to all your friends and they'll come back to see that employee personally. Which is why we're supposed to offer our name protector. Our market is dimminishing rapidly, Wal-mart may have the best prices but we offer service and name brands. Saying that we dont make money off people like sellius is ridiculous, if we offer horrible customer service to them then yes we're just seen as a price tag but if we offer good customer service they should come back regardless if they have a coupon or not. Having worked for CC and BB it was apparent that the people that came to CC expected bad service and came in with an attitude also they are the ones that wanted the deals because the were treated like crap. Not that i didnt make deals at best buy but it was a considerable deal less because of the respect we show our customers.

(No problem sellsius you did the logical thing anyone would, the managers screwed up)

Protector, what store # are you, or state?

Oh my dad sent this website to me and felt i needed to chime in but yeah the board seems to have surged the past couple days/weeks.

Protector,

I see your point but don't you think a loyal (good) customer is the most important assest of a company and its brand? IMO, if you take the position that the good customer is entitled to nothing---you will lose them, slowly but surely. If a store brand gets the reputation as being customer unfriendly (or has crappy products), they lose that customer and others. The word eventually gets out.
The saying "the customer is always right" may be old school but it holds a truth.

If the failure of CC, BB and others is due to demonical customers (I dont know if that's true), there must be a hell of a lot of them out there to make a difference in their survival. In a country with a free economy, it just makes logical sense to get the best price, especially for fungible commodities. (the monopolies, like the cable companies, screw you, but where you have a choice, you take it) If BB has the same products as everyone else they have to compete on price/variety (that's why Walmart wins) OR give superior customer service. Check out a company called Cabela's to see how great customer service made them number 1:
http://tinyurl.com/2wfbvy

Protector---even if everything you say is true, this story is more about a man and his word. Do you respect a person enough to honor your word? And if someone does not keep their word to you, are you free to go somewhere else or should you continue to give them your business?

Demon Customer Sellsius:

The combination of maniacals such as yourself and Wal-Mart is what is eroding profit margins. You think Wally World genuinely cares about customer service? If you buy a plasma or PC there, who services it? Is there technical support from them? Oh, yeah the manufacturer provides that.....with some guy on the phone in India.

Read the news. Circuit City's is hurting. So is Sears, Tweeter, etc. Even Best Buy, though still profitable (barely), has its back against the wall because "exceptions" are constantly being made in the name of good customer service. Our GM does it all the time and our store's margin is in the shitter.

This is what Best Buy is all about: not just selling you the product, but making sure you get the most out of it for years to come.

I can't tell you how many people get irate at the Geek Squad when they say the service plan doesn't cover spyware or viruses, both SOFTWARE problems. In this day and age, "buyer beware" has never been more true.

BTW, being a good customer entitles you to nothing. Lucky for people like you, Best Buy *does* reward you with the Reward Zone. Otherwise, you pay for a product or a service and Best Buy's only obligation is to deliver said product/service. If you get the service plan and something goes wrong that is covered in the legally binding contract (that's what it really is), then Best Buy is also obligated to cover it.

Just curious---

There have been a lot of great comments here lately and this post is from last year. Where are you all coming from?

(Thanks to anonymous for getting my back lately.)

Protector---I would agree with you but it was not fine print. If you are familiar with Amazon, they make it very clear what the rebate is. Also I handed the printout to Jim & he showed it (in the back) to another manager--so TWO managers looked at it. Besides, I would think managers at BB or any electronics store would be familiar with Amazon and also familiar with rebates. They are in the business to know & I give them the benefit of the doubt they know their job.

As a dhead customer I spent thousands at BB (plasma tv, computers, printers, telephones, etc). Now I am a demon at their competitors--even demon customers need to buy stuff. So I guess I did them a favor.

But consider this---which company will succeeed--those like BB who are more concerned with making money off customers or companies like Amazon who are concerned with customer service.

The manager "reneged" because he didn't see the fine print. Big f-ing deal. Get over it. I am an appliance rep and people come in all the time with the 10-12% off coupons that state *in the fine print* that it can't be applied to special order appliances. Still, people bitch and moan at ME (as if it were up to me) because they didn't read the fine print!

That policy is there for a reason. Best Buy and every other retailer are out to make money. Dickheads like you who buy the computer only are not wanted at Best Buy because we don't make money of you. You are what our CEO Brad Anderson calls a "demon customer."

Here's hoping you spill your coffee on the laptop, which would be covered under the accidental PSP.

blue---I was not trying to cause trouble with my questions (no one called the cops :) Yeah, I could have given up at that point, except Dave said I should ask the manager about getting the sale price. (I checked the post and I forgot to mention that part---so my fault). Handshake John, the manager, after looking at the Amazon printout & showing it to manager 2, said YEs to matching the Amazon price. (I believe John reneged because I didn't buy the extended warranty, anti-virus and spyware.)

But even if Dave didn't suggest I see the manager, I think it is not unreasonable to ask to speak to one. Why is the manager there in the first place?

Re: Good customer service:

Dave's suggestion was the only example of good customer service because he actually helped me by giving me a choice. I don;t think Dave felt he wasn't enjoying his job because he helped me--on the contrary.

good customer service that is.

sellsius,

if you had already asked the associate Dave to price match and he said no, and then he asked the supervisor who also said no, why did you have to keep on insisting to cause trouble? it's customers like you who make it hard for employees to enjoy their job and give customer service.

Arsynal. Your points are well taken.

It boils down to this: Can a man(ager) be taken at his word? In business, if you dont keep your word, will you lose more the one customer you lied to? I think so.

1. If I can shop for the cheapest gas, why not a laptop? If the company offers a price match, why not take advantage of it? If gas stations had price matching, would it be wrong to ask for a price match of a competitor? I asked. They said Yes. Then they reneged. That's basically the whole story. I can't morally or economically support a business that lies to me---can you? It has nothing to do, I think, with being a price shopper---not that there's anything wrong with that :)

2. I am a price shopper but not manical (tho it is of course you're right to say I am)---I do try to get the best price (dont you?)and accept the reality that I may not get it. I asked & the "manager" said yes. If he said no I still would shop there.

The basis of the post is don't lie to your customers--you can lose one and maybe more from bad word of mouth.

First off ANONYMOUS, the personal attack door was flung open by the author of this article, by ridiculing the BBY team members that he came in contact with in this article. Using his immpression of these individuals, as a fair character reference, posting these immpressions, based on 1 interaction with them. Opinions are like @ssholes, everyone has one, and is entitled to one, as am I. It is obvious that the author is a Maniacal Price Shopper, and is failing to accept responsibility for being one, and shifting the blame to the "Managers" for NOT responding the way he wanted them to. Yes, some say he should have honored the offer, regardless of the rebate, but the fact that they were giving him anything off on an internet offer, SHOULD have been enough. They should have looked to see if there were shipping fees, that should have been deducted from the price match as well. I would BANK on the fact that if this guy had had a coupon, for 10% off, and the fine print stated "NOT VALID ON SALE ITEMS" he would still try it, on a sale item, and hope that the salesperson or cashier wouldn't catch it, at first glance. And if told before hand that they COULD use it, would pitch a temper tantrum, and walk out, if the cashier caught it and refused. MANIACAL PRICE SHOPPERS cannot be reasoned with, and only care about getting the price that THEY feel is fair.
You can shop around for the cheapest gas, but do you go to CHEVRON, with your CHEVRON credit card (because that makes you a loyal customer) and ask them to match SHELLS price? But when they say "NO" you go OVER their head to try another person, because you're NOT happy with the answer from the first person. Person #2 tells you that they will match the price a .10 difference, only to find out after saying yes, that .03 of the diffence was due to using your CHEVRON card, and he says "NO" we can only match .07 of that .10, sorry. Then you get pissy, and go to MOBIL, but don't earn any rewards because you didn't have a MOBIL card. THESE are the behaviours of a MANIACAL PRICE SHOPPER!!!

PS. Ask an honest question, accept the answer. Don't ask the question in hopes of finding a loop hole, that you intend to exploit.

Well yes, and i will admit again this was totally their fault, the managers, but amazon is a website and one the mail-in rebate would only apply to them. Best buy actaully got rid of all mail-in rebates. Also they can afford to offer most products considerably lower prices because they dont have hundreds of stores that have utilities bills and such. So depending on where it's from most stores wont match that price, in general.

donb, you got it. I feel better being able to take it back to the store. But I once bought a computer online and had no problem with it.

No, it;s not pay the sticker price at retail store BB---their policy says they match competitors---so if I had a CompUSA price that was lower I'd get the lower price --right? Not the sticker price.

Dude . . . why didn't you just buy your laptop online. If you go to a retail store pay the sticker price. It not let's make a deal. Amazon is Amazon. What happens if you have a problem with your PC what type of service will Amazon give you?

Brenda lets calm that temper ok? like i said to Arsenal, YOU TOO HAVE HAGGLED A PRICE SOMEWHERE, I GUARENTEE IT. there is nothing wrong with what he did, and who are you to tell him it is wrong. Wal-Mart is a horrible example. They may have the lowest price but they have S*** for brands. He was disappointed with the service once and apparently you didnt read his comment how he had been pleased with the service nor did he feel ripped off. So if your bashing him on tgrying to save a buck, you must buy the MOST expensive stuff ALL the time right? Congradulations to your bullying skills they seem to have served you well. Unless you've worked in retail your totally full of BULL!

What should I do then? Should I buy the most expensive gas too?

If the same commodity is cheaper at store A than store B, is it not common economic sense to buy at store A? Is that not the basis of a free economy?

It's cheapskate lowlife trash like YOU that have made Wal-Mart the all-powerful retail GOD it is today! If not for people like you shredding profit margins of retailers there wouldn't have to be massive store closings and layoffs or tricky rebates just so that smaller competitors can stay afloat or barely break even! Other retailers are being driven out of business because dirtbags like YOU can't spend the extra $40 and force them to match online retailers with NO overhead - did you get any assistance from an Amazon.com employee? No, instead you have to haggle for 30 minutes as though your life depends on it just to make salespeople squirm so that you can save a few bucks!

What, I suppose that you also go over to the Starbucks and try to make them match the price of a cup of latte over at 7-11 because it's 50 cents cheaper? Probably not because you’re more than willing to spend $5 on a cup of coffee after having taken it out of the cash drawer of somebody else. I’ll bet that makes you feel like a winner. And you might feel that saving those few bucks is justification enough for your actions and the impact negligible on their business. Well, just like with exhaust emissions multiply that by the millions other jerks out there like you and you break the backs of any business getting that treatment.

People like you that boycott companies because they won't bend down to kiss your ASS in order to keep your business are the reason that companies like Wal-Mart have the pricing power they do today. This past Christmas they decided to break policy and sell LCDs below the manufacturer’s minimum set price. They were more than willing to pay penalties in the thousands of dollars if it meant making that amount up in sales while also screwing their competition, who were barely making any profit on those LCDs to begin with. Matching that price caused most other retailers to LOSE money on those LCDs, but not Wal-Mart since they were able to negotiate a much lower wholesale price to begin with. And if those retailers didn’t match Wal-Mart’s price then what they didn’t sell would wind up being worthless inventory a few months later. They had the choice of taking a smaller loss now versus an even bigger loss down the road. Some choice.

Of course I’ll bet none of that bothered you. You probably parked your family trailer outside the night before so you could be there as soon as the doors opened. Then you probably went to other retailers telling them that if they didn’t match those prices you’d never come back. People like you that are willing to spend an entire day just to save $40 (or I’ll bet in your case even $10) on something and make any salesperson that can hardly afford to accommodate you out to be the culprit and boycott their business when they don’t cave in are absolute trash. You see nothing wrong with what you do and it makes you no different then an adult who sees nothing wrong by messing around with a 10 year old. Whether it’s only a few dollars or only a few years they can get over it….why make such a big deal over it? You don’t give a second thought to any of the ripple effects or other lives your greed might impact so long as you go home with your hard-won bargain. And if you have any shadow of a conscience left it’s no doubt buried somewhere deep in your wallet.

Arsynal lets call down with your personal attack there. It NEVER hurts to ask. And yes to some people reward zone means nothing but to others it means that whenever they spend here they get money back, and they constantly come back trust me I KNOW. Don't act like its a cardinal sin and that you haven't done it before because EVERYONE has even me and i'm a just a kid. Ever heard of dave ramsey? According to what you say he would be the king of this. It may be annoying but there is nothing wrong with asking.

A loyal friend will ask you for a ride to the airport. Is that taking advantage? Did I take advantage of my friend BB if their pricing policy says they'll match a competitor's price and I ASK them if they will match Amazon? If so,I'm sorry. But you miss the whole point. If the manager said no---that would have been the end of it. He said yes (and he went back with the Amazon printout to show it to manager dude #2)--both came out, shook my hand, said "it's your lucky day" and personally escorted me back to sourfaced Jim and told him to give me the Amazon price. Only after I turned down the warranty, spyware and virus protection, did SF Jim make the call to Handshake John. John then nixed the deal with the lame excuse he did not know it was a rebate price---if HS John and manger dude 2 did not see rebate on the Amazon printout---bold & obvious so people could see it--then they are right & I am wrong. But they seemed like smart manager dudes with good eyesight.
Also, I didn't know BB had a one question rule.

PS: Arysnal--you have the right to your opinion and I respect your honesty. thanks for taking the time to comment.

Surprisingly, no one else has caught the fact that you went in to ask your "question" with a plan "B" in place. Can I get the previous SALE price that I missed? NO. Plan B, OK... then will you price match Amazon? That is NOT a loyal customer, contrary to what you think your Reward Zone card stands for. All that card means is that when you DO decide that BBY has the better price, and you decide to buy an item, you'll get merchandise certificates back, that you may use, the next time you decide that BBY has the cheaper price, and you buy something else. You are what is referred to as a "MANIACAL PRICE SHOPPER." Most consumers walk in, see a price for the item they are looking for, if they can afford it, they buy it, and if they can't afford it, they charge it. What makes YOUR $$$$ worth so much MORE, than the person that bought that LAPTOP 5 minutes before you walked in, and paid full price for it? Are you MORE entitled because you "asked the question"? So in my opinion, YOU should have dropped it at the first NO, on receiving the SALE price that you missed. But your MPSS, Maniacal Price Shopper Syndrome, required you to move to PLAN B, and push it. So you really DID get what you paid for, nothing. Which to me is what that handshake stood for as well. But you did get reward certificates for your previous purchases. How's that CC rewards program working for you?

It's BEST BUY, not PICK YOUR PRICE... you should do that before you leave home, and go where you find that best price is. Just like ignorance is NO excuse for breaking the law, ignorance is NO excuse for not knowing a PRICING policy, before you ask for it.

BB had been my retail electronic store of choice. I bought my plasma tv, desktop, video games, christmas gifts. The whole magilla. I always left feeling as satisfied as one can be spending big chunks of money. I NEVER felt ripped off. No, I never felt blown away by service, you are right.
Anon, you make a valid point about remembering the negative. I cannot disagree with it. And that is sort of the point, isn't it. People will remember bad service so be conscious of that. Now at the sales person level, the guy working the floor, I understand. BUT when a Manager gives his word to a customer---I feel they should keep it.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment anon.

Has anyone had any recent experiences good or bad with best buy? Sellius i also wanted to ask you, i know that that experience seemed to have turned you off but how often had you gone in there before? How many times, if ever, did you leave feeling satisfied? Had you ever felt blown away by the service or what you got from there? Anyone could actaully answer this if they want to. People tend to remember the bad over the good because it was negative and unpleasant.

Thanks Truth for understanding. What's odd is he took the printout to show another manager and they both came out and Handshake John said "to me 'it's your lucky day". So 2 managers missed it I guess.

Fair enough, Sellsius...the manager goofed, didn't see the "mail-in" part (which, in most ads, is in small print), said he'd do the deal and went back on it.

Thankfully, Best Buy has listened to its customers and is now completely mail-in rebate free. So now if they say they can't honor a mail-in rebate price match, it's because they won't be reimbursed for it later on.

Although it may have seemed like a good word, it was more like bad eyes. because if he had seen that it was mail-in he surely would/should have stated they could not match it because everyone who has ever been in retail knows mail-in rebates are specific to certain companies and they get reimbursed for what they lose originally which is why a company that does not have the rebate cannot offer it.

Hey Truth, thanks for the comment. I'd rather give the business to a store I had a good relationship with than Amazon. Plus, if there is a problem, it's much easier to drive to my BB and return the laptop. It's nice to do business with a person face-to-face.

I know BB is not a flea market but they have a price matching policy--so the price tags are not written in stone. So I asked a simple question "would they match Amazon"? No, but at another price the mgr & I shook on a price---deal (he could have said NO, get lost). He reneged. I guess I was wrong to take the mgr's word. Has nothing to do with captialism--- just one man's good word.

If the deal at Amazon was so great, why not get it there in the first place? Duh!

Also, retail stores like Best Buy are not flea markets. The price tags are there for a reason. If you don't like it, go somewhere else. Capitalism in motion, baby.

Dear Anonymous,
As Sellsius stated above: Customer trust is what branding is all about. Once lost, it is difficult to regain.

I DID read the warranty and it states AFTER 3 repairs have been completed and a requires a 4th...which, in my case, happened after 30 days since repair #3.
So, when a Geek told me 90 days, I felt like I had lost that window of time needed to bring the camera back in for :::Magical::: repair #4!

If they had honored even a fraction of the 'No Lemon Policy' and tried to keep me as a customer, I would've bought a new camera from Best Buy already. All they said was, "sorry for the misunderstanding"...and then Mr. BB Corporate on the phone said, "Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

Hmmmm...I can think of a few different ways to answer that.
None of which Mr. BB Corporate would enjoy hearing.

First off no matter how bad you want to believe they are trying to 'deal' with you they're actaully trying to HELP you. Your right each geek is different and has their own way of doing things because there are many diffrent ways to do different things whether it be a camera or a computer. Now one of the geeks was MISTAKEN if he told you that it was 90 days. If you had actually taken the time to READ the warranty you would have realized that after the 3rd time you would get a new product. Companies like sony put an extended warranty in their box because its electronics and they know things happen. The parts used to fix your camera are from the MANUFACTURER, so we did our job in fixing it but it may still have been a bad part from them. You may not think so but i'm sure the BB warranty is much more convenient than going directly throught the manufacturer. AS for you computer SELLIUS ask to talk to someone that has been there awhile, you really need not worry about talking to them they'll get you set up!

Oh no, I was planning to take my computer to the geek squad. I will have to get some written assurances and not really on their "word". Thanks for sharing your experience.

Here's what I've learned from the Geek Squad at Best Buy:

1. You're never going to get the same answer from any two geeks.

2. They will tell you only as much as you need to know about how much they can bend those warranty rules...cuz they just want you to leave them alone.

3. 3 geeks is not necessarily better than 2. They go behind the wall in the service area and figure out the best way to 'deal' w/ you.

4. DO NOT sign that acceptance form when they hand you your digital camera back for the 3rd time, cuz THEY're not going to remind you that the 4th time is a charm...and enough reason for a new camera.

5. One of them will tell you 30 days, when another will inform you of a 90 day window from the last date of service.

I bought a Sony Mavica CD400 back in '02 along with the 4 yr. service plan. It needed repairs within the first year. I brought it in and they never stood by the delivery date, giving me one excuse after another. I'd check with them weekly and was repeatedly given the run around. One of them told me the camera didn't even leave the store for repairs for two weeks! I think he was trying to be a good geek or maybe he wanted my husband to stop glaring at him, but that didn't make us feel any better about their service.

For 3 yrs. after that, I tried to avoid that dreaded customer service (stupid me! I should've been IN their face and not accepted the camera when it was returned to me.)
When I started getting reminders to buy another extended warranty,
I brought it back for repairs. September '06 it was sent out, then after getting it back in October, I had to bring it BACK for the same problem! ***This is where I should not have accepted the camera and left it at the counter.****
I was told I had 30 days after that to bring it back for repairs, but another geek recently told me it was 90 days.

It was operating OK within the 30 days, but definitely NOT the 90...HAD I known there were 60 more days to fix this camera, I would've gone back.
After discussing the history of this camera with the Geek Squad today, they gave me the 1-888 "corporate" number and said maybe they would extend my warranty...cuz if anyone could help me, corporate could. I called and got an apology for the runaround.

I would've been happy if they gave me a gift card.
They just lost a good customer.

As far as customer service goes, sour face Jim was just not a friendly person, that's all. I think being friendly and smiling is part of good customer service but it's no biggie to me & really has nothing to do with the point of the story. The story is really about Handshake John, the manager. Handshake John made a deal and then reneged.

My point of good customer service is don't promise a customer a price and go back on your word because that customer may think that sucks and tell all his friends and maybe write a blog post about it.

If you think what Handshake John did was OK, that's fine with me. You have a right to your opinion. Thanks for taking the time to comment Anonymous.

Dear SOUR customer:
Firstly Sour jim, as your inconsiderate self calls him, was in the right. There is a sale price for a reason, if you miss it then you miss it, be patient its not their fault YOU Missed it. Secondly, computers dont have much mark up in them so for it to be $200 off in the first place is a BIG deal. Companies count on selling other products to make up for what they lose on the computer. I will say they should have noticed the rebat before they got to the register though. Thirdly if it was a mail in rebate theres no way they can match that because best buy would not get reimbursed like amazon would. I do not know too much about amazon but I do know since they are a website they can have lower prices because their operating costs are lower than say a stores like best buy. Plus with amazon what if something goes wrong? Not only do you have to wait for the product to be shipped but then you have to send it back and wait even longer. You peoples perception of Best buy is all wrong, people are younger because they are more techno savy than you old people. I have never experienced any poor customer service from best buy and i have found they do have the BEST buy.

ONCE ANY OF YOU HAVE WORKED IN RETAIL THEN YOU CAN COMPLAIN!

I'm sorry you all have had bad experiences but you need to look at it from the other way around.

Thanks i await anyones reply or comments

I find it highly amusing that all the peeps here that disagree with the
origanal posters opinion dont really seem to understand that he was not
trying to force the issue with best buy, he was offered something withought cohersion and didnt not in anyway try to "make" them do it.

it is neither his fault nor his responsibility to take a manageer and his boss by the hand and go over word for word another retailers ad and make sure they understand all the Highlights of said ad

if there to retarded to see the bold print in the ad and offer a better deal anyway they should be bigger than a child like mentality and stick by there offer. Only a poor sport would go back on an offer once it has been made. Its not about who was fiscally right in this situation its about who was being honest. which was clearly not best buy in this situation

i am truly sorry you even bothered shopping there to begin with
those accounts of what the sales people are like and your analogistic names are cute but very accurate it seems of every best buy i have ever been in. Ive been in best buys from california to maine and have never really been impressed with this chain of idiots

I feel your pain. I just drove home from best buy (my third trip in 24 hours) promising myself never to shop there again (yes, I know, never say never). Here's the short version ... bought an xbox 360 premium package and video game last night. Took it home - didn't work. System malfunction, bad hard drive. Instead of sending the hard drive back to microsoft and waiting for another, I drove back to Best Buy to exchange it. All was well. Though their customer service wasn't quick, the guy was friendly, I was in and out in under a half hour. Got home, set up the 360 and, guess what ... system malfunction, bad hard drive. OK, that's almost funny. Took it back today. Explained myself to customer service. When asked if I wanted to exchange it, I politely told them "I think I'll just take my money back and buy it from someone else unless you give me a reason not to?" I got the confused deer in the headlight stare from the young woman working the counter. She got her manager. Her manager asked "do you want to exchange it?" I repeated my statement, explaining that after spending 3 hours back and forth to this place, i don't want to chance getting another bad system ... she looked at me blankly. Told me "sir we can't give a discount on these items" and offered nothing more. Nothing. Not an apology. Not a "sorry for your trouble." Not even a "sucks for you." So I took my money back.

I understand, big corporate stores feel they don't need to value their customers, there's always another one around the bend. But I can exercise my right not to shop there anymore. And my right to post emails and blogs wondering "what the hell ever happened to customer service?"

Best Buys' annual report makes a big deal about how they are committed to "Customer Centricity". Here is what that means in real life. In August, 2006, I bought an Insignia (Best Buy own brand) receiver because of the strong recommendation of the sales clerk. In December, 2006, the receiver literally blew up. I returned it to the store and the Service Representative Amanada said, "Well, you didn't buy the extended warranty and our warranty is only for 30 days, so you are just out of luck."

I left the receiver and bought a Sony 800 at Circuit City. The Sony has a two year warranty.

Moral: Buy at Best Buy at your own peril!!!

No that's not right Brian. I just asked the mgr a question and was given an answer. "No to the sale price". Cool. Then I asked "what about matching this price" (I gave him the printout w/ price). He said, after talking to another mgr, OK deal at that price (which was in fact higher than the sales price). We shoke hands --that's Handshake John. Then he said No Deal. That's basically all the tripe.

I really didn't get pissy (but you could say that). I just walked out without buying it at BB. The reason I walked out was because Handshake John went back on his word. I thought he should have kept it. No problem if you don't understand where I was coming from. You have a right to your opinion.

So wait, let me get this straight - you went into Best Buy *AFTER* a sale was over, wanting to purchase an item at the sale price, and almost immediately, you start getting pissy because they didn't bend over and kiss your ass to do it?

I didn't read the rest of this tripe after discovering that.

Get a life, man. You have absolutely no reason to be unhappy with Best Buy - businesses don't stay in business by giving away product.

NOW,THIS IS A HORROR STORY. 05.11.2005,MY HUSBAND,WENT TOO BEST BUY IN GREENSBORO,NC,. HE PURCHASED A HP PAVILLION PC A1000N,HE ALSO PURCHASED THE EXTENDED WARRENTY FROM BEST BUY. EVERTHING WAS GREAT,UNTIL,I HOOKED-UP A HP SEE THUR SCANNER 4600. IT TOOK-OUT 5 PORTS,THE MOTHERBOARD,DAUGHTERBOARD ,VIDIEO CARD. THIS WAS THE FIRST BENCH REPAIR BY HP. HP DID SEVERAL BENCH REPAIRS.WHEN THE ONE YEAR WARRENTY WAS OUT, 2 DRIVES WERE REPLACED-MY POCKET. NOW IF YOU THINK FOR ONE SECOND.EVERTHING WAS FINE,GUESS AGAIN. AFTER7 BENCH REPAIRS BY BEST BUY. THIS COMPUTER STAYED IN REPOARS,MORE THAN MY HOME.ON 11.02.2006,I SAID DO NOT REPAIR IT,REPLACE IT. I AM NOT THE NICEST PERSON ON THE EARTH. SO I GO TOO BEST BUY.AND TOOKED THEM NO MORE. THE GEEK SQAD GAVE A PIECE OF PAPER AND SAID ,TAKE THIS TOO THE COMPUTER DEPARTMENT AND GIVE TOO THE SALEMAN. I DID SO. I WAS SO STRESSED OUT. I WENT BACK TOO CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ASK IF I COULD GET A COMPUTER-I WANT-I AGRESSED TOO PAY,THE ANSWER IS NO. SO I PICK OUT COMPAQ PRESARIO MEDIA CENTER DESKTOP PC. GUESS WHAT IT DOES NOT WORK.

NOW,THIS IS A HORROR STORY. 05.11.2005,MY HUSBAND,WENT TOO BEST BUY IN GREENSBORO,NC,. HE PURCHASED A HP PAVILLION PC A1000N,HE ALSO PURCHASED THE EXTENDED WARRENTY FROM BEST BUY. EVERTHING WAS GREAT,UNTIL,I HOOKED-UP A HP SEE THUR SCANNER 4600. IT TOOK-OUT 5 PORTS,THE MOTHERBOARD,DAUGHTERBOARD ,VIDIEO CARD. THIS WAS THE FIRST BENCH REPAIR BY HP. HP DID SEVERAL BENCH REPAIRS.WHEN THE ONE YEAR WARRENTY WAS OUT, 2 DRIVES WERE REPLACED-MY POCKET. NOW IF YOU THINK FOR ONE SECOND.EVERTHING WAS FINE,GUESS AGAIN. AFTER7 BENCH REPAIRS BY BEST BUY. THIS COMPUTER STAYED IN REPOARS,MORE THAN MY HOME.ON 11.02.2006,I SAID DO NOT REPAIR IT,REPLACE IT. I AM NOT THE NICEST PERSON ON THE EARTH. SO I GO TOO BEST BUY.AND TOOKED THEM NO MORE. THE GEEK SQAD GAVE A PIECE OF PAPER AND SAID ,TAKE THIS TOO THE COMPUTER DEPARTMENT AND GIVE TOO THE SALEMAN. I DID SO. I WAS SO STRESSED OUT. I WENT BACK TOO CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ASK IF I COULD GET A COMPUTER-I WANT-I AGRESSED TOO PAY,THE ANSWER IS NO. SO I PICK OUT COMPAQ PRESARIO MEDIA CENTER DESKTOP PC. GUESS WHAT IT DOES WORK!

I got a good deal from Best Buy on a plasma TV, or so I thought! Turns out it is a crappy deal if they refuse to deliver and install it at any point in time that you can actually be there. They gave me a window - between 11 and 1 on Wednesday. I said my hubby is home all morning until 11:30, then I arrive at home at 4:00, so between 11:30 and 4 is the only time we cannot be there. They insist that the 11-1 window is the ONLY window they will offer me - at all -any day! A store that cannot accommodate a schedule for a customer who just spent $2,200 deserves to have their doors shut. Consumers unite and quite feeding these morons our dollars!! I plan to use any and all platforms possible to share this information and open the eyes of the American public!

I also had a bad experience with Best Buy, and I *have* resolved never to buy from them again. What good is not being a customer if you end up shopping from them again anyway? They aren't looking at the short-view of things, but the long-view, and if you're still part of that long-view, your complaint is meaningless.

I was also screwed over by Sears. I don't buy from them now. When I went to get a HDTV widescreen, Sears had it $50 cheaper than the local appliance store. I still bought it from the local store. It's not being irrational, it's sticking to your guns, and realizing that if you come back at all, you're not doing them any harm.

So far, Sears and Best Buy are on my "crap list." I don't put stores on there lightly, but I do intend to never buy from either again.

I Disagree

If no online deals, then why did the manager waste his time even looking at the Amazon printout? All he had to do was say "No online deals". Easy, end of story. What happened goes to show it was never about Amazon. If it was about Amazon, a "We dont match Amazon" would have ended it. It was about price, nothing more. The mgr agreed on a price, which happened to match amazon. Asking a question should be an OK thing to do, even in retail, with a price matching policy. I asked & they answered Yes. Nothing was hidden & they know their price points better than me.

PS I have worked in retail. Yes, policy is policy but it is not LAW. Managers make exceptions all the time.

DosJock

Where is the deception? If I hand a manager the Amazon printout (which clearly says rebate--I have to go online to find it---but you know rebate is NOT in fine print at Amazon) & he reads it & another mgt guy reads it, where did I hide anything?

How could I trick 2 intelligent managers who know their price points & store policy better than me---that's just untrue. Please explain the deception.

sellsius° Nov 9th, 2006 at 9:47 pm

"Thanks D Cootey and the rest that understood my point—which is a man should stand by his word."


A man's word is not binding if it was obtained using deception and I'm sorry to say that you haven't a leg to stand on in this.

Quit crying. I'm not going to read all of your comments and replies, but it appears as though you've never worked retail. Price breaks come with quantity... Not just one laptop. I've known BB won't accept web deals for years. You have to take the fact that these websites don't have a front end to keep up, a place to try out the product before buying, or the people to help you make a decision, informed or not. That costs money, that is why the price is higher. I can do without your type of customer in my world. I hate nothing more than having my manager have to cut my legs out from under me when dealing with a whiny customer. Policy is policy. If a car salesman slips and tells you he'll sell you a car for a price that might have been mis-stated, give him the benefit of the doubt. And if you're worried about 40 dollars, maybe you should consider not spending the money on a laptop. Buy food or clothes for your children.....

Thanks Eric. I really appreciate that. I ended up buying from Circuit City about a week or so later. (No I did not relay the experience). Yes, things worked out fine. I bought the same model Toshiba on sale (which was the old BB sale price). After 3 days, it shut down unexpectedly and I took it back and they immediately gave me a new one, no questions asked. No problems since.

Ok. I do apologize for the things that I said earlier and coming off like I didn't support you. What you said makes sense. Perhaps they were just trying to go the extra mile at first but then realized their mistake. They may have lost you as a customer but at least they have their jobs (wish I could say the same but I left my job a month ago) I think because of working in retail, I think those who ask for discounts are shysters (sp?). Then again if you were in the same position, how would you feel and handle the above situation without getting negged from your manager? Where did you end up getting your laptop again? Did you explain what you went through with Best Buy? I hope it all worked out for you.

Eric

Yes. Mistakes can happen. I had been a long time BB customer.

But it wasn't a bang-bang under pressure mistake thing. I came into the store early evening, no traffic, they had time to review, think & decide. Then renege.

It's not like I think it's their job to explain fine print---that's why they have fine print-- so they dont have to tell you all the exceptions. But I think it's not unreasonable to answer a question on the matching policy. If I ask "can you match Amazon?", a simple NO answers the question. I don't expect them to say "Whether we accept Amazon or not is in the fine print, go read it." Does this help?

Also, if Amazon is a definite no-no for store policy, don;t even bother taking the amazon printout. Just say "sorry no". Now, here's where a lot of people miss the point. It has nothing to do with Amazon. It has to do with PRICE. The mgrs conferenced & decided whether they would give me the price. They decided Yes. Then they reneged and blamed it on the rebate (not amazon), when that excuse seems unreasonable given 2 intelligent people examined the printout, the 2 prices were clear (I even think rebate was in BOLD print)& I had just turned down the extended warranties.

If there were no handshake that took place, and/or they told you about the rebate before they agreed on it, would you still have left as a satisfied customer and continued to shop there? I'm just curious.

I don't understand why you believe that it's the store's job to tell you the fine print though. That's irresponsibility on your part. Can you clarify this for me please?

Hi Sandra.
I did not know that online vendors were excluded from price matching at BB and other brick & mortar retail stores. That's why I asked. Had they said no, that's not our policy, that would have been the end of it. I believe it costs you nothing to ask.

Consumer report December 2006 is showing for Walk In Sales that Best Buy is # 27 (3rd from the bottom along with wal mart, compusa) Top for electronic sales for walk in stores:

1) Local independent stores,
2 Costco,
3 Ritz Camera ,
4 Tweeter,
5 Ultimate Electronics.

Now for Internet sales ratings:
In order of best to bottom
1) crutchfield.com
2) costco.com
3) buydig.com
4) amazon.com
5) buy.com
6) jr.com
7) circuitcity.com
8) dell.com
9. Bestbuy.com

Of course with each store there are different variables rated. Best buy was rated worse in customer support for internet sales , and for walk in no rating for customer
support.

Thanks for the blog entry: I didn't even know you could negotiate with online sales comparisons.

Eric

I hear what you're saying and I agree with you except that's not what happened. I did show the manager the Amazon printout that clearly had 2 prices---the price before rebate & the price after---I think the rebate was $50 or $100. And the manager was not hasty. He took the printout and went back to the office to confer with another man, maybe it was his boss. So 2 intelligent people looked at it and both came out & Handshake John said "it's your lucky day" and shook hands on the price. Now, even if these 2 guys somehow missed the rebate, the issue they had was with the "price". That was the bottom line. As I mentioned in the post, I came into the store hoping to get the laptop at the sale price which I missed (my fault). I was hoping that since I was a loyal customer they would sell it to me at that sale price. Now remember that BB sale price was LOWER than the Amazon price. They said a definite No to that & I said fine. That's when I asked about the price match. You with me so far?

Now the store price policy has two components: 1. price matching and 2. If you buy the product and it later goes on sale w/in 30 days, you can get the sale price. So you see it's not neogtiating a price---its BB saying we can give it to you for less under certain conditions. So it's me ASKING to get a price match with Amazon. Now, I didn't know that Amazon is not included in that price matching deal. It's the store's job to tell me: "Hey you big dummy can't you read the fine print---NO online vendors." That would have been the end of it. Why even look at an Amazon printout in the first place if the store policy is NO AMAZON. See what I mean.

I completely understand the store has to have a policy---but a policy is not LAW. There are exceptions and managers have some leeway. In fact, it was the salesman (not Jim) who told me to ask the manager. The manager walked with me back to Sour Face Jim and told Jim to give me the Amazon price. The salesman didn't say to the mgr "You can't do that, it's against store policy."

Bottom Line for me: You're the manager, you make a decision for the customer---keep your word. Otherwise don't give your word.

I'm not taking the side of Best Buy, but they were clearly in the right here. I want to say that you had no right asking for a better deal only because I worked at Guitar Center where negotiating on equipment was common, and that's a retail store; but maybe haggling is a (nasty) practice that you're used to doing. So be it.

The employee was doing his job and saw that the price was after the rebate. At no point in the beginning paragraphs of your post did I see that you too had mentioned that the price was after a rebate. You don't read the fine print, then that's your fault and not Best Buy's. Perhaps the manager was wanting to save a sale and make a common customer happy which is why he acted out of haste, and in a good way of course because it was in your favor. But as they say, haste makes waste, and it was sourface guy that took the time to read the fine print, and save his job.

The majority of salespeople have goals to meet, and that includes both gross sales and gross profit. Profit is basically anything above the list price. It's not the customer's problem to care about the salesperson and how they make a living, but think about it in theory. Let's say that you made the deal. Unfortunately Jim and John both get fired due to this. Maybe they already had made lots of mistakes and this was the last straw. In any case your favorite salespeople aren't there anymore. Now you have new faces in the store. You haggle with them, get to get items below cost. Now since those salespeople aren't meeting their goals, maybe some quit or get fired due to not meeting their goals. 2 things can happen here: 1. The store closes due to losing money from people who can't afford what they want and ask for lower prices for what they want or threaten to shop elsewhere. 2. Eventually the store goes through a never-ending cycle of hiring and firing employees because they try to be customer-friendly but end up doing poor sales due to giving customers too many breaks. In the first case, you're probably going to go to Circuit City or elsewhere, where the same process continues. Stores go by the wayside one by one due to customers demanding lower prices than advertised. Where will you shop then? Maybe one or two places where haggling is not an option, and even if you'd try they can prohibit you from ever shopping there again, because in America any business reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason. In the second case eventually the store would track your purchase history, and not only prohibit you from shopping there, but also alert the other stores in the chain, and perhaps their competitors. I say competitors because while working at Guitar Center, we would alert the competition (and vice-versa) if someone was trying to sell us a stolen guitar.

I understand that your point in this was the principle of the handshake, but you made a shady deal by not informing John that the price you wanted was after a rebate. You shook on a shady deal and hoped that they wouldn't catch the mistake. That really doesn't make you look like the innocent party. If I were there and made the deal I would have made it a no-return policy with no warranty optional, and taken the original box that the computer came in so there would be less chance of you being able to get it repaired from the manufacturer. You'd get the deal with less features, even though I'd be losing money on it, but making the rest of my days there profitable by not having you there anymore. You want it cheaper? Then you're getting what you pay for, and it won't be much.

I agree with what a lot of other people said. If you can't afford it, don't buy it, or look into getting something cheaper instead. Haggling not only makes you look cheap but desperate as well.

You DID get excellent customer service, but you can't associate getting a deal as being equal to good customer service. I'm a repeat customer at the local gas station, but do they give me deals on gas? When was the last time you tried haggling over the price of gas? How hard did the attendant laugh or how quick did he tell you never to come back? If you did manage to haggle over the price of gas, I think everyone who posted here needs to know where you got it so we can do the same and run them out of business.

You said that you did ask and that you felt that was ok. I honestly feel the same that it's ok to ask. However, when they agreed, then checked things again to make sure that they were doing things properly, then corrected themselves to ensure their employment, you refused to shop there again.

Do you see the problem here?

Eric
I think that's what happened to me. Had I taken the extended warranty from SOur Faced Jim he would have processed the sale. When I declined, he called the manager to kill the deal the mgr made with me. SOme secrethandshake told the mgr I didn't buy the warranty.

I my experience with Best Buy, they deliberately lied to me so that I would purchase the "Extended Warranty". I've posted an article about it on my blog.

I have to laugh at two points raised here:

1) The price with a rebate isn't the real price - that is saying the rebates don't work and are fundamentally a scam. Duh & ha! They don't and a scam - look at the breakage rates - even BB is phasing them out (finally.) It would be nice to see a class-action suit.

2) No puke at the store level knows what the cost of the laptop is finally. Yes - they have their lists, but with kickbacks - err, bonus incentives - no one but accountants and the high-levels who negotiate with the manufacturers really know what the real price will be to BB until after all sales within a period are completed and incentives returned. For a schmuck at the store level to smugly state the price is 'below our cost' simply shows why he/she isn't smart enough to work at corporate.

Jake-
what's the point of price matching---is it a real thing or just a phony ploy to get you to buy? I thought it was an honest policy. Price matching means the price is not set & you can buy it below the stated price.

David-
You are right. But I didn't call BB to complain or write any nasty letters because I didn't want to get anyone in trouble or risk them losing their job. I just vented here. I just chalked it up to bad customer service.

Yes,David you also make a very good point on judging by one experience. Maybe I was wrong to just write them off over this one thing. This was only my first experience dealing with management. The guys on the floor have always been cool (except for sour face Jim). So I have to rethink my stand. Thanks.

Blue Bleeding---I see what you're saying & it makes sense. Then how do you explain the mgr going back on his word? Was it because I didn't buy the extended warranty?

Sounds like you tried to pull a fast one and got caught. there is no margin in hardware and stores would rather see you walk than buy. If I had an apple I bought for $2 and wanted to sell it at $2.20 and someone else is selling it for $1.80. would I lower my price to give "give good customer service"? NO. because I am here to make money. period.

The rebait scam, I hate it. But worse you tried to scam these saps into a really low price, you are a scumbag customer.

I understand sellsius's point of how the manager shouldn't go back on his word, and I also understand Tyler's issue with the service he got on his laptop, but here are my opinions on those:

1.) Again, I understand sellsius's point, but if he went back on his word after seeing the rebate, you could have (if you didn't already) called 1-888-BESTBUY and mentioned what happened. If the manager couldn't have given you the rebate from Amazon then he shouldn't have offered you the lower price from Amazon to begin with.

2.) I understand the frustration that Tyler went through (as a BB employee I see it now and then), but when you called to complain and they asked if you wanted the employees fired, you just said no, as that wouldn't solve anything. Maybe it wouldn't have, but you could have asked that the store manager could have been talked to (if he wasn't aleady involved) so he/she knows what went on, or have higherups talk to the store manager.

I hear quite a few complaints now and then, but I also hear the same amount, if not more, compliments about our service. Not every store is the same. Just because you got bad service at one store doesn't mean it's like that everywhere. I know that BB is rated one of the top 10 for worst customer service, but I'm curious to know how many stores they shopped at for that rating.

THey stated in the main 10 best and worst list that we're insistant for selling service plans. For the most part, if they offer you a plan and you don't want it, that's fine. If they ask you again at the front lanes, it's probably incase it wasn't mentioned at the sale. In the case of Tyler's laptop, is there another Best Buy nearby? Where I live there are 5 Best Buys within a 30 minute radius of where I live. If I didn't work there and had bad experience with one I'd just go to another.

My bottom line, while I do understand these issues, you...and CRMLowdown for that matter...can't base customer service off one bad experience. When I ask people if they found everything okay, at least 80% of the time they did and say that the service was fantastic. You can't judge customer service by one bad experience.

The world is not a complicated place until people try to be difficult. If you go to a store to buy an item you pay the stated price. Why do people have to be a jerks; just pay the stated price or go somewhere else. If you decide to buy a computer at Best Buy instead of online than you deserve what you get.

sellsius°
I've worked at Best Buy in Personal Computers Home Office fairly happily for some time now and I can tell you simply that it is a non-commisioned floor. Associates and Supervisors have no real power over pricing. The bottom line comes down to management. Herein lies the problem. I can tell you all day that I would price match something if you provide a printout but I have to follow standard operating procedure. If you had come to me to check out I would have had to make a copy of the printout and file it accordingly in order to do a price reduction. Not to mention a managers override would have been necessary to even total out the purchase at which case the manager on duty would have seen the printout and had a problem with the rebate.
It would be the same thing if you came in and we got your purchase together and before we got to the register you asked "Can I use my VISA if it has my wifes name on it?"
If I didn't know any better (which sales associates don't at my store because they don't have register training) I would say "Sure, that won't be a problem"
Would the front lanes permit it? Not a chance in hell. Unfortunately, it's not starndard operating procedure.
We are trying to be there for every customer as much as possible, but realistically there are always going to be some customers that are dissatisfied. If you would have bought accessories or service they may have been able to make up the difference since there is obviously margin in those things.
I understand you are a rewards customer and Best Buy appreciates your business, but it wouldn't matter to me if you spent $1,000 or $10,000 dollars. There is no special treatment for certain customers other than the reward points you are already accumulating.
Standard operating procedures and policies are in place so that everyone can be treated fairly, not so 1 out 10 customers can get a better deal than the rest.

sellsius°
I've worked at Best Buy in Personal Computers Home Office fairly happily for some time now and I can tell you simply that it is a non-commisioned floor. Associates and Supervisors have no real power over pricing. The bottom line comes down to management. Herein lies the problem. I can tell you all day that I would price match something if you provide a printout but I have to follow standard operating procedure. If you had come to me to check out I would have had to make a copy of the printout and file it accordingly in order to do a price reduction. Not to mention a managers override would have been necessary to even total out the purchase at which case the manager on duty would have seen the printout and had a problem with the rebate.
It would be the same thing if you came in and we got your purchase together and before we got to the register you asked "Can I use my VISA if it has my wifes name on it?"
If I didn't know any better (which sales associates don't at my store because they don't have register training) I would say "Sure, that won't be a problem"

Brian,

I didn't demand anything---I just asked a question on price matching Amazon because I missed the BB sale (the BB sale price I missed happened to be even lower than Amazon!). I admit it was my fault I missed the sale. But I had just started shopping the laptops. But I came back to BB because I was a regular customer---I was in the rewards program.

I was open. I gave the Amazon printout to the manager to examine & it clearly said "after rebate". I didn't hide anything. I know these guys can read, can't they?. And it was 2 guys who looked at it.

Besides, how could I negotiate unfairly? They know their products and price points better than me. I'm not that clever to outwit the store manager on their own products. The guy didn't keep his word but he wasn't an idiot.

All they had to do was simply say NO. What's so complicated about that? If you gave your word to someone, would you take it back for $40? That's the point.

I agree with the post above by BBYLVR. I am no fan of Best Buy, but it does appear to me that you broke a basic unwritten rule of negotiating, which is to negotiate fairly and openly. An advertised price that is inclusive of a rebate one that is not are two very different things. Unless you knew that BB was also offering the same rebate, you're basically demanding that they sell you an apple for the price of an orange. I have no idea what your intent was, but on the face of it, that appears to me just as dishonest as a used car salesman who tries to sell you a car that "runs great" and then excludes a list of 40 defects in the fine print. Consumers don't like it when retailers pull fast ones like that, so why should the retailer have to put up with anything less? I agree that a deal is a deal, but I think any reasonable person would agree that a deal based upon anything less than full disclosure isn't quite a deal at all-- it's one party taking advantage of another. I think the dictionary of that is "ripoff."

Tech meme Cartman–

You guys have your opinion & that’s Ok but I know BB does have price matching—only I didnt go to BB school & didn’t know that Amazon is not a matchable price. OK I was wrong for not knowing. But hey I just asked. We live in America guys and I think it’s Ok to ask. The manager could have just said no, we don’t match Amazon and I’d be gone. No sweat. But he talked with another guy in the back, maybe his boss, & both came out and said “it’s your lucky day” we will give it to you at the Amazon price. Was I asking too much for the guy to keep his word. Maybe you guys are right & I shouldn’t have expected him to honor his word. Maybe that’s old school.

I bought my presario v2305 at a best buy and i had the worst service i have ever had in my life... i had to take my laptop back 2 times and now i am dreading taking it back for the 3rd time the first time i walked in told them what was wrong (until now i was having very good service), then they asked if i had bought the $300 service plan to give me 2 years more of warranty and i said no then he continued the paperwork and said he had to send it away and it will be back in 2-3 weeks and i said ok... 2 weeks later i get a e-mail from ups with a tracking # and in 2 days i see that one of the employees at the store has signed for the package so i go to the best buy store and ask them for my laptop and show them the paperwork that i was told to show them to pick it up, and i am told its not there and i say that i saw that it was signed for and he says i can assure you its not here... about one hour of arguing and i even showed him the status and the employee name that signed for it on my friends laptop and he continues to say no, so i ask for a mangier and i explain to her that all of these 3 people at the geek squad counter are saying its not here when i see that someone at this location signed for it and ask her if she could just go in the back and look unlike the other 3 people who just sat there and told me no so she comes back in 15 minutes with a box and it has my laptop in it, and i open it and it boots and i am looking at it and am making sure everything has been fixed when one of the geek squad people walk over to me and them me to hurry up and that he is busy and needs me to quickly sign something and covers the entire long receipt with his arm while pointing to where he is telling me to sign so i ask him to explain what it is so i don't waste time reading the 2 foot long receipt paper and he says that its just nothing important just a standard form, so now i want to know what this is and read it and the forum says that i should sign it when i am completely satisfied so i say i wont sign until i am satisfied and i knew that i couldn't get my hour and a half of wasted time back so all i wanted was a working laptop and while i was checking out my laptop he continued to say just sign it i am busy i have things to do and i replied you are doing your work now you are helping me i am a customer and by annoying me you are making me take longer and not doing your job and continued to look at my computer and thought that i had to get out of this store ... it has been 2 hours and i sign it and leave, a few days later i realize they forgot to put the rubber feet on so i figure no big deal and then more problems and after a few months almost every component aside from the keyboard stops working so back to the best buy i walk in and say i have a list of problems and here it is and i get asked if i have that service plan and i answer no and he said sorry i cant help you and i say that i have a 1 year warranty and that its only been 6 months and after 20 minutes he agrees to take it and send it into HP and i ask how long will it be and he says 4-5 weeks and i say it was 2-3 weeks last time and he says it has always been 4-5 weeks... after about 5 minutes i realize it is a pointless argument and say ok thats fine and he does the paperwork and i leave and in 4 weeks i call best buy to see if it has arrived and nothing and a few days later i call hp to check the status... it has been delayed so i check the status with hp every 2 or so days from 4 weeks on and then i get a call asking what is wrong with it and i say there is a list and apparently there is no list... best buy lost it and never told me for 4 weeks until hp told me there was no list so i told them what was wrong and they said ok and that they will fix it, then one time when i called hp there was a parts shortage for LCD screens so it will be delayed, after about 4 days of no one at hp knowing what happened to it or where it was i called them and was told it was signed for at best buy so i go to best buy and tell them it is there and again they say no so i explain to the guy what happened last time and if he could just walk into the back and check... he just sat on his lazy a$$ and said no i argued with him and 3 other employees and 2 mangers, nobody would go into the back for me and after 2:30 hours i had to leave for my weekly family dinner then next day i call hp and get tracking #'s and phone #'s to people at hp that could prove that it was signed for at that store and i thought with all of this proof they couldn't possibly say no so i walk in and ask to speak to a manager and the employee asks why and i say just get me a manager and i speak with a manager who tells a employee to look it up on the computer and he does and no results and i show them the proof and say this has happened before and it has always turned out to be in the back room and i argue with them for 20 minutes and they send a employee back and he finds nothing so i ask if its not where is it, and i say its either here or stolen and if it has been stolen i have the persons name who signed for it right here and argue for longer and wait and wait and try to find someone and no one comes and one sales person sees me waiting and i tell him i have been here for an hour and a half already and he runs into a door marked employees only and runs back with a chair for me and i thank him and he runs right back to work... i am amazed, someone who actually cares then i see one of the guys that told me no try to walk by me and i am in a hallway like area and i use myself to block him (i am 6'3" 230 pounds) he tried to sqeeze past me as i told him to stop running away from me and that now its almost been 2 hours and says ill be right back and i let him by and never see him again and find a manager and convince him that its there... he looks around for 20 more minutes and finally comes back with my laptop and i check it out and he walks away to deal with another customer and i get some time to check out my laptop fully this time and it is good and working and then i have to look around for this manager to get the receipt i have to sign before i can leave with my laptop so after 15 minutes and getting 5 employees to help me find him he comes out of a meeting and gives me the receipt to sign and i leave nearly 3 hours later with my laptop working well. about a week later i received a phone call telling me that my laptop is ready for pickup. A few weeks ago it started to have problems and now both the wireless internet card and LAN card are broken so now i am dreading my 3rd trip to that best buy store, i would almost rather not have internet on this computer than have to deal with them again. The day i walked into the store with $1000 in cash in hand wanting to purchase this laptop i received excellent service and no hassles but once they securely had my money they didn't give a care even though there could have been several more purchases over the years from dvd media to new laptops to me recommending friends to buy their next laptop from there all lost because of pathetic customer service they are really shooting themselves in the foot. it wouldn't of cost them anything to have kept my business it would of cost them less to keep my business. i cannot believe they could run a store like that and stay in business they should be trained to respect the customer and act as if they own the store. A friend of mine has the same laptop as mine and it has the same problems that mine has but hr bought it at a different store, and when his had problems he took it into the store and they checked it out and then they handed him a entirely new laptop and it took him a total time of 15 minutes. why couldn't best buy just do that??? when i called customer service to tell them about how that specific store is run all they did was try to keep me quiet about the whole incident with a laptop knapsack and a $50 gift card and asked me if i wanted the mentioned employees to be fired. i said no because firing them would be no help to me. all i want is decent customer service similar to the service my friend received, it wouldn't have cost them anything extra. covering for the lousy customer service cost them more that decent service would have.

This brings me to another point. You say they should be happy with just giving you your $40? That they should be going out of their way to accommodate you? Well guess what? You know what that does? It forces companies out of business. I worked as a technician at a Gateway Country store for 3 1/2 years and nothing pissed me off more than a customer demanding cash or a rebate for some perceived slight or dragging out the "customer is always right" crap. We HATE it when you say that. Just because you say it doesn't make it true. Gateway went out of retail business because it threw $50 credits to customers who looked at them funny just to fulfill their idiotic policy of "customer satisfaction".
Lets take a look at the situation here: Did you make a purchase? No. Did they try and accomodate you? Yes. Did you make any attempt to wotk with the sales staff to add to your sale? No. Did you make a totally unreasonable request by trying to get a sale price when there was no sale? Yes.
You, sir, are entitled to NOTHING!

Wow, you are an asshole. I work at a mom & pop retailer and I would've kicked you to the curb. Since when is it proper to jew down the price at an electronics retailer?

If you can get it cheaper at Amazon, BUY IT AT FUCKING AMAZON.

why the hell would you BARGAIN at a retail store? the second you started that shit, every employee in the department knows you're going to be a nuisance. the price on the tag is the price. it's not a flea market. if Amazon had the better price, and that's all you cared about, then why didn't you just leave the store and buy it on Amazon? Because you wanted it NOW, and best buy had it NOW. or maybe you wanted an easier place to return it if it didnt work correctly. there's always a reason why people still buy stuff at retail stores, and it's not because they're the cheapest. pay the premium (in this case a paltry $40) or get the hell out of the store. cheap stingy crybabies like you are a pain in the ass. over $40 too...pathetic.

Did you know that bestbuy.com prices can be different depending on whether you access the site from home or at a best buy store computer? If you see a item on bestbuy.com and want to buy it in store, either order it for instore pickup or print the web page and take it with you to the store in case the in store price is different.

Thanks D Cootey and the rest that understood my point---which is a man should stand by his word.

Sorry but I'm not trying to go against you on the article but there are a few parts that I don't agree with you on.

[1] You can't use one bad experience and say that every bestbuy store are alike. That's the same thing as saying every Muslim is a terrorist. There are some people that don't have the right people skills to deal with customer and then there the policy that employee have to follow.

You can't drive over the speed limit w/o getting a ticket for speeding and a sale person can not lower the retail price w/o getting approval from the manager.

[2] John was wrong for not noticing the after rebate part. Also, from what I was told BestBuy can not match any online price. But still John should of had stick to the price he gave you.

[3] Will Amazon lower the current price if you showed them that two months ago they sold it at a cheaper price? Can you negotiate price at Amazon? I'm not aware of such a thing but I could be wrong. If Bestbuy prices for computers are set in stone I guess there wouldn't be any problems. I've negotiate with alot of great manager from bestbuy and everytime I've alway got a great deal. Think about the shipping and handling for overnight shipping or the 2-3 weeks wait to get it from Amazon or any online store. From how i see it, that makes up from the $20 extra bucks that I have to give bestbuy and best thing is I get it the same day.

I've shop at Bestbuy for years and will continue to shop there for many more years to come. I rather deal with the poor customer service at bestbuy or any local retail store when it comes to warrenty issues.

I think the issue here is that some people are just a pain in the rear. You wanted a cheaper deal than what they can give you. Try going 80mph on a 30 mph zone and let me know if you can bargain the speeding ticket.

BBYLVR posted earlier that companies selling below the normal price listed in the stores is a loss for them. Not really. You realize how inflated prices are for electronics? I bet they didn't even lose money on that sale either. It's SO inexpensive to custom build a computer compared to the pre-builds they sell at Best Buy. Frankly, Best Buy gets plenty of profit from each computer they sell, I'm sure. Hence why they are somewhat of a cold corporate business with bad customer support. They have money to throw around. They're a high-end electronics dealer. I guarantee you go to a local computer store that isn't some major chain and they can make a better computer for way less and still turn a profit. It doesn't hurt Best Buy to lose out on $40. I bet $100 wouldn't hurt. Heck, I bet even $200 wouldn't hurt. Those computers are expensive!

I think most of the nay-sayers here are missing the point. Sellsius° is already a good customer. He's a rewards member which proves he's a regular customer as well. And there is nothing wrong with trying to get a good deal on an expensive purchase, especially if a manager agrees to it. Frankly, I'm not sure what planet some of you guys live on. When I'm shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars on a product why would I think to myself as some of you seem to suggest, "Dang, I'm really getting raped here, but poor Best Buy needs my money more than I do because they're a business.."

We are the consumers. We have the money. We have the power. After the three month nightmare I've been going through with CompUSA to get them to honor their extended warranty on my very expensive PDA I have zero loyalty to any corporation whatsoever who conducts business in such a customer-hostile way. They are not entitled to my money. Make demands. Sellsius° was 100% in the right.

What you have to understand is that retail stores like Circuit City and Best Buy are simply not segmented towards your kind of customer. When I say "your kind" I mean no offense. I only mean to say that they are there to educate people that don't normally know what they need and discover what they do need through lifestyle questions. If you want a low price buy it online, don't go in and haggle on a $100 or $40 for that matter. If you don't want to pay the extra or can't afford the extra bit you shouldn't be buying it in the first place.

Yes, the PC Supervisor was wrong for agreeing to it without fully reading the rebate information. Frankly, agreeing to meet you half way should have been enough though. These retail stores don't make anymore than 5% margin on any given laptop or desktop, which is why the price they were doing for you I can guarantee was cheaper than employee cost. Someone said earlier that Best Buy was better off without your sale, and sadly its true. They would have lost dollars and if they did it for you, then they would have to do it for everyone. Then where would they be? Policies are in place for a reason.

Why would they want a return customer that didn't make them any money anyways. Sure you generate revenue, but selling product at cost does not help a business with overhead grow.

You want a big box with a decent reputation, fairly nice and knowledgable associates and a big selection? Then pay full price, otherwise they'd be out of business and then you would have to buy online. This is the state of commoditization in the retail world when handling PCs. For now if you want a deal you'll have to go online or find a commisioned floor.

I can understand your anger towards BestBuy for not following through on their word, but as one of the guys above said...a lot of times, it's not their fault. I work in a retail store just like BestBuy, however we sell furniture too, and more high quality merch. Also, our salespeople are payed 100% on commission, meaning they are actually trying to make a sale based on knowledge and experience with the product being sold. If we don't make sales, we don't make money. So we try to sell everything we can. Sometimes, a discount just isn't possible though.

For computers, there is absolutely NO markup at all. Even at my employee cost (95% off markup) I only save about 100 dollars on high end computers, so why should you expect more? I understand being a long time customer is great, but it shouldn't warrant you a better deal than the salespeople can manage. I'm so used to people coming in and speaking to me right off the bat (which is great that I have returning customers,) but a few of them have been pushed onto other, newere, salespeople. Why? Because of situations just like this. They think that because they've been shopping with me for so long, they deserve a discount. This is fine, but when they have previously gotten discounts from me on serveral occations, I start to feel used. It's probably the same for the guy you spoke with. Although he's not making commission, he probably gets sick of hagglers. In my opinion, the only place you should be alowed to haggle is at garage sales and car dealerships. It's just not right to walk into a retail store and ask for a discount. Would you walk into a store like Sears or Old Navy or ToysRus and ask for money off your final bill? No. So why should you be asking about a computer? You want a discount, buy it from Dell.

I don't mean to insult you, but you should look at it from someone elses point of view before criticizing them.

Lots of correct info, and Cartman has it right. Employees and even management have little flexibility there. I've worked a few different jobs selling tech gear, home theaters, etc. - BB included - and can attest to the utter inability of employees to do much of anything in regards to price. Price matching policies are in place under the hopes that instead of buying from Circuit City, Good Guys (did they tank?), or whatever other brick and mortar you'll come in to buy that television or whatever at an unprofitable price, and buy a warranty, some connecting cables, media, SOMETHING to turn the sale into a profit. I've been out of retail a couple years now, but when I was there the policy on online matching was a flat, "no, sorry". Hard to compete with such low overhead AND you're not being charged shipping (why didn't you buy from Amazon anyhow?).

I understand your position that word is word, but "Handshake John" wasn't helping you out because he liked you, he was just following store policy. If someone caught wind that he was matching rebated online dealer's prices he'd be in for quite a bit of trouble. His justification? He was doing all he could to keep a haggler who is anti-warranty and likely goes elsewhere for any add-ons that may give some margin.

And be sure that for employees BB is a world of negative reinforcement. You steer the customer away from unnecessary extended warranties, overpriced gold-plated name-brand cabling, etc - you have them leave with smiles on their faces and come back giving thanks for helping them get exactly what they need and no more - you get chastised. You push them towards the overpriced and unnecessary. Thrust extended warranties at them. Give them Monster cabling for that $80 DVD player they'll be attaching to their 5-year-olds 20" TV. What do you, the employee get then? No commission. No bonus. No raise. No applaud. No handshake. You get to vacuum and dust and come in tomorrow to do it again for your minimum wage + $.50.

I used to work at best buy, so I know how much it sucks working there. They make you cram those warenties down peoples throats, its just awful. Best Buy just has piss poor customer service. That's why I buy my computers from the only company rated #1 in customer service: Apple.

I work at an electronics store(not best buy) and, I do my best to help my customers. I am a geek for digital photography and digital media and try to make it easy for them so they become more involved.

I am also the number one sales person in the store.. and I don't trick my customers. I sell warranties but, I buy them too... its not a gimmick.

and the person with the stomach ulcer said it best... I run and hide form customers like you... it wouldn't matter what was done you would always be trying to wiggle more money off. We don't get to decide those prices.. its a policy, a company one at that... and believe it or not.. we get it trouble if we break it.

for crying out loud... you missed the sale, you want an online rebate instantly and are unwilling to purchase any accessores... how are we suppose to make any money? If its a friggin HP the margin is like 2.6%

However... if I had promised the money off I would have honored it.. but i wouldn't have been dumb enough to promise it in the first place.

im a cc employee and i must say as much as i would like to refute the service of the competitorim inclined to agree with the retailer with the exception of him going back on his word. if he made a deal he should stick to it, that much i agree with. however it is true that most desk/laptop computers are sold at or below cost (its called a loss-leader think back to consumer ed in high school) and cc nor bb are not-for-profit organizations. if the price is too high get it elsewhere, this is why we have monopoly laws.

Umm.. What part of RETAIL do you not understand? There are no sheep wandering the aisles, no straw on the ground and we are not conducting business in tents. What you see is what you get. If you don't like the price BUY IT SOMEWHERE ELSE! Your account of your actions are the reason why I got stomach ulcers when I worked retail. It makes no difference to the employee. Jim had you pegged within 5 seconds and knew you would make him no money and just be a source of annoyance while the managers gave him the evil eye while you refused to buy any add-ons.

I sorry to hear that you couldn't negotiate a better price, but it is retail store not a bazaar. If you really wanted the other price you should shop Amazon, otherwise you can pay the extra dough up front and get it today at your local BB. Its sad to hear also that the manager failed to read the printout completely and therefore because you're a "customer" you're entitled to getting the better price no matter what and that $40 that BB will lose with you shouldn't matter to a big company like that, no matter that 10 or more people "like you" might come in each day in each store. I guess they were crazy for thinking they had the right to a profit! LOL! I bet you would sue them too if you tripped over something, even if you weren't hurt!

You got caught in an obvious lie by passing off that amazon price, stop crying.

I have a hard time with BB just because of all the things already mentioned. I tend to go there for "wishlisting", i.e. to look all the cool stuff I can't afford. When I can afford it, I go to newegg.com or another reputable online retailer. No pressure, no haggling, and the lowest price (generally). Will I ever buy from BB? Sure, I think speakers are worth buying from a brick&mortar. BB really isn't geared for tech savy people like us.. they are there to help dumb people with money to burn. Wish I could be dumb and rich, then I'd shop at BB.

To Sellsius;
As a current BBY Employee, I can tell you that what they did was not right. However like BBYLover had mentioned previously is that any and all online competitors are not competitors in the retail market. While most larger online retailers should, in my opinion, be considered as such I digress. What the manager did was not ethical in my opinion, but many modern business practices aren't in this day and age. I myself am one of those younger employees, I will not mention my age, but it is below 25. I can understand your side of the story, but let not one person's attitude on a price reflect the entire company. As a consumer know that there are certain practices in business or a corporation that you cannot change and as such it may or may not be your prerogative to shop at a retailer. What I'm getting at is, that most customers like BBYLover mentioned are just out there to get the lowest deal and screw someone else over, but to be honest...and this always gets me when a customer does this; say C.City has an item on sale for $X dollars cheaper than BBY. And the two stores are right next to each other, why bother going to BBY in the first place to ask for a price match? If amazon.com had it for a certain price, buy it. If you wanted a shopping experience and a backed warranty to the product, go to bestbuy.

Regarding SEA's view on Service Plans, as a current GS Agent, I will tell you that we strive our hardest to get an item repaired, if it came back un-repaird it is ALWAYS for a reason. Find out why next time. Have them put an escalation on the repair and make a deal out of being involved in the process and I guarantee you that your so called $450 paper weight will be a working camera again. And if the item couldn't be repaired than if you had a service plan it is ALWAYS covered for a warrantied replacement of a camera of equal specification. Read that little Black and Yellow panphlet over next time and you'll see that it wasn't so much BBY's fault for it not being repaired as it was your fault for not reading the warranty over and seeing that your guaranteed a new camera.

Not for nothing but BB is on my "do not shop" list for several reasons but mainly for the following:
Ever bought a service plan with them for anything, good luck actually getting your item repaired. I sent a camera in for service and it took almost two months to get it back in completely inoperable condition after they disassembled it, determined that it couldn't be reparied and reassembled it without a battery latch. The Customer service basicly told me to screw and there was nothing they would do about it. The only reason I brought it in was because the flash wasn't working.. now I have a $450 paper weight...

Just though I'd let you know. Best Buy sucks in every way and they will never get my business again ever!

Thanks BBYLVR for clearing things up. I appreciate your comment.

I understand your point about employees not being empowered to haggle. But BB does seem to have a company policy of matching their competitors' prices. While this is not technically haggling, it provides a consumer with an opportunity to shop a price. So I shopped the price, as is my custom because I know the prices can fluctuate by several hundred dollars. I do it with all expensive purchases. This high end laptop was no exception. And I'm sure most people do the same. In fact, BB had the best price (on sale) & since I had been a longtime customer, I wanted to buy from BB. The problem was the sale just ended.

In fact, I went to the store with the sole purpose of trying to get the sale price (I missed it by a couple of days). The sale price was lower than Amazon. I was not aware that Amazon is not considered a competitor. Had I simply been told "no", it would have been the end of the story & I would still be a BB customer. I would have just waited to the next sale, which is what an employee suggested I could do.

In the big picture, the mgr. keeping to his word, even if it meant losing $75 (which is what it all came down to), would have shown goodwill and kept me as a loyal customer. By not keeping his word, BB lost me as a customer. How could I feel comfortable dealing with BB if I had a real problem? I could no longer trust BB to do the right thing. I lost my TRUST. And remember, this came from a manager not a floor salesman, who btw, was completely friendly & helpful and suggested I speak to a manager about the sale price in the first place.

I think I acted as most consumers do. On expensive items, they try to look for the best price. For BB to have a company policy on matching competitors prices means they recognize this consumer behaviour. The business objective is to get and KEEP customers. Your word is your bond as the saying goes. Don't give your word and not keep it, especially in business. Word of mouth travels fast, word of bad mouth travels faster. That is all I was saying.

PS thanks for the advice on the feedback policy.

I am not discounting your position on being promised a price and then having it revoked. I am pointing out that customers always seeking to haggle the price are not always viewed as the most valuable.

Often times merchants sell their goods below cost in order to have the lowest price available and get consumers in to their stores. In most cases computers and laptops are sold at or below cost from the start because marking them up would result in much higher pricing and who wants to have the highest prices? Then consumers won't even bother visiting your store or buying the things companies make the most money on... accessories, service plans, and smaller electronics like cameras or printers.

My point is simply this... the people that work for Best Buy or Circuit City are not empowered to haggle. It is annoying and frustrating when people continually want you to lower the cost, throw something in, match an online price, etc... If they gave everyone that asked for it the lowest price and freebies there wouldn't be anywhere to get electronics other than Walmart, God help us. It's a give and take relationship.

And Best Buy does have a feedback policy. You can obtain the website from the bottom of any Best Buy receipt, or call 1-888-BEST-BUY. Your comments go directly to the store from the web and up to corporate if necessary.

BBYLVR ....you have the right to your opinion but please try to understand the facts.

If you agree that I should have gotten the price, then Best Buy did not keep their word. That's the point. For a store manager to go back on his word to a customer is much worse than me being an idiot, don't you think?
Has this ever happened to you? How did you feel?

I didn't insist on anything. I just asked a simple question---could I get it at the last sale price? They said no. OK, I missed the sale, my fault. Then I asked (not insist) if they would match Amazon ($100 more than the sale price). Was I an idiot for asking? Was that wrong? I dont know the price matching policy so I asked, what's wrong with that? --just say no and I'm gone. How could I force him to say yes?

2 managers looked at the Amazon printout & they talked about it (in the back)& THEY decided to offer me the price. I acccepted. Was I an idiot for accepting? Was that wrong? I think I would have been a bigger idiot if I said "No, that price is too low, I'll pay more. I don't want you guys intentionally losing money" .
Remember the price they agreed to was still HIGHER than the sale price. Maybe I was an idiot for missing the sale price because then I would have gotten it for even less & they couldn't have backed out. But why would BB sell below cost? That would be more idiotic dont you think?

If you would never have agreed to the price, then handshake John was an idiot for agreeing to it, whether or not I am also an idiot for accepting.

BTW, how do you know the price John gave me was BELOW cost? If it was below cost, isn't handshake John a bigger idiot for selling below cost. What bigger BB idiot is hiring managers who offer goods below cost? And 2 managers said OK--what's up with that? I thought 2 heads were better than one. Also the sale price was actually LOWER than the price John shook on. What idiot sets the BB sale price BELOW COST?
I must be an idiot for not understanding this unique pricing strategy.

Bottom line: I asked, they agreed, they reneged---wrong.

PS I ended up buying the computer from Circuit City on sale for a lower price than BB's sale price I missed. Now I am a CCLVR and Best Buy's bottom line will be great because I am no longer a customer. Stores do not only sell commodities, they sell goodwill. Seems the BB in my town is plum outta goodwill. Yours may be better & maybe that's why you love them & that's great.

I hope this is sent to the writer of the poor customer experience at Best Buy. 1st off I don't work there but I do work in customer support for another coporate giant over the phone. You didn't have a poor experience you just didn't get what you wanted and rather than accept "sour guys" answer, you jumped his head, fine (mind you you're complaining about a sale they had that you were late for by 2 days which is like being mad at McDonald's cause they stopped selling breakfast 2 hours ago and you want a egg cheese biscuit not a burger). But lo and behold fine print that was intially overlooked becomes discovered and policy is enforced and you leave arms folded determined to spread ill will cause they told you NO. Here's an idea, if you could've gotta it cheaper online than buy it there. It's not a flea market, buy it or leave and grow up

If two intelligent managers overlooked fine print, I agree with you 100%
enuff. But there was no fine print-- Amazon is an online store. And these
2 guys are managers who know the policy is not to match online stores. And
they told me this. (Remember John said "Today is your lucky day.")
(I only jumped Sour Face when the other BB employee suggested it.)
The point of the story is (now this may sound dumb, I know) "The customer is
always right"-- the idea behind this old saying is it's better business not
to spread bad will to customers. And to his credit, Handshake John made me
feel good about BB by helping me out (I admit I missed the sale). I would
have left the store saying BB was alright. And I would have been back to buy
and they would have made up the money.

Okay, no fineprint but unenforced or overlooked policy whatever but
the old adage of "the customer is always right" is not true and has
never been. The policy is the policy and fineprint is avaiable in
customer agreements, print ad, etc. and if a provider of services
decides to enforce it, how is that unfair? I deal with people all the
time who've been informed they were gonna get something at a certain
price by the last agent they spoke to and they lose their mind when I
give them different information that happens to be correct
information. Here's what I tell'em " I understand and apologize if
you were given wrong information and know how frustrating it is to
have been given a false sense of expectations but my responsibilty is
to provide correct information and be adherent to our policy."
Translation, they were wrong and I'm right, now do want the product or
not? I don't mind customers asking for a deal or inquring about offers
but don't blow up or jump peoples heads when we tell you our current
offers. Accept no better and don't act like a kid and take your ball
and go home when you don't get what you want. If wanna leave go cause
no one is forcing you to buy something you don't want. I'm often in
situations where current customers get furious cause new customers get
offers that they can't get ( mind you they had new customer offers
when they signed up) and threaten to leave if we don't do something to
offset their charges. I've always provided this example, "sir, you
can't go to a store and say I would like the current sales price on
this sweater I bought a few days ago at full price and expect them to
handover the difference. You bought the product you wanted at the
price we advertised." I guess I'll have come up with a better example
now.

Sent from my iPod

If we play by the book, you win enuff. I cannot argue with your logic. You
are right...

But, is that best for business? I don't know. I believe it's the company
that respects its customers over policy, that makes the exception, that eats
it when they are right--- THAT makes for great customer service and
customers who will be evangelists for the brand. The other brand will die
and be buried with their policy manuals. Just my opinion. (and I thank you
for yours)

Quite frankly Best Buy didn't loose a thing, other than another idiot who has no real grasp of the retail world. Wake up buddy, the customer is NOT always right. I agree that after promising you the price, you should have gotten it. Frankly however, I never would have agreed to the deal in the first place. In fact, their bottom line that month was better because you walked out. By selling you a laptop BELOW cost they are loosing money, which is reflected in overall operating profit. There isn't anything I hate more than a customer who insists they deserve to get a price matched from an online retailer with little to no overhead, get what they want and then refuse to spend the money needed to protect their investment or make it work for them fully at the establishment who agreed to give them that price. The bottom line is better off without them.

"refuse to spend the money needed to protect their investment or make it work for them fully"

Your (company's) definition of "need" or the buyer's? The store's job isn't to sell, but to offer for sale. I know that makes management squirm, but if the product (service agreement) isn't wanted, then it's not wanted.

The idiot is you - "didn't loose a thing"..... "loosing money"

Here is an easy way to remember, idiot. Your bag is loose, you might lose something.

"There isn't anything I hate more than a customer" - wow, I'd love to shop at this dick's store.

I got the computer at Circuit City. The idiot may be the one who lost the sale.

That would be the Circuit City that went bankrupt. Point made.

wow, thanks sigh, ARNOTT, Advnewaya & truth for your great comments. And i had been a naive Best Buy customer all these years. You all have shined a light in a dark place.

My deepest thanks.

-jf

As an EX employee of Best Lies, I can assure you that Best Lies associates will ALWAYS feel out a customer to see if they are going to buy extra garbage (ie extended warranties, jerk squad services etc...). If not, products will magically disappear and be "out of stock" or any lowered price that the customer is quoted is recanted. The corporate side of Best Buy likes to deny that this occurs, but these actions are a direct result of management that makes the employees feel like dirt if they don't keep numbers that get the managers a bonus. The employees recieve 8 dollars per hour whether the numbers are made or not - that means they HAVE NO INCENTIVE TO KEEP ANY CUSTOMERS - at least in the short run....they could be out of a job when the company tanks, but most bby employees work there for only 6 months anyways....

Sorry, not sure where you're located, in closeness to "Frye's Electronics" of Portland, Oregon. But, I would never have any computer.............. lap, and/or, table top built for me, any other place. Buying a personal computer from the likes of "Breast Size", "Surrogate City", "Car Gouys", etc. is EXACTLY the same, as buying a decent, healthy, dog at a pet store................... once the door hits your ass, you OWN the dog, so don't come looking for help, if it turns out unhealthy, not the whole, breed specified or bites your hand when you offer to feed it. These so called "CUSTOMER ASSOCIATES" at the above mentioned stores, only are putting in the hours, in order to earn enough to buy wheel-well lighting for thier lowered Honda Civics and hopefully, have enough of their check LEFT to score a 6-pack of Zima...............

[RULE #1] NEVER BUY A COMPUTER AT BEST BUY
[RULE #2] SEE RULE # 1
[RULE #3] BUY CUSTOM BUILT ONLY

I'LL SEND YOU AN EMAIL FOR MORE INFO.

not for nothing.. but, Best Buy isnt filled with the sharpest crayons in the box (mainly because everyone who work in management is younger than 20 and believe that Best Buy is life). Personally, I would never shop their for computer electronics because they dont care about you, nor me, nor anyone except how many accessories they can sell.

IF I am going to buy a laptop, I want it customized and I want it straight from the manufacture... no middle man.

In terms of services from retail stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, etc... Waste of $$. Chances are if it does break, they will find away to void the warrenty.

Moral of the story.... visit www.bestbuysux.org and join the club

I love how you make a general observation about a company that has THOUSANDS of stores. It is IMPOSSIBLE to have 100% even customer service across the board, I'm sure Best Buy strives to make this happen but I don't see any easy way out. On a side note, Best Buy does have a Customer feedback policy, it's on the bottom of the receipt, I fill it out regularly and give them my feedback, as is my DUTY as a consumer. I wouldn't say I'm loyal to any one store or brand as I know many have ups and downs, but Best Buy has definitely taken care of me in the past and their Geek Squad is usually very good at what they do, albeit for a price (have to make money somehow).

Agreed.
I once had an issue with BB, regarding a $300 rebate (They sent me a non-activated gift card). After 6 months and 5 calls with Customer Service, I considered it a lost cause. After the above mentioned 6 months, I bought something from BB again for the first time, and saw the survey at the bottom. I decided to go to the site and fill it out. I mentioned the gift card issue, and specifically mentioned that while I would probably continue to buy movies and video games from the company, it had shaken my confidence in making large purchases from them again. 3 hours later, I got a call from the manager of the store I bought the TV from, and within a week (mostly just a matter of syncing our schedules for a good time for me to come in) I had my $300 Gift Card in hand.

While the initial customer service was poor, they did a fine job of correcting the situation when I took on MY responsibility as a consumer. Being 6 months after the fact, the general manager was under no obligation to follow through (I even admitted defeat on the issue in the survey), but he knew it was worth $300 now to ensure future purchases. By the way, I should mention that corporate customer service refused to give me what they owed me, and actually accused me of lying.

I've moved to a neighboring town with a best buy within walking distance since then. To this day, I will drive out to that store out of loyalty for such great management. I know management differs from store to store, but I KNOW that store will treat me the way a customer SHOULD be treated.

(For the record, it's the Best Buy at New Hope Commons in Durham, NC for any local readers)

Management policy in general is to match prices that are reasonable, but he missed the rebate the first time. It's reasonable of you to understand that. Matching rebates isn't reasonable, especially if it's below cost for Best Buy. Plus, everyone hates the person that asks to price match, so of course he was sour faced. This is America, not a turkish Bazaar, so stop haggling. If you can find it cheaper elsewhere, take your ass elsewhere, or pay more to shop locally because of the social benefit. You probably would have had to pay shipping anyway. Everybody's gotta make a living. You went into the store with a print out and aggressively pursued a lower price. Good for you. You whined about the result online over $40. Get a life.

so you think that just because this is america, you can't look for a deal, or that prices are not negotiable? looks like the brainwashing of people in this country is working. too many people pay too much for things in this country because they think that just because an item has a certain price on its tag, that's the price and you either pay it or you don't. most people do pay the price on the tag simply out of sheer convenience, especially on smaller items where it's just not worth the time spent to save a buck or two....but if you're buying a computer that's worth several hundred dollars, the return on your investment of time spent haggling the price may well be worth it. i don't know about you, but to me, it would be well worth it to save $40....that would pay for a full tank of gas, or a month of internet service, or most of my cell phone bill for a month.

Im not suprised they would do something like that. I bought my first computer at bby I got the full 2 year warrenty and all so when my power button broke in the frist year i took it to them. They popped it out and gave it back with in a week. It happened again so i brought it back took another week they did the same thing. The third time it happened my warrent was up thats when they told me what needed to be done to really fix it and it would cost 150$ to repair. I told them i had been here for the same reason 2 times before and why was this not done then when i had my warrent. the Dumb squad agent had no reply for me. I laughed and took it up the ass. Never trust people to actually take pride in being mans of the word. Its just not that way anymore. When i grew up your word was your bond. It's like scarface says all I have is my word and my balls and i dont break them for no one. That John should have made damn sure he knew what he was doing before he gave that hand shake. Forget the money whats is important is knowing who you can trust. one person might sell it for cheap but it does you no good if they stab u in the back and takes it back and trys to do it to the next person who comes along. I am Just trying to help this man open some eyes to the way society has gone wrong

I DONT KNOW IF I AM RIGHT BUT MAYBE THE GUY WHO WROTE THIS CAN TELL ME BUT, THE REAL POINT IS NOT HOW MUCH THEY WANTED HIM TO PAY CAUSE HE WHOULD HAVE THE ONLY REASON HE DID NOT BUY THE COMPUTER WAS THAT (THEY LIED) TO HIM.

Take a look at Zappos and Cabela.