Bad Best Buy Experience

dkg999

My daughter and I went to Best Buy last night to purchase a Sony Walkman MP3 player for her. She wanted one with the FM radio, and the Sony E436 4gb Walkman had what she wanted and was on sale at a decent price and close to what I could find it online for. We went up to the checkout with the player and armband for it and it all went downhill from there! The BB associate tried to upsell me to the $9.95 extended warranty by telling me that the factory warranty only covered the player working right out of the box. If the player failed at any other time, it wasn't covered by the factory warranty. I asked him to repeat this, and he repeated the well rehersed speech a second time. I then asked for a manager to confirm this, and a manager came over and repeated verbatim the same speech. WTF I guess a well prepared consumer who had read the Sony warranty on the Sony website prior to going into the store is not what they had expected The Sony warranty is pretty standard terms&conditions and does not just cover the player working the "first" time out of the box.

So my question is does BB actively and with intent train their associates to lie to purchasers to get a $9.95 warranty upsell? That will be my question for the management of BB.

So we went to Walmart, got the same player cheaper, the extended replacement warranty was $5.88 and seems to cover just as much, and the armband case was $12.88 vs $19.95. And no BS from the sales associate, because quite frankly she could barely hold an intelligent conversation

hearingimpared

Wow what a bunch of bs for a simple purchase.

shack

dkg999 wrote:

So my question is does BB actively and with intent train their associates to lie to purchasers to get a $9.95 warranty upsell? That will be my question for the management of BB.

IMO...and obviously from the actions of the BB employees...the answer is yes!

I would think Sony would be interested in this story as well. They would certainly have the clout to deal on a equal footing with BB in terms of the employees distributing false info about their product(s).

bruss

i try to avoid going anywhere near a best buy

dkg999

Shack - agreed! I know which exec's at BB would care about this, I have track down who at Sony US to send this to. Hoovers and Lexus-Nexxis are beautiful things in a situation like this.

oifvet0608

As a person that has worked in electronics sales in the past I have been told to give a verbatim speech as well but I never did. Besides the only thing I buy warranties on are TV's and gaming consoles.

To combat the crap speech they give you know the manufacturers warranty beforehand and tell them before you even hit the register, I want a warranty or I don't want the warranty.

Kex

dkg999 wrote: »

... The BB associate tried to upsell me to the $9.95 extended warranty by telling me that the factory warranty only covered the player working right out of the box. If the player failed at any other time, it wasn't covered by the factory warranty. ...

So my question is does BB actively and with intent train their associates to lie to purchasers to get a $9.95 warranty upsell? ...(

Actually, now that you mention it, when we bought a refrigerator and dishwasher from Best Buy in July, the staff member told us exactly the same thing. I didn't even bother to listen since it sounded like garbage to me.

These were fairly costly items, and far from the cheapest ones available. When he tried to stress a second time that the warranty wouldn't cover any issues once the product was out of the box, suggesting we would be out of pocket for repairs, I just told him that our old GE dishwasher was twenty years old, and although not perfect, it was still working. Furthermore, I have never owned a refrigerator that needed repair at all. So (I told him), if he was suggesting that these far more advanced Samsung models wouldn't even last a year before requiring repair, and that the standard warranty was so limited that it wouldn't be covered, and furthermore, that an extended warranty was really a requirement to cover inevitable repairs within three to five years, then I would prefer to just forget advanced technology altogether and buy the cheapest GE available instead. He shut up after that, and we went ahead with the sale.

As an interesting addition, we had purchased some GE and LG appliances a year earlier too. Both had developed a very minor issue. I contacted LG in the week after the warranty expired and scheduled a visit. I contacted GE in the month before the warranty expired and scheduled a visit. Both repairs were fully covered (despite the recently expired warranty on the LG) at $0.00 cost to me, including a one hour visit for each repair, and expedited shipment of replacement parts for both appliances. In case you're wondering: no, these apppliances were NOT kept in their boxes for a year so as not to void the original warranty!

bruss

GE sent a dude to my house to a day after my ovens self cleaning latch jammed. BB is the devil.. lol

Jstas

I wish we had more options in my area for electronics and computer stores but BestBuy and RadioShack are pretty much the only game in town anymore.

But what you are describing is what I've usually been met with at BestBuy. I'm the hard sell for them on the extended warranty plans because I don't get them. I bought a laptop with a friend and I told my friend not to get the warranty, whatever breaks, I'll fix it for him for free as long as he buys the parts needed. I walked away to go look at an external SATA port replicator real quick and by the time I got back, the sales dude was this >< close to having him get the warranty. I put the kibosh on it and the guy got indignant.

It's not the first time they pulled the stunts and lies either. They were pushing Sony's Xplod car audio and a friend was looking for a new head unit. He found a nice one he liked that wasn't a Sony and the guy flat out contradicted the features that were listed on the display card for the head unit my friend was interested in. When I asked why, if the unit did not have those features, was that card in front of it on the shelf? The guy grabbed the card out of the plastic protector and said somebody put the units in the wrong spot. I looked up and down the shelf and all 30 units were neatly arranged and there were no mislabeled units nor empty places anywhere else on the shelf or display board for that matter. I told my friend that we were leaving, going to Tweeter and I would cover the price difference between the two stores for him.

Not my favorite store, BestBuy. I've always had issues with a return line cordoned off by velvet ropes and long enough to hold at least 30 people in queue.

AudioGenics

I like shopping at small stores that you get to know the owner(s) directly.

otherwise its Amazon.Com....

shack

I'll never forget when we were buying our Honda Element a few years ago, the "closer" kept trying to sell us the extended warranty. We had already obtained financing elsewhere so they weren't going to make any money there so he was working his **** off to try and sell us the warranty. After telling him no several times he starts talking about how much reapairs were, and how chances were that we would need the warranty, etc. My wife who is a pretty savy car buyer listened for a minute or so and turned to me and said..."I decided to buy a Honda because everyone says they are so reliable. This man sells them and he is telling me that they are so bad that I need this extra warranty. Maybe I should rethink this and get something else like a Toyota." He shut up, we signed the papers and went on our way.

Five and half years later we have 70K plus on the vehicle...and haven't needed that warranty...Hondas really ARE reliable!

heiney9

It's a hard sell world out there and it's worse wth the economy in the dumps. I detest shopping in many of the larger chain stores because of these types of things. You can;t get good help and no one cares if you do have a good question.

I buy on-line whenever possible and I feel bad for not supporting the tax base, etc. but many times I can;t stand the stupidity that oozes from these stores. I HAD to go to Wally world the other day...........I detest *W*, but I was in a hurry and needed several things and it was close by and it was my best option at that particular moment. I hated myself for a week!!!!!

BB, I have bought cdr's and dvdr's when on sale and I did buy my wireless network there for convenience. Otherwise I don;t shop there.

H9

Knucklehead

I have a neighbor that sells appliances for Sears, he said its store policy to offer an extended warranty several times. Apparently there are consequences if they dont offer these warranty's.

obieone

I would say that corp. mgmt. probably does not promote those tactics, but I would say that everybody from the Reg. mgr. on down, does.
It's funny, I remember, years ago, when BB was competing against CC, Tweeter, Compusa, etc., the sales people always USED to say that they didn't work on commision.
Now that they're almost the only game in town, they seemed to have changed their tune

Knucklehead

obieone wrote: »

I would say that corp. mgmt. probably does not promote those tactics, but I would say that everybody from the Reg. mgr. on down, does.
It's funny, I remember, years ago, when BB was competing against CC, Tweeter, Compusa, etc., the sales people always USED to say that they didn't work on commision.
Now that they're almost the only game in town, they seemed to have changed their tune

good point...now when you walk into BB they are ready to pounce on you, whereas before you could walk the store for 20 minutes before being approached.

heiney9

I used to work in electronic sales in the late 80's early 90's both in a discount type store and high end audio dealer. We made money on every warranty we sold based on the product and length of warranty. Anywhere from $5-50 a pop.

So the motivation is in the paycheck and back when I was selling it was like 80% profit for the store. I never lied or pressed really hard and I sold about 25-30% of my customers because I used "ethical" methods. The store wanted to see closer to a 50-60% close ratio on "extended" warranties.

Ironically at the high end store we only really offered them on Camcorders and few select big screen TV's. At that time those were easy sells because the technology was so new; large big screens and smaller camcorders, etc.

[Deleted User]

Selling a product warranty is like your doctor selling you a life insurance policy.

thuffman03

I never buy any extended warranty. That is were they make most of the profit.

nadams

Once more, I dig this out of the 2002 archives of Ctrl+Alt+Delete

bobman1235

Good to know CTL-ALT-DEL was still unfunny 7 years ago.

nadams

bobman1235 wrote: »

Good to know CTL-ALT-DEL was still unfunny 7 years ago.

Well, poo on you, too.

NotaSuv

LOL I have alot of friends at the BB Corp HQ which is less than 2 miles from the house...if it wasnt for extended ripofftees BB would not have showed a profit these last few years...now when they learn to down size and have "clued" employees instead of the cluless they might even make a buck the real way......a company that really needs to downsize mgmt and spend the $$$ training decent help....but that begins at hiring....

greymatter

NotaSuv wrote: »

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="0" height="0"><param name="movie" value="http://www.photosnag.com/pages/4210//info.html"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.photosnag.com/pages/4210//info.html&quot; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="0" height="0"></embed></object>
LOL I have alot of friends at the BB Corp HQ which is less than 2 miles from the house...if it wasnt for extended ripofftees BB would not have showed a profit these last few years...now when they learn to down size and have "clued" employees instead of the cluless they might even make a buck the real way......a company that really needs to downsize mgmt and spend the $$$ training decent help....but that begins at hiring....

I only go there to see something in person and then go buy it online. usually from amazon if i can help it//

Polkitup2

At least BB isn't trying to get you to buy magazine subscriptions at the counter anymore. It was like, "are you a rewards zone member?", "how about an extended warranty?" , "Would you like to subscribe to Sports Illustrated?", " Did you find everything you needed?".

obieone

dkg99, you know what you SHOULD have done? Have someone record the conversation on their cell phone, then post it on youtube!
Pretty much guarantee they'd knock that **** off!

dkg999

My daughter has one of those FLIP video cameras, and yes we should of been more prepared.

NotaSuv

dkg999 wrote: »

My daughter has one of those FLIP video cameras, and yes we should of been more prepared.

well odds are you'll hear the same crap if you went back today

nguyendot

Knucklehead wrote: »

good point...now when you walk into BB they are ready to pounce on you, whereas before you could walk the store for 20 minutes before being approached.

That's because they fired a large majority of their staff, and are held to make the same revenue in this recession. It has nothing to do with making commission - they still aren't making it. Not paying commission is what keeps them somewhat profitable.

They jump on you because they don't want to get fired. Make the numbers, or find another job - that's their job.

I hated ow much they pushed things. It's manipulation plain and simple - but then again all sales jobs are.

F1nut

None of the jokers out there ever try to sell me an extended warranty. Must be my good looks.

obieone

F1nut wrote: »

None of the jokers out there ever try to sell me an extended warranty. Must be my good looks.

They don't try with me either, but it's probably because I look like a sociopath:p
Think of Gary Oldman, in "The Professional":eek:

george daniel

F1nut wrote: »

None of the jokers out there ever try to sell me an extended warranty. Must be my good looks.

Somehow Jesse,, I can't get a mental picture of you behind a shopping cart.;)