Best Buy Polk Insult

jinjuku

I think with modern retail there are a few primary things going on:

1. Customers no longer value real product knowledge. It's PRICE, PRICE, PRICE.

2. Products have gotten easier to use and are 'good enough' for the masses.

3. People that do know product and the technologies behind it all: Store's like BB offer no real value add outside of a return policy.

Last time I was in BB was to look at PJ's. They only had two PJ's in the Magnolia section. 15 minutes of waiting and no one approached me. It became a game after that. I left after 42 minutes. Horrible service.

A/V stores keep dropping like flies. The last one in my area folded up shop about 6 months ago. It's now at least an hours drive to another one:(

BeefJerky

DSkip wrote: »

On the other hand, a place like Car Toys annoys me even more. They have a little more training and know a bit more about how the whole gig works, but I seem to always get the one who thinks his opinion is above all. I went in w/ my boss to listen to some speakers and the guy who helped us started spilling all this information about how sound works in a car. I let him do his thing until he started really pushing all the sales crap. I got annoyed and started to speak up and he looked like a deer in headlights. Then he threw out at me he was a jazz musician and he knew what it was supposed to sound like.

I'd almost rather deal with ignorance than a superiority complex. At least a lack of knowledge I can deal with by doing a little research of my own. I shouldn't have to, but its not that big of a deal and I'd probably do it anyways. Somebody trying to help me to the best of their abilities makes me happier than someone looking down on their customers because they believe nobody who walks in will be at their level.

I've actually had decent luck at CarToys. You're right in that they tend to know a bit more than BB when it comes to car audio. Thankfully, I haven't had anyone with a superiority complex like yours. I've also learned that for more technical questions and discussions, some of the installers are the ones you really want to talk to. Many of them seem to really care about what they do and have better knowledge of it.

fattmann

jinjuku wrote: »

I think with modern retail there are a few primary things going on:

1. Customers no longer value real product knowledge. It's PRICE, PRICE, PRICE.

2. Products have gotten easier to use and are 'good enough' for the masses.

one:(

I blame these for much of the audio pieces. People honestly don't care. And by people is meant 90% of the big box retail customers.

It makes me weep on the inside when I spend an hour w a customer telling them why they need a AVR setup for bluray, only to see them 10min later walking out with a Samsung DVD HTIB... They just can't get over the 1000w for such a good price and that DVDs look ''just fine'', even after I point out the 10% THD, or show them how much the passive sub blows.

The average customer doesn't care, that is the first thing to realize. It has been said that places claim "they carry what they sell", and people buy junk. Because they're cheap, not because every pimple faced snot at BBY doesn't know what their talking about.

maximillian

Last time I was in BB was in January. It had been a year before that. Someone got me a $30 gift certificate for Christmas. There's not much in BB that I really want that I can't buy elsewhere with less hassle, but I figured I'd buy a DS game. Most everywhere (Walmart, Target, Gamestop, etc) sells the title I was interested in for $30 new so I figured it was an easy way to get rid of the GC. BB had the game I wanted and most other titles for $35. Jerks. I bought it and left a bit upset. Haven't been back since.

fattmann

maximillian wrote: »

Last time I was in BB was in January. It had been a year before that. Someone got me a $30 gift certificate for Christmas. There's not much in BB that I really want that I can't buy elsewhere with less hassle, but I figured I'd buy a DS game. Most everywhere (Walmart, Target, Gamestop, etc) sells the title I was interested in for $30 new so I figured it was an easy way to get rid of the GC. BB had the game I wanted and most other titles for $35. Jerks. I bought it and left a bit upset. Haven't been back since.

Cry about it.

LuSh

Price Price Price Price...independent retailers were ditched years ago for price...now people want service once they've realized what's missing. Same will happen with brick and mortar as a whole...price price price (online) until one day everybody wonder's why they can't audition a single piece of decent equipment in a retail store.

If I went back in time 30 years ago and cited "People in the Future will buy stereo's without ever listening, they will scour this thing called the internet reading experiences from people they've never met and then purchase based on price without ever listening" those people would have laughed at me, or at least scratch their collective heads. I predict that most of the fundamentals established in audio will be forgotten 10 years from now. Not too many people do leg work anymore or spend time with gear, everything is read or learned through virtual experiences of people they don't even know...

maximillian

fattmann wrote: »

Cry about it.

Harsh crowd. I really don't care. It is just another reason on many of why I don't shop there.

Price match... wife wanted me to hurry up. Also, I know it's their choice and they can do whatever they want in setting prices. Still, no one around was selling it for that high of a price. Why couldn't they at least try to be competitive?

tommyboy

To the original poster, just wanted to ask. What is the point of listening to entry level TSis speakers in the first place, so you could pat yourself on the back by how much better your SDAs sound?

On a side note, I was in BB a few days ago. I know some of you complain when no one asks when you need help but it drives me nuts. I was asked 3 times if I needed help in maybe two minutes, and I was looking at headphones. And I can 100% guarantee if I asked them a simple question they would have immediately looked at the box anyway...

cstmar01

I applied at our local Best Buy.....and didn't get anything....:(

PSOVLSK

cstmar01 wrote: »

I applied at our local Best Buy.....and didn't get anything....:(

Over-qualified;)

kp1706

Wow, Best Buy has really taken a bashing here. I used to work for them when they made a big push to roll-out the Magnolia store in a store concept. In fact I played a big role in hiring a number of people for the positions in the store I worked at. While it may not seem like a lot of time, we spent a week in NYC with all of the vendors represented in the Magnolia stores and most of the people that attended were audiophiles. While I can't speak for those in the non-Magnolia section of the store, the staff in the Magnolia department was passionate about audio and I had/have the utmost respect for them. When I was there we had Def-Tec, Martin Logan, Vienna, and Mirage speakers. After I left, the Magnolia concept took a different turn (the economy?) and It seemed like the Magnolia staff had disappeared and were replaced by the blue-shirts from the regular Home Theater section of the store. Even the selection and upkeep went down-hill. Again, maybe the economy forced them to make changes that folks like us find less than appealing to our hobby, but I swear to you all that once upon a time, there were passionate audiophiles in those Magnolia stores and I am proud to have been a part of that experiment.:)