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Best Buy 'Deserves to Die' (Says Slate)
Newser ^ | 09/20/2013 | By Kevin Spak

Posted on 09/20/2013 8:29:59 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd

(Newser) – Best Buy is back from the brink. Profits are up, costs are down, and the share price has tripled since December. That's the good news. "The bad news," writes Matthew Yglesias at Slate, "is that the store is awful and deserves to die." Yglesias and a colleague visited stores in different cities (Washington, DC, and NYC, respectively), and concluded that "Best Buy still basically sucks." The selection isn't great, and almost everything costs more than it would on Amazon. But what about customer service? Could having human experts justify the markups?

Nope. If anything, Best Buy's reps seem out to scam customers. Throughout the store "salesman after salesman was trying to upsell people" on service plans and add-ons. One rep assured Yglesias that the "high-end" $59.99 HDMI cable was better than a "cheap" $19.99 one. Given that all HDMI cables are basically the same, "this is malpractice verging on fraud." So Yglesias is skeptical that the turnaround will stick. "Competing with online retail on the basis of hustling your customers isn't much of a value proposition." Read his column in full here.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: bestbuy; slate
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To: Responsibility2nd
I was gonna order it from Amazon. The BB salesperson was in on our conversation. Long story short. They confirmed the Amazon price and matched it.

Excellent! We have a similar story when we bought our Samsung HD TV from BB a few years ago. I was home checking prices on Amazon, etc. while hubby shopped at BB, giving me model numbers of TVs. BB's sales people are obviously aware that you can get the same items cheaper on Amazon...

41 posted on 09/20/2013 9:13:20 AM PDT by nutmeg (Rest in Peace, FReeper Extraordinaire Doctor Raoul...)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I concur with Slate. BB is a terrible store, the selection is crap, the employees are idiots, they’re addicted to over priced cables. It’s a rare thing that will get me there, they need to have a special deal going I can’t get elsewhere. Too many trips in a row they didn’t have what I was looking for even though the website said they did, then I’d go to Target with a completely different list and find everything BB didn’t have. Now I go to Target first, BB is unnecessary.


42 posted on 09/20/2013 9:13:56 AM PDT by discostu (This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express, and I'm talkin' to whoever's listenin' out there.)
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To: GOPJ
If it was up to Slate we'd all shop at silly little boutiques with lots more attitude than value.

So you have attempted to shop at an Apple store as well, eh mate?

43 posted on 09/20/2013 9:14:35 AM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the mooslimbs trying to kill them-)
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To: justlurking
I shop at Buy More, and take my computer to the Nerd Herd for service.

What is "Buy More" and "Nerd Herd"? Never heard of either one...

44 posted on 09/20/2013 9:14:36 AM PDT by nutmeg (Rest in Peace, FReeper Extraordinaire Doctor Raoul...)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
And, compact disks are not selling like they did 25 years ago. I know I haven't bought one in a decade...

That is one thing I miss, Record Stores, I could spend an entire day at "Peaches".

45 posted on 09/20/2013 9:14:39 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Responsibility2nd
Best Buy is not my favorite place to shop however it has come in useful from time to time.

Do they have a slim collection of electronics and parts, are their stores poorly stocked and most of their employees clueless? Yes, yes and yes.

They may get worst and die, they may improve and thrive or they may remain mediocre.

It would be unfortunate if the first happened because there is really no one waiting in the wings to take their place and they do fill a niche.

46 posted on 09/20/2013 9:18:07 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Revenge is a dish best served with pinto beans and muffins)
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I like best buy. I like trying everything out and don’t like getting any electronics in the mail. I would rather pay the money.


47 posted on 09/20/2013 9:19:18 AM PDT by snowstorm12
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To: nutmeg

And now that Amazon is having to charge sales tax - it only makes sense to buy Big ticket items at BB and save the time and most importantly - save the delivery charges.


48 posted on 09/20/2013 9:19:49 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I don’t often agree with Slate, but they have Best Buy nailed.


49 posted on 09/20/2013 9:20:56 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (It's hard to accept the truth when the lies were exactly what you wanted to hear.)
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To: discostu

Now I go to Target first, BB is unnecessary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For years - Target would have an item in the weekly sales advertisement - only to not have that item in stock. That, and a whole lot of other reasons is why Target is way off our list.

When BB advertises something on sale - you go and its there and you buy it. Simple.


50 posted on 09/20/2013 9:24:32 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Useless store! Stopped going there the day I went to check out and the always slowwwwwwwwwwww checkout clerk yells “ZipCowwwwwde!!!!” in my face, as if I was in an unemployment line or the DMV. Not hello sir, or “find everything okay?” ZIPCODE!!!!!


51 posted on 09/20/2013 9:29:27 AM PDT by Phillyred
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Your post is not the first here to complain about the staff being clueless.

While that may be true - I don’t understand the point. Who cares? Are you really going to buy that $1300 TV based on what some kid at BB says?

And what about the knowledgable staff at Amazon?

My point is - you don’t buy a $50 phone or a $5000 TV entertainment set without doing your own research.

All I want the BB people to do for me is ring up my purchases. “And no - I don’t want the warranty. Yes, I know it does. but NO, thanks.”


52 posted on 09/20/2013 9:30:33 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I have the opposite. I’d check the BB website, they said it was in stock at that store, get to the store, nowhere to be found. Go to Target there it was.


53 posted on 09/20/2013 9:34:28 AM PDT by discostu (This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express, and I'm talkin' to whoever's listenin' out there.)
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To: nutmeg
What is "Buy More" and "Nerd Herd"? Never heard of either one...

Buy More

54 posted on 09/20/2013 9:37:33 AM PDT by justlurking (tagline removed, as demanded by Admin Moderator)
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To: Responsibility2nd
I would not buy a $1300 TV at Best Buy. What I generally buy is replacements for items that have suddenly died. Like my wireless router. I told them what I was replacing, what it worked with and that I expected the new one to do at least as many functions as the old one.

I am not an electronics wizard I just wanted my Internet back.

I finally had to phone a friend who listened to what I wanted and the list of what they had. He then told me which ones would work best with my equipment, the difference between the labels and what I could expect from them.

You may want them just to "ring up your purchases" but some people expect service because that is what they are paying for rather then spending hours doing a lot of research.

55 posted on 09/20/2013 9:46:16 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Revenge is a dish best served with pinto beans and muffins)
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To: Utilizer
Where condescension is an art form?
56 posted on 09/20/2013 9:55:53 AM PDT by GOPJ ( Politicians who fear the people seek to disarm them. - - Bill St. Clair)
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To: GOPJ

*laugh* And berets, while not explicitly mandatory, are at least imagined. *grin*


57 posted on 09/20/2013 10:07:41 AM PDT by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the mooslimbs trying to kill them-)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Probably the only time, I ever AGREED with Slate. I hate Best Buy. You have to be an idiot to shop there. They will screw you over any change they can.


58 posted on 09/20/2013 10:23:06 AM PDT by packrat35 (Admit it! We are almost ready to be called a police state!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I was stunned when I tried to return something and found that it has a two week limit on returning merchandise, not 30 days as is standard. And the clerk snickered at my disappointment that I would now have to keep a $300 item I didn’t like.


59 posted on 09/20/2013 10:23:57 AM PDT by ransomnote
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To: justlurking

LOL, I read it as Nerf Herd...like from Star Wars, which, if true, would have been just perfect geek synergy.


60 posted on 09/20/2013 10:24:36 AM PDT by alphadoggie
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