Free Republic

Excerpt - Over the past few years, we have watched Apple climb the music sales chart courtesy of the iTunes. Last month we learned that Apple passed Best Buy to become the number two retailer in the the US in December. Now, Apple has ascended to the top of the charts, surpassing Wal-Mart for the first time ever, according to an NPD MusicWatch Survey for the month January contained in an internal Apple e-mail which was leaked to Ars Technica but has not been officially published. The news was announced in an e-mail sent this afternoon to some Apple employees,...

Jimmy Deignan's first time was with a $500 portable DVD player. He bought it a few years ago at Best Buy for a Boston-to-Los Angeles flight, knowing he would return it for a full refund when he got back. More recently, in November, rather than spending $600 to rent a LCD projector for a business presentation, the Holden resident purchased one at Staples, then returned it a few days later and got his money back. The way Deignan sees it, he is just a smart shopper: He gets the things he needs, uses them for as long as he wants,...

How much compensation does a consumer deserve for the loss of a laptop computer loaded with personal information? Raelyn Campbell figures it’s $54 million -- if you throw in a little extra for lost time and frustration. Six months after bringing a damaged laptop computer into a Best Buy electronics store for repairs, and three months after the firm admitted losing it, Campbell filed the whopper of a lawsuit recently in Washington, D.C., Superior Court. Best Buy has told Campbell that her demands are unreasonable, and has tried to settle for far less. But Campbell said she didn’t start out...

Best Buy's Geek Squad isn't exactly known for respecting people's property. This time, however, instead of us catching them, they caught a guy with child porn. A middle school custodian sent in a hard drive back in August of 2007 to recover lost data. Upon performing their usual search (and invasion of personal privacy), the Geek Squadders at a Twin Cities location found over 800 images of young girls between the ages of 7 and 15 in various states of undress and performing sexual acts. The Geek Squad promptly turned the evidence over to the police. The police eventually obtained...

LAS VEGAS - Best Buy Inc.'s chief executive said Tuesday that he is "very nervous" about being able to supply customers with the millions of digital TV converter boxes needed ahead of the shutdown of most analog TV transmissions in 13 months. "I think it's one of the biggest risks our industry has," vice chairman and CEO Brad Anderson told an industry audience at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Full-power television stations will turn off their analog signal on Feb. 17, 2009, after which they will broadcast in digital only. Viewers who receive their signals through an...

Video has surfaced of a Daytona Beach police officer using a TASER on a woman in a store. According to our partners at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Elizabeth Beeland was shopping at a Best Buy in Daytona Beach last month. Before she checked out, she got an upsetting phone call about her child and stepped outside to take the call. According to the police report, the clerk said Beeland was suspicious and flagged down Daytona Beach police officer Claudia Wright, who was in the store. When Officer Wright confronted Beeland, she yelled at her. When they came back in the...

Hello Everyone, I am looking to buy a new computer. I have been out of the market for about 5 years now and I am way behind on current tech. I would appreciate any and all advice on what to get. I have included the system I am currently contemplating below. (CybertronPC AMD Gaming PC – AMD Athlon 64 3800+, 1GB PC5400 (667MHz) DDR2, 250GB SATA II, DL DVD±RW, 2 Asus nVidia 7300GT 256MB Video Cards, Gigabit LAN, NO OS, Silver/Black X-Plorer, Speakers) Here is a list of my requirements: Must be below $1,500.00, Video for 2 monitors, DVD Burner,...

<p>Some sales reps at brick-and-mortar retailers convince PC purchasers to buy unnecessary store-made backups.</p> <p>When Ian Griffith of Queens, New York, purchased an HP notebook from a Circuit City store in Brooklyn earlier this year, the salesperson urged him to have the chain's in-store Fire Dog technicians create Windows XP recovery discs in case Griffith needed to reinstall the OS.</p>

Court upholds racketeering claims of Best Buy customers Microsoft Corp. must face racketeering claims in a lawsuit filed by Best Buy Co. customers who say they were improperly charged for MSN Internet service, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reinstated a lawsuit claiming that Microsoft and Best Buy cooperated to activate MSN Internet service and charge for it without customers' knowledge.

Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com. Company spokesman Justin Barber, who in early February denied the existence of the internal website that could be accessed only by employees, says his company is "cooperating fully" with the state attorney general's investigation. Barber insists that the company never intended to mislead customers. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website...

Everyone is talking about HDMI with the release of the PS3, and it's worth talking about; many people don't know that much about the cables or the connections. Heck, I've talked to people who don't realize that their PS3 will look better if they upgrade their composite cables that come with the system. I'm not going to try to break down the entire issue of cabling because it's a broad one, but if you're looking to buy an HDMI cable, just pay attention to the fact that there are stores that will rob you and others that won't. When I...

Best Buy Co. turned in disappointing third-quarter results on Tuesday as the battle to sell flat-panel TVs, MP3s and other hot electronic gadgets has slashed prices and cut into profit. the nation's largest home-electronics retailer said the "very competitive climate" -- plasma and LCD TV prices dropped 25% to 30% -- held its profit to $150 million, or 31 cents a share, up nearly 8% from last year's income of $138 million, or 28 cents a share, but short of Wall Street's expectations. That sent shares lower by 5% to $51.30. The total results were mixed compared with Wall Street's...

Deal site BlackFriday.info yesterday removed the Best Buy "Black Friday" sales price list after the big box retailer threatened to deliver a DMCA takedown notice to Black Friday's ISP. In a brief posting, Black Friday said, "While we believe that sale prices are facts and not copyrightable, we do not want to risk having this website shut down due to a DMCA take down notice." In recent years, information on the post-Thanksgiving sales has become a highly prized commodity, with a number of sites featuring copies of major retailers' ads. Consumers looking for the best prices and wanting to streamline...

Best Buy has announced they will be using "Happy Holidays" this coming Christmas shopping season, and they will not be using "Merry Christmas." Dawn Bryant, a spokeswoman at Best Buy Co. Inc., says their advertising will not be using the term "Merry Christmas." "We are going to continue to use the term holiday because there are several holidays throughout that time period, and we certainly need to be respectful of all of them," Bryant said. Click here for reference article. While many other retailers have decided to return to the traditional "Merry Christmas", Best Buy will not be among them....

Best Buy has announced they will be using "Happy Holidays" this coming Christmas shopping season, and they will not be using "Merry Christmas." Dawn Bryant, a spokeswoman at Best Buy Co. Inc., says their advertising will not be using the term "Merry Christmas." "We are going to continue to use the term holiday because there are several holidays throughout that time period, and we certainly need to be respectful of all of them," Bryant said. Send email to dawn.bryant@bestbuy.com Reference article: http://www.forbes.com/business/services/feeds/ap/2006/11/09/ap3161404.html

Wal-Mart opts for ‘Christmas’ marketing It won't be 'happy holidays' this year; it will be 'Merry Christmas' Updated: 9:31 p.m. ET Nov 9, 2006 BENTONVILLE, Ark. - It is beginning to look a lot more like Christmas at Wal-Mart. This holiday season, Wal-Mart isn’t trumpeting big bargains only. It’s also bringing “Christmas” back into its marketing, after several years of playing down the term. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Christmas cheer seems to be a hot trend this season as several other retailers including Kohl’s Corp. and Macy’s, a division of Federated Department Stores Inc., are also stepping up their Christmas marketing....

(4/12/06 - AUSTIN, TX) - A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, preventing Richfield, Minn.-based electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. from using diagnostic software designed by an Austin company. Winternals Software LP is accusing Best Buy and its subsidiaries of copyright infringement, circumvention of copyright infringement systems and misappropriation of trade secrets, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Austin Tuesday afternoon. "We are aware of the lawsuit filed today by Winternals. We are currently investigating the claims, but cannot comment further on pending litigation," Best Buy spokesman Jay Musolf said in an e-mail Tuesday night. The...

A computer taken to Best Buy for repairs prompted the arrest of a veteran attorney on child pornography charges. The attorney told police he was researching a book on child pornography, but authorities are not buying that defense. 69-year-old Dennis Moffat was busted when he brought his computer to a Madison Heights Best Buy. Technicians trying to fix his computer found thousands of pornographic images and called police.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Retailers who wondered where their customers went during a so-so holiday season might have tried looking in the TV aisles at Best Buy and Circuit City. The nation's two largest consumer electronics retailers both reported strong holiday revenue on Friday driven by surging sales of high-end televisions and larger average purchases. December sales jumped 5.8 percent at Best Buy Co. Inc. stores open at least 14 months. The increase was 10.8 percent at Circuit City Stores Inc. locations open at least a year, a key industry barometer of a retailer's health. Best Buy said fourth-quarter earnings would...

Gizmos land among CES 'mega-trends' as U.S. sales rocket It's all about portable music players and flat-panel TVs. One look around the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center confirms that, with much of the space devoted to companies pitching all manner of MP3 devices and big- screen televisions. And no wonder - U.S. shipping revenues of portable MP3 players in the first 11 months of last year were up 224 percent over 2004. And sales of flat-panels - LCD and plasma sets - are expected to go from $6 million in 2005 to $10 million this year, helped by...

Washington DC, Dec. 09, 2005 (CNA) - Intervening in the heated debate about the mention of Christmas on the public square, Concerned Women for America (CWA) presented a first Christmas list showing which businesses are honouring the Reason for the Season (the birth of Jesus), which ones are not, and which have mixed records. It first lists the corporation ‘Nice’ or friendly to the Original Christmas tradition.  This year Macy's joins the NICE list because it has returned the explicit mention of Christmas and Merry Christmas to its stores and its ads. L.L. Bean, on the other hand, just barely...

A national gay and lesbian activist group released a buyer's guide Wednesday that details which large companies have policies that are fair for gay employees. The guide, released by the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization Human Rights Campaign, aims to steer consumers away from some brands they say are unfair to gays. "LGBT Americans are changing the policies of corporate America at the checkout line," said Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign president. "The buying guide helps fair-minded consumers make their best choices this holiday season." The 28-page pocket guide groups businesses into categories such as "electronics" and...

HOLIDAY BLUESLowe's listens: 'Christmas trees' Chain dumps 'holiday' reference after WND report, complaints One day after a WorldNetDaily story brought national exposure, the home-improvement retailer Lowe's dropped references to "Holiday Trees" in favor of "Christmas Trees" only. As WND reported, a Lowe's store in Austin, Texas, featured a banner that referred in English to "Holiday Trees" but in Spanish said "Christmas Trees." The American Family Association says its supporters contacted Lowe's to express their displeasure. The company responded in a statement: "To ensure consistency of our message and to avoid confusion among our customers, we are now referring to the...

Wal-Mart is attacking the business model of the two largest U.S. consumer-electronics chains by offering lower-cost extended warranties. This holiday season, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT ) has made no secret that it's gunning for the nation's two largest consumer-electronics chains, Best Buy (BBY ) and Circuit City Stores (CC ). Wal-Mart has spiffed up the interiors of many of its electronics departments and added a slew of high-end products, from Sony (SNE ) liquid-crystal-display televisions and Toshiba (TOSBF ) laptops to Apple (AAPL ) iPods. It's backing the changes with an aggressive holiday marketing campaign and a big day-after-Thanksgiving sale. But...

A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police. According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the case. Bolesta told the Sun: "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed,...

A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police. According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the case. Bolesta told the Sun: "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed,...

Mail-in rebates. Don't you love 'em? You get sucked in by a sale price only to discover you have to fill out a form and mail it in to get the savings. Then you develop eyestrain combing the fine print in fear some faceless processor will reject your paperwork on a technicality. After waiting months, your $5 check arrives. Now Best Buy Inc. says those pesky mail-in rebates have outlived their usefulness. The chain will phase them out over the next two years. "Our customers are telling us they just hate them," said Ron Boire, general merchandise manager for the...

A Fatal Blow to Shrinkwrap Licensing? By Ed Foster, Section Columns Posted on Mon Dec 20th, 2004 at 08:02:57 AM PDT In January 2003, California resident Cathy Baker walked into her local CompUSA store to return copies of Windows XP and Norton AntiVirus she'd purchased there. When trying to install the programs, she had of course been confronted by all the obnoxious terms in the Windows and NAV End User License Agreements. Instead of clicking OK, she took them back to the store for a refund, as the EULAs said she was supposed to do if she refused to...

ATLANTA - For more than 100 years the sound of Christmas in America has been from an army of bell ringers raising money for the Salvation Army. For Willie Pickett in Atlanta, it's also about spreading Christmas cheer. "I just love making people smile," says Pickett, a frequent bell ringer.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Best Buy Co. has lost another executive closely involved with its effort to focus on its most profitable customers. Michael Keskey, president of Best Buy's U.S. retail stores, left the company for personal reasons after more than a decade, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. In September, executive vice president of customer segments Philip Schoonover left to become chief merchandising officer for Circuit City. The two were Best Buy's top executives charged with carrying out Best Buy's "customer centricity" strategy, a program focused on identifying and targeting the most lucrative customers at Best Buy,...

Mary Jo Copeland uttered a Hail Mary on Wednesday after announcing a $5 million gift from the richest man in Minnesota for the orphanage she has been trying for years to build.

I'm taking Household Bank et al (including Rooms-To-Go, Best Buy and Household Bank Credit Card.) to court in the very near future (the court date is near!). They promised (via phone) to lower my interest rate, did not do it and began assessing late charges to my accounts.They know they are in the wrong and my attorney assures me of this. But they have kept my credit tied up for a solid year.I'm going to punish them for that.

Best Buy fulminates about intelligent buyers By Charlie Demerjian: Wednesday 10 November 2004, 19:49 I THINK THE CEO of Best Buy is very likely to be a personable fellow, he even works down the street from me, but I think he's suffering from some illusions. Koestler said there is nothing sadder than the death of illusions, so we have empathy for the man. But sometimes reality is better, even given the tears. What am I talking about? Read this, a story that has been getting a lot of play lately in the geek press. If you are not the reading...

Ohio is suing Best Buy Company Inc., claiming it engaged in "unfair and deceptive acts" stemming from customers' complaints about the retailer, state Attorney General Jim Petro said Thursday. Petro said he received hundreds of complaints against the Richfield, Minn.-based electronics and appliance store chain. Representatives for Best Buy declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday afternoon. Customers alleged Best Buy repackaged used goods and sold them as new, and failed to honor rebates, refund and exchange programs, and extended service contracts. Customers also accused the company of failing to honor implied warranties, providing substandard customer service and making misleading...

MINNEAPOLIS -- So much for the customer always being right. Some retailers are deciding that the customer can be very, very wrong -- as in unprofitable. And some, including Best Buy Co. Inc., are discriminating between profitable customers and shoppers they lose money on. Like a customer who ties up a salesworker but never buys anything, or who buys only during big sales. Or one who files for a rebate, then returns the item. "That would be directly equivalent to somebody going to an ATM and getting money out without putting any in," Brad Anderson, Best Buy's chief executive, said...

While gay marriage is a current hot-button issue for politicians, business leaders have been wrestling for years over whether to offer health coverage to their employees' domestic partners. As employers look into the benefits and costs of covering domestic partners, more and more of them are saying yes--not due to a court order or political pressure but because they think it makes good business sense. Since last year, 34 of the 500 biggest U.S. public companies have started the coverage, bringing the total up to 210, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay and lesbian lobbying group....

Federal authorities said Tuesday they thwarted an extortion plot against Best Buy Co. Inc. by a man who sent the company an e-mail threatening to expose what he claimed were weaknesses in the retailer's computer system unless he was paid $2.5 million. Thomas E. Ray III, a 25-year-old Jackson, Miss., resident, made his first Minnesota court appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Earl Cudd. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $10,000 bail. Ray faces two felony charges of making extortion threats to damage property or reputation and extortion threats to damage computers. He is being represented by

Reuters Weather Lifts Retail Sales, Profit Hopes Thursday August 7, 8:02 am ET CHICAGO (Reuters) - A long-overdue stretch of warm weather across parts of the United States pushed July sales above expectations, major U.S. retailers reported on Thursday, prompting Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - News) to raise its quarterly earnings forecast. ADVERTISEMENT Specialty chains including Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE:LTD - News) also posted sales at the high end of expectations, boosted by summer clearance sales and early back-to-school clothing demand. Wal-Mart, the world's biggest company by revenues, posted a stronger-than-expected 4.6 percent jump in July sales at U.S. stores...