Post Best Buy, Circuit City et al store experiences and other stories here ONLY please

Please limit discussion on price, coupons, etc as AVS is a technical forum

Thanks :)

I think this topic is has been covered numerous times. Most HD fans are going to get on here and trash BB and CC as many of them hate them. That is why the invented the term "rayed' I got "rayed" at best buy. I get a feeling this thread will turn real negative real soon. But good luck. I love both of those stores. I love my reward zone card.

Well it certainly appears that is teh case......But the end cap and display is being paid for by Sony......As an HD DVD guy I can't fault Best Buy or Sony for that. I have strongly felt that Toshiba needs to pay for some exposure space. But at my Best Buy...Charleston, SC....I know an assistant manager and am friendly with alot of the sales guys and they state that in that store HD DVD outsells BD easily. All of there A2's are gone, and they sell the HD DVD Add on briskly. They don't sell the BD hardware because of price point.........The reality is Toshiba will get what they pay for with Advertising in Big Box stores. HD DVD is in Great shape and I would personally love to see a HD DVD end cap right next to the BD end cap. Toshiba needs to spend the money, again no one in there right mind can blame Best Buy or Sony!

Lets face it, Best Buy sales people really don't know much. Complaints will come as they often resort to lying and covering up facets of their operation.

I've been pleased with the in-store Blu-ray kioks in Best Buy and Circuit City.

BB has a Sony-only display built around their flagship player while today in Phoenix I came across a much larger, more generic Blu-ray display in Circuit City with signage that includes the logos of many of the larger format backers -- Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Apple, Samsung, Sharp, and more.

The area also included racks of Blu-ray discs which were definitely picked-over from all the Christmas shoppers. It's encouraging to see Blu-ray gaining more attention in the B&M retailers. I think people are definitely becoming more aware of it.

The funny thing about it is that the last two times I saw a Blu-ray display was in P. C. Richards and CC and both times they had on The Fifth Element. So, you know the rest ...

The funny thing about it is that the last two times I saw a Blu-ray display was in P. C. Richards and CC and both times they had on The Fifth Element. So, you know the rest ...

The Blu-ray displays I've seen have been running the airplane/space shuttle rescue sequence from "Superman Returns" (which is an excellent scene for grabbing the attention of passersby), as well as "Monster House" and "X3."

So, I went to Best Buy on Friday night. It was a pleasant experience, with helpful employees on the floor to assist me with what I wanted. I even lucked into a guy putting out some PS3s! I was able to find the items I wanted quickly, and even the long line to the front was moving extremely quickly.

Circuit City is now stocking the Toshiba HD A2 and its on their online store.

Pick a Best Buy...any one close to you. Go in and head for the HDTV section. Now listen as the blue shirts spout endless nonsense, incorrect information and then literally brow beat people into buying Monster cables/Power Conditioners and useless service contracts.

I am not using hyperbole. I can literally experience this 7 days a week at my local BB. Last week I listen to a blue shirt tell a guy that buying an expensive flat panel is useless if he doesn't also have clean power...thus the need for the Monster unit. The poor guy was bewildered by the incoherant rant about the panel...then he gets hammered by the clean power nonsense. Next came the need for the service contract. I walked up, rudely interrupted and asked the blue shirt if he had any peer reviewed references from scientific journals that demonstrate the need for power conditioners. He became clearly flustered and then I hit him with the business week article on the fact that 85% of BB's operating profit was derived from the service contracts. The customer began smiling as I asked about the data on visual perception and 1080i vs 1080p. Are you, I asked the blue shirt, familiar with any of this information? The blue shirt then smiled and asked me what I did for a living.
I told him...he shook his head and muttered something like "you know a lot about this stuff" and walked away. The customer thanked me, said he was skeptical of the hard sell Mr. BB was hitting him with and that he enjoyed my exchange with the BB salesman.

BB and CC are interested in selling "attachments". In fact the manager pushes them to sell "attachments". The HDTV's are simply a tool to sell the real profit makers.

Component cables cannot carry real HD signals ( I heard this one from a CC salesman)

You must use HD tapes in your HD camcorder. Regular DV tapes will not work ( I have received 100% wrong answers when I put this issue to approx 7 different BB/CC salespeople.)

Better quality DVD blanks provide better color and resolution than cheap blanks (BB salesman).

Electronic stabilization uses electricity to shift your eye back and forth but optical stabilization uses light to keep your eyeball steady ( I heard this one about two weeks ago from a gum smacking BB salesgirl).

The list goes on and on and on......idiots, thug wannabees, high school dropouts, dopes, morons, girls who would be better dancing with a pole than at an electronic store. This is what BB and CC has become in the retail marketplace.

Circuit City is now stocking the Toshiba HD A2 and its on their online store.

Good news.

Went to a BB in Marlboro,MA yesterday to get some movies and took a swing by the HDTV section and saw the BD display running Chicken Little, seems that both Worcester and Marlboro run that movie for their demo. Went over to the HD DVD endcap and noticed it had a BD player running on that endcap with HD DVD signs all over the place. THought that seemed kind of weird and thought maybe they didnt have anymore in stock until I strolled over to the Magnolia room and noticed an A2 hooked up to a TV that was just running the std. satelite loop.

Pick a Best Buy...any one close to you. Go in and head for the HDTV section. Now listen as the blue shirts spout endless nonsense, incorrect information and then literally brow beat people into buying Monster cables/Power Conditioners and useless service contracts.

I am not using hyperbole. I can literally experience this 7 days a week at my local BB. Last week I listen to a blue shirt tell a guy that buying an expensive flat panel is useless if he doesn't also have clean power...thus the need for the Monster unit. The poor guy was bewildered by the incoherant rant about the panel...then he gets hammered by the clean power nonsense. Next came the need for the service contract. I walked up, rudely interrupted and asked the blue shirt if he had any peer reviewed references from scientific journals that demonstrate the need for power conditioners. He became clearly flustered and then I hit him with the business week article on the fact that 85% of BB's operating profit was derived from the service contracts. The customer began smiling as I asked about the data on visual perception and 1080i vs 1080p. Are you, I asked the blue shirt, familiar with any of this information? The blue shirt then smiled and asked me what I did for a living.
I told him...he shook his head and muttered something like "you know a lot about this stuff" and walked away. The customer thanked me, said he was skeptical of the hard sell Mr. BB was hitting him with and that he enjoyed my exchange with the BB salesman.

BB and CC are interested in selling "attachments". In fact the manager pushes them to sell "attachments". The HDTV's are simply a tool to sell the real profit makers.

Component cables cannot carry real HD signals ( I heard this one from a CC salesman)

You must use HD tapes in your HD camcorder. Regular DV tapes will not work ( I have received 100% wrong answers when I put this issue to approx 7 different BB/CC salespeople.)

Better quality DVD blanks provide better color and resolution than cheap blanks (BB salesman).

Electronic stabilization uses electricity to shift your eye back and forth but optical stabilization uses light to keep your eyeball steady ( I heard this one about two weeks ago from a gum smacking BB salesgirl).

The list goes on and on and on......idiots, thug wannabees, high school dropouts, dopes, morons, girls who would be better dancing with a pole than at an electronic store. This is what BB and CC has become in the retail marketplace.

I totally agree with you but we all have a hand in this too.....unfortunately, the days of commisioned knowledgable salesman are gone in favor of the lowest price possible...everytime i go to BB or CC i never ask for help unless i am now thinking straight.....case in point..went into a CC and ask her if they had any HD DVD"S for sale she said no...[she had on about 5 lbs of makeup as well] she said BB sells those...i said not the player but the software again i got the "didn't you hear me the first time attitude when she replied no go to BB"..I said ok i turned around and walked 3 steps and right in front of me was a whole display of HD DVD titles i picked up Superman Returns and turned around walked back those 3 steps and i said what is this??She said "oh is that a hd dvd??"


Highlarious......i bet if i asked her what the latest piercing was or when rob zombies next album coming out was she would know.....lol

Why do these threads continually sprout up. We are all smart people arent we? Dont we all know that the biggest mark up items are the ones that the management of these stores are going to make their employees push. Monster Cables and Warranties and other "useless" items like that are where they make money. They make little money of the sales of TVs and DVDs. But they rope you in to the Monster Cable, and the warranty and the Stand and anything else they can. Wether they know anything at all about electronics is not their fault. They work for a company who needs to make money. That is how they make money.

Why do these threads continually sprout up. We are all smart people arent we? Dont we all know that the biggest mark up items are the ones that the management of these stores are going to make their employees push. Monster Cables and Warranties and other "useless" items like that are where they make money. They make little money of the sales of TVs and DVDs. But they rope you in to the Monster Cable, and the warranty and the Stand and anything else they can. Wether they know anything at all about electronics is not their fault. They work for a company who needs to make money. That is how they make money.

Well, just b/c we know doesn't mean that other people will know. Some people reach AVS while doing research and they may happen upon this this thread. Star56 had a great and useful post. Some of those folks in CC and BB are like automatons. :D

I agree with many of the comments, but I find that sometimes you can educate the workers and train them while talking with the sales folks. Depends on the person though.

Went into the Huntsville AL bestbuy and checked out their BD and HD-DVD displays.

Blu-ray had the small end-cap set up on a Sony Bravia TV. Featured Sony's player and the standard demo disk.

HD-DVD had a setup about 2 aisles down next to the entertainment furniture. Definitely a low traffic area. However, they were playing the HD-DVD demo disk and had the newest Toshiba A2 out. (1 in stock on the shelf under it)/

I stood and watched both demos loop twice and didn't really have anyone come up and pressure me on them. I just have to wonder. It's obvious Sony is putting cash into it's "displays" in the store. The Toshiba display looked like an employee set that up their self just so people could see the difference. I guess the question I ask in this situation is, Can you really blame Best Buy if Toshiba doesn't give them signs and placards to put up and support their product?

These would be the last two places I would go for this new technology

The BB near me has the latest DVD releases in front as you walk through the door. On the left side are two racks of Blu-Ray movies which also face the customer who is entering the store. There are two racks of HD-DVD movies which are on the opposite side of the DVD new releases. A customer would have to enter the store and face the exit to see the HD-DVDs. (No pun intended).

BB is terrible, an employee convinced me to buy a Monster HDMI cable. I came here and bought one from monoprice instead. That experience means that I will never trust their employees again. I try to spend as little time as possible in the store as it reaks of burnt electronics.

BestBuy on Masonic Ave in San Francisco.

The Magnolia Hifi has only Blu-Ray on their setups, the Sony, Pioneer. The Samsung Blu-ray is on an endcap.

The Toshiba HD-A2 is sitting on a shelf with other regular DVDs, not plugged in.

Went to my neighborhood Best Buy in NYC tonight (Chelsea, 23rd & 6th) to pick up "Goodfellas" on Blu-ray. Their website indicated it was in stock but I couldn't find it on the shelf. I asked the guy in charge of that section if he had more copies after he told me it was flying off the shelf the day it was released.

While he checked inventory on his system, I asked him how both formats were faring at his store and specifically which format was selling more. His reply was, "If you had asked me last year, I would have said HD DVD. Since the holidays, it's Blu-ray and we anticipate that it's going to explode in May when a lot of major releases come out like Pirates of the Caribbean and Spider-Man."

He found a few extra copies in the stock room and tonight I'm enjoying "Goodfellas."

One more observation: I've been checking out the Blu-ray section at this store for several months. For a long time I was usually the only person browsing the section. Tonight, there were many other people checking out Blu-rays while I waited for the guy to come back from the stock room. I was impressed by the increase in interest, and the titles themselves appeared to be selling well based on comparisons to my past visits.