Best Buy Beefing Up Web, Downsizing Stores - Page 3

This is home theater forum. Just how many of us are likely to listen to ear buds?


And you think BB has bad customer service?

i still shop best buy for new release blu-ray's, they seem competitive on price as far as i can tell. now, once they've been out more than a week or so, the price goes WAY too high, but they often have good deals and additional 'swag' (for instance, i got the best price on tangled blu-ray and it came with a stuffed chameleon that my daughter loved).

i like bundle deals like that, and often times the online retailers don't do stuff like that. the last big-ticket item i bought there was my PS3 back in 2009, because they had a good warranty offer at the time (which i fortunately didn't have to take advantage of). other than that, it's still a good place to get cheap air conditioners (sub-$100), small electronics, and things of that nature. i would hesitate before buying anything over $100, but anymore they've started offering price match for online retailers (at least our local store does, don't know if it's a national policy).

my sister let them prepare a bid for a $2500 kitchen appliance refresh she was undertaking, but lowes ended up winning that (of all places). still, and speaking only for our local store, they SEEM to act like they want to work with customers more than they did for a long time.

i also sort of like their one-stop mobile phone section. so, i understand the economic reality that's going to require some store downsizing, but i hope they don't go away entirely, it's still a neat place to kill a few minutes when you're waiting for a movie to start at the theater across the street.

No...my understanding of the system is that it compares return rates and is looking for unusual patterns of returns. Even then it would only tell the Manager that they need to look more closely at the situation to make sure there isn't fraud going on. Your case was clear cut...you hadn't even left the store or taken control of the product. Obviously any system has a potential for causing problems for leigitimate customers but that is usually going to be a small percentage of customers.

First, we here at the forum are a minority of the electronics consumer market. Second, you're right...this is a home theater forum. Many of us have "home theaters" and listen to music on Ipods. I know I do, because most of the time I'm not at home when I'm listening to music. Some of us, *gasp*, connect our Ipods to our home audio systems. Lastly, if you are into music, you probably aren't paying for full priced CDs at Best Buy.

Use your mobile phone to check the BR price at Amazon while you are at Best Buy. My wife does it while we shop there. Amazon is always cheaper on price even before sales taxes (and I know that's not fair to Best Buy).

technically you are supposed to pay "use taxes" on everything you purchase over the internet. I know in CA, you can report this on your income tax return.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...4-million.html

As I said earlier in the thread, states and feds have more information at risk. Texas makes public address, SSN, DL of 3.5 million Texans. And you guys are worried about best buy keeping track of returns! I just assume the inevitable, information will get stolen and abused so plan accordingly.

Yes, everything you say is true. My response was to the remark that no one buys CD's because downloads sound the same on an Ipod. So I naturally assumed that listening to downloads also involves earphones (and probably as opposed to headphones). Yes, I use an mp3 player at home connected to the HT for background music, and in the car as well as CD's. And when I do buy CD's it's mostly from Amazon, not BB.

So yes, all that also applies to me. But there are also times when I want to hear uncompressed (beyond what's necessary for recording) music and expect that I may not be alone in that regard. MP3's are inappropriate for critical listening, at least on a decent sound system. And as for earbuds... well, I value my sense of hearing. Not trying to pick a fight here, just wanted to provide a little insight into the thoughts behind my one-liner.

I hate Best Buy, and will bore you with the details if requested. Their arrogance regarding returns is the main reason. I for one, cannot wait to see them eat a big ole piece of **** pie, just like Blockbuster!!!



Power to the people

I will tell you about an experience I had at BB. I took my mother-in-law to a local BB so she could purchase a Laptop computer. After we found a nice laptop for her, I asked the sales guy if he had any in stock. The guy turns to me and said he will check the back room to see if any were in stock. 5 minutes later a guy from Geek Squad walks up with his clip board and told us that we could only purchase the laptop if we sign up for the Geek Squad protection plan. I said no on the protection plan. the employee instantly became angry and hostile with us and started to verbally disrespect me, my wife, and my mother-in-law. We all three walked out the door and have never been back.

I have visited all of the BB around my area and have found that nobody that works for that company knows anything about the product they are selling. As a consumer who works hard for my money, why do I want to give somebody my money and not get what I wanted to purchase? I am meticulous about certain things when it comes to electronics. If the sales person does not know anything about what they are selling, I am not buying. If BB goes out of business ( ) it is their own fault. BB should not blame consumers for their own mistakes. BB will go out of business due to lack of leadership and respect for the power of the consumer.

Aww come on I'm always up for a story about how crappy Best Buy is.

I was in Best Buy a moth ago in the closed off magnolia section. I had a receiver playing Avatar an it was not loud at all. This bitch employee walked on looked at me like she was important and turned it all the way down. She then turned and walked out without saying a word. I was pissed I told every employee that asked me if I needed help that she was a bitch. I told them that I would understand if I had it loud. They told me that the room was built for just that reason, to turn it up. I went back in last week to look at a LG passive 3d tv. I asked some one if they had it, so guess who they called over to check. I took out my phone and didn't even look her in the face. I did that because I was told by her fellow employees that she thinks she's king sh&$. I'm sure it pissed her off.

This was posted over in the Blu-ray deal thread:
"Anyone who bought The Incredible at Best Buy but couldn't get the combo deal because Cars was out of stock should check back. It looks like a lot of Best Buy's got shipments of Cars in today. I went back with my Incredibles receipt, and they didn't have any trouble taking the $10 combo deal off of Cars and letting me use the $8 coupon."

Once again the innocent consumer doesn't have a clue to what is actually going on. The store was out of stock and it was clearly their "fault". But this price adjustment will create a negative record to be used against him in this new, secret retailer tracking system.
There are few rules or regulations, as the lobbyists largely control Congress and effectively author the legislation. Their sole purpose is to maximize retailer profits.

Here is the best advice I've found about protecting your online:identity:
http://www.hdguru3d.com/index.php?op...news&Itemid=59

I also have placed five year security freezes at the three big credit agencies:
https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freez...onalIDInfo.jsp
http://www.transunion.com/corporate/...ityFreeze.page
http://www.experian.com/freeze

Further I rejected Target's 5% savings debit card.
Why is there a credit check when the money is deducted immediately from your bank account? No credit is involved!
Just like Best Buy, the customer service in India didn't have an answer. Neither did two local store managers.
The reason is this gives them access to your credit history to sell your personal information to third parties.

To stop those mysterious junk credit card and insurance offers:
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/opt_form.cgi

Depends on the I-pod, the bit rate and the buds/phones. I-pods are for non-critical listening - wholly agreed - even with the best ear phones.

Convenience is a strong motivator, I'd rather have MP3 at 320k than no music when I have to listen to a plane droaning for 1-6 hours in the air. Sirius satellite is certainly not even 128k but in a car at 60MPH it's heck of a lot better than static or signals coming and going with terain changes. The beauty of DVD-A or even CD quality is readily drowned out at 30-70MPH in even most high end vehicles.

I can't stand 128k I-ruins downloads on buds, phones. Even more moderate MP3 compression in quiet spaces is intollerable - particularly on the high end. If someone can't tell the difference between 128k and higher compression on AAC through buds I would bet there is a real hearing loss or a very noisy environment to blame. Also to blame is a more likely lack of skilled perception and passion.

How do you explain that to the white standard earbud world who has never owned an amplifier - evena cheap one - and full range speakers with a basic CD transport with which to compare? If I never heard my father's outrageously expensive turntable and separates as a child I'd never likely have cared either.

My theater guests hear DVD-A/SACD and watch Blu-Ray and each time they experience the difference. Even my friends 8 year old twins know the difference and hopefully, they will someday remember to appreciate it when they go and purchase their listening and viewing equipment.

Experience renders the listener - no experience no rendering.

Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart are rendering - but not listeners. The vast majority of people are just casual participants in the world - much as I imgaine they experience education or art.

There's no money in a CD store or an art store if people only ever care to partcipate but not appreciate. Best Buy knows this. The next victim will be Magnolia and all the high end gear. Where does this leave the passionate to go? On-line?

Today Vizio Displays rule the viewing world, tomorrow Chinese vehicles will rule the driving world and a population never having experienced a Porsche or an Audi or a Corvette or a Jaguar will never know the difference.

Two buds = four wheels but only in a dispassionate world.

the world is changing so fast anymore. Heck - I remember back in the 90s when BB was the new kid on the block and everyone wanted to be seen there. It surprised me to hear the different opinions about BB now. Not that I disagree necessarily. In the long and short of it, I'd have to say that I've had as good a time at BB as I've had anywhere else that does comparable service. No better - no worse. In general when I'm at home during a weekend I'll stop by and just hang out. I may buy something and I may not. But mostly, I'm just hangin out and looking at their HT stuff and latest BD releases. And b4 BB it was CC -always on the list of places to stop by on a rainy weekend. I think I'd miss that if they were to hang it up.

Google and Apple state the precise GPS information is collected anonymously. The consumer’s home/bedroom can easily be identified by having the most hits. Input those coordinates into Google Maps and get the street address. Then look up the owner’s names from the online county property tax database. Dah?
So the data is not anonymous at all. No wonder the police are seizing cell phones at traffic stops. Why is the press reporting at pre-school level?

Ironically we find that certain new party siding with the government in implicitly approving of this tracking. Their silence against our freedom is deafening. The fact is we are being tracked more than the citizens of Communist China.
I state this to be fair to Best Buy as everyone is doing it.
Time to go watch Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest.

The Middle is a popular TV series is based of a typical family in Indiana. On the broadcast of 4/20/2011, the mom Patrica Heaton goes to store that is a cross between Circuit City and Best Buy.
She wants to see the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate more than anything else. She learns of the stores no-questions asked return policy, and purchases the TV with no intent to keep it.
Should this episode have been broadcast?
Or should she be put in the slammer for committing "fraudulent acts"?
Or should the store suck it up as its their policy?
Or should Best Buy and Retail Equation been allowed a minute at the end to state their case?

This is one of the problems with the return policy. There are fraudsters out there who will take advantage of the policy. Stores like Best Buy want to stop the fraud (which is something they have to pay for and arguably pass the cost onto other customers). They are left with a couple options. Try to limit certain people in order to offer legit customers a decent return option, or simply stop offering the return policy.

I worked for BB on 2 occasions (inhome appliance tech) and as far as I'm concerned they can go burn in hell-but I would feel sorry for all the people who would lose their jobs.

Ok then.....

agreed

This isn't exactly true. There is two different types of tracking data. One is the GPS data, the other is cell tower. The latter is not capable of pinning you down to an address. More like a certain area of a city at best. The GPS data being recorded would have to be extremely specific to get it down to an address.

So while I don't like the tracking, I think it's important to be accurate.

as a person of the 60s, it's really great to see you young folks taking a stand for something.

I looked this up:
Cell phone carriers are required to be able to provide your location to within 100 meters by using just their towers. They may however be more accurate at times.
My Garmin GPS displays its accuracy. When stationary it goes down to 6 feet. Thats my bed size. Farmers use GPS down to the inch level.

Android phones can turn the tracking off, iPhones are always on and recording.
Even if its turned off, the GPS can be turned on remotely by police or other government agencies.
I especially don't want my location data sold to third parties to know more about myself than I do. Then they can exploit any weaknesses.
I'm against all tracking except under court order.

I'm in law enforcement and know what the telephone providers can do. I'm pretty sure you can't get data within 100 feet from your phone (i.e. by downloading the data). Active tracking is something different though and we do need a court order for that (as opposed to downloading from your phone which we could do with consent or a court order or in some cases pursuant to an arrest).

I did not pay attention to the whole episode but justice was served as Patrica Heaton was not able to watch the wedding after all. Her eyes were welded shut!!
Turns out the boy auditioning 3D TV with glasses before her had pink eye.

I strongly recommend Best Buy to use the high resolution tracking color cameras just installed at Home Depot checkouts. Dump Retail Equation and use the tracking power of Google Verify. Imagine

When the customer is in the checkout/return line with his tracking (aka smartphone) phone his location is sent to Google Verify. Then the Best Buy image is sent to facial and iris recognition software to match against a secure Sony or Epsilon database. After the face and eyes are verified they are matched to the exact GPS coordinates of that register. Payment approval using your Google Trust charge account are made if no holds are in place by any law enforcement agencies, IRS or courts.
Returns may require additional security checks* using Google Fraudster following TSA guidelines.

Now Google World will know not only your location, but purchases which will be open for those willing to pay. At home then activate your new Google TV and be amazed to receive a personal Best Buy thank you with special double Reward Zone coupons for ink jet accessories.

The beauty of the system is anarchic receipts, zip codes, drivers license and even charge card are no longer required. I long for this day to feel safe and secure and have plenty of fresh ink on hand.

*See store for details

As long as I get the coupon.

Good humor always has some truth to it. My inspiration came from the Social Network/Facebook movie and realized that these software engineers were gathering personal data to strike-it-rich:

Just Press Play
Their rules are:
1) gather as much personal data as quickly as possible while acting stupid about it
2) Use third parties to distance your corporation from press and legal issues
3) Make the tracking inconvenient to manage - so its always kept on
4) Encourage employees to comment on-line and state their is nothing to worry about

That mindset matches said retailers desire to secretly begin tracking purchasing across stores through third parties. It is a race for power.

Here is another racier take with a bit more polish. Imagine:
I recommend Best Buy also use the high resolution tracking color cameras just installed at Home Depot checkouts. Dump Retail Equation and use the unprecedented reach of Google TV, Trax, Verify, Voice, Trust and Oz.

When the customer is in the checkout/return line with tracking phone their location is instantaneously sent to either of the two major tracking agencies: Google Trax or Delicious iTrack.

Simultaneously the retailers HD color camera image transmits your mug to facial and iris recognition software to match against a secure Sony or Epsilon database. After the face and eyes are verified you are further matched to the exact GPS coordinates of that register. In place of a signature, you speak a text message into your phone for Google Voice to process. Only then does Google Verify grant permission to buy if no holds are in place by law enforcement agencies, IRS, courts or ruling parties**. Retailers such as Best Buy flock to sign up as payment is unconditionally guaranteed.

Returns may require additional security checks* using Google Fraudster following TSA guidelines.

Now Google Oz will know not only your (bar hopping) location history, but also purchase history which is open to interested third parties. At home activate your new Google TV and be amazed to receive a personal Best Buy thank you with special double Reward Zone coupons for ink jet accessories. Fast-forward buttons can be enabled by subscription, but the personal ads will remain to serve you.

The beauty of the system is anarchic receipts, zip codes, drivers license, signature, charge card, wallets, SSN or cash are no longer needed.
I long for this day to feel safe and secure and have plenty of fresh ink on hand. Well time to go to watch new Disney The-Frog-And-The-Pot on me new TV. The 3D effects have become so realistic one could think its happening in real-life!
Well gotta go see if the frog gets saved all in the privacy of my home.


Enjoy!

*See store for details. Scientific, patented Lie-To-Me stress and infrared analysis tests may be required. By entering the retailer you give your consent.

** Varies by municipality

Guess i was right about cell phones becoming digital wallets:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/ebay-paypal...005159186.html
Google Wallet:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/...you-still-pay/

It's a race for your money. The world is saturated with advertisements so companies are constantly looking for a way to get to you more personally. Along comes data tracking.

I don't like it, but I understand it.