As you know I recently had to purchase a new machine in short order to replace one that has some serious hardware issues. Without time for Newegg or any other online retailer to ship me a completed system or parts to build my own I resorted to looking at and purchasing from chain retailers (all over the metro) to get a machine with adequate horsepower and compatibility with the hardware I already had.
After purchasing a machine from one retailer that was dead-on-arrival, I resorted to utilizing Best Buy to purchase a Dell tower which had everything I needed. On Sunday morning I received a survey asking me to detail my experience and let them know what they did right and what they could do better. At the bottom they left an open-ended comment box and I shared my experience with their “greeter” as you see below.
Please note that the link to the MN Statute was not provided in the original survey but I put it there for reader benefit. The rest of the content is word-for-word. Any grammatical or spelling errors can be attributed to my typing it on my phone from my bed on Sunday morning.
Upon leaving the store the “greeter” demanded I provide a receipt. Now I know this is your policy and I respect your loss prevention practices. However, I do not appreciate him not being courteous when asking me for the receipt.
I was holding a bulky box, my pregnant wife had a child in her arms and he didn’t even have the decency to take the box from us or say please when asking for the receipt.
Best Buy employees must remember that asking a customer to produce a receipt is to be done in a professional manner and with the knowledge that a customer is under no legal obligation to do so. When I reminded the staff member that he should say please when asking he gave me what I felt was an inappropriate look and then said ‘please’ in a contemptuous manner.
Just for reference I picked up an item at Wal-Mart earlier that same day after placing it on their website and received nothing but stellar, courteous service. You may want to consider retraining your ‘greeters’ to appreciate the questions they ask of those not required to respond to their questions.
While the rest of the process was acceptable, being that this was my last ‘touch’ by a BestBuy rep, it left a bad taste in my mouth and reminded me why I do not care to shop at BestBuy unless it’s an absolute emergency–as this was.
Bill Roehl
redacted
billandkimroehl@gmail.com
With Best Buy taking heat in the news lately for their business practices do you think that they should take more care to ensure that their customers’ visits are not met with contemptuous sneers and assumption of guilt by each and every person leaving the store?
Do you shop at Best Buy? Why or why not and who do you tend to utilize instead? When you’re there do you feel that they are constantly harassing you from the time you walk in the door until the time you leave or do you feel that’s all part of a positive retail shopping experience for you? Do you expect polite and courteous service when at a retail establishment vying for your business or do you think they should treat everyone, as they apparently do, as a potential thief instead of a potential sale? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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January 16th, 2012 at 7:11 am
I would buy my electronics out of the back of a windowless pedophile van before I buy anything more at Best Buy. They were just as rude as you experienced that last time I shopped at Best Buy. My experience was much the same, I was carrying a 40″ LCD TV in a box in one hand and a squirrely 1 year old on my other arm. The kicker was that I was one of about five people in the entire store and the “greeter” saw me checking out as I sat my daughter on the checkout counter to sign with the stylus and all that other jazz. I loathe Walmart just as much as I do Best Buy now but as far as needing something immediately, the choices are very limited. But back to Best Buy, I’ve even had an employee walk up to me and shuffle through the stack of CDs I was buying, sure buying CDs dates that experience but that’s just unprofessional and, to me, a form of profiling.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:33 am
I couldn’t agree more! BB is the very last resort for getting any dollars from me – it’s just not a pleasant experience. I’ve been “served” by some very unprofessional BB folks in the past. It didn’t use to be that way. Our first HD TV purchase was from BB and the guy who waited on us was great. That was 5-years ago. It’s been headed down hill since then I think. The Micro Center in St Louis Park is my go-to bricks and mortar retailer for everything electronic.
And others seem to agree about BB. The title of the following link from Forbes is: “Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually” – a very interesting read: http://tinyurl.com/89dydhr
January 16th, 2012 at 7:33 am
When buying computers/parts/supplies and I can’t buy them online, I prefer to get things from Microcenter in St. Louis Park. They are still more expensive than Fry’s or Newegg, but often time will carry a top quality generic part that is a fraction of Best Buy’s prices. As an added bonus, if you look like you know where you are going … store employees won’t bother you, but are readily available if you really need help.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:34 am
Did you consider making the trip to SLP and buying from MicroCenter? I would think that you’d have a lot more hardware to choose from at the very least.
I read the statute you linked to and while it doesn’t specifically state that you must show your receipt, wouldn’t that fall under “…if the merchant or employee has reasonable cause to believe…” if you did not show it?
January 16th, 2012 at 7:36 am
MC didn’t have what I needed in the price range I was looking to pay unless I wanted an open box item, which I did not.
C&V, I link to that article in the post’s text above.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:40 am
N52, I guess it depends on interpretation. Assuming everyone is guilty of shoplifting clearly isn’t good business. How saying “no” to a rude request constitutes “reasonable suspicion” is beyond me.
January 16th, 2012 at 8:10 am
New Rule for 2012: “Wait until you’ve consumed that second cup of coffee before posting to any blog.”
January 16th, 2012 at 8:30 am
I agree…the BB store experience has really gone downhill over the past 5 years – not just the “check your receipt” harassment on the way out, but the “helpful” salespeople while you’re in store trying to shop. The Forbes article that Chapter&Verse cited above sums it all up very well, indeed.
January 16th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Rumor on the street is that people in MN will have a second option for “Big Box Electronics” retail shopping. hhgregg is planing to set-up shop in a few select old Circuit City locations by this summer. They are slowly creeping north as they just recently opened 15 new locations in the Chicago area.
January 16th, 2012 at 8:36 am
People still shop at Best Buy?
January 16th, 2012 at 8:48 am
In all seriousness, I’ve used Best Buy once in the last 2.5 years since I bought a laptop there and had what I’ll only describe as a hellish customer service experience trying to get some problems fixed while it was still under warranty. Best Buy lectured me on not buying their Black Tie Protection and tried to charge me over $600 for a basic repair that they asserted HP’s warranty didn’t cover. Fortunately HP had stellar customer service when I gave up on BB and went to HP directly.
I did just buy a digital camera through BB’s website a few weeks ago thanks to a Chriatmas gift card that I had to use. It was baffling that the item I was purchasing was cheaper online than in the store where I was testing the floor model.
January 16th, 2012 at 8:50 am
I have trouble going into BB because I feel like I need to cut into a salesperson’s sales pitch to their potential victim and let them know there really isn’t difference between the $99 Monster Cable and the $15 Dynex brand one.
On that note, I would be really interested to see what percent of BB employees believe what they are saying about their products or if they are just spewing information off packages.
January 16th, 2012 at 9:08 am
About 15 years ago, I really noticed that BB started to aggressively push extras on to buyers. I bought a laptop, and they wanted to sell an extended warranty, then they wanted to sell anti-virus software, then they wanted to sell a carry case etc.. Like most here, I have not bought anything from BB unless in an emergency. I can’t stand the thought of going into the store and then being hounded by their sales staff. They are nice to use as a showroom to compare products, then go home to buy from an online retailer who sells it cheaper and tax free. Personally I think that BB is in a death spiral. They have become too big and too entrenched in corporate dogma and led by cookie-cutter executive stiffs. Unless they adapt to at least MATCH other online retailer prices, they are doomed to the ash heap of history.
January 16th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Related story – the Wells Fargo at Cobblestone has PERMANENTLY closed their drive through lanes. Ask them why. They will tell you “because we want to have more face to face time with our customers.” Isn’t that wonderful? Now ask any employee off the clock why the drive through is closed and you get the truth. “Corporate is really pushing us to SELL products and services and the drive through makes it harder for us to sell to customers.”
January 16th, 2012 at 9:38 am
Yeah BB’s HDMI cable selection is a ripoff. I’ve wondered by BB sales people selling this snake oil to unsuspecting customers.
You don’t need gold plated contacts as a general rule (in fact their duty ratings are much shorter then nickel plated contacts as gold is a much softer mineral and thus the contacts wear faster). With digital connections – bit is bits – it’s either on or off. I go to http://www.monoprice.com to buy cables these days, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere around here.
One of the reasons I cancelled my Stereophile magazine subscription years ago was that they started to review high end connectors and speaker wire (and when I say “high end” I mean in the $300-$1000 range!) which they claimed sounded vastly superior to ordinary cables with their “oxygen free” copper and other esoteric nonsense.They would “break in” wire for a period of days or weeks (by running their systems 24/7 with a CD playing) before they reviewed them to ensure they were at peak performance. Talk about pandering to their advertisers!
January 16th, 2012 at 9:40 am
Sean L, that has to be one of the worst corporate decisions in history. There has to be more to the story.
I have no problem with Best Buy. I don’t shop there often or for anything significant — usually just a cell phone charger or something. The loss prevention people at the door are pleasant to me anyway.
Bill, I applaud you for taking the time to fill out the survey albeit with pointed negativity. Regardless of the business — chain/independent — people are often too lazy or “polite” to provide constructive feedback.
January 16th, 2012 at 9:48 am
@Sean L, I’m not surprised. I went to the downtown St. Paul (skyway) Wells Fargo with my mom a couple of weeks ago (I drove and provided moral support) so that she could get my recently deceased dad’s name off their safety deposit box. The gal that waited on us (1) asked me if I was a Wells Fargo account holder and did I want to open one (no, and no way) and (2) wanted to know what her plans were for the money in her checking account (umm…pay for dad’s funeral).
As for Best Buy…seems like everytime I approach the checkout dropping stuff all over the place they ask me if I want a bag. D’OH!
January 16th, 2012 at 9:50 am
Alternate source for computers: years ago, I patronized General Nanosystems on University Ave in Minneapolis (http://nanosys1.com). Their prices are not the lowest, but you can configure a white-box system exactly as you wanted. Service was great.
January 16th, 2012 at 10:05 am
I hate Wells Fargo a whole lot more than I could ever hate Best Buy.
I take that article with a grain of salt. It has gotten a lot of publicity for some reason, but it just seems a bit slanted because the writer had a less than stellar situation. Best Buy has a lot of good people running it, and I think they will find their way going forward, be that they become more of a destination online store or they find the “next great thing” that people want to see and buy.
I have not had problems with their customer service, though I only go there a couple times per year. The greeter/receipt checkers seem fine to me.
If anyone wants reasons why Wells Fargo is the Worst Bank In The World, let me know.
January 16th, 2012 at 10:09 am
“Corporate Decisions” in Wells Fargo = no longer how can WE help YOU manage YOUR money to YOUR best interest, but now is How can WE use YOUR money more to OUR benefit!
Cheers!
Irving
January 16th, 2012 at 10:15 am
I agree lefty, that article didn’t do much for me. I read it and have seen it linked a number of times and am not convinced that BB’s situation is quite as dire as the article portrays. BB is the only major electronics retailer left, so if they’re headed for the exits, that’s an indictment on that model of business as much as anything, or at least a concession that only the Walmarts and Targets can provide that function.
I also saw BB CEO Brian Dunn’s response and thought it was a pretty fair response. I think BB has a lot of life in them. Continuing to improve their online business and syncing online and in-store prices will help.
January 16th, 2012 at 11:02 am
The above comments have covered what I was going to say. Both Best Buy and Wells Fargo will never get another dollar out of me. I always check eBay first, Amazon second, before I buy anything more than 20 dollars in cost. When I need an appliance I go to Warners Stellion-they know customer service, install the new one and haul away the old unit. When I refinanced a while back, my mortgage was sold to Wells Fargo. I promptly found another mortgage company that holds the mortgages themself and refinanced again and got an even better rate, less fees and suberb customer service people.
January 16th, 2012 at 11:08 am
Have to agree about BB.
Bought an Xbox there after the holidays because we had a gift card to use. Was at the best buy in Apple Valley. A kid helped me out and he was great, however they were out of the Kinect. The first kid said 25 of them came in on the truck and I could come back later to pick one up, or go to another store. I bought the Xbox and figured I would pick up the kinect at the Lakeville or Burnsville store on the way home. As I was picking out the Xbox another young man came over and asked about my HDMI cable. I told him I already have one. He spewed at me the stuff about not having a good enough one and I really needed a new one. He never asked what kind I have or where I bought it. I told him I had to come back for the Kinect and if my HDMI cable did not work I would pick up a new HDMI cable then. He immediately slammed into a pitch on opening a best buy account so I did not have to come back to get the Kinect. I told him, nicely, that I would be happy to buy the kinect on the spot if he would go get me one of the 25 of them that were reportedly in the back room, and I had no need for a best buy credit card.
I also had an issue with their price match promise, which proved to be a lie.
The whole thing was convoluted and annoying. In the end, nobody would go to the back and get a kinect, and I ended up making a trip to the Lakeville Best buy to use up my gift card.
99% of the time we would be buying whatever we need at Target.
January 16th, 2012 at 12:27 pm
They are a last resort for my needs. No, I don’t want an extended support warranty for my $50 5 port GB switch. However, when I was in the market for a new TV, the sales folks in Magnolia in Lakeville were great.
January 16th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
As a rule, I always buy online from one of my vendors unless emergency need. If that is the case, I order online and pick up at the store.
BB used to be my primary source for car stereo parts 15 years ago, but they’ve lacked in their service and knowledge and products.
Overall, for your case, the rep should have been more polite and helpful as they are your first and last touch in and out of the store.
January 16th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Here’s a link to my go-to on-line source for electronic parts and audio, I’ve found their pricing to be excellent.
http://www.parts-express.com/
January 16th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I tend to find myself in possession of a fair number of Best Buy gift cards, so I shop there 2-3 times a year. I buy things that are exclusive to BB or not likely to be any cheaper elsewhere. I always place my order online and pick it up in store. Most times I’m able to avoid any aggressive salespeople along the way.
I agree Wells Fargo is awful, but laziness / convenience has kept me a customer. I use ATMs for 99% of my transactions and that helps. Nothing worse than a clerk holding my money or card hostage while forcing me to say no to four different products. Hopefully they don’t turn the ATMs into little selling machines too.
January 16th, 2012 at 3:11 pm
Having worked at the Burnsville Best Buy, I can tell you that there are quite a few people on the sales floor that have been there a while want you to have a good time, see what’s new, and also set you up with what you need to make stuff work right. This is where the corporate Kool Aid stopped for me. Management in these stores, as well as at the corporate level is abysmal! I worked there for 4 years, and I got a .26 cent raise in that time. That’s it. I never once had an opportunity to advance, even when other jobs were available (not that I wanted to, I’m an engineering student!). I cross-trained to other departments and ALWAYS had management breathing down my neck to always sell Black Tie protection and all that other stuff. All I wanted to do is help people, and make new friends, and most of the time I did, and I had plenty of repeat customers ask for me. All the services and crap got in the way, I mention it all the time, NEVER push it, that’s how you piss people off. Then they cut staffing, calling it a “restructuring.” I had to watch an ACRE of floor space by myself, and constantly had customers insulting me over a lack of service, I wonder why? At any rate, the final nail in my coffin was when they enacted drastic availability requirements (eliminating overhead and Occasional/Seasonal positions), and I had to return to school. I came back to Store 8 for winter break, only to find that the job that was promised to me was filled by some little 16 year old f*cker. I have stock in this company, and I hope it goes up in value in the coming months, but after I sell out of it, I firmly believe the retail market is changing, and Best Buy’s days are numbered.
January 16th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Sorry in advance Bill for the off topic post.
I have to stick up for Wells Fargo. My mortgages have been managed by Wells Fargo (Owned by Freddie Mac) for the last 8 years. My banking business has been at TCF for the last 25. Just this month TCF decided to start charging me $9.99 per month on all of my accounts for a maintenance fee. I called them and told them change my account type and remove this fee. They did a one time reversal of the $9.99 on my accounts and said going forward I would be charged $9.99 per month per account.
Ta Ta TCF.
In December, Wells Fargo contacted me proactively stating that they would refinance my mortgage at 3.175% down from the 4.75% at was currently at with no closing costs. Being the skeptic that I am, I rifled off my 20 questions to vet their proposal. Well, I now have a new 3.175% mortgage with Wells Fargo who turned around and sold it back to Freddie Mac and incurred zero closing costs.
Having gone through this fairly painless and free process to save over $150 a month with Wells Fargo they are the new holders of my accounts which I do not incur any fees. I had child accounts set up at TCF which TCF was going to steal $10 a month out of for management and the kids only had a few hundred dollars in and would have been broke in a matter of months due to these fees.
While I understand people do not like being bothered with promotions or other vehicles or options when dealing with their existing banks, cable companies, phone companies, etc. I have to say that Wells Fargo is my banker of choice today for their proactive approach towards saving me money.
Just ask the Mrs. who gets embarrassed when she is with me as I also have no issues with telling these people no, go pound sand, or where to go, if they are wasting my time and do not truly act in my personal best interest as a customer.
I would be curious to hear about Wells Fargo’s warts but my dealings with them have been stellar the last two months. I have a specific name of a banker at the local branch to call and give them hell if they step out of line. I do think closing the drive throughs is stupid, you will just need to go over to the Wells in front of the Burnsville Center, (these drive throughs are very narrow however and just about lost a mirror on Friday night)
I hope TCF goes bankrupt tomorrow for having to put me through the hell of the changes of payroll direct deposits, automated payment changes etc that I have had to do the last 5 days and are pissing off decade old customers.
As far as Best Buy goes, they are a store in my portfolio and if something is better, faster or cheaper, that is where I am going to buy it. As far as some employee being a jackass checking your receipt at the door, you are going to encounter jackasses everywhere. I think that is ridiculous and never really understood the practice as you see it at Sam’s Club and Costco. I would be curious to see the actual amount of merchandise that is “recovered” due to this practice.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Sad to see a Minnesota company go downhill so quickly. That gigantic headquarters was never even filled 3/4th the way. I bet it’s less than half now. What a waste. I can’t shop there anymore. It’s always a hassle, even just to buy a movie. I won’t tell my long winded stories, but I have several and the last one was the last straw. The store manager’s indifference was incredible, he was rude and showed zero respect. Their salepeople aren’t knowledgable on the products they sell, they only care about the upsell, on everything. Checking out buying a simple movie: Do you want the replacement plan for that? No, are you kidding me, for a $10 movie! $100 HDMI cables, what a joke, <$5 on Amazon and Best Buy salesmen will swear theirs are better. Er…nope!
I'd be shocked to see this company not in bankruptcy within 3-5 years and gone within 10. They serve little purpose anymore. I buy as much as I can from Amazon, NewEgg, etc. No sales tax and much lower prices.
January 16th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
I edited mystery shops for Best Buy for years and I do believe they want their customers to have a good experience. However, after working as a trainer for a large Swedish retailer, I understand that what the corporate drones determine are important, is not always the case once the edict is send to the stores.
I shop at Best Buy for Wii games and various peripherals that I might need asap, but ultimately it’s better to shop with Amazon.com, or Newegg.com. Honestly, I would never go there to purchase anything that required any amount of education or research.
As an aside, I have had great luck with their mobile store at Burnsville Center. We’ve purchased 5 phones there in the last 2 years.
January 16th, 2012 at 9:02 pm
I won’t buy from Best Buy and haven’t for a while. Their past (no idea if they still do it) process of emphasizing the after rebate sent in price rather than the actual price I would have to pay at the cashier and one too many idiot employees ended my use for them. Emergency purchases only. Computer stuff I do online or drive out west for Microcenter.
Best Buy may have cared at one time, but I see no evidence of this any longer. I know folks working there really try. They do the best they can, but there is something missing there and it starts at local management, likely going much higher.
I haven’t been happy with Wells-Fargo since they were Norwest Bank. I had to work with a Wells-Fargo account for a little while recently and was shocked to find out they charge for some of their online services. i.e. if I want to view a deposit slip (which they scan along with everything else they scan) they nick you for a fee to do so. What a joke. They might be o.k. as a mortgage company (it’s a separate division) but as a bank they are less than ideal. I’ve heard rough stuff about TCF as well. I signed up with US Bank, which was previously FirstStar bank, and before that Community something back in the early 80′s when I started my first job during high school. Worked with Norwest for about a year and then went back. Been there since and other than one ACH screw up a few years ago, never a problem.
January 17th, 2012 at 8:32 am
My biggest complaint about BB is the employees constantly hounding you if you need help finding something. They have it down to an art form where you aren’t left alone for more than 2 seconds. Yet, if you try to find a certain CD or whatever(ie the only time you DO need help finding something), they are gone.
I go to MicroCenter instead. You have to wait a bit for a salesperson to help you because they are helping many others. They are polite, and know what they are talking about.
I’ll go there or newegg.
January 17th, 2012 at 10:55 am
I don’t like Best Buy. Most of my purchases that could be made there are done at Amazon or a similar website. I was there recently to burn up a gift card on kid’s movies and it doesn’t seem like the place has changed too much in the last 10 years or so. It seems that the corporate level management lacks innovation and strategic thinking. Customers can only handle so much abuse before they start looking elsewhere for large purchases.
Also, I am no longer a Wells Fargo customer either. I would recommend all of you leave that place for one of the many Credit Unions.
January 17th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
jf, agreed on credit unions. I belong to one and I’ve only had a couple of small issues that were easily resolved. Never going back to a bank unless I have to.
Regarding BBY, I wouldn’t count them out just yet, but they have a tough road ahead. While I’ve been in their stores recently, I haven’t bought anything from them. I will say that, as someone who works in the same industry, the pressures they are facing from online retailers are affecting everyone else too, more and more each day. Some retailers are going to be able to adapt, but not all.
January 17th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
75% of my experiences with the customer service at Best Buy have been AWFUL. They are usually rude jerks
January 17th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
It’s probably not what 90% of people are looking for, but there is a computer recycler in Eagan, Reboot, that resells the usable parts of machines they take apart. It can be handy if say, your four year old breaks a dozen keys off of your laptop. If you need something specific you can call ahead and they’ll find it for you.
January 17th, 2012 at 8:48 pm
While not sticking up for Best Buy or the person checking receipts, my only comment is you didn’t know they would ask for your receipt on the way out the door? They’ve only been doing that since, well,… I can’t remember when they didn’t…
January 17th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
I briefly worked as a cashier at the Roseville BB when I first moved here and it was hell in the way that working in retail is hell. Their loss prevention is so weird because employees get a bonus based on the percentage that store loss decreased over the year (although, this could have changed). I really won’t go there anymore since the last time I was there in November. We were walking down the aisle nowhere near product and we were asked if we could be helped by no less than 3 employees (that I wasn’t making eye contact with), not to mention the 40 other employees that asked us if we needed help. I about lost my mind and considered leaving all my items at the feet of the next employee who talked to me and walk out of there. It was that ridiculous.
Also, I’ve banked with WF for many years and have had few problems. I’m too lazy to switch my accounts to a credit union and all the other large banks are pretty much the same in terms of rates and services. Short of them seriously fucking up my checking account, I’ll probably never leave.
January 17th, 2012 at 9:06 pm
Jason,
I hadn’t been in one to buy anything since probably 2008 so no, it wasn’t on my mind. That coupled with the fact that we had our hands full would make someone think that perhaps they’d have a better way of handling it. Finally, there’s the lack of pleasantries and the rude response. No matter what my expectations were, that behavior was uncalled for.
I guess I’m old fashioned in my 30+ years on this earth. I hold doors for people and expect them to say thank you. I not so nicely remind them when they don’t usually by unequivocally stating that I am not a doorman. I also expect people to say please and thank you as I do regardless of my time on or off the clock.
Best Buy asked my opinion and I gave it. An intelligent company would have responded by now with an apology. Apple responded to my survey response almost immediately when I complained that I had to pay for my iPhone shattering due to stupid design. Best Buy is still silent. All I can say to that is, “no thank you.”
January 17th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Hi Bill, I give them 2 years, maybe 2.5 and they will be out of business. They’re getting their collective butts whipped by Amazon and other online technology stores. Brian Dunn’s blog posting on BB’s recent media coverage didn’t appear very “CEO-like”. http://www.bbycloud.com/briandunn/?p=1439&t=dbrief
A leader has to appear in control of his ship, himself and his message. Even if he’s wrong, he has to appear to be above defending his business model in a blog post. The employees who openly blast the “upselling” service model and their contempt for being forced to sell additional products and services that the customer doesn’t need can’t last. I’ve even stopped shopping their products and doing the price comparison to avoid the sales floor hassle. I just go straight to the online retailers for my “best buy”.
I expect to see a “for sale” sign on the corner of 494 and 35W by 2015.
January 18th, 2012 at 12:56 am
I generally only shop at Best Buy when it’s an emergency or I’m just too lazy to go anywhere else. When I do go, I know what to expect, and it pisses me off every time I experience it. Most recently, I stopped in to buy a new paper shredder (end of year document shredding emergency!) and swung by the camera cases aisle to see if they had anything that would work nicely for the new camera we got for christmas. As I was looking over the options, four, yes FOUR blue shirts approached me within a 3 minute period asking if I needed help, and when I said “just looking” they all stood and stared at me for at least 30 seconds before going away. This happens every time I go there not matter what I’m looking for. Oh, and then every time I get to the checkout there’s only one lane open and it’s slow as hell. Annoying! It’s unfortunate they are the only electronics chain with convenient locations anymore.
January 18th, 2012 at 11:12 am
States need to start collecting state sales tax from online retailers.
January 18th, 2012 at 11:15 am
You mean collect state sales taxes from any business selling any items without a physical presence in the state right?
January 18th, 2012 at 11:37 am
I do. I believe Amazon’s dependence on antiquated sales tax laws to “cover” the cost of shipping is unfair.
January 18th, 2012 at 11:44 am
Aren’t the tax laws themselves, being that there are 50 unique ones, antiquated and unfair?
January 18th, 2012 at 11:58 am
All taxes are unfair because fair means different things to different people.
In this case I feel that it’s unfair for out of state retailers to be exempt from collecting a tax that the B&M stores are required to collect.
Now to stay on this high horse I’m going to have to pay my sales taxes this year… hmmm.
January 18th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
JTL, I just meant it’s unfair because all the systems are so very different so retailers dealing with all 50 states have to deal with 50 different systems. This may not be a huge deal for a company like Amazon but it would be for a very small business–a handful of people or less.
January 18th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
That may be, if a small business grew their site entirely from scratch, but add it as an accounting feature to shopping cart software and it shouldn’t be that big a deal.
Maybe you have to cut 50 checks at the end of the year, that would be a pain, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.
There are an unlimited number of ways it could be implemented. Maybe go after the big fish first and then phase it in.
I think the states are eventually going to be forced to make this change as online sales go up every year.
January 18th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
My wife used to work for a company and sales taxes in other states was a big problem for them (and they weren’t 5 people or less). I believe they had to hire outside people to audit their work to ensure it was up to snuff. Then they had to be sure they were keeping up with the changes made to the code yearly.
While I agree that it seems unfair, there is a lot more to it than what appears on the surface and knowing the details of my own excessive work in reporting to 50 different states and their own ridiculous requirements, I would side with the retailers not wanting to deal with it.
January 18th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
So I’ll go ahead and flip sides for a moment…
In MN we have 6.875% general sales tax, but food and clothes have no tax. Now does an online retailer have to categorize all their items? That’s a much bigger deal than just collecting 6.875% on all sales.
January 18th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Yeah, there’s much more to it than a flat amount across the sales or it really wouldn’t be a problem.
January 18th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
I’m sure the B&M stores would love to not have to collect taxes either. Unfortunately there’s no ROI for compliance with laws. It’s just a cost of doing business.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Does anyone here actually shop on Amazon simply to avoid taxes? I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people who do, but that reason has never once crossed my mind. Tax rates have, however, caused me to buy in Dakota County instead of Hennepin.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Absolutely. If I am buying a new camera or lens for it and may be spending $1,000 or more, sales tax makes a big difference. Plus online stores are always cheaper due to much less overhead.
When Minnesota initiated the 3% sales tax, it was supposed to be temporary. They promised but they lied. They found a new income stream and just kept spending. More money, more waste. Nearly fifty years later now they can’t live without it and they wonder why people have less discretionary income. The money that makes the economy grow. Not everyone gets a big fat government salary.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
I’m one of those who shops Amazon to not pay tax, especially on larger items. In fact, no tax is one of the main reasons I shop there, in addition to free shipping and convenience. I would probably still shop there if they were required to collect sales tax, but maybe not as often.
January 18th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
Everybody here knows that you are required (in MN anyway) to pay sales tax on items purchased out of state don’t they?
Yeah I know nobody does, but it is the law!
http://taxes.state.mn.us/sales/Documents/use_tax_forms_ut1.pdf
January 18th, 2012 at 6:22 pm
1. More than $770 (seems arbitrary)
2. And you must report any alcoholic beverages (> 24 beers) too.
—
I’m laughing and can’t stop.
January 18th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
1. Yes but if you purchase $771.00 you have to pay the entire amount (no $770.00 exclusion – and I bet a lot of people would exceed that threshold in the course of a year)
2. Don’t forget to tack on another .0065% if you bought your Surlys in MPLS which is part of Hennepin county.
I’m laughing too.
January 18th, 2012 at 7:02 pm
I’m still pissed that they tore down a perfectly fine movie theater to put up a Best Buy.
http://247wallst.com/2012/01/13/the-10-most-hated-companies-in-america/
January 18th, 2012 at 8:46 pm
For you privacy phobes, are you aware of Best Buy’s return policy?
Original Receipt and Valid Photo ID
Bring the original receipt as well as your valid photo ID for all exchanges, returns, price matches and warranty repair services. Best Buy accepts the following forms of photo identification:
•U.S., Canadian or Mexican driver’s license
•U.S. state ID
•Canadian province ID
•U.S. military ID
•Passport
We electronically secure your information solely for the purpose of returns management, in accordance with state and federal laws regarding consumer privacy.
Yeah that’s right, even if you have the receipt and are returning something unopened, you need a valid id of which they input into their system.
And let’s take that one step further, they can also deny a return, even with a receipt if you return too many items if that number is found to be “excessive” in their minds. Their policy states: “Based on return/exchange patterns, some customers will be warned that subsequent purchases will not be eligible for returns or exchanges for 90 days”.
Again…why do people shop here? Price matching anything in their ad that you can get at Target or Wal-Mart is much easier and you won’t run into the same hassles buying or returning the item at either of those stores.
January 19th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Alright, I guess I’m the odd man out on the tax motive.
I had an experience this week that sums up why I shop at Amazon (the second awesome experience in the last month). I ordered a $20 speaker. I really didn’t care when it got here. It’s mostly for traveling or if I’m watching something on my laptop and want the noise to be louder than what the laptop affords. I got a notice that the item had shipped on 12/31 and should arrive on 1/9. Amazon said it left their facility on 12/31 but I never saw a status update since then. Figuring a week overdue was more than enough time, I chatted with a rep online. I didn’t have to wait in a queue, it took me a minute to give him the information he needed and he immediately submitted a new order to me with overnight shipping, no questions asked.
Compare that with my last Best Buy experience, where I dealt with Best Buy personnel on the phone, in the store, and at their headquarters (or wherever they handle customer complaints). Not once did anyone apologize or attempt to fix the issue to me. Instead, they deflected blame to HP for the problem I was having with the HP product and in the end, they never did resolve my issue. HP, on the other hand, did.
If Amazon and Best Buy were my only options and Amazon cost 10% more, I’d still go with Amazon for my next major electronics purchase. Best Buy has earned its nickname “Worst Buy.”
January 19th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
Note: The CNBC Special on BBY’s fight airs tonite at 8pm: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45986486/Best_Buy_The_Big_Box_Fights_Back
January 19th, 2012 at 4:51 pm
@Joey +1 on Amazon as well. My experience with them was also awesome.
I ordered a set of 6 Glencairn whiskey glasses from them. Well because they weren’t packaged correctly one of the glasses was broken when I got them. I called them and told them what happened and they said to keep the glassware and they credited my CC for the order! So I got a set of 5 glasses for the unbelievably low price of zero dollars!
Nothin’ wrong with that!
March 8th, 2012 at 8:50 am
More $7/month fees for checking accounts at Wells Fargo: http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/07/pf/wells-fargo-checking-fee
March 8th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
haha, so fee to use checks, a fee to use your debit card, and just plain fees to live anymore. Wells Fargo has been the king of fees for quite a while which is why I’ve avoided them historically, even as far back as NorWest.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:41 am
Hi Bill, Here’s the latest on Best Buy. Another nail getting pounded into their coffin.
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10919862-best-buy-to-close-50-stores-in-restructuring
Brent
March 31st, 2012 at 9:42 pm
The Lakeville Best Buy is one of the five stores closing in the metro area.
http://www.kare11.com/news/article/970283/391/Best-Buy-to-close-5-stores-in-Twin-Cities
April 1st, 2012 at 7:01 am
I’m surprised they’re closing the Lakeville store, it’s the newest one around. Still, I guess it’s not as favorable a location as the Apple Valley store. I haven’t heard if they’re going to move forward with the new Burnsville store (where Circuit City used to be), but I’d be surprised if they did at this point. The old location sucks, but if you’re trying to save money, there’s no point in building a new store right now.
April 1st, 2012 at 11:04 am
I think the Circuit City location doesn’t work for them, when you consider that it’s only directly accessible going westbound on 42 and is out of the way of the strip mall itself for walking to.
So you’re not going to get a lot of traffic up there.
But then again, the current Burnsville location is in a strange place and they aren’t being closed (I thought for sure it would)
April 1st, 2012 at 7:50 pm
The lakeville bestbuy was open for more than 9 months before I even knew it existed. I found it once when browsing the website and it was asking me to pick a store near me. The location was probably a decent idea if the land around there had ended up getting developed, but in the current state it turned out to be a pretty bad location.
April 10th, 2012 at 10:22 am
Hi Bill, , <bang, ! The sounds of more nails into the BB coffin. Brian Dunn resigned today. http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2012/04/10/dunn-resigns-as-best-buy-ceo.html
April 10th, 2012 at 11:03 am
I realize it is sort of fashionable to bash on Best Buy of late, but last I looked, I doubt many of us who don’t know a person or family that will be quite negatively impacted if this company goes away.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:23 am
This is true Lefty, and it leaves me a bit torn. I’ve had pretty terrible experiences with Best Buy as a customer and the only way I’ll use them now is if they’re a last resort (which hasn’t happened yet) or I’ve been given a gift certificate (happened once). I also have a friend who works there and would be out of a job if they fell. In that sense, I really want them to succeed. But I have yet to see any signs that the company is willing to make the necessary changes to succeed. Do I really want a company that refuses or is unable to respond to its customers and market changes to succeed? Not really. It’s a little bit like hoping a terrible restaurant I refuse to eat at due to negative experiences succeeds because I know a guy who works there.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:27 am
lefty,
Yup. Anyone employed by WB should be making quick moves to find a new job IMO. Poor business direction was a part of why I left the last company I worked for back in February. I don’t see why anyone else wouldn’t do the same when the begin to see the writing on the wall.
That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t feel bad for anyone losing their jobs but for me to say that I should support WB because of it, even though I just recently did, is silly.
April 10th, 2012 at 11:30 am
Joey,
I completely agree with that sentiment. If a place can’t do the job, they should not be patronized. While I have not had any negative interactions with BBY to speak of, I can sure appreciate those of you that have not using your money there.
In this case, we are not talking about a busboy or waitress, but highly skilled, well paid professionals that could be out on the street. It is sort of why I think they are going to figure things out. A lot of good minds are in that huge office over there.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will the better people jump ship when they can? If that happens, it could not be a good ending. We’ll see.
April 10th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
What’s interesting is at the end of last year they really ramped up on technology hiring and I believe that was supposed to continue into this year. Not sure if the plans have changed or not.
April 10th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
They said that the resignation was a surprise (who knows if it really was) and that the direction is fine. Perhaps the CEO really did think someone else could provide the direction they needed to leverage their staff to do a better job.
April 10th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
If these employees are so skilled (and I think they are), they shouldn’t have an issue finding new work. I’d love a BB employee to state why they think the company will succeed. There were plenty of talented people at Circuit City too and we all know where that went.
April 10th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
If I were a technical recruiter, I would be dropping my business card on every car in that parking lot right now. That is a job market right now that cannot find enough people for all the jobs that are out there.
Not so much the case for people with retail and marketing experience. It is a mixed bag with a company like that.
April 10th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
lefty, people just need to get out of the specialized mindset. Just because you work in X within retail doesn’t mean that you cannot extrapolate that knowledgebase out to other industry.
The single biggest reason people who are unemployed with marketable skill is because they have pigeonholed themselves into one specific area and refuse to expand their search radius.
I worked in the same industry for 10 years and was easily able to make the transition to a different one simply by breaking down my experience and showing that it is easily applied anywhere. I believe the quote I used most often was simply, “Data are data.”
April 10th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Bill,
I completely agree with you. That is why I would have less of a problem when a restaurant shuts down. So my buddy (or Joey’s buddy) just goes to another restaurant to do the same thing.
With a large corporation like this, what typically happens is all of the sudden a staff of 100 marketers gets cut loose on the same day and they have to compete for the 10 jobs that are open on that day while the lesser ninety need to wait around collecting tax dollars until more jobs open up.
Again, if you do not have marketable skills, shame on you.
April 10th, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Bill hit the nail on the head. In the last 2.5 years (end of one job, duration of another, and beginning of my current job) I’ve held 4 positions for 3 different tech companies that support 3 very different industries. The positions were account management, project management, people management, and sales engineer. The companies primarily served retail, government, and health care sectors respectively. The common thread has been that all of the companies were Software-as-a-Service companies, which is a space I prefer to be in for various reasons, but that’s where the similarities pretty much end.
It’s not that there isn’t value in a career that’s locked into one area. There certainly is. But as Bill said, you’ve got to know how to expand that experience beyond your niche because there will likely come a time when you need to be more flexible due to changes in a company, career, etc. I think most of Best Buy’s employees will do fine. Sure, Target, Supervalu, General Mills, etc. will be able to pick up some of the employees in various merchandising and other roles. But many tech employees will find numerous employers ready to take them on as well. I can’t imagine there are many employees who would find themselves without a job for long, and those who would are likely people who are either too locked into one specific area or are unwilling to move somewhere they could easily find a job in their line of work.
April 10th, 2012 at 3:56 pm
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2012/04/10/best-buy-dunn-resigned-amid-investiation.html
April 10th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Isn’t it always about a woman…
April 10th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Setting aside the hint at financial improprieties for a moment, which is stunning to contemplate, and getting back to ones career path/skill set, this is an interesting conversation to ponder. Looking back at my 45-year career in the “work force” is an interesting exercise. Was the success I enjoyed due to my skills, personality, education (or lack of it), sucking-up to power people, what?
I’m pretty sure it ends up to be a combination of attributes. My formal education is an AA degree in mechanical design – that’s it. Yet I ended up as a Senior Research Specialist at a Fortune 100 company. My career path was: draftsman, product designer, technical service, technical writer, quality assurance engineer, technical sales, product research, technical marketing, senior research specialist. Just before retirement my peers were 80% PhDs. My company sent me to 24+ countries all over the world. How did that happen?
…ask lefty or Bill and they’ll tell you it was good looks and bullshit!
April 12th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
lefty FTW!!
http://www.startribune.com/business/147091815.html
April 12th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
BBY’s transparency over this is interesting. They have a lot of investors, and as noted in this thread: many MN jobs on the line, and the company’s relevance in the future is in question. So it will be interesting to find out how long the enterprise knew something inappropriate was going on w/ Dunn.
BTW, BBY outsourced their entire IT capability to Accenture several years ago. They don’t have an internal IT footprint that would affect “technical jobs”.
April 12th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
I have a friend who used to be an Accenture IT consultant at Best Buy. If Best Buy goes down, it’s true that Best Buy wouldn’t have technical employees affected, but they would have many contract workers affected. This goes for numerous other suppliers, contractors, custodians, restaurant workers, etc. who rely on that workforce for their own jobs. Accenture couldn’t just relocate all of those employees anymore than a restaurant owner could replace half of his lunch crowd.
April 12th, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Yes Joey that’s true. However, I would see that outcome as the ability of those contractors to be allocated to demand elsewhere.
BBY’s choice to model their IT capability externally means that they aren’t as “committed” to that resource as they would be to a BBY team member. That brings up the question of how they’re perceived to treat team members.
BBY’s has a history of mass hiring and mass firings over the years. This is known in the retail industry here in the Twin Cities. They definitely send a different message about how they view their workforce than most other top local companies.
In other words, what I’m saying is BBY’s business model and IT model are considerations when evaluating their past success and current struggle to stay relevant.
As a reminder, this thread is titled “why I don’t like to shop Best Buy.” As we discuss the outcomes of Dunn’s behavior, their business and IT models, one has to begin to think those models may have resulted in the rest of us folks in the Twin Cities questioning whether we’ll continue to shop their stores or their website.
Right now, I would say those models haven’t put BBY in a place to stay relevant as the retail business is transforming (quickly!)
Brent
May 14th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
BBY founder Schulze to step down as Chairman in wake of Dunn investigation: http://www.startribune.com/local/151365265.html
Seems like the big losers in this public scandal are the stockholders and employees.
Curious, does anyone believe this is “rock-bottom” and things are going to get better now?
June 7th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Wow, the drama continues. Dick Schulze resigns from the board early “…in order to explore all available options for my owenrship stake.” http://www.startribune.com/business/157804225.html
September 16th, 2012 at 7:29 pm
BB is moving their “greeters” to other parts of the store: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/morning_roundup/2012/09/best-buy-reassigns-receipt-checkers-to.html
September 17th, 2012 at 8:30 am
I like the spin on that one. While the quote is that nobody is getting “laid off”, it is clear that these “greeters” are just going into the store to take the place of the next person who quits voluntarily, resulting in a net savings of 2000 jobs that will no longer be needed. I would suspect that a company the size of BB has a few thousand people quit in a few month’s time if not sooner.
Not saying it is a bad business decision, but to pretend that they did not just take 2000 jobs off the market is sort of silly.