Minor Rant

[buzzard]

OK, so I go into Best Buy to pick up a fiber optic audio cable to connect my new Sattelite receiver to my amp, and after the sales guy points out the location he also mentioned they have higher end ones available elswhere which offer better performance. I then resrponded that since it was a digital signal, there can be no difference and he sensibly dropped it. I give him credit. One time at a different store I actually had the rep argue this point with me for a while. I can understand them trying to push their sales numbers by selling higher end stuff, but you'd think they would have the sense to give up when someone can call them on their BS. On a digital signal it makes no difference as long as the pulse gets through. Either it works or doesn't. There is no issue of quality. Grrr.

Please feel free to add your own rant about technical BS from salespeople.

buzzard

 

[Darth Shoju]

My friend used to work at Future Shop. He said he would rather sell cables all day than the big appliances as cables had a huge mark-up while the bigger items didn't. That's basically why they push accessories and protection plans/extended warranties as they are mostly profit (not that that excuses them acting like knobs).

 

[werk]

My friend and I went into Best Buy to buy a VCR, her old one died.

The rep laughed at us!

Edit: Take this Best Buy!

 

[Huw]

My friend and I went into Best Buy to buy a VCR, her old one died.

The rep laughed at us!

I'm in the same position. I need a new VCR, and I want a good one. The only ones I've seen are combined DVD/VCRs - but I've got a DVD player and a damn good one! I'm even willing to spend quite a lot on a VCR - I've got a tonne of old films on video (including some really cheesy 80s' sword and sorcery which I doubt'll be on DVD any time soon).

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I think Best Buy operates on the 'If I don't know it's not true, it's not really lying' principal.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Heh, I used to get in trouble when I worked at a store that sold electronics. We sold a coupe of different adaptors to allow a car tape deck to play CDs, one was about $20 more than the other. Whenever someone came up with the more expensive one I would tell them they should buy the cheaper model since I saw more than half the higher end ones returned for being defective.

My managers hated me for it, but I did have customers come looking for me on later visits for assistance.

 

[KenM]

The last few times i was standing in a Best buy waiting for help when i had a question, 5 Best buy workers would just walk by me, not even ask if I needed help or anything.

 

[trancejeremy]

A little while ago my father went to one to buy a replacement DVD player. He wanted a cheap one but the guy there tried to sell him a more expensive one, claiming that on the cheap ones, you would have to flip the disc over when you play a dual layer DVD. Not a double sided DVD, a dual layer - ie, one more than 4.7 gigs.

Another thing, I recently got a PSP and every time I buy a game for it at BB, they ask do I want to spend for an extra warranty on the game in case it gets scratched.

First off, does it ever make sense to spend $5 for an extra warranty on a $20 game? And in the PSP's games' case, they come enclosed in a plastic sleeve with only a teeny tiny portion of the disc exposed. How they are supposed to get scratched, I dunno.

 

[buzzard]

The last few times i was standing in a Best buy waiting for help when i had a question, 5 Best buy workers would just walk by me, not even ask if I needed help or anything.

Guess that must vary by store. At my local one, I wasn't looking at cables for two minutes before some lady walked by, asked if I needed assistance, and paged someone to come help me. I've never had trouble with attentiveness at Best Buy. I don't like the juggling of product location, but that technique seems to have infected other businesses from the Supermarket model.

buzzard

 

[wingsandsword]

Once, about 6 years ago, I was moving into a new apartment that didn't have cable, so I was buying a TV antenna. I ended up getting a fairly nice one, a $40 antenna with a signal booster that plugged into the wall. The salesman tried to sell me on a "product replacement plan" good for 2 years, that would cost. . .$40. Think about that for a moment.

3 years ago, when moving into my current apartment, I needed some coaxial cable to set things up. There is a Radio Shack very close to my apartment, so I thought I could go in there and pick up some cable. Big mistake. All they stocked apparently was this outrageously expensive "deluxe" cable with gold connectors, that cost like $30 for a 5 foot length, and the package touted how superior the cable was. When I tried to ask the salesdrone if they stocked any other cable, I got a sales speech about how it would be a waste to use any other cable, and I need this cable for whatever I'm doing. Yeah, right. I went a little further down the road to the Home Depot and picked up cable for far cheaper, and without a high pressure sales speech.