"Best Buy" strange shopping experience

[Candidcameraman]

Yesterday I was shopping for a flat screen HDTV and went to "Best Buy" ... they quote me a price on the items I was looking for and they were $875 more than the place I had been to... just before going tp Best Buy...

Then the rep tells me, "We can knock $100 if you take this $400 extended warranty!" ... Say what!?!?

The worst part is that I started being served by the department manager who had just taken over the department ... he clearly was in over his head and soon past us along to one of his "minions"

In the end I was told, "We'd rather sell less at a higher margin then move more product..."

If I was to hazard a guess, someone at Best Buy head office saw the news that the movie industry made more money last year with less people attending... simply because the movie ticket prices were higher...

I guess they increased their gross profit ratio and did some market research into it... Sure they will lose customers but good marketing will keep just enough people to... Oh wait a minute, not everyone shops on both the internet and in stores... to get the best possible deal

In this economy you'd think they would want to move the stuff at a lower margin in order to stay afloat... My advice if you have some of their stock... sell, Sell! SELL!!! A quick search in how well (or not) their stock was doing came up with BBY as one of the most dangerous stock to purchase right now... http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=bby

I am afraid that department manager could be out of a job shortly... sad, sad, sad...

 

[Anthony747]

Best Buy is one of the worst places to purchase high end HDTV's! When I was shopping for my Panasonic plasma a few years back Best Buy was $1000 more than a local mom pop store!!!

 

[robert photo]

We bought a TV from them 2 years ago and the pricing was great. Glad we got it while we did! Sounds weird, though -- I'll have to compare when this weekend's ad comes out.

Interesting story...

 

[exposinglife]

They've always price-matched for me. They did when I bought my HDTV three years ago...without any haggling. I also still got 24 months no interest as well.

The only caveat is that some stores, like Sams Club carry slightly different model numbers than the others and you can't get price matching on those. It seems to be a bit of a game now.

 

[Doug]

When your the size of WM/Sams, BB, etc..., they can get vendors to create model numbers just for them to prevent exact comparison shopping.

If I were getting a set today, and wanted to remain strictly budget conscious for 1080P, I have to say based on what I have seen, WMart may well be my store of choice. I would balance check them online, and compare shipped no tax with local pickup and tax. That said, I've always preferred local TV purchases, just in case of issues with it. Projectors, not so bad through shipping though with size at 10 pounds or less. In fact, I have bought 4 projectors over time, all via the net. I did buy my first starter projector at BB.

Of course, 720P sets are less money, and can still do 1080i, just not 1080p, so you have to establish just how good you want the image to be, and what are your sources mostly, TV or DVD or both? Wait, I've digressed from the price issue to a value issue.

 

[Frits]

My advice if you have some of their stock... sell, Sell! SELL!!!

I would not touch BBY (and the likes) with a 20 foot pole.

 

[Pa]

I was shopping for an HDTV a week ago and went to Best Buy because they had an attractive price for a Sony XBR 40-inch with a bundled Blu-Ray player. BUT they had none of the Blu-Ray players, and had no idea when they would be getting them. So, would they sell me the TV now and let me pick up the Blu-Ray when it came in ? NO. Just buy the TV at the bundled Price - no discount, no Blu-Ray.

I went to a local dealer who not only agreed to provide the Blu-Ray player when it arrives, but matched the Best Buy price.

I shop Best Buy sometimes, but only after I have done some research.

 

[Stanicmi]

circuit city... still very knowledgeable associates, and better customer service IMO

 

[tjk60]

I'm leary of Circuit City with them being in bankruptcy, I use BB all the time, just careful about packaging and shopping sales...

 

[Stanicmi]

I'm leary of Circuit City with them being in bankruptcy, I use BB all the time, just careful about packaging and shopping sales...

well they are in bankruptcy protection but I do not think that distracts from the goal of the company. The new CEO is restructuring the company and making a lot of changes. If Circuit City stays afloat either via buy out or financial package, I think they have a chance to move to #1

 

[cajun angel]

I know I'm about to get in over my head here, but I gotta tell ya'll - we have a blue ray player and guess what - it doesn't always play blue ray! We found out it has to be updated periodically which makes it a pain in the neck. UPdating isn't exactly easy either and my hubby works for Texas Instruments, is quite good with stuff like this - for once, he's a bit frustrated about it. Before ya'll buy anything that's new in the hi-tech world, do your homework and shop around. I'll shut up now.:redface:

 

[Pa]

circuit city... still very knowledgeable associates, and better customer service IMO

But they are no longer competitive on price.

 

[Doug]

I had to update my Sony as well to continue to play the newer discs that came out, really ticked me off frankly. IMO, any disc should be retroactively in compliance with the initial standards when BD was introduced, anything less is not a format by definition.

Did CD always play CD? I think so. Did DVD always play DVD? I think so, except maybe some exception for the dual layer DVD when introduced. But don't you think BD should have been a bit more advanced and planned than when std DVD was introduced? Of course, it should have been.

I'd have no qualms about buying a TV from CC if deal was right, but I would not purchase an extended warranty through them, not knowing their end status.

 

[PLPhoto]

But they are no longer competitive on price.

I agree with that, this past holiday season I figured they'd be the place to beat, not so.

The Dude, did you ask for Price Match when you talked to the BB associate?

 

[exposinglife]

well they are in bankruptcy protection but I do not think that distracts from the goal of the company. The new CEO is restructuring the company and making a lot of changes. If Circuit City stays afloat either via buy out or financial package, I think they have a chance to move to #1

Don't forget this is the company that tried to push Divx years ago...and lost a ton of money on it. Of course it cost the CEO his job though.

I'm not bashing CC, I just think that BB has done a much better job with marketing and strategy. That's why they are not in bankruptcy and CC is.

 

[Candidcameraman]

I did...

The Dude, did you ask for Price Match when you talked to the BB associate?

I did not, the sales rep actually said, and I quote: "In order to price match you'd need to have a print out dated today with the model number matching perfectly" knowing that one of the item was not a perfect match... since they had none left... she added, herself, the minion, "And it would most likely not match, this is the best we can do but you can talk to Jeff, the manager..." at which point I said, 'thank you for your time, but no thanks... ' went back home and then a little later went to the 'mom and pop' shop where I purchased everything... :biggrin:

 

[aspiringphotos]

well they are in bankruptcy protection but I do not think that distracts from the goal of the company. The new CEO is restructuring the company and making a lot of changes. If Circuit City stays afloat either via buy out or financial package, I think they have a chance to move to #1

CC just closed all its stores here. I think it depends on where you live -- BB here is pretty good, CC wasn't. I think the stores choose their markets and what I find interesting is how they seem to play off each other sometimes. One store will have some things, but not others and the competition conveniently has the other things (Home Depot and Lowes come to mind on this one).

We got two computer monitors from BB this year. I looked around for about a month and they were the best price/quality, but I think whatever you buy you just have to do your legwork and shop around.

 

[Candidcameraman]

Theoretically, the store would have less overhead by selling a small quantity of products at a high margin. But in a recession that plan does not always succeed and in a deep recession it fails.

BBY stock will most likely plummet until about April, when they run out of both cash and credit... Those big stores where they are located, the rent is not cheap...

They've always price-matched for me. They did when I bought my HDTV three years ago...without any haggling. I also still got 24 months no interest as well.

Best Buy has, up here in Canada, 36 months no interest - flat monthly payments... I'd rather pay it all at once than have pay my T.V. in three years... Yikes! I am not buying a car here, sure it is appealing but... not really, all I want to worry about is rent.

 

[Dave]

They closed all of the Circuit City's here in Atlanta, so I can't go there anymore. I always found their prices to be higher anyway. Best Buy is ok for some things, but I am leery when buying anything big from them. I kind of like the specialty stores for TV's and have bought all of my LCD's from smaller stores as I seem to get a better deal from them.

 

[TomP]

well they are in bankruptcy protection but I do not think that distracts from the goal of the company. The new CEO is restructuring the company and making a lot of changes. If Circuit City stays afloat either via buy out or financial package, I think they have a chance to move to #1

ROFL,,, There must be regional differences within circuit city.

I know I'm about to get in over my head here, but I gotta tell ya'll - we have a blue ray player and guess what - it doesn't always play blue ray! We found out it has to be updated periodically which makes it a pain in the neck. UPdating isn't exactly easy either and my hubby works for Texas Instruments, is quite good with stuff like this - for once, he's a bit frustrated about it. Before ya'll buy anything that's new in the hi-tech world, do your homework and shop around. I'll shut up now.:redface:

I have never heard of this, can someone expand on this as I have not made the Blueray jump; I waiting for a 5 disc carousel.



Before Xmas there were some excellent Inet buys on high end TVs, they had BB beat. When I bought my XBR in July, BB was the same price as the net, and I bought there.
I am a bit Leary about buying such a seemingly fragile item over the net, and dealing with rough shipping. Just wondering how others have fared getting TVs delivered via UPS or whatever, and what are your options/hassle if it is dead or injured, out of the box.