Best Buy Says Customers Not Always Right

linuxwrangler writes "Best Buy is one of the retailers that has now decided that the customer is not always right. Best Buy consultant Larry Selden has identified "demon customers" like those who file for a rebate then return the item. OK, I get that one (hey Best Buy: dump those customer-despised rebates and you won't have that problem...). Other categories like customers who only buy during sales are more interesting. Best Buy declined comment on how they are dealing with those customers. Some stores have actually "fired" customers. Welcome to the end result of all that customer information data mining."

(OT) After working in retail ...

[LordKaT]

I have to agree that the customer is almost never right. 99% of the people who complain - and by complain, I mean whine like a 2 year old - are not right, and deserve to be beaten with a hose. the only customer that is right, is the customer that is quite and just pays.

My case in point:

"This sign says 2 confections for 2 dollars!"

"It says 2 HERSHEY candies for 2 dollars."

"So?"

"Gobstoppers and popcorn don't count, and "almost" only counts in horse-shoes."

And then the customer will whine, and whine, and whine, and whine, and whine. My god, I've never heard so many adult-aged persons whine so much.

It's always something retarded they whine about too: they misunderstood the advertisement and want the deal anyway (yeah, right), or they know somone who used to work here and wants an employee discount, or they have a coupon ... that expired two years ago.

No, I don't need anger managment. I need a shotgun and some whiskey.

Hold on a second

[geneing]

BB wants the bar code to get a rebate. They won't accept returns without a bar code (only exchange). BB should complain about their employees not following their own policies. Btw, I fired them from being my retailers a long time ago.

Re:How is this a problem?

[general_re]

...they get to pass the savings onto the legitimate customers.

Riiiiiiiiight. As long as we're pipe-dreaming here, let's dream big and pretend that said savings will be delivered to me on a silver platter by a host of Playboy centerfolds, who will then proceed to sexually pleasure me in ways unknown to mortal men...

Re:best buy is my favorite store...but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Some many details, this must be true, you own the DVD.
Please rip it and upload it to alt.binaries.dvdr :)
Thanks,
Hector the porn Collector

My Awesome Best Buy Story

[sockonafish]

Everyone else is telling awful service tales, why not me?

I went to Best Buy to checkout a Lexmark All-In-One they had advertised for a wicked cheap after-rebate price. When I got to the printer section I found it it wasn't there. I asked an employee there if I could get some test pages printed, and he obliged, "Oh, sure thing..." After five minutes, I had zero test pages. He admitted to me this wasn't his section, he was just trying to get something copied (don't they have an office copier elsewhere?!)

I asked him if they had any Bluetooth mouse, and he replied, "Oh, yeah, just come over here." We got to the mouse section, he picked up a blue, corded Microsoft mouse - "The blue one, right?"

Bah.

Re:Not allowed to only buy on sale???

[Engineer Andy]

In other words, people who have the brains to work out how the system works should be banned from using it.

Sounds like a variation on the DMCA where you can't reverse engineer the marketting strategy of the shop to your benefit *grin*

Re:Always right....?

[TWX]

"I've delt with drug dealers that were less pushy then Best Buy employees. Now, I drive the extra 30 minutes to go to Fry's where no one bugs me until I ask a question."

You've gotten someone to actually help you at Fry's? The electronics/consumer crap store, right?

Wow. The most I've ever gotten is a date with one of the girls who works at the Earthlink kiosk.

Re:Always right....?

[KevinKnSC]

You've gotten someone to actually help you at Fry's? The electronics/consumer crap store, right?

Wow. The most I've ever gotten is a date with one of the girls who works at the Earthlink kiosk.

You know you're a geek when you complain about getting a date instead of assistance with electronics.

Re:How is this a problem?

[grcumb]

"...a host of Playboy centerfolds, who will then proceed to sexually pleasure me in ways unknown to mortal men..."

Er, be advised, those 'ways' involve haggis and bagpipes.

Sincerely,

The Highlander

Re:scammers

[Anonymous Coward]

Your "friends" sound like a bunch of assholes.

-1 Redundant: he already said they worked at BestBuy.

Re:Always right....?

[buckhead_buddy]

I was in Best Buy and the only cashier on duty was holding up the line trying to sell an extended warranty on a Playstation 2 to a person who did not speak English. As typical for idiots compensating for a language barrier, she chose to speak louder as her solution.

"YOU are going to PLAY LOTS"
?
"LOTS!"
"no. play stay shun"
"GAMES! MANY GAMES!"
"games. yes."
"You WILL BENEFIT from EXTENDED WARRANTY if not WORK"
"i work. now play."

The fellow was paying cash and trying to hand over the money. He thought he was being accused of something after a while. She called over an interpreter who had a year of high school spanish. He was unable to communicate with the man because he couldn't phrase the speech into anything but very poor Castillian Spanish which confused the fellow even further (foreign language legal terms > foreign language > Unkown language with terms and words that sound like native language).

They wouldn't take his money until he either agreed or refused the warranty. I started to complain to the cashier and call for the manager. The manager of course said the cashier was being completely proper and that she had to complete the warranty transaction with all customers and I should be considering the benefits of buying an extended warranty for my own purchases.

At that point I walked up to the fellow and said "Say This: No Warranty. No Warranty. No Warranty."

I then handed my $400 item to the cashier and walked out the door vowing never to voluntarily return to that exploitative wasteland again.

I'm afraid this will fail

[martin-boundary]

From the article:

Selden, a consultant who works for Best Buy, co-wrote "Angel Customers & Demon Customers." In his book, he said that while retailers "probably can't hire a bouncer to stand at the door and identify the value destroyer," they're not powerless.

Now, I'm afraid this will fail. The problem is that he doesn't realize that Angel customers are also demon customers, except with a soul. Now, it is true that they'll often help the Buffy customers stick it to the other demon customers, but that's because they're tormented by the past, and don't want to grab only the bargains anymore. But definitely, putting a bouncer before the store hellmouth isn't going to even slow down the demon customers. They'll make mince meat out of him. No, retailers should realize that they are really powerless, and let the professional slayer customers clean up the store.

obligatory simpsons quote

[heeeraldo]

I, for one, welcome our new retail overlords.

Best Quote

[dcollins]

Brad Anderson, Best Buy's chief executive: "Those customers, they're smart, and they're costing us money."

Re:Always right....?

[Pig Hogger]

...

the store manager to come up to say Hey, looks like you are buying PS2 games. You probably want a memory card to go with that.

Did the manager look like a badly-bent jumping paper-clip with bobbing eyes????

my best buy horror story

[humankind]

I have NEVER found a store with such clueless employees. If they get screwed over, it's not the customers' fault IMO.

I purchased a DirecTV/Tivo system from BestBuy. I take it home and find out there's no card in the system. I can't make it work. The salesperson told me DirecTV would supply me with a card; DirecTV told me they wouldn't and I should get one from BestBuy. End result, I take the unit back to Best Buy and only then am I informed that they do have the cards, but they don't keep them in the boxes with the units. I tell them to piss off and I get a better deal doing business directly with DirecTV. I have NEVER found one thing in BestBuy that wasn't higher-priced than CompUSA, broken, incomplete or misleading. I'm glad this article came out, because for some perverse reason, Best Buy is on the way to CompUSA and I always stop there, but I'm now reminded that while I waste time poking my head in this store, I don't think I've ever gotten a better deal, or found less-clueless salespeople anywhere.

Can we all look forward to the time when these stores will be converted into Chuck-E-Cheeses? I could probably get superior tech support and an order of cheesy bread!

Re:Always right....?

[(badnewsforyou)]

I used to work at the big yellow tag (oh gosh I hope they don't track me down and kill me for this). I only worked there for a few weeks while I waited for my interview for a real job. Anyway, one night while we were closing the store some of the employees were crowded around one of my coworkers in my dept. (computers of course). One of them turned to me and said, "This guy can juggle anything". Sure enough, he was juggling 2 Hard Drives and a spool of CDRs. He dropped one of the harddrives and said "Oops, they better buy the service plan on that one!" ... Everyone chuckled.

Re:Not allowed to only buy on sale???

[Pofy]

The idea is that they put stuff on sale virtually at cost to lure you into the store, and then you're supposed to be a good little consumer and buy a bunch of other crap at full price. The store would prefer not to do business with people who don't fall for this ploy.

They should contact the music industry. We clearly have a case of theft here. People are stealing!! Those stores make a living out of selling you stuff and you are depriving them of the income. No, they have a right to make a living out of you and you clearlycircumvent their method to make you pay. I think we need a law against it so people (thieves) can't just come in and buy stuff on sale without buying other things too. The industry must lose billions each year.

Re:Always right....?

[mrchaotica]

No, you know you're not a geek when you can get a date and need assistance with electronics!

Re:Not allowed to only buy on sale???

[Keith McClary]

You don't even have to wait for the sale. I've grown the habit of always asking for 10 or 15 percent off any item over US$100.

If you're shy, try asking if the item will be on sale soon. You will be offered a sale price.

What the hell is this "No Karma Bonus" - can I get an extra 15% on that or, can I just take the cash equivalent?

How about firing Best Buy?

[pgnas]

What a load!

I have spent some time in retail, and I can easily say that there are "special" customers. The reality is very simple, without customers (demons and not), there would be NO Best Buy.

It is all too often I get into the conversation of "Where has the customer service ethic gone?" Well, it certainly was thrown out of the handbook at Best Buy (and many other establishements). These Stepford type sales people are absolutely the WORST, they will do/say anything to make a sale, it is no wonder they have "Demon Customers"

One major problem is the completely convoluted marketing practices. It is no wonder you have "gun shy" customers, because they (many retailers) are always working some angle on you. Everyone wants you to be a part of their "club", or sell you some Extended Warranty plan thats got so many gaps for them to wiggle out its like swiss cheese.

"No, I don't want a $10 extended warranty on my $2.99 ethernet cable, I'll take the risk"

Sales Person: "You do realize that if you are a member of our buyers club, you would receive an additional $2.00 off the price of this $5000 LCD, just fill out this form...by the way, have I talked to you about that warranty?"

Customer: "No thank you. I bought the warranty, remember?"

Sales Person: "Well now that you decided to take the warranty, how about the super duper deluxe warranty for just $100 dollars more?

Customer: "What is that?

Sales Person: "Thats the In-Store warranty that we actually honor, the other one is for tech support only, in India."

Customer: "I'll just take the standard warranty, thank you."

Sales Person: "Would you like to buy a $100 pre-paid calling card? It's a great rate! You can put it with your warranty information in the event you need to call tech support, it's in India you know"

Customer: "uhhh...Sure, thanks for the tip"

Sales Person: "I see you got the standard $29.99 installation kit, so you'll be needing a power cord since it doesn't come with one, but I'll cut you a discount on that. Should I put that on the warranty too, it's only an extra $5.00?

Customer: "uhh...sure"

Sales Person: "Do you have an Internet connection now, or do you need an installation CD?"

Customer: "I have DSL, why?"

Sales Person: "Great! you'll be able to download the new version of AOL dial-up service quick! It's a great service, and think about it, you'll be getting it FREE for 1 year and then it will only cost you $14.99 per month for the next 3 years and it's saving you $100 on this great TV!"

Customer: "Oh..Yeah, thats right.... Hey, this thing does do HD, right? How come it doesn't say so here on the box?"

Sales Person: "Oh, yeah baby, this thing has everything and if you have any problems, just give me a call, and I will help you out myself.

Customer: "Great, thanks again".

Later that day...

Customer(On the phone with Mgr):"Listen, could you help me out for a second, I am trying to find the HD connections on th---"

Mgr: "Sir,like our sales person informed you and our AD says, the sale model is not HD , I don't have time for this, but luckily you bought the warranty, just give our tech support a call!"

CLICK!

Manager: "Damn Demon Customers!"

You just need to be more agressive.

[eagle8635]

First, on the rebates, if you take all of five minutes to accually fill out and send in rebates you CAN save money, so far I've saved about four hundred dollars on various rebates.

Secondly, if you want attention from employees and can't seem to get it, there are two ways to guarantee a conversation with an employee. The first is to dress nicely (collared shirt, nice slacks, belt) and act really confused. They will see a person with money and little technical knowledge and will pounce. The second way to get attention from employees is to look kind of scruffy and act as if you are about to shoplift something. I promise that an employee will come right over and ask in a rather stern voice, "can I help you?"

The last thing that people seem to be bitching about is the salespeople pushing PRP/PSPs. There are a few ways to avoid this.
1. don't shower (this is a little gross)
2. act as if you don't speak English/or are deaf
3. wear a thinkgeek shirt (whenever I wear my Linux shirts I get A LOT more respect from the salespeople)
4. start to hit on to the salesperson.
5. inform them that you are allergic to "stupid" (and then start to cough)
6. just say yes to whatever they want you to buy, and then when you get to the register, don't buy it!

Demon Customer: Me?

[crache]

I think i'm one of those demon customers. I go in, install linux, (qnx once) on a whole row of computers and then ask a rep if I can get my computer like theirs (put on dumb face) Of course they eventually see that it was me and my friend and we get (literally) chased out of the store to avoid confrontation. The funny thing is, the second you stick an alternative os on them people seem to be more intrested with something they haven't seen before, and a few of them had people starting up snake and tetris.

Re:scammers

[midknight32]

I bought a set of car speakers at BB once.

When I took the purchase to the installer shop in the back, I had to walk out the front door, and around the entire frigging building to the shop in the back.

Could I step through the convenient door leading STRAIGHT into the car shop? Even with a manager watching me?

No.

Why?

By policy they were not allowed to unlock that door and allow passage through. This policy was put into place due to employee theft.

Re:Always right....?

[fdiskne1]

They don't price their products very low. They sell most electronics for MSRP. It's only the occaisonal sale that they'll give you a discount on a few items, but in all actuality, their prices aren't that low. I don't know why they have to force the PSP down everyone's throats, since they're making as much money as everyone else on the same products...

So they can pay their incredibly awesome professional and polite salespeople. ;-P

Consumers can, and do, try to steal

[Oligonicella]

Not Best Buy, but CompUSA.

I was having a computer repaired. The woman and her husband in front of me were arguing viciously with the manager that they should be able to buy a memory card that was on sale two days prior at the sale price.

She was in a wheelchair, she was vulgar, abusive, played the pity card, etc. Her husband was no better. They even lied that they had called in and the "manager" had told them they could. (note: she was talking to said manager)

The manager wouldn't budge.

I was amazed and amused at the gall these assholes exhibited and watched as the worked their way out of the store and through the parking lot. Making *very* sure everyone saw how upset the poor, crippled woman was.

Upshot. When they got back to their truck, the "crippled" woman got out of her wheelchair, picked it up, and TOSSED it into the truck .

I told the manager what I'd seen and all he could do was shake his head.

And people wonder why retailers come to despise some people.

Re:The the hell is wrong with the US?

[RoboOp]

Perhaps this will put things into perspective - The Ferengi rules of Aquisition [dmwright.com]

Best buy warrents their own additions:

Rule #400 - Extended warrenties are extended latinum.
Rule #401 - Make the customer work for his bargin.

My god, if grocery chains could fire customers...

[kalirion]

... my mother would never be able to buy another galon of milk. She regularly uses coupons with sales to buy $50 worth of groceries for under $10. Once in a while the store winds up "owing" her money (though of course they never pay)! Yes I realize that the stores get money back for the coupons, but still.... If sales make a company unprofitable, then they just shouldn't have sales. Don't blame the customers.
On the other hand, those who buy, file for rebate and return... Something needs to be done about that. How about a database that the product company can check and update before sending out the rebate, and the store can check and update before accepting the return?

I never knew...

[Llevar]

...that George Costanza reads slashdot.

Re:Always right....?

[Cpt_Kirks]

Car salesmen, don't get me started on those stupid cocksuckers.

I went to buy a used car and had cash in my pocket. I saw one I liked, asked for the price. The salesjerk says "Come on in, fill out a credit app". I say no, how much is the price? Salesjerk, "Come on in, fill out a credit app" (strike two). I say, if the next thing out of your mouth is *NOT* the price, I'm leaving. Salesjerk, "I really need you to fill out a credit..." (Sound of my car door slamming).

Another time, early Sunday, nobody but salesjerks on the lot. We are wanting to look at a tiny, second car (Ford Focus). Here come the salesjerks...until they find out we want the little cars that are on sale. They turned around and walked off. We went elsewhere...

MP3 Player could get a virus....

[asdfasdfasdfasdf]

About 10 months ago, I stopped by BB on my way home to pick up an iRiver IGP-150, because it supported Ogg and had 1.5 GB storage for a decent price. In checkout, the Cashier asked me to buy an ESP. I said, No thanks. She said "You HAVE to get one because your MP3 player could get a virus from "downloading mp3s from the internet", and that wasn't covered under the warranty." I laughed lightheartedly, and informed her politely that she was mistaken, this was impossible, and she shouldn't tell people this because it was wrong. She got uppity with me, told me "NO, YOU'RE WRONG," told me I was making a huge mistake and finished the sale. I walked right past the door, over to customer service, returned it, told them exactly why I was returning it, and informed them that I'd never shop there again-- and I haven't. This is the best way to deal with these people-- especially if it's a non-sale/rebate item.

Hell, do it for fun. Just go in there and tell them you're buying a widescreen TV or a plasma, and when you get up to the front, and they ask you to buy the plan, say no thank you. When they ask you again to buy it, (and you know they will) just snatch your card back and walk out the door.

Hell, I might do that at lunch.

Re:Contemptible Customers

[HokieJP]

Well, maybe this guy is a robot.

Re:Those bastards

[Anonymous Coward]

WHEEEEENNNNN THE salespeople suck and the
store's run by schmucks, IT'S ON EBAY!

When the item's not there and the store staff don't care, IT'S ON EBAY!

Cheaper, too. ;)

Re:Huh?

[Rob the Bold]

The way around this at Costco is to go in the Out door and out the In door. The In door guy is programmed only to check the cards of people coming in and the Out door guy is configured to check receipts of people going out. You trigger an unhandled exception if you reverse the doors.