Best Buy's sucky customer service

[mrsjfreak]

I think they work on commission maybe?

Yeah they do, which is what shocked me even more, because my husband and I were looking at really expensive laptops there... Which is usually their biggest commission items

[KuzcoLlama]

Best Buy does not work on commission.

[mrsjfreak]

Based on what they sell they do, at least up here I know they do, because I knew someone who used to work there and I saw his paychecks. They were split up with base pay and commission

[Banrion]

IIRC the only salespeople in BB who make commission are the cell phone people, and they aren't even BB employees. CC is commissioned in all depts. That's all I can say without becoming irate over my treatment as a CC employee.

[Emmeileia]

Personally, I have found getting ahold of and staff at Best Buy harder than catching a greased mongoose with tweezers...I can't wait till the new Future Shop near my house opens...
I had heard somewhere (though it may be an urban legend) that Best Buy's policy is to tell staff to only concentrate on people making really big purchases, as that makes more money for the company. Or something along those lines.
Gah...when I bought my DVD player there, it took 20 minutes to catch a staff, and when I asked him if I needed any extra cables or such, he said no and damn near bolted. Turns out I did need extra cables. Argh.

That being said...I have always found their cashiers to be super nice and helpful. Very good cashiers there.

[MadMike]

That's all I can say without becoming irate over my treatment as a CC employee.

I thought they got rid of commissions years ago.

[Banrion]

I thought they got rid of commissions years ago.

Well it was 1998-99 when I worked there, but they had me in the dept with boomboxes, headphones and calculators, and expected me to make a living off of commissions of around 10-15 ¢ per item on the big ticket stuff. Alot of the smaller stuff didn't even pay a commission, but I still had to sell it and waste my time with the SC's. Then there was the issue of the manager who showed up at my house one day when I had called out sick and told my mom "If she's so goddamn sick, I wanna watch her puke." That was the end for me and I to this day have never stepped foot back in a CC.

[Ryu]

I bought an ipod at best buy and the employee just stayed there waiting for me to finish picking out what i wanted
Next time if that happens I'm leaving and not going back

[CancelMyService]

Best Buy employees get commissions off selling "PSPs", which are their warranties. Circuit City used to pay nice commissions and have well trained and knowledgable staff, but they wanted to copy Best Buy so badly they got rid of commission and just recently laid off all the salespeople nationwide who were making the most money (aka the best people on staff) so now both stores have kids working a job to get through college rather than professional and knowledgable sales staff.

Also, CompUSA took the usual "minimum staff allowable" policy to the max. Other than weekends and holidays there would only be 1 or 2 sales people on the entire floor. My wife went to buy an iBook and printer, and we stood there waiting for someone to help us. Lucky for us, the entrance to the employee bathroom was nearby so some random worker who was on his way to taking a whizz ended up with a nice laptop/printer/warranty sale. No wonder they had to close half their stores.

[justZu]

I am kind of a Best Buy junkie, but I am also one of those people who does the research at home and likes to be left alone while shopping. Anyway, I have had experiences from both ends of the spectrum when it comes to BB customer service.

First - the good...Christmas before last both of my sons wanted the same game for their gameboys(or DS's, can't remember which) so they could link and play together. The game was kind of hard to find and I asked the guy in the Video Games section if he knew when more would be available. He says that there may be some newly arrived in the back and volunteers to go check. I wait and after a while he returns with two copies of the game. He had to root through most of the delivery to find them and had really gone above and beyond the call of duty. I was impressed and grateful. His manager was happy to hear about it as well.

Second - the sucky...My husband was looking for a new computer to replace his ancient one and we went to BB to see one that was on sale. He took a liking to another one and wanted to ask a few questions about how the computers compared to each other. We waited patiently for the floor clerk to finish with the customer he was helping. He saw us waiting, I know he did. We made eye contact. After his customer decides he will not make a purchase(the guy was loud and the store was quiet) they proceed to shoot the breeze about various non-computer things for so long, my husband left. It was obvious that the other customer was a friend and the BB employee just didn't feel like helping anybody else. CompUSA got the sale that day.

[wagegoth]

Since I live in a major metropolitan area, I've shopped at different Best Buys, Circuit Citys, Targets, Costcos, etc.

It's definitely a store to store thing. In fact, I actually drive farther (even with gas prices pushing $4 around here) to shop at certain stores, because the customer service, inventory, and cleanliness are better.

When I worked for a now-defunct department store, the department I was in did not have commissions, but when raises were handed out, the better the sales, the higher the raise.

[tollbaby]

Yup. I'll drive out to Nepean (I live in Gatineau, just north of Ottawa... like, I spit and it lands in Ottawa - Nepean is the first suburb just west of Ottawa, about a 20-30 minute drive) to go to the Best Buy I started with. I'll also drive the extra half hour to go to Wendy's (my favorite fast food), Pier One (even though there are other locations) or to buy anti-frizz stuff (the hairdresser who cut my hair 4 1/2 years ago sold it to me and I love it).

[Jet]

Best Buy employees do not make commission, not on cell phones, not on warranties. Nothing.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I have not been to a Best Buy in years.

However, for what it's worth, my former disgusting pig of a manager "Harry" used to be a manager for Best Buy.

[Jack7957]

When I don't want to be bothered, since I'm just browsing, I'll go to BB. If I want to get in and out and know exactly what I want, or have questions, I'll go to CC. Both of these are located in the same mall here in Syracuse, in fact, CC is on the first floor, and BB is on the 2nd right above it.

When I worked at Silo, now long gone, I was temp help at Christmas. We got base plus commision. The full time workers were straight commision though. Commsions ranged from 3-5%, based on the item. I remember extras (batteries, blank tapes, cables) were 5%.