Wherein I am stared down by Best Buy employees

[Jackofalltrades]

This happened to me when I bought my Xbox360 last year.

I went to Best Buy dressed in my faux skater/rocker/goth clothing, ogled the HDTVs like I do every time I go in there and then right to the gaming section. I'm looking at the locked cage for the 360s (new store so they kept all the systems under lock and key for a while), I don't see a sales person, so I play a bit of guitar hero til one shows up.

Sure enough, half a song in, a sales guy starts giving me the 20 questions.

Him: Blah, blah...why do I love guitar hero and if I want the new one (which I already have), and for what system, etc.

Me: No thank you but I would like one of the 360 pros from the cage.

Him:Would you want a Best Buy credit card to help pay for it.

Me: No thanks I don't want a credit card right now, I'm 20 and in enough debt as it is.

Him: Oh, but you don't have to make payments for a year, <insert sales speech here>.

Me: No, I'd just like my 360 and be on my way.

Him: I need to get the key I'll be right back.

So he takes off for the keys and comes back with a co-worker instead.

CoWorker: Are so sure you don't want the credit card, it will make paying for this much easier for you <big douchebag smile>

Me: (seriously losing my cool now) No, I just want my 360, I have no problems paying for it.

He then waves over the manager, who walks over with a handful of pamphlets and tries to hand me one.

Manager: Are you sure you don't want one of these credit cards to offset the cost of the 360? No payments...low interest...cash back...BSBSBS

I take the pamphlet from him, tell him I'll think about it, and leave the store. I toss that crap, march 3 blocks to Gamestop and proceed to drop $600 on a new 360, extra controller, charger kit, intercooler, warranty, and new game. And all of this without question, concern, or even an upsell because I spent so much without sparing a breath.

Moral of the story: Don't judge a book by its cover because that book may be willing to spend wads of cash with your competitors. That and don't piss off a gamer who already doesn't like Best buy.

[Jbball]

There's one of the reasons I don't shop at Best Buy anymore. I guess it's not their fault. They don't make any money by selling systems/games/cds/dvds/etc, only the PSPs and the credit cards.

[seigus]

Perhaps overkill, but have you considered letting the original shop know? It might (eternally optimistic) cause a rethinking of their SOP in this regard. I know, naivete doesn't become me...

[Hyndis]

Perhaps overkill, but have you considered letting the original shop know? It might (eternally optimistic) cause a rethinking of their SOP in this regard. I know, naivete doesn't become me...

I let the free market give them the clue. It will only hurt their income while at the same time giving more income to a competitor.

All of these high pressure upsell attempts are counterproductive. If a store continually does that for me and won't drop the issue, I respond simply by going elsewhere. I also let them know my reason for doing that, but corporate doesn't care about an individual customer. They only care about the bottom line, and if they annoy too many customers their bottom line will be hurting.

[seigus]

What you say is true, but so many people are completely clueless, and may never make the connection. Lowered sales may not be connected in their minds to their pushy tactics. I suppose you can always take the "who cares?" attitude toward them, of course.

[Hyndis]

What you say is true, but so many people are completely clueless, and may never make the connection. Lowered sales may not be connected in their minds to their pushy tactics. I suppose you can always take the "who cares?" attitude toward them, of course.

Thing is, corporate doesn't care what I think about them. About the only thing they're able to see is the quarterly profit report.

The grunts only do the pushy sales thing because corporate is demanding that of them, and the only way I can communicate my dislike of that tactic is to not spend my money at that store and instead go to a competitor.


Meanwhile, even if things go completely fubar, the VIP's still have their golden parachutes.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Whenever I try selling one of our EPPs, which is a rare occurrence, I stop at the first "no" I receive.

To me, it's better to stop right there than keep going and risk alienating a customer for life.

And if/when I am in charge, the stupid EPPs will be history.

[JLRodgers]

I used to (well still do probably although don't really ever "talk" except maybe one e-mail a year) know a guy who worked at a best buy -- he said he was all-but-forced to sell all the crap they can with the items, even if they knew they didn't need it, because his job was on the line if he didn't.


Felt bad for the employees, but when I go into a store, if you're pushy, I'll go to another store and get it there. I've thought of telling managers before of "if it wasn't for your policy I'd of bought it here" but I just figured in the twisted mind of some managers they'd take that as "my employees messed up, so it's all their fault" and the employee would get into trouble - for doing what they're forced to do. So I say nothing (but I do come back in after I got it someplace else to "look for something I need for it" while telling them I got it elsewhere) -- making sure I get the same salesperson so they get some commission (only if they're nice on the return, or I don't see them making another sale to cover my time with them), albeit drastically less than they would've had.

[Nyoibo]

I take the pamphlet from him, tell him I'll think about it, and leave the store. I toss that crap, march 3 blocks to Gamestop and proceed to drop $600 on a new 360, extra controller, charger kit, intercooler, warranty, and new game. And all of this without question, concern, or even an upsell because I spent so much without sparing a breath.

That's when you pull a pretty woman and go back in with all your stuff, browse around, wave and go back out, but then I'm just petty like that.

[Mike Taylor]

Before you guys go off on how Best Buy is an awful place, remember that Best Buy employees post here too. I do my damnedest to make sure I take care of my customers properly and don't appreciate being told how much I suck because somebody had a bad experience with someone else.

We are not "forced" to sell anything. We offer the services and then it's up to the customer as to whether or not they want to take it up. Our job is to make sure that you are at least aware of it. If you were displeased with how things were handled by the sales associate, go talk to a manager right then and there. Failing that, go to the website, give the date, the time, the name of the associate, and the location of the store and file a complaint that way. The territory and district managers pay attention to this stuff and if they get enough complaints about a particular store, they take action.

[Mike Taylor]

There's one of the reasons I don't shop at Best Buy anymore. I guess it's not their fault. They don't make any money by selling systems/games/cds/dvds/etc, only the PSPs and the credit cards.

Can you cite this source, please? I'd really like to know where you got this information from because its 100% incorrect.

Certain items, because of their expense to manufacture have little to no margin on them. A perfect example would be game consoles and laptop PCs. Other items have quite substantial margins on them.

Are PSPs and credit cards profitable for us, absolutely! But they aren't our ONLY means of making money. CDs, DVDs, software, video game controllers, cables, TV sets, etc... are still very profitable without those things.

[thehippie777]

Best Buy cult! Best Buy cult! hehe At least that is what is sounded like. Perhaps an entire cult actully all got jobs at Best Buy mysteriously, and in the pamphlet was actually thier propoganda. lol

[BroSCFischer]

Probably after the third time I'd have asked "What part of 'No' don't you understand?"

SC

[Damien]

i would have flat out refused to accept the pamphlet - when i say 'no' - no amount of sales pitch is ever going to change that - i am stubborn as a mule

[Jackofalltrades]

for the record, I'm not mad at all Best Buy employees, but these 3 in particular. They were all way too pushy and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. I still shop at that Best Buy on occasion (because they rarely get stuff I want earlier than other stores) but I always have my headphones in and on full blast.