You ever noticed the big weird numbers on the wall at Best Buy?
They're usually just to the right of the exit, by the registers. They're yellow. Of course they look like goofy price tags. And they're just up there on the wall, for everyone to see. Some stores have only one or two sets of numbers, while some have quite a few. And they look something like this:
Well, let me tell you — if you put numbers on a wall of your store, with no clear indication of what they mean, I will go insane and become obsessed with them. It's just how it works!
Seeking meaning, I started occasionally asking "so, uh, what are those numbers, anyway?" when I checked out. Usually, I got the shrug-and-sigh double-punch. But sometimes, I got an interesting answer. And, eventually, it came together, helped tremendously by a conveniently annotated store — as well as some serious Googling.
Thus, I present to you, dear reader, a Best Buy Wall Number display — annotated!
Let's start at the top! (Feel free to correct any of this if you actually work for Best Buy)
Shrink Percent: Ahh, shrink. You probably call it "stealing". And this store is doing pretty good with handling it. The shrink percentage is, presumably, the percentage of Best Buy merchandise that is simply prancing right out the door. A shrink percentage of .50% is, apparently, bad news — so this store is doing pretty well.
Shrink Payout: Keep shrink low, and the shrink payout increases! Well, I have no idea how this shrink payout ($469) is distributed to employees (anyone know?), but I'd wager it winds up being a few extra dollars in your paycheck every now and then.
PRP Dollars: That's right: the dreaded product replacement plan, also known as the extended warranty nobody ever buys. Or do they? On this day, they've made a pretty impressive $77 (of almost-all-profit) on product replacement plans. Wow.
PRP Percent: That means that people bought the product replacement plan 2.22% of the time. Apparently, this isn't so good — the other store (pictured above) was rockin' a mighty 10.50% on the PRP. Wow again.
EWSI: I like this one. Extended Windows Sales Initiative? Enhanced Wireless Secure Internet? Nope, it's better — Entertainment Weekly / Sports Illustrated! That's right, good old magazine subscriptions! You know how Best Buy always asks you if you want a subscription when you check out? Well, on this day, the pitched worked seven times. As hard as it is to comprehend that the alleged $12 dollars Best Buy makes from each subscription is worth the semi-uncomfortable sales pitch, I don't have to answer to any shareholders...
Apps: Simple. Best Buy credit card applications. Looks like three have been filled out and turned in so far.
MC Percent: Master Card. Yes, every Best Buy card application includes surprise bonus offer for, uh, a Master Card. Yeah, it's two card applications in one, and this store has successfully up-sold the card 100% of the three times.
AS Percent: Account Shield is another Best Buy card up-sell option. Apparently a unemployment-protection feature that might generate $65 profit for Best Buy, it seems, at least in this store, people took it.
So that's it! The great, one-person-cared mystery has been solved. The next time you're at Best Buy, keep an eye out for these numbers — perhaps useless, perhaps interesting, but always telling, I hope they give you insight into your store, your neighborhood, or even America itself. Although probably not.
Highest shrink percent photo wins a prize! ;)
posted at 11:20 PM
110 Comments:
...the rest of the story.
Good sleuthing, Cabel!
Typically these indications are the same across brands, so all "Sony" stuff pays at the same %.
But then again, do stores actually go by commission anymore or just total dollar value as a way of figuring bonuses?
Nice work nonetheless. :)
Be on the lookout for a person walking around with a clipboard. Usually wearing a tie. This person goes to every dept., updating them on sales of prp's and another big money maker, accessories. Cables are huge.
At the end of each day, they have a meeting going through all the figures and talking about the days big sellers.
Glad I don't work there anymore
At good old Wrigley Field in Chicago and little old PGE Park in Portland, they put the numbers up in the same clumsy, archaic manner, by hand.
(that'd be runs, hits and errors).
This is an incredibly informative blog.
Keep it up!
And I don't suppose anyone has ever asked for a raise, right? And, wait, Panic should just give all their software away, right? Or at the very least do away with registration numbers and trust people not to steal the software. Ain't gonna happen.
Bah, this could be a huge rant in and of itself, but I'll just quit before I get too terribly wound up. "Good ol' commenters, ignoring facts just so they can rail against 'The Man' one more time."
PRP (Product Replacement Plan) and PSP (Product Service Plan) are two different things. THe big board with 6 numbers is the Operations scorecard. Those are the people who ring out your product, and tell you you can't return that DVD 8 months later. The numbers as identified are correct. THe other wall, however, probably shows PSP $ and PSP %. PSP is the 'service' plan offerend on TVs, Computers, and other bigger-ticket items. The PRP are what's offered on game systems, Phones, etc. Profit from either of these isn't anywhere near 100%, as a note.
Is the board reporting the previous day's, week's, or month's numbers? I assume some (shrink) are ongoing through the inventory period, but others, I'm not so certain. Only three credit card applications a week would be lame, and even for one day it sound light.
If not, what is the incentive to continue surveillance, once they are significantly over budget?
One of the reasons I left was because of management's pressure to sell PSPs. We would be scolded for not overcoming customers' objections to buying them. At times we were even asked to pass customers off to one another if we felt we weren't getting the PSP sale. I still shop there, but I believe some of their practices are unethical.
None of this is for any diabolical goal usually a Mgr. rewards them with a soda or something. As far as the rest of the numbers go, Most of the managers just walk around with clip board with constantly updating #'s
This is a pretty good description of the 70/30 plan, though in reality, inventory is generally more like once every 18 months or so. They also pro-rate the amount of each individual's cut of that 70% by the length of employment since the last inventory.
"That store is not doing very good on shrink. Best Buy sets a "shrink buget" for everystore at .25%. So they are really only 2% under. The store I was at stayed around .08-.10%"
Depends what store you're at. If you're in an area that traditionally has higher theft, they may set the budget at more like .32-.33. And that .33% of the total revenue the store puts out, so with an eye to the retail industry, Best Buy actually does very well with its shrink.
"If they exceed the shrink budget, do they get docked money?
If not, what is the incentive to continue surveillance, once they are significantly over budget?"
Management pressure (so you keep your job). Also, over a certain shrink point (generally over .50), the corporate parent will look at bringing in a whole new crew (they basiclly fire every person, including management, and bring in a whole new staff or just close the store.
As far as "unethical" practices go you have to consider that there are over 700 store locations. I doubt you could find any company of that size to be completely honest at every level. And lets not forget that Best Buy is not a charity organization. They are a business. They exist to make money. As do all businesses. I agree that the american economy can be an ugly thing at times. However nowhere else in the world do you have the chance to acheive the high levels of monitary success than in america with free enterprise. People complain about it all the time like they never had the chance to reap any of the benefits and only experienced the losses. For those who don't like it. Well I heard there are other countries out there that you can move to if you want. But maybe thats a rumour.
As far as PRP's and PSP's are concerned they are like any other kind of insurance. They are a gamble. You could not pay for medical insurance and bank on not getting sick ever. Just as you could not buy a PSP/PRP and bank on your product lasting outside of the 1 year mfg warranty. Its funnny though how the american consumer treats them different. I doubt you will find too many people complaining about the years worth of medical insurance they paid if they don't get sick. Or the years worth of car insurance if they never get in an accident. Why then are people so angry when they never use their PRP/PSP?
If you really look deep enough into it extended warranties are actually quite a phenominal concept. Basically the PRP/PSP community all pays in money at the time of product purchase. The majority of items will not break. However if yours does then the PRP/PSP community buys you a new one. Basically the customer base purchasing PRP/PSP's ensures the product integrity for the other customers. Considering that the money backing the products is through a large insurance company (not Best Buy) Best Buy gets re-imbursed no matter what. Therefore there is no incentive to not live up to the warranty agreement. So everyone kind of wins here and there. The customers product is garunteed to work for X period of time. Best Buy makes money and the Inurance Provider makes money. Unfortunatly the average american consumer is extremely gifted at only remembering the negative experiences that they have because by default they expect to be treated like royalty even if they are at McDonalds ordering a 99 cent cheeseburger.
I worked at Best Buy for three years at the district level and we fed the lower level employees that line... truly though the Managers and Sups and pretty much anyone with an invested career at the Big Blue Box gets a bonus, kick-back or SPIF.
Also... Best Buy now as BLUE BUCKS for stores... basically they cut every store's hours to save on labor and now we are giving the line employees "blue bucks" which equates to more money to those who sell stuff... wait that is almost commission isn't it? The best part of it though is this... the line employees are EATING it up... not realizing they are working TWICE as hard to they can get some more bucks... when if we hadn't rolled this out they would have been making the same thing anyways without the loss of labor.
Best Buy is genius. P.S You won't see those numbers anywhere in my district. Other DM's will not allow them either. We have the info on ME National Scorecard on the computer or in some stores on a board in the Admin room. The signs look tacky and because of stuff like this blog people know what it means.
now the drones will come and tell us how everything is for us, and its all GOOD!
You can't just "move to another country if you want," actually: most other countries have immigration laws, and visas, and so on, too. (By visa, I mean travel permit, not credit card.) It's pretty hard to get into most other countries if you plan to take up any sort of residence there. Most of America's trumpeted virtues are equalled or excelled in Canada, the UK, parts of Europe.
Likewise, if that poster had a better grasp on the current economic situation, they would realize that the American ability to "achieve the high levels of monetary success... with free enterprise" is slipping fast. One reason is the heavy credit card debt shouldered by many American families, constantly buying crap they don't need (like the majority of the stuff sold at Best Buy). The inequality between rich and poor is on the rise, as is the sort of corporate hegemony that likes to stamp out the free enterprise of the hard-working individual, and it's not because all poor people deserve to be poor or that they don't try; that may be the case for a small percentage of people, but for many others the issues are more troubling.
That said, my actual problem with Best Buy is the lousy customer service. I have purchased big-ticket items there in the past, but all my better experiences were in other stores. And BB and other stores that offer PSP/PRPs should be more selective about what they offer them on. I bought it for my computer, but I laughed when they tried to sell it to me on a game controller, and when a jewelry store tried to sell one to me and my fiance when we were buying my engagement ring. (I mean, come on... it's HARDER THAN GLASS and it's not in the kind of setting that's in any danger of breaking off.)
An item not breaking is not a "negative experience." People complain about PRP/PSPs not because it's "negative" when they've wasted money and nothing ever broke: I imagine most don't even recall that they purchased the plan. They complain about them because they often experience high pressure to purchase a service they must repeatedly decline. They also complain about them because various news agencies have gone to great lengths to point out that most PSP/PRPs are rip-offs, sold on products where they are almost certainly not necessary. Best Buy has a right to make money, a reasonable profit on the items they sell, but making low-paid employees perform high-pressure sales tactics on add-on items in a debt-riddled nation is NOT ethical.
When someone who clearly has some kind of vested interest in selling these items posts so hatefully about "american consumers" (hey, if you don't like us, you can always move to another country, RIGHT?) you really wonder why anyone should buy anything from them at all. Stop treating customers like the enemy just because they want to be treated well. Not everyone throws tantrums; some of us just want stuff that cost hundreds of dollars to work for longer than two or three weeks, when we worked hard to buy it. Every PSP/PRP sold means that a customer is paying the seller extra money to do what they should be doing to begin with: stand behind their products for longer than a couple of weeks.
12:46 Anonymous makes a really good point which you learn early on as a retail worker. Most theft-related shrinkage doesn't come from customer shoplifting; it comes from employee theft. When other employees steal from any given store, they may not be stealing from the company in any tangible way, but they may be contributing to the institution or continuation of demeaning and invasive in-store security tactics like purse checks (department stores and mall boutiques) and strip-searches (occasional fast-food outlets, for example).
SHRINK != STEALING
Shrink is the dollar value the store paid for all items it thinks are in the store, minus the dollar value of all things that are actually in the store.
The difference is stealing, right? Nope. Stealing is a part, but there's so much more. If a TV falls off of a display and breaks, and an employee throws it away without marking down that it was thrown away, that's shrink. If a cashier doesn't scan every item, or scans (6 X Item1) when you really bought (4 X Item1)+(2 X Item2) that's shrink [or negative shrink, called swell]. If a pallet of 128 items is recieved into the store, but there are really only 126 on the pallet due to error at the warehouse, manufacturer, etc., that's shrink. If an employee grabs some RCA cables and an extension cord to hook up a display television and doesn't mark them down, that's shrink. If an item hits an expiration date (think grocery) and is thrown away without being marked down, that's shrink. Of course, if an employee or manager takes something off the shelf and eats it or takes it home, that's shrink.
Shrink includes stealing, but in most stores, customer-theft is not the majority of contribution to shrink.
People get mad because BB overcharges for the PRP. If it doesn't break, you really did get ripped off.
You can't compare it to health insurance or car insurance, where you could be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in a serious accident. For a PRP, your maximum liability is the cost of the product, and any plan costing over 10 percent of the product price is generally a rip-off.
The one above EWSI certainly looks like "EWSI" from where I'm sitting :)
Poor little shaver, he was only picking up the trash and got the hell scared out of him by the grown up police.
/rant
I was never a manager at best buy, but worked there long enough to see a bunch come and go. There is a really complex system going on that you don't realize until you've worked there a while. The managers and supvervisors are constantly trying to get good numbers in many different categories. This includes shrink, PRP/PSP, credit card apps, accessory sales (cables, media, etc), and various promotions, like when I worked there they were big on signing up people for MSN, earthlink, and Netflix.
I have to agree with anon 11:37 and anon 2:13. The sales people are just pawns in the manager/supervisor's game. You are expected to offer PRP/PSP, accessories, promotions, on everything that it can possibly be offered on regardless of how stupid it might seem. If we did not do offer these and at times even not overcome objections by customers, we would get talked to by sup or manager. Hell, back when they offered the 3 years of MSN with a pc, we were told to tell the customer that "it comes with the computer" even if they didn't want it. Now that's pressure. I can't begin to tell you how much I HATED trying to overcome customer objections and telling them msn comes with the pc when it really is optional. This is why I do not work there anymore. Computer department was probably the worst when it came to sales pressure.
My big complaint is that you had to "earn hours" through sales. No one was hired on full time. You had to be hired on part time and then earn your hours. More sales, more hours. People who were the loudest about even the small sales worked more. Even full timers had to earn their hours.
We didn't have those numbers displayed where I worked, but we did have a morning meeting where we went over them.
Be proud of capitalism..!! It only made us the strongest country in the history of all mankind!! My God... what are you apologizing for?
and as far as the sales people not knowing what they're talking about, best buy has the worst product training i've ever had working in retail...which means if you want to be interested in the latest and greatest, you should do the research yourself and become a better salesperson...that being said, it does seem that the store i worked for took the easy road and hired anyone that passed the pee test...i'm glad i finally escaped and work for a company that i support...it makes going to work a little more enjoyable.
First of all, your "might makes right" perspective needs an infusion of ethics... or at the very least, it needs to actually include the "history of all mankind," i.e. the rise and fall of political structures which at one point enjoyed a degree of "strength" and influence comparable to that of modern American Capitalism. Were King Arthur alive today, i imagine he might want to stab you just to be ironic.
People have every reason to not be "raving fans of capitalism." In fact, it is that lack of "fanaticism," that lack of blind servitude, that makes capitalism truly strong. The freedom people in this society have to question the ethics of things as seemingly small as PRPs, and to attempt through public discussion/outrage to shift these things toward fairness and equality, is what keeps Capitalism both fluid and solid; both flexible and bound. And that will hopefully keep us from the fates or all the dominant societies that have come before us.
PRPs are certainly not worthy of revolt in and of themselves, but trying to prevent people - with broad, clumsy, patriotic strokes - from noticing the manipulations of PRPs toward both customers and employees, might be. Why do you think we have unions?
In my opinion, the people who have refused to make any ethical concessions (to pester customers into paying for shit they don't need) have done more for democracy than any of the people who are "raving fans" of Capitalism. That's the paradox that might end up saving us: the more a Democracy breaks down, the stronger it becomes. Besides, if this country had followed your logic, we'd still be British.
1. The shrink payout is paid after the annual inventory. The amount is tallied throughout the year but will change dramatically after inventory.
2. The PRP % is not percentage of customers that bought PRP's, but the percentage of total revenue that PRP's represented.
I work for the Geek Squad (I hate that name) and as such I only get to talk to people when their crap is broken, or I'm ringing out the computers sold and expected to pressure people into buying the PSP. Lucky for me I'm the only decent tech in the deptment right now so I get to hide in the back working on computers while the rest of the deptment screws customers for obscene amounts of money ($167 for a 10 min diag and virus/spyware removal + $118 to install AV and anti-spyware programs). We are constantly getting yelled at if we don’t get enough $$$ out of people for basic repairs and we are constantly being told that we really are charging less than other places. In my own defense (yes I feel I need one for working there) this job is allowing my to have my own apartment while I get my degree, and I've yet to see a burger joint that is willing to pay $11/h.
1) The ones that defend PRP's as fair insurance agreements are forgetting one detail -- hundreds of years ago, insurance was outlawed, as it was (and still is) gambling. Nowadays, insurance is a (for better or worse) regulated industry. It is a compromise, at best, but at the least, the amount of insurance charged per coverage received is supposedly based on carefully constructed actuarial tables, with the amount of profit for the insurance company regulated by whatever state they are doing business in. Contrast that with the typical PRP/PSP stuff, where the pay in is far and away much more than is needed to provide a reasonable profit for the underwriting company involved. In other words, they make an obscene profit, based on gullible customers, who don't understand the insurance business, because if they did, they'd realize that they aren't getting any where near a good deal for their dollar. This is even more painful, when you realize that said same consumer went to Best Buy in the first place, to get what they thought was a smart deal, based on market price research for the item(s) they were looking for.
2) There are also, unfortunately, a number of individuals that (rightly or wrongly) find ways to 'screw the system'. Things like switching products/packaging, purposely breaking items when a current product is discontinued, so they can 'score' an upgrade, etc., etc. One could defend such tactics as somehow justified, but at their core, they are simply not ethical or moral, and therefore, non-defensible, no matter what the justification might be. In other words, grow up.
Because of both 1) and 2), above, Best Buy and others of their ilk would do everyone a huge favor by dropping their PRP/PSP programs. It not only angers their knowledgeable, honest customers, brewing ill favor (and heaven knows no retail chain needs to tick their customers off these days), but it also invites the kinds of tactics seen by the #2 crowd, which pretty well sums up my view of them.
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/04/howto_decode_the_num.html
The cost of a manufacturer's warranty, if offered, is built into the price of the product. If they don't build it in the item usually carries a very limited warranty, say 90 days. In other words, every time you buy something a certan portion of that money is used to fund the national warranty program. Usually the cost is hidden at the wholesale level and is calculated on statistical analysis of probible breakdowns.
BTW, these statistics are fairly well known so a company can at any time offer a much higher warranty period quite easily, knowing their actual costs of servicing such a warranty is already covered. You see this quite often in car sales where longer and longer warranties have been the trend. Look at some of the imports who are trying to make inroads in the North American market place. Ten year warranties sound pretty good, Right? As another example look at Bryston who offers a twenty year warranty. Their warranty costs are covered so why not build fantastic customer loyalty and offer such great terms? It doesn't cost them anything to do this and look at how loyal Bryston clients are. Plus it does sort of justify the high end price tag too.
The service side of any business makes more money than the sales side. Shop rates are high because the hourly rate has to pay for the shop, the supplies (which we sometimes pay even more for in the line item "Shop Supplies", the taxes and utilities plus the wage of the tech. Then there has to be a profit built in. Parts have multiple levels of markup too. In our organization a part that we imported for one dollar was billed on a service invoice at five dollars and if sold over the counter to the general public then it sold for ten dollars. That's eighty to ninety per cent profit margin.(Retail profit margin is the percentage of profit contained in the final selling price of any item or, Cost divided by desired profit margin (expressed as a decimal) equals the selling price. 50/.5=100)
Store's used to step up for the customer, interceding with the distributor or the manufacturer for concessions to satisfy their customers. That doesn't happen any more with the advent of BigBox retailing and the emphasis on low cost high volume. It's all about numbers and when you can shift the responsibilty off to another group then do so, as it will save you time and therefor money.
PSP/PRP's are a marketing tool and that's all they are. They are sold on the falicy of "peace of mind" for those intangible what if situations. A typical plan will cost the retailer twenty five to fifty per cent of the selling price. So a 100 dollar plan costs the retailer fifty bucks and that is a fifty per cent markup which is excellent in consumer electronics. The profit margin jumps dramatically when the shop owns it's own service group.
These plans do have a service that is valuable to the client, but only if the client remembers that thay have this extra coverage. Here's the problem with these plans, 80 per cent of those who buy these service plans do not use them for what ever reason. This is an extablished ratio that can be backed up by statistics although I wish you good luck in getting anybody in the idustry to admit to that fact.
So if a store sells a million dollars worth of these plans in a year they will garner five hundred thousand in pure profit! The company selling the plan to the retailer will only have to service twenty per cent of the customers so they will have a cost of two hundred thousand with profits of three hundred thousand dollars. Excellent return wouldn't you say?
What most customer's don't realize is that there is very little money in the hardware anymore. Forty years ago it was common to have sixty percent profit in hard goods while today you are very good if you can keep a twenty four per cent margin going. The money is in the accessories a
The store I worked in was on top of the heap for several months beginning in october '04 - april '05 (or somewhere around there) so there was added pressure by management to screw the customers real good and if you didn't then well you were the one getting bent over a barrel.
Another problem was those damn team meetings where you get to watch TAG TV with that stupid guy and that god damn Triumph the wonder dog imitator talk about cheese. Every meeting was the same they hand out awards to their MVP's in each department which funny were the same people or guys who took credit for everything you did. Then you had to play a damn game (which was a daily event just like the stupid ass cheers)
We never had those numbers up front we were a new store so that wasn't part of the format our store was.
One funny thing about or store was this. The CEO's son worked there as a regular full time employee so they were more scared of him then anything else you could just tell.
I would say right now it is important to get one for say all the game systems with the amount of returns we are seeing on all the systems but Nintendo. PS2 PSP and the Xbox and 360 come back every day.
I dont care what anyone says. they are a good deal. I never offer them on controllers though I let thoses cashiers deal with that. But for gaming systems... when you see how Microsoft screwed people with the original xbox and the "born on date" that was already expired when you get the shipment into the store the 90 warrentee is already over and they will charge you. Sony also sucks with the warrentee deal. The PS Portable has the 1 year which is nice but that sucker gets returned so much because of the dead pixels.
I cant just let customers leave without recommending it. I dont push it. If a customer says no its a dead issue. I just inform them they will get offered it again at the registers just so they expect it.
And the managers give us double talk on that very issue. Corporate does not want us to ever push a customer into getting the PRP/PSP with the sale. The goal is mention rate. Some managers take that as force it. And I dont listen to them, I once had a manager threaten me over that stand point and I called HR. He is not at the store anymore.
Best Buy has gone through some extream changes over the last 3 years and is rolling out its Customer Centricity concept to all of its stores.
This means we are more about giving the customer what they need and not what we want. We make recommendations, based on thier needs. Not the old way, and how some other chains do it, by telling you that you need something.
If a customer tells us no I dont want those 50 dollar monster cables, thats fine we made the recommendation.
The biggest problem we as a store saw in the past was we forced the customers hand. No more. We offer the complete solution so that best buy is thier one stop shopping experiance.
If when they get home they plug in that DVD player and the picture is not how they saw it at the store. They know the reason, it is because the cables that come in the box suck. We offered it to them. They will see we were right, but we did not force them to take the cables. Odds are the will come back for the cables and in the future will probably listen to the recommendations more.
thanks for shopping with us. your purchases on tuesdays help the store beat down online retailers and other brick and mortar stores.
I like people who say they can get it cheaper online. After paying on shipping hope the sucker does not die on you. Cause you are gonna get screwed.
the truth of the matter is Best Buy is changing. And unfortunately you were probably in a crap store. My store is not perfect. No retailer is I got a friend at CompUSA, one at Frys and another at Circuit City. They all complain.
Best Buy has changed, for the better. Not every store yet, but soon. And you can tell cause our sales numbers are up from previous years and the competition is stealing our ideas to try and copy us and its not working.
Unleash the power of the People baby.
"
It is offical we have the first line taken straight from the june store meeting about why Customer Centricity is rolling out.
What is this centricity thing anyways... Well basicly when they ask you for your phone number when you checkout they record your gender and do a lookup of what kind of toys you bought. from there you are lumped into groups with cute names like "Buzz" "Jill" "Barry" and from there each store will start carrying more or less of the crap depending on what is bought. generally i like the idea of a store having what i want to buy and not alot of crap like the barbie kung-fu action figures. It is when im given a breakdown of who is shopping in the store i work for (I work in a Buzz/Biz store) and told this is the sucker who comes here nail him for this crap...
If i go to the burger joint... do i get free food?
Before any posts - I know a lot of retail managers exaggerate, or they will state their potential income IF they got a full bonus pay-out. I'm not dinging retail managers as a group, but I have seen that behavior. For example, a buddy of a friend of mine told everyone he made $125,000 a year, and another $80,000 in bonuses - but still had a Roth IRA. Obviously untrue. Later on, I helped him with his taxes, and the guy cleared total $50,000 annually.
So, just curious.
That, my friend, is called "Retail Fraud". And in a good many localities, it can get you arrested.
Everyone knows that the phrase is 'stick it to the man'...
It's just the nature of the times that we are all consumers. The egocentric nature of man dictates that within that mass of consumers, there will always be those who want to climb to the top. They'll say that nobody is qualified to complain about the system, and that everyone who disagrees is wrong. Naturally they don't want change, they want to do as well as they can by themselves within the system. They'll argue that it's better for everyone. After all, they can reason their position. Of course, worse people have rationalized worse things. Their values do not reflect their reasoning.
There is an ancient plumber's proverb:
The shit that smells the worst always floats to the top, but it's not going to climb out of the bowl.
Great story though. These little things always do itch at you until you come to understand them.
quote from Anonymous 5:43
i heard the password to all the computers was just the store number
Thank you for providing a much-needed laugh.
BEST BUY BLOG POST!
Someone is trying to give out our trade secrets.
A flurry of posts from people inside are trying to figure out what to do. They are handling it poorly... almost like damage control even though I see no real damage with this information. Expect a letter from corporate office asking you to take this down... Fuck em... I dont think they can make you. I'm no lawyer though. Just an assistant to some assholes at bby.
But NOooooo...Best Buy is nothing but a big hassle and I won't deal with them unless it's a last resort. They hassle you if you have a corporate credit card "Sorry sir, you must stand in the return line to use a company card" Good luck getting them to wait on you. You might get some help in 10-15 more minutes...maybe. I once tried to purchase a digital camera from them and gave up in frustration after about 30 minutes. Why?, because they keep the boxes behind the counter so you can't just pick it up and take it up front and be done with it. I tried in vain to get someone up front to go pick up the camera for me but they would not ...they would only repeatedly page someone in the department to go and get it but they never did and I gave up after about 30 min. Why do they keep the stuff behind counters anyway? They always have a guy at the front door checking everyone like they are a thief anyway. Hey maybe thats one way to get waited on.. I won't even bring up the point about being constantly hassled about buying the bogus warrently. Last time I bought anything was a pair of 20.00 headphones for school and the girl got a tude when I told her no thanks nicely the first time, not so nicely the third time. Sounds like other posters have found a way to make BB give them the warrenty for free anyway :) ---good idea, if anyone deserves it, BB certainly does.
I am no fan of Circuit City, but they are a breath of fresh air compared to BB. Retailers didn't used to be like this, what in the hell happened?
What happened is "stack it high, sell it cheap". No part of that includes "serve the customer".
I'm the customer BB hates. I walk in, buy EXACTLY what I want, then leave. I know the products better than the sales staff, if I'm in that market for them. If I need a cable I buy it but NOTHING anyone tells me in that store is going to make me buy something I didn't plan to.
As far as buying online being cheaper: About a month ago I picked up a 120gb Seagate HD for 39 dollars, at BB. No mail-in rebate, just paid my 39 and tax and walked out. Show me where THAT price can be beaten online...
Do SPIF incentives exist in Best Buy? During my experience in Big Box Home Improvement Land (Lowes) we got SPIF payments on appliances and a monetary incentive to sell Extended Warranties. Employees that sell installed items also receive commission on those sales.
As far as the shrink payments go, Lowe's was SO kind to us that they paid a whopping FIFTY DOLLARS to each employee working at the store when the inventory was done. WHOOPEE. Of course if you had to pull inventory duty you were REALLY well taken care of. All nighters for up to two weeks (depending on how anal the manager was), getting paid NOTHING extra for the longer hours. But they did buy you dinner.
Retail sucks. Only job worse is working food service.
things that I know:
no matter how many services I sell my pay rate is the same.
the amount of computers that get fixed for free because of the PSP is astronmical. people save a good 200-300 dollars a repair just because they got the "useless insurance"
the manufacturers sure as hell are responsible for their own warranties, not us. You want us to stand behind it for more than 14 days, stop using us as a rental service.
I have only one of those numbers on the front of our store, honestly.. I think management couldn't care less if you know what it means. if they were that worried it wouldnt be in 10 inch high characters on yellow tags in front of the store.
I firmly believe in selling you what you need not what you want. I do my part to make peoples lives better, not poorer. Thats one more person in the store who isn't going to make you buy anything you dont need. Keep in mind however I am obligated to at least MENTION everything we offer.
thats all for now..
and glad you shed some light on that mystery you were posed with =] I hate things like that too.
Another consumer friendly plan. Get a free extended warranty. American Express offers them and so does some Mastercards. Read the fine print on your card benefits - it pays to do so.
The last extended warranty I ever bought was on my sports car. Never again. The repairs it did pay for, didn't even come close to costing 50% of the price of the plan over a seven year, 100,000 mile period. Lesson learned. (See above.)
Bottom line - extended warranties are a HUGE profit for those that sell them and a long-distance crap shoot for the consumer.
The answer here is to use the "Theory of Reverse Promotions" when shopping at any major retailer. The harder they push it - the more likely you don't need it - but they do.
rebates. What a scam!
Comp-USA is a big time ripoff at this..I buy stuff for my company and you get ripped off on the rebate more times than not.
For my own use I was lured to the local Comp USA for big rebates on
video cards and hard drives. With
the rebates they were a bit less
than online.
I went there and forget the hard drive - it's behind a counter and
no one cares to help you - they are
too busy selling huge tv's.
So I got the "deal" on the video
card $70 with $40 rebate=$30
Wow-I thought-not bad-this is
$55-$60 online!
Well..after waiting three months
I got my postcard saying I was
screwed-saying I did not submit
all required bullshit-even though
I certainly did!
Lesson learned-Do not buy crap with
mail-in rebates at Comp-USA. My local tv station agrees as well as
the local attorney-general who is
supposedly investigating..
I would argue that these crappy rebates make more money for stores
than even the dumb insurance.
It's driven me to buy online totally if I can and avoid rebates.
I think the biggest check I got was about $200 bucks, as when the final inventory is done, you realize you've lost a lot more product...
As for Mr. 17 Year Old Knowing His Stuff: You don't. You're a 17 year old; by definition you think you know your stuff, but if you were tossed into a business, you'd drown. Give yourself another year at Best Buy, then get a tech job at a real business, and start working your way up. Hubris is idiotic.
The first thing that comes to mind, is that most of you are full of crap, and don't know a thing about what you're talking about. You're simply angry that a company like Best Buy is making money, and you're stuck sitting infront of your computer bitching about it. Most of you will never make it far in life, you'll never be rich, you'll never be important, and you'll never do anything to change the world.
Second, PRP's and PSP's will always exsist, and in the end, for most people, they are a good idea. If you don't need it, or want to take the chance of buying a brand new laptop because you were too proud, then shut up and buy what you need. We've all worked jobs where we were asked to do something, it's called WORKING for a reason. An employer hires you on to do a JOB, not to stand around and babysit self important penny pinchers. It is the sales person's job to let you know what is available, and if they didn't do it (or choose not to alltogether) then they should leave or be fired.
Third, If you are someone who goes into stores, and gets mad at the employees who do their job and offer you things, you have to know one thing....They do not give a damn if you are on a person holy war against the company that has employed them. nor do they care about YOU. You just happen to be the next person in a never ending series of assholes who thinks that his 3 min rant about poor customer services will be remembered. And when you walk into a store department, with 3 employees trying to help 20 people during a rush, when people have questions, concerns, and problems, and expect instant service and get bitchy when you don't get someone instantly sucking up to you, you're a fool.
That pretty much sums it up for me. I don't apologize for hurt egos, and anyone who is willing to take a stab at me, or anyone else in this blog has my compliments. But if you're going to say anything, think about it for a long time first. Otherwise you come off sounding like idiots like 2/12/2006 7:45 AM, 2/09/2006 11:11 PM, 2/06/2006 5:43 PM, 2/03/2006 8:53 AM, 2/05/2006 8:31 AM, and the list goes on......
Back in the early 90's I worked for Electronics Boutique in a mall in Vermont. At the time there was no internet or large box stores in the area. We were the only place to buy video games, consoles, software, etc. In basically all of Vermont.
Our product line was simple, maybe a dozen different types of things (consoles, software, hint manuals,etc), The store wasn't massive, only about 5000 Sq Ft, my manager was freakin Awesome, not only was he a nice person, he was a great mentor.
The store would get a "demo" copy of just about every title of software we sold, that we could then pass around to the employees to try out. This was a massive educational tool. I could tell you the in's and out's of every game, productivity software package and console we sold. I could give tips and hints to gaming customers and had a long list of clients that would buy from us, based just on our deep knowledge of the products. (Unlike today's stores where you get, "I don't know" or the guy flips over the box to read the back, it's like gee thanks I could have done that)
I remember at Christmas time we would have people lined up at the store gate, before we opened, 4 wide and 20 deep. We'd have to make 3 deposits a day at the bank, because of the amount of physical cash we had taken in. The cash draws would get so heavy the springs could no longer pop them open at the end of a sale we had to pull it open.
We had a fantastic extended warrenty on consoles, wasn't outrageous, about 25% of the purchase price, but it was a no questions asked return. You could bring the thing back in soaked in cat pee and run over by the car and we'd just hand you a new one right off the shelf. For every one of those EW's I sold I got an extra $10 in pay check. One month I sold 110 of them, the extra $1110, was a nice little bonus.
We all worked hard and kept the store spotless. When closing time came, we could balance the cash drawers have the place vacuumed and be out the door 20 minutes after gate closed.
Yea that was a fantastic job, I look back on it with much fondness.
1. I was an employee there for a couple years. I worked my butt off for them. Tried to sell the PSPs, kept educated on the product, even had many customer comment cards that proclaimed my wonderfulness. I came in whenever they were short handed. I covered for other departments if they were short. I even caught a couple people stealing. Then, I went on vacation for 2 weeks & came back. I was fired the day I came back. They accused me of stealing (which I didn't). They put me into a room with an officer and a TV who started to grill me. He kept on saying that he had it all on tape. I, knowing that I had done nothing, kept telling him to show me. Finally, after they were unable to prove anything they just sent me home suspended for 2 weeks. I was never contacted afterwards. I finally called & asked to find that I had been terminated. No reason given. Though, as an employee, I felt that I was always beeing treated as a theif.
2. Trying not to hold a grudge, I continued to buy from them when I had finally forgiven them (though for a long time, I wouldn't buy even if their pricing was competitive). However, I found that their customer service has gone down greatly. I usually can't find someone to help me & usually they are not knowledgeable if I do find someone (not to say that all employees are stupid, just not always trained). And heaven forbid that you need to use the customer service counter. I've never been to customer service without at least a 15-30 minute wait.
3. Now, I'm finding more & more that their pricing is not competitive at all. Especially when I can get the same thing frequently at Circuit City for the same or better price & the sales staff actually are helpful.
4. Their in store pick-up is horrid. I have bought 3 things online for in store pick-up. When I showed up at the store (giving them about 5 hours to a day to get the stuff ready), I have yet to just pick-up & check out. Every time, I'v had to wait 15 minutes or more for them to say that it wasn't ready or that they didn't have it or that they didn't even have a record of me needing to pick-up. Usually, I just end up cancelling & going down the isle & getting the thing myself. I no longer use the in store pick-up option.
5. Management in Best Buy is corrupt in one of two ways. Either they are trying to rip off the customer (yes, they are trying to squeeze you dry), or they are they are using fear tactics on the employees who are usually too young to understand what's going on to get them to do more than what they are paid for. I really feel sorry for the employees who have to put up with cranky customers & cranky managers, but still go to stupid meetings to make them "feel" better about it.
6. Best Buy was "developed" to be a company that crushes competition & rakes in profit. It is very similar to Walmart actually. They aren't concerned with the employees or with the customers. It's about the money (bonus checks if you will) in the end. It shows if you ever work there.
Also, though I wasn't "paid" to sell PSPs at my store, there were rewards. The rep who made the most PSP sales usually ended up getting some sort of product as a reward. I received many free CDs & DVDs that way.
Anyhow, I'm working a real job right now (as an inventory control manager of all things). I think that I've said enough.
There is just no way that a 6-foot "Geek Squad" USB cable can possibly be worth $35, no matter how gold-encrusted the connectors are or how stylish the plastic molding.
The pricing for DVI, HDMA, and Component-Video cables in Best Buy is also ridiculous. $120 for a 4ft HMDI cable? $150 for an 8' HDMI-to-DVI cable?? This isn't merely gouging the customer, it's more like raping.
And guess what bunky? That gold plating does absolutely nothing for the signal quality a digital cable. Neither does that blue nylon mesh over the black plastic cable. It's just useless glam.
You can get equal-quality, but non-gold, non-glitzy, non-diamond-studded, and yet still high-grade video cables from Tripp Lite for about $25, sold through online retailers like CDW.com:
Tripp Lite DVI Dual Link TDMS DVI-D M/M 6' Cable, $17
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=645731
I will not pass a huge amount of judgment on the place, since I only just started working there today. However, a friend of mine, who worked in the store for a year or so, had a similar experience to Mister "5/30/2006 12:30 PM". However, he was linked to a fishy plot to cheat in a staff contest (though he himself didn't actually do it...he just knew about it.). He got fired the day after the main culprit got fired, simply based on "conspiracy against the company". It's very obvious that the company is pretty much insane when it comes to internal thefts. I don't know how many questions I had to answer that had to do with my morals, ethics, and honesty when I interviewed for the job, but it certainly took up most of all three interviews.
I do, however, want to disagree with whoever is saying that people who work in Box Stores (er, Department stores), don't really care about the customer, and only care about the cheque going into their pocket. I personally like to see the customer truely and completly satisfied. If I can't fufil something due to lack of skills, I applogise a bazillion times, and find someone I know who can help the customer.
I will agree with the fact that it's hard to find someone to help you when you want help. I was just coming off my shift when a couple asked me for help in finding out of there were any of a set of speakers in stock for them to buy. They had been looking around for the better part of an hour, and not a single person had asked them if they wanted help before they stoped me. I actually had to ask Several other employees, if they knew anything before the head of the department helped me out and finally gave them the answer of "Oh, sorry, this isn't actually in stock right now." They later thanked me when I saw them outside, for going out of my way to help them (I had no idea what I was doing, I just knew I wanted them to be satisfied.) - but I know they were still disgruntled about not having gotten any help before finding me, and even more disgruntled about having been in there an hour only to find out that the speakers they wanted, weren't in stock.
It's not even the end of my first week, and already I wonder what I'm getting myself into. (And the General Manager, is waaaay too perky when she's doing staff meetings. Almost like she has to make up for all the crap people seem to think the company is full of.)
As for being pressured into selling PRP's and PSP's.....um. I haven't heard anything about that yet. Then again they expect me to be in Customer Service...so I guess it might not be as important when processing the returns.....then again, I think I'd much rather just work the plain ol' till. Not so many cranky people.
You think being in a Box store as a customer is bad. Consider for a moment how many Other cranky people the employee has to deal with, in a day. Several hundred people, who are mad because their iPod broke for the 10th time since they bought it, and who aren't willing to be nice to the employee even though they didn't do anything to deserve the anger that is being directed at them. And then half of them will become even madder when they relise that their Manuf. Warnt. no longer covers the product, and then even more so because they don't have a PRP on the iPod, so they can't get it replaced with absolutly NO hassles. Seriously. The PRP is pretty awsome. On products like iPod (notorious for breaking and not working properly), the PRP is actually good because no matter how many times the thing needs to be replaced, Best Buy replaces it. I'm not saying it's good on everything (like a keyboard - they last forever (unless you're a very violent person who manages to break their keyboards easily), and when they do break, it's probably time to upgrade to a new one anyways, so it works with your computer better than the old one.)
Thats all I have to say on that.
Fascinatingly I'm that well versed customer as well, and I ended up working in the Digital Imaging department. :)
Anywho, something I learned very quickly is that not everyone that walks into the department is nearly so well versed as you might believe, generally those well versed people are quite easy to spot, and I typically give a well researched consumer the benefit of the doubt, and offer them alternatives and information about their intended purchase. I never pressure anyone about PSP or PRPs just pop the quick question and if the customer doesn't immediately jump in, I explain it. That simple.
And I got a mystery customer rating of 93.7%, second highest in the store. Like some certain Orwellian politicians, I got little from this achievement, but I still take pride in it, Achievement for the sake of it eh?
I prefer to let the customer make an informed decision rather than waste their time pushing my own "agenda." In fact, just the other day a lady told me, with a sad look in her eye, as I'd helped her research and figure out exactly what she needed over about a 30 minute period, and found out we didn't have it, and I later told her, straight up, "I don't care if you buy anything here, I'm not comissioned, quite honestly the only thing I care about is making sure you go home more knowledgeable than you walked in, and you get the right product for you."
Competition and the promotion of free thought are the driving forces of western civilization. I don't mean this in an economic sense, as I gain little if the store does better, I mean it for the customer's experience, and if they have a good experience in my department odds are, they'll come back for more, and it brightens my day when people come back to my department and my fellow associates ask if said customer needs anything and they specifically ask for me, even though I never give my name.
I know that sounds a bit like the corporate talk we've all heard on those damned videos, but that's always been my philosophy in anything.
And as to us being a mindless horde, which I won't dispute in some cases, I myself am a novelist, Shakesperian scholar, epic poet, nationally recognized printer, and high end amateur videographer.
But then, maybe I'm the exception rather than the rule.
I think because I'm not pushy about it and explain what is covered by the plan I probably sell more PRP/PSP then most in my department.
Ok so some people come in and know exactly what they want and don't let us sell them anything else!! Thats great, good for you, unfortunately, most people are not you and they have NO clue apples from oranges!!! A friend in home theater the other day told me that SO many people come in wanting to buy a High DENSITY TV!!
But they think they know everything because they know this guy whos cousins, sisters, boyfriends ex-roommate who is now in prison for armed robbery had this or that so now they think they are experts!! Ok so I know thats a bit much, but trust me not by much!!
Not all of "us" are evil demons!! I have actually down graded people from one product they were set on to another that actually fit their need better simply because someone else told them thats what they needed.
Maybe it is the store I work in and the management. I like the store I work at and everyone I work with. When I get a compliment from a customer, they let me know. Even if I get nothing more than a high five or pat on the back; HELLO that MORE than you get anywhere else!!
Anyway this conversation started talking about the numbers. What's so wrong with a company tracking their numbers?? DON'T they all??? If not I would hate to do their audit!!
"Best buy is in need of a serious overhaul. Do they not realize that some people already know what they want, all they want to do is come in the store and pick up the item, pay for it and leave?"
Are you kidding?? Where I live very few people know what they're doing. I work in cameras and camcorders and man I'm telling ya most of my customers have no idea what they're looking for when it comes to what type of camera to buy and what goes with it. Nearly every single one of my customers even admits up front, "I'm not technologically saavy, I don't know what I'm looking for..." They're asking me to help them find the camera that will do what they want it to do. Wow, guess what, thats my job! Maybe I work in one of the few stores where my managers are actually honest. My managers want us to work on making our "box" more profitable but they NEVER want us to do this by screwing the customer. This new "customer centricity" thing is all about asking the customer questions in order to find out what they need and then telling them about other products that compliment the product they end up buying.
Perfect example, a customer came in looking for a digital camera.
cust: "I don't know what I need, do you have any suggestions?"
me: "Let me ask you a few questions to help you narrow down your choices here...What are you taking pictures of?"
cust: "Uh, just my kids, general stuff... "
me: "ok...and what is the largest picture you would want to have printed?"
cust: "Maybe no larger than a 5x7 perhaps an occasional 8x10"
me: "ok good, this tells me you're looking for a good point and shoot camera that is around 6 or 7 megapixels. Let me show you a few that I have that match that description." (I show him a few cameras that take pictures with almost no shutter delay because most of my customers complain that it takes too long for the camera to take a picture once they depress the button)
cust: "what are the differences?"
me: (I explain and he ends up getting a fuji THAT uses the cheaper memory cards so he doesn't have to spend a fortune on them)
I tell him about the psp...he decides not to get it. Thats the end of that.
cust: So I just take the memory card to uh...wal-mart and they develop the pictures?
me: sure, or... well actually there are a number of ways you can do this. We do sell photo printers so that you can print your pictures from home. (I proceed to show him the little hp printers we have that are AWESOME btw)
cust: thats good I'll take one of those.
me: (I proceed to mention ink and paper for the printer, and a little bag for his camera to protect it from scratches and such, after all he declined the psp...then I ring him up.)
So you see? I didn't pressure this customer to buy anything he didn't want. All I did was let him know about what was available and helped him decide on a camera that fit what he was looking for. If you think I've screwed the customer then you obviously have a very twisted opinion of what "screwing the customer" actually is.
In my opinion the psp's are a good idea on more expensive products. If you're buying a 700 dollar camera, why not get the psp? what happens if you accidentally drop the camera and you're not covered? Do you save up another 700 dollars and buy a new one, or on the other hand, if you have the psp, get another one for less than 1/7th the price you paid for it? You tell me which is better.
Personally I like best buy a lot. Its better than any other retail store I've worked in. The managers want to see me promoted and they genuinely care about who I am and where my talents lie. Most of our employees are of the same mind as I am... get the custome
"Best buy is in need of a serious overhaul. Do they not realize that some people already know what they want, all they want to do is come in the store and pick up the item, pay for it and leave?"
Are you kidding?? Where I live very few people know what they're doing. I work in cameras and camcorders and man I'm telling ya most of my customers have no idea what they're looking for when it comes to what type of camera to buy and what goes with it. Nearly every single one of my customers even admits up front, "I'm not technologically saavy, I don't know what I'm looking for..." They're asking me to help them find the camera that will do what they want it to do. Wow, guess what, thats my job! Maybe I work in one of the few stores where my managers are actually honest. My managers want us to work on making our "box" more profitable but they NEVER want us to do this by screwing the customer. This new "customer centricity" thing is all about asking the customer questions in order to find out what they need and then telling them about other products that compliment the product they end up buying.
Perfect example, a customer came in looking for a digital camera.
cust: "I don't know what I need, do you have any suggestions?"
me: "Let me ask you a few questions to help you narrow down your choices here...What are you taking pictures of?"
cust: "Uh, just my kids, general stuff... "
me: "ok...and what is the largest picture you would want to have printed?"
cust: "Maybe no larger than a 5x7 perhaps an occasional 8x10"
me: "ok good, this tells me you're looking for a good point and shoot camera that is around 6 or 7 megapixels. Let me show you a few that I have that match that description." (I show him a few cameras that take pictures with almost no shutter delay because most of my customers complain that it takes too long for the camera to take a picture once they depress the button)
cust: "what are the differences?"
me: (I explain and he ends up getting a fuji THAT uses the cheaper memory cards so he doesn't have to spend a fortune on them)
I tell him about the psp...he decides not to get it. Thats the end of that.
cust: So I just take the memory card to uh...wal-mart and they develop the pictures?
me: sure, or... well actually there are a number of ways you can do this. We do sell photo printers so that you can print your pictures from home. (I proceed to show him the little hp printers we have that are AWESOME btw)
cust: thats good I'll take one of those.
me: (I proceed to mention ink and paper for the printer, and a little bag for his camera to protect it from scratches and such, after all he declined the psp...then I ring him up.)
So you see? I didn't pressure this customer to buy anything he didn't want. All I did was let him know about what was available and helped him decide on a camera that fit what he was looking for. If you think I've screwed the customer then you obviously have a very twisted opinion of what "screwing the customer" actually is.
In my opinion the psp's are a good idea on more expensive products. If you're buying a 700 dollar camera, why not get the psp? what happens if you accidentally drop the camera and you're not covered? Do you save up another 700 dollars and buy a new one, or on the other hand, if you have the psp, get another one for less than 1/7th the price you paid for it? You tell me which is better.
Personally I like best buy a lot. Its better than any other retail store I've worked in. The managers want to see me promoted and they genuinely care about who I am and where my talents lie. Most of our employees are of the same mind as I am... get the customer
We have since taken down all these wall signs. We have moved to a customer centric strategy.
Number one focus is to take care of every customer. Even if its at the cost of the companys profit. Now I cant speak for every store in the company, but ours i know its a 100 percnet focus.
Numbers are going away after this holiday season, and its going to turn into a year over year trend and how we are growning rather than a ranking in the company.
We are constantly trying to reenvent ourselves in service of the customer.
Not many other places can say that. I love working for best buy I am on my 4th year, and wouldnt leave for anything .
Interesting information on here.
I worked at Best Buy for three years at the district level and we fed the lower level employees that line... truly though the Managers and Sups and pretty much anyone with an invested career at the Big Blue Box gets a bonus, kick-back or SPIF.
Also... Best Buy now as BLUE BUCKS for stores... basically they cut every store's hours to save on labor and now we are giving the line employees "blue bucks" which equates to more money to those who sell stuff... wait that is almost commission isn't it? The best part of it though is this... the line employees are EATING it up... not realizing they are working TWICE as hard to they can get some more bucks... when if we hadn't rolled this out they would have been making the same thing anyways without the loss of labor.
Best Buy is genius. P.S You won't see those numbers anywhere in my district. Other DM's will not allow them either. We have the info on ME National Scorecard on the computer or in some stores on a board in the Admin room. The signs look tacky and because of stuff like this blog people know what it means.
To the idiot that posted this:
You are a moron. you say you worked in the district level but you cant even get the term right its BLUE CREW BUCKS and its not based on what you sell its based on how your shrink is i work at a store in the chicagoland area and its basicly like this full timers get 1000 and part timers 500 if you meet your shrink budget for the fiscal year. and of course managers get a kick back they are called bonuses. every manager has them BBY SEARS CIRC CITY so try another one..
as to PSP/Prp being a waste of money...that is dumb i rather pay the 250 PSP price than maybe have to dish out 2300 for a new tv. people need brains. have you seen that ditech comercial starts off with "People are smart!" every time i hear that i laugh people are not smart they are dumb. customers come in the store thinking that since they read consumer reports magazine and they say vizio is a top ranking tv that they should get that vizio. if it were a good tv wouldnt we carry it we do carry sumthing comprabale to the vizio which is westinghouse and that is a tv i wont sell. vizios are cheap because they are garbage. why wouldnt you spend the extra 400 for a better tv. Walmart target and other retailers carry them becuase they cant carry good tv's such as pioneer samsung panasonic. BBY now has magnolia home theater which now sells premium end products that most of you would never even have heard of...we carry pioneers elite series sonys XBR4 and XBR5 not to mention the sharp aquos 92U series tv and for audio...Martin Logan, Mirage, Definitive Technology, Vienna Acoustic, Denon recievers panamax power condtioners. so to all those who bash best buy....you are moronic i along with most of BBY sell for the customer we sell you what you need and whats good not garbage. if we discourage that product there is a reason. we go to plenty of trainings. If anybody has anything to rebutle what i have to say please post it and then email me at Southsidepride88@gmail.com ill be more than happy to make you eat your words
Dear Susan,
Thank you for your prompt reply. I am surprised and, I'm sorry to say, more than a bit disappointed to learn that Best Buy will so willingly disregard a customer, encouraging him to return a high-priced item (less pick-up and restocking fees) to purchase the identical item from another electronics retailer. It must be comforting to know that your customer base is so large that each individual customer is expendable.
I do believe that you misunderstood the question I posed by telephone to your customer service agents. I sought to match a competitor's price for this online order based exclusively on the information provided to me by Best Buy staff members, and I followed each employee's recommendation to the letter. My mistake, apparently, lay in my inexplicable desire to remain brand-loyal to Best Buy.
I recognize, in retrospect, that I should have immediately cancelled my online order and purchased the television at either Circuit City or Amazon.com, for a savings of several hundred dollars in either case. However, I opted not to do so because 1) I had believed strongly in the Best Buy brand and the integrity of its employees, and 2) the in-store Best Buy Customer Service Agent assured me that he would match the price because the item was not available in the store at the time of purchase. To do so, though, he told me that I would first have to accept delivery of the television to complete the transaction, as he could not adjust the price of a pending order.
This advice sounded reasonable, so I was willing to accept delivery at the higher price, given his assurance of matching one of the lower prices offered by several of your competitors.
When the product arrived, of course, and I returned to Best Buy for the price match, the story had changed. The same Best Buy agent was unable to adjust the price or issue a credit. He then attempted to return the original purchase and sell my own tv back to me at the discounted competitive price. Unable to do so, and equally unaware of several new Best Buy policies that had guided his original advice, he offered his deeply sincere apologies and, essentially, informed me that I was screwed.
Less than content with his answer, I called the toll-free customer support line for service. The two agents with whom I spoke (Kenya and Amy) recognized the legitimacy of my claim and went out of their way to rectify the situation, given the fact that I was given erroneous information by other well-intentioned Best Buy employees. After Kenya was unsuccessful, Amy encouraged me to keep the television and to have faith in the integrity of Best Buy's policies and its corporate ethos. Affirming the validity of my case, she recommended that I allow her to transfer the case to Corporate Research, but she did acknowledge that she could not guarantee the outcome. However, at worst case, she insisted that I could ultimately return the product if I was unsatisfied with the result. When I indicated that I had discarded the box, she assured me that this would be a courtesy pick-up and restock because of the numerous instances of misinformation and ignorance of policy by Best Buy staff members. Confident that the Best Buy research department would find validity in Amy's recommendation, I eagerly awaited your reply.
Upon receiving the curt and slightly offensive deflection below, I recognized, sadly, that Best Buy was not the retailer or industry leader in which I had put such faith. It was, certainly, no place to find the "Best Buy."
I am disappointed that I unquestioningly trusted that Best Buy's Customer Care would support the advice of its retailers in the field. I'm disappointed that so many of your staff members--whether on the sales floor, behind the customer service desk in store, or fielding calls as customer service representatives--are so ignorant of Best Buy's policies and procedures.
Dear Susan,
Thank you for your prompt reply. I am surprised and, I'm sorry to say, more than a bit disappointed to learn that Best Buy will so willingly disregard a customer, encouraging him to return a high-priced item (less pick-up and restocking fees) to purchase the identical item from another electronics retailer. It must be comforting to know that your customer base is so large that each individual customer is expendable.
I do believe that you misunderstood the question I posed by telephone to your customer service agents. I sought to match a competitor's price for this online order based exclusively on the information provided to me by Best Buy staff members, and I followed each employee's recommendation to the letter. My mistake, apparently, lay in my inexplicable desire to remain brand-loyal to Best Buy.
I recognize, in retrospect, that I should have immediately cancelled my online order and purchased the television at either Circuit City or Amazon.com, for a savings of several hundred dollars in either case. However, I opted not to do so because 1) I had believed strongly in the Best Buy brand and the integrity of its employees, and 2) the in-store Best Buy Customer Service Agent assured me that he would match the price because the item was not available in the store at the time of purchase. To do so, though, he told me that I would first have to accept delivery of the television to complete the transaction, as he could not adjust the price of a pending order.
This advice sounded reasonable, so I was willing to accept delivery at the higher price, given his assurance of matching one of the lower prices offered by several of your competitors.
When the product arrived, of course, and I returned to Best Buy for the price match, the story had changed. The same Best Buy agent was unable to adjust the price or issue a credit. He then attempted to return the original purchase and sell my own tv back to me at the discounted competitive price. Unable to do so, and equally unaware of several new Best Buy policies that had guided his original advice, he offered his deeply sincere apologies and, essentially, informed me that I was screwed.
Less than content with his answer, I called the toll-free customer support line for service. The two agents with whom I spoke (Kenya and Amy) recognized the legitimacy of my claim and went out of their way to rectify the situation, given the fact that I was given erroneous information by other well-intentioned Best Buy employees. After Kenya was unsuccessful, Amy encouraged me to keep the television and to have faith in the integrity of Best Buy's policies and its corporate ethos. Affirming the validity of my case, she recommended that I allow her to transfer the case to Corporate Research, but she did acknowledge that she could not guarantee the outcome. However, at worst case, she insisted that I could ultimately return the product if I was unsatisfied with the result. When I indicated that I had discarded the box, she assured me that this would be a courtesy pick-up and restock because of the numerous instances of misinformation and ignorance of policy by Best Buy staff members. Confident that the Best Buy research department would find validity in Amy's recommendation, I eagerly awaited your reply.
Upon receiving the curt and slightly offensive deflection below, I recognized, sadly, that Best Buy was not the retailer or industry leader in which I had put such faith. It was, certainly, no place to find the "Best Buy."
I am disappointed that I unquestioningly trusted that Best Buy's Customer Care would support the advice of its retailers in the field. I'm disappointed that so many of your staff members--whether on the sales floor, behind the customer service desk in store, or fielding calls as customer service representatives--are so ignorant of Best Buy's policies and procedures.
About 20 + individual items in all. My arrangement with Best Buy was to have the items delivered to my home on a specified date.
One week prior to the specified date I get a phone call from my 16 year old daughter and she said
“Best Buy just deliver a whole bunch of stuff to the house.”
When I got home that afternoon I took my receipts and proceeded to check the receipts against the items delivered to insure that I had received everything that I paid for.
I eventually discovered that the one item that had not been delivered was the 9 foot Video screen.
Oddly enough this was the least expensive item of everything. Less than $300. It was also the biggest item in size. (9 feet long) Not an item that is easily overlooked.
I immediately called the store manager and informed him of the situation.
His response: “Well Mr. Hudson we have evidence that you did receive the screen”.
I once again I assured him that the items delivered did not include the video screen. I went on to suggest that he contact the driver of the Best Buy delivery truck and ask him if he recalled carrying in a box that was 9 feet in length.
His response: “We have a signature that all items have been delivered and accounted for”. “If you want a video screen you will have to pay for another video screen”.
Now here is what happened. Best Buy showed up a week before the schedule delivery date unannounced, my under age daughter opened the door and the truck driver told her “We are from Best Buy and we have a delivery”.
She said, “OK, the media room is up the stairway.
Best Buy carried in box and box of items with the exception of the 9 foot screen.
After they carried in the last item they had a spread sheet with an itemized list of purchases printed on it.
They stuck it in her hand and said “sign here”. So she did and they left.
Best Buy did not ask for an adult when the door was answered.
They did not do a check off list with my underage daughter to prove that all items were delivered.
The store manager made a decision because he had a signature the screen had been delivered.
I then took all of my receipts and went to the store. I ask to see the manager. The assistant manager approached and introduced himself.
I explained to the assistant manager in chronological order the events as they unfolded.
His response: “I have spoken with the manager, if you want a screen you will have to pay for another screen”.
My response: “Look, we are not going to have to go to court over a $300 screen are we”?
His response: “Oh, if you are going to threaten a law suit I can no longer speak to you”. He walked off and left me standing there in the middle of the floor.
My response: I had to do some extensive research by way of the State Corporation Commission to determine the proper name and registered agent to sue.
I filed suit in Colonial Heights General District Court (Virginia) over a $300 video screen.
The day that they received the warrant the store manager called me and pleaded with me to come get my video screen.
I would not buy a flash light battery from best Buy!
Thanks and regards,
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