[swyost]

Since there do occasionally seem to be a few people who actually believe things they are told in a Best Buy, I thought I would relay the following. Currently one of the Best Buy stores in Scottsdale, AZ is closing and they are having a store closure sale. Since my apartment was robbed recently, I am obliged to come up with best replacement costs for the insurance settlement, so I stopped by to see what was left. Before the sale began, standard retail merchandise were shipped to other stores in the area. In fact, Best Buy has been remarkably direct about the fact that the store closure sale is for as is, open box, and clearance merchandise only.

Notably, the last shipment of Playbooks that all of the local Best Buy locations received in mid-January were among the merchandise shipped for sale in other stores. It would seem they went to the Best Buy a few miles up the highway since that store now has more Playbooks than they have space in the glass case. The only Playbook related products left in the store that is closing were one charging pod that was unpriced and in the wrong aisle, and those wierd Playbook softshells that everyone appears to have on clearance. Even at $1.99, they still don't move off the shelves. What they did have (still marked at $599) was their final stock of HP TouchPads; to the final days of one of their stores, Best Buy will still not discount them. Actually, now they are discounting them but only 20%.

The point of this is that if you ever are told that the Playbook (or whatever you are trying to buy) has been discontinued, or they suggest the product is bad, etc., etc., you really should assume that they are being pushed to sell another product and are probably getting a bonus for each unit they move. Do your research before you get to the store and taken anything you are told with a large grain of salt. BTW, for the store closure sale, Best Buy took the remaining mechandise and marked it back up to full MSRP which is often more than they ever priced the stuff in the past, and then knocked 20% off. This is not a retailer in whom you should place any faith when making a purchase....

[canito338]

Since there do occasionally seem to be a few people who actually believe things they are told in a Best Buy, I thought I would relay the following. Currently one of the Best Buy stores in Scottsdale, AZ is closing and they are having a store closure sale. Since my apartment was robbed recently, I am obliged to come up with best replacement costs for the insurance settlement, so I stopped by to see what was left. Before the sale began, standard retail merchandise were shipped to other stores in the area. In fact, Best Buy has been remarkably direct about the fact that the store closure sale is for as is, open box, and clearance merchandise only.

Notably, the last shipment of Playbooks that all of the local Best Buy locations received in mid-January were among the merchandise shipped for sale in other stores. It would seem they went to the Best Buy a few miles up the highway since that store now has more Playbooks than they have space in the glass case. The only Playbook related products left in the store that is closing were one charging pod that was unpriced and in the wrong aisle, and those wierd Playbook softshells that everyone appears to have on clearance. Even at $1.99, they still don't move off the shelves. What they did have (still marked at $599) was their final stock of HP TouchPads; to the final days of one of their stores, Best Buy will still not discount them. Actually, now they are discounting them but only 20%.

The point of this is that if you ever are told that the Playbook (or whatever you are trying to buy) has been discontinued, or they suggest the product is bad, etc., etc., you really should assume that they are being pushed to sell another product and are probably getting a bonus for each unit they move. Do your research before you get to the store and taken anything you are told with a large grain of salt. BTW, for the store closure sale, Best Buy took the remaining mechandise and marked it back up to full MSRP which is often more than they ever priced the stuff in the past, and then knocked 20% off. This is not a retailer in whom you should place any faith when making a purchase....

i went to best buy at 44 street and 5 avenue in new york city last week, first of all i was looking for a tv and a HDMI cable for my playbook so i can watch ufc live fight through my tablet and tv.. i first ask for the hdmi cable for my playbook and the guy look at me weird(like.. do you have a playbook?) and then he told me they dont deal with nothing of blackberry no more, i ask him why, and he told me he really did not know why but the fact of the matter is you wont find nothing even related to blackberry here best buy in new york

[fj_cruiser]

u buy stuff there? i thought best buy was a place where u go to check out stuff and occasionally buy stuff only to try and return it while ur online order is being shipped.

[GallagherPreach]

I prefer to wear khaki pants and a blue shirt (or sometimes yellow) when talking to them. It really confuses them.

[Mr Rtic]

Since there do occasionally seem to be a few people who actually believe things they are told in a Best Buy, I thought I would relay the following. Currently one of the Best Buy stores in Scottsdale, AZ is closing and they are having a store closure sale. Since my apartment was robbed recently, I am obliged to come up with best replacement costs for the insurance settlement, so I stopped by to see what was left. Before the sale began, standard retail merchandise were shipped to other stores in the area. In fact, Best Buy has been remarkably direct about the fact that the store closure sale is for as is, open box, and clearance merchandise only.

Notably, the last shipment of Playbooks that all of the local Best Buy locations received in mid-January were among the merchandise shipped for sale in other stores. It would seem they went to the Best Buy a few miles up the highway since that store now has more Playbooks than they have space in the glass case. The only Playbook related products left in the store that is closing were one charging pod that was unpriced and in the wrong aisle, and those wierd Playbook softshells that everyone appears to have on clearance. Even at $1.99, they still don't move off the shelves. What they did have (still marked at $599) was their final stock of HP TouchPads; to the final days of one of their stores, Best Buy will still not discount them. Actually, now they are discounting them but only 20%.

The point of this is that if you ever are told that the Playbook (or whatever you are trying to buy) has been discontinued, or they suggest the product is bad, etc., etc., you really should assume that they are being pushed to sell another product and are probably getting a bonus for each unit they move. Do your research before you get to the store and taken anything you are told with a large grain of salt. BTW, for the store closure sale, Best Buy took the remaining mechandise and marked it back up to full MSRP which is often more than they ever priced the stuff in the past, and then knocked 20% off. This is not a retailer in whom you should place any faith when making a purchase....

Oooh I see, you mean your NOT getting the "BEST BUY" when you purchase something from this store....I get it now he he.

[djnshores]

u buy stuff there? i thought best buy was a place where u go to check out stuff and occasionally buy stuff only to try and return it while ur online order is being shipped.

I believe the sales staff is paid on commission, or at least they act like they do! That would explain a lot.

I bought an iPod Touch that was on sale. Then the salesman tried to convince me I needed a warranty, accessories, etc. all of which boosted the price to more than I was willing to spend.

And it wasn't the first time I shopped at Best Buy that they tried to sell me expensive warranties using scare tactics. I remember asking one salesman "why should I buy this product in the first place if it is only going to break down as soon as I get it home?" and "Don't you sell any quality items?".

So, I only go there now to check out items and wind up shopping elsewhere.

[barkomatic]

Best Buy can have some decent sales but the only thing you should expect a salesperson to do is retrieve your product and ring you up. They are not paid well and aren't motivated.

It cracks me up when I read about Playbook owners walking into Best Buy and trying to quiz the salespeople about them. One incorrect response and they literally run to Crackberry to post about it.

[swyost]

u buy stuff there? i thought best buy was a place where u go to check out stuff and occasionally buy stuff only to try and return it while ur online order is being shipped.

In this case it is one of the places to go when you've been robbed and need to come up with comparative replacement prices for the insurance company. Other than that, the only things I have bought at Best Buy in years are the occassional mouse and keyboard. I'll stop by before the store closes at the end of the week though to see if they ever got around to really discounting the TouchPads. It might be fun to play with WebOS. My bet is that Best Buy would rather throw them in a dumpster than discount them - the feud they have evidently had with HP over the TouchPads is certainly stupid and in neither company's interest.

[mathprof08]

Yet another example of why you should never shop there. Why people still do is beyond me. They are ignorant rip-off artists.

[III 4U2NV III]

u buy stuff there? i thought best buy was a place where u go to check out stuff and occasionally buy stuff only to try and return it while ur online order is being shipped.

So funny, I actually do this quite often. I don't like waiting. I would buy something at retail and most likely the day of, order the exact same item online. When the item comes in, return that to the store.

[JREwing]

I would spend $50 to avoid Best Buy. The sales staff is pathetic when it comes to shopping for a new phone or tablet. All they want to do is push Iphone and Android phones, and Ipads. When you ask them to compare them with Blackberry products, they are clueless.
Wouldn't bother me if they all went of business.

[[email protected]]

Yet another example of why you should never shop there. Why people still do is beyond me. They are ignorant rip-off artists.

Best Buy, while not perfect is great for a lot of things. The usually have the latest Blu-Ray movies and devices the cheapest. The Rewards program is actually pretty good as well.

Back in December, I think, I posted a thread how I went into Best Buy and the Mgr told me that a new PB model would be arriving soon. Lo and behold.

They do get some things right afterall.

[xKrNMBoYx]

Best Buy can have some decent sales but the only thing you should expect a salesperson to do is retrieve your product and ring you up. They are not paid well and aren't motivated.

It cracks me up when I read about Playbook owners walking into Best Buy and trying to quiz the salespeople about them. One incorrect response and they literally run to Crackberry to post about it.

Why is that so? Retrieving a product and ringing the item up is the bare minimum. A salesperson's job is to "sell" products, not just a selective group of items. How low can they he paid? If they get paid by commission the that is another reason to work harder. If they don't like the pay and are not motivate to do their best then they need to get another job or get their act together. Either you are too caring or you have personal experience working at department stores. Your expectations of what salesperson "to do list" is pretty poor.

[swyost]

Best Buy, while not perfect is great for a lot of things. The usually have the latest Blu-Ray movies and devices the cheapest. The Rewards program is actually pretty good as well.

Back in December, I think, I posted a thread how I went into Best Buy and the Mgr told me that a new PB model would be arriving soon. Lo and behold.

They do get some things right afterall.

Best Buy is a retailer whose practices are not unlike most retailers. Yes, they push some things over others but so do the competitors. My point is just to not believe everything they say, which seems to occasionally be a problem with people posting here. On a different front, lo and behold what? There have been no announcements of new products, only rumors. Even if true, this would probably be an example of the convergence of random chance as far as the Best Buy manager goes. If a Best Buy manager was really in possession of such information, it would have been leaked months ago, and it wouldn't have been by a store manager.

[cntrydncr223]

Like all sales people, IMO, it's a personal choice. They can't help but lean towards products they like, have tried, are knowledgeable about, and/or be swayed by things like promotions, sales contests, commissions, etc.

Best advice, is to do your homework and decide for yourself and not let the salespeople make decisions for you.

[mathprof08]

Best Buy, while not perfect is great for a lot of things. The usually have the latest Blu-Ray movies and devices the cheapest.

No they don't. They have blu-rays consistently priced around $30 while everyone else has them for $15 to $20. They will have sales, of course, but those prices aren't that special. I saw a blu-ray on Amazon for around $10 that BB had for $38. It was a crappy movie, too. Not even a top title. No one should ever shop there for anything.

[Chrysalis1156]

Like all sales people, IMO, it's a personal choice. They can't help but lean towards products they like, have tried, are knowledgeable about, and/or be swayed by things like promotions, sales contests, commissions, etc.

Best advice, is to do your homework and decide for yourself and not let the salespeople make decisions for you.

Agreed. Absolutely do your homework before shopping there. I walked in, said "I want the 64G Playbook," paid, and left. I knew what I wanted before I went. Thank you Crackberry!

[9of13]

i went to best buy at 44 street and 5 avenue in new york city last week, first of all i was looking for a tv and a HDMI cable for my playbook so i can watch ufc live fight through my tablet and tv.. i first ask for the hdmi cable for my playbook and the guy look at me weird(like.. do you have a playbook?) and then he told me they dont deal with nothing of blackberry no more, i ask him why, and he told me he really did not know why but the fact of the matter is you wont find nothing even related to blackberry here best buy in new york

thats wierd. The Best Buy at Union Square (14th ST) had a good amout of BB items including PlayBooks last week.

So did the one in NoHo (Broadway @ Houston St)

[jslawell]

I hope they don't go out of business, otherwise I won't have a place to go Thanksgiving night ; )

[PineappleUnderTheSea]

Here is a little story that will tell you why Best Buy is in a bad place:

Back in '92 or so, I needed a new tape deck. So I go to Sound Advice, a smaller stereo shop whose salesmen are typically well informed. The guy takes me to a Denon and a Nakamichi, points out some small differences, asks me if I record a lot of mix tapes from CDs, which I did, and then starts talking up the Dolby C on the Denon. I tell him that Dolby sucks, it only reduces treble, but he tells me to look away while he puts a tape in the deck, a tape that has been recorded in Dolby C. Then he puts in a CD of the same song. He plays both, loudly, and asks me to tell him which is which. I couldn't tell the difference. The Dolby C did indeed to a fine job.

Well I bought the Denon. And of course my tape deck in my car did not have Dolby C, so anything I recorded in Dolby C had artificially high treble in the car, but that's not the point: the point is that there's no way in heck that any employee in Best Buy would take the time to do a demonstration like that. These guys don't have a personal touch, a lot of them just want to sell you an extended warranty because that's where they make some extra money. So without that personal touch, I'm doing research on the internet, and of course buying off the internet.

So the point is that you shouldn't be surprised if some Best Buy employees are ill-informed, I don't think managers develop these guys like they used to in the good old days.

[swyost]

I believe the sales staff is paid on commission, or at least they act like they do! That would explain a lot.

I bought an iPod Touch that was on sale. Then the salesman tried to convince me I needed a warranty, accessories, etc. all of which boosted the price to more than I was willing to spend.

And it wasn't the first time I shopped at Best Buy that they tried to sell me expensive warranties using scare tactics. I remember asking one salesman "why should I buy this product in the first place if it is only going to break down as soon as I get it home?" and "Don't you sell any quality items?".

So, I only go there now to check out items and wind up shopping elsewhere.

To my knowledge, they are not on commission but do get bonuses for selling warranties and probaby specific products. They stopped being on commission a number of years ago when they were close to going under and Microsoft staked them with a bunch of cash....

[olblueyez]

After 14 years in sales I have seen and heard it all from both sides. That is why I do my own research. More people are full of it than not. If you subject yourself to that kind of stuff than you cannot be helped.

We have the internet, there are no excuses.

[91300zx]

Moral of the story like mentioned above is to do your " RESEARCH " and then buy. Its the only way to get get the right info.

[barkomatic]

Why is that so? Retrieving a product and ringing the item up is the bare minimum. A salesperson's job is to "sell" products, not just a selective group of items. How low can they he paid? If they get paid by commission the that is another reason to work harder. If they don't like the pay and are not motivate to do their best then they need to get another job or get their act together. Either you are too caring or you have personal experience working at department stores. Your expectations of what salesperson "to do list" is pretty poor.

This forum has thread after thread specifically about Best Buy employees and how they are the spawn of Satan. It goes something like this, a crackberry member buys a Playbook and obsesses over it for days and learns about it in exhaustive detail. They then go to Best Buy to pretend to look at other tablets and one of two things happens:

1. The sales associate states that they actually would suggest the customer get a tablet other than a Playbook for various reasons. The crackberry members becomes irate and demands to see the manager and/or posts about the offense here.

2. The sales associate is not aware of a feature the playbook has -- such as GPS. The crackberry members becomes irate and can't believe how uniformed the stupid sales associate is. How could they not know everything *they* know? They demand to see the manager and post about their experience.

Now, there are plenty of incompetent salespeople at Best Buy, but I think its just ridiculous how much people actually get offended if the salesperson doesn't think that the gadget that the customer owns isn't the bestest thing in the world. Who cares? Maybe RIM does, but I don't. I'm not a Best Buy employee by the way.

[fourboysplus]

After 14 years in sales I have seen and heard it all from both sides. That is why I do my own research. More people are full of it than not. If you subject yourself to that kind of stuff than you cannot be helped.

We have the internet, there are no excuses.

Correct. My issue is when the give unbiased information. ie: "Sorry sir the PlayBooks are sold out, They arent very good at all and I would suggest this tablet"