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Larry Downes, Contributor
Electronics retailer Best Buy is headed for the exits. I can't say when exactly, but my guess is that it's only a matter of time, maybe a few more years.
Consider a few key metrics. Despite the disappearance of competitors including Circuit City, the company is losing market share. Its last earnings announcement disappointed investors. In 2011, the company's stock has lost 40% of its value. Forward P/E is a mere 6.23 (industry average is 10.20). Its market cap down to less than $9 billion. Its average analyst rating, according to The Street.com, is a B-.
Those are just some of the numbers, and they don't look good. They bear out a prediction in March from the Wall Street Journal's Heard on the Street column, which forecast "the worst is yet to come" for Best Buy investors. With the flop of 3D televisions and the expansion of Apple's own retail locations, there was no killer product on the horizon that would lift it from the doldrums. Though the company accounts for almost a third of all U.S. consumer electronics purchases, analysts noted, the company remains a ripe target for more nimble competitors.
But the numbers only scratch the surface. To discover the real reasons behind the company's decline, just take this simple test. Walk into one of the company's retail locations or shop online. And try, really try, not to lose your temper.
I admit. I can't do it. A few days ago, I visited a Best Buy store in Pinole, CA with a friend. He's a devoted consumer electronics and media shopper, and wanted to buy the 3D blu ray of "How to Train Your Dragon," which Best Buy sells exclusively. According to the company's website, it's backordered but available for pickup at the store we visited. The item wasn't there, however, and the sales staff had no information.
But my friend decided to buy some other blu-ray discs. Or at least he tried to, until we were "assisted" by a young, poorly groomed sales clerk from the TV department, who wandered over to interrogate us. What kind of TV do you have? Do you have a cable service, or a satellite service? Do you have a triple play service plan?
He was clearly—and clumsily–trying to sell some alternative. (My guess is CinemaNow, Best Buy's private label on-demand content service.) My friend politely but firmly told him he was not interested in switching his service from Comcast. I tried to change the subject by asking if there was a separate bin for 3D blu rays; he didn't know.
The used car style questions continued. "I have just one last question for you," he finally said to my friend. "How much do you pay Comcast every month?"
My friend is too polite. "How is that any of your business?" I asked him. "All right then," he said, the fake smile unaffected, "You folks have a nice day." He slinked back to his pit.
As a sometime business school professor, I could just imagine the conversation with the TV department manager the day before. "Corporate says we have to work on what's called up-selling and cross-selling," the clerk was informed in lieu of actual training on either the products or effective sales. "Whenever you aren't with a customer, you need to be roaming the floor pushing our deal with CinemaNow. At the end of the day, I want to know how many people you've approached."
But this is hardly customer service. It's actually getting in the way of a customer who's trying to self-service because there's no one around who can answer a basic question about the store's confusing layout. It's anti-service.
Ordered a GPS from Best Buy two weeks before Christmas with a delivery date before Dec. 25. Tried to check the status on Dec 23 by calling BestBuy. Reached a recording. When I pressed 0 to talk to a person, the system automatically disconnected the call. GPS came after Christmas. Ordered gifts after the GPS from Amazon, Wal-Mart, Pottery Barn, and West Elm and all came well before Xmas. Bye bye Best Buy!
You should have tried calling again, no lines are perfect.
Ya because he has nothing better to do other then chasing a retailer who should have kept the promise of their delivery date in the first place ! n btw when the call is disconnected by the system, its intentional !
I knew the actors on "Jersey Shore" were trouble, but now The Situation is messing up Best Buy. For shame!
well said..
Absolutely correct, and written exactly what I was thinking. I got a cell phone 3 or 4 years back at best buy and after coming home and opening the box did not find the cell phone, but charger and everything was there. I called the store, talked to the customer service rep and the store manager they sort of told me that I took the phone and try to get another phone. I was ready to give up but call several people at the corporate to see their attitude, and they all had the same culture–don't care about customer. I bought and sold best buy stock for a profit to cover the loss. Always tell me friends to open the box and check the items at the billing counter…
Not to nit pick on a small detail…but cell phones have to be enabled at the time of purchase. At least, that has ALWAYS been my experience. I am willing to bet your phone was sitting on the counter at best buy…
But when someone has already activated it, and returned the box… empty…
They just throw it back on the shelf.
Sadly, I know a few people who did this on accident, with other items, and were never called-out, or called-back, about the missing returned item.
They did this with DVD's and music-CD's, years ago, and still do. Again, the result of having idiots running the stores. The customers pay for the clerks idiocy. (NOTE: The thefts of DVD's and CD's were internal store thefts, not customer thefts.)
sorry..but must put my 2 in here..I work CS at Best Buy..and for the record..we do not put returned cell phones..back out on the floor…I'm sure your phone was not an Open Item…just saying…and I looked today..and every phone..that was out n our floor…was VISIVBLE….in the package…so..as it stands now,..you can't buy a cell phone. without it being visible..so..if you got one without the phone in it..1.. pay attention…to what your buying. and 2…call the manufacturer..and blame them..not Best Buy..
It is very interesting to see, that even after possibly reading this article on why and how best buy is spiraling out of business, Laurie Miller (a CS at best buy) would state what she has. I'm pretty sure the tone in her comment is not "Customer Service Friendly". Instead of being so defensive, come back to the "customer is always right" world; being that you are part of an industry where the customer pays for your lights to be on.
Many many disturbing and pretty biased comments in this article i won't go into. Mainly a quick reply to Ryan in some defense of Laurie. First as my experiance as a retail worker for the past 10 years in quite a few stores (currently "BEST BUY") I can tell you one thing, if you have ever worked retail or owned your own business you would find quickly that if it was not for our policies and the customer not actually always being right but understood, you'd go out of business so fast it would make your head spin! The amount of returns and exchange fraud that i have COUGHT is enough to make myself get to the point where i will always refer to our returns and exchanges policy for backup against the thousands of customers i get trying to scam us. So yeah, the customer is always right may have been ideal in the past for many things and for a business like wal-mart or amazon who can afford to lose money from just about any customer and not even feel a dent it may still be fine. It's simply not fair to judge any retailer for creating certain policies to help protect their assets, and as an employee of them i am grateful for it so i can keep my job. Now im not entirely defending Best Buy because i will say personally it is gruling every day of work and during morning meetings that we go over every aspect of budget to revenue, progress in application, solve rates, doing everything possible to make sure every customer leaves with someting in their hands, etc… that's also why the employee who may have talked to Larry Downes friend was "interrogating" him. We don't mean to interrogate we ask so many questions in order to learn some things about our customers so we can better make them aware of different promotions and things they may be interested in. True it seems the employee approched it all wrong and didn't even get to know the customer before bringing any of it up but there's really nothing anyone can do about that it's the employees effort. So back to my point, not entirely defending Best Buy's extreme control over the employees and their demand to get to every customer that's their choice of running the bussiness. I would just appreciate it if more people would think of the employees of Best Buy and other retailers before shooting down everything we do. You can go ANYWHERE! and get employees/people who are just aweful, so don't blame the entire company for him/her, they will be delt with for their ethics. I think more constructive criticism would be a very refeshing thing to see these days with the economy and job force being under so much pressure. completely bashing and destroying companies for any wrongs is entirely the wrong way to go about it, instead pointing out those wrongs with something constructive and allowing for the company to restructure and reform in order to fixe that problem would definately help retailers in the stuggle for survival. Well that's my apparently extremely long/quick reply, if any comments are to be made make them to individual parts of this comment as i realize it goes through quite a few topics….. And the main point i want to make is understanding before destroying.
Yeah, it's pretty telling that a Best Buy person would immediately blame the customer in a snotty tone of voice and then tell them, "It's not my problem, go talk to…"
Laurie, your "sentence" structure, use of multiple periods as the only form of punctuation, and random capitalization are as impressive as your customer service.
One look at the comments on BB's Facebook page will give you a prime example of why BB is heading for the toilet. They have their own trolls though they don't claim them. Three maybe four people replying to posts browbeating BB Customers for complaining.
What surprises me is it took this long. I bought a TV from them 15 years ago. The remote was DOA. Not only would BB not exchange it for me they could not give me the manufacturer's number so I could deal with them.
Last night ironically I had occasion to call BB Customer (lacking) Service. Apparently the people who train their reps are unaware from where they get their paychecks. I didn't have time to ruin Grant or Amanda's day, but, perhaps I will call them again sometime and do so.
There are very few companies that many (as in
the majority of consumers) would miss, including I,
I think. Among the most beloved of companies,
I think, are Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Amazon
dot com. A company, as in a group of fellows -
persons who make a difference in the lives of
others. Or is it the product or service I would miss
more?… That said, I think Costco is the one to
watch. As Amazon moves away from selling
books and dvds and cds, media content in physical
form, and moves to electronic shipment of data,
it will find its competitors formidable : iTunes
(Apple) and Netflix to name two. Now with respect
to other physical items, such as clothing, or
furniture, well, that's Costco's domain, is it not?
And Costco has an advantage there in that
consumers like to touch and interact with some
objects before purchasing them. Some items are
not like books, defined by a barcode, a title, words
and numbers, but you want to touch that object,
such as a desk, or luggage. As Costco continues to
grow, it is going to reshape the American economy,
and the global economy as well, because of its
sheer purchasing power. Amazon is still formidable
though, but I think Costco, more than any other
retail organization is going to define the next
century. Yet, the way this new "warehouse nation"
is evolving, is rather scary. You do not see the
workers, they who prepare these consumer items
do you? That said, I cannot find the movies, cds,
and books, I like anywhere else now… Costco's
limited SKUs, is scary, because it reminds me of
how the Soviets had a limited number of SKUs to
choose from too.
Costco was also the company that came immediately to mind. I think any large retailer will be able to negotiate and buy as a collective so that isn't it. Rather, I think what Costco does right is the customer service you touched upon in your article: quality, good prices, less selection but more focused inventory, and making returns easy and hassle-free. There aren't any annoying sales people and Costco has done a fantastic job of making their layout convenient and predictable. And who doesn't love a $1.50 hot dog at the end of their trip?
Also remember that Costco's return policy (historically) is one of the best. The policy has recently changed, but the customer is still right in Costco. (for the majority of cases)
I think Mr. Downes offers a good amount of information in the article. I had no idea Best Buy was in such dangerous waters on Wall Street since I rarely keep up with any stocks. I have heard about online retailers like Amazon emerging and I have personally ordered many different products off of their website. However, this article is exhausting. The first half of it was enlightening with the numbers and information presented. My problem emerged when the sob stories started to poor out. I'm not the best candidate to speak for a retail company since I have never worked for one (currently working/volunteering in hospitals while I finish up my last year in medical school). The fact of the matter is that Best Buy, Wal Mart, Target, K Mart, and many other corporations have made mistakes. I have had at least one bad experience in a variety of different retailers before. Yeah, you may get upset and a bit frustrated, that's a given. But when you take a moment to stop pouting like a child and look at the situation from a rational perspective you begin to realize that these policies have been active for years and these big time corporations are not attempting to single you out to force you to have a bad experience. Let's say the sales associate is too pushy, or you couldn't return an open DVD, or you couldn't find a DVD in their store, or you have to wait in line for five minutes to pick up an online purchase, or you couldn't get your computer repaired past your warranty or whatever your individual issue is. If you are cool and collected you will get a lot more than you really deserve. For example, I purchased a cheap $300 computer on Black Friday from Best Buy. When I gave it as a gift it turned out to be a lemon. Now (since I am rational) I understand that this isn't Best Buy's fault, it's the manufacturers. When I went in to exchange the product (because I check for the exchange policy) I was then told that they no longer had the product in stock. Once again not Best Buy's fault, it was a hot item this holiday season. I explained my situation in a cool and collected way and the sales associates were very catering to my needs. They even got a manager involved so I was able to get a $450 computer for the price of the $300 one. This is not a normal occurence but it shows that with patience comes rewards. Nothing worse than a customer who comes in shouting they'll never buy something from Best Buy again….and honestly, who cares? Their one in a few million. I'm just happy to say that I dont have to deal with having irrational and irritable customers and I don't have to work in the difficult world of retail.
Best Buy is a zombie. They're as good as dead now – slowly decaying and not very bright. Their stores have greatly reduced merchandise on hand, and the store layout changes fail to hide that fact. They run big, expensive ads every week while they let competitors and negative word of mouth take their business. In contrast, Costco has lots of televisions, a limited in-store selection of computers and limited help from their staff; but they don't need a broad selection when they carry the latest units for prices similar to what Best Buy advertises for older and/or lesser technology. Costco features include built-in extended warranty coverage on some electronics and a great returns policy. (I'm typing this on a new notebook from Costco.) We also have Micro Center nearby; they carry wide selections of televisions, hardware and software, and they match Amazon, Newegg and other major on-line retailers. Micro Center has become THE local place for informed people to go for upgrade components, peripherals, software and whole computers, especially for those who need value added services and realize that Best Buy doesn't offer the value. I've already said my goodbyes to Best Buy. Circuit City used to be O.K., but I preferred CompUSA when we had them.
Re: costco buying club, agreed. Which Amzn calls Prime.
Back in the day, the company I worked for had the opportunity to have its products sold at Costco. I vividly remember the encounter with the buyer… Costco, he said, does not want seconds, defective merchandise or returned merchandise. They wanted the highest quailty products at the lowerst price.
That stuck with me all these years. They treat you right, they stand by their products (you can return anything you have purchased from them any time, kind of like the Neiman Marcus legends) and you get good value for your money.
Nothing in this article suggest anyone was shouting or being an angry customer. Indeed, Larry and his friend were polite when dealing with the guy trying to sell them something, and I had no impression that they were rude when they tried to return the dvd.
Yes, of course you should be polite and calm when dealing with retail workers. No one said otherwise here. The problem is that the customer service is terrible. That you are okay with that, that you expect to have a bad experience in any of the stores you mentioned, suggests you are just fine with the status quo. But in a crappy economy, where consumers are being way more careful about spending, the only way a store is going to get my business is if they TRY. I can't just throw money around, so you bet I'm going to get the best possible service for my dollar, and clearly Best Buy isn't it. I am NOT okay with the status quo, and that's coming from someone who worked in retail for years (Barnes & Noble for 2 years, Suncoast Video for 1), and had to deal with the abuse that retail workers have to deal with. I was still required by Barnes & Noble, no matter the abuse, to provide the best damn customer service I could. That was 10 years ago. Today I can walk into a Barnes & Noble and still get the same sort of service I was expected to give, so there's a company that knows way better than Best Buy what customers need and want. Best Buy could learn a lot from Amazon, B&N, and Costco.
Costco will end up like Best Buy for the same reasons mentioned in the article. I've had a membership with Costco for 15 years, so I've seen the disturbing signs.
* The company decided to upscale its image. With the upscale came a dramatic rise in prices (or the comparable downscale in value). The word "artisanal" was a common means to tell you were getting less for more cost. The cheese tortellini that once came in a five pound bag for $7 became "artisanal" tortellini for $9 in a 2.5 pound bag. This type of value destruction happened throughout the store. Worse, the "artisanal" stuff wasn't any better than the non-artisanal.
* Their prices on electronics are no longer competitive. (And just try to get further details in-store about a computer or television—employees, if you can find one, know nothing—and the models Costco sells are often lacking in key features that make them less of a deal than they appear.)
* Favorite products we bought regularly were eliminated or replaced by more costly items, without warning or explanation.
* Try getting help finding anything (and you'll need it because something is ALWAYS being moved from its old spot in the store).
* Kroger and WalMart could not compete with Costco prices years ago. Now they beat Costco consistently and on many more items.
* Some employee is always trying to upsell my membership. Even when I tell them I buy fewer and fewer items from them AND they've been unresponsive to my requests to bring back favorite items they've discontinued selling, no one cares, and the sales pitch continues.
I easily buy a quarter of the amount of products from Costco I once did. Worse for them, I no longer shop there once a month, but about once a quarter.
Costco was once one of my favorite stores. No longer.
"I'm not shilling for Amazon or any other successful online retailer here."
Are you sure? Because Amazon has had plenty of missteps of their own. The recent Touchpad fire sale debacle comes to mind. "Above and beyond" and "customer-friendly" are not adjectives I'd attach to my experience with Amazon.
Just before Christmas, I bought an iPad from Best Buy. I checked Best Buy's inventory online, then went into the store to pick it up. The only issue I had was with AT&T, trying to use it as an excuse to extend my contract for two years, a situation that was resolved by one of the blue shirts in the wireless department reaching out to his AT&T contact- on a Friday night- who assured me that what AT&T was telling me on the phone was incorrect, and she went the step further on Monday of calling me to verify that my contract had not been extended.
That TV that you bought from Amazon- where did you go to see it, touch it, feel it before you bought it? That's the thing- online retailers will never be able to replace brick-and-mortar stores for that tactile experience. All the videos, reviews, and specs won't help you decide if a 32″ or a 37″ TV is better for your space.
If anything, Best Buy is correct, and people are using them as Amazon's showroom. And maybe Amazon should work with Best Buy to legitimize that. Because if Best Buy closes all its stores, where are people going to go to test out things before they buy them from Amazon? If your answer is "nowhere", then I'd be prepared for Amazon's shipping costs to skyrocket as they cover everyone's returns, not to mention an increase of Open Box Buys at Amazon. And Best Buy discounts their open box buys and advertises them as such. Amazon does not. I don't know about you, but I'd be pissed to pay full price for an electronic item only to discover it had been opened and used- to what extent, I don't know.
Best Buy's website is not as difficult to navigate as you make it sound; I've seen worse. Costco comes to mind. And by the way- I'm a member of all three: Costco, Amazon Prime, and a Best Buy credit card holder, and each has their place in my life.
Sorry you were so traumatized by your experience in Best Buy; that your friend was so flustered by a retail employee just trying to do what he's been told to do in order to collect his likely at-or-near minimum-wage paycheck. I'd hate to see how you'd have fared in a Target. Or Wal-Mart.
The Costco comparison is apt, but I think they have taken to heart the lessons you describe here more than you realize.
One of the biggest benefits of Costco is the service. Like Amazon, Costco will bend over backwards to make a customer happy–even if that means bending the rules to accept a return or going above and beyond to solve a customer problem that Costco did not even create. For this reason, people trust Costco as a brand–and often choose to buy electronics there even when they do not have the lowest prices.
As a personal example, I bought a new laptop last year. Did my research online, found the lowest prices (at Best Buy, coincidentally), and chose to spend $20 more and buy it at Costco. Why? Two reasons: First, I knew that if I had any problem whatsoever–even months after I purchased the laptop–I could simply walk back into my local Costco and return it with no hassle. Second, Costco offers its own tech support and warranty support included in the cost of the product–instead of hassling me with upsells as I'm trying to check out.
Both of these things–cultivating a reputation as more trustworthy and supportive than random online dealers, and augmenting purchases with better support and warranty service than the manufacturer provides–are strategies Best Buy could have pursued to remain relevant. Instead, they decided to rely on pushy sales people, up-selling warranties and credit cards, and "convenience" as their means of differentiating, and utterly failed.
well said…..
Costco and Best Buy have allowed 3rd party direct sales groups to push product in their stores. The company is called Smart Circle. These people work on commision only and believe that someday they will own their own marketing business but you will own nothing.
Best Buy allows them to push Direct Tv. They sell a product and service that you could get a no cost from D TV.
phxphoto, while I would not personally purchase something like a television without actually seeing it in action, your argument has a couple flaws. First off, one does not actually need to test out the TVs at a brick and mortar store like Best Buy, because Amazon will allow product returns easily and (usually – in fact, always, in my experience) free of charge. That may not be as convenient as "kicking the tires" before purchasing, but that brings me to the second point. Virtually no brick and mortar store actually has useful ways of testing out the TVs anymore. They are set up to a single video source which, naturally, shows the best possible image. I have yet to find any retailer that still connects televisions to an actual broadcast source, so I can check things like how fast the tuner can scroll between channels. Many HD televisions look fantastic with an HD signal, but look sub-par with standard definition, and look downright lousy with an older playback device such as a VCR (for those of us who haven't actually replaced our entire VHS collection with DVDs and/or Blue Rays). But this cannot be observed and compared before purchase, because the showrooms in the retailers do not accommodate it. So, while your point about "seeing it, touching it, feeling it" is certainly accurate, it's also almost entirely irrelevant. Further, as for how one would be treated at a Target or Walmart, I'd have to say, in regard to Target, significantly better. At the very least, I'd virtually guarantee a customer wouldn't have the long wait time the article describes at Best Buy, because Target has, and pretty consistently implements, a policy of opening additional registers when there are more than two customers in line. In fact, more often than not, when I go to Target, there are employees waiting for customers to come to their registers, rather than customers waiting for employees. It simply requires adequate staffing and a commitment to customer service. And since, as you point out, most retail employees are not exactly paid well, it stands to reason that retailers such as Best Buy can afford this level of customer service. They simply choose not to provide it, because it is not important to them.
My boss is a paper and pencil technophobe. Finally after much pleading I convince the guy to get a computer. We go to bestbuy, find one we like. The guy goes to the back to get one not in the display. He brings out a pink computer. I have never seen my boss move so fast. Bestbuy has the worst sales people on the planet. Half the time they don't even have the computers they advertise. Advertise a great deal on a computer but only order 2 of them seems to be their mantra.
The reality of that statement is that Costco and every other retailer that uses memberships, merely jacks-up the prices for non-members. Making shoppers feel like they are saving money and have some type of exclusive privilege is just a tactic for increasing sales using psychological methodologies.
Larry you are dead on on your assesment of BBY. I used to work there, but saw the dimming light at the end of the tunnel, and got out. I worked at the corporate office, which at one time was buzzing with excitement about new products or offerings, now the place is a morgue, seriously dead. Nobody is focused on anything, just a bunch of mgmt with a lot of ideas, but no one to make it happen, or cares to make it happen. They say they are customer centric, but haven't invested in anything that would make them even close to a "good" score. It is a bunch of multiple outdated systems held together by bubble gum and duct tape. Just like their business plan. Great article.
In the next few years we'll see who's correct: the author, or you. My money's on the author: Best Buy is dead meat.
Nah, not really. My 79-year-old parents insist of seeing it and touching it before buying it, regardless of what "it" might be. For me, apart from shoes and some items of clothing such as suits, I can pretty much buy online. And I'm close to 60. You think a 27-year-old "needs" to see it before buying it? (Assuming we're talking about a T.V.; if we're talking about his date or companion for the night then of course sampling the merchandise close-up is de rigeur; web reviews and facebook pages alone won't do it). No, if it's a T.V., he'll go by the brand-price-value relationship. 39″ Chinese-brand flat screen for $499, versus 37″ Japanese (yes, I know, assembled in China, what can I tell you) flat screen for $549? Japan wins, for obvious reasons of brand and developed service network (even if it was assembled in China). All that would be needed is a ruler to see if it fits in the entertainment console. And that's how it's going, more and more. The "need to touch it first before I buy it" is for the really expensive stuff, like the $39,000 entry-level Lexus, or a potential girlfriend.
My wife, especially, is a "hands-on" shopper that needs to try TV menus and assess usability before buying. Manufacturers of things, it seems, would want to pay Best Buy et. al. to become product showrooms where you can try different models out. They would make their money by charging "slotting fees" to manufacturers to display their products. I am surprised this model hasn't been tried before.
@mrepking – You are out of touch with retail. The author is correct about BB.
@wendymerritt – While non-members can use the Costco pharmacy, non-members may not buy items from the store in general. Sam's does the one-day trial for non-members, but kinda' the same as Costco. Have you been in either of these stores?
I bought a new LED 46″ tv from Costco on the friday before Christmas. The experience was awesome! They staff there stores with people who know what their talking about (I spent 25 years in Consumer Electronics retail) and enjoy serving people are paid by the hour. They have a culture to not only help people with this product that does need so coaching on what to purchase and get the right product. If you are not satisfied you can return it with ease and no hassle. They sell extended warranties that don't go over $99 for tv's over $1000 and they're for 5 years. If Costco really wanted to do even more damage to companies like Best Buy and increase their product selection they will put the nail in the coffin. Best Buy's service is beyond bad, they thought they were going gain all those customer's from Circuit City and that market share went to Amazon and Walmart. Even the Magnolia people are not up to par with how that company was built. They seem to kill all the companies they buy and incorporate them inside their stores. They are doing it now with Pacific Sales. If you can't show value to your customer they will buy online, why not, at least you won't get attitude.
Before I go on, I just want to reiterate that I am not defending BestBuy nor am I speaking on behalf of BestBuy. Just on my own terms. I think there are pros and cons to both and it is evident through responses. Having worked and shopped at BestBuy I can agree with the fact that the infrastructure needs improvements fast(I feel that's an understatement as well). Being a computer engineering major, I felt it would be a good idea to go to school full time and work part time as a Geek Squad Technician(through BB) to see how I would react to being a minor computer technician before I went into a real computer technician job and get overwhelmed. However, I have not been available to fullfil that goal because I have been blown over by other non-qualified people. I spoke to a supervisor the other day and I told him look yes there are employees who are selling more services than I am, but my goal as an employee is to provide the type of experience that you just mentioned that you did not get. I would rather not sell any services and have people come back because they liked the information I provided them than to be pushy with all my services. I apologize if the inept BestBuy Pinnole employees were pushy or if they just did not have the adequate information you needed. If you are willing, come into my store(you do not have to buy anything) and we can go over products that are interesting to you. My goal as an employee, regardless of what supervisor expectations are, is to provide people with an experience that makes them comfortable. We do not get commission, but I love to talk to people who interested in knowing why product X is better suited for their needs! Even if you have questions on how you could improve maybe your computer speed or use less resources without compromise. I would love to hear feedback face to face on how I can improve. There are BB Pinnole like employees that work at my store and I found that I always have to take over for them because they are not doing what is necessary for customers. If you are interested Mr. Larry Downes, let me know and hopefully we can work something out where you can come into my store and pick my brain without the pressure of buying anything. Once again, I am not defending BestBuy rather I am defending myself because I can provide you what you should expect from a brick and mortar store unlike the BB Pinnole store. I take it personal when people have issues with my current store because it means I am not doing enough to help my fellow coworkers provide a far better shopping experience when I am not around. I hope you atleast read this and reply in some way. Whether you decide to not come into my store, I will respect your decision either way, but I would love to at least hear face to face what I can do to provide a better service because believe it or not even though I am not a Geek Squad agent, I am always offering and willing to provide you information that a Geek Squad agent would normally provide to you, if the Geek Squad agent is too busy.
Larry, that's not the way it works. Costco and Sam's actually make a significant portion of their profit on memberships NOT on the items you buy. They buy one off's a steep discounts, that allows them to provide low prices and keeps the store interesting as you never know what you'll find. Down side is it's often hard to go back and buy the same thing twice. Net/Net they are buying at the lowest possible price and sometimes selling at a loss to keep people renewing their membership.
Well said. A+ That guy didn't know what he was talking about. I just spent a fortune on this laptop. Although I had no idea starting out what kind I wanted, it was easy to chose which brand and model I wanted online only, after a lot of YouTube reviews watched and online research only, I did not need to "touch it" first.
The videos, in depth descriptions, and reviews of my peers were all I needed to make my decision. It has been 4 months and I couldnt be happier. As far as Amazon's customer svc is concerned; They consistently make me feel like I mean more than the moon to them, Especially if/when I have any kind of problem. I would almost say that it is "FUN" to have a problem with an item, because it is one of the few times in my life that I feel like some important bigshot celebrity that matters. That has be my experience with the way Amazon treats me after I report any kind of problem. :-)
Too late, Costco has let these annoying sales people into the club. For several months now a team of satellite TV salespeople are in the TV department, asking how much you pay for TV service. They do have some product knowledge but the real reason they are there is to push sales.
Of course, there are problems with Costco and customers as well. 1. They only accept American Express or Cash. Is it MY fault they are in bed with AE, and I have to make my purchases according to their wishes, not the customer's? 2. Their tire department is draconian. You can't purchase tires that are not the exact same size as those your car Mftr. gave you, even if they are the equivalent. If you buy only 2, THEY tell you where THEY will put them, not your choice. 3. I once was in a store with my wife's membership card, and they treated me like I stole something. 4. Their prices ain't that great, and the times we've been there, often walk out with nothing as there are no bargains, and certainly nothing worth the price of their membership, which, they have recently raised. (My wife gets a free membership from her employer, otherwise we wouldn't bother)
I, too, love Costco. And they offer at no extra charge two years warranty on electronics. It's also easy to return items. I returned a new TV with a remote controller designed by an imbecile. Quick and easy return, and then I bought a different brand for 50 more in price. Since then, no problem.
Old news, this was all debated on CNBC back weeks ago
I felt the return policy is not as good before. I recall the days where they truly don't ask questions but they do. Additionally, they will look at how long you have had the product. They actually reject my return because they said I bought a long time ago.
I have never understood why a company such as Costco or Sam's Club would benefit from a membership structure. The $40 a year that my local Sam's Club charges for membership doesn't seem like a lot of money in the scheme of things.
And I don't understand what you mean that "Costco effectively uses its membership to negotiate better deals for the members".
How? A membership fee can only act as a barrier to more people shopping there. The MORE customers the store has, the MORE leverage the store should have to "negotiate better deals". How does *any* barrier to shopping help that situation?
In the old days, when Sam's Club and Costco limited their membership rolls to certain groups of people (such as large local employers, military families, etc.) I wondered the same thing but even more! Their policy was described in terms of the membership somehow allowing the low prices.
If someone could explain to me how excluding some groups of people from membership (in the old days), or how limiting non-members from shopping at a store would HELP the store sales or help reduce the store's prices, I would be grateful.
@davidsco27 – Costco doesn't only take cash or Amex, at least my local Costco in Santa Cruz, CA anyway, which takes our MasterCard debit/credit card. They were also very helpful about taking travelers checks just after we arrived in the country. As were Best Buy, in fact.
Amazon does go above and beyond. I ordered a box of K-cups and one of them was ripped open and there were coffee grounds throughout the box. I let them know they should look at a better way to have them packaged (basically an FYI). They sent me an entire new box, no questions asked… Granted it wasn't a grand gesture – but when 1 of 35 items in a box was defective and they sent me an entire new box of 35 – that's something I'll remember.
On Costco…I agree…prices are being jacked around and the primary purchases I did are now expensive…it is as if they saw the deals and priced them up.
The cost of membership is now prohibitive…I shop twice a year spending around $1000 total…factoring in gas (175 miles round trip) @ $40 adds on 10%…just not worth it.
My local bulk foods store will order anything, no additional charge…besides, who needs a case of oranges?
The Chinese furniture was great and I bought very very much…now its 60% higher or more…Nahhh…forget Costco.
Manufacturers already pay slotting fees for displaying product on showroom floors.
I was a BBY employee for 5 years at two different stores, and I saw the company change from one that valued customers to one that valued salespeople who could attach the most accessories to a particular sale. The biggest change? Customers became more resistant to suggestions for getting the most out of their purchases. As a result, both the customers and the salespeople felt abused.
Not only that, but working conditions for employees became more challenging–basically, all of us were required to do more work in less time. In the interests of efficiency, it may have helped the bottom line, but the human cost was onerous. I resigned with no regrets.
Circuit City's demise, too, was due to various misconduct. Customers got little qualified help on selecting items (televisions, VCRs, etc.), but the experience at the cash register was brutal as employees pressured and hassled customers to buy extended service contracts. It sounds like Best Buy is equally unprofessional and deserves a similar fate.
I take issue with the statement that the Costco website "works well and is integrated with the stores". The website is almost entirely disconnected in every meaningful way from the stores. In-store pickup as well as the price and the product inventory of the stores is unknown to the website. While the product featured on the website and in the stores do sometimes overlap, stores may have different bundled configurations than those offered by the website or entirely different products. Some products offered by the stores are completely unavailable on-line – DVDs or Blu-Ray movies, for example. I can understand why the store could be a subset of on-line – by why does on-line need to be a subset of the stores? Sure, products in the grocery category can probably only be effectively managed in the stores, but dry goods? Costco's generous return policies are legendary – but are also inequitably applied across departments. They can accept returns on technology items and generally extend manufacturers warranties on electronics, because they negotiate that with suppliers and cooperate with them on managing returns. I once saw a woman return a moldy brick of cheese and half a bag of salad – which I thought was extraordinary because I had that same brick of cheese open in my refrigerator for at least 3 months with no mold. However, when my week old glasses got scratched and I wanted to test out the generosity of the return policy there, I was told I'd have to order new lenses and there was nothing else they could do. Costco has some specific advantages structurally that protect it from the kinds of criticism that you offer against Best Buy. 1. A lot of the product they offer is exclusive to them. 2. They have frequent product turn over – even across categories that are not seasonal – so they don't have to carry inventory for as long as big box retailers.. 3. They are known to have a limited stock of items in categories such as books, movies, and video games (your scenario with the Blu-ray movie at Best Buy would not happen at Costco, because they manage your expectations by limiting selection from the outset). 4. They have other revenue streams (membership, third-party products and services like replacement windows and car buying). 5. The exclusivity of the membership and the structure of the store gets customers in a mind-set to accept certain conditions that would be intolerable in a regular retail setting (such as long lines or limited payment options). 6. The B2B business that Costco does drives a volume that can subsidize consumer purchasing. Any comparison of Costco to Best Buy is fundamentally unfair – the models are just too dissimilar.
That must be something unusual shoeleatherzoom as I have NEVER heard of a Costco taking Mastercard. It's actually their corporate policy not to
Because Costco has 58 million members paying yearly fees that are $55.00 and up which at just $55 exceeds $3 billion per year. Costco doesn't pay a supplier for that so it's 100% gross profit.
I can't tell you how impressed I am with Amazon. I'm a Prime member, but even if I order pissant low-revenue no-margin products like odd-format batteries through them, I am astounded at how many times the thing I ordered YESTERDAY arrives TODAY.
I also bought a big-screen plasma TV from them . I didn't need to do touchie-feelie in a store; I just read all the customer reviews, checked out Consumer Reports' ratings, and then plunked my money down. Damn fine TV!! but if it hadn't been I know Amazon would have taken it back.
Face it: we're buying complex products we could not have dreamed of buying anywhere twenty-five years ago. It behooves us to do our research, and to see how customers rate our vendors and their products.
If BestBuy doesn't want to be Amazon's site for tire-kickers, it ought to be able to make the sale, deliver the product and stand behind it.
If it can't , then it deserves to go tits up.
I could not agree more. When it comes to common electronics and products, such as TVs, DVDs, music, phones, video games, etc… I am basically a Walmart shopper. They don't have the hawk-like "sales people" swarming and hovering while I shop. They have a better selection of video games, better prices, organized DVDs, and a great online to store pickup program. Its hard for me to say that, but its the honest truth. Best Buy was a 3x a week location for me. Now, I avoid and despise the times I HAVE to go there. The sales people are never knowledgeable. They also think its a joke. I like to test them on products to see what crap they will spew at me. When I ask what made one tablet better than another, they had the audacity to tell me that one had a flux capacitor in it. Yes – from Back to the Future. Like its a joke, they threw that in there to see if they could impress me or sell me. Disgusting. Not to mention their prices are nothing to be impressed with.
I always presumed that the reason warehouse clubs restricted membership was for inventory control – i.e., people with good jobs are less likely to steal them blind. The membership cards may also contribute to this, by making all transactions non-anonymous.
And from what I've heard, it works. Warehouse clubs experience much less theft than normal retailers, and that means lower prices.
Hmmm. Replies are not threaded, I see.
Well, on the subject of Best Buy – I've known there was serious trouble ever since I heard about their acquisition and immediate destruction of the Geek Squad brand.
I have occasionally wanted to buy something from them to support a bricks-and-mortar retailer, but it's just not worth it. It's one thing to spend a few dollars more for having the product on hand, but the difference is frequently 25% of the price or more. As others have noted, sales staff is generally not knowledgeable. More often than not, *I* have to explain things to *them*.
I don't buy the sales tax explanation for bricks-and-mortar stores losing to online competition, because online retailers have to pay for shipping – which is generally about the same as the tax would be on small orders. They may advertise "free shipping", but TANSTAAFL. (As a quick test of the "no tax" hypothesis, one could see if big box retailers are doing better in states without sales tax.)
Like others that had made comments I am also a former BBY employee. I use to admire the company but now I only have distain for it. I now work for Apple as one of their work from home agents and EVERYDAY I have to handle a call from a customer that either just left the Best Buy store angry or was dreading having to visit one because an Apple retail location wasn't close enough to them. It's sad really. When I worked at the Bellingham WA BBY (store 359) I was surrounded by knowledgeable people. Slowly but surly I started to see that our knowledge started to take a back seat to the bottom line.
The same thing happened when BBY Bought out Magnolia Audio Video.
BBY tried to make custom home entertainment integration into a "Box Sale" based on the work of very good hard working licensed electricians. The end result was that All the talent at Magnolia slowly got layed off and all that was left was management, and even management finally after letting all the technical help go had to go back to their roots and become the technical workers. It's a sad day for both companies.
I've had a few issues with Amazon namely they treat their sellers like garbage. They will refund money for products at the sellers expense then tell the customer they don't need to ship it back to the seller. Then if you complain Amazon will continue to hold your money for an undisclosed amount of time. Amazon has owed me over $1680 since February for products I sold. Its now the middle of May and still no money only a statement from them stating it could be a MINIMUM of 90 days to release the funds. They use their clout to charge sellers 10-21% commission fees, allow customers to get refunds without sending products back and then hold money of any sellers that complain about those issues. The BBB has dealt with them before and does nothing when Amazon refuses to cooperate and follow their own policies.
I agree with you in large measure. The company that beats Costco at that game will be the one that has no union employees–better fleibility and expenses–and uses the webstore to organize the distribution/pickup for the customer of a wider variety of products with the "inevitable" trip to the local "big box" for pickup. The expense for the customers of the last 10 miles of distribution is silly for web "only" sellers like Amazon.
How does it make sense for me to pay $5-10 delivery for every individual package I buy on the web, and then for the Holidays for the USPS, UPS, and FedEx organizations to between them come to my house ten times in one day for ten packages?
There's some better model awaiting implementation.
I do not think Best Buy should be in buisness anyhow. The famous Geek Squad had no idea what was wrong with my old gateway basically said it was garbage. Later I found out what it was I threw out a good computer. I bought my HP Pavilion dv5 2135x notebook well the harddrive went bad so they sent it out. I had Staples clean up the computer cause some button was stuck when he took apart whoever fixed my pc they broke all the connectors that hold the keyboard down I was waiting on my kid so I got to see first hand the damage. THIS IS NOT THE HUGE PROBLEM I HAD DO A RECOVERY ON SAME PC WELL WHEN I GOT ALMOST THROUGH THE 3RD DISK…this is what the screen said this pc cannot support all the recovery disks because the harddrive is smaller than the one it came with.WOW…really..Basically they did me wrong I bought 4 computers from there why do that dirty deed to me…where is my harddrive that was there when I bought it?????? If anyone can find the number to someone I can report this to. Now that I think about it the pc was never the same when it came back to me. I trusted BestBuy with a laptop that my dad bought me. I am a single mom of 2 getting ready to go back to school I don't have money to throw all over. I AM VERY DISGUSTED WITH BEST BUY HAPPY TRAILS…IF YOU WANT THINGS DONE RIGHT GO TO STAPLES YOU WON'T BE SORRY….
Yes, great point! And dealing with Costco customer service is worlds different than Best Buy. Costco is up-front with what they can and can't do for you and if they can't give you what you want, they'll do their darndest to make it right one way or another, and their managers have the power to make decisions. Dealing with Best Buy is always a painful confrontation with all kinds of tension. I think they do that so that you'll just go away and they won't have to try to make it right. Best Buy has only two tacks to approach any customer problem: 1) It's not a problem, or 2) It's your fault, idiot, and any solution will involve you giving us more money.
Mr. Downes, I can almost guaranty your article will be circulated to Best Buy's Board & mgmnt. Nice job. I think HH Gregg (HGG) is turning into another Circuit City. When I shop at BestBuy, the place is always somewhat busy; vs. passing by an HH Gregg & parking lot almost empty. In the last quarter, HH Gregg lost money… their cash balance is down… opening new stores without being very profitable on exisiting stores… add it all up & i think BestBuy will continue its leadership role in the brick & mortar electronics space.
If this makes it to Best Buy's Board & mgmnt, then I hope they check out my last blog post on Best Buy and their missing ingredient, "Social Loyalty" http://gamifixation.com :P
Your friend can return that DVD as long as it is not opened. When it is opened is when it can't be returned. I do believe that some Best Buy employees can be pushy, however, the bulk of them are pretty knowledgeable at their jobs. Sure there is some employees that aren't very good, but what business doesn't have some of those people? Even when you go to the doctor (highly educated people), it is popular for people to get a second opinion.
Well said.
I once purchased a Curb Your Enthusiasm DVD from BJs and when I got home it was empty! I brought it back and they exchanged it no questions answered. A few years ago I bought another Curb Your Enthusiasm DVD from Best Buy. I got the last one and it felt light to me. After I bought it, I opened it at the register and sure enough it was empty also (shows how great HBO's quality control was). Fortunately they refunded my money. But if I opened it at home, I know I would have been in a fight with them.
"The bulk of them are pretty knowledgeable at their jobs"? Seriously? I'm always amazed at how little knowledge the staff has about the products they're selling whenever I've been to Best Buy. My favorite is when you ask a question about a product, then the employee reads either the product tag or back of the box to try to answer your question. Thanks for that.. I already read the tag and box, and the answer wasn't there. Did you think I wasn't capable of doing that myself?
I've yet to run into a BB employee that was more helpful than annoying.
To play the devil's advocate here, do you know how many products are sold in a Best Buy store? When you ask that associate about a product do you believe that he has knowledge locked in his brain about every single product that is in the store? There is now way he can remember every detail about every hard drive, optical drive, router, modem, monitor, laptop, tablet, desktop, all in one, anti-virus, software, movie, cd, game console, tv, appliance, cell phone… and the list goes on. I believe you sir are putting unreasonable expectations on human beings.
Really very few BB employees are any knowledgeable, most are outright lazy. I remember when I went to purchase a new hard drive for my desktop (because the last one was an OEM PoS that was dying). Took me 20 minutes to get the drones to open the cabinet containing the hard drives. Other time I was on a market for new wifi antenna, went to BB again, asked one of the workers if they have any, gotta say that I never saw a more blank stare in my life. Decided to instead buy a high gain usb adapter + usb extension cord from amazon (also looked the BB's website, they had less choice, less quality choice for higher prices).
I have two Best Buy stores within driving distance. One will take unopened DVDs the other will not take any DVDs as a return, unopened or not. In fact, they will not take any returns without charging a "restocking fee" that is usually 50% of the price.
I think the policy depends on the store.
I bought an ASUS laptop in March of 2011 at Best Buy. It is in hands of Geek Squad/Best Buy for the third time as I write this. I am self employed and the laptop is my 'datacenter' for my small business. When I returned it the first time it died, a Geek Squad manager was not the least bit concerned when I explained I am 'out-of-business' without a laptop. In an obvious bogus attempt to show he cared he asked what would make me happy. I replied, "give me a new laptop so I can go home, reload my files, and get back in business." He replied, 'other than that, what would make you happy?." What I heard was 'we aren't interested in your problem.' I told him I needed to buy a PC that day so I could be back in business and I would not buy it from Best Buy. He said "I understand." What I heard is 'I don't care.' As a business owner, I was amazed with his response and realized I was dealing with someone destined for unemployment. Unfortunately, this saga is not over. I will never make a purchase from Best Buy again. I agree they will fail one day and I will celebrate the loss of another retailer who simply doesn't care.
So, to put this in perspective, you bought a computer that you're having issues with and have no redundancy for if that computer goes down and you're expecting the retailer (Best Buy in this case, but I'm just using retailer in general) to give you a new laptop, not the manufacturer. If I remember right, even their 'protection plans' don't offer that. For that extra money, I believe that they send it off for 2 weeks at a time to fix whatever the problem is.
That being said, Best Buy's customer service is not that great. Many times, I see employees standing around talking and I have to take an active role in finding an employee to help me with a purchase. I could understand if I'd already told an employee that I was fine and just looking around, but many times I notice that there are several customers in an area and no one to help them. The in-store pick up is a huge joke too. Like it was pointed out in the article, no one staffs that individually. The same people who do returns are expected to handle that line and if there is a line at all for returns, it's going to be awhile before you can get your item. Most of the time, I call in ahead of time to verify availability and then just drive to the store to pay for my item at their check out.
Well, I'd say your first mistake was buying an ASUS product. You get what you pay for sometimes. Not really Best Buy's fault there.
I have an ASUS G73S laptop, and it's the best one I ever had. It's built like a tank, but it rocks. (I'm in the IT business and have had quite a few laptops over the years.) My Lenovos are pretty good, too.
so let me get this straight… you bought a computer from an authorized retailor of asus and as the product defaulted you blame the retailor when in fact they are the ones trying to resolve the problem of the asus product…. Shame on Best Buy (insert sarcasm)
your laptop is the 'datacenter' of your business? do yourself a favor and setup a network so when your crappy ASUS laptop goes down, you won't be left stranded and blaming a retailer.
Actually Asus is one of the most highly respected brands of computers on the market. Asus actually is a well known motherboard company and ventured into the pc business. The Transformer prime is probably the best Android tab on the market. The problem that most consumers have when it comes to having issues with a defective product, is they forget that Stores like Best Buy only sell the product not produce it. Even the Best Buy branded products ie, rocket fish, insignia, dynex are actually manufactured by other companies. Your issue with your ASUS laptop shouldn't be with Best Buy but with the Manufacturer. If it is within the Return policy then Best Buy will replace it. Either way bb will honor the manufactures warranty just not replace it. It will have to be repaired. I bought a Asus laptop from best buy and the sales associate was trying to get me to by the service plan. He simply stated just throwing it out there, and told me that all he could garuntee it for is one year which is the manufactures waranty. Best buy has a return policy that compares to anybody elses. It is normally 30 days, durring the holidays it is like 3 months. Anything purchased in November you have till January 17th I believe to return it. I just went through that. I got some blu-rays for christmas from family that I already had and had no issues returning them. The issue with opened movies and games is not a Best Buy policy, it is a federal policy. Best Buy is not supposed to take opened movies, blu-rays, cd's, console games, or PC games or software because of copyright issues. Now in the instance that you get a bad disk or no disk, you can take it back and they will replace it with the same item. If you buy a game and don't like it you are sol. If you buy a game and it is scratched and won't play they will replace it. Everybody is going to have good experiences and bad ones anywhere you go. I shop with Amazon all the time especially with audio/video cables because I can get them for a fraction of the price. But have also had issues with Amazon. I pre-orded the transformer prime. They charged my card to hold my pre-order. A month later I get an email stating they over sold their pre-order and cancled my pre-order. I did get a full refund but now I won't get the prime with the first wave, because everybody is out of pre-orders. Every company whether it is a Brick and mortor or an online store is going to have issues. I worked retail for 7 years and yes a lot of that was with bby, and found out real quick that you aren't going to please everybody. Do I agree with everything that bby does. No but at the same time I understand it. There is no greater feeling honestly then to work for a company that has your back. Best Buy is the one retail company that would go to back for their employees. Does it hurt them in a way yes. For too long now customers thanks to Wal-Mart think they are always right, when that is not the case. Best Buy has policys for a reason. At some point as much as I hate to say it you have to say no. When I worked there I kid you not every other day a customer would come in to the store with a laptop or tv or ipod with a cracked screen. They would say something is wrong with it. yeah you cracked the screen. Oh no nothing hit it it just happened. I mean honestly I was looking at the screen then it whent off and when it came back on it was like that. You have to realize that is how a lot of customers are. The unfortunate thing is everybody else tends to pay for those customers.
One time a customer bought a new tv. A Day later said it wouldn't fit where it was supposed to go so they returned it. The store was really busy so the returned it and when Geek Squad pulled it out of the box, it was a Oven door dressed up and looked just like a TV. That is the crap that retail stores like Best Buy deal with on a daily bassis.
@bbyer, I agree with your assessment about ASUS products.
They are indeed amongst the most renowned hardware out there.
That said…retailers should have a no-questions-asked policy regarding what they sell to a customer returning a defective product…especially if that product also has some kind of replacement clause at purchase…what best buy and others like it don't tell at purchase, is the product is returned to manufacture, repaired and sent back…this can take a VERY long time…time that some consumers, like the OP, just simply do not have.
I do NOT buy from best buy anything of significant price anymore…especially computer related hardware. I might buy a mouse or something…but that is about it.
I now shop almost exclusively at a store called Memory Express here in Calgary, Canada.
Unlike Best Buy, the sales and support staff DO know the products….they are all enthusiasts in the computing industry…it is a policy of management there that they do know about computers, and lately, other mulitmedia…tvs, tuners and such…
Unlike Best Buy and ALL those other stores out there selling electronic stuff…Memory Express will sell to the customer a very cheap warranty…I mean cheap as I can spend not much more than $50 for a $1000 purchase.
They call it IPR, or Instant Product Replacement. It is as it sounds. I buy a CPU and motherboard from them…buy the IPR (1,2, 4 year plan)…and during that period, if either the motherboard or CPU dies, Memory Express will replace it directly themselves…they need a day or so to test the hardware themselves if necessary…regardless, I get a NEW product…not one that was refurbished.
The added bonus is, if either the motherboard or CPU are obsolete (no longer available for obvious reasons), the company will give me the a more up to date version of both…and possibly the memory as well if the motherboard memory architecture changes.
To me, such a thing creats customer loyalty to the core. I recently…(last spring)…replaced a Radeon 5570 1GB DDR5 video card for failure…they gave me a 6850 within about 30 minutes…(they had to test the old card)…the replacement was still in its sealed pouch and celophane.
One cannot beat that kind of deal…certainly not Best Buy…And the people I have always encountered are kids who know squat about the products in there…
Best Buy, Future Shop and so on…they all suck when it comes to customer service…
Oh, and Memory Express has far lower prices on ALL of its warez…they sell at volume to achieve that….
To celebrate 1000′s of families that could potentially lose income is merely wrong. What about the sales associates that take pride in providing great customer service and give 110% on a daily basis????? Is it fair to wanna see peoples children hungry or even homeless due to your bad experience with a single associate?? Oh that's right you own your own business, so screw all those that don't right??
Wow. What is wrong with blaming the retailer. As the article points out Amazon, among others, try to fix the problem and keep the customer. BBYY does neither and I do expect the retailer to help me as much as possible. I bought the item their and I will not do it again if I can't get the service I expect. Do I think garage wanted a little more than was fesible? Yes. Also, why not have a backup? However, that isn't the point. The point is the service sucks and the cross-selling is absurd. The company will die. If you are holding the non-preferred shares when it does I will be laughing all the way to some other store online or offline…
naynay is taking the socialist position here. Stop using emotion when thinking about how business works. Is it sad that people will lose their jobs? Yes. However, that is a direct reflection of the business and its failures to satisfy a marketplace. I suggest that the employees in the business start organizing change at the grass roots level with local management to help save their jobs. Progress will eventually be noticed by upper management and change will come. Is it too late? Maybe. When Circuit City died Best Buy rested on the fact that they were the only large electronics chain left in the game. They believed that customer HAD to come to THEM. This was the same mistake Blockbuster made and they didn't see Redbox or Netflix coming around the corner.
The benefit of a capitalist society is competition which drives innovation and efficiencies. The market destroys businesses that can no longer innovate or just completely ignore the will of the marketplace. Best Buy has a HUGE opportunity to innovate and listen to its customers. Will they take it? Time will tell.
When the customer buys a service plan it is there obligation to know everything and anything it entails. Certain bestbuys may not be great, but the one near me does everything in there power to take care of the customer. It is not that bestbuy doesnt care, or the associates, but if you come in the mad, venting on associates, ima follow the rule book, and thats it.
I bought a high-end refrigerator from Best Buy online last spring. Was defective from manufacturer (freezer wouldn't close properly & was frosting); determined by BB Geek Squad visit (arranged by phone with online reps). Geek told me i had to take his receipt to the nearest store to process pickup of 1st refrigerator & subsequent delivery of new, despite original order having been placed online. So i went to the store.
The cust svc folks at the store had no idea what to do – couldn't access my purchase info since it was done online. The manager made some phone calls & finally told me I would have to call BB online to to proceed – there was nothing he could do to assist.
I won't even go into trying to explain to the online cust svc rep that having the 1st refrig picked up days before delivery of a replacement – in order to satisfy their inventory requirements – wouldn't be acceptable -
I do most of my buying via Amazon & have never had a sour experience. I thought it would be wise to purchase the large appliance through a business that could provide local support. Will not make this mistake – dealing with Best Buy – again.
I neglected to mention that each phone call to BB online meant telling my long story to at least 2 different departments before finallly being trransferred to someone who could help. I spent many hours on the phone from start to finish as well as my wasted trip to the store.
Your story sounds eerily similar to what happened to me after purchasing a faulty fridge at Best Buy. Long story short I was without a functioning fridge for almost three months (had to use a mini-fridge for those months). I had even purchased the upgraded warranty from BB and they would not replace the unit. That whole episode was the worst customer service I've yet to experience (Samsung, the manufacturer, was also sub-standard).
I've also had personal experiences similar to a few of the authors examples of bad cust. service although those were just more annoying than anything. I keep my expectations low and a tight grip on my wallet when I walk into a BB anymore.
great article that is right on. One major problem with retailers, club stores that is not talked about is the management of the brick and mortor in most companies see heir own dotcom as a competitor as many have separate buyers and sales of dotcom may not be reflected in their sales. It is almost like 2 different companies are competing against themselves. Amazon is all dotcom and doesn't have this problem. Most associates in brick and mortor know little about their dot.com site. Check it out and see if I am right. Thanks
Wal-Mart does this and it is very frustrating. There is a certain level of site to store interaction, i.e. I can upload my photos online and have them printed at my local store in an hour. But they won't match prices in the retail store for items sold on and by wal-mart.com. I went through this last year when I wanted to by a new digital camera. The online price was $15 less than in store but they wouldnt sell me the one in store for the online price. But I could strangly purchase the model online and have it shipped to the store for pickup for free in 7-10 days… If I wanted to return it I could even return it to the physical store. All that but they treat the web site as a competitor and wouldnt match the price. If I could have it shipped to the store why could they not sell me the one in store and replenish thier stock from the one online? I was in "buy mode" and willing to pay the added cost of sales tax if they would have just matched the price. But since they wouldnt it seemd like too much hassle and I bought from Amazon with free two-day shipping for less.
I heard you being interviewed by Michael Graham on WTKK on Monday and enjoyed what you had to say.
I figured Best Buy must have had some real disconnect in their inventory system after the Christmas debacle. To announce three days before Christmas the presents wouldn't be available is as Grinchy as one can be.
I'm an Amazon Marketplace seller, and I love being on there. I would mention that behind the scenes, all is not roses being an Amazon seller, but they're getting better. I have Amazon do my fulfillment and they do it better, faster and cheaper than I could.
As for inventory management, there are applications that cost less than $5000 that can handle inventory in multiple locations – Amazon, Overstock.com and Buy.com to name a few. That BB doesn't have that type of IT infrastructure makes them a joke. If I can afford it, so can they.
Maybe it's time for the big box stores to go away.
Very well put response! Thanks for this excellent article – I really enjoyed your tactful, spot-on analysis of Best Buy's downfall and I couldn't agree more.
I was employed by Best Buy 2 years ago, as I was finishing college. I worked there for about 6 months, and promptly put in my 2 weeks when I found a job after I graduated.
This article is dead on. I was punished multiple times (via 6/7AM Customer Satisfaction Meetings) for not meeting service plan quotas. I was punished for not being pushy, even though I had multiple customers actually thank me for not hassling them with extended warranties.
These "classes" (i.e. brainwashing sessions) that I was forced to attend to continue employment were a joke. They had managers spout statistics about how the warranties actually help the customer. It almost felt as the whole thing was tongue in cheek, as the managers knew this was all total BS.
Furthermore, our stores management pushed us to not let customers pickup products at other stores, because then we wouldn't get credit. We were to try and find a replacement item at all costs. The same goes for the web. Everything was a competition.
I really liked the employees in our department (I met my lovely wife while working at BB…she worked in my department), but we were hamstrung by terrible/lazy management.
This company is digging it's own grave.
This is nothing new. Best Buy has always been this way. The decline that is talked about here has actually been happening for years. We often discussed how any success BB was having was in spite of itself. Here's a good starting list:
1)There has always been constant midldle management shuffling because upper management was paranoid about someone getting too much power.
2) They would preach that depts should work together and create "synergies" but the way it was structured it was all just very territorial. Whenever they started to have success at something that manager was shuffled of to another dept -they called this "management diversity" or something like that, and the new mgr came in and changed everything and did it his way.
3) Customer service has always sucked.
4) The constant shuffling of mgr meant that they did not believe in anyone's expertise.
5) The IT system changes came way and then were completely bungled multiple times. I personally spent the better part of a year training for new software that was never used. So many hours put into that that it was hard to do your real job without working 75-80 hours.
6) The egos in that building ran the company like it was a cult.
There are so many more -I worked there for a long time. It is completely unsurprising that the problems they are having now were from seeds planted years ago. The stories I could tell….
Haha brainwashing sessions. Unfortunately I've experienced many of those and you're exactly right. Some of us were smart enough to make it out while others either didn't understand what was really going on or actually believed the BS being spewed. All the managers did was walk around in circles cracking their whip making sure every customer was "contacted". The famous line used to be "No customer is just looking, they came in the store to buy something". Well they would've bought something if they weren't constantly attacked by 15 employees every two minutes. Most of the managers were college dropouts anyway. I wanted to tell them that their entire system was a failure and the company will eventually go out of business. Too bad I didn't care.
I went to Walmart.com to research a new tent. Found one there for $69, and it integrated with their stores to tell me the store closest to me had them in stock (I didn't want to wait to get it), so that was nice. I went to buy it there, but it was priced at $97 in the store. I went to customer service, and they said that Walmart stores do NOT match Walmart.com prices. It took some arguing, but they finally gave it to me after I explained "So I can order this on Walmart.com for $69 and have it shipped to the store – which usually takes 3-4 days for confirmation – and pick up this exact same item then… but you won't sell it to me for the price on your own Web site?" Of course, Walmart doesn't care. Who are they competing with? No one…
This conflict between brick and mortar and online has been going on since the beginning. Those who figure it out will win.
Recently, I tried to purchase a washer and dryer at Best Buy, well actually, my wife and I succeeded in selecting a model we liked at a price we were satisfied with. The frustration you share is not unlike our experience. Cross selling and up-selling became the focus. Everything from the specialized laundry soap to the dryer vent tubing was pushed beyond belief. We did purchase a new dryer vent tube based on their customer history infused recommendation. When the delivery person showed up, he looked at what we had and wouldn't even take the new one out of the box. "You don't need this", he said. "Your existing vent tube is perfectly fine, they're always pushing this stuff when it isn't necessary…take the new back." Now, i'm assuming that delivery and installation were contracted services, but it would have been nice to return it through the delivery point and get the credit on site.
>>It is almost like 2 different companies are competing against themselves<<
Actually, a LOT of organizations–retail, news and media especially–created their DOT-COM/on-line as a separate incorporated entity with separate staff, leadership and management…
If I remember correctly The Washington Post Co. recently (like last couple of years) moved to merge WaPo (the print paper) with washingtonpost.com–which also resulted to line staff (reporters, photojournalists and editors) from both being kicked to the bricks.
Did the EXACT same thing. Wal-Mart store wouldn't match Wal-Mart.com price $39 vs. $24 for exact same item. So I just ordered it through Amazon (with free 2nd day Prime shipping) for $22. I even told the store that that I would buy it from them for $24 even with it being $2 more and having to pay tax on top of that. But they wouldn't do it. Walked out the door to my car and ordered it through my iphone Amazon app before my key hit the ignition. Your loss Wal-Mart!
Both Lowes and Home Depot are shining examples of this. Do corporations have psychiatric problems?
thisdougsforu 5 days ago
I was employed by Best Buy 2 years ago, as I was finishing college. I worked there for about 6 months, and promptly put in my 2 weeks when I found a job after I graduated.
This article is dead on. I was punished multiple times (via 6/7AM Customer Satisfaction Meetings) for not meeting service plan quotas. I was punished for not being pushy, even though I had multiple customers actually thank me for not hassling them with extended warranties.
These "classes" (i.e. brainwashing sessions) that I was forced to attend to continue employment were a joke. They had managers spout statistics about how the warranties actually help the customer. It almost felt as the whole thing was tongue in cheek, as the managers knew this was all total BS.
Furthermore, our stores management pushed us to not let customers pickup products at other stores, because then we wouldn't get credit. We were to try and find a replacement item at all costs. The same goes for the web. Everything was a competition.
I really liked the employees in our department (I met my lovely wife while working at BB…she worked in my department), but we were hamstrung by terrible/lazy management.
This company is digging it's own grave.
Nice to see that you are a complete liar.
Firstly, sales weren't being tracked until a year and a half ago.
Secondly, the Black Tie Protection "can" be good for the consumer. This is all dependent on circumstances, but to say that they are all "BS" is just about as BS as your statement.
Thirdly, to say that management was pushing to not get items picked up at other stores tells me one of two things. That you were either a piss poor employee, or that you never worked there. The ordering system ENSURES that the selling store receives the credit for the sale. Not the store being picked up from. That is the entire purpose of the pay here, pick up there system.
Fourthly, it sounds more like you were hamstrung by yourself, rather than lazy management.
I would like to point out that the annoying "employee" that asked about your TV service is NOT a BestBuy employee. These are DirectTV employees who are in-store to try and help people with ordering DirectTV. I agree that they are very annoying — there is a deal between DirectTV and BestBuy to have them in-store. However, annoyance has been expressed at leadership before over this and apparently they are supposed to NOT bother customers, just to be available for questions when needed (BestBuy's stance) but clearly DirectTV has them get in customers' faces and try to sell them satellite TV service. I assume they listen to DirectTV since they pay their paycheck and not BestBuy who only indirectly (probably) benefits from service sold at these locations by selling TVs and accessories, and possibly some other financial agreement between the two companies.
What happens in a Best Buy store is Best Buy's responsibility. Their management decided to have the DirectTV employees in their stores dealing with their customers. Best Buy is fully responsible – and, regardless, will get the blame. Sounds like a very unwise thing to do. It is just one more reason why Best Buy is in its death spiral.
Yet you are wrong again and have made your whole article based on a direct tv rep. These direct tv employees are dress in blue shirts and khaki pants, but it is not a "Best Buy costume". If you look at the logos on their shirts, it clearly says DirectTV, not Best Buy. Just the same as the stands in the mall where they hound you to try their products. I guess every mall in the world is going out of business? Sorry but I say this a poorly written article. Your only research is based off of stock value which does not determine the outcome of a business. Best Buy every years continues to grow their bank account regardless if they meet wallstreets expectations or not. People will always want to go into a store and touch/play with products, before they buy. Amazon can not compete with that. Please state facts before writting anything else
It could be DirecTV but chances are, it's a third party outsourced company called Mosaic who places contracted low wage, poorly trained employee's to market the products of big name manufacturers and service providers on a limited time basis within BestBuy and other retailers.
In any case, as I read this article, I too have felt exactly as described many times in the past. I say the past because I have not walked into a BestBuy in over two years will never again if I can help it.
The last straw was when I tried to get service on my BB purchased $600.00 Gateway laptop 1 day (that's right – 1 day) after the warranty had expired and they refused unless I paid for it!
That the salesperson never informed prior to my purchase (and I found out too late) that Gateway was acquired by Acer had already left a bitter taste.
Point being is, until they hire a REAL professional sales Head to change their structure, I agree they will soon disappear.
Your comments here support my thoughts on your article as a whole. I am sorry to say that I do not feel that it was a quality piece. It reads more like a personal venting session such as one would find commonly in social media such as facebook and twitter.
I would like to point out this type of sales behavior is something I dealt with when going in to buy DSL equipment. There is a certain style of salesmanship at Best Buy that I found to be unsavory. It was pervasive in every department I went to in their store.
When friends want to go to Best Buy it makes me cringe just hearing their name. That's not a good thing.
As a retail employee of a BestBuy competitor (who is doing much better then BestBuy), I will say he's entirely right about the DirectTV rep. Local retailers often get representative's from various companies that are there exclusively to flaunt their own wares specifically. A DirectTV rep would obviously try to make Comcast customers stray to them instead. They are not aware of the store they're in, or many other products beyond their own. For example, I often converse with a Hewlett Packard rep in my store, and he knows little beyond the printers he hovers around. He's not supposed to. He does not receive retailer training on all their products, just HP training for HP products. He's a nice guy though, so I won't compare him to that DirectTV rep. That being said, as far as his "uniform," that may be a BestBuy mandate. If a plain-clothed person or somebody NOT in BestBuy garb approached you in a BestBuy, when all the other employees have the same uniform, it might appear a little odd. Dressing the same ensures that the rep isn't out of place or cause confusion.
Not that I disagree with your judgement of him, or the store. But I felt you might want more insight. Although, based on that, it means the actual BestBuy employees totally ignored you. Doesn't sound much better!
First off, many of the vendors are unfortunately dressed in very similar clothing as the best buy associates. Majority of the customers get them mistaken for best buy employees and ask them similar questions as you did. Now, these vendors are supposed to be located in certain parts of the stores, but remember, you approached him. He was ineffective because he works IN best buy not FOR them. He will not be knowledgeable where certain items are located within the store, this is not his job. Also, didn't you mention this "employee" was located in the TV department? How was he located in the wrong area? Second, best buy is not trying to "up-sell" anything. The purpose of those questions is to find a better solution for the customer. Since there are now newer and better alternatives to purchasing movies, the vendor was just trying to find a better solution for you. Why buy movies when you could go with something more convenient, like buying movies directly from your television.
mlcopines, how long ago was this? I actually work for best buy and know for a fact that all computers, unless purchased with Geek Squad's Black Tie Protection, have a one year MANUFACTURER'S WARRANTY. You do not bring in your computer into Best Buy to be serviced. You send it into Gateway, or Acer for that matter (Gateway computers are still being made under the name Gateway, not sure who would uphold the warranty to be honest).
If your computer was purchased with the extended warranty through Geek Squad, one day over should have not been a problem. However, they reserve the right to not service a computer out of warranty. I highly doubt any life insurance company will pay out benefits if you die AFTER your term life insurance.
Even in Ecuador they do not let brand salespeople in floor. They do not want to annoy the customers.
Sir, you make some very good points and in fact I too feel the worst for Best Buy….
With that said you take a very disrespectful and arrogant swipe at the employees of Best Buy. Like you and many other folks these people are doing as they are told, can you blame them? Being furious at a kid trying to make a pay check who probably was only told " Do It or Else" is childish. Perhaps you should rethink the way you talk about people who are in your mind beneath you as it discredits anything you have to say.
We all have to make a living, some of us are not as gifted as the others in the way of knowledge or opportunities that we may have not received.
If you want to be furious at people at Best Buy you should aim it at the upper crust, starting with Brian Dunn and then go down the chain.
A kid making 8.00 doesn't deserve you being a jerk to them.
I'm sorry, what exactly is a Best Buy costume? Are you talking about the Blue Polo Shirts? Why would you make fun of a work uniform that these people wear to support themselves and their family's?
Well, obviously Amazon can compete with that because Amazon is thriving and Best Buy is not. If you read the MANY posts to this article, I think the resounding statement by the vast majority of people is that they PREFER Amazon over Best Buy. I, for one, will NEVER shop at best buy again, nor will anyone in my family, due to the abysmal customer service we have all received time and time and time and time again…
Larry, I actually worked at this location, I can 1000% guarantee you that it was a DirecTV rep, if you glanced at the name time you would have noticed that. And 99% of the time the DirecTV reps are wearing a dress shirt and tie.
To make matters worse, they don't actually work for DirecTV, they work for a third party that sells DirecTV. I don't recall the exact name of the third party company and I think different regions use different companies.
I agree with the person above you, Larry. As I was reading that, I couldn't help but come to the same conclusion – that this person was from DirectTV and not Best Buy. They also wear blue and black pants – like the Best Buy sales reps from Best Buy Mobile.
I work at a Best Buy and while I agree (and disagree) with a few items in this article, this one I feel I should clarify because that sounds exactly how the DirectTV reps are at my store. For one reason or another they do NOT stay over in home theater but walk around the entire store. If a BBY employee doesn't get to the customer before them, they take over.
From a customer standpoint, I can understand why it's very unnerving and completely rude on their part, but trust me when I say that as an employee of the blue fish tank, they aggravate us as well.
I was going to post this very same thing. It definitely had to be one of those annoying DirectTV reps.
Did you by chance bring this up to management? I work at a retailer who has external customer reps for their companies come in and I always ask the customers who speak with them afterwards if they were comfortable with speaking to them. I would go back into the store and let the management team know your dissatisfaction.
Good luck!
I agree with this article.
some people are saying that it was based on a "Direct TV rep" and not a Best Buy employee; even if that is correct, it is still Best Buys responsability to run and mange their stores and the people and staff inside of the store. If a direct TV rep is bothering me I don't care if best buy is paying them or directTV.
I have to goto BestBuy a lot to purchase products for clients that can not wait for shipping time. Whenever I am there, if I can find someone to help me they spend at least half the time trying to sell me something else or extended warranties. ( for the last 2 months, do you know how many times I have been asked if I want an extended warranty or to buy batteries or USB cables?? :-)
Anyone with a financial interest in BestBuy would be irresponsible not to consider a competently articulated customer experience, being starkly compared to the competition.
Say what you will about corporate problems, but your "Best Buy costume" comment is derisive.
Well said.
This is the kind of stuff that drives people crazy. Not only does the customer have a bad customer service experience, (and even if it was a DirectTV rep it IS STILL BBY's fault for making the decision to have these people in the store without proper supervision, training or whatever other processes or procedures are required to ensure they operate only within their mandate) but now the customer has go back to the store to report on and help management resolve the negative consequences caused by management's poorly executed profit-driven strategies? Are you paying the customer for this consulting service? All the customer wanted was to buy a DVD. No wonder he never wants to go back to BBY!
The company that is contracted with direct tv to work in best buy's is i believe "smart circle." The reason the employee seemed pushy was probably because i think almost all facets of the company smart circle pay their employee's solely on commission. These people have no contact directly with best buy or direct tv, but are actually independent agents, who if they do not sell anything walk home with zero pay for that day.
That is exactly the point of the story! If Best Buy wanted to keep me as a customer they would have taken back defective merchandise (in/out of warranty) and sent it to the OEM for me. Now that's good customer service!
While common in most large retailers to staff the floor with people supplied by the vendor at no fee to the retailer, there really needs to be full disclosure. Rather than dress them in Best Buy garb, be honest about where they're from. I don't think most consumers realize they aren't being helped by a non-partial employee. Along the same lines, go to any department store for a bra fitting and you're most likely being helped by someone who works for one vendor with incentives to make their numbers, rather than finding the customer the perfect fit, which might come from a style in a competing brand. It borders on dishonest.
"Best Buy costume" is a perfectly vanilla way to refer to their similarity of dress. I saw nothing offensive nor did I assume any offense was intended. Maybe your judgement was affected by disagreement with the conclusions of the article.
If the person was dressed in Best Buy shirt then they ARE a Best Buy employee. Also, it would seem they were probably a new employee that were recently trained on just one of the add-ons that employees have to present, which would explain the comcast sales pitch.
dress code is what should have been said. show me one company that refers to their employees clothing as costumes.
Clearly you didn't READ the article. It was not based entirely on the so-called Direct TV rep, in fact that was only a small portion of the large article. You have low standards of critical analysis.
Im sorry but why exactly should a store take back out of warranty "defective" merchandise to send to the OEM for you. Typically, out of warranty means you have had it for quite some time. Not the company's fault
If the employee had on a Best Buy costume, then they were definitely Best Buy employees. Third party labor i.e., DirectTV, is not allowed to wear Best Buy attire as they are legally not employed by BBY. This is strictly followed due to store/mgr/corp liability and the only way to attain BBY shirts are through in-house ordering.
I worked at Best Buy some time back, and we most definitely DID sell DirectTV. They even got $100 off any tv over $1000 if they signed up for DirectTV through us. I sold DirectTV many times as a Best Buy employee. Also, to the person saying it was Mosaic… Mosaic generally handles end-cap displays and certain stocking and inventory duties, I doubt they would try to sell T.V's.
I concur, best buy's customer service is in the gutter, thier business model is yesterday. I strolled in last October to replace a fax machine, lol, I still need one in my office, and truthfully, had I not been so busy, and desperate, cause my fax conked out from age that morning, I most likely would have ordered from amazon… Oddly enough, I had such a horrible best buy experience, I made this Forbes login, so I could post a comment. Why I could not just use my Facebook login, on this site, is beyond me. One would think, with all the zuckasskissing on Forbes, that I would be able to post a comment with a facebook login, yes? No? Cheers peeplz
Oddly enough I made this Forbes account just to comment on your comment. I rarely if ever bother to "join" sites now if they don't allow simple facebook or google logins.
oh and excellent article BTW
I already had an account, but your comment is so true. If I don't already have an account it isn't getting created anymore. The FB login is so simple, so easy, and usually so integrated.
This is a very well written and informative article. I doubt Best Buy will be with us much longer and good riddance. I do all my non-food purchases on line and cringe at the thought of doing otherwise. I use Amazon wherever possible because "no one does it better". Retail is going through a revolutionary change this decade and the survival rate will be rather low.
I am, however, watching closely to see what Ron Johnson will do with JC Penney. With him, they probably have the best chance of surviving and possibly thriving.
Larry: Thanks for calling BB on their incredibly disrespectful customer-service efforts. Manned by ignorant, uninterested and often physically repellant staffers, the in-store experience is all negative all the time. Any reasonable person will share your view if they already don't. They are doomed.
I agree completely. I was is the market for a washer / dryer set and was told by the sales staff at the local BB that if I buy the IG set – they don't honor the warranty – have to contact IG [Japan/Korea] for service. Totally unacceptable. got a Maytag set somewhere else with much better service dept. Why would you even sell a product without at least offering local service if there is anything wrong with it. Certainly can't take a washer or dryer back to the store for exchange if there's a problem. lousy customer service. and their extended warranty on products are a joke – SquareTrade has a better program overall. don't work for any body I named – just a smart consumer – no local service on large appliances – no sale.
As I was reading your article I felt the exact same way you and your friend did when you visit a Best Buy location and yes I'm in California, thing is I also work in retail and I've seen Best Buy training to re invent the wheel, it bugs the heck out of me to see all this high end managers have this awesome opportunities of creating great customer service and screw everything up because they think they are now better or superior then most of us when in reality they need to get out of the office every once in a while and look at their operation from the out side and also go back to the people that really make things happen, like the store managers and associate's that have to go through all the crap that the corporate office says it will make them hit the numbers. When was the last time one of this guys came to a store and did the work himself to really see how annoying and ridiculous some of the processes they come up with really work. Again what gets me so worked up is to think that these guys have the power to do great things and they don't. Boy would I like to have the resources they have and show them how it could be done better with just being more humble and costumer service driven.
At the end yes, you are right I think Best Buy will go down with the Sun on day but wont come up the next day, just a matter of time.
The only way for traditional brick 'n' mortar retailers to survive is to get the "order online, pick up at store" process perfectly correct with FAST, easy pickup and FAST, easy returns if necessary. I keep waiting.
For a while I thought Walmart might get it right. Best Buy doesn't even have a clue, as this article points out. Physical retailers simply can't get out their own way. They are going to cling to the 20th century until they are extinct.
There is still a buying segment that is not comfortable buying on-line, but experiences at retailers like BestBuy is driving them there. Last month, I bought a large screen TV from Amazon at the same time a friend bought one at BestBuy. He had a horrible experience and had to threaten to sue (he's an attorney and would have) to get delivery. He's started buying from Amazon and now appreciates and is a proselyte for the next day delivery option Amazon Prime. Another older friend, mid-60′s tried Amazon for the first time for Christmas this year and was suddenly un-intimidated by the first on-line ordering experience.
HH Gregg, a regional retailer, is uncompetitive on price, and at least in electronics often offers off-brand and out of date merchandise and has an offensive check-out experience demanding too much personal information.
Privately held Micro-Center is a national outlet, though with not many stores, that seems to offer a workable retail business model. Their on-line inventory is linked well, in my experience, to the stores. Their sales people are knowledgeable. I've never known them to be out of stock on a sale item and there's a good chance you'll actually run into a senior executive on the floor. Their parking lot is always busy.
My last BestBuy purchase was over 7 years ago. Their prices aren't competitive and their inventory is spotty.
No, I don't. They will go the way of the other retail dinosaurs.
I thought it was absurd that they wouldn't exchange, or even buy back, a DVD that was purchased from them. However, they will buy back video games. So they seem to have portions of their Media department operating at cross purposes.
The fact that they weren't able to fully take advantage of the demise of Circuit City makes me cringe. What is their corporate strategy? Is it just to survive so they can take a paycheck for a few extra years?
I have had experiences where I visited the stores during my work-day, and while I would be looking around different departments, other customers would be approaching me, asking for assistance and product information.
Hi travis199,
As a Best Buy employee I would like to explain why we take video game trade-ins versus exchanging or buying back DVDs. I'm sure you know that no major retailers exchange DVDs (except for the same title) once they're opened because it's simple to rip the DVD to your computer. We did try experimenting with DVD trade-ins (you got a $5 coupon towards a blu-ray I believe) several months back. I'm assuming there wasn't a large customer interest because it ended.
As far as video game trade-ins this is something that Best Buy, Target, and Amazon are doing because pre-owned games are a lucrative business and the main competition in that area is GameStop. Gaining marketshare in this area is a nice leg-up (until the games all go the route of digital downloads, which I think will happen in 2-5 years…which would make my job pointless but I digress).
Our corporate strategy is get the customer what they need through talking to them. If that's not being effectively implemented at a store near you please, PLEASE, fill out the BestBuyCares.com survey which will let their GM, district, and territory staff know.
At my store I've noticed customer dissatisfaction and the number of surveys have a negative correlation. Why? When a customer mentions a bad experience my leadership team addresses it. I can't speak for all stores, but that's how it is at mine.
I have also had experiences of people asking me questions when I shop else where in business casual or even street clothes. I think it's because we exude an air of "I know what I'm talking about". lol Or at least, that's what I like to think.
Well said. we are not all "annoying" people at Best Buy
Best Buy is consistently terrible in its customer service. My office bought a fax machine and set it up, only to find that it did not work. THe employees at Best Buy inferred that we had switched the new machine with one that was broken and refused an exchange or refund. My office manager caused quite a scene and the Manager of the store finally, begrudgingly and with disdain, did the right thing and gave us a refund. We would have accepted an exchange but the attitude of the Best Buy staff was so poor that we demanded a refund instead. The store is in Mount Laurel, NJ and i will never set foot in it again. I have told this story to dozens of people and urged them to avoid the store. This event was two years ago.
I had a similar experience over 10 years ago. I worked for a midsize medical company at the time and we bought all of our computer equipment from Best Buy. At the time, their prices were very competitive and the store was very convenient. Doing business with them became more and more difficult until I finally ripped up our Company Best Buy Credit Card while standing a the Customer Service Counter. UP until that point, We had spent several thousand dollars per year with them. After that incident we never spent another dime with Best Buy.
For transparencies sake (for good or bad in this discussion) I am former Operations Manager for Best Buy.
There are a lot great, incredibly talented people who work for that company…including at the store level. So I will say that Mr. Downe's anecdotal story about an "annoying" team member, in and of itself, does not tell the whole "Best Buy Story". Look, for the sake of making an article impactful, and slanted in a direction that fits a premise, you can cruise online for negative customer remarks about any seller of goods, including the vaunted Amazon. So, I don't think you can make a case for any organizations decline with comments like: "Best Buy is going out of business because the laptop I bought to run my small business (for which I never thought to have a backup plan for) broke and they wont immediately give me a new one".
However, I believe Mr Downe's article is mostly accurate and here's my belief on why.
- Best Buy is way more concerned with "Culture" than true Customer Experience. The management is totally wrapped up into pseudo-new agey "self-help style" motivational techniques, rather than focusing on what really makes customers satisfied:
- logical and working inventory systems and product delivery, that is seamless online or in-store.
- Price competitiveness (although I still think there are many customers who will pay slightly more for the value of the immediacy and satisfaction of a bricks and mortar purchase, if the experience is positive)
- Basic after the purchase support.
In the Mid 2000s, when CC was on the ropes, Amazon was gaining momentum, and it mattered to their success to focus on these things above, Best Buy instead spent billions of dollars and crazy man-hours rolling out a plan some new age guru of theirs inaptly named "Customer Centricity". Not to bore anyone with all the details, but it was anything but customer centric, because it didn't have anything to do with fixing those core elements above, and again was one of those plans that "It would be great and super-convenient for Best Buy if these things are appreciated by our customers, so we will cross our fingers and hope". What it meant for the line-level manager and staff person was an incredible amount of time and pressure to learn a bunch of rote memorization and stressful corporate testing on new buzz-wordy mantras, "teachable point of views" (the dreaded POV as they were called), and other "culture stuff" To a person, the line level at the time would have told you that it felt like a giant misappropriation of time, effort, and focus at a company-level. But that's the M.O., culture over substance.
Oh, and to one of the posters above who said (paraphrase), "hey, if you were unsatisfied with your experience…just fill out the on-line survey and the stores try to make it better". Baloney. You know what those surveys were REALLY for? They are used to gauge labor spending. A store that rated too high on categories like: "rapid customer response times" or "were eagerly serviced by multiple associates", was assumed to be spending too much on labor and would have its budgets decreased. This process repeated, and budgets decreased until a store's scores fell more comfortably into the less positive range. Corporate assumed that the natural state of being for customers at a Best Buy is just slightly "under-whelmed" at the level of service. I always thought that was telling.
I have been definitely "underwhelmed." After purchasing an expensive surround sound system from their joke of a "custom" Magnolia" division, I got a system that to this day wasn't properly installed and doesn't work right despite numerous service calls. But then I order from Amazon or Crutchfield and I am covered up with customer service that keeps me coming back. Best Buy and XM Radio should merge and then die together for hapless and ineffectual customer service.
They seem to only be soliciting opinions from people who bought something, not those like I who got sick of being ambushed and left.
great insight. Thanks for sharing,
I can see Best Buy biting the dust in the same way Circuit City did. At one time, I bought everything at CC. Then they failed to make good on two rebates and refused to service my TV under the three-year plan I bought. They became arrogant, dollar-hungry and reckless with their customers. Best Buy is acting the same way. There are to BB stores in Washington, DC that I will never enter again. They are both overstaffed with people who don't know what they are talking about and treat customers as annoyances. I tried for more than half an hour to get someone to help me but everyone was too busy discussing football and personal matters. They were incensed because I became assertive in asking for help. Because the store is so poorly organized and laid out, it's a crap shoot to find what you need. I have switched to HH Gregg, where I have made three major purchases in the last 12 months. Prices were lower and the staff is great. They say they require every staff member to take 200 hours of training before they go on the floor. I don't know if that's true. But, they answer questions quickly and accurately. The only annoying thing about HH Gregg is their relentness attemps to sell add-ons like service packages, cables I don't need and a little bottle of screen cleaner for my HDTV for $20. They messed up once on financing. I was being charged interest on a 12-month no interest plan. One call to the manager and the problem was resolved the same day. The only reason I don't use Amazon for major purchases is my desire to see and play with big items like laptops and TV's. Best approach is to settle on a model and go to Walmart, where the prices are always lower. But then, the folks there are not prepared to answer questions.
I walked out of Best Buy five years ago and told them and my self that if they were the last retailer on the planet I would do with out before purchasing anything from them. I thought then how in the world can these people stay in business. Looks like their ways are finally catching up with them. Excellent article.
Your article on Best Buy is right on.
My personal experience with Best Buy starts over 10 years ago and a issue about a pc repair that was incomplete. Their total lack of responsiveness to my complaints about their work and their attitude about customer service was amazing.
I was so disgusted over the issue I tried to complain to corporate and was left on hold for an hour with no resolution.
Another issue was trying to get them to follow through on their stated policy of price match. There was always a minute detail they would not honor that policy.
There stores are loud with audio systems blaring everywhere, no basic pc repair parts, incompetent clerks, confusing layouts and upselling constantly.
When I moved from Dallas to Florida the only convenient electronics store was Best Buy. Now I drive 10 miles past Best Buy to shop at a real electronics / pc repair store with excellent sales staff, reasonable prices and a great online store front.
Your article nailed the issue. The sooner Best Buy is gone, the better for all of us.
I agree with everything in the article. My personal experience correlates with the writer's. I ordered a Blu-ray Collectors edition of Ben Hur online for store pickup at BB. When I received what I ordered, I was given the standard version, which was the wrong item. It turned out that BB's inventory system incorrectly listed my item as bing in stock at that store. They had an "exclusive" version that included a plastic figurine with the Ultimate Collectors Edition. The "associate" looked up the current price online, @ $60, but I had ordered it during the Black Friday sales online at $11.99, so he treated me as if I were trying to rip them off! After 40 minutes of rage-inducing hassle, they dug up what I had ordered, minus the figurine, telling me that it was the "wrong SKU". They match Walmart for having the worst online/store pickup experience. The whole experience leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
There is an old saying that business executives need to remember:
"If you are failing, figure out what your successor will do and then do it before he has the opportunity."
I don't see Best Buy's management being aware enough to follow this adage.
Here is an analysis with more emphasis on data and less on one anecdotal shopping experience…
This is an excellent article that depicts the reality of how BestBuy is failing, although I would not agree -at this juncture – that the company will go out of business any time soon. Why?
Because along will come some inane product that is supported by multi-hundred million dollar marketing that is available exclusively at Best Buy. This is likely to happen just often enough to perpetuate the Buy Buy zombie existence for years to come.
The public will rush to buy said item, service and won't ask intelligent or relevant questions because the sale is already made.
I, likewise have experienced great frustration in almost every visit to BestBuy, which I do only to give a client or friend a "hands-on" first experience with a Laptop, other electronics or maybe a home appliance. Purchasing is not on the agenda.
Otherwise I would not go near the place for fear of breaking out in a rash.
W. Anderson
Excellent article. As a business owner, I do occasionally shop at Best Buy, it is primarily for items the "emergency" variety. This includes items such as a replacement cable, hard drive, network card, or similar item that we must replace immediately. Otherwise, I prefer not to step into the store if I don't have to.
It really is the poor customer service. I own a software development company, so as you might imagine, I am fairly technically competent.
I also have several close friends in IT at other companies, and we have traded Best Buy horror stories. Most of them typically include some young "specialist" trying to sell us on something we don't need or they have no idea about. I love the quote about returning to his hole, because that is the very impression I get of these people.
What's even more entertaining is how many of the stories are based on someone rescuing another unsuspecting customer from one of these guys.
To be fair to the Best Buy employees on the floor, I don't really blame them. They are only doing what they are told in an effort to keep their job. The problem is how they are being led by their superiors.
I remember a few years back when Best Buy was touting the expert staff they had on the floor. Whether or not it was true at that time, it is certainly not true now. If you want my business, you need to actually hold true to that model. Shopping for some computer hardware? I would expect to see someone who was formerly an IT Administrator (and a good one) from XYZ Corp. Expensive? Yes, of course, but not every employee has to be this knowledgeable. You just need one who can handle the advanced topics with authority when they come up. When an IT Admin walks into the store looking for something, they should be able to seek help from an expert of comparable experience and not have to worry about fending off a bunch of wannabe computer geeks hell bent on selling some "hot" items.
Put simply, find out who your core customers are, and build everything around making them happy (or at least avoid driving them out the door). How difficult a strategy is that?
I must say that, while it is important to have an informed staff I would not expect an IT Administrator to work at under 9 dollars an hour…hell, they probably wouldn't work for less than 15 or 20, so it is understandable that IT professionals typically don't try to land jobs at the local Best Buy computer department. I think it is also safe to say that Best Buy's core customers are typically informed due to internet research, but are not often owners of a software development company. I could tell you how to build a computer right now, but as far as developing software I have no idea…there are always going to be gaps of knowledge.
And I admit that I am a Best Buy employee and myself, and some of my co-workers as well, strive not only to provide great customer service to the best of our abilities, but also train ourselves outside of Best Buy to increase our product knowledge. That being said, I do agree that there are gaps between what Best Buy values and what is actually important, but at Best Buy it could take a part-timer over a year to get full-time and even longer to become a supervisor and so on…it is hard to initiate change in a system that is so slow to react and promote forward thinking (insert obvious joke about American Congress).
Best Buy showed me what they're about when they offered to have a member of their Geek Squad come out to my house and install my new wireless router for the introductory super-low rate of $160 after learning through their interrogation of me that I'd never done it myself. That $160 is approx. triple what the router itself cost me. But the story doesn't end there… When I told them that I have a good friend who knows his stuff that is going to teach me how to install it, they countered that that is a really bad idea. You really gotta know what you're doing and there's a ton of pitfalls that can screw up your security and/or system performance. Just having a buddy do it is a recipe for disaster.
It just so happens that my friend is an IT guy that works for a reputable company and I've known him well since college (so I know he's not just some schmuck who claims to know his stuff and will come over to my house and screw it all up). I never got to the part of justifying my friend's resume to these people, I finally lost patience and told them to just give me the *&$(#&!! router so I can get the #3!! out of here already. Jeez Louise. When I buy something at Amazon, I don't have to fight off their interrogation and justify my choice of purchase to them.
My friend sure had some words for BB and their Geek Squad when he found out they wanted to charge $160 to do something that is literally 10 minutes worth of work and can easily be done just by reading the instructions. There's one or two pitfalls but you'll be fine as long as you actually read the documentation.
After reading all these comments, wow! I first seek what I want thru internet, read reviews on NewEgg, Amazon, and Best Buy. Newegg is where I get all my computer parts. I have bought a total of 7 HDTV's since 2007. All from Best Buy, yes they ask me to buy this and that, or try to sell me the geek Squad. I say, No Thanks, turn and walk away. I have never been followed and ask more crap! Come on people! Why would you expect a kid at best Buy to be an IT cat, give me a break man! I would rather buy my Samsung HDTV's from Best Buy, they are either cheaper, same price, and if there is a problem with in your warranty time, or just bought a bad one you can put it in the truck and go get a new one instead of re-packaging, sending it back and have to pay for shipping!! Not me! I wouldn't go to best buy for any PC part, maybe memory if I had to. I would pay a few more dollars for a laptop, just to be able to take it back if needed to. You must inform yourself, just like you would if you was buying on line. Don't expect the under paid worker to be your savior, learn to say," No Thanks, appreciate it, "I" know what I want" They will say, "Ok then if you need me I'll be over here", That's when you say, " Got you dude"
Real simple
My brother also paid the $160 geek Squad Mr Paulson for hooking up his air port extreme router, and his Plasma HDTV. I told him I would do it but it would have to be the weekend, they were there on Wed, ha ha he had them call me 5 times that day. My advice is to stay away from them, maybe they all are not this way but again they don't pay them much. I applied for a job there and they wanted to start me out at 8.43 or some crap. I like to go to the Best Buy in my city, but I don't need their help, I just buy what I want an leave. I'm sure there is plenty like me and most the time we don't take time to comment on stuff like this but I had to chime in. I hope they don't go out of business because I like to listen to my stereo equipment,speakers, see my TV before buying it. I like to go and play with stuff, they are right about coming there to test stuff and then go by it on the net. I might have done this a few times also. I did have to hook up my brothers Plasma/ AV Receiver and the Air Port Extreme but he does have a very weird set up, they did give him his money back and also a free Samsung Bluray Player to make him happy!! i thought that was nice,don't you all?
I am not surprised by the prediction, and thought the same thing years ago that this type of business does not have enough to offer the consumer, especially when it does not focus on good service. I have not shopped at Best Buy for 6 years, ever since I was treated badly as a customer. I bought a camera as a gift, then brought it back as a return since they had received another one already. The camera package was unopened, I had the receipt, and it was within 15 days of the purchase. However, the sales clerk was very rude to me, then actually opened the factory sealed packaging and told me I would have to pay restocking! I couldn't believe it, and called the sales manager over, who sided with the clerk. It turned into an arugment, but eventually they agreed to credit me back the entire amount I paid. Never had such bad service in my life. So, good riddance to Best Buy – hope they find a better use for the big box buildings they leave behind.
I work in a Best Buy and this article really nails it. I hate my job. This has been my 3rd year on the sales floor. However, I don't spend enough time selling because I'm too busy doing my managers job. Management hired 4 people into my department this holiday season and I was expected to train them. I was given two weeks to do it and because I was in school, I was only working part time. So I had about 50 hours to train 4 people. On top of that, I was still expected to hit my sales numbers as usual. Without asking me if they were ready, two weeks later my boss throws them blue shirts and sends them onto the sales floor. The worst thing about it was that none of these people were tech savvy the way I am. I explained the processes but didn't talk much about the products because I figured they'd been hired because they know them. Wrong. After they started selling, I found myself being pulled all over the store answering the simplest of questions for my new coworkers.
What the company I'm employed for doesn't realize is that I've been writing papers for months in my business program at school about everything Best Buy has been doing wrong. Thanks Best Buy for the A+ grades on my theory papers. Now I'm going to start the job hunt.
I would love to read those papers!
then stop working there. no one is holding you there. if its too stressful, leave. my gosh, I was there 9 years and thats the way it was the entire time. I dont know of any company that doesnt want mid level people to train the new ones and for that period of a time. GET OVER YOURSELF
On New Years Eve I went to my local Best Buy and purchased the Sonos Play3 and the Sonos Bridge. On New Year's Day I was in the Target store and saw the same items, however if you purchased the Sonos Play:3 you received the Bridge component at no charge for which I paid $49.95 12 hours before at Best Buy. Came home and called the local Best Buy where I had made the purchase. Was put onhold for elongated periods of time until I was finally told that no one in the Department was "picking up the phone". I then explained to the person who had finally answered the phone what happened. He asked whether I could produce the ad. I responded there was no ad it was an "in store" promotion. He had no interest in saving the sale or in anyway addressing the issue. What next? I returned the items to Best Buy, (together with a router that I had also purchased, simply because I was by then mad at the whole process)and Best Buy lost a $475.00 sale. Drove across the street and bought the same items at Target. Your writings are no surprise and I would agree that there is going to be a lot of store space in Malls across the US as Best Buy continues to decline.
The slightest comparison shopping will show anyone that "Best Buy" is an inappropriate name for a place that sells ridiculously overpriced (and often defective) Monster cables when Target sells better quality cables for one tenth the price. You can also buy cables online, including shipping, from reliable manufacturers for that same low price.
I find no reason to patronize my local Best Buy store when it's only 20 miles farther to Fry's and no drive at all to Amazon.com.
If they suddenly become bold and really decide to change it to what it needs. Otherwise, it is dead. When will be fairly soon at their current rate of ineptitude. On the bright side though, it would be very easy to turn it all around. Doubt they will do it.
Yet you are wrong again and have made your whole article based on a direct tv rep. These direct tv employees are dress in blue shirts and khaki pants, but it is not a "Best Buy costume". If you look at the logos on their shirts, it clearly says DirectTV, not Best Buy. Just the same as the stands in the mall where they hound you to try their products. I guess every mall in the world is going out of business? Sorry but I say this a poorly written article. Your only research is based off of stock value which does not determine the outcome of a business. Best Buy every years continues to grow their bank account regardless if they meet wallstreets expectations or not. People will always want to go into a store and touch/play with products, before they buy. Amazon can not compete with that. Please state facts before writting anything else
Judging from the number of replies related to bad experiences at Best Buy, I would have to say that the writer has uncovered substantial issues plaguing Best Buy. Perhaps you disagree with the assessment of the DirectTV employee strategic plants, but that is minuscule to the rest of what is being substantiated here. I think he makes his point very clearly. You're contrived "anger" has blinded you to these facts veritas.
So very blind, blindy bias…idiot (I couldn't hold back, o well).
Great analysis. We stopped shopping at Best Buy after they refused to stand behind a defective TV, even though we were well within the warranty period, and had all the necessary paperwork. It was faster, much cheaper, and a lot less headache to simply pay a TV repair shop to fix it.
Great article. It always puzzles me why a company like Best Buy can't see the most obvious customer turn-offs in their own stores. Is it possible that the top executives never go into the stores as a customer and experience the incompetence we endure?
Speaking of annoying, I would love to see you do an article on the irritating habit of every business-to-consumer company asking us to respond to a survey for every sold item, flight, overnight stay, online purchase, and on and on.
The practice of survey generation for every business transaction has, I believe, little to do with said business actually caring about the consumer's experience. I am often frustrated by the nature of the questions. For example, "Was your problem solved?" Yes/No. There is no room to explain, that yes, while my problem was solved, it took 2 hours on the phone, being passed to two other reps. and eventually I solved the problem myself. I believe that today's "survey" has been designed to create marketing opportunities, i.e. "We have the highest success rate on our tech support!" or "98% of business travelers would return to our motel (the only motel available near the widget plant) when returning to East Overshoe". The surveys aren't used to gauge how a company can better service its customers, it's used to generate unwitting shills for its services.
Surveys are also used as part of the metrics of the sales/tech support/help desk person who you encountered. Most people probably do not fill out the surveys because they do not realize how much, depending on the industry, they factor into the rankings of the agent/sales person involved.
to some extent they do not "shop" at Best Buy stores, they shop at "their" store.
generally corporate officers and upper management of any type of store, shop at their corporate store, a site that regularly has corporate setups, meetings, corporate testing, new product testing and other special relationships with the main corporate office and staff.
they walk in and everyone knows exactly who they are and they get a royal treatment and can say to everyone that bestBuy has the best stores in the world.
anyway, what they need to do is goto an unknown store and wear a baseball cap and t-shirt.
( I worked at walmart and the disctrict manager and his wife would shop at our store, but everyone knew who they were, people would run around and say, "… BB the district manager is here, look sharp…". haha, I remember when 4 people and a dept manager were looking for plain yogurt for her, sorry but that would never happen for any regular customer. )
Most people probably don't fill out the surveys because it's not their job to help a multi-billion dollar company figure out how to rank or evaluate their employees. If they want customers to do their jobs for them they need to pay them.
I forced myself through the doors of my local Best Buy, days before Christmas, out of sheer necessity. I was searching for a keyboard for my eldest daughter. I stood by watching three staff, including the store manager, discuss openly and with complete ambivalence toward the customer in their midst (me) their merchandising strategy for the next day, which consisted of moving the bargain DVD racks to the front of the store. "They'll be empty in an hour," said the store manager with a smirk before looking me straight in the eye and walking away. I took a cursory look at the two keyboards on the shelf, both appearing to have been previously opened and hurredly repackaged with scotch tape, and decided I would not debase myself by becoming Best Buy's latest sucker counterparty. I have not and hope never to return.
The author's description of his in-store experience was hilarious and spot on. Best Buy cultivates and demands cult like employee loyalty @ $9/hr. This is dressed up as unlimited opportunity. In a regional community of less than a quarter million, Best Buy opened not one, but two new stores in one month, adding to pre-existent competition from other retailers…The resulting situation is predictable. There is no fix for management blunders of this scale, while simultaneously the market itself is changing dramatically, and employee dissatisfaction grows.
While Amazon has been able to leverage value as a point of difference, I also like that you pointed out customer service. To be transparent, I am an owner in a direct-to-consumer ecommerce company selling products for caregivers. We have no cost advantage over large retailers, in fact we cost more. Yet people stay with us because we offer what I like to say is a "1950′s customer service experience." For the age group we deal with, they understand this and value it. Also the cost of a product not working is pretty high. I think you point out the ultimate insult for the consumer, higher prices and lousy service. Yes, Best Buy is on its way out.
Everything you mention in your article is quite correct with one possible exception.
What you identified as a "sales clerk" might not have been a Best Buy employee at all. It is quite possible the "sales clerk" was representing an independent vendor (quite possibly related to Smart Circle) flogging DirecTV. Such representatives are in many Best Buy stores throughout the US. There mission is to approach everybody in the store and pitch DirecTV. The only area they are not allowed to enter is the cell phone area because Verizon has its own TV service.
The scenario you describe is not the case in Canada, with the sole exception of Apple. Best Buy in this area has "sold its soul" to Apple, to create quasi Apple stores within Best Buy outlets. Gross margin on Apple products is extremely low to zero. Apparently the hope is for drag business: $30 USB cables or $50 HDMI. Yet the salespersons bias is for Apple, encouraged by the Apple rep. This skews sales away from other PC products and Android tablet… The net net result is predictable. Promotion of new extended warranty products have also reached a point of laughable absurdity.
Your article is spot on. Living in Minnesota I want to shop at Best Buy but get irritated at each visit, mainly due to the employees interactions. They are usually not knowledgeable about much but extended warranties or extra services. When I'm paying $75 for a Logictech intelligent remote control I don't want to pay $150 for someone to come to my home to configure it.
Their prices non sales prices are high, the Geek Squad which used to be the premier tech support group in the country are now infiltrated by idiots who probably can't tie their own shoes, the Geek Squad is now owned by Best Buy. I personally have walked out of the store several times because of long lines (at the two open registers) or due to the fact that employees aren't helpful. I have literally put down items more than once because I am so bothered by the whole experience. I can't say that about any other store that I've shopped.
Best Buy is now the only large retail electronics store left in the Twin Cities but I have to be awfully desperate to walk through their doors.
A couple of months ago I was walking out empty handed after roaming around for 20 minutes. As I left the security person at the door asked if I had found what I needed, I commented that all of the sales people seemed to be busy chatting with each other and unwilling to assist me. The security person offered to get me help, I declined the offer and said that I would take my business to a store who actually wanted my business.
I will be amazed if they are still in business in five years – and to be honest, I don't really care.
"Only two registers open" – Has there ever been a documented case of Best Buy not having long lines and not enough registers open (complete with many BB employees moving around the closed registers – yet never opening them?"
This company has been going down the drain for 20 years now!
If I had a nickle for every time I've gone to BB and had a bad experience I'd have a pretty good idea of how many times I've been to that store!
I'm still amazed that Circuit City wasn't able to compete. My thoughts are that someone will buy BB at the last minute and resurrect them with a focus on the customer experience (end to end).
Your frustrating, idiotic experience at Best Buy is incredibly consistent with all of those that I have experienced/witnessed at Best Buy until I stopped shopping there two years ago. Never looked back.
Excellent Forbes article.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm an employee at Best Buy. The company has paid for my school, both undergraduate and graduate (MBA) and I've been with the company for over seven years. I may or may not be employed there much longer as I'm currently an MBA working the customer service lines, but that is besides the point. The company has been good to me and given me many opportunities for growth, both personally and professionally.
From a business analyst perspective, your article is a good read, and I agree with you on some of your points. The main gist of the article is that consumers are migrating to online retailers that have better customer service, and I accept that. Best Buy is a very large company, and admittedly, has made its fair share of mistakes this holiday season in handling customer service issues.
The other side of the fence argument, however, is that generic online retailer ("Amazon" henceforth) provides a completely different service than does your local Best Buy store. I believe Best Buy will be around for many years to come, mainly because the company offers something that the online retailers do not — A "smart friend" to help guide you through the sale (and afterwards) and hands-on demonstrations of the products you want to buy.
Lets pause here for a second, because you made some good points about the experience in your local store. First off, the prying sales associate who spoke with you represents two things in my mind, neither of which necessarily spells out the death of Best Buy. This is one experience out of literally millions, after-all. Regardless, here we go. The "sales associate" could have possibly been a vendor for a big name cable alternative that works in our store. I know we have those guys in our store, too. Personally, I'm not a fan of having them in the stores since they are so easily confused with Best Buy employees (they wear blue shirts and khakis, too) and they do hawk their services hard since they are paid on commission from their parent company. Is that an excuse for your experience? No, absolutely not, however vendor relationships are evolving. Some clarification needs to take place with the sales manager in that particular location about where the vendors are allowed to go and what they should be offering in terms of customer service. At the end of the day, however, he was just asking a question. You were well within your rights to spur him, but — he has to eat, too. The advertisements on Amazon annoy me as well, but I don't get hacked-off about it. Its the cost of doing business, mild inconvenience.
The other possibility is that, yes, this was a Best Buy employee, green as the spring grass, trying to produce sales so that he might keep his job after the holiday season is over. Annoying? Sure. Does it stink that the DVD wasn't able to be located in the store? Well, yes, but as you point out in your article, online sales are booming. Logistically it takes a while for a company the size of Best Buy to re-align its inventory systems to service both brick-and-mortar needs (front lane checkout) and online needs (in-store pickup). What I'm saying, basically, is that the DVD was probably either held for someone on the phone, misplaced during the busy holiday traffic, or stolen. Regardless, it isn't an excuse but it does put the incompetence in context for readers.
You had a poor experience, and there is never an excuse for that. Reality, however, dictates that we can only move as swiftly as we can while working, and you were in one of the busiest stores in the country during one of the most busiest times of the year. Things are frantic, yes, fast-paced, yes, and mistakes are made. However, how many times this season did you read about customers getting maced at Best Buy? How many customers were trampled at Best Buy this year during holiday shopping? How many serious inventory constraints did we have on items like the iPad, Kindle Fire, etc.?? Best Buy has taken its lumps for what it got wrong this year, but give her credit for what she did right. How many people had gifts under the tree from Best Buy this year who had a great experience and will be happy to come-back again? I would wager more than had bad experiences, many more I would venture. That repeat business is an opportunity — What Best Buy does with that opportunity will determine the direction the company takes in 2012. A change of course is needed in some respects, but let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Best Buy has great brand equity, and while some changes are needed at the store level to improve customer experience, overall the company is not ready to shutter its doors as you suggest. Best Buy is all about challenge and change — The company has navigated the rough economic waters of the past two years just like everyone else, and there have been some bumps along the way. I hope 2012 sees a big improvement not just for Best Buy, but for retailers everywhere. We don't need to lose any more American jobs, so let's root for Best Buy and hope she can do what she does best — learn from challenge and change!
"This is one experience out of literally millions, after-all." Yes, millions of bad experiences!
"However, how many times this season did you read about customers getting maced at Best Buy? How many customers were trampled at Best Buy this year during holiday shopping?" WHAT? We should be grateful to shop at Best Buy because no one was trampled, maced, maimed, or killed at a store this holiday season?!
We've never had a good experience at Best Buy. A friend was even telling me how Best Buy pulled the illegal bait and switch routine on her a few years ago.
On top of all of its customer service problems, Best Buy started giving a lot of money to anti-gay and anti-environmental political campaigns after the Citizens United court ruling a couple years ago.
Wow, sign this guy up for a management job at Best Buy, obviously he has the same flare for deniability as you mentioned in the article.
The problems with Best Buy are not seasonal, they are ingrained and a daily occurrence, in every Best Buy that I've entered, Maple Grove, Ridgedale, Roseville, Eden Prairie and Southdale.
Then to putting the icing on the cake he throws in the whole American jobs plea, really? If you ask me this whole mismanagement of Best Buy similar to other large corporation ignorance which does anything it can to maximize profits for their shareholders. As always this mentality penalizes the consumer and creates zombies for employees.
You want American jobs and faithful customers? Try offering value – not cheap products, value from your workers and a fair price for your products and you won't need to invent excuses any more.
tabledso is prima facie evidence of how Best Buy massages employees to drink their Kool-Aid… It is truly tragic. This person is in for a very rude awakening.
I was simply pointing out that other retailers offer worse experiences than Best Buy during the holidays.
It is unfortunate your friend had that experience, and clearly you have reason not to shop there anymore. In regards to campaign donations, I was as outraged as you.
Am I prima facie evidence now? That's quite a limb you're on mayo615, don't let it break. I doubt the awakening will be that unpleasant actually. I was barely defending the company at all in my article, simply pointing out that it is fallacy to base the success or failure of a company on one poor experience with an employee that didn't even work for Best Buy.
Thank you cwmm, I will pass your recommendation along. In regards to American jobs, yes really. We need them, unless you haven't noticed. Also, if you have such a problem with capitalism, might I suggest you move someplace where companies aren't expected to create value for their shareholders. The moon perhaps?
I like your ending. It would be nice to see this "Called out" to give a well rounded perspective to this piece.
"Best Buy has great brand equity, and while some changes are needed at the store level to improve customer experience, overall the company is not ready to shutter its doors as you suggest."
"The company has navigated the rough economic waters of the past two years just like everyone else…"
"We don't need to lose any more American jobs, so let's root for Best Buy and hope she can do what she does best — learn from challenge and change!"
Sorry but your defense smells exactly what the article points out in regards to the coporate paradigm – "What's wrong with our customers?!".
Annoying pop-ups in the internet are nothing compared tio annoying and unhelpful sales staff – You don't just click them away.
Sorry to pile on but you repeat a defense that others have mentioned and I think it needs to be called out. Saying the person dressed as a Best Buy employee and allowed on the floor by Best Buy is a hopeless defense. That person is the responsibility of Best Buy and in too many cases Best Buy has chosen the quick buck over customer service.
Try to imagine an Apple Store pulling that sort of stunt. Speaking of that invidious comparison notice that every Apple Store provides free and open wifi (not even the annoying sign on barrier Starbucks and others require). Since Best Buy is ostensibly a tech company wouldn't it make sense to provide such convenience?
In the last year, I now know of 7 individuals (including myself) who will never shop at Best Buy again. For me, I asked if I could buy my Mac Book Air without having to go through the extremely long Customer Service line. I was told "this is how our system works". I didn't want to wait an extra 45 minutes so I could be upsold things I do not want. I decided to take my current and all future business else where. My parents had a similar situation with the 27″ iMac they purchased. At the time, they had the will to wait through the line. Eventually they needed to call Best Buy regarding a billing error. She ended up speaking to someone in India who informed her that they did not understand what she was saying. Unless they make some drastic changes, I give Best Buy 5 years before they'll be history.
"I was simply pointing out that other retailers offer worse experiences than Best Buy during the holidays."
WOW…that's what they taught you in the Best Buy sponsored MBA program? Perhaps your company's new Mission Statement should read "We're no worse than the worst"
Best Buy is a real asset to our community; but their business model is out of date. Consumer electronics has become far too complicated to be sold the way it has been. Were I involved I'd consider limiting floor people to specific product lines and provide intensive training on what a searcher would find online. Then they would be ready to help a customer.
No – actually, I would prefer being maced to shopping at Best Buy. Do you get that? Best Buy is responsible for all of the worst retail experiences I've had. Each one of them. No one else is nearly as bad. Yes, Walmart can be persnickety about returns, and yes, bad crowd behavior at Christmas, but that was mostly the crowd and not the store. Circuit City often had untrained associates, but they also had old-hands, too, who would step in to help.
Oh – so if we point out that Best Buy stinks, we are communist? No, you missed your own point. Those of us who do believe in capitalism will do what capitalists do – we will shop elsewhere, which is the whole point of the story, why people are shopping somewhere other than Best Buy.
Can you please inform us as to what school you got your MBA from. I want to make sure that I never send my kids there. Have you seriously learned nothing from getting an MBA. Or are you just blinded by the fact that this company paid for your education so you feel obligated to stick up for them no matter what.
Figure this one out Mr. MBA – I go to Best Buy all the time. If I walk in there 10 times I can guarantee you that I walk out all 10 times with nothing. I purposely use Best Buy as a place to touch and feel products. Then I go home and purchase from Amazon. More and more people are doing what I do every day.
The mentality of people to wanting to see or hold a product has always been around. I definitely think with newer generation it has become less important in the decision making of which product to buy. In the end it is the customer experience and support which drives a customer back to there store or website. Look at Apple there products are not inexpensive or always the the best but the customer experience is.. I believe they have the worlds highest profit rate per ratio on square footage. A staffing of extremely knowledgeable sales force. There products lead in there area that is extremely competitive not by flooding the market trying to capture its entirety but focusing in on its core customer, by providing a product that is made extremely well made and services to match it. Disney is another company that
Leads in its field. Both these companies have products that people are willing to pay top dollar for and why? They provide extremely high end service for which customer support is unparalleled. Best Buy needs to refocus what it is and who it services. If "Best Buy" wants to be a company offers a product at the best price then a core change needs to be made. Costco is a warehouse which offers products at low cost and excellent return policy. It's needs to kept it's focus on what the customer wants not what corporate wants. Businesses are business because a need was seen for product and service. Unfortunately they larger and more successful businesses get it seems lose direction. Those that don't we all know by name. I know that is a simplified explanation and that there are alot out forces that at play on a business which can make it succeed or fail. In the end it comes down offering a product and service that people are willing to pay for. I know I won't pay for product with bad service. I know I willing to pay more for a product to get better service.