Best Buy Has No Problem With PS3 Update Charge

[thechief73]

Why would they see anythign wrong with it? Their whole business model is to exploit any and everyone that is ignorant enuff to fall for thier sales BS, and that goes for anything the sell.

sstym- Best Buy and Geek Squad are a bunch of barely competent scam artists offering low value services at a high price.

You hit the nail on the head Sir. +1

 

[sirmorluk]

It is a love, hate relationship for me. I love capitalism but hate Best Buy.

 

[thillntn]

It's bad enough to lose features via firmware upgrade, but now you can pay someone to do it. The rear-ending never ends. $ony probably endorses this!

 

[applegetsmelaid]

Good 'ol Public Relations. They know how to sugar coat anything. I used to work for Geek Squad and they would preinstall updates with the intention of increasing service attachment - they expect people don't know any better. You have to ask the question - was there ever a demand for this service, or did they create it? When I worked there no one EVER asked.

NEXT ARTICLE: Best Buy has no problem charging to pair bluetooth PS3 controller.

 

[cronik93]

So why are people paying for something that's already free again?

 

[spentshells]

taking advantage of people is sleazy and shameful
you can say they offer it

or you can say they position it in a way that takes advantage of people who don't know

 

[1pp1k10k4m1]

"Best Buy’s Geek Squad offers services to support virtually all the gear we sell – and gaming consoles
are no exception...."

If that's true, why don't they fix RRoD or YLoD? Because that work has to be done by an authorized service center. Which means if Best Buy breaks your PS3 or 360, they could claim it was "at your own risk" and not offer a replacement. Sure, bad press, law suit, whatever...but why are they sticking their nose where it clearly doesn't belong and isn't factory authorized to be as an LLC?

 

[megamanx00]

Why would they have a problem with it? They have no problem with their crazy overpriced geek squad services they push on you when you buy a laptop.

 

[amdwilliam1985]

I think it all depends on information, those who don't have it pays.

The other day, I bought a lighter from a corner store for $1(which I thought was fair price), one of my friend who owns a 99 cents store said these lighters are worth less than 5 cents each. That's 20x mark up.

 

[razor512]

pdating a console is not needed as it will do it automatically when the user tries to game online or use the online functionality.

Sony also updates very frequently, if it was really such a complex process that you would need to pay someone $30 to do then you will have novice users spending $5000 a year just to keep their console up to date

It is like getting satellite tv and the store where you registered at wants to charge you to $30 to update the box, (even though the satellite box updates by it's self multiple times a day (mainly to cycle through the encryption to prevent people from using hacked boxes, before services like direct tv would update every month, now they do it 8-10 times a day)


If you best buy was acting as a seller for direct tv service, and they tricked you into spending $30 to update the box, (meaning they turn it on for a few seconds then turn it off, then when you get home, little do you know, the box is updating it's self automatically multiple times a day with out you even knowing.

updating a console is extremely easy, if you cant figure it out then you wouldn't even know how to connect it to a TV and don't even think about trying to use the controller or *gasp* try to play a game where you are doing hundreds of button presses

Best buy is basically charging the user money for a basically automated process that the user will have to undergo by them self within a few days of owning the console. They literally gain nothing from the $30 spent and thus it is a scam.

 

[ginnai]

The final sentence says it all. I love that he tipped his hand.

 

[zerghumper]

Best Buy is terrible for crap like this. When my Xbox 360 got a RROD 6 months back I took it in since I had an extended warranty. Best Buy then told me that because the original 360 model is no longer sold I would have to upgrade to the new elite model. They then told me that my original Xbox 360 would get me a whole $50 dollars off the price of the new elite, wow a whole $50 dollars!

Then they told me they would have to keep my hard-drive but that they could transfer the information to the elite console for... wait for it... $50 dollars! I told them where to shove it and my family and I haven't bought anything there since. I save a lot of money by buying from online retailers anyway, so this was just a wake up call to how much these guys inflate their prices and suck their cattle, I mean customers dry.

 

[theshonen8899]

It seems they misunderstood. Offering the service is fantastic. Charging $30 is bullshit. They are taking advantage of the people who can't do it themselves because they know this is the only option other than get by their internet problem or whatever else is holding them back.

 

[eddieroolz]

There's probably nothing wrong with it, but I still think this is just a dirty money grab.

 

[precariousgray]

[citation][nom]adillhoff[/nom]Need more nerds with GEDs to comment about how Geek Squad is bad.[/citation]
Why not marginalize the entire service sector with your "holier-than-thou" attitude while you're at it?

Disclaimer: your statement does not apply to me.

 

[bhaberle]

I think they are a rip off but that was a good response to all the negative publicity about it.

 

[awood28211]

Sadly as a previous employee of bestbuy they offer silly services like this on tons of things. Here's one... installing the latest windows updates. while some users may struggle with doing it, when you turn on a new computer the windows setup advises you set your updates to automatic and if you follow the advice, it too will update itself like the ps3 does.. the services is very useful, however, for those who will not have internet access, a limited wireless broadband plan or dialup.

 

[dimcorner]

I worked for Best Buy (they paid for my college degree, including books) and at first I thought some of their charges were steep. I never told my people to force it on anyone, just "offer it" and if they say no, end of story. You would be surprised on how many people just can't do things on their own. I had to go to someone's house to set up their Xbox wireless connection and noticed that their wireless network was unsecured and at default. I offered them 2 choices.

1. Read the manual and follow SIMPLE direction on how to set it up. I told them it was simple and following the manual should do the trick.

2. Pay $50 for me to just add it on as an extra service.

They picked 2 even after I told them AGAIN it was really not that hard.

To some people this service is priced fine at $50 bucks if they don't have to deal with it.

As an example, I pulled the engine out of my Audi myself to replace the turbos. Would you pay someone $1500 for that service? It took me an entire day and I knew what I was doing. I can tell you it's simple because to me its just unbolting things and just reversing the process.

 

[braneman]

can I charge them $30 back for opening my door when they come?

 

[triculious]

[citation][nom]TommySch[/nom]Newegg, tigerdirect and others.[/citation]
don't know about you, but when I add a single item to my cart on any of those two sites (and many others, as well) they first show me a page offering me service plans and lot of other products and deals they have

again, it is as simple as saying "no"

and @dimcorner nailed it... even after telling people how to do the simplest of takss more often than not they will pay for someone else to do it... their 5 minutes are more valuable than 30 dollars

get yourself in BB's place... if people is willing to pay just to get retarded stuff done, wouldn't you collect the easy money? you will say 'of course not!', be indignated by it, say it's not ethical, it is immoral and you'd be absolutely right... but this is not something that is not as if BB is selling the PS3 with a 30 dollar extra charge because it updated the firmware without asking you first, the people who pays for it AGREE to it, they don't have a gun on their head

if you are a BB employee you could also experiment with this... explain to your customers how the update is done and then ask if they want to pay to get it done