Best Buy: We're No Longer The Authority in Electronics

[exfileme]

Best Buy is facing reality: Apple and Amazon has kicked its ass.

Best Buy: We're No Longer The Authority in Electronics : Read more

 

[XmortisX]

Don't forget Microcenter, Newegg, Ebay....list goes on. Best Buy should've went out of biz a long...long time ago. Worst Customer Service, misleading/uniformed employees and"geek squad"
is a joke within a joke.

 

[fazers_on_stun]

Hmm, I was at the local BB just yesterday looking for a 50' ethernet cable. Passed by about a dozen salespeople, not one of whom asked me if I needed assistance finding anything. Even Home Depot salespeople will ask to help you nowadays..

 

[jacobdrj]

Well, prices hurt BB... But the truth of the matter is, the majority of impulse buyer/browsers would have eaten the price difference. But the customer support and customer experience is so bad at BB...
You are treated like an idiot. You are told blatant lies about products. If you don't figure out these lies on your own, your 'techie friend' will make sure to let you know, and show you how to save 25% at the same time...
BB has had a bad attitude and I am surprised they have been in business as long as they have.
I tell people, if you want to go to a big box store, go to WalMart first. They don't know anything about tech, there stuff isn't as good, but they don't lie about it either, and their prices are better on similar products...

 

[gmarsack]

It's sad but true. I personally only go to best buy when I have an emergency purchase, say a hard drive or a cake of blank DVD's. Why would I bother paying more when I can go online?

 

[matt_b]

You really have to feel sorry for both Circuit City and Best Buy:

No, no I don't. I never had a problem with Circuit City personally, but Best Buy always seemed to play follow the leader (locally at least). They've always been decent about price matching, but all of the good deals and customer service (this one has always been questionable though) took a nose dive ever CC closed up. I'm a hypocrite when it comes to purchases, I like seeing things in person, but cannot afford to dismiss online pricing. In the case of Best Buy, I save a TON of money with online retailers. The only way I'll "begin" to feel sorry is if they change their ways a bit. When you have a near-monopoly at a time when your main competition closes shop, don't act like it. Perhaps others have had different experiences...........

 

[CaedenV]

[citation][nom]gmarsack[/nom] or a cake of blank DVD's.[/citation]
.... mmmm cake

 

[XmortisX]

[citation][nom]gmarsack[/nom]It's sad but true. I personally only go to best buy when I have an emergency purchase, say a hard drive or a cake of blank DVD's. Why would I bother paying more when I can go online?[/citation]

There are times when I get so disgusted with BB I'd rather order online and wait 3-4 days then to deal with them.

 

[Guest]

The only people who still shop at these stores are the baby boomer generation and the elderly. Whenever I'm in BB, I rarely ever see mid 20-30 something's. It's always old people.

 

[Guest]

Amazon and the likes may be getting in their pants but no business survives with rude uninformed employees, and a consistent history of treating their consumers like thieves…

 

[belardo]

While many people do buy online - the STORE is needed to compare the products, see the screen quality, etc. The PROBLEM for Best Buy is that they become the Store Front to Amazon / Newegg in which people will then go online to buy after checking out the physical product. If Best Buy goes... who becomes the show-room? WalMart?

Now best buy knows how it feels to be hurt by another business. Before BB, there were far more small stores selling electronics. Federated, Best, name-brand TV stores (Magnovox, Curtis Mathews? etc) and so on. Best buy has owned the home electronics market for over 10 years.

Oh well...

 

[thebigt42]

both Circuit City and Best Buy: they were the place to go for anything related to electronics But Apple and Amazon have seemingly killed all of that.
I could not disagree more...They did it to themselves. I stopped shopping in those stores years ago because they were technically inept. No BB is trying to sell coffee and irons and hair care crap. They did not stick to there core.

 

[xenol]

*Sigh* As much as I think Best Buy is shady, I really don't want brick and mortar electronic shops to go out of style. I really don't like shopping for handheld devices, displays, and audio systems if I can't go to the store and try them out for myself.

 

[ahnilated]

Best Buy was never an Authority on anything. 98% of their stuff is crap and 95% of their people don't know crap.

 

[Dyseman]

Pretty soon Internet businesses will kill every job out there except Delivery and Food Joints.

Net killed the book stores (People out of work in Sales, Production, Logging etc.Jobs gone) Net killed the Record stores (Jobs gone). Killing retail (Jobs gone). Video Stores.

So, the world needs to rethink how the economy will work after Automated Online Retailers soak up all $$. Everyone can't work for Fast Food, grocery stores and Delivery drivers.

 

[Guest]

Maybe with all the retail jobs out of the way, people can go back to actually MAKING THINGS.

 

[crewton]

I work in the energy field People need electricity to access the interwebs!

 

[mayne92]

I could care less for Best Buy. Their "support" staff is a joke and their prices are too high.

 

[killerb255]

[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]While many people do buy online - the STORE is needed to compare the products, see the screen quality, etc. The PROBLEM for Best Buy is that they become the Store Front to Amazon / Newegg in which people will then go online to buy after checking out the physical product. If Best Buy goes... who becomes the show-room? WalMart?[/citation]

Fry's and Micro Center.

 

[sporkimus]

For me, I make purchases for large or expensive items at a physical store versus online. The reason being is that if someone goes wrong with it, I don't want to deal with shipping it back and having to wait. If it needs to be replaced because it's dead/etc, I want that replacement ASAP. I don't have that luxury when ordering from Amazon/etc; overnight is the best I can do, but then I'm forced to pay even more for it. Also, when it comes to products, I enjoy doing my research online, but still being able to see the products in person. You can only gather so much info from reading about them online. Some products sound great on paper/websites, but when you see/use them in person, that's when you get your true opinion.

I will admit that their employees are severly lacking in the technical department. They will try to sell you anything as long as they can convice you that you somehow need it. I consider myself fortunate that I have knowledge of such stuff and can tell them that I don't need whatever it is that they are trying to sell me. All that I expect from their staff is to tell me where their products are located within the store.