This company is has been nicknamed "The Electronic Nazzies" by those of use who know better than to patron their stores.
Best Buy clames that sales people are no instructed to "lead" or use high pitch sales strategies, however, this is not the case. I don't know what incentive Best Buy employees have, but they do "lead" people into buying things they do not need [or] things they 'should' not need.
Almost every item over $100 has a pamphlet near buy explaining the benifits of their "warranty" or "extended warranty" program. Unlike other retail stores that will happly replace items (so long as you are not constantly returning) that are 'defective' [notice: not damaged, but defective]. At Best Buy, you are, in many cases, limited to only a two to four week period for items to fail before they are considered "as is" or under "factory warrany" without a previously stated "extended warranty" otherwise known as a "service plan".
Items are priced on shelf to compete against online purchases and department stores like Walmart (for example). But, Best Buy is more expensive unless you want to gamble. When you add the price of the "service plan" and the price on the lable, you find you are paying more than other stores or online.
Sales people stress that "purchases online are not safe" neglecting to include the word "some" as in "SOME purchases online are not safe" scaring people (like my mother) into purchasing from their 'safe' store.
*Note: if you compare serial/model numbers on products from many stores, you will find that they are individual to each store. Conspiracy? *
After a product like a computer, monitor, printer or other higher priced electronic appliance has been decided upon, the "scare tactics" continue.
—Individual Case—
51 year old woman decided on a decent enough laptop for use in her home. The laptop fits her budget 'including' the "service plan", however, the sale is not over. The words "come with me" are used and the woman is 'lead' to the battery backup or UPS section of the computer department.in this area UPSs are box advertised as insuring computers and other devices for up to $XXXX (wich is a very gray area indeed (personal experiance). The UPSs are quite expensive and, though there are "surge protectors" with the same insurance, the woman is, again, led to purchase a UPS (battery backup).
At this point the woman, being educated in both formal study AND massive life experiance, comes to a quick discovery in her own mind: 'why is this person trying to sell me a battery backup on a laptop that has a battery built in?'.
This seems too silly to be true, but experiment with this on your own. You will find yourself walking out of the store spending more money than you had planed, because many people are intimidated by computer electronics and want some assurance that, no matter what they do, they are not going to "screw up their new computer". Best Buy uses this fear and charges you for it.in my experiance and personal observation of others close to me, items purchased at Best Buy last just as long and in many cases much, much less than items purchased at department stores. There ARE safe companies to purchase from online (ROR REDACTED COMPETITORS NAME) and, in my opinion, more so than at a store where a 'human you don't know' physically touches your credit card.
If you are not fully knowledgeable about computer electronics, take someone who is with you if you plan on purchasing from Best Buy.
*Note: most of us who do know will direct you away from Best Buy "The Electronic Nazzies" and have for years.*
Michael
Springfield, Missouri
U.S.A.
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