I was an employee at store 389 in Lithonia, Georgia. I was one of the first employees that this store had. W set up the store basically from the ground up. We installed shelves and put up product among other things.
During our daily meetings before we opened the store we were given the reason that this particular store exsisted. We were told that our purpose was to make the community go broke. I should have took that as a warning and left then. But I stayed.
We would work very long hours because people were constantly leaving the company and they had no one to fill these positions. Then problems started throughout the company. When we opened the doors to the store the customers came in hoards. Our managers were all new and had no clue what to do so mostly we operated on wings and prayers.
We started being told to sell more PSP and PRP to the customers because that got us a bigger bonus check because we did not receive commission. Well everyday that we did not sell enough we got yelled at like little kids because we didn't try hard enough.
Well I worked in the computers section and I would tell the people the honest truth about our products. E machines are called boomerangs for a reason, they always come back because they will not work right. HP is about the best one but make sure you buy the lowest price one and then buy the accessories yourself and install them, it's much cheaper and you get rebates. Sony's are the best but if you don't need it then don't buy it because they are expensive. And unless you are a game wizard then never even look at the alienware. Now the PSP. I believe that you should always buy one because I think that if you spend $700 on a computer then you can figure out three different ways to break a computer in 3 years to get a new one. And in the end all you have to spend is another $200 for another PSP. But that is of course if you just have to buy a computer from best buy.
Well after we were up and running some of the employees (all african american) started to notice our hours dwindling away. We also noticed that the one Caucasian (who was also fooling around with a manager) started getting a lot of hours. As we brought this to their attention in the office they said that the computer does the scheduling. Then they add "if you look at your schedule and see a star over your time then a person put in your time". Low and behold, on our time sheets we all had a star over the 4-8 hours that we had each week. And of course over his times for everyday of the week he had a star. So he gets 20-30 hours per week and we each get about 5 average.
I might not have said that he went to school during the day and did not get out until 4 pm. His school was 45 minutes away in traffic and he asked that he not be on the schedule until 5:30 pm each day during the week. But every weekday that h was on the schedule he was supposed to be there at 3 and 4 pm. How can that be? Of course my co-workers were scared to say something but I was not raised to stand by and take it.
I went to management they said that it was computer error. Just wait and it will work itself out. It never did and in the mean while he continually showed up late (about 5:30) and was never cited or repremanded. But if one of us was 30 seconds late we got wrote up. So I don't see a change happening so I contact HR.
Every thing I told my HR rep got the response of "i know her and she wouldn't do that" she was referring to the young lady that did the time. So then I called an independent complaint company that best buy uses. They never called me back. I finally got put on bed rest and had to stay out of work for 3 weeks. During that time I kept in contact with them so as to do everything I was supposed to do to keep my job. They assured me that all was ok.
While I was gone every member of management lost their positions and were replaced with less competent idiots that knew less than the first bunch. My point is that these people had done vaious things like stael money (sent to another store), sex on property (sent to another store), receive constant complaints from employees and customers (sent to another store and given better position). Why were they not being fired? Since the company does not tolerate anyone that operates outside company policy. Ut one young lady let her cousin purchase a refrigerator using her discount and she got fired, the police were sent to her home, and she was sued for the difference in the price.
So when I was ready to come back I spoke with a asst manager about my job and he said come back next week and we will put you on schedule. The next week he tried getting me on but the schedule girl would not put me on until HR told her to do so. So HR told the store manager that it was at his discretion. So sine I had been that squeaky wheel before he did not want me to work there under him. So they stalled me about coming back till they found a clause saying that I had to fill out medical paperwork saying that I was going on medical leave. Now as much contact as I had with them and asking if there was anything else that i had to do why was this just now coming up. So I was released from my position.
I said all this to say if they treat their employees like crap what makes you think that a customer is going to get better treatment. All they want is your money and they will tell you anything to get it. Please be aware that you need to read everything they put in front of you and read it carefully. They make money off of you because you don't think you have time to read the fine print. If you don't have that time then come back when you do. Never rush through a purchase. It is your money.
And about those PSP and PRP sales, they told us that the markup on those are so high almost 80%. So If you purchas a PRP for 26.00 then an employee can get it at 4.00 and that's at cost plus 5%. Those USB cables are like $4.00 for an emplyee and you pay $20 retail. Just letting you see how much they love you as a customer.
Detail
Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.
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