This is topic Best Buy or Circuit City in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 11-11-2004, 10:50 AM:
 
I have a chance to be seasonal at both said places, same pay, same chance to stay on staff. It's a second job for the holidays, and I plan on using the discounts. Anyone here have experience(s) with either place? Know anyone that has? I have 12 hours to decide....I do plan on staying on as booth supervisor at my current job though, so this is a 20 hour/week 2nd job.....Thanks
 

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Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 11-11-2004, 01:48 PM:
 
Hey Dean, check out www.bestbuysux.org and read some of the employee responses there. It might change your mind about BB. Personally, I think the MAJOR difference with employment is that Circuit City has commissioned sales whereas BB does not.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-11-2004, 04:45 PM:
 
Either way you are condemned to sell Monster Cables®. I just love it when some moron tells me that the Monster Cable® brand of an optical toslink cable is way better because it has better shielding. REALLY? Hmmm, I didn't know that optical cables were susceptible to RF interference! Wow! There is no difference between a $10 optical cable and a $900 Monster optical cable of the same length if you plan to just hook it up and let it be. The data either gets there or it doesn't.
 

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Posted by Barry Martin (Member # 1376) on 11-11-2004, 05:04 PM:
 
Circuit City is no longer commission, they cancelled that out in 2003 I believe. I worked for Best Buy for a while and there are ups and downs like any large employer. They were by far the best retail experience I ever had, but that could have just been my general manager and the managers under him and the friends I made on the regular staff. I've pretty much sworn off Circuit for years because of the way they shafted my mother on the washer/dryer she bought with their extended warranty, and we both fought with them over it and got nowhere.

Discount was killer at Best Buy, don't know about Circuits, but Best Buy was cost so if you are getting a part time for holiday shopping, BB could be good for that reason too. No matter which you go with it's going to be the people you work with that make the biggest difference in how much you enjoy going to work, I might even suggest walking around both stores for an hour or so and talking to staff, just get a feel for them.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-11-2004, 06:18 PM:
 
If you work for Best Buy, don't forget to harrass customers about PSP's (their "warranties"). If the customer doesn't want the warranty, then it is best to have them leave the store empty handed. And be sure to tell the customers that they should buy the warranties because their purchased item WILL break! I love it when they try to sell me warranties for video game controllers, claiming that they WILL break. I guess Best Buy only sells shoddy merchandise.
 

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Posted by Joshua Waaland (Member # 287) on 11-11-2004, 08:04 PM:
 
Joe,

I am with you. We went to Circuit City looking for a Big Screen tv and the guy there wasn't pushy at all. Then we went to Best Buy to compare and the guy there told us that same old warranty crap. He insisted that the guns would need aligned after a year and that it was a certainty that one would go bad and they would have to change all three for $200 each. He said that the $200 was the cost to Best Buy. Oh Really?! Well then how would you benefit from selling me a warranty for $300 when you are certain that it will eventually cost you $600? Do you really think I am that stupid? He had my wife sold on it and I told him he was full of brown stuff. He gave me this disastisfied look then his boss came over and they double-teamed me. I asked my wife to remember the last time she had a tv break. She said never and I said exactly. They also tried that crap about needing a Monster Cable Noise filter at $150 to make the picture better. Whatever!

I told the salesman that I wasn't stupid and I knew that was where they made all their money. Imagine all the people that these guys sucker every day. How do they sleep at night? I can tell you that every time I fell for one of those warranties when I was younger, I never used them. Then the 1-2 times I actually tried to it didn't cover squat.

So in closing......sorry to get off topic.........work there if you want to make some major electronics purchases for cheap but don't screw people over with those stupid warranties. I had a friend that worked there and he couldn't stand it.
 

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Posted by Erica Peterson (Member # 1784) on 11-11-2004, 09:22 PM:
 
If you're thinking of working (or shopping) at Best Buy, you may want to read this:
Best Buy hopes to exorcize devil patrons (arstechnica.com) and the original article about Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson here (wsj.com, free this week only)
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 11-11-2004, 09:52 PM:
 
I can't even count the number of times I have been screwed by Best Buy. From computers, to graphics cards, to scratched CDs and DVDs (do they repackage returns??) to rebates that never came (or came unfulfilled and said I never sent in the UPC or whatever) to something as simple as 2x DVD-R discs that weren't really 2x. They probably have a file 3" thick of my returns!

A couple of the returns were directly related to idiot salespeople. "YES this computer HAS AN AGP SLOT!" -- I get it home, open it to put the card in... no AGP slot. But I bought the computer as a package, so I had to return *everything*

There are the pushy salespeople that try to sell you stuff you don't want (undoubtedly trained to do so, because they don't work on commission) and then there are those that seem like they won't help you unless you're buying something from them personally. It's happened more than once where a salesperson went to get something for me, disappeared, only for me to find him helping someone else.

I haven't been to a Circuit City in a long time since there aren't many nearby me. But my family used to buy a lot from them back home and everyone there was quite helpful and we never had problems with the merchandise. (Still have the TV we bought in 1989!)

So yeah, go Circuit City. Even though Best Buy is the "hip" place to shop since they pump the store full of repetitive bass. That shit is like the mantra of the decade.

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-11-2004, 10:35 PM:
 
I like Circuit City's return policy and they all seem relaxed and aren't pushing me like crazy. I'd never buy anything major from Best Buy anyway because their selection sucks ass. Also like I said, they'd rather you not buy from them than buy something without a warranty. But try this: if you are buying a TV, just happen to mention that you repair TVs for a living. When they try to sell you the warranty and tell you that it WILL break, you can say that: #1 you repair TVs for a living and you have never seen nor heard of any of the outrageous claims they make about TVs breaking and #2 it's easier and cheaper for you to order the parts and fix it yourself, so why would you need Best Buy? One other thing you can do is when you are looking at that particular model, mention that you repair TVs for a living and you like this one so much because it has never broken down for anybody ever. The Best Buy employee will be stumped at how to sell you the warranty. You can do this just for fun even if you don't plan on buying anything. It's fun to screw with their minds, as their employees are "less than people" and have obviously sacrificed their rights just by choosing to work there.

If they wanted to be treated with dignity, they wouldn't work for Best Buy.
 

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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 11-12-2004, 12:09 AM:
 
yeah, the discounts are around the same....but people are telling me that BB's are better. But, they actually don't have ANY A/V equipment that I want....circuit city on the other hand sells brands I like.....

I still don't know though
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-12-2004, 12:21 AM:
 
I bet Best Buy even pushes the warranties on their insipid employees when they buy stuff. If they don't buy the warranties, then they get fired!

Just remember: Best Buy employees are LESS THAN PEOPLE!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-12-2004, 01:05 AM:
 
Joe, I think they have a store policy where they have to push the warranty at least three times or they will get fired if a mystery shopper catches them. The last time I was in a Best Buy (maybe the last time ever) I asked the pushy salesguy how many times he had to upsell me to that warranty policy before he met quota. He just stared at me all confused as I said "twice???" "Three times???" Then he nodded and seemed embarassed.

That's of course no excuse, but I think that's why they do it. If I ever go back into a Best Buy, I think as soon as the guy mentions the warranty I will scream at the top of my lungs "NO NO NO" then "there, does that meet your quota for pushing the warranty, or do I need to say no a few more times?"
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-12-2004, 01:54 AM:
 
I have used Joe's strategy, "I fix the damn things." Which for TVs was true. But I applied that line to other things too, like my first CD player, which I bought from Federated (you SoCalians remember them?). Federated had an aggressive extended warranty sales policy too. After telling the increasingly irate yet condescending salesman "no" for some umteenth time he was literally foaming at the mouth and demanded, "You have to tell me why you won't buy the extended warranty!"

I pulled out my Hughes Space and Communications employee badge (which was instantly recognizable and quite prestigious in the South Bay back in the day) with it's distinctive red Secret Clearance border and replied, "I work on lasers every day in my lab. If this thing dies after the factory warranty does, I'll fix it myself." Which was definitely not true (I was a spacecraft guy ). Oh but to see the look on the guy's face at that point--he knew he'd been beaten. I just love popping people's balloons.

As for BB vs. CC, I've sworn to never buy anything from CC here in 'Vegas, again due to very aggressive sales tactics. At the BBs here I've not been pressured to buy their coverage. Of course they always ask at checkout, but I always say "no" and that's the end of it. They've never tried to push it on me with repeated requests here.
 

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Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 11-12-2004, 06:58 AM:
 
isn't this kind of like at the theater when you try to upsell everyone and then find a bunch of half-full containers left in the theater?

upselling is, in most instances, rude. and wasteful.

carl
 

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Posted by Chris Medley (Member # 2145) on 11-12-2004, 07:34 AM:
 
I feel totally differently, I went to Best Buy and Circuit City to look for a Palm. I knew what I wanted, but i wanted to know more before I could make a choice. I stood in front of the display with the Palms for 10 minutes when I finally walked up to one of the salesman and asked for some help. He went to get someone and returned ten minutes later to tell me that the only girl that works in the department is on lunch and so none of them know enough to answer my questions. I ask to speak to the General Manager and he is out of the building, so I ask to speak to an Assistant. This guy walks up and says he is the Manager so I ask him to answer my questions, but he can't..The GENERAL MANAGER of the store can not even answer some basic questions about the features. I was beyond pissed and this guy knew it. He apologized for not having the answers, but I had now been there for forty-five minutes and I just gave up and went to best buy. I knew what I wanted and the guy there could answer all my questions. I dropped $500 there for a palm and some other stuff I needed for my computer and I was happy to do so, because they could answer my questions and not give me any BS. plus they didn't point to the most expensive one when I asked.
 

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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 11-12-2004, 10:47 AM:
 
BB gives their employees huge discounts on the warranties...when my g/f worked there she got a warranty for her digital camera for $4....it broke a year later, she took it back and got a new one on the spot....not a bad idea to me
 

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Posted by Chris Erwin (Member # 176) on 11-12-2004, 11:22 AM:
 
CC has changed it's tune with their newer stores. I was at a couple in the early 90's and it was upsell city, bait and switch and other at all cost tactics. The new stores are great and I think they've got BB beat in the A/V selection.
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 11-12-2004, 11:39 AM:
 
Is there some new policy at Best Buy now where they ask you for your phone number upon checkout? This is almost as bad as Radio Shack... I'm buying a $0.75 coupler, you don't need my phone number!!

Anyway, at Best Buy I was buying some DVDs and after ringing me up the girl asked for my phone number. (And no, it wasn't because I was the hhhhottest man in the store at the time, she asked the two people before me, too) So I said, "Do I have to?" and she said No, so I didn't. She stood there and stared at me for a few seconds before saying, "Well, I have to put SOMETHING in, so can you just make one up?" I told her, "No. That would be fraud." so she punched in some numbers herself and gave me my receipt.

I wonder if I worked retail, and asked people for their social security number after taking an imprint of their credit card on those old carbon-paper machines, if they'd be ready and willing to give up that information.

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 11-12-2004, 11:56 AM:
 
A few years ago I got letter from my bank reminding me that VISA rules prohibit retailers from requiring a phone number as a condition for the use of the card.

The reasoning, as stated in the letter, was that my bank was issuing me credit, not the store, and they felt it was a security breach.

Every now and again, I get a persitant checkout person, and we eventually get to the manager who ok's the transaction without a phone number.

/Mitchell
 

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Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 11-12-2004, 12:49 PM:
 
Never forget Circus City's DIVX fiasco! These were DVD's competition where you bought a disc for $4.49 and you could play it for 48 hours, then if you wanted to play it after that your machine would charge your credit card for another 48-hour period. They hoped these would take over the home-video market and everything would be on a pay-per-use basis. Their salespeople were forced to hard-sell the system on all their customers, and tell them lies like the Star Wars movies would be coming out exclusively on DIVX.
 

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Posted by Barry Martin (Member # 1376) on 11-12-2004, 02:10 PM:
 
Okay, as far as the pushy sales tactics, yes they are trained to overcome ONE objection. Meaning, they mention it, you say no, they ask why, and re-pitch based on that. There are some instances I agree with service plans and some I don't. They do cover things that can happen no matter how good the product is (power surge, pixels dying (especially on LCD or plasma), etc.) and it's nice for a person to be able to come in with a completely destroyed product, get a credit in the original purchase price, and buy something new with probably better features for less money! I don't know how you got so lucky with game controllers Joe, I've broken at least one for every system that has come out since the original Nintendo and am about to replace my PS2 (hopefully with PS3) since my L2 button no longer works right.

Yes, I worked for BB so am a bit biased, and yes, I did see people going over the edge about attatchments, but that is not what the company wants. At least, that is not what my GM expected of us. He wanted us to ask/mention and explain why the person MIGHT want the attachment (cables, service, installation, etc.) If they said no, okay, it was no. Employees are not responsible for selling it, they are responsible for mentioning it.

There were days where we didn't meet our goals but that our managers/supervisors were walking around and saw/heard the staff being friendly, greeting, and mentioning (NOT pushing) attatchments and we still got a "good job" at our nightly meeting for doing the job right. I guess I wanted to post again because I never judge an entire company by my one experience with one store in one department with one employee. It's just like theaters, one in the chain may have a crappy care-nothing "usher-b" and the other may have a top-notch quality first PROJECTIONIST. One theater in the chain may have a "ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT A LARGE? WHY NOT?!?!" concessionist and another may have the "How can I help you today? Medium? The large is a better value for you and your 12 children, it's twice as much for only 25 cents more, I can give you extra cups if you like."

It's always about the people you hire, and there is no interview/application/training process that will filter out even 50% of the non-desireables. It's up to the interviewer and how they feel about the person, and that interviewer has to be someone who cares too. I'm not saying most every post against BB or CC in this thread is without it's merit, and if I had those experiences I might not go back either, just saying I don't know what the circumstances were and trying to clear up what the company wants from what I was told/taught/practiced. I mentioned before that I had bad experience with CC and have not returned since, that is because I had to deal with the employees, the manager, the GM, and corporate and despite having everything in writing they still refused to help.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-12-2004, 05:37 PM:
 
You must be unlucky with your game controllers, Barry, because they really don't break unless you toss them around. And then I don't think they'd accept a twisted controller in many pieces for an exchange (when I bust a controller, I make sure to do a good job). They all are usually pretty robust unless you buy 3rd party controllers. Blech.
 

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Posted by Barry Martin (Member # 1376) on 11-12-2004, 11:05 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

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3rd party controllers

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Yeah I learned that lesson well with PSone, got a MadCatz. Lasted me maybe 50-60 days. I guess I could just be overusing my controllers, or at least I did before I got the wife and kids which provide much more quality distractions. My main trouble with the PS2 controllers have been related to them responding to degrees of pressure, meaning the harder you press it the more the controller responds. The button still WORKS, but doesn't work well when being pressed lightly (to peer over things and what-not) so Best Buy will replace it. That was the 2 year replacement plan (much better than service plans) and they just replace the whole box when one thing stops working. So I can use the semi-broken controller as an excuse to replace the whole PS2. Even better, I bought that PS2 (no discount) and the replacement plan and only paid 10 bucks for the plan (normally 25) I just hope they release the PS3 before my plan expires in January.

quote: Joe Redifer

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(when I bust a controller, I make sure to do a good job).

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No need to say it Joe, I know that when you do something you go all the way, no half-assing it. I would expect your returns come back run over by Mack trucks, stinking of dirty toilet, and WITHOUT a receipt.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-13-2004, 12:09 AM:
 
I once twisted a Gamecube controller in half over a game of F-Zero. I don't like PS2 games that use pressure sensitive buttons. Annoying.

One thing I did at Best Buy was to buy a certain component A/V switch (8 component inputs, 1 out, 3 of them with TOS-link digial audio inputs, 1 out). It cost $100 at Best Buy, but I didn't know if the switch would be of high quality of not, so I didn't want to buy it at the place that sold it for $80 that didn't accept returns. I think Best Buy only matches advertised prices, so it would probably be hard for me to get them to match their price. So I just bought the thing at Best Buy, and it turned out to be a pretty good piece of equipment after testing it for a few days. I then went and bought the one for $80 at the other store, brought it home, took the new one out of its box and put it in the Best Buy box and took it back to Best Buy and got my $100 back. I just told them it didn't meet my high quality expectations. A lot of work to save $20, but worth it since the lower priced store didn't accept returns or advertise their price on the item.
 

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Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 11-13-2004, 11:55 AM:
 
But Barry, from what I have seen, the BB that you worked at does not seem to be as pushy as most. I don't know if it is because you guys were always so busy or understaffed but everytime I needed help I had to go search out an employee. There were times I waited in line for products at the cell phone and camera counters for over 40 minutes (yes I timed it, I'm not exaggerating). When I finally did get a person they did always ask if I wanted the extras.

When I've gone into other BB's in New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Wisconsin they were on you the minute you walk into the door. You could easily spend 15 minutes in the store and have 10 sales people come over asking if you need help, especially in Green Bay, they are by far the worst! It is so annoying.

Because of this I would much rather shop in the BB that you worked at, then again when you needed help, it took way to long. I actually remember trying to get help from you on a digital camera I was buying...I couldn't catch you!
 

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 11-13-2004, 12:55 PM:
 
Rachel,

Simple solution for the 'at the door attack' is to look them in the eye an dtell them that when you need them, you'll let them know.

I'm not fond of sales staff. Allow me to look. DO not try and 'sell' me something. I came into your store knowing what your products are, give me the common courtesy of being a support person rather than an over aggresive hawker...
 

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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 11-13-2004, 04:16 PM:
 
in case anyone was wondering...I chose Circuit City. I went for orientation yesterday and mgmt. was really nice. They actually seemed to be appreciative that I wanted to work there and whatnot. Way nicer than BB, and less pushy and more relaxed/chill.

Joe, now I can get MONSTER SUPER THX GOLD ULTRA PREMIUM Cable for you.....
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-13-2004, 05:55 PM:
 
Yes, unfortunately Circuit City only sells Monster Cable. What is up with MC? They are monopolizing the market. It's getting harder and harder to find cables that cost half the price of Monster and are just as good if not better!
 

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Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 11-13-2004, 08:23 PM:
 

quote: Chris Medley

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The GENERAL MANAGER of the store can not even answer some basic questions about the features.

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You can't fault the GM for not knowing everything about every product in the store. They sell thousands of items, from car stereos to washing machines. If they're not staffed (and adequately covered during breaks) with knowledgeable people, thats one issue. But pulling a guy who's main job is probably accounting and delegation to ask specifics about a palm is a bit overly optimistic.

Anyway, congrats on the position Dean.

 

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Posted by Barry Martin (Member # 1376) on 11-14-2004, 12:36 AM:
 
Hey Rachel, bout time you said "hey" to me. Thought maybe because we both moved to different states we had nothing to talk about any more. Anyways, you are right about the staffing, we could never get enough people and you know what the large pool of job-seekers is like in that area, LOTS of people who have no common courtesy or manners or self-motivation. Not to mention working there is hard if you are in a specific department and know NOTHING about it. This came up when I was asked to move to Car Audio. I really do know NOTHING about it. I spent some time doing web searches and talking to some installers to get an idea of what brands to recommend and mostly memorizing features so if someone came in asking for MP3 capable or something I wouldn't be looking around like a damned fool. As for the camera, you're better off with me running by you, trust me. Appliances, cameras/camcorders, and wireless (cell phones/PDA's) were my departments I would immediately page for help. I was and still am clueless about them. I have yet to buy a major appliance in life (all my apartments have come with them) and have not purchased a cell phone (crappy credit helps there) or a camera (waiting for someone to buy as a gift ) The way I sold most of my service/replacement plans was the power surge coverage. You would NOT believe how many people told me the reason they were buying a new *whatever* was because their house was struck by lightning and blew it! I mean at least 2-3/week, if not more! I started getting really nervous when electrical storms came by.
 

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Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 11-15-2004, 01:33 AM:
 

quote:

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Is there some new policy at Best Buy now where they ask you for your phone number upon checkout? This is almost as bad as Radio Shack

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