I buy big ticket items at BestBuy it's much saner for returns
Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
41–50 of 468 posts
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#42I can't speak for the Geek Squad (as I have never needed to use them), but they price match to Amazon (and several other online stores), and will generally have what I am looking for (at least for consumer electronics). I know that I will get it that day (vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days) at an Amazon price, it will certainly NOT be a counterfeit, and I don't have to give…
Lately my items generally show up on time but badly packaged. I would say 9 of the last 10 books I bought on Amazon have had some kind of visible damage, from minor cover dings to folded covers and ripped pages. The worst is when they put a single book into a bubble envelope that is so oversized the book can slide around and rotate a full 360 degrees inside the packaging. This is essentially a trade paperback book in an evvelope large enough to hold a textbook. I have avoided returns because I don’t want to get banned from Amazon over my satisfaction with a $12 book (they are known to fire customers with too many returns), but I have started purchasing the books I want that I see in indie shops at full list just to avoid this disappointing experience.
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#43When I go in Best Buy, the only people in there are old Boomers and boy do they love Best Buy and talking to the workers there. That generation has nothing but problems with their devices, it's like a mini game for them.
> That generation has nothing but problems with their devices, it's like a mini game for them. This isn't a generational thing. I know folks from all generations who have trouble with technology. Sometimes this is because things really are broken. It's not like a lot of things are high quality. Sometimes it's because stuff is hard to use. For those of us in tech we have a higher tolerance for learning pain and have e…
agreed. MOST people don't know much about technology. I'm 44 and teach at a community college. I have 17 year olds (taking dual credit classes for high school) and 60 year olds. Most of them don't know how to use computers well and I can't assume that someone will or won't because of age. The problems they have do tend to be generational - younger people tend to do most things on phones and don't know how to use a mouse and keyboard-based computer efficiently (so few of them ever maximize the browser window. I don't know how they work that way) while older people tend to have problems with things like getting connected to the school wifi.
I cringe at the tech issues I see daily regardless of age. They are mostly small things and not earth shattering but it proves that "digital natives" are not computer experts.
Example:I give them a link to something and I've gotten in the habit of making sure to just post news.ycombinator.com and not https://news.ycombinator.com because so many of them don't know you normally don't need to type https:// or a www.
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#44I can't speak for the Geek Squad (as I have never needed to use them), but they price match to Amazon (and several other online stores), and will generally have what I am looking for (at least for consumer electronics). I know that I will get it that day (vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days) at an Amazon price, it will certainly NOT be a counterfeit, and I don't have to give…
> vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days I find this experience interesting. Here in the UK amazon offers next day delivery (and in same cases, same day delivery), and often delivers next day even when they don't claim they will. I have had problems with counterfeits though.
I reliably get stuff in 2 days, but I live near Boston.
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#45Like most Americans I order a shitload from Amazon. However the last item I bought from Best Buy was a TV (my old LG just ... died). Ordered online, chose to pick up in store. Drive 35 min to store Pickup process takes 10-15 min Drive 35 min home. Left after dinner, was watching it that evening. The only condition that would have prevented me from using this model would be traffic, as it could extend the trip by 60-9…
I ordered a TV from Amazon. They use a third party service that schedules delivery with you. Two dudes came out with TV, unboxed and set it up (put on stand, plugged in power to verify its working). A few days after delivery I noticed a red line running along the top of the screen. Contacted Amazon about replacement. There was some issue with doing a direct replacement so they had me purchase another TV and then refu…
Did you pay extra to have it unboxed and turned on? How much was the TV? I'm wondering at what level, or price they offer this service? The TV I purchased was not expensive, and the Amazon alternative was one of their "house brands" with Alexa integrated so I wonder if they'd provide the same level of service.
Did they schedule the delivery with you or did they just show up?
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#46I can't speak for the Geek Squad (as I have never needed to use them), but they price match to Amazon (and several other online stores), and will generally have what I am looking for (at least for consumer electronics). I know that I will get it that day (vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days) at an Amazon price, it will certainly NOT be a counterfeit, and I don't have to give…
> vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days I find this experience interesting. Here in the UK amazon offers next day delivery (and in same cases, same day delivery), and often delivers next day even when they don't claim they will. I have had problems with counterfeits though.
There are states in India that are bigger than UK. USA is 3 times as large as India.
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#47I will pop into best buy from time to time to see if there are any good open box items or any cheap blurays. I am always amazed that they continue to give as much floor space as they do to appliances. I guess they have good profit margins and someone must be buying them to keep offering them?
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#48Up until a year ago I didn't do much shopping at Best Buy but now I do a bunch. What changed? I got a PS4 last year and joined their Gamers Club Unlocked program. $30 for 2 years and I get 20% off all games (new/used/pre-ordered) as well as double Best Buy points on games/gaming accessories. I also can get $10 gift card for pre-ordering certain games (which would still be 20% off). So for FIFA 19, I preordered and saved 20% off list price and then will be getting a $10 Best Buy credit on my account once the game is shipped to me. Oh yea, they will ship the game to my house for free too.
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
> vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days I find this experience interesting. Here in the UK amazon offers next day delivery (and in same cases, same day delivery), and often delivers next day even when they don't claim they will. I have had problems with counterfeits though.
From observing comments here, it seems to be regional and dependent on the carrier. In my experience it has been the USPS (though I am sure people in other regions will say UPPS is fine, but UPS is bad, or FedEx is bad). When I saw that Amazon was shipping via USPS, I automatically knew not to bother to check for it until at least the third day of the "two day" shipping. What was even more annoying is half the time i…
Interesting in the UK they have their own courier who tend to be better than the rest, until it goes wrong that is. Then its a pain in the arse.
Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon
#50Why should it be dead? Poor management and bad money practices of some other competitors does not mean the retail segment is dead. Just that over leveraged companies are risky. No?
I guess those failing managers have been successful in casting their failures as inevitable.