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Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

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Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#171

Post by ams6110 »

paulgb wrote: post #64
duxup wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a lot of "two day" Amazon shipping turn into 3 or 4... the arrival date even on Amazon will show in the past for a few days. What used to be a sure thing from Amazon, I now just think of as "maybe". Having said that the crazy mess (tiny isles and disorganized) and $20 USB cables were Best Buy stores made me give up on them a long time ago. I've visited a few times recently to hopefully get a look at some lap…

I almost bought a calendar on Prime today only to see that it "usually ships in 1-2 months(!)" Increasingly it feels like as a Prime subscriber I pay for shipping twice: once with my prime subscription, and a second time with the shipping cost built in to the price compared to other retailers. I ended up getting an equivalent item from Target, which ended up being cheaper even without "free" shipping.

I have seen the same thing, and I won't be renewing Prime when my current subscription expires. I mainly got it for the free 2-day shipping -- I very rarely use the Video or other services.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#172

Post by dropfrog »

But that call-in "customer support" is a deal killer. I made an online purchase, a cheap antenna (thank goodness). It arrived in a box with my address taped on it but with customized shirts inside. Boxes were damaged during shipping and when put back together, someone got my stuff and I got theirs. UPS - "it's not on us, contact Best Buy". So I decided to use this to test Best Buy's customer support. I call. Foreign accent. I explain very carefully, slowly, in detail. She didn't listen to a thing I said. Started asking questions that did not pertain to the situation whatsoever. More explanation. 10 minutes in. 15 minutes. Finally she says, oh, I have a tracking number right here and your new shipment is on its way! I said, give me the tracking number, a little surprised she found the solution so suddenly. She read it off. It was the identical tracking number of the damaged box I had just received, and UPS showed it delivered to my house already of course (the one with the shirts inside). Anything to get me off the line. I called her bluff and said "That's the same tracking number as the box that was already delivered and had shirts inside". She said "Well, it's not our responsibility anyway." Me, "goodbye". Only $15 (and 20 minutes of time) to determine to what extent Best Buy cares about customer support, and to guide my purchasing decisions accordingly.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#173

Post by sumobob »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #51

This is rather off-topic, but the only thing that saddens me about Best Buy is that it just doesn't feel the same walking in as it used to. I remember when I got my first job, at age 14, in 1998. I cut, baled, loaded, hauled, and stacked hay in a barn for a local farmer. It was extremely hot and tiring work for an overweight geek, but it paid better than anything else I could have gotten at that age - I was paid by t…

I had a very similar experience, replace baling hay with mowing lawns. I was an awkward shy homeschool kid but going into circuit city and getting that 32mb mp3 player on Black Friday made me feel like the coolest kid in the world.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#174

Post by ams6110 »

sc00ty wrote: post #60
kop316 wrote: post #10

I 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…

> but they price match to Amazon As long as the SKU matches. A lot of products tend to have a Best Buy specific SKU which prevents you from price matching on amazon, because amazon doesn't sell the same exact product. I had this happen a few years ago when purchasing a router.

It's in their interest to do it anyway. Going back 30 years to when I was into photography, the local camera stores had a huge problem with customers coming in, consulting on cameras or lenses or other stuff, and then buying from Adorama or another big mail-order house.

If Best Buy doesn't price-match, some people will browse at the store and then buy online wherever it's cheapest.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#175

Post by superflyguy »

kss238 wrote: post #156
sonnyblarney wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because without quotes it would just be improper English and poor grammar; 'same day' is a term, not proper language. I would have to write "It would be nice to get stuff without waiting" or "nice to get stuff on the same day that I purchased" etc..

Or you could write "same-day"?

Yes, 'same day' and "same-day" both convey the same meaning.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#176

Post by superflyguy »

reaperducer wrote: post #106
sonnyblarney wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't have to give my information so I don't feel like I am being tracked." Uhhh, you for sure will. First - BB is very aggressive on getting this stuff from you cleanly, i.e. name, addy, phone number - so they can 'track you'. Second - VISA/MC transactions will absolutely be used for that and they'll try to match up their in-store with online experiences. FYI - Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction da…

Visa/MC/Amex will literally sell your transaction data to almost anyone There was an article linked on HN last year which indicated that Google gets 80% of all card transactions. My guess is that it's more by now.

"gets"? You mean processes? Or obtains, like from buying the information, reading emails etc?

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#177

Post by tjr »

dropfrog wrote: post #172

But that call-in "customer support" is a deal killer. I made an online purchase, a cheap antenna (thank goodness). It arrived in a box with my address taped on it but with customized shirts inside. Boxes were damaged during shipping and when put back together, someone got my stuff and I got theirs. UPS - "it's not on us, contact Best Buy". So I decided to use this to test Best Buy's customer support. I call. Foreign…

So somewhere, perhaps, somebody who was expecting a box of customized shirts received a cheap antenna?

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#179

Post by ocdtrekkie »

Best Buy often has competitively priced weekly sales that beat Amazon regularly and they'll price match the rest. Their free shipping offer is reasonable, and in store pickup and return offer a huge advantage Amazon can't match for near instant transactions at nationwide scale. (Arguably, same day shipping offers at Amazon are close, but those are only in a few localities.)

I'm not surprised they're doing okay, especially since a lot of their retail competitors in the electronics, appliance, and movie businesses have closed up shop. Physical retail will always have a certain draw, when the market for it is reducing, you just need to outlast your competitors.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#180

Post by superflyguy »

scarface74 wrote: post #121
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought my last Macbook Pro from Best Buy. I had just moved and still had a coupon. No crapware to be found.

Apple products never have third party crapware. I was referring to Windows computers

You don't need third party crap when you're getting a machine with Apple Maps and iTunes. Don't Microsoft make it easy to remove all the crap ware these days?
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