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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

#351

Post by pm90 »

kop316 wrote: post #91
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…

I am curious how they are "very aggressive". What happens with me is they say "what is your phone number?" and I say "no thank you", and they just skip it. Though it may just be my experience with them. You are correct with the credit card, they will most likely track you, but you have the option to use cash if you wish.

The only way to be free from tracking is to:

1. Not provide your email address 2. Pay in Cash 3. Don't give your home address

That is literally the only way you can't be tracked. But there are so many times you are prompted to provide that information:

* would you like a receipt to be sent to your email address? * would you like to sign up for our debit card and get $40 in savings? * would you like us to home deliver this free accessory which is unfortunately not in stock at this time?

You have to have Stallman level of rigor if you are serious about not being tracked.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#352

Post by [deleted] »

foxhop wrote: post #324

I went to Best Buy recently on a whim to try and _not_ by something from Amazon. I had found a product on the Best Buy website, a $79 55-65 inch LCD/Plasma corner wall mount. So I drove to the store and looked for it. This was roughly 2 months after Christmas. The store had about 300 units of a $199.99 version and 0 units of any thing the below $150... I spent about 15 minutes looking for somebody to tell me what I a…

[deleted]

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#353

Post by ajross »

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…

> vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days

Where are you that this is true? This is directly opposite of my experience. I genuinely can't remember the last time a Prime/2-day shipment was delayed. In fact, I'll routinely and deliberately pay a premium to purchase something via Amazon Prime (both within Amazon and across internet vendors) precisely because of the confidence I have in their shipping reliability. No one else comes close, frankly.

That said, in fact I don't tend to buy BestBuy-style products at Amazon very often, precisely because these things are available at competetive prices at retail. Amazon wins for things I don't feel like "shopping" for.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#354

Post by twothamendment »

pasbesoin wrote: post #216
jurassic wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Bought a couple of fixed sleeve professional mechanical pencils from them. They came loose, along with another, much heavier item, in a box without padding. All just bouncing around against each other. Even when padding is put into a shipping box, often it's a rectangle or two of "air pillow" that doesn't come close to filling the free space. And/or some of the pillows are broken and deflated. I've become concerned a…

Amazon's packing skills have lead me to order in batches that I think will ship well together. Once I see that heavy item that is going to pound and smash the other items has shipped I'll order the rest. It is less than ideal, but as long as they suck at packing they can deal with two orders instead.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#355

Post by twothamendment »

3rdAccount wrote: post #254
kop316 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious how they are "very aggressive". What happens with me is they say "what is your phone number?" and I say "no thank you", and they just skip it. Though it may just be my experience with them. You are correct with the credit card, they will most likely track you, but you have the option to use cash if you wish.

Yea, I politely say no to everything. Boy, do they have a lot of questions though.

I love the puzzled looks of clerks when they ask for my phone number or address and I decline. I've only once had to resort to "I can make up a phone number if you really want one".

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#356

Post by 394549 »

ajross wrote: post #353
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…

> vs. Amazon's "two day shipping" that regularly turned into three or four days Where are you that this is true? This is directly opposite of my experience. I genuinely can't remember the last time a Prime/2-day shipment was delayed. In fact, I'll routinely and deliberately pay a premium to purchase something via Amazon Prime (both within Amazon and across internet vendors) precisely because of the confidence I have…

> Where are you that this is true? This is directly opposite of my experience. I genuinely can't remember the last time a Prime/2-day shipment was delayed.

It happens all the time where I live. It's also not uncommon for my Prime packages to get totally lost by Amazon Logistics (I've never had that happen with another courier). At least now they automatically cancel those orders, I previously used to have to call them to tell them what to do when they lost my packages.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#357

Post by twothamendment »

kop316 wrote: post #35
nicoburns wrote: post #19

Earlier 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…

I guess it depends on where you are. UPS is awesome where I am. They are always on time and have even called me to come meet them when they couldn't get up my road in the winter.

FedEx is hit and miss, depends on the contractor. One just stuffed a package in my mail box and marked it as delivered on my "Front Porch". My mail box is a mile away. Close, but no.

Amazon shipping - I hope it never expands to my area.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#358

Post by 394549 »

mgleason_3 wrote: post #255
tyu100 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is a small miracle. They stock everything, it comes right to your door, the prices are competitive in general and with Subscribe and Save you are doing even better. E-books are also incredible and with Prime you get Instant Video thrown in for free. I'm sure bad experiences happen but compared to driving to the big box suburban wasteland to browse through a limited selection, Amazon is a godesend.

In my experience, Best Buy’s return policy and process has been awful. Granted it’s been years because it was so bad. Literally the worst of any store I’ve ever shopped at. Last time I bought a router from them it was defective. I had to stand in line for over an hour. The clerk was surly and didn’t believe it was defective. Kept opening the box, pulling everything out, looking at all the pieces. Putting it all back.…

> In my experience, Best Buy’s return policy and process has been awful. Granted it’s been years because it was so bad. Literally the worst of any store I’ve ever shopped at.

Last few times I've had to return something to Best Buy, it's been pretty painless and quick. They know their competition is Amazon and one of its strengths is its return experience.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#359

Post by 394549 »

widowlark wrote: post #298
gamblor956 wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I exchanged an item at Best Buy about 2 months ago. Took about 5 minutes. Forgot my receipt, but they were able to find it with my cc. They opened up the box to make sure the original items were inside, and brought me a replacement while I was at the counter. Still not quite as good as Costco or REI, but at least with BB I know I'm getting the good I actually purchased and not some cheap Chinese knockoff.

Where are people getting all these chinese knock offs? I have never had this happen on Amazon I am curious what products people are getting

> Where are people getting all these chinese knock offs? I have never had this happen on Amazon I am curious what products people are getting

Here's a 1 TB microSD card [1]. No such product legitimately exists [2], so it must be a data-destroying counterfeit.

4.5 stars, $80.

That one was easy to spot, but it's my understanding that pretty much every MacBook charger on Amazon is a kock-off counterfeit [3]. They get the case perfect, but the electronics inside are a fire hazard [4].

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Wazzey-Micro-Memory-Adapter-1024GB/dp...

[2] https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/8/31/16232618/s...

[3] http://www.businessinsider.com/majority-apple-accessories-am...

[4] http://www.righto.com/2015/11/macbook-charger-teardown-surpr...

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#360

Post by mygo »

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…

I often times go to Amazon to read the reviews and then buy at Best Buy in person.

it’s also easy to do returns. walk in with product, leave with cash.

Also they can order products from other best buy’s, including geek squad certified open-box.

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