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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

#391

Post by jkchu »

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 feel like the main difference is not that the Best Buy stores have changed that much, it's more the dissemination of information has shifted so that the internet is where people are now discovering new products and toys. But I agree, I too have very fond memories of exploring the electronics section of stores.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#392

Post by emodendroket »

taeric wrote: post #390
emodendroket wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have gone back several times and seen different people and they shared the same observations about my gait and recommended the same kind of shoes, and what they told me seemed to be corroborated by things I read (though I would not have known what to look for before). More than one person told me that they noticed wearing the sneakers corrected my gait. Also my knees really hurt (as Abe Kobo writes in the Ark Sakur…

The question I have is essentially if the shoes you are wearing are better for most everyone. Most shoes are bought for fashion, not any sort of fit. As such, if someone is complaining about knees or any other walking pain, it is not impossible that the same shoe would help. That make sense? It could be that you just finally got ergonomic shoes. Consider people that have RSI and similar pains move to ergonomic keyboa…

Looking up "pronation" would probably be enough to convince you the answer to your question is no.

To stick with your RSI analogy, you're proposing that everyone with RSI could be cured by having a fixed desk with the monitor, chair, and keyboard tray at exactly the same height.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#393

Post by emodendroket »

acdha wrote: post #386
AlexandrB wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading something like this I have two thoughts: 1. Why would PC manufacturers de-value their own brand like this!? 2. It almost makes sense why Apple can get away with charging a premium. No mystery meat hardware/crapware regardless of retailer.

They don’t see it as devaluing — the people who buy the cheapest thing have very little loyalty, and everyone else isn’t buying the cheap, adware-subsidized models anyway. This explains the second part: it’s less that Apple charges a premium than that they don’t enter low-end segments. If you compare them to equivalent quality PCs (Surface, Signature edition, etc.) there’s not much of a difference. Most business buye…

I think the market is more of a gradient and less of a clear bifurcation between budget and premium. If you are spending around a thousand dollars, you are not getting a top-of-the-line PC and there likely is some less egregious bundled software on it, but it's not bottom-of-the-barrel either.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#394

Post by mimimihaha »

michaelmrose wrote: post #382
mimimihaha wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah. When you get flagged in their system it’s pretty brutal. But you have to be extremely malicious to have it happen to you. Especially if you have a strong background with the company (member for many year + prime member for many years). Not only will they black list your address but every address on the account you own, meaning if you sent your friends a gift from amazon they will not longer be able to use am…

You make a very strong statement regarding a data point of one, that is to say yourself. Immediately thereafter you list a way you can get flagged through no fault of your own because a friend who was flagged shipped things your your address as a gift. I don't want to have to establish a strong background of years of membership in order not to get treated like trash. I'm not interviewing for a job or a date I just wa…

Haha, I did a lot of research back in the day when I first started using prime to make sure that all the crap I received that I believed warranted a return wouldn't have my account banned. I wasn't just using my own experiences, but my research experience as well. I do agree with the rest of your statement though. Although if you ran Amazon you'd probably have to also agree with banning people that take extreme advantage of the system (obviously extreme, not semi-advantaging the system). Unlike Walmart or Best Buy, when you return things to Amazon you also have to account for shipping to and from the customer. I understand why Amazon does it-- if even 0.5% of the Amazon population took advantage it would be ridiculously unprofitable for Amazon to be running.

Now the fact that they sell fake crap and expect people not to use the return policy is obviously ridiculous. If you're going to continue selling fake crap, then you better be willing to allow people to return that fake crap without consequences. So I definitely agree with your point.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#395

Post by larkeith »

pm90 wrote: post #351
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.

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…

...or you pay with card, politely decline a membership and email receipt, and provide a trivial amount of tracking data compared to the amount Amazon gets from you merely visiting a product's page.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#396

Post by pm90 »

larkeith wrote: post #395
pm90 wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

...or you pay with card, politely decline a membership and email receipt, and provide a trivial amount of tracking data compared to the amount Amazon gets from you merely visiting a product's page.

Isn't your credit card information something that can be used to determine your identity?

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#397

Post by gamblor956 »

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

Lower-cost electronics, mostly, and toys. So: memory cards, USB and power cables, batteries, etc. That's all stuff I now buy at Best Buy. I've purchased my last 3 TVs from Best Buy; and generally any purchase that I need to play with before fulling the trigger, like cameras.

Also: anything food-related that's by a major brand (like Oxo or Rubbermaid) I buy from a local store, as a lot of the Chinese Alibrands don't comply with FDA requirements but are advertised as if they were.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#398

Post by eblanshey »

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…

Didn't know they price-matched Amazon, thanks for pointing it out.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#399

Post by larkeith »

Cd00d wrote: post #332
kchoudhu wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cash is still a thing.

You need to turn off bluetooth on your phone too.

Huh, I wonder if that means you should disable WiFi discovery too.

Never thought I'd be that glad to be in the habit of mobile data only (not that there aren't problems there too...)

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#400

Post by sungx105 »

sokoloff wrote: post #348
kop316 wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did that for me a couple of times, but what started to happen is packages were mark delivered, then not be there. I complained to Amazon, who gave me the run around (and kept it open), so when it came a day later, there was all the sudden no issue.

Write them anyway. I’ve had that BS, usually from USPS or UPS Mail Innovations (which is horrific service), and a quick email to CS gets me the credit (money or a month of Prime).

I think it depends who reviews the complaints. Every single time I've responded, my complaint (which I always word calmly, non-aggressively, and politely) are met with the response that "2-day shipping only guarantees that the package ships to your nearest Amazon warehouse within 2 days. The actual delivery time can vary, and while it is typical that the delivery will arrive on the same day it arrives at the warehouse, there's no guarantee." And nothing more. Well, one time I was offered a $5 credit. But that's the most I've ever been offered.
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