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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

#411

Post by jrnichols »

btrettel wrote: post #373
alexisnorman wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have had so many of these "free one-month extensions" from late Prime packages that I currently have six months of Prime membership credits applied to my account. I've been joking lately that if I were to actually pay for 2 day shipping, I'd get my package on-time.

I cancelled Prime because far too many orders would not come in on time. They kept giving me free months of Prime, but eventually I started thinking I could do better than free months of bad service. I rarely ever buy anything from Amazon now unless I don't mind when the product comes in, the price is competitive, and the product is not the sort of thing which is often counterfeited. Their Amazon Basics brand frequen…

I'm trying to think of the last time I've had something not show up within 2-3 days. I suppose that this issue may vary quite a bit depending on where you live. I'm in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, and there are 6-8 large Amazon warehouses in this area alone, and Dallas itself is an Amazon Flex area.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#412

Post by jrnichols »

reaperducer wrote: post #118
sc00ty wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Yeah, lots of companies do this. Wal-mart is another one. My television comes with a built-in DVR in most stores. But I got it at Fry's, so it has a special SKU and the DVR disabled so it can't be price matched.

My recent experience trying to get Fry's to price match something on Amazon was horrible. It was a simple USB - Serial cable, and Fry's had it for about $9 more than Amazon. They (Fry's) insisted on factoring in sales tax and then calculated UPS 2nd day shipping, even when I told them I was already a Prime member, and then argued that it was their company policy. That was the last time I shopped at Fry's, and after 20 years of shopping there, I find myself unlikely to go back.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#413

Post by daveFNbuck »

mirthflat83 wrote: post #235
daveFNbuck wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best Buy also has a much nicer return experience if you have an issue with your purchase.

I haven't had a bad return experience with Amazon either though. Way more pleasant and hassle-free than other online retailers

I find having to mail a package to be a worse experience than just driving to a store. Also, Amazon doesn't have free returns for every return reason.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#414

Post by flerchin »

gshulegaard wrote: post #371
ajross wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I live in the Bay Area...I've had items be very delayed. Used to never have an issue, but recently (last 12 months or so) it seems like every other order has a delay of some sort (1 day or much longer). My favorite last experience was: - Amazon saying a package was delivered, it was not since I was at the delivery location... - Amazon sent me an e-mail the next day saying they were deeply sorry for losing my shipment…

So their gig driver delivered to the wrong house. Amazon figured it out, and reached out to make it right. That seems pretty decent customer service to me.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#415

Post by dplgk »

biggc wrote: post #281
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…

One issue I have with Amazon is the lack of a concrete return policy. I was looking in to order a relatively bulky item (soundbar) and I wasn't sure if I would like it. The best item-specific return policy information I could get was that I "may" have to pay for return shipping and that I "may" be charged a restocking fee. I went to a brick and mortar store instead, bought the same product for the same price with a w…

For things like that,I generally order from Target or Walmart so I can an return it, hassle free and no worry of shipping fees or damage on the way back.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#416

Post by gshulegaard »

flerchin wrote: post #414
gshulegaard wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the Bay Area...I've had items be very delayed. Used to never have an issue, but recently (last 12 months or so) it seems like every other order has a delay of some sort (1 day or much longer). My favorite last experience was: - Amazon saying a package was delivered, it was not since I was at the delivery location... - Amazon sent me an e-mail the next day saying they were deeply sorry for losing my shipment…

So their gig driver delivered to the wrong house. Amazon figured it out, and reached out to make it right. That seems pretty decent customer service to me.

Probably exactly what happened. Wasn't trying to make a negative stab at Amazon besides the fact their two day Prime deliveries have not been reliable for me recently (and it used to be very reliable). This is just one experience among others. Never had an issue for years...and then all of a sudden a number of mistimed deliveries or incorrect deliveries all around the same time.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#417

Post by Spooky23 »

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.…

I have a 10 minute rule. If I’m in line or get hassled for a return, I get chargeback. With Americans express, you can do it online from your phone with no hassle at all.

Most retail purchases can be returned via the credit card no problem.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#418

Post by Spooky23 »

mikec3010 wrote: post #208
octorian wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then you discovered that there were online vendors who sold that same stick of RAM for $22 + S/H. Back in those days, the price difference between stores and online/mail-order vendors was enormous. Mostly because the customer populations didn't overlap much, so they could get away with it. Also, the cost of shipping usually canceled out any cost/benefit with smaller items.

I was still much too naive about online orders back then. But you reminded me of the "rebates" fiasco. Remember those days? I once got my rebate rejected because I sent the original receipt and not a photocopy.

I worked at a CompUSA in college. Rebate rage was an incredible phenomena... I had a knife pulled on me once because of it in a return situation.

There was one crazy Packard Bell/AOL/Viewsonic rebate combo that was like $600. It had specific instructions that many people screwed up, and they were left with unreturnable (no bar code) crap gear. One guy got arrested for chaining himself to the bollards in front of the door in protest.

The amount of fraud these guys ran into was incredible too. We’d get raided by bus loads of Chinese people who would engage every employee while another crew cleaned out things like video cards and other small items. It was like a Viking raid. People would buy computers, print fake UPC/serial number stickers for rebates, strip the memory/disk and return them.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#419

Post by mkirschner »

jurassic wrote: post #42
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…

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…

Same experience here. I buy books from them frequently (Prime) and it's been years since they had proper packaging for books. It must save them time and money. I can't help but wonder if they're playing a numbers game, with a spreadsheet model showing it's more profitable to do it that way because "enough" customers will tolerate it and not demand an exchange. If a book arrives damaged I request an exchange, and have never had a problem doing that.

PS: Been reading HN for a while now. This is my first post.

Re: Best Buy Is Thriving in the Age of Amazon

#420

Post by x0x0 »

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

I told this story before, but I got a charger with a fake Intertek (an UL competitor) mark. Intertek had an alert on their site that this company just put their mark on a product. I told amazon cs and they refunded my money... but continued to sell the fraudulent product.

This was 2+ years ago and the last thing I will ever buy on amazon that uses electricity.

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