Best Buy sucks ... focused on the wrong things

Submitted by Patrick Grote on Wed, 02/15/2006 - 2:40pm.

I like Best Buy. I think they're a great place to find quick computer items and entertainment products. Sure, they have a limited selection and their terms of sale are rigid, but for the most part they do the job.

I am not a Barry. That's the typical person Best Buy really wants to sell to. Best Buy changed their sales and marketing programs to focus on people like him. He is a "affluent tech enthusiast." I read that to be a wealthy cutting edge person. I am a cutting edge person, but within reason. I'm more like Ray. The price conscious family guy. The tightwad.

Although Best Buy isn't looking at me as their prime customer, they do focus on what I like. They have non-commissioned sales people who leave me alone. Most of the time.

I go to Best Buy for three reasons:

To buy something. This is when I know what I want and I'm just looking it. I walk in, look at my choices then buy it.
To dream. I haven't made the leap to HD, flat panel, LCD or plasma. For some reason I get a kick out of looking at the $5,000 TVs and thinking, "College education for the daughter or the love of HD."
To research something. I'm not going to buy anything, but I will eventually. More than likely I'll buy it from Amazon, but I want to go into a Best Buy and look at it first.

My last sales experience in a Best Buy was over the weekend and a young man asked me four times if he could help me. Four times in different areas of the store. The third time I asked why he was following me. The fourth time I told him I'd have to start following him.

I've also had issues with their sales approach to extended warranties, but in the last year that's become very low pressure. They ask. I say no. They move on. What's funny now is that they want to sell me magazines when I checkout. They offer something like a free month for a magazine.

What is irritating about the magazine sales is that I have no interest in subscribing to them. None. Why does Best Buy do this? To make money? I can't imagine they make much money off magazine subscriptions. Why don't they pitch me something useful?

But, you may ask, "How do they know what is useful to you?" Their Rewards Program. We're members and each time we go they scan our card. They know what we buy. What we want. Why not have their sales associate tell me that they have a sale going on something I can use?

Anyway, Best Buy is fine for me, but for some others it's not. In researching how Best Buy sells to people I came across Best Buy Sucks. I read through some of the letters and would agree with a few of the folks. Best Buy can be very infuriating to deal with at times, but in the end they usually make things right.

What is interesting about the Best Buy Sucks site is that they publish pro-Best Buy letters as well. Imagine that ... fair time for Best Buy.