Complaint Review: BEST BUY - BROOKPARK hio

Best Buy has been flouting that their employees work non comission ever since CC decided to can their comissioned workforce. When I worked for Best Buy, it was instilled in all of the sales associated to make sure your customers knew you weret on comission. That way, they'd trust you were working to make them happy and not just sell them things. Thing is, we WERE on comission. FOR OUR JOBS. If our performance waned on the sale of fluff items like $60 ink cartridges, $300 service plans, $35 USB cables etc. it would show up in "the numbers." Then we would have our supervisors and management breathing down our necks. The funniest thing of all? Management gets BONUSES based upon these numbers. THATS JUST COMISSION FOR MANIPULATING YOUR SUBORDINATES INTO SELLING CRAP! So management gets rewarded for good performance, and people like me got a nice pat on the back for getting them more money. What a system they have worked out. Too bad so many BBY employees have no idea. GLAD TO BE GONE!

i am an employee at a best buy location and i do have to say that i too have been into some crappy stores as well, but as an employee, not all stores are that bad. yes, some managment act like they need to be slapped sometimes, but many of the stores are very good at customer service, getting you the right stuff the first time. alot of the understaffing is due to poor managment, so please do not hold the employees accountable for those screw-up. talk to the managment calmly, and try not to make threats, and they will be more than willing to help..just a tip.

This report got off track. The original complaint was about the return policy. I don't side with Best Buy, but also consider that the complaint was about a RETURN shortly after CHRISTMAS! The poster needed to have a little patience. The other comments here about employees lying about products or suggesting a more expensive option than a cheaper one. This is what businesses do. I think it's important that consumers realize when they make a major purchase, such as a computer, they should do their own research. You should walk into the store KNOWING what you like, what you need, and what you can afford. When you buy a car you should know what kind you're looking for, what options you want, and what options you need. Apply the same general principal to all purchases. One thing I am always sure to do is to ask salesmen questions I already KNOW the answers to in order to see if they really know what they're talking about.

I just got hired by Best Buy What did anyone else start at? I am feeling underpaid for my qualifications. Also what is the easiest position??

1. yes we are understaffed. thats because we employ 16-20 year olds that want a paycheck and when they are asked to do their job they feel like it is too much and quit. 2. 30% of the employee's in every store are there to be your "smart friend" the rest are there to kiss a*s and get promoted and to be honest...selling PSP, Acc, and product is how that happens. 3. probably 75% of all best buy managers have been in retail for an average of 5-10 years. that long in retail is enough to make you commit murder. retail is the shittiest working enviroment there is, if you havent ever worked in it, DO NOT b***h at me for not being the "heppiest little ray of sunshine you have ever seen" while i am selling you your product. 4. there are certin things that are expected of employee's in every job. best buy just expects you to make them money. if best buy wasnt the best they wouldnt be the #1 consumer electronics store in the world would they? its just like wal mart, they are so big they someone, somewhere is going to find something to b***h about. get over it will ya? 5. we offer the best product first....its called Best, Better, Good. if you choose not to buy the best we will sell you something else. if you choose to buy a $25 dollar dvd player...please dont come to me in 2 months complaining that it doesnt work. there are cheaply made products out there for a reason, it's because there are morons out there that are convinced they can buy a quality product for next to nothing. truth is, in most electronics, you get what you pay for. 6. last one and i am done, do not call up to your store asking for model numbers and prices on all of our stuff. i cannot count the times that i have gotten people that want me to list them ALL of our 25"-36" tvs, model numbers and prices. that is Bs and all i will tell you is we carry several different models and the range from 150$ to 500$. get internet access or a car is all i have to say about that. that is why half the time we are not "thrilled" to see you when you walk in. we just got off the phone with someone thinking we are QVC. most of the bad customer service you get....is because we just got off the phone with someone like you, bitching because their 25$ dvd player that they bought over christmas broke and they think we should give them a new one and take their old one back w/out any parts or a reciept. that is also why we have so many open items w/o parts. nobody brings them back! in short, check your own attitude before you complain about ours.

The comparison between Best Buy and Circuit City regarding commissioned sales no longer applies. Several weeks ago CC fired a number of employees and recinded their sales commission policy. BB and CC now employ hourly employees to serve you better(?). I worked for BB several years ago after retiring from a career in radio. I had always wanted to do retail and I love electronics so I applied and was hired. During my training period (oh yes, right) I was told to sell the "complete solution" including a psp (a warrenty which should be included in the price of the item from the factory). No pressure, just "offer" it to the customer at least 3 times during your pitch, oh, and be sure to tell them we aren't commissioned here so our only interest is to provide the customer with the product and accessories they need. It sounds great but you soon learn that if you don't sell a certain number of psp's a week you get to come in after closing on Sunday night, whether you worked that day or not, for "further training". If your numbers don't pick up they threaten you with your job. I have a Master's Degree and many years of successful employment behind me and they threatened to fire an 8 dollar an hour employee if my numbers weren't where they should be. By the way, those numbers were arbitrary and no set standard was ever arrived at or communicated. To be fair, I knew what the salary was before I accepted the job. I felt insulted though because a man with my experience and concern for customers was threatened in such childish way. If they had fired me it would have meant nothing except that I have pride in my work and i really enjoyed most of my coworkers and customers. I worked my way up quickly from part-time to Senior and then to Dept. Supervisor and I really enjoyed my job. What ended it for me was the business of the psp's. Remember the little "repair policy" we were encouraged to "offer" with each product sold? Customers would return to the store with defective products present their psp and be told at the service desk that they had "abused" the product or some other excuse not to honor it. In short, many of these people believed me when I told them thy would be covered if problems arose. They came looking for me madder than hell telling me I had made a promise and they believed me. In some cases it felt as though my personal honor was on the line. More times than not the customers were entitled to service they did not receive and they looked to me to make it right. I did when appropriate and got into trouble for it a number of times. The problems with BB are as follows. 1. They hire what they can get for 7-12 dollars an hour. A certain number of their people are wonderful but they soon burn out and quit. Many times what's left is the dregs. 2. BB doesn't train their people worth flip. There's a lot of on the job training going on at every level every day. Formal training costs money and their turn over is too high to invest in the hiring of good people and proper training. That's why you get the goofy gum smacking teen aged girl with eighty seven rings in their left ear that don't care if you leave happy or not. 3. The electronics industry runs on a tight margin and competition is cut-throat. They make lots of profit on their psp's. That's why they push them so hard but they make very little on their dvds and cds. The theft rate on these items costs them big money too. 4. No matter what BB says they run on the old "if you throw enough against the wall a certain percentage will stick" theory. They are so big they wouldn't know there was a problem unless sales fell dramatically. Even then they would have no idea why. 5. Management doesn't really care if you come back, as long as you buy something today (with a psp of course). 6. There are never enough sales people at BB stores to help you because they schedule people on a computer model of customer shopping patterns so if they happen to have a really busy Monday night the customer is just gonna have to be r-e-a-l patient. It's one way they control costs. Face it folks, a lot of this stuff happens because we let them get away with it. If enough people stopped shopping there they would go crazy with high level corporate stuff trying to figure what's the prob. Customer service is simply a concept they say they are wedded to but are really willing to forgo for higher profits. A couple of quick points I would like to bring up in BB's favor. In the late 80's before they came to town (yours, mine, anyone's) cd's were $18.99 ...everywhere. BB brought the price down and forced everyone else (except mall stores) to do the same thing. Yes, even before Wal-Mart got to be on every corner. BB did this in several other product areas too. We owe them for that. It's true, prices are going up again but BB's margin hasn't changed, it the record companies trying to recover insane costs involved with keeping "artists" signed and happy. By the way, Circuit City is in trouble. Several years ago they bet the farm on this Divix DVD rental system and lost their collective butts when people went w-h-a-t?! Buy a dvd, it plays three times then I gotta call an 800 number and pay to recharge it? Too much thinking involved, or maybe the idea sucked to enough folks that Divix died a hard death and CC stock was mortally wounded. CC has recently laid off bunch of their commissioned people you know, the expensive ones who knew what the hell they were doing. There's blood in the water CC's future is way up in the air. This is the bottom line. Do your home work. Know the most you can learn about the type of product you are in the market for before you go to the store. Know what accessories you need before you shop. Do not assume your sales person knows anything even if they act as if they do. DVD player shopping? If they don't know DTS from Dolby 5.1 they probably can't answer you other questions either. Do your homework! It's your money.

The comparison between Best Buy and Circuit City regarding commissioned sales no longer applies. Several weeks ago CC fired a number of employees and recinded their sales commission policy. BB and CC now employ hourly employees to serve you better(?). I worked for BB several years ago after retiring from a career in radio. I had always wanted to do retail and I love electronics so I applied and was hired. During my training period (oh yes, right) I was told to sell the "complete solution" including a psp (a warrenty which should be included in the price of the item from the factory). No pressure, just "offer" it to the customer at least 3 times during your pitch, oh, and be sure to tell them we aren't commissioned here so our only interest is to provide the customer with the product and accessories they need. It sounds great but you soon learn that if you don't sell a certain number of psp's a week you get to come in after closing on Sunday night, whether you worked that day or not, for "further training". If your numbers don't pick up they threaten you with your job. I have a Master's Degree and many years of successful employment behind me and they threatened to fire an 8 dollar an hour employee if my numbers weren't where they should be. By the way, those numbers were arbitrary and no set standard was ever arrived at or communicated. To be fair, I knew what the salary was before I accepted the job. I felt insulted though because a man with my experience and concern for customers was threatened in such childish way. If they had fired me it would have meant nothing except that I have pride in my work and i really enjoyed most of my coworkers and customers. I worked my way up quickly from part-time to Senior and then to Dept. Supervisor and I really enjoyed my job. What ended it for me was the business of the psp's. Remember the little "repair policy" we were encouraged to "offer" with each product sold? Customers would return to the store with defective products present their psp and be told at the service desk that they had "abused" the product or some other excuse not to honor it. In short, many of these people believed me when I told them thy would be covered if problems arose. They came looking for me madder than hell telling me I had made a promise and they believed me. In some cases it felt as though my personal honor was on the line. More times than not the customers were entitled to service they did not receive and they looked to me to make it right. I did when appropriate and got into trouble for it a number of times. The problems with BB are as follows. 1. They hire what they can get for 7-12 dollars an hour. A certain number of their people are wonderful but they soon burn out and quit. Many times what's left is the dregs. 2. BB doesn't train their people worth flip. There's a lot of on the job training going on at every level every day. Formal training costs money and their turn over is too high to invest in the hiring of good people and proper training. That's why you get the goofy gum smacking teen aged girl with eighty seven rings in their left ear that don't care if you leave happy or not. 3. The electronics industry runs on a tight margin and competition is cut-throat. They make lots of profit on their psp's. That's why they push them so hard but they make very little on their dvds and cds. The theft rate on these items costs them big money too. 4. No matter what BB says they run on the old "if you throw enough against the wall a certain percentage will stick" theory. They are so big they wouldn't know there was a problem unless sales fell dramatically. Even then they would have no idea why. 5. Management doesn't really care if you come back, as long as you buy something today (with a psp of course). 6. There are never enough sales people at BB stores to help you because they schedule people on a computer model of customer shopping patterns so if they happen to have a really busy Monday night the customer is just gonna have to be r-e-a-l patient. It's one way they control costs. Face it folks, a lot of this stuff happens because we let them get away with it. If enough people stopped shopping there they would go crazy with high level corporate stuff trying to figure what's the prob. Customer service is simply a concept they say they are wedded to but are really willing to forgo for higher profits. A couple of quick points I would like to bring up in BB's favor. In the late 80's before they came to town (yours, mine, anyone's) cd's were $18.99 ...everywhere. BB brought the price down and forced everyone else (except mall stores) to do the same thing. Yes, even before Wal-Mart got to be on every corner. BB did this in several other product areas too. We owe them for that. It's true, prices are going up again but BB's margin hasn't changed, it the record companies trying to recover insane costs involved with keeping "artists" signed and happy. By the way, Circuit City is in trouble. Several years ago they bet the farm on this Divix DVD rental system and lost their collective butts when people went w-h-a-t?! Buy a dvd, it plays three times then I gotta call an 800 number and pay to recharge it? Too much thinking involved, or maybe the idea sucked to enough folks that Divix died a hard death and CC stock was mortally wounded. CC has recently laid off bunch of their commissioned people you know, the expensive ones who knew what the hell they were doing. There's blood in the water CC's future is way up in the air. This is the bottom line. Do your home work. Know the most you can learn about the type of product you are in the market for before you go to the store. Know what accessories you need before you shop. Do not assume your sales person knows anything even if they act as if they do. DVD player shopping? If they don't know DTS from Dolby 5.1 they probably can't answer you other questions either. Do your homework! It's your money.

I have worked at Best Buy for a little over a year and am currently a senior in PCHO (computers). You know what, it's not a perfect job, and there are some policies I disagree with and wish I could change, but you know what! I'm not the CEO, I can't make those decisions; the only one I can make is to do my job, and do it well, or go somewhere else. Simple as that, which is why it annoys me to hear people complain about their jobs they're still working at. If you hate it, quit and go somewhere else. Regarding the claims of bad customer service -- they're somewhat true and somewhat not. There is no business in the world that offers perfect customer service. Everyday I see both sides of the story -- customers who rave and compliment Best Buy all over the place, and others who yell and scream and curse the day Best Buy became a business. Simply put, you can't please all of the people all of the time. Granted, we are going to make mistakes and sometimes not present the attitude we should with customers (please remember, we are human and have our bad days too >:-), but with the rate Best Buy is growing and the amount of money we're making, we must be doing something right. Lastly, the pushing of PSP's and Accessories on customers. Let me make this simple. Yes, those things make us the most money, and yes, we are paid to push them, but I can honestly say that no one in my store has oversold a customer on what they "need". If you buy a computer, then you're gonna need printer cables, some kind of power strip/battery back up, ink, paper, etc. and if you're like me, you want the best, so we're going to offer you the best first . . . if you don't want it, then we'll downgrade, but if something breaks or doesn't work just "perfect" when you aren't using the best products we recommend, don't complain to me, YOU decided to go with a product of lower quality. Oh, and while sometimes PSP's don't make sense ($49.99 4 year plan on a $59.99 DVD player, for instance), they are worth it. I buy them on everything I get because I've had stuff break and it's nice to know that if that $10,000 TV (not what I bought, just an example >:-) goes out, you can get it fixed for free instead of either buying a new one or paying hundreds of dollars to have someone work on it. I know that not all Best Buys are run as well, nor have the excellent staff that my store has, and I apologize for the other stores that aren't doing their job correctly, but don't d**n a whole company because one store messed things up. Come to my store one time and I GUARANTEE that you'll leave happy and with everything you need, not what we WANT you to have.

When I began working at Best Buy it seemed like a really customer oriented based company. We were trained to be the customers smart friend and only get what they need. Little did I know that this would soon change. I work in computers and part of the "complete solution" that they like to call it for computers is a battery backup. For most computers it is ok just to get the backup that is around $60 and this is what I did for a while because I was doing like I was trained by getting the customer what he/she needed. Shortly after this I was bitched at by my supervisor for selling this product over the $180 UPS (uninteruptible power supply) to the customer over the $60 unit which is all the customer needed. I was later informed that all of my training had been a myth. Best Buy is a number driven store just like any other company and I was told on several occasions that if I didn't start performing and meeting the higher numbers I could easily be replaced with someone that will. This is total bs, first we brainwash the customer by telling them that they are on non-commission so they belive us and buy what we tell them to and then they brainwash their own employees telling us at first that we are need to be the customers smart friend and educate them on what they need. Where do we draw the line on this matter. The sad part is Best Buy is extremely succesful corporation but when it comes down to it they really aren't customer oriented like they should be. They will discourage sales that don't have the PSP (performance serive plan) and accessories and even though they [managers and supervisors] don't directly tell you to walk a customer they don't frown if the customers leave unhappy with nothing because they didn't drop our prcious numbers. And if you are wondering, the goal for computers is 12% PSP revenue and 18% accessories revenue. So if you were to buy $1000 in computers they will make sure you have at least $180 dollars in accessories. I don't know what to do, I am just so frustrated with this company right now because in the beginning I really thought this was a different retail company but in actuallity it isn't; It is just number driven like any other store except we get less pay for it and your job threatened and the constant fear and truth that you can and eventually will be replaced when you hit that slump of no performance.

I am truely sorry to hear that you had a bad experience at a best buy store. I absolutely love my job but can honestly say that not all best buys are that way. Regardless of how angry you may have been toward the manager you still should have been treated with kindness and respect. I implore that you not let your bad experience spoil your outlook toward the company and hope that you give best buy another chance to impress you. My suggestion to you would be to report your concerns to either the general manager at that store or a different manager than whom you spoke with. While I can understand him explaining to you to wait in line after all the people in front of you were waiting longer, he should have apologized for the wait and tried to help speed things along. I honestly think and hope that this was an isolated incendent. I am working at a new store and what they have been telling us over and over again is that customer service must come first at our store. After all without our customers there is no store. I just wanted to say that I am sorry to hear that you weren't treated like gold and hope that you will be next time if you can find a way to give us another chance.

I am currently an employee of over 4 years for Best Buy. I absolutely LOVE my job for Best Buy although I have seen several things that should be changed and would make it a better place to shop. I also buy alot of products from Best Buy and I am a FULL believer in their Service Plans. It gives you so much coverage ranging from 2 - 5 years of coverage depending on the product. I have had 2 computers replaced, a stereo replaced, 4 cell phones, 2 cordless phones and a refrigerator all because of the "No Lemon Clause" on their Service Plan. The Manufacturer would not have done this. Also, as far as understaffing, well #1 we all know that Best Buy is in it to make money so by understaffing they obviously make more money which is what it's all about. How many places can you tell me that you shop that actually is staffed up to par? #2 we are not on commission for a reason, this way we can be the "Smart Friend" to the customer and get them only what they "Need" and nothing more. There's no need to oversell or push a more expensive unit on you that you don't need just to put more money in our pocket. #3 of course there's pressure to sell the Service Plan and Accessories but we won't deny the product if you don't buy them. You would actually be fired if you were "caught" doing this. Also remember, we sell the Service Plans and Accessories to MAKE MONEY and that's where the money is. #4 you don't have to call or write the district office. Simply call 1-800-369-5050. It's the direct line to the Consumer Relations Dept and they can even conference call the store management you are dealing with to resolve the issues, I have even participated in some of these calls. Although I work there and I love it, there are things that need to be fixed as with any work place and sometimes the "pressure" to buy Service Plans and Accessories is greater than it should be but it's all about the money, right? Thanks, Callie

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report: Their email: [email protected] Their name: charlie Their relationship to the company: Devotee Rebuttal: im currently a supervisor for best buy, and i do agree that best buy does understaff the stores.i thought my store was the only one,but it seems like every store i go into,its like that.??hmMMMMMMMMMMMMM? im not sure why...........maybe to save money in payroll.but also sacrifising customer service...............bad for biz....................................

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: [email protected]
Their name: Chris Allen

Their relationship to the company: Advocate

Rebuttal:
The servise plan at Best Buy means EVERYTHING. Thay will tell you the product is not in stock if you are not buying the "PSP" or performance servise plan. The prseure from the managers is crazy. Try going to Best Buy and say "I would like to purchase three of this high end laptop with no servise plan and no accessorys". This is A Best Buy nightmare!!! It will throw the persentage off by so much the store will be in A panic.
Thay will do all thay can NOT to sell you the laptops buy saying things like... "No Stock" - "I will discount the laptop via price match by $ 200.00"(AKA Packing) - "You can find this laptop at Comp USA". I know this as A former employee in CA. There is never adiquate staff!!!! I just got A check from them from A lawsuite for ripping off employes via working off
the clock with no pay. Thay get A lot of pressure from the corporate office to keep down labor cost.

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: [email protected]
Their name: Cerise

Their relationship to the company: Supporter

Rebuttal:
My husband is a manager and I am an ex-employee. In defense of Best Buy, not all stores are like that. It isn't Best Buy's fault some managers hired some idiots. The reason their usually understaffed is because most people think it's an easy job, then they realize it's not as easy as it looks and quit.

I'm from Tennessee and I have to say, most stores up north have crappy customer service any way. Blame the people, not the company. I suggest calling the store an politely telling them you would like the number or address to their district office. They have to give it to you.

One more thing, if you are calm while talking to the district manager it will be a lot easier and the problem will get solved. If people get mad and stop shopping there it doesn't fix anything. The company needs to be told what is going wrong in which store so they can fix it. If no customers are complaing they think everything is okay.

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their name: Vincent

Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion

Rebuttal:
Actually, I'm a disgrunteled employee of Best Buy, twice. That's just the way the store is ran. They make their money by understaffing employees and they pay them anywhere between 7 bucks an hour up to 11 bucks an hour (at least in the Oregon area). It is a totally non commisioned store, BUT the
supervisions hit bonuses and so do the managers. Another way Best Buy makes money are the service plans. DO NOT BUY THE SERVICE PLANS.

The employees will say ANYTHING to get you to buy it (remember they are not on commision, they even state it in their presentation of the service plan).

Some employees will try to persuade you not to buy the products if you don't buy the service plan. The managers on the other hand are very unprofessional. They like to hire them off the streets I believe... At least in this Area, especially the one out at the airport, one of the General managers is a dipshit. Have any more questions about how best buy sucks.