Worst Buy: Best Buy Confirms It Has Secret Web Site

[hebroncougar]

Actually, Best Buy does not have commissioned sales people. They only ask about the warranty at the check out counter by the cashier. One of the basic business principles of Best Buy is that they DON'T push people hard to buy the warranties and they don't want pushy sales people. Circuit City is the opposite. They have people who are commissioned and are pushed and pushed and pushed to sell the warranties. Selling warranties at Circuit City is more important than the item itself. Trust me, I used to work in the business. One of the reasons Best Buy has been so successful is because it's the place you can go without being hounded by pushy salesmen and without having your arm twisted into buying the warranties. The problem at Best Buy is that it's darn near impossible to get any help if you need it. At Cirtuit City, you have a sales person assigned to you th second you walk into the store.

BTW, when I worked in the business, you could earn up to 30% on the extended warranties (we called it cheese).

Now that makes you sound like you work at Best Buy.

[MrCinatit]

I would be very surprised if I found out Best Buy was the only retailer with a "secret" site.

[pedro]

Now that makes you sound like you work at Best Buy.

I can assure you that he doesn't.

[MWM]

I worked at Steinberg's years ago before it closed down. This was before Best Buy had a national presence. It was basically us and Circuit City. There was a lot of overlap in people. One of the managers in my store (Field Ertel Road) was a former manager at Circuit City. We had people leave to go there. Heck, I even interviewed there when I worked at Steinberg's. In sales training at both places it was all about the warranties. They care a lot more about that than they do about your actual sales volume. The reason is that these waranties are almost 100% profit. They're one of the biggest ripoffs out there. The commission percentages on these things were ridiculous. If you wanted to make to good money in sales at a place like that, you did it through selling the warranties.

At one point, there was a policy in my store that if you didn't close an extended warranty on a customer, you were required to bring in one of the "closers" to give it a shot. If they were able to get the deal done, you had to split the commission. This policy was my last straw and the primary reason why I left a few months before I planned to (took a year and a half off school during undergrad. This was when I worked there). I hated spending time with people, getting to know them, feeling like I was really helping them get what they needed, only to have them absolutely beaten down by someone else because they didn't want the warranty.

But Best Buy came in and changed this. Heck, that's the only reason I started going to Best Buy for these things. I hated being hounded about the warranties. At Best Buy, the simply ask you if you want it while you're going through the check out line. If you say no, that's the end of the discussion. It's just the beginning at some of these other places. Radio Shack is the worst. I bought a couple of cell phones there and both times I was about the punch the sales person out if they said another word about the warranty. But Best Buy, as a company policy, does not push people on warranties. It's a one time question and nothing more. They don't get paid on them, nor are they evaluated on them.

[RBA]

It doesn't matter to me where I buy my high tech items, all it matter is that I'm getting the best deal. Now that I live less than 2 miles from Fry's, I'm enjoying shopping there a whole lot more. With CompUSA closing over half their stores, I think Fry's and MicroCenter will expand to take up the void.

[harangatang]

I worked at Steinberg's years ago before it closed down. This was before Best Buy had a national presence. It was basically us and Circuit City. There was a lot of overlap in people. One of the managers in my store (Field Ertel Road) was a former manager at Circuit City. We had people leave to go there. Heck, I even interviewed there when I worked at Steinberg's. In sales training at both places it was all about the warranties. They care a lot more about that than they do about your actual sales volume. The reason is that these waranties are almost 100% profit. They're one of the biggest ripoffs out there. The commission percentages on these things were ridiculous. If you wanted to make to good money in sales at a place like that, you did it through selling the warranties.

At one point, there was a policy in my store that if you didn't close an extended warranty on a customer, you were required to bring in one of the "closers" to give it a shot. If they were able to get the deal done, you had to split the commission. This policy was my last straw and the primary reason why I left a few months before I planned to (took a year and a half off school during undergrad. This was when I worked there). I hated spending time with people, getting to know them, feeling like I was really helping them get what they needed, only to have them absolutely beaten down by someone else because they didn't want the warranty.

But Best Buy came in and changed this. Heck, that's the only reason I started going to Best Buy for these things. I hated being hounded about the warranties. At Best Buy, the simply ask you if you want it while you're going through the check out line. If you say no, that's the end of the discussion. It's just the beginning at some of these other places. Radio Shack is the worst. I bought a couple of cell phones there and both times I was about the punch the sales person out if they said another word about the warranty. But Best Buy, as a company policy, does not push people on warranties. It's a one time question and nothing more. They don't get paid on them, nor are they evaluated on them.

You know what's funny about that is when I bought a computer a few years I went to Best Buy first. I decided on something and the kid who was selling me the computer asked me about buying a service plan. I politely said no which was fine until the "closer" came in and started pressuring me. After he got really really pushy I left the store and told the man I would never be back. The look on that guy's face was absolutely priceless. I went to Circuit City and everything was fine, no pushy sales people or anything.

[redsrule2500]

Actually, Best Buy does not have commissioned sales people. They only ask about the warranty at the check out counter by the cashier. One of the basic business principles of Best Buy is that they DON'T push people hard to buy the warranties and they don't want pushy sales people. Circuit City is the opposite. They have people who are commissioned and are pushed and pushed and pushed to sell the warranties. Selling warranties at Circuit City is more important than the item itself. Trust me, I used to work in the business. One of the reasons Best Buy has been so successful is because it's the place you can go without being hounded by pushy salesmen and without having your arm twisted into buying the warranties. The problem at Best Buy is that it's darn near impossible to get any help if you need it. At Cirtuit City, you have a sales person assigned to you th second you walk into the store.

BTW, when I worked in the business, you could earn up to 30% on the extended warranties (we called it cheese).

Alright, you obviously HAVEN'T worked at Best Buy. They push people so hard they made people quit! They have numbers on yellow signs at the front of the store and if your FLOOR TEAM doesn't meet the goals posted in the allocated time frame, the manager is gonna have you head that night at closing. It's disgusting.

By the way, Circuit City hasn't been on commission in about 4 years...

[Caseyfan21]

I feel great about the warranty I purchased from Best Buy for my computer. I went ahead and got the total coverage, no questions asked warranty for my laptop figuring I would probably drop it and need it at some point. Well, I have had 2 mother boards fail, and I have dropped it causing damage at least twice. Furthermore, I will be taking it in in a couple months to complain about battery life and get a new battery before the warranty runs out in October. That warranty has been the best thing I have ever bought. I have probably had over twice to three times the value of the computer fixed (almost exclusively because of my own stupidity). And every time I just laugh knowing Best Buy is bearing the cost of it.

[Cedric]

I feel great about the warranty I purchased from Best Buy for my computer. I went ahead and got the total coverage, no questions asked warranty for my laptop figuring I would probably drop it and need it at some point. Well, I have had 2 mother boards fail, and I have dropped it causing damage at least twice. Furthermore, I will be taking it in in a couple months to complain about battery life and get a new battery before the warranty runs out in October. That warranty has been the best thing I have ever bought. I have probably had over twice to three times the value of the computer fixed (almost exclusively because of my own stupidity). And every time I just laugh knowing Best Buy is bearing the cost of it.

Well if you know you are stupid then it's a good purchase.

[TeamCasey]

Whenever they ask me if I want to purchase an extended warranty, I ask them, "Why, don't you stand by your products?".

[RedsBaron]

Purchase extended warranties or insurance coverage only for items that you cannot afford to pay to fix or replace on your own. In other words, most people should have coverage for their house, their car (if it is worth much) and their lives, but not for something purchased at Best Buy or Circuit City.

[RollyInRaleigh]

You'd be better off giving that money to your favorite charity.

[Yachtzee]

Selling the extended warranty is pretty standard for all of those places. My sister gets the same kind of pressure at CompUSA. Of course I never buy the warranty because my sister is a tech manager and fixes my stuff for free anyway. I just have to pay for the parts. Her advice is that you only really need to buy an extended warranty if you get an expensive laptop, and when you do, make sure it covers damage or failure to the screen. According to her, a lot of warranties don't cover replacing the screen, which also happens to be the most expensive repair on the laptop.

[creek14]

I've never had anyone anywhere get pushy with me when I turned down an extended warranty.

Of course, being a 6'2" female, I've never had anyone get pushy with me about much of anything I've said no to.

[paintmered]

If you can show you know more about the products than the sales guys, you'll get left alone. They don't want to look like they don't know what they are talking about.