Electronic Superstores
 

I'm talking Best Buy, Staples, Circut City, and jesus so many more. I happen to work at one of these places and honestly I'm getting pissed. I also feel bad at points for literally ripping people off. I mean we charge heinous amounts for work that is really not that hard. Perhaps I'm just thinking to much but do you folks ever get those service plan things?

Checked all the prices for my electronic purchases before I went for holiday to NYC. I ended up buying a few things from Circuit City because of their price match policy. I thought it was really funny that I know more about the hardware than any of the workers. All they ever seemed to want to do was sell me a service policy, which I never would buy anyway. I am the kind of person who can void that kind of plan within the first day of buying somehting.

let me say first and foremost that i LOVE your listed location, scott... got a rise out of me.

for the moment i work at a home electronics distributor, where i can purchase anything we sell at our cost (normally half retail price). the only problem is a perennial lack of fundage to do so. at this point i'm stumped as to why retail stores mark prices up as much as they do and the whole thing leaves me jaded. why the hell would i want to pay 500 dollars for a tv that i -know- they only brought into their warehouse for 250? it's really maddening.

as to service plans, i don't bother. it just dosen't seem to make sense to me. this stuff is designed to last a specific period of time, all of those plans are well within it. these are just ways for the chains to make more money... sure, they have to fulfill the odd claim here and there, but for every claim they are paying, they're bringing in so much more on policies that they'll never have to do anything with.

I used to work in one of those stores back in high school.. and I know the markup for the product is higher than cost.. also i know what it's like to be making 5-6 bucks an hour schleping electronics. Those service plans are ways for employees to make more $$ if they work on commision. If the employee was nice, and it's not too much I usually buy the service plan on home electronics. I havent bought a CD player since 1997 because of Circuit City's service plan.

Actually it's typical for store to do a 100% markup on ANY item.

When I worked for JC Penney 15 years ago they were selling
clothes & shoes were double what they bought them for.

Those nice sales they have for you, are going on about over 50% of the time in one form or another.
And they are still making a serious profit off of you.

You don't want to know how much things are made for.
and how much is the difference when it finally makes it into your hands.

I hate hate hate hate hate going into Best Buy. Every time I go in there, they are trying to sell me something new. Just because I am looking at buying a DVD does not mean I want to subscribe to NetFlix!

I am buying a CD! I came in to buy a CD. I don't care if I buy two CD storage things I can get the third half price.

Stop trying to sell me cable modem service from a company who doesn't even service my city! ugh.

The service plan whorage is the worst. I bought a new mouse the other day and teh conversation went like this.

Sales Chick: Would you like to spend an extra $5 to insure this for x years.
Me: No thank you
Sales Chick: But if it breaks you can just come in and we'll replace it on the spot.
Me. No thank you. If it breaks before the manuf. warranty is out, I'll send it there. Otherwise I will probably buy a new mouse anyway.
Sales Chick: But,
Me: NO!

I hate being rude to hired help, but if they would just greet me, and ask if I need any help, I'd be perfectly happy. When I want help, I find a salesman.

Sorry, I think I just ranted. oops.

I won't buy a service plan for anything. I thought once upon a time it would be a good idea to buy one for the computer, but I found you practically need to have the whole thing spontaneously combust before the warantee actually kicks in.

As far as service goes, if you can't service something yourself, or fix it yourself, you are going to pay a large premium. That goes with any product. We had several people come in to bid on stripping off some wallpaper from a bathroom - I knew I was gonna do it but I just wanted to see what they wanted. It was around 700 dollars. For a days work. Ridiculous.

What I'm saying is, bagel, that you shouldn't feel bad if people can't do it themselves. They'll pay a premium no matter where they go. And most people are too lazy to even shop around for the best price on the work.

Well what I do is basically ask them if they need any help and that is it. I don't keep on them and I don't do some bullshit fake voice. What I don't like is when my managers get pissed at me. Its like office Space. When things go bad. I hear it from everyone.

most of the stuff i buy are online, so there's a lot more vendor's to choose from.

as for service, i'd build it if i could (like the comp desk, they were gonna charge $75 to do it, so i built it)

tikki, I shop in best buy all the time and i've never had that particular problem. I mean anytime you go in there you get someone asking if you need any help (I never do because the only things I buy there are like cds,dvds and videot games) and thats it. Of course maybe if I bought something that could actully be serviced... I do not blame them for pushing their service plans. Thats where they make their money. And labor is expensive so matter were you go. The only place that I know of that goes out of its way to help its customers on stuff like that is DirecTV. I work for them, I setup service calls for people. Even though we are one of the cheapest places to get a service call for satlelite equipment people STILL complain at an unnerving rate. We have two differnt options for service calls. One is a one time service call for $70. Thats the total charge for everything. Parts and labor. Or if you want to sign up for the service plan at $5.99 a month and sign up for a one year commitment with DirecTV we can do a service call for $30. The second one comes to just over $100 for the year. Now those are the rates no matter what. The only times either of those might go up is either if your problem is caused by you (I.E. you cut the cable between the dish and your reciever) or you want the tech to do something like install something new. While that may seem expensive at first just try and call a local installer. Many of them will charge you between $70 and $90 an hour for labor, and then you have to pay for parts. An LNB costs $50+ a reciever(that we would give you during a service call) costs between $40-$60. A multiswitch is between $50-$100. All three of these things are very common things to go bad(which is to say when something DOES go bad its going to be one of these three things) Just things to think about.

i sometimes get service plans. i got one for my laptop, because i know that i can't fix it if it breaks, but i didn't for my desktop, becasue i can fix it myself. i got one for my x-box in case it turns out to be a lemon, and also for my pda. anything else though, i probably wouldnt'.

I don't blame them either, but I do not want to be badgered about it. Ask me once, I will politely decline if I don't think the product warrants it.

Just to be a bit kinder to Best Buy, all of those happened at the Evansville store. The one in Lafayette is not as bad. They ask me if I need help, and leave me alone. They ask about service plans once, and that is it. I dunno what it is about evansville's store....

I bought my mom and myself some new sunglasses at Lazarus this afternoon, and was getting badgered about signing up for a Lazarus Card to save 15%. That convo went like this:

Sales Lady: Would you like to put this on your Lazarus Card?
Me: No thank you. *I put my credit card and ID on the counter*
Sales Lady: Would you like to open a Lazarus Card and save 15%
Me: No thank you.
Sales Lady: Are you sure, you could save...
Me: No thank you. I would like to use my Mastercard.

When I worked at American Eagle, they had us badger people about signing up for Clear Cards. I'd ask once, and that was it. They would try and give us incentives for selling the most of the cards. I really didn't care about incentives (make your own schedule, etc). I just came in, helped people buy Christmas gifts, and went home. I assume Lazarus is a similar situation by giving sales clerks incentives. Such a shame.

Frys owns, just dont' waste your breath asking for help.

Best example of this I've ever heard:

Her: That comes to $125.95.
Me: Thanks!
Her: You know, you could have saved $500 today.
Me: Yeah?
Her: Sure. If you apply for our store credit card, with a $5000 limit, you get a 10% discount on your purchases today....

What's awful is the suckers they get to sign up. You just peek in their wallets and you see that they have TONS of credit cards. Yikes. :eek:

service plans....I hate them.

When I'm offered one especially when I'm spending more than $200, I say reply simply:

You mean that this thing I'm about to buy is possibly going to break within 2 years? Wait a minute, maybe I shouldn't buy such a poorly manufactured item.

Usually that stops them in their tracks because I'm about to balk at even purchasing said item.

If I'm paying for quality, I want quality. I'm not paying extra for "insurance" on that quality.

It's bastards like you who prevented me from getting Xmas bonuses when i was in high school :)
Cheap bastards.. just fork out the extra 10 bucks.. Hell all they do is ship the broken item back and either give you a new one, or try and fix yours.

I've gotten service plans on mice, and cd players though.. so my experience is limited. The mouse was a 200 dollar wacom pad, and the cd player was some ancient sony discman. They are both over 5 years old and still work well and i've talked my way into renewing service plans for free when the clerk isnt paying attention :)


oh and juan's right about FRYS. Great store, horrible service.
They pay pretty decent though. the cashiers make 13-18 bucks an hour out here. PLUS they get 10% commission of what they ring up (over a certain amount). So if you work an 8 hr shift and your register rings up $10,000 worth of stuff you go home making a nice little sum for a "crap job".

Actually 100% markup isn't bad. Back when I worled for a large bookstore chain the markup was a whopping 250% on average. I was always under the impression that the markup in the electronics industry varied a good deal. From about 15% on Tv's on upwards. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.

PS Phred, you made my day. Glad someone can appreciate my location. Especially someose who I have gotten so many laughs from myself (and not just from your facial foliage), keep up the good work man.

CompUSA charges like 90/hr for in home service!

Best Buy must have learned something around here. Although they still have sales people asking if they can help you they aren't persistant or pushy, even with service plans.

Everyone seems to have become more friendly and less pushy in the last couple of months.

Ugh, I worked at Best Buy for all of 3 weeks. 2 of those were stocking the new store before it opened. I was one of the techs. I couldn't believe the bullshit they expected us to spew to people. It was amazing. Its sad when a company knows people are ignorant in regards to things (such as PC upgrades) and expects you to help them exploit these people.

Anyway the store up here has had a large amount of trun over adn best part. One of teh asst MGrs was arrested in front of the entire store one Morning for stealing.. Anyway..

And I agree with everone on the service plans a complete waste of money..

I went into a Fry's the other day looking for 2 specific items. I went back to the area, and looked around. There must have been 10 employees some helping customers, but most were just talking amongst themselves. I looked around and wanted to ask questions but not one of the employees even looked my way! Even the ones who had finished helping customers, just joined in the group conversation. When I did ask an employee for help they sent me to the wrong area, another person there told me it was somewhre else where it wasn't. And then someone else told me it was back in the place I started. I just got fed up, and left. I don't know if I can go back into that place. Besides I bought what I wanted at Costco the next day for even cheaper!

Markup depends on items. Like I know that there is incredible mark up on some Tv units.

A venemous glare and a firm "No." does the trick for me, for the most part anyhow. Ambitious toads out to impress someone are always a bother.

I actually love these stores. Not to ever buy anything of course, but they are good to walk around and waste time in

I thought those service plans at Best Buy were shit myself until my sister purchased one with a DVD player she gave me for my b-day. After a year and a half it started acting up and I took it in and they replaced it with a better one that was more up to date with more shit......cool.

In retail they have to charge at least double of what they paid to off set the overhead costs....but it's still to much.

Now I ask you this.........how come the car business is the only retail purchase that you can negotiate on the price and ask to see the dealers invoice?? I hate the fuckers that come in and grind for three hours trying to get us to take a loss of a couple of grand.........DICKHEADS!!

Client: Well why don't you sell me the car for $2000.00 less then invoice and make it up on the next person?

Me: Well, how do I know the next person is not going to ask me to do the same?

Client: Well if you want to sell me a car thats what you have to do to earn my business.

Me: Let me ask you this, what do you do for a living??

Client: I'm an Attorney.

Me: What do you charge an hour?

Client: $275 to $350.00 an hour why do you ask?

Me: Well if I came into your office and asked you do only charge me $50.00 and hour would you do it??

Client: That's not the same thing! (now he does not know what do say....fidgeting)

Me: But thats what you just asked me to do, but lets look at it for this angle sir........how much do you think my time is worth if I sell you a car?

Client: (stupid look on face now) What do you mean?

Me: How much do you think I should get paid an hour to sell you this car.......what do you think my time is worth??

Client: Ok......is $125.00 and hour ok.

Me: Is that ok with you?

Client: (smiling now..dumbshit thinks he's got me) Yea.I would pay you $125.00 an hour to sell me this car.

Me: Ok....I get 20% of the gross profit after a $750.00 pack, we have been working on this deal for two hours now so as of this moment I have earned $250.00 and it will take another two hours to do paperwork and deliver your new Mercedes, so thats $500.00, do we agree on that?

Client: Sure.......thats fair.

Me: Ok so our invoice is $65,600.00 now add the pack of $750.00 and the profit of $2500.00 so I can make the $500.00 you said I was worth......so now you have to pay us $68,850.00 for this car.......

Client: Wait...wait.wait......I'm not paying you that amount!

Me: But you said I could make $125.00 an hour, and you agreed at the price of what I should earn, so to be nice I'll take of another grand to 67,850 is that ok??

Client:NO.No way.......I'm not paying that much!!

Me: So in other words you're saying I should make nothing??

Client: (looking real stupid now...his girlfriend is embaressed) Thats not what I'm saying.........you got it all wrong.

Me: Well sir, that is what your saying and unless you can give me a real offer on this car without our dealership losing money I guess we are just wasting OUR TIME.

Client: I'm not wasting your time.....it's your job!

Me: Do you have a business card??

Client: Why?

Me: So i can come to your office and discuss a possible case.

Client: (his girlfriend gets it he doesn't,shes smiling) Whats the case about??

Me: Oh.I'll come by your office.....now what do you wish to pay me for this car??

Client: $2000.00 below your invoice........thast my final walking number!

Me: Have a nice day :)

Hmmmmmm I think I'll go into Best Buy and ask to see their invoice on a TV......what do you think they'll tell me??

just a quick note from someone who has worked in a retail establishment: markup and profit are NOT the same thing.

as was mentioned above, the overhead (ie costs of the building, employees, insurance, etc) on a superstore amounts to a huge chunk of change. most of these stores, even those that do a very brisk business, wont even break even (on a monthly basis) until like the 23rd of the month.

i've seen some of the numbers on utiliy costs and they are staggering.

and finally, remember, ANY retail establishment is in business to make money, NOT to give you a great deal.




now, all that being said, the service plans usually are wasted money.

hehe, when I have thirty minutes to kill, I go play xbox :)

I love reading these stories :) Especially the car dealership one*grin*

glad at least his girlfriend got your jokes.

Just take a look at the earnings numbers that Circuit City, Best Buy report. They're terrible. Most of these chains bite the dust at some point. They simply can't make enough to remain profitable, even with the markups.

I really prefer shopping online. You can get excellent service from sellers like Crutchfield and Dell. Service is fairly good too. The other big benefit, if you are dropping big bucks on an item like a TV etc is you don't pay sales tax. Recently bought a TV for $1200 and avoided a lot of tax......it came with a free shipping offer too, so that wasn't an issue.

IN other news...I love bestbuysux.org. I work at Best Buy and bascially the store on more than several occasions is heinous as hell. I love how shit rolls down hills there. Especially when they do some pseudo motivational tactics to me. Like "We'll get you a steak dinner!!" WOW...I sell and work my ass off so my manager goes to Florida and I get STEAK! OH BOY...THAT IS SWELL. Anyone else who has worked there knows how lame it can be.