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Author Topic: Best Buy or Circuit City Dean Kollet Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 591 From: Florida State University Registered: Jul 2003 posted 11-11-2004 10:50 AM                     I have a chance to be seasonal at both said places, same pay, same chance to stay on staff. It's a second job for the holidays, and I plan on using the discounts. Anyone here have experience(s) with either place? Know anyone that has? I have 12 hours to decide....I do plan on staying on as booth supervisor at my current job though, so this is a 20 hour/week 2nd job.....Thanks  |  IP: Logged Richard Greco Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1180 From: Plant City, FL Registered: Nov 2003 posted 11-11-2004 01:48 PM                     Hey Dean, check out www.bestbuysux.org and read some of the employee responses there. It might change your mind about BB. Personally, I think the MAJOR difference with employment is that Circuit City has commissioned sales whereas BB does not.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-11-2004 04:45 PM                        Either way you are condemned to sell Monster Cables®. I just love it when some moron tells me that the Monster Cable® brand of an optical toslink cable is way better because it has better shielding. REALLY? Hmmm, I didn't know that optical cables were susceptible to RF interference! Wow! There is no difference between a $10 optical cable and a $900 Monster optical cable of the same length if you plan to just hook it up and let it be. The data either gets there or it doesn't.  |  IP: Logged Barry Martin Expert Film Handler Posts: 203 From: Newington, CT USA Registered: Jul 2002 posted 11-11-2004 05:04 PM                        Circuit City is no longer commission, they cancelled that out in 2003 I believe. I worked for Best Buy for a while and there are ups and downs like any large employer. They were by far the best retail experience I ever had, but that could have just been my general manager and the managers under him and the friends I made on the regular staff. I've pretty much sworn off Circuit for years because of the way they shafted my mother on the washer/dryer she bought with their extended warranty, and we both fought with them over it and got nowhere. Discount was killer at Best Buy, don't know about Circuits, but Best Buy was cost so if you are getting a part time for holiday shopping, BB could be good for that reason too. No matter which you go with it's going to be the people you work with that make the biggest difference in how much you enjoy going to work, I might even suggest walking around both stores for an hour or so and talking to staff, just get a feel for them.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-11-2004 06:18 PM                        If you work for Best Buy, don't forget to harrass customers about PSP's (their "warranties"). If the customer doesn't want the warranty, then it is best to have them leave the store empty handed. And be sure to tell the customers that they should buy the warranties because their purchased item WILL break! I love it when they try to sell me warranties for video game controllers, claiming that they WILL break. I guess Best Buy only sells shoddy merchandise.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-11-2004 08:04 PM                     Joe, I am with you. We went to Circuit City looking for a Big Screen tv and the guy there wasn't pushy at all. Then we went to Best Buy to compare and the guy there told us that same old warranty crap. He insisted that the guns would need aligned after a year and that it was a certainty that one would go bad and they would have to change all three for $200 each. He said that the $200 was the cost to Best Buy. Oh Really?! Well then how would you benefit from selling me a warranty for $300 when you are certain that it will eventually cost you $600? Do you really think I am that stupid? He had my wife sold on it and I told him he was full of brown stuff. He gave me this disastisfied look then his boss came over and they double-teamed me. I asked my wife to remember the last time she had a tv break. She said never and I said exactly. They also tried that crap about needing a Monster Cable Noise filter at $150 to make the picture better. Whatever! I told the salesman that I wasn't stupid and I knew that was where they made all their money. Imagine all the people that these guys sucker every day. How do they sleep at night? I can tell you that every time I fell for one of those warranties when I was younger, I never used them. Then the 1-2 times I actually tried to it didn't cover squat. So in closing......sorry to get off topic.........work there if you want to make some major electronics purchases for cheap but don't screw people over with those stupid warranties. I had a friend that worked there and he couldn't stand it.  |  IP: Logged Erica Peterson Film Handler Posts: 26 From: Toronto, ON, Canada Registered: Jul 2003 posted 11-11-2004 09:22 PM                        If you're thinking of working (or shopping) at Best Buy, you may want to read this: Best Buy hopes to exorcize devil patrons (arstechnica.com) and the original article about Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson here (wsj.com, free this week only)  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-11-2004 09:52 PM                     I can't even count the number of times I have been screwed by Best Buy. From computers, to graphics cards, to scratched CDs and DVDs (do they repackage returns??) to rebates that never came (or came unfulfilled and said I never sent in the UPC or whatever) to something as simple as 2x DVD-R discs that weren't really 2x. They probably have a file 3" thick of my returns! A couple of the returns were directly related to idiot salespeople. "YES this computer HAS AN AGP SLOT!" -- I get it home, open it to put the card in... no AGP slot. But I bought the computer as a package, so I had to return *everything* There are the pushy salespeople that try to sell you stuff you don't want (undoubtedly trained to do so, because they don't work on commission) and then there are those that seem like they won't help you unless you're buying something from them personally. It's happened more than once where a salesperson went to get something for me, disappeared, only for me to find him helping someone else. I haven't been to a Circuit City in a long time since there aren't many nearby me. But my family used to buy a lot from them back home and everyone there was quite helpful and we never had problems with the merchandise. (Still have the TV we bought in 1989!) So yeah, go Circuit City. Even though Best Buy is the "hip" place to shop since they pump the store full of repetitive bass. That shit is like the mantra of the decade. =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-11-2004 10:35 PM                        I like Circuit City's return policy and they all seem relaxed and aren't pushing me like crazy. I'd never buy anything major from Best Buy anyway because their selection sucks ass. Also like I said, they'd rather you not buy from them than buy something without a warranty. But try this: if you are buying a TV, just happen to mention that you repair TVs for a living. When they try to sell you the warranty and tell you that it WILL break, you can say that: #1 you repair TVs for a living and you have never seen nor heard of any of the outrageous claims they make about TVs breaking and #2 it's easier and cheaper for you to order the parts and fix it yourself, so why would you need Best Buy? One other thing you can do is when you are looking at that particular model, mention that you repair TVs for a living and you like this one so much because it has never broken down for anybody ever. The Best Buy employee will be stumped at how to sell you the warranty. You can do this just for fun even if you don't plan on buying anything. It's fun to screw with their minds, as their employees are "less than people" and have obviously sacrificed their rights just by choosing to work there. If they wanted to be treated with dignity, they wouldn't work for Best Buy.  |  IP: Logged Dean Kollet Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 591 From: Florida State University Registered: Jul 2003 posted 11-12-2004 12:09 AM                     yeah, the discounts are around the same....but people are telling me that BB's are better. But, they actually don't have ANY A/V equipment that I want....circuit city on the other hand sells brands I like..... I still don't know though  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-12-2004 12:21 AM                        I bet Best Buy even pushes the warranties on their insipid employees when they buy stuff. If they don't buy the warranties, then they get fired! Just remember: Best Buy employees are LESS THAN PEOPLE!  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 11-12-2004 01:05 AM                     Joe, I think they have a store policy where they have to push the warranty at least three times or they will get fired if a mystery shopper catches them. The last time I was in a Best Buy (maybe the last time ever) I asked the pushy salesguy how many times he had to upsell me to that warranty policy before he met quota. He just stared at me all confused as I said "twice???" "Three times???" Then he nodded and seemed embarassed. That's of course no excuse, but I think that's why they do it. If I ever go back into a Best Buy, I think as soon as the guy mentions the warranty I will scream at the top of my lungs "NO NO NO" then "there, does that meet your quota for pushing the warranty, or do I need to say no a few more times?"  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 11-12-2004 01:54 AM                        I have used Joe's strategy, "I fix the damn things." Which for TVs was true. But I applied that line to other things too, like my first CD player, which I bought from Federated (you SoCalians remember them?). Federated had an aggressive extended warranty sales policy too. After telling the increasingly irate yet condescending salesman "no" for some umteenth time he was literally foaming at the mouth and demanded, "You have to tell me why you won't buy the extended warranty!" I pulled out my Hughes Space and Communications employee badge (which was instantly recognizable and quite prestigious in the South Bay back in the day) with it's distinctive red Secret Clearance border and replied, "I work on lasers every day in my lab. If this thing dies after the factory warranty does, I'll fix it myself." Which was definitely not true (I was a spacecraft guy ). Oh but to see the look on the guy's face at that point--he knew he'd been beaten. I just love popping people's balloons. As for BB vs. CC, I've sworn to never buy anything from CC here in 'Vegas, again due to very aggressive sales tactics. At the BBs here I've not been pressured to buy their coverage. Of course they always ask at checkout, but I always say "no" and that's the end of it. They've never tried to push it on me with repeated requests here.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-12-2004 06:58 AM                        isn't this kind of like at the theater when you try to upsell everyone and then find a bunch of half-full containers left in the theater? upselling is, in most instances, rude. and wasteful. carl  |  IP: Logged Chris Medley Expert Film Handler Posts: 180 From: McKinney, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-12-2004 07:34 AM                        I feel totally differently, I went to Best Buy and Circuit City to look for a Palm. I knew what I wanted, but i wanted to know more before I could make a choice. I stood in front of the display with the Palms for 10 minutes when I finally walked up to one of the salesman and asked for some help. He went to get someone and returned ten minutes later to tell me that the only girl that works in the department is on lunch and so none of them know enough to answer my questions. I ask to speak to the General Manager and he is out of the building, so I ask to speak to an Assistant. This guy walks up and says he is the Manager so I ask him to answer my questions, but he can't..The GENERAL MANAGER of the store can not even answer some basic questions about the features. I was beyond pissed and this guy knew it. He apologized for not having the answers, but I had now been there for forty-five minutes and I just gave up and went to best buy. I knew what I wanted and the guy there could answer all my questions. I dropped $500 there for a palm and some other stuff I needed for my computer and I was happy to do so, because they could answer my questions and not give me any BS. plus they didn't point to the most expensive one when I asked.  |  IP: Logged

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