It sucks for employees though. In retail you're hammered with the rules/policies in training and told to make no exceptions. And it sucks when you're doing as told, and then the manager comes up and makes and exception and makes you look like a jerk.

Come on now, I can watch McDonalds commercials all day long, not one McDonalds on Earth is going to have a Big Mac that looks like the one on TV.

False advertsising? I don't know...but if I keep going into McDonalds expecting to get what I see on TV...joke's on me, my friend.

Lakeland, Florida?

If this is where I'm thinking of (in Central FL kinda near Tampa), hoo boy, it is definitely redneck central. :)

This falls back on lack of communication and respect between a manager and employees. I always let my employees know where I stand right up front. Depending on the company (at the time) and the employee it was pretty simple: ALL rules will be followed ALL the time; WE (meaning you the employee and I the manager) have some leeway and I will always back you if you show good judgement (or tell you in private what you should have done differently); or I am the manager and I reserve the right to make decisions that you are not empowered to.

Personally I always strive for the second option. Nothing irritates me more (as a consumer and a retailer) than car shopping mentality ("let me check with the sales manager" and the SALES person scampers off leaving me hanging several times). If the frontline employee cannot take care of me, then I should not be having contact with the frontline employee. The next most irritating thing is a manager that cannot take the time to take care of the problem but instead keeps his employee running back and forth like a hamster.

[Edited to add] After thinking about it for a little bit, that is the job of a manager or a supervisor isn't it? To take care of the things that a regular CSR cannot? I've worked many places where CSRs weren't allowed to even count their own drawer totals. Most places require a manager override for a price change or an exchange/refund. (However I would empower the employees to do these once they became trusted enough.)

So then you are admitting that Best Buy institutionally and intentionally encourages poor customer service? (Again, I am not saying YOUR store, I am saying the company.)

Personally I don't get the Big Mac comparison . . . of course it looks different on TV, it's 20 times its real size. And a Best Buy blueshirt on TV is 1/20th their real size, so should I be complaining that their aren't really munchkins trying to help me there?

I can't think of McDonald's commercial that misrepresents a Big Mac. Most of the ones that I recall seeing are lifestyle based (McDonald's is a great place to meet, they have friendly employees) or are announcing their new "health food" line. The only promise I ever remember for a BigMac is two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-with-cheese-etc. (not a big, thick succulent, juicy Grade-A burger) which is a promise that MickeyD's in my experience pretty much delivers on. So the comparison of some abstract promise in an unspecified (non-existant?) commercial from McDonald's and a concrete promise that BB makes in it's advertising that some people on the board find incredulous makes no sense to me. Furthermore it detracts from the original point (i.e. that some people find it incredulous). Some companies overpromise in their advertising; but I don't believe that all companies do. The final arbiter of whether or not a customer received good service, and was treated in a fair and respectful manner in the store is the customer, not the store manager or CSR. The customer is the only one who can tell you you delivered on the promises in your advertising.

It's worthless arguing with me if you don't get what I'm saying. I'm sure everyone else does.

Advertising is advertising. It's hardly ever a representative of the product you receive. As Big Macs look mouthwatering in the commercial, customer service looks the best in any retail store commercial. It happens, it's the name of the game.

If anything, I think it's more detrimental for Best Buy to advertise Nordstrom/Men's Wearhouse-style customer service and then (for the most part) not deliver the actual customer experience. Honestly, anyone who goes there regularly recognizes the lack of product knowledge of most of the employees and the customer-unfriendly policy. They continue to shop there for price/convenience/selection/other factors.

Really? I work there and I don't know of any customer-unfriendly policy...

Just as far as the no receipt/no return thing. I know it's the norm for electronics stores, but many people don't make that differentiation.

Also, just in general. The policies aren't necessarily "unfriendly", but when compared to many retail operations that go out of their way to help a customer (which the advertising is trying to position BB as), BB doesn't do much to cater to their clientele.

(Edited because I hit post too soon)

Now now, I am trying to understand your comparison! (And it doesn't look like I'm the only one who doesn't get it.)

This isn't an argument per se, since I do seem to agree with you on many points (for those not paying attention closely) in the basic premise of customer service. Where we tend to disagree is in exactly why Best Buy takes more flak than other retailers. The core of the reason is NOT what other retailers are or are not doing, it is what Best Buy is doing (or rather, claiming to do).

I'll admit that I'm biased. I have a beef with corporate retail America as a whole and its degredation of employees and consumers.

Well, that sucks, considering that you live here and are more or less forced to shop here. Where would you rather live/shop?

Uh, "corporate retail america" != America, no matter how much the republicrats and demonicans take in bribes^H^H^H^H^H^Hcampaign contributions from the corporate citizens.

:whofart:

OK, this is devolving again in the wrong direction. What I have issues with is the way that people used to be able to make a living in retail sales, but corporate America has destroyed that. Corporate America cannot see its people as anything more than an expenditure, when in reality they are an investment that would provide a far greater return if treated that way. That in turn has led to the discussion that we are having . . . Even you in all your glory Tarantino will be one day thrown to the wind when your usefulness is deemed not needed. Being number 2 in your power rankings means nothing.

In Mother Russia, store shops you . . . -grin-

I was trying to find the quote from "Falling Down" (talking about the Whammyburger) just for you. Anybody have it?

Yes, that's it. As a whole the population isn't really KKK like, they aren't violent or anything; just ignorant. And to be fair it is only a small part of the population (but a larger part then most).

They :down:

So the Mods here will ban you if you bash a gameing console, political party, religion or religious belief or take pot shots at fellow forum-ers.

But bashing a retailer and it's employee's is acceptable.

The employees at Best Buy are no different in their knowledge of their products than the employees of many other retailers. The same for their customer service. At my company, we have even hired some employees from the retail sector, including Best Buy. I'm almost confident that these employees are the same one who you will find at other jobs eventually.

Perhaps in the quest to be the number one retailer in the country they are pushing their employees too far, giving them too much to handle on the job. If they are suck to you, then maybe you should not shop there. If their rules don't appeal to you, then maybe you should not shop there.

it's easy to boycott BB
 

too many bad experiences at BB B&M for me. I'm happy spending my $$$ at other places.

That's the spirit. Better than coming on here and bitching about it.

As with just about anything in life, there are people who like something and others who dislike the same thing.

Personally I have nothing terrible to say about Best Buy.

It reminds me of when I bought a S-VHS VCR and a camcorder at a high-end video store, and I knew more about the features they had then the sales person. It really comes down to the consumer to do research and know what they are looking for before they even put one foot into any store.

It also reminds me of a store called Silo, which was a electronics store that closed about a decade ago. When I was in there I was going to buy some S-VHS tapes. I was in line and the sales person totally ignored me and took care of a customer who was buying something more expensive. Needless to say I put the tapes down and walked out.

I don't care for stores who pay there employees my comission, because if you're not buying something expensive they will ignore you.

It's not just bigger, it doesn't even look like the same sandwich. The one on TV has thicker beef (and better looking quality beef) better/fresher toppings, etc. It's not remotely what you get in the store, which is a cheap, squished, messy burger made with the cheapest possible ingredients.

The Best Buy ads are the same. You see helpful, knowledgeable employees on tv, and in the store most don't care or know anything as they are paid next to nothing.

Advertising...ain't it great?

BestBuy has trained their employees to go to a new low. Here's the experience I had this past Monday that will teach you to ALWAYS check your receipts when using BestBuy coupons anymore.

I bought an XBOX Live game that was regularly $19.99. I had picked up one of their Summer Gaming guides and near the back was a coupon that stated $5.00 off any XBOX Live Software of and XBOX Live Starter kit, no minimum dollar amount was specified. I had two other items as well and took them up to the register. When it was all scanned in the guy scanned the coupon and my RZ card and told me the total. I knew by looking at the screen that it hadn't taken the $5.00 off the total. I asked if it had taken the money off. He proceeded to price-check each item on the register next to him. He, paused, looked at the screen and then stumbled, out "Yup, it took it off." He took my money and then I walked away. Went over to Customer Service and then told them that the money was not taken off. The girl looked at the receipt and didn't even question what I was talking about and I got my $5.30 (incl. tax) back.

If you are using coupons from those guides it appears that ALL of their coupons including the new gamer giftcards need to be put in manually after the fiasco with the green gamer giftcard coupons. Be on the look out.

That has happened to me before. I don't take it as a big deal. He just made a mistake, it's not like he was trained to do it. (I think)

My experience was much worse :)