Apr 01
I often receive great comments on older posts, so I will be starting a new series called “From the Comments.” I will only publish them when I have enough great comments to mention.
BestBuy Screws Consumer with Second Website, Denies Deals Exist - Longtime customers with a detailed story on how Best Buy misled the Wisconsin couple about Vista compatibilities, delivery dates, and more.
Should I Try World of Warcraft? - Back in July 2006 I asked if I should try World of Warcraft. I received many great comments about both sides, with most leading me towards not trying WOW. Great advice on the perils of MMORPG.
Mar 03
Well here’s a story that hits close to home. It appears that “under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming [George Gombossy's] reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.” (Via The Hardford Courant, seen on Slashdot)
I remember two summers ago when I went to a local BestBuy after seeing a deal on their website. When I got to the store the staff showed me a site that looked like their regular one, and it didn’t have the Internet sale anymore. I now know that this was because they have a second site that is available internally that often doesn’t show the same prices and deals. Apparently BestBuy employees don’t always check the external BestBuy site. This news really angers me. How can companies be so evil? It’s ridiculous.
This reaffirms my belief in only using BestBuy to buy DVDs for under $10. I rarely buy electronics from them, and for good reason. Their return policy sucks. I’d recommend going with a place like Newegg for good deals. And always check prices at multiple sites. If you do try to buy something from BestBuy, make sure to tell the employee to check the external site if they tell you that the deal you saw online doesn’t exist.
Nov 26
This morning I joined the throngs of people who have waited out in the cold for a Nintendo Wii. Unfortunately I was not so lucky. I got to the Best Buy here at about 8:30 am, and the line was already fairly long. I had my cute iPod Nano to pass the time and I was hopeful. That hope would be gone by the time the store opened at 10 am.
News quickly spread through the line that a Best Buy employee had been camped out since the night before and had a list of 69 people who were first to the line. According to this unnamed induhvidual the store would be going by his list and everyone else would be out of luck. At this time there were about 130 people in line. No one knew whether to believe him, and it was quickly pushed out of our minds. A little later there was some commotion and we would all later find out that they had apparently handed out tickets for the Wii. There were 60 Wiis and over 130 people in line, so I missed out. Many people had more than one ticket, and at least one person went around asking if anyone wanted to buy his ticket for $300. You would then have to pay $250 on top of that and it was just plain ridiculous. The woman ahead of me told him he was disgusting and to get back in line. That was the best display I had seen lately.
As I was leaving I saw a guy and his son with 3 Wiis and felt sick to my stomach. Many of the people on line were planning to sell their Wiis, and they won’t even wind up getting much for them online. In the end my experience was spoiled by the Nintendo haters who were just out to make a quick buck, the kind of people you hope will stay inside their nice warm house filled with the whirring of a PlayStation 3. There were no nice Nintendo fans at my Best Buy. At least not among the majority of the people who were able to buy a Wii. It looks like I will be waiting longer for my salvation.
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Jason Schramm.
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