Photo Equipment and Best Buy

adam8080 wrote in post #7773714
I have a very, very, VERY hard time believing that any company selling electronics is "losing money" when selling you a product whether it is a computer, cell phone, came console, camera, whatever. And even if they are loosing money, refusing to help you is ridiculous. If they don't want to sell them, don't stock them.

I quit going into Best Buy the 2nd day in a row that they couldn't find a key to open a case so I could buy something. I'll rater wait for it to be shipped.

You'd be dead wrong, I worked for a ****ty local electronics store VERY briefly [Enough to get through the 2 week training and hear the words "We dont want to serve customers like you" while pointing at me repeatedly and admissions from my boss that if he saw me in the store he'd just get me the hell out as quick as possible because he wouldnt want to deal with me because I'm a techie person]

Our primary job was to sell the overpriced cables and the installation/warranty services and accessories, NOT just a TV, I was also told that they basically pick the "best TV" for the customer based upon what gets you the biggest bonus...The training was good and informative, but their sales practices made me highly uncomfortable and seeing that I would end up terminated for not bundling enough, I just left...

At all of those stores, the core profit makers are accessories, services and warranties.....

I will say this, Best Buy's warranty has worked out great on my Xbox 360, it works along the lines of when it breaks, i bring it back to the store and get my purchase price back, minus the warranty fee, it saves me the time and hassle of sending it to Microsoft whenever it ****s and dies on me...

Which has happened around the time of a price drop twice now, My original Premium's disk drive was failing and I got an Elite for the equivalent of about $50 , when the Elite started making weird noises I got $50 back after the warranty because the price had dropped $100...

I do not know if the cameras work the same way however...but its certainly paid for itself on my 360 and I'm a happy customer because of it

I also reiterate here, I NEVER have problems at my Best Buys...:/

KenjiS wrote in post #7776596
Our primary job was to sell the overpriced cables and the installation/warranty services and accessories, NOT just a TV, I was also told that they basically pick the "best TV" for the customer based upon what gets you the biggest bonus...The training was good and informative, but their sales practices made me highly uncomfortable and seeing that I would end up terminated for not bundling enough, I just left...

At all of those stores, the core profit makers are accessories, services and warranties.....

Yes. That is a well known fact and it makes a lot of sense. But loosing money on a product is much different that not making as much as other things.

adam8080 wrote in post #7776655
Yes. That is a well known fact and it makes a lot of sense. But loosing money on a product is much different that not making as much as other things.

I think it depends..

Sometimes when they do sales, i do think they price things at cost to drag people in for the $1000 TV marked down to $750 if only to get them to buy a stand, cables, DirecTV and installation

Although Best Buy now includes installation in their prices...

The people who work at BB around here are generally nice. Last year a guy let me check out a 40D and 10-22 while we talked about cameras for awhile. Though I'll never buy any photo gear from Best Buy because they mark up their prices way too much and only offer cameras with kit lenses, no body-only option.

The one thing I despise about Best Buy is the Geek Squad. I had a friend who was being trained to work for them a couple years ago, and actually walked out on it after he was literally told that "we charge the customers a high price so they feel as if they're receiving a premium service"

Occasionally Best Buy has really decent pricing on camera gear which works out great for me because I can get points and use rewards certificates towards stuff. For example, their Canon 135L is $999, Adorama is at $989, Ritz is $1058, Amazon is $1100, and wait here BH is at $930 now.... it was $999 as well a month back when I was debating buying one.

As far as body only options, they offer those online. XSi, 50D, 5DII bodies are in stock according to their site, and there were a few 40D bodies on there as well a while back.

GCGuy wrote in post #7778281
Occasionally Best Buy has really decent pricing on camera gear which works out great for me because I can get points and use rewards certificates towards stuff. For example, their Canon 135L is $999, Adorama is at $989, Ritz is $1058, Amazon is $1100, and wait here BH is at $930 now.... it was $999 as well a month back when I was debating buying one.

As far as body only options, they offer those online. XSi, 50D, 5DII bodies are in stock according to their site, and there were a few 40D bodies on there as well a while back.

Thats one of my justifications really

I am a reward zone silver member so i get bonus points, and i often get the 10% off coupons in the mail..

Additionally, I'm thinking of giving my 30D away when the time comes, so i want a lens anyways to gift with it, the 28-135 and my 10-20 would make good gifts when I picked up my 50D and a Tokina 11-16

So lets go with the current prices..a 50D + 28-135mm lens is $1425 -142.50 [For the 10% off coupons I get frequently] is $1282.50, B&H is $1335 right now for the same combo...

Keep in mind I pay tax either way here...so B&H isnt such a fantastic deal either way when you factor I can go right now and have my 50D instantly...I also pay tax at Amazon and Adorama...and a lot of other places...and I have issues justifying paying for next day air shipping when something is in NY...and I'm terribly impatient sometimes!

Total price [Figuring without the 10% coupon..worst case] is $1485.31 at B&H [Figuring Next Day Air shipping] vs $1549.75, a difference of $64.44 ....not enough to justify the wait of even a day if Best Buy has it in stock now given the reward certificates I'd earn would be very close to closing that gap...

KenjiS wrote in post #7778343
Additionally, I'm thinking of giving my 30D away when the time comes, so i want a lens anyways to gift with it, the 28-135 and my 10-20 would make good gifts when I picked up my 50D and a Tokina 11-16

Who is the lucky recipient? I'm open for donations.

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LostShootingStar wrote in post #7783762
Who is the lucky recipient? I'm open for donations.

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Either my dad or my girlfriend

Dad because he wants an slr

Girlfriend cause she shoots Nikon

Rainyday wrote in post #7628794
Two weeks ago I tried to shop for a video camera at BB. They were very low on stock, but the clerk told me they were getting a huge shipment in very shortly. I went back yesterday. Very low stock and a different clerk said they were "in a period of transition". They seem to have lots of camera bags and P&S cameras but few DSLR's and extremely few video cameras. I've heard rumors BB is having financial difficulties. Does anyone know what's going on?

Thanks.

trust me , as an employee, Best buy is not having difficulties. They actually recorded wayy over what they were expecting for the the quarter.

We actually do have a transition from the old , to the new that hits in may.. We send off all the old product about the end of march to make room for the new products ..

Bestbuy's not going anywhere.. We open about 2-3 stores a month across the country


Also, theres a reason why just anyone doesnt have keys. Its getting harder and harder these days to just TRUST any joeblow with keys to thousands of dollars worth of equipment. So now only supervisors and managers carry keys. Kids always think they are smarter than asset protection..but there not

Vndcatr wrote in post #7785384
Also, theres a reason why just anyone doesnt have keys. Its getting harder and harder these days to just TRUST any joeblow with keys to thousands of dollars worth of equipment. So now only supervisors and managers carry keys. Kids always think they are smarter than asset protection..but there not

When I worked at Best Buy the managers were the most crooked guys out there. They ran embezzlement schemes and got away with it for quite some time. But a CSR finally figured something was up and told the District LP what was going on.

Vndcatr wrote in post #7785384
Also, theres a reason why just anyone doesnt have keys. Its getting harder and harder these days to just TRUST any joeblow with keys to thousands of dollars worth of equipment. So now only supervisors and managers carry keys. Kids always think they are smarter than asset protection..but there not

Sounds to me like that is their problem.

In2Photos wrote in post #7787823
When I worked at Best Buy the managers were the most crooked guys out there. They ran embezzlement schemes and got away with it for quite some time. But a CSR finally figured something was up and told the District LP what was going on.

When I worked there in HS, we saw the head security guy in the yellow shirt hand-cuffed and thrown in the back seat of a squad car.
Found out later that evening that he was detagging some very high end electronics and taking them out of the store one by one on his 'smoke' breaks.
Think it was somewhere close to $15K.

Ah Best Buy. Wonderfully mismanaged and chaotic store it is.
If you think buying from there is a mess, try working there!

Meh, theres theft at a lot of these stores, you cant say its solely a best buy problem because i bet theres plenty of wal mart employees who steal things too :P

The fact is Best Buy catches them, that means their Loss Prevention does in fact work well..

Meh. Go figure. It's a job in retail. Once I get an intership/finish up my degree, I'm getting as far away from Best Buy as I can. But for now, it brings in the money.

Eventhough I'm a CA, I find myself holding down the fort in DI. In our store we don't have the 70-200 f/4 L, but we do carry the newer 17-40L. Since there's not any truly camera specialty store left in town, we're the place that people have to go through if they want to pick up an dSLR locally. I get quite a few photogs who come in and look down on you as if you didn't know anything. Coupled with the idiots who want "the best camera for taking pictures", it's a real sh*tty place to be working in.

There's plenty of employees who know what they're talking about and are honest. Just because you work with a few bad apples doesn't mean the company as a whole is rotten.

d1blet wrote in post #7793711
Meh. Go figure. It's a job in retail. Once I get an intership/finish up my degree, I'm getting as far away from Best Buy as I can. But for now, it brings in the money.

Eventhough I'm a CA, I find myself holding down the fort in DI. In our store we don't have the 70-200 f/4 L, but we do carry the newer 17-40L. Since there's not any truly camera specialty store left in town, we're the place that people have to go through if they want to pick up an dSLR locally. I get quite a few photogs who come in and look down on you as if you didn't know anything. Coupled with the idiots who want "the best camera for taking pictures", it's a real sh*tty place to be working in.

There's plenty of employees who know what they're talking about and are honest. Just because you work with a few bad apples doesn't mean the company as a whole is rotten.

Exactly, and I bet it also has to do with the District Managers in areas..a lot of the "this Best Buy sucks" complaints I see all seem to be people in NYC or California...but maybe thats just those areas...