Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Cheese Country
Posts: 15

On one of the local morning news shows here in Madison, they do daily remotes from various venues highlighting whatever. This morning the remote was from the local Best Buy doing a "What to get for Dad for Father's Day" theme.

I watched with interest to see if they would spotlight a Visor. Imagine my surpise when the "associate" started describing one of their "hottest sellers," the "Palm Pilot."
I still stayed in to hear what might be said and was stunned to hear him demonstrate the "new Hewlett Packard Palm Pilot." "This Palm Pilot comes in color with a Windows based operating system. We also have Palm Pilots by a new company called Visor."

I guess he was absent that day in training school when they talked about PDA's. The sad point is this was the "expert" management chose to put out front to sell and demonstrate their products. Who was their second choice?!

I really fear for the folks who walk into Best Buy wanting anything but CD's.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location:
Posts: 27

You just heard about how everyone in the retail business across the country was an idiot? Wow, where have you been?

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Inglewood, CA, USA
Posts: 390

<hee hee> Boy, that was dumb on their part... I just *love* going to Best Buy to get knowledgable information on electronics... they are *so* helpful�<hee hee>

They should fire his a*s for making them look stupid, or maybe fire who ever trained him, or maybe fire whoever put him in front of the camera, or maybe fire whoever said he was an expert, or maybe fire... (I think you get it.)

Honestly, when I went there, my part of the conversion was, �I want the Handspring 8mb Flash Module. Yes, that�s it. Yes, I�m sure. Yes, I already own a Visor. Yes, I know how much it costs. Thank you.�

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Posts: 406

A lot of the time when going into places like best buy, I find myself explaining what the device does to THEM. and they stand there like 'wow, it does that? cool!'
Worst part is, I'm sure I'm not alone...

[This message has been edited by Vertigo (edited 06-16-2000).]

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Moved to Clie Land
Posts: 331

Vertigo...It's confirmed...you are definately NOT alone.

Heck of a training program BB has isn't it?

Another thing that kills me is all the "knowledgeable" associates that insist certain computer software is "essential" for these customers PC's. In many cases, the exact or similar is available free by download...sure aggrevates the associate when I mention this to the people

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"It's NOT a tumor!"

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 42

*amused look*


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That which does not kill me had BETTER do enough damage to keep me from firing back!

Registered: May 2000
Location: Milton, Vermont, USA
Posts: 6

Well guys, I'm not a BB employee, we accually don't even have a Best Buy in our state. Weird huh? But I do work at Staples. I realize that there may be a thread that talks about Staples, and Staples employees, but this thread is active and it seems to be of similar interests.

But, it seems that everyone here is right. Currently I work at Staples on the side, and my main job is working as a Network Engineer for the Greater Burlington Area here. But the training of the employees on 98% of the equiptment that we sell is little to none. We seem to have a few different kind of employees. The first kind is the kind who think they know everything about everything, and if they don't know for sure, they'll make something up. These people are the ones who may give false information to someone when they ask. I once heard an employee tell a customer that Handspring was going to come out with a springboard to make the Visor's screen color in the future, so the customer bought a VDx instead of a IIIc. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a strong supporter of the Visors, but the customer wanted color, and the only way to go with that now is the IIIc, so in this case misinformation lead to a mis-sale and at some point an angry customer.

The next kind of employee is the one who hasn't a clue. You'll see this employee reading off the 3x5 description card in front of the item. There'll be lots of "uh's" and pauses. Here too, you may find mis-information, or like has been stated before, the customer ends up filling the employee in.

And the last kind of employee that I can think of is the kind that knows what they're talking about. Take me for example. I've been workign with computers and their systems and software constantly for the past 5 years, I had been doing research on the Visor since last october and I know the in's and out's of the palm pilots. because i know my stuff, i'm able to sell to the people what they want. I usually sell 7-12 visors a day when i'm working. 70% of the sales are Palm Pilot converts, and maybe 80% are the Deluxe model. I still sell my share of Palm Pilots, some people you just can't bring over.

So anyway, there's my speil. Sorry it's so long and lengthy... I just wanted to write this for a while. Not all Staples, and I'm sure not all Best Buy employees are stupid as you say. You just have to realize, not many people with lots of experience or knowledge is going to take a retail job, with no commision, for $9 an hour, max. That's why I do it on the side, the 14 hours a week makes decent spending cash.. but until next time guys.. later.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Santa Clarita, CA
Posts: 198

I went to BestBuy to get some blank cd's for my new cd burner that I was also buying . I'm new to cd burning, but thought I was reasonably knowledgable. I asked an associate in a blue shirt to confirm my understanding - CDR can be read anywhere, CDRW only in CDRW drives.

I was told with complete certainty that my understanding was wrong, and that CDRWs could in fact be read in my car CD player.

Knowing better than to trust someone in BestBuy, I asked someone else who looked a little bit more knowledgeable (and he actually was) who set me straight.

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Hmmmmmmmm......

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Redwood City CA
Posts: 472

quote:

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Originally posted by Argyll:
You just have to realize, not many people with lots of experience or knowledge is going to take a retail job, with no commision, for $9 an hour, max.

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Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 94

mchlwise,

he was mostly wrong, more and more cd players can now read cdrw, generally speaking you're right, but there are more exceptions out there.

sorry about the offtopic folks.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: I'm not sure, but I see lots of lights everywhere.
Posts: 1287

This reminds me of my first taste of Best Buy sales staff in action. Back in March I was looking for a Palm IIIc, so I made the mistake of asking a blue shirt if they had the IIIc in stock. He just looked at me like he was trying to form a thought, and then said "that unit is being discontinued. They (Palm) are replacing it with the IIIe." I guess he was using alphabetical logic. I decided to play along just to see how far this would go. I said "Yah...the IIIe...isn't that the one that has a color display and plays music?". He said "Yep!"

I've had much better experiences with Staples and Circuit City.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 3

I have heard also that at these "superstores" you will often have employees moved around from store section to store section, so that someone might have been selling washers and dryers two weeks ago, VCRs and stereo systems last week, and PDAs this week...don't know if that's true, but sounds plausible. I guess if you don't care enough about an employee to give him/her proper training, you don't care enough to keep him/her in one section long enough to become knowledgeable...

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: College Station, TX
Posts: 143

Argyll,

Re: the three kinds of employees (faking, clueless and knowledgeable)...sounds like every other profession I've seen, from entry-level retail folks to Nobel Laureates.

The popularity of Dilbert speaks to the generality of the problem.

Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Boca Raton, FL, USA
Posts: 3

Hi,

I got my VDx about six weeks ago, at CompUSA. I already knew that this was what I wanted (thanks in large part to the threads on this board...), and there's a Best Buy about five minutes from my house.

I found the handheld section, which had about half a dozen PDAs, including an equally priced Palm III, and a Visor. I was set on a blue Visor, and for $250, I wasn't going to get anything else. Just in case, however, I asked the BB rep if there was any reason I should get the Pam instead of the Visor. His reply:

"The Palm is a better product. The other one is just a generic brand. The Palm has more features".

I was all ready to ask him about exactly what he meant by "generic" and by the Palm's additional features when he also told me that all they had were graphite Visors. Instead of wasting my time with that guy, I drove to the nearest CompUSA, about 30 minutes away, and picked up the blue VDx I wanted. The service wasn't anything special, but I asked the rep there the same question. His response:

"There really isn't much of a difference between the two, but I would get the Visor, it's a better value and has the Springboard expansion slot."

Simply, one guy knew what he was talking about, the other didn't. After that, though, CompUSA tried to sell me an extra warranty (to which I asked the rep "do you mean that these break a lot?".. this really scared him ), and some screen covers. I declined both, but went home with my Visor, which I am extremely satisfied with.

It is one thing for a salesperson not to be informed about a product, but another for them to make up false information.

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Lm77
http://www.mp3.com/liam

Registered: May 2000
Location: seabrook, Tx USA
Posts: 5

When I was looking for the Modem Module
here in Houston, the "Brainiacs" at Best Buy
were telling me they don't even carry the Visor product. It's pretty sad when the customer has to explain to them what items they have in stock!!! Makes me fearful of any further purchases from the "Brainiacs at Best Buy".

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 105

The thing that really gets me annoyed at Best Buy is when you buy a large item from them, for me it was a lap top a few wyears ago. He kept pestering me about getting an extended warranty from them and I kept assuring him that I could easily fix anything that whent wrong and the current warranty was enough. After telling the guy three times he sent out his manager who also tried to sell me the damn warranty because he couldn't!

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 81

The sad part is, stores like CompUSA and Best Buy advertise that spending the extra dollars to buy products from them versus a web site is worth it. They'll say they have the expertise to help you find exactly what you're looking for.

Again, there may be 1 or 2 employees who know what they're doing, but if they know much of anything at all, they probably won't be working there for long.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
Posts: 64

Having worked for three years in the past for a prominent national electronics retailer, I can say that the actual product training has seriously dwindled in recent years. They don't waste too much time with teaching actual product knowledge / manufacturer knowledge (maybe about 30%, which barely adequate, but it's not emphasized). They expect the salesperson to actually take the time to learn the material themselves.

Unfortunately, this does not work because the type of person working in retail is not necessarily a "career" type person. Most likely they are some college student looking for extra bucks for the summer or holidays.

The retail store trains most of their employees most of the time on how to sell their extended warranty plans, mainly because they make the most money off of that (especially in computers where the margins are so low). The store usually gives a commission on selling these extended warranties also. And furthermore, management pressure is such that employees feel their job security threatened if they do not sell enough of these service plans. And unfortunately, this is pressure is often conveyed to the customer when a salesperson tries to bend your arm into purchasing one of these plans.

Now I'm not telling anyone to buy or not to buy these warranties, but it is that it's your choice. If you believe in them, and you want them, buy all you want! I actually did have one on my computer, and it paid off when my hard disk AND CD-ROM failed last september and needed to be replaced. It was taken care of quickly. However, I did not purchase one on my PalmPilot Pro, and it died about the same time. Fortunately for me, if I had an extended warranty on my Palm, it would've tied me to the old and venerable PPPro, and I would never have bought a Visor in October! :-)

The bottom line: if you don't believe in extended warranties, don't let the salesperson bend your arm into them. If they keep persisting, just remember that just as it is your option to buy the extended warranty, it is also your option of whether you want to purchase the product in the first place from either Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Staples, OfficeMax, etc,... There's plenty of stores to choose from, and hopefully one of those people won't bend your arm!


[This message has been edited by Cashman (edited 06-21-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Cashman (edited 06-21-2000).]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 106

Caveat Emptor.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Inglewood, CA, USA
Posts: 390

quote:

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Originally posted by Lm77:
It is one thing for a salesperson not to be informed about a product, but another for them to make up false information.

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