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Best Buy Fail (again)
Dawgz Rule:
I think it is pretty simple in that most people who purchase a cable at the store have an immediate need and the store knows this and prices accordingly. Supply and demand. If you need it right now, you can expect to pay a premium.
shmokes:
Well, sure. The rub is the degree of gouging we're talking about. Charging $50 for something that can be purchased for $2 online is a bit more premium than one would typically expect.
saint:
--- Quote from: yotsuya on January 31, 2012, 10:33:40 pm ---Saint-
I'm curious why you feel that way. No judgement on my part, but why does it bother you?
--- End quote ---
I'm a big privacy/civil liberties freak. I don't believe there's any harm in showing the receipt, but I firmly believe I am under no obligation to do so either. I resent a company insisting they have the right to demand to see my receipt, so I push back. If I'm walking out with an unbagged item, and they ask for a receipt, I generally comply because I understand the real problem of stop-loss and an unbagged item is question-worthy. However, when I walk 20 steps from the cashier who bagged my items to the door, all under security camera surveillance, and then am challenged to go through my bags, to examine what is now my personal property, it gets my bristles up.
If you want my business as a customer, you will treat me like a customer, not a suspected criminal. If not, I will take my business elsewhere.
I would not allow the police to search my house or my car without a proper warrant either.
saint:
RE: Amazon vs. Best Buy.
I shopped for a new camera for my daughter for Chrismachanukwanza. I walked in to Best Buy to shop, and I shopped online. Best Buy didn't have what I wanted so I went with Amazon. I would have been willing to buy from Best Buy though if they'd had the specific model I wanted, even if it was a few dollars more, just to 1) support local economy, and 2) have it now. I would not have paid more than a few dollars more however.
Anyway, got the camera. Daughter used it for a couple of weeks (at least a month after purchase), and then the camera broke. I no longer had the packaging material or receipt. I popped up a customer support chat window with Amazon, and explained it was broken and I didn't have the box or other packaging materials. Amazon's response was: "We're so sorry you're having this issue. We will overnight you a replacement. Send the damaged camera back in the new camera's box. We'll pay all the costs." I didn't need the receipt because they had a record of it all. 5 minutes of my time, done. Painless.
Had I bought it at Best Buy, my experience would have been much different. I'd have been out of luck period without my receipt, which I don't hold against them per se, but still I would have been out of luck. With the receipt, I am 99% certain I'd still be out of luck without the original box. They probably would have sent my camera out for repair or told me to do so personally. I would not have walked out of the store with a new replacement camera.
I don't know how Best Buy can hope to compete with that kind of customer service, but I do know exactly where I'll probably buy my next major consumer electronics device.
DaveMMR:
From what I understand, the cables is where BB (and its ilk) derives much of its profit - not any of the big ticket items. And yeah, it's basically "I bought this TV and I want to watch it tonight, not 7 days from now." Ergo, you pay that "convenience fee". But the rub is that while I can understand a $20 - $40 price tag, I can't fathom where they get their balls big enough to sell HDMI cables that are more than $100 (well surpassing that as has been pointed out) with a straight face, considering there is no noticeable difference in quality.
And as an addendum in reply to Saint's story: he pretty much covered why I'm actually a huge supporter of Amazon and it's always my first stop when purchasing things. And Buy.com is pretty good too in that respect.
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