Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners I just got "FutureShopped" at BestBuy

I went into my local Best Buy yesterday just to browse at the large screen TVs. The salesman I met was unusually agressive for a BB, almost as if he was on commission, which they are not. It was the sort of performance one would expect at FS where the 14 year olds are on commission.

He kept pushing me towards a Panasonic Plasma and actually started giving me a lot of reasons why I would not want a LCD/LED. And this was a $1699 plasma and the LCDs were over $2,000 This was the first time I had ever heard a BB salesperson actually trash talk products they sell.

Along with this I have noticed very aggressive advertising and pricing regarding Plasma TVs.

Anyone else experienced this?

Any chance that pending energy conservation legislation is going to leave manufactureres with a lot of Plasmas that may be difficult to sell?

California http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/18/terms.said.to.effectively.kill.plasma.tvs.in.ca/

Europe

Ontario

and a last thought.....

Based on his actions I am assuming that TV prices right now are very good as my salesmeister kept trying to push the 'total solution" for me. It includes not only the TV, but:
- Video Cables
- Audio Cables
- Universal Remote including setup
- TV installation, wall mount or stand
- TV Calibration
- Clean power filter
- and the ever popular extended warranty
....at this point it was pretty hard not to break out in laughter but using the "self control" shown here on the forums allowed me to temporarily act like a mature adult.

pretty obvious where the real profit comes from.

So all in all I am left wondering why I am seeing this push on plasma.

Wayne I had to stop by the Sprint store on the way home from work yesterday and during the 30 minute wait I stepped into the Best Buy next door and was blown away with the aggressiveness of the sales people. I started out in the TVs and one particular chucklehead followed me every step from there to the PCs and then on to the camera department ... I couldn't take it no longer and had to leave, went to Michael's Crafts next door and luckily he didn't follow me there.

On a side note Michael's was OK, I never realized the neat little stuff in there.

We have a Michaels next to our Best Buy, too. Maybe they're strategically placing themselves as a safe haven for people who are afraid of heights and aggressive salespeople.

Their strategy worked Charles, now that I've finally been into a Michael's after all of these years of going into the BB next door and viewing the rather nice looking lot of ladies that seems to be attracted to that particular craft store will have me making more trips to Michael's in the future.

You know, for crafts and things like that ... the selection of yarns is unbelievable.

Actually, it was a Michael's employee dressed up as a BB 'associate' steering potential customers into the store.

My wife's calling you on the yarn selection, Rick.

I think it was yarn.

I picked up a 32" LCD at BB a couple of days ago, and it was fine. No pressure regarding cables, extended warranty or anything else. As a matter of fact, I plan on going back for three more in the next couple of days!

Oh, no! They got you!

Funniest thread in a while guys.

Ya'll keeps me laughing!!!

This thread's a yarn.

Don't feel too bad Rick, I've only just discovered the wonders of a chain called HomeSense, lots of good things for my ever ongoing renovation at very good prices.

Trying to do the impossible and get this thing back on track I start screaming "has anyone else noticed a push on plasma?"


..yes it might look better in caps but I'll try and be civilized

The sales guy in my case was trying to steer me towards the LCD TVs ... he never mentioned anything regarding the plasmas

I know people want me to donate my plasma.

This is why I like shopping online, dealing with annoying salespeople just totally turns me off. Most of the time I know what I want and they still feel the need to keep talking, even when it's a sure fire sale.

I was in Visions just before xmas to help someone buy a new 40" lcd tv. We were steered slightly over to plasmas. When i told the salesman that i liked the contrast and colours, plus the lack of lcd lag, but i won't buy one b/c of its horrible energy consumption compared to lcd he says to me:
"Well living here in Winnipeg that tv will add to the heat in your house over the winter cutting heating bills..."

Funny how they neglect to mention the 35C summer sunny days part of the year though.

I read recently that Panasonic just built a new plasma screen factory, just when i thought the technology was losing out and dying off in lieu of lcd.

Ya I was shopping with my sister at the FS years ago and we came up against these 2 salesmen. They almost seemed to be working as a team good salesman/bad salesman. I just told them the good/bad routine wasnt working and told them to go away. I went and found a nice non pushy guy. He got the sale instead.

Yeah, but do they work for best buy?

I've been in Future Shop at times where it seems like they have more salespeople than customers. You feel like a goldfish with the words "bite me" on your ass swimming in a tankfull of pirhannas.

I haven’t stepped into a BB since the early 90s. Worst customer service I’d ever seen in retail. About the only way I’d go back is to check out a going out of business sale. Maybe your experiences are a sign of something

Dean, my take on FShop(BB bought them out a few years ago) is that the salesman seem free to come in and work whenever they feel like it, perhaps they are on 100% commission(is that possible?) with no base salary. As a result, you get a whole whack of them in the store esp around Christmas time...you'll see 5-6 of them in a group at a time eyeing prospective suckers. We used to have a chain of audio/electronic stores that went by the name of Majestic Sound(?) or something like that. They unsurprisingly disappeared many years ago due to their high pressure sales tactics, outright rude in fact. I still recall going in one of their stores to browse and from the time it took me to walk past the TV section, about 80 ft perhaps, I was accosted by 6 different salesman, the last of which became almost hostile.

"Can I help you?"

No thanks, just browsing....

"Browsing for what?"

I'm just looking, thanks....

"You must have come in here for something..."

(this exchange kept going on while I was slowly walking/browsing then finally I'd had enough)

You know what? I was going to buy that $5000 big screen over there but you're acting like an a-hole so I'm leaving...

I had no idea of the connection between BB and FS, in fact I’d never heard of FS except in this forum. It’s funny that BB is getting pushy because one of my several gripes about it way back when was that you couldn’t ever find anyone to help you.

FS has been around since the early 80's in Canada(Largest electronics retailer in Cnd), think of it as a BB with a commission-based sales staff. BB bought them out in 2001 and it's kind of funny because they play off of the fact that they (meaning BB) are not on commission as some of their 'competitors' are.

Just because you may be swamped by a number of salespeople doesn't mean you'll be helped in any way so, yes that is still the case today Dean.

Ha! Well put Rick.

You know, that's one business model I just don't get. FS is owned by BB, both sell virtually the same products at the same prices and they are usually located almost next door to each other. Doesn't that just mean essentially twice the overhead? Other than the commission thing and different store colour schemes, what's the difference and why have both stores?

Personally I go to FS 1st if I need something because they're on commission you can usually haggle a better price, but not so at BB.

We don't have a Best Buy locally, but the few times I've been in the One in Kanada, (For our friends beyond our borders, this is not a misprint, there is indeed a Kanada in Canada.) I didn't find them pushy at all.

On the other hand, every time I even go to the Future Shop web sight, some pimply faced kid with an extended warranty form stares in my window.

Funny enough they don't always have the same prices. I returned a Bluray player I bought at BB and bought the same one at FS, saved $90+ plus tax. It was during Christmas when they get very good with their pricing.

You could have just brought in the receipt to BB and asked for the price guarantee and received another 10% off the FS price from BB.

I think it's actually 10% of the "difference", not of the total amount. If I see something I might buy in any store that I've seen somewhere else for less, I just ask one of the clerks if they price match with store 'xyz' then tell them the price. Usually they just phone them up to 1) verify the price and 2) make sure they have one or more in stock.

I've had some bad experience as FS and BB. Customer service is virtually non-existent particularly any post sales issues.

I just go there if I already know what I'm going to purchase and walk out.

+1 = I don't think I have made any purchases from a B&M where the salesperson knew anything close to my knowledge base. A very basic knowledge base due to researching either here or AVS.

Oh great, so now he is calling us basic!!!

I generally think of myself as neutral to acidic, really.

phunny

There should be a litmus test to keep posts with such base humor off the boards.

I'm going to avoid the next obvious joke about your bases and their ownership. I've done enough damage in the thread re. "she saids" and "the do not remove tags". Even I can only sink so low. Well, not without adding alcohol, anyways.

I wasn't talking about my subwoofer! OH...I thought you meant BASS.

Yeah, fish aren't that funny.

Well.....maybe Bass aren't funny, but Perch??

http://www.todayonline.com/World/Globalr...by-raining-fish

Wow. Cool story.

See how it happens here:

http://www.asylum.co.uk/2010/03/03/australian-town-hit-by-raining-fish/

It's always fun to mess with the salesmen in electronic stores.

I remember going into a Radio Shack back in the 80's (loved it back then, you had all the stuff to make electronic projects or a bomb right off the shelf) and asking the salesman:

Me: "You got any variable frequency oscillators?"

Salesman: "Aren't those things illegal?"

LOL!

I don't buy it. This is just another attempt by science to explain away a miracle.

A video of the phenomenon is a strong way to describe something that is clearly largely CGI and the rest staged. Still, makes sense to me.

That poor guy. Party foul, fish, party foul!

If you read it carefully, there is no significant water for a huge distance. Even if it was a waterspout of some type, the premise is that the storm carried the fish hundreds of miles before depositing them??

I'm always finding dead sea life on my lawn. However, it's usually the result of fighting between the bald eagles, osprey and seagulls. I once had an somewhat unpleasant near miss with a still alive eel while I was on the lawn tractor.

I was doing some furniture browsing at Leons earlier and I've gotta say, they've learnt something. They used to "Futureshop" the customer as soon as you walked through the door, then various salespeople would continue to bother you as you browsed. Today, a guy simply said, "Hello" and "if you need anything, let me know" and nobody else bothered me while browsing through the store. Instead of making a beeline to the door like I used to, now I feel like I can actually browse around in peace until I need to ask a question.