So the guy at best buy tries hawking me a HDTV monitor...

[Deja Q]

He loved to hype up sony.

I also loved tripping him up on all the obvious questions (backlight, black levels, lifespan (he outright lied, BTW)).

Great fun.

Then I went to buy the heavier dumbbells and saw some dolt using the car park as a bloody racetrack, squealing the minivan's tyres and all... Or was it a SUV? Whatever, they all look alike... :D

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. I swear Best Buy must spend far too much money finding employees,

because they sure seem to be really fucking diligent about hiring the dumbest, slowest, and most unhelpful fucking people in the city. Their screening process must cost them thousands and thousands of dollars.

[DainBramaged]

2. I call and complain about the local Best Try all the time

They stopped sending letters of apology. BTW, they never corrected one problem I have complained about.

[Deja Q]

6. Yipes. Which BB are you talking about? BTW, re: "Best Try":

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[DainBramaged]

17. The one in Rockaway NJ, they only sucked after the first year

[Chan790]

3. Simpler than that...

they refuse to pay good money to get people who know the equipment and the technology, then boost their crappyness by refusing to augment base pay with sales commission.

What is the motivation to try to sell anything or learn the equipment in order to sell more if you get $9.50/hour either way?

[Deja Q]

4. And, get this, the only way to become one of their 'Geek Squad' folks is to

be a blue shirt for several months...

You cannot hire into their GS subsidiary from the outside. Which is a bit of a shame, having noted how dim the blue shirts typically are in terms of technical details...

Heck, knowing the number of customer complaints I've heard about, it's easier and more justified to call them 'Dork Troop'.

[Scooter24]

5. I was there yesterday...

looking for an LCD TV for a birthday gift.

The salesman, very knowledgeable, was really trying to talk me into buying a Sony 75-inch LCD TV. Mighty nice, but was still very pricey.

[Chan790]

7. Seriously...

go with DLP. It's a big boxy TV, but the picture is better IMO and the TV costs 1/3 as much.

[Deja Q]

9. Well, they all seem to say Sony makes the best...

Lots of other people say Samsung makes the best.

They all agree that Westinghouse isn't the best.

And salesmen are a quirky form of actor. How much they really know and how much they act up are two different things. The one I talked to wanted me to get the higher price Sony. The Sony really did stand out - its blacks came in rather gray whereas all the surrounding displays were much closer to black (although not true black, that's currently impossible for LCD technology. But far closer than the Sony...)

On the plus side, none of the sales walkers at BB get commissions. A few times that's been sad when I actually encounter somebody worth their salt, but it also explains why so many there use the generic catchphrases to try to generate a sale. I know their employees work on a quota-basis (Don't meet the quota and you're fired.)

[Scooter24]

15. The store really had a large amount of

Mitsubishi televisions. I did like the selection of Sony's however, just nothing along the lines of 75-inches. I currently have a 60-inch, and it's big enough lol

I did like this one television that had this ambient light technology that really highlights the TV.

[Poiuyt]

16. It's quite possible that the Sony models are set up better

If they did a better job of adjusting the contrast, color, etc., it would look better. I have heard rumors that stores would do that on purpose with the higher profit merchandise, but I would certainly never accuse Best Buy of such tactics.

[DainBramaged]

22. Trust me they do

The number one rated and selling 42 inch in the country is the Panasonic (Consumer Reports). I went in with a friend before thanksgiving to get one, nd it looked crappy. Then after a few minutes of hemming and hawing, the Best Try Goober gave us the remote. After we set it up, it looked bette then them all. It was detuned to the lowest level, except contrast. Even on auto it blew the others away. After we tuned it, the salesman disappeared and we were hard pressed to find someone to sell it to us. They tried everything to change my friends mind. If you want a reference on the Panasomic, pm me and I'll give you his email to ask him about it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. I won't shop at Boost Buy

Their sales staff is made of people too aggressive to sell cars, and they once screwed me on an extended warranty for a computer.

Never. Ever. Again.

[Deja Q]

11. Sometimes the extended warranty can be a good thing...

For anything LCD, scanner, or digital camera it's worth pondering.

For desktop computers, no way.

They screwed me out of a laserdisc warranty; but it was close to the expiration time so I decided 'whatever'. It was the same repair job 3 times, but the 3rd time they lied about what was done to fix it (the problem came back anyway). I should see if I still have all the paperwork, just for kicks.

They've been very nice with the scanner warranty, I must admit. It's an automatic replacement and not a repair warranty anyway.

But looking at other stores' and mail order companies' plans (for example, Ritz and Amazon.com use the same warranty vendor for digital cameras; but Ritz' plan is rather more expensive, ouch), BB does tend to be pricey at times (I think they revamped their camera policy as the extended warranty rates I saw were bloody awful).

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. No, I mean they screwed me *on* the warranty

I bought the extended warranty for this computer, and when the hard drive failed within the warranty period, they refused to honor it.

[datasuspect]

10. best solution

stop buying shit.

[Deja Q]

12. Well, given my solitary life, I've grown attached to tv...

Old tv, because it's made better. (in terms of writing and storylines, there's actual depth...)

Now if you want to get me a life to share, then I'll stop. Until then, I ain't stoppin' and I'm avoiding petty peddlers like the kids BB likes to hire.

[datasuspect]

13. sure, i'll be there tuesday

we can get matching "life partners" t-shirts.

[wildhorses]

18. can i start a thread

whereby i gossip that datsuspect and hypnotoad are getting married:bounce:

it'll be loads of fun...sorta like graywarrior's thread about spk and crim son;)

[datasuspect]

20. sure, go ahead

that would be funny

[wildhorses]

21. wait for it---

one day when you are not 'suspecting' it;)

[DainBramaged]

19. Sony may be paying a "spiff" (bonus) for every one they sell