Shop Shop 'Til You Drop

Every now and then as I am link surfing (click on link on a page, then click a link on the new page, rinse, and repeat) I run across a thought provoking item. This one I just found a little while ago and after I read it I began to think about my own shopping habits when it comes to those types of stores.

The article is about Best Buy and how up to 20% of their customers are "devil" customers...ones that only buy the items that are sold at a loss (anyone who has worked retail knows about this. As a former Circuit City employee, I know how the game is played). Now I understand why BB feels this way, but there is a price to doing business.

Now when it comes to buying things from stores like BB, CC, Fry's, and Microcenter, I have to be a smart shopper. If my particular store of choice (let's say Fry's) is not running what I want on sale and Microcenter is, then guess where am going to purchase said item since both are equidistant from my job site?

I also use rebates whenever I can. Over the past 3 years I have gotten a rebate for a hard drive, a router, a CD-R/W, and a flat panel monitor (Web update says it should be here very soon). The fastest rebate was with the HD (3-4 weeks) and the slowest was the CD-R/W (almost a year...I would have given up but the rebate made the thing free). The rebates cut the cost of the router and the HD in HALF $30 for the Linksys wireless router and $80 for the WD hard drive.

I will take advantage of the loss leader sales now and then if a rebate puts the item to free or next to nothing. A large percentage of my blank CD's have ended up being $5.00 per 100 for name branded ones. I purchased compressed air at $5.00 for three cans, a 120 CD wallet for $5.00, open item cables, etc...I have even purchased things I did not need because they were free after rebates (game pad, joystick, etc)

Back when memory was still pretty high, I saved 50% on memory cards for my camera by purchasing them from Gateway...with free shipping no less. I will shop around (we are doing that now with printers) and I will find the best deal I can.

I once took the Fry's ad and the Microcenter ad and built (on paper) a PC dirt cheap. The case, power supply, floppy, CD-R/W were all free after rebates, the mobo/processor was a combo deal, the RAM and the HD were both half off. It was an entry level machine for something like $200. You can do if you work at it. Of course you could always wait until those same stores run the loss leader item for nearly the same price...already put together with an OS (Linux).

I do not return too many things if I can help it. I used to work in a returns department so I know the kinds of things that can happen there. I think the last thing I returned was a headset for my mobile phone that I purchased at Target. I bought the least expensive one and I really got my money's worth. I returned it the next day for a Jabra branded one Much nicer!

My choice for shopping is normally Fry's because of price and selection. I did have an issue once on a return but that was ignorance on my part. Fry's does not honor the manufacturer's warranty after 30 days, even if the same item is still in stock and on the item master. Back when I worked at CC, we had "RTV" items that we would return for items our repair center did not fix and that the vendor wanted back. Example: You have a Brand Z CD player and after 45 days, it stops working. At Fry's, you have to take it (or ship) it to a repair facility because it is beyond 30 days old, even if they are still selling it. At CC, you used to be able to bring Brand Z CD player back anytime during the warranty period as long as it was still returnable to the vendor. That saved me on several items (radar detector, boom box, Game boy, answering machine, cordless phones, etc) that petered out after 2-12 months of use.

I am not a fan of Best Buy for a couple of reasons, bit that stem from issues that happened 10 years ago. "Skippys" (Best Buy employees) there were the absolute worst in product info and sales help. They had no clue how to help someone or how to get a sale. Example: We go to buy a 27" TV. We know we either want the Sony or the Panasonic, both in stock at BB. Price is the same, features are very similar...almost exact. We tried to get Skippy to help (he was the only one nearby) and he took 30 minutes to get the set for us AFTER we made up our minds. He was no help on features because all he did was read the card on the front...he had no product knowledge...the guys at CC did, but they did not have it in stock.

Next example: I go to buy a PC (back before I had ever built one). I remember my experience at BB, but decide to give them another chance. The PC advertised (not the cheapest by any means) was out of stock, so I asked what the sales staff could do to compensate. He offers another one that is less powerful, but tells me we can "build it up" to be just like the other one. Well, that is service! I say sure and he starts the sales ticket. When he is done, the PC is $400 more than the one on sale, for essentially the same PC. I ask him why, and he tells me all the parts he added will cost money...and he is not going to eat it. I go 2 minutes south to CC and get the same PC for LESS (got a floor sample monitor at a huge discount that I ended up returning because it was defective. I got a new one for the same price) and they cut 10% off an HP laser printer (that lasted us 10 years) on top of that. Third example: It was after Christmas and I was returning a gift. It was what I wanted but the wrong brand and model, so I took it back with the receipt. The gift was bought the first of November and it was beyond the "30 day return" but gifts are usually given a bit of leeway at any store as long as it is complete and resellable or a defect. You may notget any money back but you will normally get a store credit. The person (young female) who was working the return counter informed me that I could not return it because it was beyond 30 days. I told her that I understood, but it was a gift and one that did not fit my needs. I told her I was going to get something with more features (READ: more expensive) and she told me again, "No". This was holding up the line and I asked to speak to her manager and she gave me an attitude look and said, "He is gonna tell you the same thing, I ain't gonna waste my time". With this, I became, "irritated". I raised my voice, ever so slightly so the rep next to her could hear and he did. He asked what the problem was and she told him and seemed to get upset when I added to her story that, "I plan to spend more money on a better unit." He told the girl to issue a store credit and she said she wasn't going to. I asked the male if he would and he said he would, after he called his manager. With that, the girl got mad and gave me my store credit, slamming it down on the counter.

Maybe she had a bad day, maybe she just was following the rules. I could sympathize, but when a customer asks to speak to the store manager and the rep refuses to call them (or at least a sales manager), then that rep is not helping the situation at all.

Moral of this story is do not go to BB unless you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what you want and that you can carry it yourself. Oh yeah, not to mention that returning gifts may be difficult as well.