Electronics Chain Stores

[Spiffyfast]

So against all my will I just had to go check out what Best Buy, Circuit City, and Ultimate Electronics had to offer in the way of home theater. I just couldnt listen to myself and not go.
I'll start off with the good, I was really impressed with ultimate electronics they had some good products Yammy 1500 and 2500, Denon 3805, Klipsch reference, and Kef speakers. Really enjoyed the Kef's but way too over priced versus other brands. The salesman at Ultimate Electronics was actually helpful and knew what I was talking about concerning features and products other than what they sold in their store. Well that's where the enjoyable part of the story ends.
Next I went to best buy, was looking at receivers and a salesmen came up to me and asked if I needed any help. I'm 21 and this kid looked 5 years younger than me. I said sure, asked if he knew when they were going to get the new yamaha receiver in b/c i'd like something with hdmi switching he gets this really puzzled look on his face, the totally confused one, all he said was to check the website it should be on there and walked off. What the hell kind of customer service is that?!?! Just pisses me off at least he could have said I really have no idea, let me go see if i cant find someone who does, something anything other than just walking off.
After leaving Best Buy to probably never return again I went across the road to circuit city. The first thing that pissed me off was a comment he made, came in looking and told him the kind of money I was looking to spend and the first thing he says is, "mommy and daddy paying for it huh". What kind of salesman says that? I almost just walked out, i may be luck to have a decent paying job for someone my age, but I work my tail off saving for nice things. I may be young but I've bought everything I own myself except for my car that my dad gave me. But none the less, at least here the salesman knew what a reciever was and knew what kind of things used hdmi and dvi. I asked about the Harmon avr 7300 and he was like yeah I have that one at home and assured me it had dvi switching, I knew they had component up-conversion but didnt know about the dvi, he looked it up on the computer and nope non existent, no harmon had it, next i was like well....how bout onkyo then we walk over to their selection and he's like yeah this one has it, didnt catch the model number but it was a 300 dollar receiver and nope didnt have it. He also said he had that receiver. Then I was like yeah, I was just at ultimate electronics and was checking out the Yamaha 2500 and he was like thats a sweet receiver I've got one of those. WOW this guy has a lot of receivers, or he's full of b.s. I was a salesman for awhile and yeah, "I always owned everything I sold" but geesh at least I knew my products very well and could keep it straight that I only owned one thing when talking to a customer, it just amazed me. Ok, I'm done ranting now but I just have to say that I was really impressed with Ultimate Electronics compared to other chain stores, I'll have to start shopping there more often.

 

[Doug917]

I have bought through Ultimate Eletronics before. The manager was very knowledgeable, but the salesperson I was dealing with first did not have a clue. I liked the experience there once I started dealing with the manager. I may go to Best Buy to pick up a movie, but that's where it ends. What really used to kill me is when you'd go to the computer section and get the guy who thought he knew everything about computers. Being MCP, MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, A+, Network+, iNet+, and Security+ certified myself (and still learning many new things every day), I know what I want to buy and how I will connect it. I just wish the salespeople at BB would get out of your way and let you shop in peace. Unfortunately, the Ultimate Electronics in my area went out of business. There are still a couple small high-end audio shops where I'm at, but they are very snobbish and carry very limited brands.

 

[Takeereasy]

I have written a few posts about chain stores myself. Believe me, they are worse in Canada. Same useless staff with much less selection and much higher prices. My latest example was about a week ago. A friend of mine asked me to tag along while he bought his TV. I did because I love shiny things. once the TV was bought he needed a DVD player so we hit the local chain stores to get an idea of what he'd be spending. I did everything I could to talk him into an open box panasonic s97 for $209 CDN. I just about had him sold but couldn't do it. He said no more than $100 before tax. Tax for us being 15%. I did find another open box deal on a Samsung for $109, I believe it was an 841. Not sure but it was the one with the HDMI compatibility. Since it was open box there wasn't a HDMI cable. My friend asked a salesperson how much to replace the HDMI cable. Without missing a beat she told my friend that the only decent HDMI cable is this one and pointed to the Satan...er I mean Monster cable HDMI for $299.00!!!! My friend looked at the girl and asked her if she thought he looked retarded. (really, those were his exact words) This really took her aback until he explained that there was no way in h e double hockey sticks that he would pay 3X the price of the DVD player for one cable, no matter how good it was. Her response? "Well that is the two meter cable, you can get the 1m cable for $250." After this my friend wouldn't even consider HDMI and instead went to another store and purchased a nice LG DVD player for $79 dollars.

 

[Spiffyfast]

did you tell him he could probably get an hdmi cable for like 30 or 40 dollars? 3 times the price of the dvd player is rediculous.

 

[Mort Corey]

The Magnolia HiFi stores appearing inside some Best Buy stores are an entirely different animal than regular Best Buy. Good selection and a different class of salesperson. Well laid out as well.

Mort

 

[Audiosouse]

...Without missing a beat she told my friend that the only decent HDMI cable is this one and pointed to the Satan...er I mean Monster cable HDMI for $299.00!!!! My friend looked at the girl and asked her if she thought he looked retarded. (really, those were his exact words)..."Well that is the two meter cable, you can get the 1m cable for $250."...

Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa!!! I was dyin'! FUTURE SHOP RULES! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I wouldn't pay that if it included *edit*. You should let one of the associates pick you out a nice B(l)ose system and then have them wire it up with Monster cable and see which one comes out more expensive, the crappy overpriced system or the overpriced cable. I bet it would be close.

*Please refrain from making explicit comments this is a family forum. Thanks.

 

[claudermilk]

LOL. So how many people look when you laughed at her? My response would have been about the same as your friends.'

 

[BMXTRIX]

The Magnolia HiFi stores appearing inside some Best Buy stores are an entirely different animal than regular Best Buy. Good selection and a different class of salesperson. Well laid out as well.

Mort

Thanks for saying that - I was about to say the same thing. I have been able to walk through there without even being bugged about 'needing help' which is always a miracle.

You can just go in, sit down on the couch, and listen to their speakers or watch a movie on a InFocus projector for 30 minutes and not be bugged many times over.

Plus, they usually pull their sales guys from the car audio side of things and car guys (techs) are just way more into customizing and knowing the latest and greatest than their average 18 year old employee.

Magnolia in the store, just generally, gets a thumbs up from me.

 

[Takeereasy]

Best Buy in Canada has no Magnolias. Also they only carry about one fifth of the audio equipment as their American counterpart. Then they charge us up the butt for it. The Best Buy close to my house carries only Sony, Pioneer, and Yamaha receivers. They don't carry the ES line of Sony, or the Elite brand of Pioneer, and they stop at the 5790 for Yamaha (by the way it's still a $1000 for a 5790 up here, it is also $1000 for the 5890 in the same display).

I did tell my friend we could get him a cable of equal quality for about $25 but after the fiasco he just wasn't interested. I don't blame the salesperson, she was just repeating what they'd told her was the truth. She was telling my friend how great the $300 cable was with this earnest look in her eyes. She thought she was doing him a favour.

My friend had asked his question loud enough to have three or four people look over. He didn't yell it but he didn't speak quietly either. He is not the easily embarrassed type. I used to be but you can't stay friends with this guy if you can't stand public scrutiny. He used to constantly pretend we were a gay couple just to see me squirm. This really used to bug me when I was single because he'd do it at the bar as I was talking to girls. His explanation? "What do I care? I'm married." It took me about two years to get used to it, now I can give as good as I get. One time we were walking in Home Depot when he started up. To get even I yelled out to one of the workers at the end of a very crowded aisle, "Hey, excuse me, where do you guys keep the grow lights? My buddy here has a whole crop in his basement dying." That will get you some looks I tell ya.

 

[Thunder18]

Hey now, they're not that bad. Ultimate Electronics near me went out of business, but I had nothing but bad experiences there including non-existent advertised products, bogus rebates and salespeople that would stick to me like the Hounds of Hades!
I bought my 2nd Pioneer receiver, HDTV and Infinity powered sub from Circuit City and was not hounded at all. My questions were answered satisfactorily and I was able to purchase the extended warranty as well as having the peace of mind that I'm buying from an authorized retailer.
My first Pioneer receiver and my latest Pioneer receivers were both purchased at Best Buy. No one tried to sell me Mon$ter Cable, just the warranty that I purchased both times. I long ago sold the first receiver and it still works(almost 4 years later), but it helped me sell it 2 years ago. The new one has the warranty and It will probably be my last receiver for many years. But again, I purchased it from an authorized retailer and received it about 4 days earlier than I originally expected.
Now, I've yet to see my HDTV, receiver or subwoofer priced lower than what I paid at any authorized retailer!
The secret is to have a good idea about what you want, do your research ahead of time and price shop.

 

[T2T]

Best Buy in Canada has no Magnolias. Also they only carry about one fifth of the audio equipment as their American counterpart. Then they charge us up the butt for it. The Best Buy close to my house carries only Sony, Pioneer, and Yamaha receivers. They don't carry the ES line of Sony, or the Elite brand of Pioneer, and they stop at the 5790 for Yamaha (by the way it's still a $1000 for a 5790 up here, it is also $1000 for the 5890 in the same display).

Actually, it's not much different here in the U.S. Best Buy doesn't carry Sony ES, nor Pioneer Elite. Plus, they don't carry Yamaha receivers beyond the 5890. You have to get into their Magnolia stores to find those receiver options.

 

[Takeereasy]

You guys down south still get the better selection and better pricing. It is simply market forces, I understand that. The US has 10x the population of Canada and is a smaller country. That means that companies south of the border don't have as far to distribute and that there are more end users in a given location on average. That means you guys have the advantages of bulk buying and less shipping. Factor in that your dollar is stronger and I begin to understand why we get hosed on prices. To be fair though there is no excuse for futureshop charging $700 for a Harman av-135.

 

[Takeereasy]

When will I learn not to expect good things from Futureshop AKA Best Buy North?

When at home I depend on my cousin's computer for high speed internet access. Sunday night the computer powered itself off and refused to turn back on. It was not a nice and civil shutdown, it was a say goodbye to the files you have open right now, so much for the jump on Moday's workload, crash of epic proportions. Monday I brought the computer into Futureshop for repair. It has a lot of warranty left, including the extended warranty that was purchased with the machine. Lucky me though, I had to be the one to bring it in because for reasons too long and complicted my name is on the receipt. The treatment from the employees in the computer help-desk section was about what you'd expect. I felt really bad with how the event started. The first employee I spoke to wasn't very fluent in English, and I couldn't carry on a conversation with him. He didn't grasp what I was saying and I couldn't understand him very well. By the way Canada is officially bilingual, French and English, this wasn't French I was having trouble with and I speak English fairly well. I'm not the type of person to get upset about a language barrier, and to be honest I admire people that move to another country to advance themselves and their families and have to start all over, even with their language. However after about 10 min. of trying to explain that the computer was broken, yes it had a warranty, no I didn't want to buy a computer, no, I don't want upgrades, no, I don't need software, etc... etc.. etc..., all the while being prodded in horrible lilting English, I did ask to speak with "that guy", and pointed to the spikey haired idiot that I would later learn was named Jeff. Jeff tried to trouble shoot the whole scenario right there for me. I had pretty much narrowed it down to a blown power supply. Jeff asked me to describe the symptoms after which he opined that I must have a virus of some kind, maybe even the dreaded boot sector kind. I said that I didn't think so because the unit itself was turning off, not just failing to load the OS, but I was willing to defer to someone in the computer field because it is well outside my area of knowledge. Jeff then tried to tell me that the warranty wouldn't apply since this was a virus. I asked him if he shouldn't try to actually physically diagnose the problem before deciding that it was a virus. He sighed and told me that he'd been doing this a long time and not to expect the warranty to apply, and that it looked to him that I'd be out at least $100 out of pocket just to get a diagnosis and a virus removal. It might have been the condecending tone in his voice, or the cheeto stains on his shirt that made me snap just a little, but my voice started to rise and I had a few questions for Jeff, all asked at inexcusably loud volume. I wanted to know why the computer had been in the shop twice before for hardware problems. I needed to know why I (my cousin actually) had shelled out $1300 for this piece of crap that never worked (down 2 times in the prior in 11 mo) and why the hell did I (not me again really) pay $155 for an extended warranty that didn't cover anything? People were starting to watch. Jeff went to get his manager. Guess who it was. Come on, guess. It was my old friend Mr. No English (and no name tag by the way, isn't that a firing offence at big box stores?). Serenity Now! It took ten more minutes of pointing and hand gestures and repetition for him to agree to take the darn thing in and do a diagnostic. To get this done I had to agree to be willing to cover the whole bill if it was a problem caused by me. I bet I know what the findings are regardless of what the problem was.

The last two times I brought the comp in the routine was:
1. show receipt to prove warranty
2. sign piece of paper and give ID
3. pick up machine after phonecall, show ID at that time
4. say thank you and go home

I am so darn with Future Shop.

 

[jaxvon]

That's why I avoid Best Buy at all costs. They have terrible pricing, and the people that work there are completely clueless.

 

[Spiffyfast]

Takeereasy,

that sucks, stupid retail stores. The guy was a moron b/c if it was jsut a virus the thing would still turn on and at least allow you to get to your bios and attempt to boot windows and then fail. It wouldnt' just not turn on. The worst part is they can say whatever they want was wrong with it and just tell you it was in fact a virus so the warranty doesnt apply, just replace what ever actually broke on it, and then give you the bill.

 

[Takeereasy]

Spiffy, I am worried that that is what they will try. I spoke with my cousin yesterday and he said Futurshop is only allowed to charge $40 for a virus removal including the diagnostic. I called the shop and confirmed this so I don't know where my good buddy Jeff got his figure from. Maybe they charge more if the computer was purchsed from another store? Thanks for the tip on the virus. It's good to hear that I wasn't way with my understanding. I didn't think that a virus could cause the failure the way it presented itself. My cousin did have a couple of more ideas though, all of them far worse than a power source failure. I'm hoping it's cheaper for them to give him a new computer than it is to fix this one. I need the extra hard drive space.

 

[Takeereasy]

Quick follow up, the store called last night. Turns out the whole motherboard was fried and they are ordering in another one for my cousin free of charge. Eat that Jeff, ya spikey haired chimp.

 

[Spiffyfast]

right on, the virus was a cop out for someone who didn't want to actually look into the problem

 

[Takeereasy]

Just to put the computer saga to bed. We got a call to go pick up the computer on Monday, but today was the first day we (meaning me) had time. We got there and low and behold, a brand new computer was set out for us still in the box. My cousin went from an Emachine to a HP. Every feature of this computer is better than the one he had. Better processor, better memory, better audio and video. They said that there was so much wrong with his computer that it was cheaper for them to give us this $1300 computer instead. That is a major bonus of big chain stores, they don't care about writing off some inventory, whereas Mom & Pops computers might not be able to afford to take that hit. Oh well, it all worked out for the best.

 

[Spiffyfast]

goood to hear it turned out good for you, sometimes they have great customer service, other times they screw ya over