Funny... part of the reason for this is because sales people are now paid about 7-10 dollars an hour, and are not commission based. Most of us types used be paid on a commission scale, and pull in 15-20 an hour. You get what you pay for.
What a fucking dipshit, and a moronic one at that. Seriously, can these places actually hire people who know what the fuck they're talking about on a product?
Exactly. It's just too bad the average consumer is so shameless. Places like Best Buy could pay for good training and get guys who know what they are talking about, but then they'd have to raise the prices on the products they sell. Then shameless customers would come in, ask a ton of questions at Best Buy, then after getting tons of help about what they need/want, they would go buy at another store to save 5 bucks.
No. Too expensive to train them, and the people who hire generally don't know enough to tell if someone is knowledgable during an interview. As my other post said, despite what customers SAY about having good service, they really care about price more. They will go get advice at one store then use it to buy the same thing somewhere else to save a tiny percentage of the total cost. The shopping-mom obsession with low prices is ridiculous. They'll waste more money on gas driving all around hells half-acre to check prices than they save when they buy something for 15 cents less. Oh and don't bother factoring in how valuable their time is, cuz then it gets even more fucked up. I worked electronics at target and of all the people there, I was the only one who knew anything about the products (besides a guy who quit like 2 weeks after I started). And the only reason I knew was because I had an interest in that area, not because of any training. Of course I didn't get a commission either. Always had guests telling me how helpful I was and how much I knew etc. Even had other electronics people tell me that guests have asked them if I was working because they wanted to ask me something.
I use Best Buy so I can go and hold the gear, get a feel for it, and then I buy it from Newegg if it's cheaper.
That's it in a nutshell. We've collectively made the decision that price is the most important factor in a purchase over service and even quality.
Yep... lead paint anyone? Kinda pisses me off that everyone gets pissed at Chinese manufacturers for this, and not the US company who isn't bothering to make sure the goods are safe before selling them. When you already have the cheapest labor possible, and the consumer (in this case, the US company) wants even cheaper prices, the ONLY option left is to use inferior materials. Oh and I should note that Thomas the Tank Engine isn't an inexpensive toy with low profit margins by any measure...
The only thing I expect out of a Best Buy employee is that they be able to point me in the right direction when I ask where something is located in the store. Outside of that, no thanks, I don't need any help.
Yeah... annoying that they don't do better testing.... and don't count on our government to provide too much oversight, either. The government's consumer saftey division literally has ONE guy for toy safty. His name is Bob. NPR did a nice piece on the situation.
I hate when the electronics department guys and girls at the box chains talk to me like I don't know what I'm talking about. Some 18 year old who I want to shoot them down and tell them that I was dealing with electronic components when they were still suckling on there mamma's teats... And I'm only 24!
I went with my mom to help her buy a new pc at Best Buy. The old goat that was waiting on her was trying to sell her a $150 maintenance agreement and setup plans and all this other shit she didn't need. Including telling her that they would make a startup disk for her in case something happened to the pc, when there was one included already. And paying for a $150 service agreement on a $360 pc, yeah right! They truly do take advantage of the computer illiterate.
