bbyee

30 days of pricematching is honored by BB

There are going to be bad experiences in any store (including BB, CC and the rest) - the key is by doing everything possible on your end to put the people you are dealing with in the right mindset before becoming angered. In my BB we were warned about the McD's reward zone coupon thing because there were people coming in with more than $50 in coupons who did not have a RZ card .... and yes, you had to eat a lot of McD's to accumulate more than $50 in coupons. As the store, we have the right to be suspicious, and we are informed when there is suspected fraud (ie, the local McD's experienced theft and a lot of RZ coupons with their promotion went missing). Unfortunately, it's one of the hazards of the business. I personally don't like when I can't help work out an equitable solution with people - I had someone come in with an irrepairable laptop and she bought the warranty for 3 yrs, so she was entitled to a replacement laptop of comparable specs. There was a difference in the processor speed between the existing and replacement laptop (actually, the one she was getting had a higher bus speed and the RAM was considerably more, but the processor itself was a tad slower). She found this unacceptable so I suggested that we try to upgrade her to a better machine (one step up) for a small fee to make her happy. Unfortunately, my management wouldn't let me do that, and I understand the reasons why on a technical level and business fundemental but not necessarily from an overall customer service level. The woman didn't accept the replacement laptop and I believe contacted Corporate. Don't know what happened. From my experience at working at BB, I think the biggest problem are "serial retailers" - people who haven't worked outside the retail environment and just have moved up the food change without experiencing other businesses. I would love to see more people from outside of the industry, particularly with BB's "customer centric" philosophy, as to create a better shopping experience for our customers. I am one of the most highly complemented sales people in my store (fact, told to me by numerous managers and customer service staff) and a big part of that is because I have more life experience than most staff, ie, I know how to treat people. I might not always be able to get a customer what they need within their financial parameters, but they never leave feeling stupid or not understanding why it didn't work out.

As a BB employee I can tell you that yes, we do charge restocking fees, and yes, your attitude can go a long way to determining if that fee is actually charged. With items such as computers and digicameras, we don't make money on them, plain and simple, so if you return an item which we can then only resell as an open box item, we take a loss on something we're not even profitting on. The key to not getting hit with a restocking fee is to NOT bring it up...why? Because if you ask about it, CS is more likely to hit you for it because most people who ask about it are rude about the entire transaction. another little tip...if you buy many items in the same department....say you buy a digicam but you return once a month to buy another accessory (printer, memory cards, whatever), try to get the same sales person (if you like him/her) and remind them what you've bought previously (and not in the "DON'T YOU REMEMBER ME???" way) and you might also get a little discount...we love satisfied repeat customers!

You also have to remember the convenience factor...meaning, if your screen cracks, do you really want to hassle with getting a new machine, setting it up, transferring data, etc, if you only need a new screen? If you are paying a rock bottom price for a laptop, I can understand just buying a new one - hell, if I paid $250 for one which worked great for a year and could transfer all my data all at once, great, I'd buy a new one too! However, for others, they would rather have someone else handle all the dirty work. If you are shelling out $800 or more for a high-end laptop, one repair could cost as much as the extended warranty and then it pays for itself. I tell my customers about the option, and it's up to them if they want it or not. Most people who go for it are the ones who get a higher end laptop and intend on keeping it for a few years.

Not sure on the batteries, to be honest....again, I'm OFF today (woo hoo!). However, make sure that for the first month you have your laptop that you charge it completely and then unplug it and let the battery COMPLETELY drain. Charge up again and repeat. This conditions the battery so that it will accept the maximum charge. With regular use, a battery should last to it's maximum capacity for a couple years. We are now finally selling OEM replacement batteries at BB for HP and Gateway.

I'm in Southern NJ, near Philadelphia. Our BB is one of the largest stores in the country and is very well-run. This was my first BF as an employee, and I was really impressed with just how well we handled the lines, ticket distribution, etc. I was one of the people handing out tickets....and believe me, if someone was trying to cut, the people in line let me know about it! It was also quite obvious who the "properly behaving" (overwhelming majority) line waiters were, since when we asked people to line up against the wall if they wanted tickets, they quickly stepped back whilst the line cutters tried *unsuccessfully* other tactics which, btw, do not work with my store's management!

I'm at home and I don't have my exact numbers on me, but all are $100 for one year, and the 3 yr plan is based on purchase price. I think the 3 yr plan is around $250. I realize that's a lot for what you paid for the laptop itself, but you also need to consider what the regular price of the machine is and the hassles you'll save by having Geek Squad fix any problems (and no overseas tech support calls ). Also, you are correct - you do have 14 days to buy the plan after purchase (but 14 days means 14 days, not 15).

I work at BB and I know that people shop BF to get the deals...but I mentioned to every single person who was buying a laptop about how our service plan covers accidental damage and liquid spills (mfgr warranty does not cover these). Most said no (which I expected and was completely fine with), but one liquid drenched or dropped, cracked screen laptop is all it takes to make it worth it. No, I don't drink the kool-aid, and I've been a techie for a long time, and even I spend the money on the plans!

I answered this on the other thread, so I'm just cutting and pasting the relevant stuff: I work at BB - I was onsite at 3 am to work all of BF. We are NOT allowed to hold any items for ourselves....period. If there is something left at the end of the day, we can then purchase it (for instance, we had a pretty good printer for 20 bucks - if there were any left at the end of our shift, we could purchase them). It is strictly against BB policy to take advantage of our employment with the company in that way. That being said, we receive a nice employee discount on purchases at any time of the year, so we aren't as tempted by the doorbusters and that kind of thing.

Most of the complaints I have hear about BF this year are due to the lack of jaw-dropping deals. I work at BB in the computer department...when people were asking about BF ads/specials in the 2 weeks prior to BF, I told them the truth - there would be some good stuff but not jaw dropping (and yes, I found out what our ads were via these websites and got a little more info the Sunday before BF), and that if they were buying for themselves/their families, they'd be better off spending a little more now and not dealing with the craziness (and also having someone have time to spend with them). I also gave them full information that if they wanted to camp out, that they should arrive in line at our store no later than 8 pm on Thursday night to ensure that they would receive their items. I did see some of the people I "warned" during the week, and they were very happy that I gave them the heads up. I also had people who came in on Sat, Sun, and today who intentionally skipped the doorbusters. To address the quote above - all the major retailers - BB, CC, etc, do not make money selling computers, period. The business is really cutthroat, and the reason we carry them in the first place is because "everyone else does" and our customers want them. So, keeping that in mind, the computer and laptop business is so margin-thin now that we simply aren't able to do jaw-dropping deals for BF. Fortunately, my store is excellent on crowd control management, ticketing the doorbusters, etc, so everything ran relatively smoothly.

I work at BB - I was onsite at 3 am to work all of BF. We are NOT allowed to hold any items for ourselves....period. If there is something left at the end of the day, we can then purchase it (for instance, we had a pretty good printer for 20 bucks - if there were any left at the end of our shift, we could purchase them). It is strictly against BB policy to take advantage of our employment with the company in that way. That being said, we receive a nice employee discount on purchases at any time of the year, so we aren't as tempted by the doorbusters and that kind of thing. I'm in Southern NJ, near Philadelphia. Our BB is one of the largest stores in the country and is very well-run. This was my first BF as an employee, and I was really impressed with just how well we handled the lines, ticket distribution, etc. I was one of the people handing out tickets....and believe me, if someone was trying to cut, the people in line let me know about it! It was also quite obvious who the "properly behaving" (overwhelming majority) line waiters were, since when we asked people to line up against the wall if they wanted tickets, they quickly stepped back whilst the line cutters tried *unsuccessfully* other tactics which, btw, do not work with my store's management! I've been lurking on a number of these threads the past few days, and I also wanted to add that the overwhelming amount of customers were quite polite and patient. I was taking care of the people waiting for their computers - making sure that, for both their own protection and ours, all the paperwork matched for their PC/laptop and their tickets, talking to them about additional service plans and services, etc. I only had 3 incidents of nastiness out of nearly 500 customers, and in all those cases, the people who were nasty got yelled at by the rest of the crowd for being nasty to me! So, now that I survived BF Boot Camp, I'm pleased to say that I wasn't horrified by it at all...yes, it was exciting and exhausting at the same time, and yes, I finally have the next 2 days off after working all weekend and am thrilled by it, I know I'll be doing it again next year.