Wobbly retail giant Best Buy can't seem to catch a break lately. The chain recently said its Black Friday discounts were so deep they sliced its own profit margins; now, Best Buy says it can't even fill some orders.
As this story from TheStreet lays out, customers are upset that their orders - confirmed and paid for - are being canceled by Best Buy.
Here's Best Buy's statement: "Due to overwhelming demand of hot product offerings on BestBuy.com during the November and December time period, we have encountered a situation that has affected redemption of some of our customers' online orders. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and we have notified the affected customers."
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24 comments:
Hello Circuit City! CC made some very poor decisions in response to Best Buy and put themselves out of business. Looks like BB will do it all on its own. I miss the days of going into a "big box" retailer and actually getting factual and educated information.
Best Buy should rename itself to Expensive Buy. I don't even look at a Best Buy flyer anymore. 99% of the time you can find anything they sell "on sale", cheaper some where else. If you have ever gone in the store, the people that work there, add very little value to justify the higher prices. I am just waiting for the article stating they are filing for bankruptcy.
Went into the store to purchase a car stereo and speakers for my son. Their in store inventory listed the speakers were available but no one could locate them. The person helping us called three other locations which showed they had inventory. Two put him on hold and never picked the phone back up. The third also said the speakers could not be located. Not surprising they can't honor on line orders. Doesn't seem they know what they have or don't have
B&H, Adorama, Crutchfield and many others have customer service and pricing down to an art. Geek Squad, their return policies, and their own customer reviews say all that one needs to know. Free shipping and avoiding NC sales tax is enough to seal the coffin.
Best Buy has an "ick factor"....
I feel like I need a shower everytime after going into their stores.
They were great when Circuit City was around. The competition left and their letting HH Gregg and Wal Mart clean their clock these days...
I was one of those crazy black friday shoppers. Yeah, those prices were CHEAP. It's no wonder that cut into their profit margins.
"The chain recently said its Black Friday discounts were so deep they sliced its own profit margins"
Is that really what they said? I doubt it is, because any discount, no matter how large or small, cuts into profit margin. That's what profit margin defines. Weak, weak, weak.
Yeah, I wanted to order the Adele blu ray from them as they had it online for same price as Amazon. I was willing to pay sales tax for ease in return if needed.
Went into the store and it was $4 more than online, and it was no longer listed online.
Got them to price match Amazon so I helped kill their profit margin. Noticed a laptop in the store with same features as one I bought last year for half the price. I miss Circuit City because the competition kept BB honest.
Have ordered 2 TV's from BB online this holiday season. One shipped to home and one store pick up. No problems with either of them and the store pick up was very easy...reserved parking and helpful employees.
The answer is to have more government regulation of Best Buy's pricing / sale policies.
Then this would not happen.
Thank goodness for Obama.
No doubt, Best Buy is now a monopoly and is out of control. I went in there the other week for an HDMI cable and the cheepest they had was $40. Pulled them up on my phone in the store and saw them for $10-15 everywhere. Actually went to a place a few minutes away (Firefold in Concord) and bought an identical HDMI for $8. Best Buy, look at Bank of America and see how greed can be your ultimate demise.
We call it 'Best Buy, Worst Service'. Their sales people are never around, don't have the information you need and maybe 1 out of 5 is actually remotely helpful - IF you can find him/her.
I avoid the place as much as possible due to the horrible customer service I've had in their stores - not just one location but every single time I've gone in there to purchase any big-ticket item like a computer, TV or appliance where you actually do need to engage an associate.
On the other hand their competitors, both online and in-store are blowing them away on customer service. Just bought a new washer/dryer from HHGregg - their sales staff has always been friendly, helpful and, most importantly, AVAILABLE when I've gone in there. Such a huge difference.
Hopefully someone over at corporate is reading these comments before they put themselves out of business for not caring enough about their customer's experience.
So now they are cancelling your ordr because it is cutting into their profit. bs. Went into their store the other day. No help with anything. Firefold is an excellent option for your cable and wiring.
Anonymous @ 6:10am,
I hope you did some comparison shopping before you bought those 2 TVs. My dad bought a Sony 40" HD TV at Best Buy over my objections. When I checked, I found the same TV at Walmart for $400 less! Best Buy offers NOTHING worth that extra $400. As a matter of fact, he had to wait 15 minutes before an employee came over to help. This merchandise is a commodity, and is the same no matter where you buy it, so why not get it for a cheaper price?? I purchased one of my LED TVs online, and it was delivered to my doorway for FREE, and I paid $300 less than any other local or online source I checked out.
@anon at 7:07 AM -
What's funny is that you still got ripped off on the $8 cable. I have a box full of HDMI cables, and they were all less than $1.50 each. Check ebay, monoprice.com, amazon, etc. If you can wait a couple days (sometimes you can't) then it's very worth it for the savings.
Went to store a month ago to get an internal DVD-ROM drive. They did not have in stock, but friendly employee was quick to get me on their computer to locate the item online and place my order. It arrived in a few days. I considered an ASUS tablet they were advertising as a doorbuster on black Friday, but HHGregg had it for a little more, but with 24-month SAC financing. HHG got my business that time.
Their customer service stinks. It is overloaded and uneducated. They may promises and cannot keep them. Same in stores. They don't even know how their own processes for delivery work. This company is a mess. To survive, they need to simplify their back office, educate their front office and provide some consistency across their complete product line.
I bought a Wii at Bestbuy.com during T-giving weekend b/c it was not available in the store. Item arrived about a week later with no problems. In-store service that weekend was a 17 year old that started 2 days before. Fortunately he knew the product, just not BB's checkout system. Took longer than necessary but he was eager to assist.
To anon who said this about Best Buy's profit margins: "Is that really what they said? I doubt it is, because any discount, no matter how large or small, cuts into profit margin. That's what profit margin defines. Weak, weak, weak."
Best Buy's margins declined enough to cut its earnings by about a fourth compared to the same period a year ago. Profit margin isn't just a function of what price the retailer sells at - it is how much over cost the retailer sells goods for. So, in theory, a retailer could make the exact same profit selling goods for a 10% discount, if they reduce their costs by the same amount (meaning a discount does not always cut into margins).
Obviously, on Black Friday many retailers expect to take losses on some "loss leaders," but the goal isn't to discount everything so steeply that they completely blow up their margins. That's the price Best Buy paid to drive traffic to their stores, however - and it seems like a steep price, given their small 0.3% same-store sales gain for the quarter.
I think the problem with customer service is corporate wide. I was on a work assignment in Massachusetts and the customer service was just as bad as it is in Charlotte!!
I went to the Best Buy in Attleboro Massachusetts recently. It was raining that day both outside and inside! the roof was leaking on my head throughout the store and they were even too lazy to put catch buckets out or cones or warning signs. NOoooooooooooooo , just let the dirty rain water land on the customers. Hey best buy ! water and electronics dont mix well didnt ya hear! Please just fix your roof and get your house in order! Oh and how do you keep a straight face and sell a used video game for more than the new one. online or in the store many of the games with the same title cost more used than new! check it out people! You must think your customers are not very bright! Even a 5 year old knows used should cost less than new! How insulting!!!!! OH and Best Buy I am sorry but I am going to have to cancel my payments to you on all the products I purchased recently. I apparently bought more than I could afford and making my payments to you is cutting into my profit margin. You understand, right!? Oh but I'll just keep the stuff. I wouldnt want to see you put it on the shelf for sale for more than the price of a new one anyway! Ha!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a joke...... and all the pimple faced high school dropouts you hire are always uneducated in your products! People should just do research and shop elsewhere, online , BJ's, Circuit City , Walmart yard sales Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I use best buy to try out stuff---if I like it, I buy it on Amazon or other online sites for lower prices, free delivery. The morons that work these best buy stores are clueless and just try to sell stuff for commission.
I found the very young man at the Geek Squad counter to be absolutely ignorant of most of what was wrong with my computer. Working in Durham, he had never heard of SAS, for example, even though it was on my computer. I ended up taking care of my computer problems myself.
Every few years Best Buy has a lawsuit filed against it due to it's regular practices. They are one of the most overpriced stores & they constantly pull this crap with their customers. They should be out of business.
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