An Open Letter to Best Buy CTO, Robert Stephens

 

Robert,

I read an article today that referenced a comment you made at the Android Open conference. From what I am hearing you said something to the effect that you envision a day when the DVD section of Best Buy stores might be replaced with a section dedicated to Arduino development boards and homebrew electronics. That Best Buy, one of the largest retailers in the country might actually start selling easily accessible technology that allows the user to create and learn something. I must admit that when I think of Best Buy I think of camcorders, MP3 players, cell phones, tablets and TVs. And the over-simplified image that I have of the customer base is largely uninformed consumers who have little interest in how their devices work. I will be the first to tell you that this is my nerd bias and that while it may be right to some degree it is certainly not true of all of them. After all, I shop at Best Buy too.
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Beware – Amazon.com Offers NO Price Protection!

Deal or No DealToday my love affair with Amazon.com diminished by a sizable notch. In one fell swoop they moved from my preferred shopping site to being on par with everyone else. It happened when I learned that Amazon.com offers customers no price protection whatsoever. And that makes it not such a good deal after all.

You see, after weeks of searching for a new printer I finally settled on the Brother MFC-9840cdw Color Laser Multi-Function Center with Wireless Interface. Basically everyone had it for $649-699, but I decided to get it from Amazon.com because they have been my favorite retailer for a while since I paid the $79 per year fee to become a member of Amazon Prime, which gives you free 2 day shipping on all your orders.

Well, even though the printer doesn’t arrive until Monday, I saw ads from two different major retailers this weekend that this printer has dropped to $549.99. Instead of being upset, I was actually glad because I figured that Amazon would match the price! But when I contacted them my joy turned to disappointment.
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Holiday Season Deal Watching Web Sites

Hot Deals!Hey folks, this season there are going to be some serious deals to be had if you’ve got the spare cash to take advantage of them. But don’t run all over town hunting down those damned Black Friday deals! First of all, they never have the item you went for in stock, and secondly… just remember all those lines and whiny people!

Instead, prepare by doing your research online, and keep an eye on the following Web sites to see all the hottest deals being offered. The key is to act quickly, because a lot of these deals will disappear quickly.
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Welcome to Best Buy’s Premier Black Membership… PSYCH!

best-buy-premier-black-membershipYeah, yesterday I got an e-mail from Best Buy welcoming me to their Premier Black membership level, presumably because of the amount of cold, hard, raw, green cash I give them on an annual basis. It read as follows:

Congratulations! We’d like to welcome you to the Best Buy® Reward Zone® program at our most elite membership level – Premier Black.

Premier Black is a pilot in select areas that rewards our best customers for shopping at Best Buy stores.

Your Reward Zone program member ID is: XXXXXXXXX

But then a few hours later they sent me another message telling me they had made a mistake, and apparently I’m not “Premier Black” quality:
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Best Buy “Bait and Switched” Me

Insignia 42" 1080p HDTVSo, today my friend Bruce gave me a call and told me that Best Buy had a 42″ 1080p LCD HDTV on sale for $796.99. In fact, he had just come from our local Best Buy in Frisco, TX where they had 17 of them in stock. He said it looked pretty good, and recommended that I get one.

So, of course, I blew about 30 minutes looking at the Web site and eventually placed an order online for in-store pickup. Before doing so, you have to choose a local store and it checks availability. (Clearly I did this, and placed the order.)

Flash forward to this evening, when I finally get around to heading over to Best Buy to pick it up, and lo and behold – no TV!
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Why Do Costco and Sam’s Treat Me Like a Criminal?

CostcoLately I’ve been getting increasingly more angry whenever I visit either Costco or Sams Club. I buy a LOT of crap at these places and I’ve got the top membership levels, so why is it that they always want to see my receipt before I leave the damn building?

I mean, let’s face it. I just waited in some horrendous line, they don’t even bag your stuff up for you, and then 50 feet from the checkout they want me to stand in another line and then reproduce my receipt to allow some lackey to glance at it, glance at my cart and draw a line on it with a marker? What the hell is up with that!?!
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Confessions of a Circuit City Salesman

Circuit City SalesmanA couple of weeks ago I came across this article on The Consumerist written by an anonymous former Circuit City employee. Having had a friend who did time at CC, I will say that this seems like a very real article and I recommend that everyone give it a read.

It sheds light into the sales tactics employed by Circuit City, and you should also keep in mind that many of these are similar to all other consumer electronics (and other) stores. The moral of the story… information will set you free.

One other little note. Instead of simply asking you to take this anonymous guy’s word for it, I’ve provided substantiating links within the various points where available for more background reading. Hope it helps.
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Best Buy Coupons – 12% Off Through July 4, 2007

Best Buy CouponI routinely get Best Buy coupons sent to me and since these are valid for the next few days I figured I’d post them in case anyone could use em.

Essentially it’s 12% off just about anything as long as you sign up for the free membership, or 10% off if you don’t.

So if you’re about to go get a new digital camera or camcorder to photograph the Fourth of July festivities print these out and take them with you when you go! Hope they are of use to someone…
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Man Arrested at Best Buy for Using $2 Bills

This little tidbit from WorldNetDaily.com

A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency’s legitimacy and called police.

According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the case.

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