Ok so whats the deal?

I can be told 1 million times that you are not on commission and still not believe you.

Is there a commission on how many service plans they sell or something like that?

Because if you get incentives for that you are on commission in my opinion.

12/8/2005 9:49:57 AM

ive always understood that they are "required" to meet a quota.
dunno what happens if they don't

to me, it's kinda like stores that require employees to get a certain number of people to apply for the store credit card, and if they don't...
i still don't know what happens. none of my bosses at stores that had that ever made us push it.

12/8/2005 9:57:05 AM

I used to work at Best Buy and none of the employees get commission on anything. I worked in media and we were "encouraged" to sell product protection plans and various subscriptions to stuff like Napster, Netflix, or Gamefly. There was a specific goal to the number you were supposed to sell during a certain period of time. There wasn't an official penalty if you didn't mean the goal, but your time off requests and things like that were paid attention to a lot more if you met the goal.

12/8/2005 10:40:27 AM

Quote :

"but your time off requests and things like that were paid attention to a lot more if you met the goal."

I'm no HR major, but wouldn't that be blackmale/discrimination? I mean what the hell if I've got time off I'm gonna take that shit when I want it.

12/8/2005 10:53:47 AM

blackmale

12/8/2005 10:56:55 AM

someone hook me up with a Friends & Family coupon The one on Slickdeals is a bit sketchy.

[Edited on December 8, 2005 at 10:57 AM. Reason : .]

12/8/2005 10:56:55 AM

^^^ But all bad spelling aside, how in the fuck is giving preference to better employees "blackmale" or discrimination?

12/8/2005 10:57:36 AM

"better" =/ meeting quotas

12/8/2005 11:00:34 AM

Quote :

"Because if you get incentives for that you are on commission in my opinion."

12/8/2005 11:11:17 AM

Whether they are or aren't...I find it irritating when the salesmen come up to me and say,
"Anything I can help you with sir?"
"Not right now, but thanks"
"OK, just let me know, I don't work on commission!"

OK....so you don't work on commission...I don't care if you work on commission or not, if I needed help I would get your attention/help just the same.

[Edited on December 8, 2005 at 11:13 AM. Reason : yeah]

12/8/2005 11:12:08 AM

also, no means no

i feel like i'm being raped when they won't shut up about the freaking protection plan...i can fix my own computer, i don't need to pay you $300 up front for a system that will be worth less than that in 6 months...NO MEANS NO WHY CAN'T WE JUST BE FRIENDS I WILL NOT SLEEP WITH YOU

12/8/2005 11:19:28 AM

Quote :

"Because if you get incentives for that you are on commission in my opinion."

guessing you're talking about the adverse effects of not meeting quota

"punishment" != commission

*i think the term i'm after is actually negative reinforcement, but i didn't pay attn in PSY 200, so i'm erring on the side of caution

it's like when you were a kid: if your parents had a certain set of basic expectations, and you didn't meet them, you lost some privilege (poor grades, no video games; don't do chores, no playtime with the neighbors), but you weren't rewarded for doing something that was outlined for you as a basic duty.

12/8/2005 11:28:21 AM

Quote :

"if I needed help I would get your attention/help just the same."

You might but many people won't. Anyway, it isn't like they are doing it because they want to, it is because it is part of their job. They are supposed to approach customers and make them feel welcome. If you just walk by a customer without saying anything to them and a manager sees it, you will get in trouble.

12/8/2005 11:28:51 AM

^ yeah, thats true for any retail establishment (for the most part). the whole jamming the warantee down your throat is unnecessary. my dad refuses to buy warantees cuz we dont need them and have had few reasons to use one at any time i can remember/been alive.

it is always funny because he'll go up to them and say "yes, id like this laptop/camera/etc. i do not want a warantee, please dont bother asking," but they refuse to let him leave the store without going over their speil. embrassingly enough it ends half the time with us either not buying something or talking to a manager. the BB people told us they were required to say it, which seems like total bs when you're going to piss a customer off enough to make them leave.

commission or not, if you arent going to make a sale why the fuck do it? i dont know what goes through their minds but every year i go with him it is the same shit. he's a bit unreasonable, but wise the fuck up, let him just buy the shit.

12/8/2005 11:48:38 AM

hehe when i buy something at best buy or target when I walk up to the counter to pay for it I look at them and go "No thanks, no no I just want to buy the item, and credit card".

Typically they laugh and if they do something stupid like "Are you sure the protection plan..."

I cut them off with a "Nyeh nyeh... just buying this.".

12/8/2005 12:11:05 PM

^yeah
"hey how are YOU? i'm fine, no to the target card, thanks"
usually, the high school clerks are like "meh, k, whatever man", and the older folks get a good chuckle out of it.

12/8/2005 12:12:13 PM

At best buy, the only time I've ever told someone I dont work on commission is when they asked.

Trust me - the actual sales associates couldnt care less about making quota, but they do need to appear as though they are trying hard to make a sale. Seeing as how they are on camera all the time and 1 in 5 blue-shirts is a manager or supervisor, they have to keep up appearances.

Some of their rules - you must approach a customer within 30 seconds of them entering your department. You must offer the service plan and the customer has to say no more than once before you stop pushing the plan. You also have to strongly recommend at least 3 accessories (depending on the department).

They make their employees do this because BB hardly makes a dime on a laptop or digital camera. The money is made on the service plan, the carrying case, the memory card, the extra batteries, etc etc.



[Edited on December 8, 2005 at 12:35 PM. Reason : .]

12/8/2005 12:23:17 PM

NO, they really are not. Each department is required to meet their sales revenue quote for each day, week, month and service plans are all profit up front. If you are referring to the BB @ Crossroads, most of those guys are pretty laid back and most are students, or have been students at NCSU so give them a break. Best Buy secret shops so they have to treat everyone like the average consumer.

I work for Hewlett Packard and work that store often, I will even mention their service plans because compared to other box stores they are the cheapest and most comprehensive and I know darn well I dont make any commission or have any incentive to mention.

12/8/2005 12:27:42 PM

in my experience, the BestBuy service plan is the biggest damn joke ever, getting something fixed through best buy has to be one of the worst customer service experiences anyone could go through

12/8/2005 12:32:06 PM

Quote :

"you must approach a customer within 30 seconds of them entering your department."

this has never happened to me. if i need someone i have to search for them, and even then it's hard for me to get their attention

12/8/2005 12:36:04 PM

That happens a lot in the media department. You cant walk thought that department (while wearing a blue shirt) without 3 customers asking "HEY WHER IS DIS MOVEE?" or "DO YOU HAVE THIS GAME?". Of course, no one knows except the media department.

12/8/2005 12:41:19 PM

I get so pissed off shopping at Best Buy. No I will not give you my phone number. No I will not buy your worthless warrantee. No I do not want "free" magazines. No I do not want a rectal probe. Christ.

12/8/2005 1:36:08 PM

haha i remember getting the store's phone number off a reciept and telling to the clerk who entered it in then realized it was the stores #. She was like "That's our number. I need yours" and I go "You can't have mine".

The worst was when I worked for Radio Shack and they demanded that we get people's name's and addresses. We were told that it wasn't for mailing but I put in "Chaed Stinnnnnner" and low and behold a month later I started getting a catalog. So from then on I refused to take names and number and was even let go even though I was ranked in the top 5 salesman in the district for the past 12 months. (year 1999).

It was pretty funny when I found out the district manager got fired... err "laterally moved".

There is 0 reason any place needs your number or address. Radio Shack no longer asks for your address and if they want a phone number just say 999-9999. If not you WILL be called for something.

12/8/2005 1:55:01 PM

Best Buy and most stores probably use it for demographic information and tracking who likes to buy what and stuff, and it also makes it easier for them to find your purchase if you lose your receipt. No, they don't need it, but if you ran a business, a lot of you would eventually want to know more about how your customers shop, so you can make more money. It's easy enough to just tell them you don't want to give your info, and they just press a button and move on.

12/8/2005 2:03:26 PM

they are more than welcome to my zipcode, but thats about it.

12/8/2005 2:08:57 PM

Quote :

"They make their employees do this because BB hardly makes a dime on a laptop or digital camera."

half true. the laptops bring in NO money, but there is a decent amount of margin on cameras and camcorders. Not anything like the margin on a TV, but still pretty good.

12/8/2005 2:26:10 PM

I hate going in to BB or Circuit City or even worse Radio Shack(only when I absolutely have to). You can't walk in the door and to any department without half the employees asking you if you need anything. That shit really irrates me. Makes me shop more and more online. Also, most of the time I go in there I know exactly what I want and don't need a some dumbass who doesn't know jack shit about computers trying to get me to upgrade or buy something better. I know what I want fool, if I have questions I'll ask.

Not a BB story but its somewhat related. I was in Belks a few years ago and the jackass salesmen kept asking me if I wanted a Belks card, so finally after about the 3rd time I said, If you ask me that again I'm walking out of here without paying. So 2 seconds later he ask me again if I want a Belks card, luckily he was still ringing up my stuff and I hadn't paid him yet, so I turned around and walked out of there, haven't been back in a Belks since then.

12/8/2005 2:53:56 PM

I'm not sure if they still do this, but I remember they had cumulative bonus incentives for inventory being 100% accurate ... i.e. nothing was stolen from the store by an employee or customer.

12/8/2005 6:28:17 PM

^^

I couldnt agree more.

12/8/2005 6:51:51 PM

since i used to work there i can clear this up. BB employees don't get commision or anything remotely like one. The reason they offer it down your throat is because they are trained that way, because the managers have to put up certain numbers to look good and to get promoted or 'not fired' so they stuff this shit down the employees throats and thus down your throats as customers....

^^each store has a certain budget of 'allowable theft' anything under that budget is divided among all the employees equally....thats the simplest way of putting it. so some stores average $150-1000+ in bonus every year

and the whole phone capture is strictly for marketing. the reason they do it is to see what people shop at what stores and buy what items so that when you receive your weekly add you get coupons and such oriented towards the types of purchases you usually make. Some areas don't even get a sales add because there aren't enough 'phone captures' in that area. you can give them just the prefix you don't have to actually give them the whole phone number

[Edited on December 8, 2005 at 7:07 PM. Reason : fda]

12/8/2005 7:03:28 PM

^^ See, some people WANT someone to help them. Someone earlier in the thread even complained about not being able to find anyone to help them. What do you want stores to do? Cater to the few people who don't want any help, or to the many people who are inevitably going to want someone to talk to them?

12/8/2005 8:14:09 PM

Charles Atkins

fucking whinny ass short prick manager. I hate that fucker with an all consuming fierry passion that can only be matched by the 7th pit of hell on the left. When I worked at the one in charlotte he came like 6months after I had been there... I hated him, he was the worst for comming around making sure that you were making the best effort to sell those damn service plans. The big push then was to be "a smart friend" to the people looking for stuff...

My motivation for selling them was simply NOT to see him. NOT to have a manager come around and harrass me. I laughed my ass off when I saw him walking around the Cary store... harrassing employees...

I hate that man

12/8/2005 8:32:59 PM

It's probably why the cary store in crossroads has a horrid turnover rate. I don't think I've been in there twice and seen the same people.

12/8/2005 8:38:36 PM

Next time I'm in Best Buy I'll ask the clerk for HIS phone number.

12/8/2005 10:44:51 PM

Did anyone see the CNN or 60 Min. special on TV the other day. I think it was one of those but anyway, they pretty much said those service plans were for chumps.

12/8/2005 10:55:09 PM

Quote :

"The worst was when I worked for Radio Shack and they demanded that we get people's name's and addresses. We were told that it wasn't for mailing but I put in "Chaed Stinnnnnner" and low and behold a month later I started getting a catalog. So from then on I refused to take names and number and was even let go even though I was ranked in the top 5 salesman in the district for the past 12 months. (year 1999). It was pretty funny when I found out the district manager got fired... err "laterally moved". "

Who was your DM at the time?

Tandy Corp, BTW, is one corp that I won't work for again. I'd rather bag groceries.

12/8/2005 11:02:29 PM

Quote :

"It's probably why the cary store in crossroads has a horrid turnover rate. I don't think I've been in there twice and seen the same people."

All retail has a large turnover for PT positions based on hiring for seasonal purposes, Im not sure if they have significant lower retention though...

In my opinion, the only warranties worth buying are for the printers. A three year warranty is $30 ... I just bought a $429 HP 3310 and I can replace it with the best on shelf model if anything goes wrong within three years... $30 for a $400 printer is not a bad deal.

12/8/2005 11:07:38 PM

Quote :

"See, some people WANT someone to help them. Someone earlier in the thread even complained about not being able to find anyone to help them. What do you want stores to do? Cater to the few people who don't want any help, or to the many people who are inevitably going to want someone to talk to them? "

If you cant find anyone in a best buy you must have leprosy

12/8/2005 11:12:31 PM

for every person that complains taht people are offering to help there are two taht are complaining that no one came to help them
at least thats how it was at j crew, but i got some commission so i was gonna offer to help everytime

12/8/2005 11:25:17 PM

Breast Buy is pure wet hell.

I worked there for a 1/2 year and got so fed up one day I just walked out without saying shit to anyone and never came back. And I didn't want to put that POS on my resume anyhow.

The bullshit they put sales associates through is amazing, so be patient with the tools

12/8/2005 11:36:34 PM

i'm proud to be one of the customers that CEO Bradbury Anderson wants to "fire".

http://www.scdigest.com/assets/News/04-11-18.htm

this is very interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Buy

here is more about the Jills and Barrys:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601906.html

finally check out this story from oregon:

http://www.koin.com/news.asp?RECORD_KEY=ID&ID%5Bnews%5D=5673

[Edited on December 9, 2005 at 12:09 AM. Reason : asdf ]

12/9/2005 12:08:15 AM

On average, we make about $25 for every $300 camera we sell. Thats not enough to sustain the dept. Some we sell at a loss just to get rid of them. Now add $100 worth of accessories, and Id say thats another $75 of profit.

12/9/2005 12:22:32 AM

i just couldn't sleep at night if i had to go to bed knowing that I sold somebody a $45 firewire cable. just because sony calls it iLink and the connections are gold plated that doesn't mean it's any higher quality than the one I bought off of eBay for $4 shipped.

12/9/2005 12:29:09 AM

they need to give everyone who comes into best buy 1 of 2 stickers


the 1st could mean PLEASE DONT TALK TO ME


the 2nd could mean Its ok for every single employee to ask me if i need help with something

12/9/2005 12:39:59 AM

^ haha, are you kidding? People are complaining now about people even talking to them, what will people say if Best Buy starts asking people to wear stickers?

12/9/2005 1:05:27 AM

If you don't want employees to talk to you, just go to Wal-Mart or Tigerdirect. Damn.

12/9/2005 1:10:21 AM

It's usually not that big of a deal to just say that you don't need any help. I can see how it can be a bother if you get approached some five times because you walk into five different departments.

I like to be able to shop sometimes. I don't like to have people assist me when I have no intention of buying. Lots of times, I look around to give myself some ideas of what to buy in the future. If I'm checking out DVD's, it's not that I'm looking for one and I'm trying to find it. I'm looking at all of them, trying to figure out which ones might be interesting enough to warrant a purchase.

By now, I would figure that the people who need help would approach someone and get it. I know how you should try to approach and be helpful...I've done retail for 3 years myself. Approaching someone was probably the last thing I did. But when someone did come for help, you better believe that they'd get top notch service. I care more about good service when I need it than anything else.

12/9/2005 1:18:57 AM

i wish the employees at home depot and lowes were as committed to speaking to me as the employees at best buy. it always seems like whenever i'm in HD or Lowes i have a question about the project i'm trying to do and nobody is around to help me. it's the complete opposite of best buy...

12/9/2005 1:32:12 AM

i can understand how personal interaction at any level is traumatizing for a lot of the nerds that frequent best buy
"OMG HE ASKED ME IF I NEED ANYTHING"

12/9/2005 1:56:04 AM

I wanted to get the lower price just a week after I bought something. Doesn't matter what. The first place I went a bitch yelled at me in front of a manager calling me a lier. I asked the manager what he planned to do about her and he said he couldn't do anything. They wouldn't give me the difference back. I took it to yet another BB. The people were nicer, but still no money back for me. Finally I asked my father to go with me and it was all "yes sirs" and smiles and the difference back was given me.

Managers don't give a shit about your satisfaction any more unless you spend a lot of money or you look as if you would, even then you're lucky.

12/9/2005 1:56:16 AM