Watch Out, Best Buy and Circuit City (In Walmart's Gunsights!)

Business Week ^ | 11/9/05 | Robert Berner

[Rca2000]

I have bought from there before. They had pretty good deals. So did Micro center Mall.

[Reaganesque]

Seriously, would anyone admit to having purchased their home theater system from Walmart?

[LegendHasIt]

Actually, Christmas WAS a Celtic/Pagan holiday.... One that the Christian Church adopted/adapted when their empire expanded into the regions in which Celtic culture had previously dominated. They changed the name to include Christ..... But the common traditions are basically Pagan.

[Gabz]

It's interesting you say that.

I am not an avid shopper, in fact I avoid it as much as possible when it comes to any kind of department store, and so I tend to seek places where there is the least amount of discomfort (for a lack of a better word). The experiences I have had in Target have crossed them off my list.

There is a certain "attitude" to the store that I would be more inclined to expect at Lord & Taylor or Macy's or Bloomingdale's, yet I find myself far more comfortable in those than in Target. So when it comes to a discount retailer I'll even take K-Mart over Target, even though I haven't shopped in K-Mart in years. But WalMart is convenient, so I'll stick with it.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I refuse to buy any hardware at best buy because they make their sales robots pester you endlessly about extended warranties.

I even had one tell me that the car stereo I was buying was crap and would break down immediately. I asked him if his boss knew that he was telling customers that they sold crap. Then he kept it up. I finally told him that if he so much as breaths loud enough for me to hear it, I wasn't going to buy the stereo and that he needed to piss off.

He did, then his boss got a phone call.

[Rca2000]

Being an audio buff, I would NOT purchase any HTIB (Home Theater In a Box) system from Wal-Mart, BB, CC or anywhere. I like the older, better-made audio equipment. Sure, Wal-mart sells Junk audio equip, but so does most everyone else.

[Vinnie]

About a year ago I heard Clark Howard complaining that Best Buy has a terrible return policy.
They will grudgingly honor a warranty or complaint but as much as tell you to 'Don't come back'.

I haven't been back.

[Rca2000]

I know that the "Christmas tree" tradition was....... But I, and my family still like 'em. (we DO have an artificial one, though)

[SweetCaroline]

I've had great service at Best Buy!

[Gabz]

Oh good grief - another one falling for the bogus nonsense.

[R_Kangel]

At least Best Buy HAS a service department.

I am not aware of anything that even resembles a service department at the big "W" outside of customer service!

[gov_bean_ counter]

Electronic's Express in Nashville, Tn. Close to Vandy.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

As I am sure you know, they are getting these cheap, shoddy extended warranties from China where they are made in horrible sweat shops using child slave labor.

[Gabz]

They are handsdown far superior to PepBoys when it comes to automotive service department.

[Radix]

Wal-Mart lost my pictures from a Carribean vacation, irreplaceable pictures.......

After a few weeks of my calling they summoned me to say that they found my film. I went to the store, got my "Free pictures" and opened up an envelope full of nothing but empty ruined negatives. I threw the BS envelope back on the counter, and left that store vowing to never let a monolithic anything get a piece of something so precious to me.

I went shortly after that depressing fiasco to a Ritz Camera Shop and purchased a new hi-tech digital camera. No more development problems for me.

The clerk at Ritz was excellent, the service and all was spectacular, and the camera that I bought was something that has improved the quality of my life immensely. (I like pictures.)

You will never duplicate that sort of thing at a Wal-Mart.

I am not sure which I despise more, Wal-Mart or the Unions. I suppose that I'll just wait and see who survives the war, and then I'll choose sides. Personally, I hope that they both lose.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I went into BB 2 weeks ago to try to get them to price match some software that just came out. They wouldn't, even though their policy was to do it. They said that because the other store was out of the software (first day, they sold out) they couldn't do it.

Pure, uttter BS.

I told the manager that I was in the market for a $1200 laptop and that because of her dancing to not give me a $10 break, she lost the future sale of the laptop.

And HDTV, and MP3 player, etc.

Fry's is the best electronics store, bar none. They take everything back, no questions asked, they match everything, no questions asked, and they let their sales people make decisions.

[Antoninus]

Actually, Christmas WAS a Celtic/Pagan holiday.... One that the Christian Church adopted/adapted when their empire expanded into the regions in which Celtic culture had previously dominated. They changed the name to include Christ..... But the common traditions are basically Pagan.

Saying that Christmas is a pagan holiday is about as accurate as saying that the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome is a pagan temple--just because it was built over the ruins of a pagan temple.

Christianity is an inclusive religion. It generally accepted the traditional forms of worship of those who converted even while it abandoned the pagan beliefs that went along with them. That said, Christmas is NOT a pagan holiday. Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is not in any way pagan. Setting up a manger scene is not in any way pagan. The four weeks of Advent that Catholics celebrate before Christmas, praying and reflecting, is not pagan.

What is truly pagan about the way Christmas is celebrated in the US today is the huge outlays of money that people spend on gifts, the gluttony and drunkenness that accompanies many Christmas parties, the utterly goofy holiday songs that have absolutely nothing to do with the birth of Christ, etc.

I hope Walmart does succeed in putting a damper on Christmas. Considering that retail generally does 1/2 to 2/3 of their sales in November & December, it could be a VERY cold "Winter Holiday" for them this year.

[Antoninus]

Oh good grief - another one falling for the bogus nonsense.

It's not bogus. They sent out an email which basically claimed that Christmas was a pagan holiday. Well, if that's the case, I guess I don't have to spend any money on gifts this year! At least not at Wal-Mart. That email from their PR Department was one of the most idiotic things I've ever read. I thought sure it came from Scrappleface or The Onion. Whoever wrote it--for a retail chain, of all places!--should be fired immediately.

Since when is the retail motto: "The customer is always a stupid Christian and in need of politically correct re-education"?

[There You Go Again]

The problem is WalMart does sell GE appliances....of course it is all just cheap-made-in-china-crap-because-that-is-all-WalMart-sells...........or that is according to the talking points of the WlMart haters.

I do agree that much of what WalMart sell is "cheap"..can't argue with that....but, I am looking at my coffee maker right now and I am wondering how much better off I would be if I spent a lot more money on one from a "high end" store.....which I do also agree with the posters on buying warranties....this stuff is cheap enough there is very little point in buying a warranty...

[R_Kangel]

Agreed!!

I gave up on those idiots (Manny,Moe and Jack@ss) years ago when I thought I would save some money on engine mount replacements for my kids car. After 5 return trips, Yes, that's "Five" with a capital "F" to replace failed mounts, Apparently they only are supposed to last a few weeks anyways, I swore off of ever darkenning their doorway again.

However I did get a free oil change coupon out of the whole ordeal. Plus the satisfaction of scaring away dozens of customers everytime I returned. I have a tendency to be a bit loud when I have an unresolved customer complaint!