Posted on 12/23/2011 5:53:22 AM PST by Libloather
Best Buy Cancels Christmas Orders, Causes Consumer and Analyst Backlash
December 22, 2011 7:02 PM EST
With three days to go until Christmas and Hanukkah already underway, Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) assured it won't be on many customers' "nice" lists this season.
On Thursday, the national consumer electronics retailer notified a fraction of its online customers that it would not be able to complete their online orders -- some of which were placed in November -- and could not guarantee they would be able to get their purchased items by the holiday.
The move is a considerable blow to an as-yet-undetermined percentage of the many consumers who moved their holiday shopping online this year. For the tens of thousands of people who spent the Black Friday after Thanksgiving shopping for electronics on their laptops, for example, instead of having to sit in freezing temperatures for hours on end to get the best deals, what might have seemed like a brilliant idea just a month ago might not appear so appealing today.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
There are so many other places to shop, especially online. Newegg smokes their prices 24/7.
I hope this burns them BAD!
Best Buy typically presses suppliers for extended payment terms and just in time shipments in Q4. Either holiday sales were much better than planned or Best Buy has some financial problems.
This article is about Best Buy’s ONLINE shoppers who won’t get their merchandise.
“On Thursday, the national consumer electronics retailer notified a fraction of its online customers that it would not be able to complete their online orders — some of which were placed in November — and could not guarantee they would be able to get their purchased items by the holiday.”
What's next... Maybe Best Buy will start charging a cover charge to come into the store... which you get back if you buy something..
I go to Best Buy as a last resort. They burned me a few years ago on a laptop, when they had their silly rebates. They advertised a laptop with a $100 rebate, and the local stores were sold out. So I ordered online. When I went to fill out the rebate form, it said in fine print "in store purchases only". But none of the stores had the laptop! And the ads did not mention this restriction at all. Buh-bye.
And it's staffed by people with 12 full minutes of experience who're absolutely convinced they're tech uber-geeks, while actually possessing the tech level of toe jam. BB is like a Radio Shaft for TV's and appliances. [eyeroll]
I believe Best Buy has been on the electronics dead pool for over a year.
Watch this ----> FedEx Guy Throwing My Computer Monitor
As far as I know, Best Buy still has that restock charge of something like ten percent if you return anything....so they’re my retailer of last resort.
I've heard stories of customers who actually managed to hold out against the high pressure sale and refused the "warranty", and the BB associate signed them up anyway without their knowledge. Since it was a 6 months same as cash deal, they had no idea. In fact that was how they found out. They paid the actual purchase price within the 6 months, then at the end BB was dunning them for finance charges. They went to find out why and since they hadn't paid for the warranty they "ordered" within the 6 months BB wasn't going to give them the free interest. Not sure how it turned out.
Personally, when people try to push the warranties on me, I looked shocked and ask if the product is a piece of crap. They obviously can't say yes, but the warranty is like 20% of the price of the product for an extra year or something, so they're left with the choice of whether 20% of the units fail within the year or if the warranty is usuriously overpriced!
Placed an order for a tablet Thanksgiving weekend. Received an email last week that my order was being cancelled. However, BB stepped up and offered a better model as a substitute for the same price.
Prior to cancellation,whenever I called to check on my order the SS reps could never provide any information on the status of my order, ship dates, etc. Totally clueless.
I like the convenience of buying online, but what about when you want to buy something and not generate a trail of information that isn't any of anyone's business? How do you handle that in an online-only marketplace?
Can’t go wrong with Cabellas!
The article gives no indication as to why this happened. Except for vague references to online gowing pains.
The only store, in fact, that I remember aggressively trying to avoid the phrase was Sears, which was surprising because in recent years that had used it. I got what I had to get & got out as fast as possible. Sears seemed a little deader than the other places and a little less happy.
Home Depot is another one with a rep for being anti-Christmas. I didn't even go there this year.
I ordered a rc helicopter for in store pickup. On the day of pickup, BB emailed that it was ‘delayed’. I panicked this close to Christmas and went shopping, paying a lot more for a ‘copter than the BB one. When I got home, I checked my email and they said it was now ‘in’. Too late to cancel.
BestBuy .. hohoho
I totally get it. No store clerk is going to look at me and be able to accurately determine if I'm Christian, Buddhist, Atheist, muslim, Pagan, Jewish, Wiccan, Hindu, Zoroastrian, etc.
I recognize that some of the above could (and at least two of the above would) be offended by the presumption that they are Christian.
But when a store is willing to exploit Christmas, and a customer has self-identified that they are willing to be wished a 'Merry Christmas' and the store refuses to do so. I'm offended.
I'm not even a Christian (I'm Agnostic) and I'm offended.
I can't even begin to imagine how offensive this is to a devout Christian.
As I stated, it’s the only one in the area. We had a very public land grab in the northern part of my county, and BB was actually outbid by a gym chain. We petitioned them to up their bid, but they never responded. When they completed a large mall in the central part of the county, HH Gregg started pulling customers from BB, and they’ve gone downhill ever since.
Besides, as stated elsewhere in this thread, BB’s policies and politics are less than savory for my conservative sensibilities. I’ll shop elsewhere, thanks.
I usually say “Merry Christmas” to the clerks when I check out.....the preferred answer as they grin at me is “the same to you”....seems to be the plan of most clerks to get away with it. One clerk smiled and told me how refreshing it was to see someone enjoying the Christmas music...I realized I was singing out, not just in my head. LOL
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