The projector in our living room only has two HDMI spots, and we have about four things that want to use HDMI. This hasn’t been a horribly pressing matter, but I figured it was good to get out of the house for a bit so I headed down to the Best Buy in Salem, NH.
Step 1: Confusion
Coming in through the front door, it looks like they’ve reorganized the store again, so I spend the first few minutes orientating myself with where everything is now. There’s a bigger Mac area, the DVDs and Bluray Discs are no longer right up front. Console games now have an even larger area in the back left.
While looking, I get approached by an employee that wants to steer me somewhere. I tell him that at the moment, I’m just browsing. I don’t get more than ten feet from that last guy when I’m approached again. “Still just browsing,” I say.
This happens four more times.
Step 2: Expensive Cables
I finally dodge my way to the home theater area and begin my actual search. At first I find $70 6-foot HDMI cables — a complete ripoff considering a couple months ago I picked up 2 of these 25-foot HDMI cables for $8.70 each and they work perfectly.
I turn the corner to see what appears to be the thing I want, but before I can get there a guy in a red and gray shirt intercepts me and asks if he can help me find something. Red and gray seems odd, but he’s probably with that home-theater thing in the back that always wear different color shirts. I’m pretty sure at this point that I’ve found what I came for, but sure, I figure, let’s make someone’s day.
Step 3: A Bro “Helps” Me
I tell him, “I need an HDMI switch, preferably powered, that will merge at least 4 different inputs. Also, it should work with a remote and can be programmed into my Harmony 900.” Yes, a specific request, but being an electronics store I figure I’m not talking over anyone’s head. The man looks at me and says, “No problem, bro. Let’s find that.”
Cool. We’re brothers now.
While walking a couple of aisles away from where I had thought I found what I was looking for he says to me, “I should let you know, bro, that I don’t actually work for Best Buy. I work for Comcast, but I can still help you find stuff.” Great, what have I gotten myself into? If there’s one thing Comcast can’t do, it’s anything involving good customer service.
He brings me to the cable splitters. This is clearly not what I’m looking for, so he escorts me to a Best Buy employee who then directs us both back to where he originally picked me up, right where I had thought they would be, and they were.
Step 4: The Pitch?
“Right on,” he says as he bends down to pick up the only choice, “this one looks like it will switch four-ways and it comes with a remote.” It’s also $100. I grab the switch and pretend that I’m interested in it. While doing so, the guy starts asking me what I’m going to watch with it.
“You know, XBOX, Bluray, TV, etc.” I reply.
“Ah, so you have cable? Are you happy with it? Do you have Internet and a home phone line?”
This is getting a little personal. I explain to him that we have Comcast for Internet and DirecTV for TV. I also tell him that Comcast keeps calling about adding basic cable that I don’t need to use and that if I add that on, they’ll lower my bill by $10 or so per month. I explain to him that that doesn’t even make sense, and so that I just have Internet.
He asks if I’m happy with it, and I tell him I only have it because there are no other reasonable choices, but if there were, I’d probably do that.
He goes on to tell me that if I have any other questions or want to change my account features with Comcast to come find him. “That’s why we’re in Best Buy stores,” he says. Awesome, and all I wanted was a reasonably-priced HDMI switch.
I put it the switch back on the shelf. I’m not paying $100 for this, and hey look! Here’s one on Amazon that seems better for much less.
I head towards the front of the store to get out. Three more employees ask to help me, followed by one security guard at the door that gave me a funny eye and wished me a good night.
Blargh!
A couple things spring to mind when it comes to Best Buy store experiences.
During the holiday season, it seems like there is about one employee for every ten people browsing, not a bad mix, but that’s when most people will have questions, and you can never seem to find someone willing and knowledgeable. During the rest of the year, the ratio is about four employees for every one person browsing. This means there is a lot of standing around time, and they swoop in like vultures when they see unsuspecting shoppers just perusing the aisles.
I know that I would never make it in the sales world because I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night selling anyone a $70 6-foot cable. Why so expensive? This is probably where Best Buy makes most of its money, via the add-ons. People don’t have enough will power to either plan ahead or wait an extra couple of days for shipping (although for $70, you can almost afford a 6-foot HDMI cable and a full year subscription to Amazon Prime).
Best Buy: don’t let Comcast guys approach people like they know what they’re talking about. This was almost like a real-life spy-ware experience. I accidentally click on something that looks like an OK button and all of a sudden I have to deal with three-hundred pop-ups offering my free cable and good deals and incentives.
Finally, can we keep the “bros” to a minimum? Enough said about that.
I just made my purchase from Amazon and the box is going to arrive early next week. If I had just done this to begin with I would have saved a lot of time and sanity.
