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Best Buy Geek Squad After Thanksgiving Sale DoorBuster Scam WARNING Richfield Minnesota
After ThanksGiving Sale Ripoff report
this is what happened to me last year at the after thanksgiving sale.. and I wanted to warn other potential buyers..
it happens every year the so called "door busters" they advertised a $1500 laptop PC for only $400 with a min of 10 in stock.. of course being #5 in line you would think you would actually be able to get a unit... think again it's all a Scam
the store begins about 30mins before opening on black friday with sales people going out in line .. asking what your interested in purchasing.. and handing out tickets for that item.. this is to prevent rioting and pushing /shoving in lines.. (something other stores should do) I of course asked for the Laptop and was given a ticket.. during the time in Line.. sales people are filling out "order sheets" and trying to sell you Extended warranties, anti-virus, spyware and PC tune up's to build margin.. all while standing outside in the cold before the store opens..
I politely refused them all... when I finally got into the store and went to purchase the unit.. with my husband.. I was shocked to see the store had about 50 teen girls in skimpy cheerleading uniforms from various high schools directing people and basically flirting with male customers and actually selling service plans, addon's and writing down orders on behalf of best buy.. and also giving performances, cheers in the store etc. (along with free popcorn food radio stations etc.)
I thought this was highly inappropiate.. later followed up with several of the schools administration.. and found out Best Buy had made a "donation" to the school's cheer squad for new uniforms for being there that day.. I spoke to one of the girls on the Squad who worked that day.. she said she was paid NOTHING for being there (Slave labor - it was considered a fund raising event for the team and attendace was mandatory) She also said the store management told them to be "Nice, smile" and if a couple were walking by.. approach the man.. and introduce the service plan as they would be more receptive and listen... and "flirt a little" they were also told they would have a contest if they got so many .. each of the girls would get a free $20 MP3 player from the store (which they did)
I later learned from Best Buy employees ...although not offical company policy .. this practice of using high school cheer squads to "flirt & help out" (unpaid labor) was a common practice and has occured in stores from Texas, NY , Calf, Florida etc.
of course my husband was approached on the service plan by one of them.. and I had to step in and say we were not interested.. and firmly refused all the addon's .. when I go to purchase the PC.. I'm told the store has already "preloaded" the antivirus & other software on 5 of the PC's and I have no choice but to pay the extra $300 ... I refuse... finally a manager agrees that I can get the PC without it.. but to uninstall the software they preloaded (which I never asked for) will cost me an additional $35 (or they will sell the item to another customer) I complain again and tell them I'm filling a report with corporate.. they finally agree to sell it to me at the price advertised and remove the software they should have never installed in the first place.. of course.. they are too busy.. to do that now.. I pay now.. 7 days later I'm able to pickup the PC..
in closing, Best Buy does NOT want to honor the door buster price.. we were high pressured into getting extra's at every step of the way.. not to mention parking was not only a nightmare with the streets blocked outside the store.. but there was an actual fight in the parking lot and the police had to be called.. always remember.. you don't get something for nothing.. the idea is to get you into a spending frenzy.. you plan to spend $300 but end up spending $3000 .. the mood is "don't think" just give us your credit card..
anonymous
anonymous, California
U.S.A.
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3 Updates & Rebuttals
Kimberly
Beverly Hills,California,
U.S.A.
this does happen
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, November 22, 2006
I used to work at a Best Buy in Texas and I can confirm this was a practice our store also did. 2 friends of mine working at stores in the LA & NY markets confirmed there stores do something similar.
we typically brought in a local H.S. Drill or cheer team. They would perform before the store opened. And then would work as "crowd control" talking to people in line. Basic questions, they would wear uniforms as to not confuse themselves as "best buy employees" and they never sold service plans.
As far as anything inappropiate our store manager flat out told the college guys (employees) not to hit on the girls or talk to them. A few weird customers asked the girls for there phone# etc. and few customers took photos of the whole team or individual girls. But a school teacher was there so nothing strange happened.
Rregarding the "pre-loading" software. This was a common practice at our store. The tech bench actually had geeks work "overnight" shifts to clear out existing cases so they could spend all day tues/wed before thanksgiving pre-installing software (a forced extra) on about 50% of the doorbuster PC's - I've been told (since I no longer work at best buy) the employee newsletter had an article posted this year specifically telling store not to preload software anymore. Sso it should not be a problem this year. But by doing this Best Buy is confirming at a corporate level the practice used to take place.
My big issue here is "slave labor" Best buy is a for profit corporation, each store brings in about $1 Million+ in sales the day after. You are now using teens under 18yrs old who are NOT being paid. To help make profit for a company.. so the company does not need to hire employees for that specific day. Why? To increase the bonus for store managers.
While it is true the team does get a donation of $$$. (anywhere from $500 to $2000 which is nothing given 30 kids being there 10hrs in the day) the IRS Considers a Donation to be freely given. With no work done in return. To be tax deductable. But your correct since Best Buy's customer base is 90% men. It's a way to increase overall sales. (who wants to say NO to a pretty face) this is one of the many reasons I no longer work for the company. They are highly unethical in many areas
Peter
Pony,Alabama,
U.S.A.
Cheerleading
#4Consumer Comment
Wed, November 22, 2006
Cheerleading is a school-sponsored activity for which the members do not get paid. How does any of this constitute child labor? It sounds more like a fundraiser in which the cheerleaders donated their time in exchange for new uniforms that benefitted the ENTIRE TEAM. Remember, with a team, you are dealing with one group of people working together for a common benefit -- not a bunch of individuals each looking for their own cut of the cheese.
If you feel that the cheerleaders' fundraising activity was "highly inappropriate," may I suggest that you make a monetary donation of a sufficient amount to cover new uniforms. If they already have the things they need, they do not have to donate their time and work hard to earn things on their own, since apparently this line of thinking is offensive to you.
No
STL,Missouri,
U.S.A.
Child Labor?
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, November 22, 2006
First off, you state that they were using the cheerleaders as "child labor" and "unpaid labor". If Best Buy made a donation to their cheerleading fund, of course the girls themselves would not be paid personally. As far as the flirting, and trying to sell you the "extended warranty" I can't honestly see that happening. Why would they want someone who doesn't know anything about the product or the service plan to give information to customers? Doesn't really make sense.
As far as the door buster deals, most of the time in the print you will see that the add-ons like the software and anti-virus are optional. They will give you the basic start up package and you can install it yourself. If they had pre-loaded it on to the computer, then the advertised price for the "door buster" should have included that information. I can't answer for that store specifically.. but the store that I used to work at, never had preloaded software on it. Most people chose to do that anyways, because they will mess up the computer trying to put it on themselves. Also, manufactures warranty does not cover the software crashing the computer. This way if you have the service plan through Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.. they are responsible for damages or anything like that.