Jot It Down!

I like this response to the article, which basically provided a different point-of-view to the whole Hate-Best-Buy-Relationship:

… Amazon has had plenty of missteps of their own. The recent Touchpad fire sale debacle comes to mind. “Above and beyond” and “customer-friendly” are not adjectives I’d attach to my experience with Amazon.

Just before Christmas, I bought an iPad from Best Buy. I checked Best Buy’s inventory online, then went into the store to pick it up. The only issue I had was with AT&T, trying to use it as an excuse to extend my contract for two years, a situation that was resolved by one of the blue shirts in the wireless department reaching out to his AT&T contact- on a Friday night- who assured me that what AT&T was telling me on the phone was incorrect, and she went the step further on Monday of calling me to verify that my contract had not been extended.

That TV that you bought from Amazon- where did you go to see it, touch it, feel it before you bought it? That’s the thing- online retailers will never be able to replace brick-and-mortar stores for that tactile experience. All the videos, reviews, and specs won’t help you decide if a 32″ or a 37″ TV is better for your space.

If anything, Best Buy is correct, and people are using them as Amazon’s showroom. And maybe Amazon should work with Best Buy to legitimize that. Because if Best Buy closes all its stores, where are people going to go to test out things before they buy them from Amazon? If your answer is “nowhere”, then I’d be prepared for Amazon’s shipping costs to skyrocket as they cover everyone’s returns, not to mention an increase of Open Box Buys at Amazon. And Best Buy discounts their open box buys and advertises them as such. Amazon does not. I don’t know about you, but I’d be pissed to pay full price for an electronic item only to discover it had been opened and used- to what extent, I don’t know.

Best Buy’s website is not as difficult to navigate as you make it sound; I’ve seen worse. Costco comes to mind. And by the way- I’m a member of all three: Costco, Amazon Prime, and a Best Buy credit card holder, and each has their place in my life.

Sorry you were so traumatized by your experience in Best Buy; that your friend was so flustered by a retail employee just trying to do what he’s been told to do in order to collect his likely at-or-near minimum-wage paycheck. I’d hate to see how you’d have fared in a Target. Or Wal-Mart.