Comments on: 7 things electronics salespeople won't tell you

CNET's Sharon Vaknin, a former Best Buy employee, has a few opinions to share that you'll want to read before your next gadget-purchasing trip.

[tpotenberg]

Restore disks alone can take almost an hour and a half to create depending on the system. 15 minutes?! Please...

[LinuxRules]

I went in to BB and looking at the hdtvs and I asked the saleperson what signal all the tvs was receiving that were an display so I can see the difference between a 720 and 1080 tv. The guy had no idea and appearantly did not have the ablity to ask the manager or someone of knowledge. Now, that family members had hdtvs, I could fuss with the controls and found out, all he had to do is push the input info button on the remote. What a MORON.

[rtechie]

"For employees not on commission, hours are based on whether sales goals are reached. If I didn't meet my goal for the day, I'd see a cut in hours."

If they really took away hours you actually worked because you didn't make "sales goals" you should sue. This is 100% completely illegal in most states. If you are an hourly employee you must be paid for your time, period.

[Basuto9]

No, rtechie, he means they would cut the number of hours per week he could work. People who exceeded their target would see their hours/week increased so they would make more. He would still be paid for the hours he DID work, he just wouldn't have as many next week.

[rtechie]

I can also speak about Fry's Electronics as a former Fry's employee:

In Silicon Valley the staff at Fry's is considerably worse than at other retailers. The average Silicon Valley 8-year-old knows more than the staff at Fry's. Don't ask them for help, they will almost always mislead you. This is sharply different from the staff I've met at the Austin, TX Fry's. The staff there was actually pretty good. .

Fry's employees (Silicon Valley) don't give a damn about you, their job, or anything else. The security staff in the store is mostly to keep the rest of the staff from robbing the store blind.

As long as you say you're willing to accept a store credit Fry's Electronics will take just about anything back WITH a receipt. Even if you bought it a year ago.

Having that receipt (or credit card record) is critical. One thing to do at Fry's is to go to an employee and get a "quote" for something. Anything. The employee will generate a customer record for you (give them you name and phone#, they won't call you). From then, on if you give them your phone # they can pull up a complete record of all your purchases that included a quote. They keep these forever. Mine dates back to my very first Fry's purchase in 1992.

This matters because if they pull up your records and see that you buy a lot (as I do) they'll treat you better. I'm constantly buying and returning stuff to Fry's and they never bat an eye because I'm such a regular customer. And you won't need the receipts anymore, they'll start taking your word for it.

Fry's gets a LOT of people trying to scam them on returns (a big thing is replacing a old component with a newer one and then trying to return the old component). That's why they insist on the receipt, to verify the serial numbers.

[shinerunner1]

As a former employee of BB on the tech side not the sales floor side. Here is a few things not mentioned. If you have a tv that is over 25 inch and under extended coverage then a tech will come to your house. But don't expect it to be fixed that day. A tech has to order the part most of the time. The part will 99% of the time not be new, but someone elses part fixed. BB has a huge center that takes bad parts and fixes them, then sends them out as needed. If the part is on back order and your item isn't fixed in two weeks its time to get a little nasty with the service dept. 99% of the time you will recieve either your money back, or you will recieve a replacement. If you do get a replacement or your money back, the extended ends then, you either have to purchase another one or go with what they give you. Is the extended worth it, on large ticket items large tv's yes on other things no. Always look at how long the manufacture gives you. When buying say a hard drive, on may be $125 and come with a 3 year, where one may be $150 and come with a 5 year. Bad thing about that is any drive replaced is done with a refurb and that only has 90 days.

[Basuto9]

I don't know how Office Depot pays it's employees, but after years of computer-type purchases (computers, monitors, printers, scanners hard drives, you name it) the customer service in-store at Office Depot is miles above the service at Best Buy. I am speaking from experience at several different retail locations, but I am also emphasizing "in-store". I have stopped dealing forever with Office Depot's on-line customer service (which MUST be located in a foreign country) after a number of horrible experiences in which I was reduced to an incoherent babbling wreck.

[HebrewLantern]

not sure if someone has said this, but if you are a member of the Best Buy Rewards Zone (I'm not, but my parents are), they can look up purchases using your Rewards Zone Card, if you lose the receipt cash or credit.

[HebrewLantern]

oh and don't get warranties from the store on anything...use SquareTrade, cheaper and just as good, nay better, than "Geek Squad"

[r27smith200245]

I work at Staples in the UK, this article is so true it's unbeliveable!