Thier actions on Launch day were not cool at all..

http://hsdemonz.com/

story and video.

So did you buy the extended Warrenty?

Yes CSRs will say anything to sell them, almost as bad as Gamestop idiots trying to sell that game card thing.

Fantastic stuff as usual. Presumably the BB employees were offered some form of comission to do this.
This does point out though how a stunt like this starts a huge unfounded rumour mill. Once something like this hits the media it suddenly gathers size and pace like rolling a Snowball down a snow covered hill. Reality of the situation becomes lost and all because of something like a vain attempt to screw extended warranty from buyers at any cost.

On my personal unit? no.

On units I've bought since then. yes. As they were for other people.. who won't be opening/hacking their 360 anytime soon and req extra coverage.

My personal experience with BB and Futureshop Extra Warranty coverage has been covered before on xs and other sites. Sometimes.. the extra warranty receipt isn't worth the thermal paper they print them on now.

I have to agree. My wife is a HUMONGOUS sucker for shit like this. She purchased a GameCube for us (why, I don't know, but W/E) and bought an extended warranty? Not sure why, but ok. They force feed those things down your throat. I bought my PSP there, and they rang it up automatically, so I had to go into the store for a refund on it, and they then tried to talk me out of that!!!!

I am beginning to really loathe the level of service I receive at many places. Worst of all, BB emps. don't get paid commission (my understanding based on things they have told me) so why would they even bother?

DSG retail over here give big comission to employees for sales of extended warranty. They are looking after there own pockets when they pressure sell them, not the customers interests. Out of interest whats the standard warranty on a 360 in your region. UK 12 Months but I hear less in other regions

That was interesting but what I found more interesting was those issues that the Best Buy salesman were mentioning are actually happening according to some posters--ie freezeups from overheating and scratched discs. Perhaps that guy wasnt full of shit? Of course those kiosk units had early builds so that may be another reason. I dont think the employee was lying--I think he was either exaggerating a bit or the rumors he had heard had grown a bit from the trith.

I have heard mixed things about extended warranties--I usually like to have them although again if the company has a million restrictions or wont honor them then like the poster said they arent worth the paper they are printed on. Anyone that has been around video games though can probably attest to the fact that an extended warranty on a first run console usually is NOT a bad idea.

Xantium posted news a few weeks back saying the warranty for BB is 50% profit easily. I can see why they use the tactics they do.



That's the problem. Exagerating.. adding and embelishing all to add to the fear factor.. and force people into making a decision and a purchase they would not make unless pushed. In some places such tactics are illegal.

I'm actually considering another members suggestion for a class action lawsuit to be filed in Canada against BB. Alot of what they did on Launch day was illegal.. and we got it all on tape.

Nice video HS, I went through the same BS buying a rear projection lcd hdtv form circuit city. The idiot salesman was telling me the bulb will definately die in 2 years and I will have to pay $350 for a new bulb, so pay $399 plus tax for their warranty (which only covers one bulb). Oh, the bulbs go for $200 straight from Sony.com.

It's funny how much big stores like this can sway the public so much to fulfill their own agendas.

Yeah, i used to work at Best Buy and if you didnt sell their PRP's (Product Replacement Plan) you wouldnt get hours. It is a way that Best Buy is ripping everyone off that doesnt know better. Companies arent goin to put a product out there without a warranty.

The Employees ARE lying. For the stuff to have happened.. that each and ever sales guy told me.. the following would have had to happened..

for every fatal hardware issue they hard, the console would have had to be boxes up and shipped back and they'd either have to get another or wait for MS to ship one back to them for each buggered console. From the point thos consoles were setup.. they had not been turned off during the stores open hours. For every lie.. if I were to do some quick math.. they would have needed the following..

17 repleacement units on hand.. or... a WARP class spaceship to allow for the near instananeous transport of replacements from ms depot to the store.

As you can see. it's a STRETCHHHHHHHHH!

They Lied.

On black friday we were trying to get one of the cheap laptops which apparently had been sent to the "geek squad" for all the updates ect something they charge an extra 119 bux for. So I told them that I wasn't interested and just wanted the unit as is. They told me they were sold out of all of those and that it would be a waste of time to buy it anyway cause the geeksquad guys make the laptops "35% faster" by doing there update service.

BB= used car dealership.

My older brother was buying a laptop and the sales guy kept telling him total lies about the product to both sell him a more expencive one and have him buy the warenty.

I will not shop at one ever again. I don't care if they are the only ones with a xbox360 for 6 months, I'll just wait.

The irony behind this is the fact that Best Buy has probably the worst track record when it comes to their extended warranty service

I hope they go out of business....

Thats why you never should buy anything from big Electronics stores, they are scum, im talking about BB Circuity City, Fry's, etc... You can buy the same TV's and other expensive electronics for a lot cheaper online then in those stores, you can find stuff hundreds of dollars cheaper.

i don't know when i get the extended warranty just before it expire i ruin the item on purpose and they have always either give me a new item or a newer model of the item

Not everyone's as honest as you.

Hmm, They weren't shoving that crap down my throat at mine. In fact the chick was cool about it, she asked me when checking out if I'd like to purchase the extended warranty, and I politely said no thanks, and that was that. I dunno about other's though. But that's seriously wrong!

Trying to sell the replacment plans like that is nothing.

http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/112...box.1e3889.html

Watch the video attached to that story if you want to know what happened to me.

Thats sad because Bestbuy most of the time is cool... I bet there all Sony fans.

Boycott Best Buy, dont buy shit from them anymore, from now on dont tell anyone to go there. Dipshits

I've watched the smashmyxbox.com video i don't know how many times... and I found something funny in that scene... with all the talk of disc getting scratched and the guy's comments on it he simulated the disc being scratched as it would have been in the vertical position... just found that amusing...

as for them pushing that... it's total BS... I mean they can't feasibly get you a replacement even in the 90 days so why spend the money there... the one M$ offers at least they have parts they can repair it and get it back and $60 for 2 years ain't that bad...

I haven't shopped at Best Buy in years, but I stopped by to pick up a copy of Star Wars 3 when it came out last month. Keep in mind, this is a simple $14.99 purchase. The cashier first tried to get me a Best Buy charge card. Then he tried to get me to sign up to their BS reward zone program. Finally, after paying with Visa check card, he tried to give away a free 8 week subscription to entertainment weekly, which I'm sure would have automatically renewed and charged to my card. Then because I used McDonalds best buy bucks, they made me fill out a form that asked for address, phone #'s, etc. I was so close to just walking away at that point, but I didn't. Screw best buy and their high profit margin warranties. It's amazing what kind of new revenue streams these companies come out with, but at least they try. Not like the RIAA and MPAA who just sue everybody instead of reinventing their business model. Off my soapbox now.

That's smart thinking. There's no point in getting that bullshit extended warranty if you don't use it. I never get their warranties, but if if I ever do, I will definitely do what you do.

This is how it SHOULD be. I want the option. If I want it explain in detail, I want the option of asking for details. I hated the fact that we were herded like sheep into a line that was purposely design to keep us within earshot of no less than 5 BB drones barking the nazi.. er.. BestBuy's commandments into our ears for over an hour..

".. buy the Warranty... Xbox360 is going to break and waste you 500$... buy the warranty..."

Yes.. they did say it will waste our money. I got some of that in the SmashMyXbox.com's video I used.

Oh yeah, I definately heard them trying to scare you into buying it, especially using information that isn't entirely accurate. I suppose had they shown you the actual disc it would have had some legitimacy, still not enough proof to validate the use of such bs tactics but still. It is very rediculous and shows just how much bestbuy cares for the customers wallet contents over the customer's satisfaction.

The sad thing about this is the employees are basically made to be drones to spew this information out by management. I used to try to cut them off but now I usually just look the other way, let them finish and say, "No thanks." Best Buy trying to sell subscriptions is really damn irritating, but if the employees dont try then they get into trouble.

Gamespot and EBgames do the same damn thing now. I picked up Mario and Luigi for the DS and the guy said would you like to preorder Animal Crossing DS? I said no, he said are there any games you want to preorder to which I replied, "no." I then asked, "When they would do preorders on the ps3?" Of course he said he didnt know but then asked me to preorder Final Fantasy 12.

Employees of these stores arent allowed to "think" on their own anymore and it is sad. Just like the guy telephoning those restaurants last year acting like a cop. Not only did he talk a manager into strip searching employees but the employees are so brainwashed they allowed it.

If these stores honestly dont stop making me feel like I am walking on a used car lot, I am just going to start going to Walmart. At least you dont get harassed there.

I used to work at CompUSA which has similar warranty programs and other offers which we peddled to customers (MSN, AOL, Training etc..) What you have to remember is that it is the cashier/clerk/whomever's job to offer you that crap, however useless it may be. Yes, we made commission off that stuff, but if we didn't offer it we would get written up and eventually fired and/or forced to watch our managers tickle fight topless. In my experience, the replacement warranty's at compusa were realtively painless, just bring in the broken unit and the clueless fudge packers in tech would mark it as defective and give you a new one, not sure how they do it at best buy. But anyways, in general, I think the manufacturers warranty is plenty good enough provided you have no problem being without your product for a few days.

Contact BestBuy and tell them to do something about it. Atleast get the guy fired.

If they refuse, contact your local news.

I bought an xbox with a two year warranty($40) from best buy. 2 weeks after the warranty ended my dvd drive started failing! lol. All I did was rent an xbox from family video and replace the drive with theirs and returned it right away and acted like I was mad because my xbox wasn't working and demanded my money back. Hahaha! ....good times.

I will personally NEVER buy from BB again. They tried to screw my father over on a plasma. He bought it on a Saturday and they told him it would be there on Friday. We went there and they were like "nope we don't have any plasma here for you". I was like WTF??? I asked for a manager and this wise ass with an attitude came out and was being a dick. He was like "maybe next week. What do you want me to do buddy??" I told him that they could have at least let my dad know it wasn't in. He then told us that the next size of our model was available. I told him that was a bait and switch tactic and he said "You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Who's buying this anyways?" I told him that he didn't know his ass from his elbow and I was pissed. My father had to pull me to the side to call me down because I was ready to break this guy's teeth. The guy then called another store about 20 miles away. They had it, so he said they would deliver it and set it up that afternoon. Well the brought it to my father's house and were like "See ya" and he said "You're supposed to set it up". They said no they weren't. He told them "Take your fuckin' TV out of my house. I don't want it". So he couldn't even get his money back from the store. He had to wait for a check in the mail. On the positive side. The day after he didn't get his TV he got it at Circuit City with no problems.

Just another BB fiasco story/rant...

: / I honestly just ignore sales men.... I always look into a product before purchasing and find the one I want....
But i tend to listen very carefully to the sales women

i work at bb as a rep for hp. I know it sucks but you cant blame (most) of the employees
some are really nice people who work at a really shitty job. It kinda sucks some time to be
trying to do your job and people treat you like shit. Bb policies suck ass managers are always
on your ass about the psp's(product service plans) and its just bullshit sometimes. Oh and if you wanna
read some more horror stories go to Bestbuy Sucks it has some scary stories in their from employees and customers

if stuff like this got more public i wonder if it'd turn out to be another futureshop? After a big scandal in future shop they started doing returns instead of repairs which was great.... friends of mine returned their mp3's with 1 scratch on them for new ones and if futureshop didn't have that model they'd give them a better model o_O

Nice video HSDEMONZ.

That smash my Xbox video is the funniest sh*t ever, waiting in line 3 days before launch to smash an Xbox.

Yah.. I gave those guys some grief originally.. but with some time passing... I recognize the fact that in some ways they aren't any different than me. Some of my video segments I do for pure shock value / entertainment.

I don't like seeing any site raise donations.. but the guy was honest.. collected the finds, posted the name, then took the money and did EXACTLY what he said he would do. I give him the credit he deserves of following though on his plan despite everyone calling bullshit on him before hand.

I worked at gamestop years ago and the catch with warranties is this:

All major retailers are allocated a defective rate by the manufacture. They are allowed, at no cost to them, a replacement in the event the items are defective or are damaged in shipping.

So for gamestop it was something like 1% every year generally on gaming systems.
So in the end all the money taken in by warranties is basically pure profit. That's why they push it and managers enforce it so heavily. Every store and sale person MUST meet a minimum weekly quota for the store. If not you are simply let go for another person whom will meet this quota. They quota it because then count on the revenue stream quaterly, hence the pressure.

With regaurds to the warranty, even after 1.5 years you bring your system back they would just allocate it to defectives and ship it off to the manufacture for a replacement at no cost.

All managers at GameStop know this. This is a source of internal theft at many GameStops. All the managers' friends and family's always have a working systems (get it?). Also if your a really creative manager you can of course pickup 10 dead PS2's and over a few weeks time gradually replacement for new ones. Ebay anyone!!

before i watched that video i thought it was cool, but the when i saw the video they screwed it up. It thought it was gonna be in front of a bunch of people, but they did it so fast no body knew what had happened. They should have put it down and just let people look at it then smash. I didn't like how they threw it up in the air and then smashed(they should have been a little more climactic). I also thought it was gay that they tried to make it about ps3 vs. xbox 360. It should have been more about shocking people.