Retail Tail or Tale?

Just read an article about retail sales policy. It involves one of my favorite stores, Best Buy. Tupelo has had a Circuit City for years, but Best Buy just opened here last spring. Now it seems, they have decided that some of their customers are non-desirables. This is a RETAIL chain, right? They don't like the fact that some shifty people buy, file rebates, return the merchandise and then buy it as a refurb or close out, etc. As Red Foreman would say, "Dumbass!" This is real simple. Stop all rebates, pass the savings along at time of purchase, cease price matching and enact a store return policy of 30 days. Problem solved. You can read in depth about all this in an older article posted at ArsTechnica by Ken "Caesar" Fisher. Slashdot has a related article Best Buy Working Towards Ending Mail-in Rebates posted yesterday by Zonk. Am I staying away from Best Buy? No. Going there today to make a purchase. The local folks need their jobs so I will shop there on occasion. Besides, they have a book in stock no one else carries, at least not locally.

Recently, one of my clients needed 5 LCD monitors. I recommended the Samsung SyncMaster 914v. They agreed it suited their needs and a call was made to Best Buy. They had 6 in stock and yes, they would price match (Circuit City listed them for around 30 bucks cheaper per unit). After arriving there, company credit card in hand, it was discovered that management had stepped in and overrode this deal. Seems someone had dreamed up a store policy that dictated a limited number of units per purchase at a competitor's matched price. Again, this is a RETAIL chain, right!?! Finally, after some talking, they sold us the monitors at the reduced price. This was no fault of the sales rep or the manager. They followed policy dictated from the dumbasses that prowl the Best Buy board room dreaming up silly stuff like rebates, being critical of customers, etc.

Yes, I'll keep shopping there, but following the lead of my 5 LCD client, it may be a good idea to shop Circuit City first. Best Buy apparently doesn't need the business. Why else would you whine about customers in the news media? Shoot, if business is that good just close the doors one more day during the work week and give the employees an extra day off. They probably need it to recover from such board room shenanigans!

"We cannot specify wind direction, but we can adjust the sails."
Lee Taylor, Master Sailor, Grenada, MS