Best Buy Unapologetic About Charging For PS3 Firmware Updates 454
donniebaseball23 writes "After discovering that electronics retailer Best Buy was charging ignorant customers $30 for the 'service' of installing updated firmware on PS3s, IndustryGamers got word from the company on its policy. Best Buy sees no problem with charging for this convenience, even though it's something Sony provides to PS3 owners completely free. 'While many gamers can handle firmware upgrades easily on their own, those customers who do want help can get it from Geek Squad, and we continue to evaluate this offering to ensure it meets their needs. The service goes beyond a firmware updates, and includes user account setup, parental control setup and other components,' a representative said."
Re:but best buy is pre doing and forcing you to bu (Score:1, Interesting)
this has less to do with best buy charging fee and more to do with ethical behavior.
But what is unethical about it?
The end of brick & mortar? (Score:5, Interesting)
A couple days ago I went in to my local Best Buy to buy a hard drive that they had listed for $129.99 on their website. I got to the store, and it was $165 on the shelf. In the past, it's been no problem to price match things that were on their site. However, this policy has apparently changed in the last few weeks, as they informed me that they no longer match prices on their site. The tag on the shelf wasn't one of the standard corporate tags, (the font was different, and the background of the tag was different) so it looks like they purposely jacked the prices of some items up. Anyway, I proceeded to stand in front of their customer service desk and order the drive off of their website with my phone using the "pick up at store" option. As I walked around for 15 minutes while I waited for the order to "go through" I noticed a lot of tags that were similar to the one I described. When comparing them to the website, all the tags had a significant markup compared to the Best Buy website. Other tags with the standard background matched the price on the website.
The girl at the customer service counter that I talked to said that this was "a new policy that went into effect a few weeks ago." She then proceeded to tell me that they did some sort of study that showed they were losing a ton of money by matching prices on their website. Personally I just see this as a huge death knell for, if not all best buys, at least my best buy.
Re:Wow (Score:1, Interesting)
Uhhh, no. It's one of the reasons why HDMI sucks so much. Lord knows how many pins are in an HDMI cable, and even then, it'd be a pain to solder all those pins. There is a reason why the television industry uses SDI instead. You can terminate a cable in under 30 seconds if you're good, no soldering iron needed (though solder connectors are available). HDMI? Forget about it. I'm sure it'd bring back bad memories of terminating multicore camera cables...
Re:but best buy is pre doing and forcing you to bu (Score:1, Interesting)
This is actually quite unethical.
Best Buy is selling PS3s with a tacked on charge for something the PS3s automatically do on their own (You ahve to hit the button to agree to a TOS, but it's three button presses and automated).
They are not stocking PS3s they haven't done this to, here in Austin, either. Customers get the impression Best Buy has helped them, when in reality they are being very deceptive.
If they simply were charging $30 more for a PS3 that would be one thing, as people would just shop for the best deal. But by lying to customers, in saying they are improving the PS3 in any material way over what occurs when you put in certain discs or even connect online, they are attempting to deceive customers who just don't understand this topic. We're entering the holiday season where a lot of moms and grandmas and dads and grandpas are going to want accurate information about electronics.
All the clamor is asking for is that these people know to stay away from Best Buy. Let them be informed that Best Buy is very dishonest. That's all I want.
Best Buy is targeting customers they think are high profit and trying to weed out customers who are informed. This is a corporate plan that dates a couple of years. I remember being miffed they were almost avoiding me and being very snippy when I was buying a TV, but they did that because I was informed. This strategy will turn off anyone who knows much about a PS3, but it will also identify people who are easy marks for Monster cables, protection plans, replacing DVD movies with blu-rays, a Dish subscription, an N router for an system that should be hooked up via ethernet, etc etc etc.
Best Buy already knows this will weed out people who know better than most scams, and I want it to weed out everyone else, too.
Re:but best buy is pre doing and forcing you to bu (Score:3, Interesting)
Utter BS. My wife bought a Netbook at BB. Surprise surprise, they were all "pre-optimized". None that hadn't been touched were in stock, surprise surprise - but they had six pre-optimized models below the desk.
I didn't want the pre-optimization (heh, what basically amounted to 'uninstall some Windows features, remove the System Restore image, and install a trial of Norton Antivirus').
They weren't willing to compromise, even at the cost of losing the sale. They lost the sale.
Re:The end of brick & mortar? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:but best buy is pre doing and forcing you to bu (Score:5, Interesting)
Or better yet -- the few times I've had to go to Best Buy to buy something (trust me, I avoid them like the plauge), and they pull this crap, I go to their website while in the store, and order it there. The website dosen't know about the "Geek Squad Markups", and will charge me the normal amount. I can even check the box to do an in-store pickup.
The manager usually gets real pissed at me when he knows I know there are no untouched boxes, and I'm getting their GeekSquad service for free. I usually explain that I'd rather not have it.
Re:Wow (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, Although I agree with most of what you say, I have used some really cheap ass HDMI cables, which are not that great (connection issues, out of spec, which damage the socket, etc).
However, you can get decent enough cables much cheaper.
Recently I bought a cheap ass Micro USB cable for my HTC Desire, and I can tell its plug is just slightly off (diificult to push in, etc). It also refused to charge my phone for some reason. This cost me £1 on Amazon.
I bought a £2 belkin MicroUSB cable also from Amazon, and it worked fine, and is better made.
Point being, ultra cheap ass dont always work. However, possible to still get a decent cable, cheap if you know where to look, and yes, they sell that same cable for at least £10 in the brick and mortar shops.
Re:but best buy is pre doing and forcing you to bu (Score:3, Interesting)
Bought 2 Infinity speakers from Circuit City years ago and realized that, after seeing cracks in the speaker covers, that the tape job was sloppy and bunched together. Ended up having to take it to another location 10 miles farther away after the first location had nothing but opened boxes only to have the other location tell me the ones I had were listed as "in service" and should have been sent back to the factory.
That experience has me checking for evidence of a box being opened ever since. Have told salesmen to get me another many times and if they say it's the last, I say I can go elsewhere. Most times you'd be surprised how they "find" another that hasn't been opened before. Can't understand why they do this as they can send it back to the manufacturer and not have to pay for the device. Just trying to get away on the cheap because of shipping maybe?