Reader John writes in with a story about “upselling” at Best Buy. He saw a TomTom GPS unit for $99.99 on sale at Best Buy, so he headed over to the store to pick one up. What follows is his account of how much trouble it was to actually buy the item. We think we counted 9 times that John had to tell various and sundry Best Buy employees that, yes, he was sure that he didn’t want to buy a slightly more expensive model of the same device.
Here’s John’s story:
Today (11-23), Best Buy had a Tom Tom One 125 GPS for $99.99 – $80 off the regular price. My daughter has wanted one for Christmas, so I figured now was the time. When I got to the store, I found an associate in the GPS department and said I wanted to purchase the unit advertised. Without asking any questions, he immediately told me it was an entry level model so it probably wasn’t what I wanted. I politely said, no, it was indeed the unit I wanted. He then said, you realize the maps aren’t installed on this and it takes 3+ hours to install them. He continued saying that for “only” $30 more, they had the same unit with the maps already installed.
I again politely said no thank you, this is the one I want. He said three hours is a long time, you know. I said yes it is, and it feels like I might have to stand here three hours at the rate you are trying to sell me something else. May I please buy the GPS advertised?
Sure, he says, but I have to wait for my manager because he has the key. OK. After about 5 minutes the associate says sorry this is taking so long. How about if I show you some of the other GPS units we have. No thank you I tell him. I just want to buy this one. Are you sure? Yes I am. When have these over here… Now I had to gently but firmly tell him this is the one I want and I would be happy to go to a competitor that price matches if they don’t want to sell me what I want to buy. Ok, he says, I’ll go get my manager (oy!).
So the manager arrives and starts all over with, you know this is a very basic model, the install isn’t included and takes three hours, but for only $30 more… No thank you, this is the one I want. Please may I have it? Finally the GPS is removed from the case and given to the associate to walk up to the register (apparently customers aren’t to be trusted with such an elementary device until the transaction is complete). As we walk to the register, no less than two associates we pass say to my associate “hey Joe, did you let him know that is the basic one and the maps take like forever to install? You did? Oh. Did you tell him about the $30 special we have on preloaded maps? Oh. Ok” Talk about blatant upselling!
Finally at the register. Ahhh. Nope, not quite. Now it’s the cashier’s turn. She tells me about the $30 more option for maps. No thank you I again politely say. Then she tells me her sister had this one, but returned it for a more expensive one because all it did was give directions. That’s too bad for your sister I sympathize. When I pull out my Best Buy reward coupons for another $15 off, she says she doesn’t think that I can use them on a sale item. I politely say that I didn’t see that exception. Where is that stated? Well, no where but she is pretty sure I can only use one coupon at a time… Let’s try them both and see what happens, OK? I ask.
Reluctantly I am finally out the door with a $99.99 GPS less $15 in rewards credit, plus tax.
I wonder how many other customers will get upsold?
Now, obviously we are not lawyers, but we would like to direct your attention to the following paragraphs from the FTC’s “Guide Against Bait Advertising.” These paragraphs are from a section that lists some of the many shady things that retailers do when pulling a bait and switch. Disparaging an advertised item is one of them.
No act or practice should be engaged in by an advertiser to discourage the purchase of the advertised merchandise as part of a bait scheme to sell other merchandise. Among acts or practices which will be considered in determining if an advertisement is a bona fide offer are:
…
b) The disparagement by acts or words of the advertised product or the disparagement of the guarantee, credit terms, availability of service, repairs or parts, or in any other respect, in connection with it,
Gee whiz. Good job sticking to your guns, John.
Guides Against Bait Advertising [FTC]
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Just because it may (and I agree) be management mandated upselling, doesn’t mean it can’t be bait & switch. The two are certainly not mutually exclusive and in fact often intertwined.
The salespeople potentially get a break if they are merely ‘following orders’ – but management who likely intituted training and procedures mandating this kind of behaviour get a big fail for not discussing what bait and switch is and how to avoid making statements that could be construed as bait and switch.
If management is mystery-shopping to verify compliance with their mandate, they should also be using it to insure that their employees aren’t running afoul of the law.
“Did you want a unit with maps?” might be a way to initiate a conversation about product differences and lead to an upsell. But – if the customer says no, then conversation over. Customer says yes, then there is a clear opportunity to discuss a model with maps and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each one.
@SkokieGuy: If management is mystery-shopping to verify compliance with their mandate, they should also be using it to insure that their employees aren’t running afoul of the law.
They do. The reports are extremely detailed and they ask for conversational specifics.
“Did you want a unit with maps?” might be a way to initiate a conversation about product differences and lead to an upsell
High turnover assures that only employees there for longer than a year know how to upsell correctly. The “greener” employees also have difficulty closing the sale in an unforced way.
geez… nobody ever tries to upsell me, offer me protection plans, or asks for my receipt when I’m in a Best Buy. it’s always a quick, painless experience.
what are you guys doing wrong?
I think we should print that FTC paragraph out and read it to every one of the best buy clerks that try this tactic. And then tell them that we’d like to report this incident to their manager and read it to HIM or HER, word for word, very slowly. Ask them if they understand. Ask them if they have any questions. And then tell them to quit disparaging the item!
@primate:
“Because they don’t have to pay the merchant fee when you use it for one thing… “
And because store charge cards carry a MUCH higher interest rate than general credit cards. I talked to Sears about lowering my interest rate and they wouldn’t do it because “that’s how we finance these special sales.” So if have a store card, most especially DO NOT carry a balance on it.
Wait, TomTom lets you download up to date maps for free once? Is that for the whole nation, or just one region? I thought the thing up there was the guy at the store pointing out that for $30 more, the customer could get the GPS and US/Canada maps, which would add up to about $50 more over TomTom’s download service.
However, the customer is always right. Up to date maps can be much more valuable in some areas, as a GPS is near worthless if the map data is extremely wrong.
This is crazy. At my BB, I don’t think the associates care enough about the ad to even be aware of what models have what features unless they work in that section of the store- the cashiers definitely wouldn’t have a clue about it.
And Best Buy makes a working employee walk merchandise to the front even for employee purchases as well.
@blkhrt1: You marketing types always use the word “inform” quite differently than normal people. Hence the term “infomercials”.
@nytmare: I’m not in marketing that’s for sure. Tomato, “To-mah-to”
I think the biggest issue here, is the guy working that section didn’t have a key to get this person the device they wanted. That’s kind of messed up having to wait on a manager to get it out for them.
I see nothing wrong with the employee mentioning the other preloaded device. One time is fine, but all the other times seem to border on harassment.
Three hours is no big deal. Upload the maps while watching a movie, or spending time with your family.
The same GPS is listed on blackfriday.info for $99 at about 6 different retailers. Take your pick
So much for Best Buy’s new mantra of great customer service now that the economy sucks. I didn’t figure they would change anything.
Or maybe great customer service means the loss protection guys don’t accidentally assault you as you leave the store?
This guy has the patience of a saint. The third time I would have told them that if they try to upsell me one more time when I’ve specifically stated which unit I want that I would be leaving to go buy it from a competitor. And I would have said it loudly.
This is exactly what is wrong with Best Buy. I work for the store and if I had any better options right now I would be gone. We do the same thing in computers but to a far greater extent. They “Pre Setup” nearly half our stock with anti virus, optimizations and restore discs. We have to push these like our jobs depend on it, and they do. Its so bad that we actually have 2 signs under each laptop or desktop. One with the preset and one with the normal price. You should see the look on peoples faces when there is a 399.99 laptop with a 800 dollar price tag next to it with all of our bullshit. I hope we get sued.
I work for another retailer that sells the same TomTom 125 and the unit cost at our store is $135. They could be reimbursing us for the loss, because that doesn’t show up on our reporting. Only the corporate buyers know that.
This is exactly the problem I have with Best Buy. I had a similar issue with buying a computer this year. I needed a quick replacement for the office so I saw a sale in Best Buy and ran over to pick up the box. Now this machine was going to be wiped out for some proprietary software installed. Even after telling the agent this he assured me that I need to pay 70 so they could speed up the OS. Even though I told him I was wiping the OS from the computer.. Made no sense at all. All they do is try to swindle people into services that they don’t even need. Best Buy is pathetic and quickly going the way of Circuit City in my opinion if they keep it up!
I think that there is a difference in informing a customer at least once, “Hey, you will have to spend 3 hours uploading the maps to this unit, but for an extra 30 we have units that are already up to date.” Done, if the customer says no, then the move on and give him the item requesting.
In this case the badgering continued until the manager showed up, then continued further, with other employees commenting across the store, as well as the at the register. So they were attempting to disparage the customer in making the purchase.
Saying here it is, but would you like to look at other models within the same range that may have other options instead is one thing. To keep telling you that it will waste your time and spend 30 dollars more is something else entirely.
I did work for BB for a bit during college, and it’s their total intention to get you to buy higher margin items. No one cares what the customer wants. Cables were the hardest thing they tried to get us to upsell.
Plus, who cares? Let it load and charge over night (they have to charge anyways when you first get them) and you’re set in the morning.
When I was there I did what the heck I wanted. I wasn’t liked by my managers, but the kept me around because I had the highest number satisfied and return customers. Didn’t mean I got paid any more though.
If I were him, I’d arm myself with that blurb from the FTC, walk back into the store and up to customer service, ask for the General Manager (whether it’s the one he dealt with before or not) and calmly explain how thoroughly turned off he was by the excessive attempts to dissuade him from purchasing what he came in for.
I used to work as a cashier for Staples. As evil a place as it was, we generally knew when not to beat a dead horse. I think it’s fair to ask if they want to upgrade to a better product/added warranty once, and if they turn that down, explain some of the extra features they’d get, also once. If they still turn it down, I’d say it’s time to let it go.
You should take it back tomorrow to the same people and tell them that there are no maps on it and they take 3 hours to load and you want to return it.
That is a shame. As someone that works for BBY specifically in the GPS department I can vouch for the people that say there is no 3hr update…the maps are preloaded. It’s basically a TOMTOM 130 repackaged and over priced so TOMTOM can say “HEY LOOK AT THIS GREAT DEAL”.
I also don’t know why they would be trying to upsell you to another unit because BBY is still making money on these. I blame weak management. They must not know how.
Sadly sales people and cultures differ from store to store. Again, blame it on weak management. IMO consumerist is a good tool and wish a lot more of my over zealous co-workers would read it. A lot of stories on here embarrass me…and a lot of stories embarrass me for the OP. I think if more bad employees were challenged on what they say and do though, then they would change the way they do things.
If you have a problem contact a manager, fill out the survey and use names (if you bought anything) we do see and read them and each surveys results pull up by the store they came from (the system goes into pretty great detail but I won’t get into that), use the customer support hotline, contact district management (These are the guys that will put some fear into the store management) or you can always skip to the executive carpet bomb. One thing I can promise you is that BBY as a company does not WANT to give a bad customer experience. It’s quite the opposite. Sadly there are always bad apples…and bad trees.
I work at best buy and you have to walk items to the cashier that can be stolen. Even certain new games have to be walked to the cashier because there are always so many theft.
I hate having to go through these songs and dances everytime I buy, well, ANYTHING at Best Buy (or most anywhere else for that matter). “No, I do not want to buy the extended warranty. No, I do not need scratch protection. No, I am not interested in trying one of these magazines for free. No, I am not paying with your store credit card. And no, I am not interested in applying for one”.
Wait a sec. This sounds fishy.
I think it is bait and switch. Think about it.
1) The guy wants the GPS ON sale for $99.99.
2) He continually gets up-sold another model for ONLY $30.00 more.
My question is $30.00 more from where? The $99.99 SALE price or the $179.99 REGULAR price?
If another model being up-sold for $129.99- BB would have a little wiggle room for concern. I would not like the up-sell myself, but I could better understand it as my ‘concern’…
But if the model being up-sold cost $209.99 ($179.99 + $30.00) that’s a difference of $110.00 + tax that the OP would not be willing to pay.
THAT’S clearly bait and switch!
something sort of like this happened to me on my last outing to BB:
i went in to buy an Apple AC adapter only because the nearest Apple store is across town (long story short: i only buy name brand items for items i may resell later on down the road, in this case, i may resell my iPhone to upgrade, so i want Apple branded parts to package with it at that time). they had it on the shelf for $39.99, which is $10 more than Apple actually sells them for.
i went to the checkout lane, and it rings up at the higher price, and i asked the girl if i could have it for the actual retail price of $29.99. she asked me to show proof of the price, and i said, “why? that’s the actual MSRP. i don’t need proof of MSRP, only proof for price-matching sale items, no?” and she yells out, “YOU NEED TO STOP RAISING YOUR VOICE SIR!!!”
and within seconds, every staffer within 50 feet shows up ready to throw me out. i gave her the most dirty look and said, “you and i both know i did not raise my voice at you in any way, so why did you cause a scene?” and i simply get, “we do not tolerate that type of attitude here, sir. you need to leave.”
at that point, i decided to just throw the race card and get the customers into it. the sad part for them is that there were people in the line behind me who witnessed the whole thing, dropped their items, and left when i did without buying anything.
now i go into the same store only to talk to other customers and convince them to buy things elsewhere. dont mess with someone who has more time on his hands than he knows what to do with.
I own a small computer sales and service shop and I am continually surprised how many people go to BBuy, purchase product and stop in for me to either install it, assemble it or otherwise do what they should have had done when they bought it.
I am also still upset with the manufacturers for allowing the products they sell to be sold at less than cost by these guys, making it impossible to compete.
Circuit City and CompUSA did the same stuff.
Loss leaders really do not appropriately apply in this business. If one sees something that is just priced too low, they need to be aware of issues at the outset.
Good for you to stick to your guns on this. It must not have been easy to hold your temper.
Joe
The key to shop at Best Buy is having done your research, like this gentleman did, and know EXACTLY what you’re going to buy. Either they have it or they don’t. If they have one, get it, pay for it and get out.
I feel bad for the grunts that work on the floor. Someone put them up to this. No one in their right mind would ever want to go this far in upselling to the point where customers are pissed at them.
Don’t prey on the guy who knows his shit. If he know s what he wants, let him pay for it. Go after the suckers that have no clue what he’s buying.
@BMRFILE:
this customer has thin skin.
Yea, I used to work at Best Buy a couple years ago and this does not surprise me at all. I worked the Media Department and as soon as shift started you got your “talk” Whats on sale and what you need to push. I HATED it!! They would make you breathe down peoples necks to make them buy extra crap they do not need and if you didn’t get them to buy the extra stuff your managers came over yell at you about the importance of pushing the sell and your “not a team player” if you dont.
I went to Best Buy today and looked at thier $39.99 Brother all in one Fax / Copier / Printer… Alongside all of thier much higher priced models from various manufacturers… Below the display models were the actual boxes for all of the brands except the $39.99 one… SURPRISE!!! So I looked around and saw the one I wanted on the top shelf of the scaffolding by the display models… So I decided to test the staff… I called one of them over, and pointed out that no boxes were below the one I wanted… He said “Im sorry, we are apparently sold out”, and he started to launch into his upsell speach… I cut him off, and pointed to the exact model and said “I will take 2″… What was he going to say??? “We are sold out”???
Haha Suckers
Just a question for the lurking BB employees–if the prospective sucker…uh…customer bends over and drops trou, do they get a discount for making it easier for you to offer said value-added services?
@catnapped: Yes, and the reacharound is free.
This sure sounds like a classic case of bait and switch to me. Shame on you, Best Buy!
I only buy the most basic items in this store, like video games that are the same price everywhere.
I remember the one time I asked them to meet a price on a Samsung MP3 player. The guy went away for ten minutes while he conferred with his manager, then finally returned with a very unhappy look on his face but gave me the price match.
Speak about putting the customer first — NOT!
@jpdanzig: Way to stick it to ‘em with a price match on an MP3 player!
Need I say that it’s amazing that you probably saved 20 bucks! Which is a lot these days.
I’m not going to get into the whole story. I was in a best buy last week. The sales person was telling this person about why this is better then that. I looked over and told the customer she had the right unit for what she wanted. Keep in mind this is the same brand, not the same model. Yes she had the cheaper one. The BB person told me I did not know what I was talking about. I asked him a question about it. He told me that he would have to look it up, I took the unit did it what I asked without even looking at it. Handed it back to the lady and said I was the Sr Programmer on this.
I know they need to sell its their job, but you never know who your talking too. I did not make a seen, I did wait for him to ask me how to do it. He never did, yet it was one of his up selling points.
@Ben_Q2: If you didn’t make a seen, how would you make a scene? Because, being seen is a lot better than making one.
This is just a bad store. My store had almost two hundred of these on peg hooks, not spider-wrapped, ready for anyone to pick up and take to a register. I will say that it’s a POS and that you will be replacing it within the year, but for $100, I guess we can afford to be wasteful.
Another example… we had a laptop on sale for $299, had two dozen in stock, it was an emachine with Vista Home Basic and 1GB of RAM. It was crap. It was poorly designed. It was a paperweight and I was not happy to sell it. I didn’t care that we wouldn’t attach anything to it, I did care about customers having a terrible experience with it. People who buy a $300 laptop can scarcely afford to have to replace it within a year or two, and I was ashamed to sell it to people who needed something more powerful but could not afford it.
Often, our customers come in for the “cheapest ________ you have”. Sometimes that isn’t what’s going to fit their needs.
@wellfleet: It makes me laugh when they come back a week later saying its too slow.
But they wanted the cheapest and they got it!
This does not represent best buy in general…this just represents the people he dealt with at that specific store. They did not know how to do their job correctly. If they actually knew any better…they would know that they would get all the money lost back at the end of the month on their P&L from vendor kickbacks. Best buy and retail stores in general don’t just lower prices and lose money. When it is that much of a drop on an item, its a deal between the retailer and the manufacture…they get all their money back…maybe not on their scorecards instantly, but at the end of the month. So this store’s staff just are not educated and it sucks you had to go through that because of their ignorance
Ehhh…I walked into my Best Buy yesterday and they had about 300 of these things just sitting in a bin by the front door with $99.99 plastered all over it.
Maybe he should’ve just walked to the bin and picked one up, no hassle.
@IonaPraeconinus: Judging from his posts, he’s not exactly the brightest crayon in the box. But that’s ok, because everyone needs to color in brown and black these days to match their feelings.
i got flustered when trying to buy a BB laptop special. They had a dozen of the special units in stock but every single one had the box seal covered with their Geek Squad sticker and a list of all the software installed and the software that was uninstalled.
seriously…i don’t know how this place stays in business. there must be that many dumb people who enjoy abuse.
@unclescrooge:
if you ever see that happen, its company policy that they HAVE to sell one to you at normal price. depending on what software is on it they might have to remove it, or give the software to you for free.
just depends on what software is on there.
Same shit here in Canada. Future Shop and Best Buy employees don’t know shit about electronics and have no passion for them. As least when I worked at The Source, I told clients what I thought was best for them, not for the company!
The same think happened to me at Best Buy. I went to get a laptop that was on sale for 299.99. When I informed the clerk that is what I wanted, I was told oh you don’t want that one. It oly has 1GB and you will want to upgrade to 2GB. Let me get you the laptop for 500.00 since the one for 299.99 is regularly 500.00 anyway. I explained that is not what I came for. She then told me that the laptop would be really slow and I could upgrade to 2GB for 40.0. I said no again. She then went to get it from the back. While I was waiting a guy asked me if I needed anything . I told him what I was waiting for and he promptly told me the same thing. Except he went so far as to say that even with my high speed internet connection it would take 10-15 minutes just to load a web page and I could get upgraded to a 2 GB for 100.00.!!! I HATE Best Buy. They totally suck .
That’s crazy. I go to Best Buy occasionally, and I haven’t run into an employee yet that actually wants to sell me something. I thought that was only a Circuit City problem.
Usually I assume that the employees are only talking to me because they have to and would rather get me what I want asap so they can go back to walking around and talking to each other. It has worked for me so far…
I bet that they were following a directive from the store manager as opposed to a Best Buy policy of some sort.
“Hey…did someone tell you about those TPS reports?”
Its a friggin’ store! Of course they have to upsell. If they dont, they wont make any money. I hate websites like these that scare people away from stores.
I want to see the original poster open a store and try to stay in business while only selling stuff ON SALE.
Yeah sometimes we do upsell customers but mostly I just do it in computers when i know that they are not going to be happy buying a computer that is going to be super slow when they get home and they are more than likely going to return the product. At my store we never upsell GPS units. We just try to sell as much stuff as possible. Thats it.