I don't know what's worse, thatBest Buy can get away with this, or that there are people dumb enough to fall for it. In summation: Best Buy is opening up new, sealed Xbox boxes, updating them to the newest version, and then repackaging them and charging $30 more for it.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. This is damn similar to what they do with their PCs and "optimizing" them. On one hand, I think they have a genius marketing team to be able to pull this off. But on the other, it's a really freaking low tactic. And on the third hand (yes, three,) people should do enough research so they can walk into the store and tell the sales associate to take their "no commission" and **** off.

My question is, will there be consoles where aren't updated which customers can buy?

Not sure. I'm seriously considering stopping by my local Best Buy on the way to work to see.

Yeah, it's a shame. I worked for Best Buy for a year, and a lot of things they do are great, but they also rip people off with crap like this as well, and that's one thing I hated about working there. Wasn't the main reason why I quit, but part of it.

I really don't want to start hating on them, because Best Buy is great in a lot of ways, but they are very shady as well. I felt guilty with the stuff they tried to get me to rip people off with. It's important to be well educated with what you're buying there before you even shop, because they will try to drain your pockets with unnecessary stuff you don't need or are pretty useless.

That's interesting... I'm surprised there isn't a legal problem with this. If Microsoft sales drop (which they probably won't but you never know...) at Best Buy, Microsoft may have something to say about this...

quote:

Originally posted by Melonie:
...because Best Buy is great in a lot of ways, but they are very shady as well.

I feel the same way. For games I can't get on steam, I love going to Best Buy. And for Blu-Ray, often they offer package deals that are cheaper than paying shipping and ordering through Amazon.

But... the stuff like this. >.<

Tibbsy, I agree. The fact they're opening the box and turning around and selling it just like any other unopened Xbox (oh, plus $30)... just seems wrong. I can't imagine it is illegal, since technically they can set the price they want (well, given a certain amount of customer demand,) but the fact they're opening it up and simply applying a *free* update... that's just not right.

According to the comments, they're doing it to PS3s too...

How about Best Buy's way to milk PS3 shoppers:

http://kotaku.com/5363264/seri...is-should-be-illegal

You know what sucks about Best Buy?

You buy a router without the warranty they try to sell you and it breaks (go figure), so you go out and buy another router with out the warranty again because you figure there is no way it's going to break on you twice...Guess what? It's breaks. So you go out and buy a third route, but this time you buy the warranty and than the darn thing never breaks.

I swore they put a self destruct button in their electronics- Unless of course you buy their warranty.

IIRC, Best Buy is the store that wouldn't take $2 bills as legal currency and told the man that he was trying to give them fake money.

My experiences with Best Buy are very mixed. On the one hand, I bought my 360 from them and an extended warranty. The 360 began doing squirrely things randomly and, even though Best Buy couldn't recreate it, they let me swap it for a new (and better) one.

On the other hand, their service is horrible, they're usually out of stock on what I want, their staff is not knowledgeable and, yeah, they do lots of shady things.

I figure, if you're going to Best Buy, buyer beware. There are some good people who work there but there also seem to be a lot of turds.

[Edited because I'm a dufus]

quote:

Originally posted by brookelyn_FD:
You know what sucks about Best Buy?

You buy a router without the warranty they try to sell you and it breaks (go figure), so you go out and buy another router with out the warranty again because you figure there is no way it's going to break on you twice...Guess what? It's breaks. So you go out and buy a third route, but this time you buy the warranty and than the darn thing never breaks.

I swore they put a self destruct button in their electronics- Unless of course you buy their warranty.

Wow. That's pretty bad

quote:

Originally posted by brookelyn_FD:
You know what sucks about Best Buy?

You buy a router without the warranty they try to sell you and it breaks (go figure), so you go out and buy another router with out the warranty again because you figure there is no way it's going to break on you twice...Guess what? It's breaks. So you go out and buy a third route, but this time you buy the warranty and than the darn thing never breaks.

I swore they put a self destruct button in their electronics- Unless of course you buy their warranty.

LOL! I know, right?

Have you tried returning them anyway? Anything under $100, that they still have in stock, they will give you store credit for at least. As long as you don't have a receipt, that's the better way to do it.

Most of Best Buy's warranties are complete rip offs and rarely are longer than the manufacture's warranty. I sold warranties every day, we were taught to pressure people to buy them, but over all, they are pretty worthless. Even if you get one, half the time they will tell you that you abused it (even if that was not the case) and will refuse a return. Since I worked at Customer Service, however, I would return stuff for the nice people, even if they were outside of policy. There were tricks to get around the system, and I took advantage of those tricks, because I felt sorry for a lot of the people that got ripped off.

On the other hand, there were a lot of jerks that the managers would bend over backwards for, and that's another story.

@vorpal_steak. If you plan on buying another console from them in the future, I definitely don't recommend the warranty, because they've changed. Before, you could swap them over the counter, but a few months ago they changed it. Now they send it to the manufacture and give you a refurb. Some people might be nice enough to swap it over the counter (I did that for customers as much as I could), but I wouldn't count on it.

quote:

Originally posted by Melonie:

On the other hand, there were a lot of jerks that the managers would bend over backwards for, and that's another story.

I can't STAND this! As a manager myself, I really do try to help those that are polite, considerate and are not trying to rip me off by lying about the product they bought. But if you come into my store and treat me like a piece of poop, I'm not going to bend backwards for you. Yet, they always take it to my district manager and he always gives them their way.... I just don't get it? So we reward the terrible behavior, even when they didn't read the receipt and are way out of policy AND after cursing me out, calling me all sorts of names because they are the idiots?! Blah!

As far as Best Buy...I don't know how many so called "mail-in rebates" I mailed in and never got anything in return. They didn't honor them. They also added things to my transaction that I didn't approve of, such as warranties and what not. I rarely have a good experience there, which is why I'm so happy I live by a Fry's now (CHEAP BLU-RAYS THERE!) woo hoo!

Oh goodness, that's the worst, isn't it? Made me feel like dirt if I followed policy and did what I was told, yet if a customer cussed me out and had a big enough fit, the manager would give them their way. The worst part is when they make you do he transaction yourself while the customer gives you this, "Haha, I'm right" look.

After dealing with that for a while, whenever the managers tried to make a fool out of me by breaking the rules for mean customers, I told them to do the transaction themselves, because I refused to be made a fool of.

I'm so glad I don't work their anymore, I hate that place. The only time I ever shop there is if I want to use m Best Buy card for 18 months no interest (whenever they have the promotion). But you have to be very careful with that, because if even a one payment is a little late, you will get charged interest for the entire 18 month duration. Pretty lame, if you ask me.

Not that I make late payments, but I've had things happen before with my phone bill where I KNOW I made the payment online, but somehow it didn't go through, and I'd have to do it again, because the page didn't refresh or something like that.

You also have to be careful with Geek Squad. I'd recommend a real computer repairman over them any day, because most of them really don't know a lot about computers, and if your computer actually requires some real fixing, other than the noob stuff, they send it off to a computer repair facility that isn't Geek Squad anyway. Geek Squad is really Noob Squad with fancy suits.

I did love the Gee Squad at my Best Buy, though. They were my best friends there, but still were taught to be shady. It's amazing, because Best Buy does not offer commission of any kind, but they somehow manage to make everyone want to get their goals really bad. It's crazy!

I was always fair, though. I can't even tell you how many times my coworkers admittedly lied to sell a warranty or a Geek Squad service, it was terrible. I remember overhearing the Geek Squad deliberating on how they could charge a customer for services they did not buy, because Geek Squad might have done a little more than asked. That's when I would intervene and say, "No you better not charge them for that! "

Bleh, I really don't like Best Buy.

I order my electronics on newegg anyway. I wish they had physical stores, because they would be awesome.

Wow! this is a sick joke.

First of all, Breaking a factory seal at a retail outlet automatically takes the "NEW" off of the item.
when they did the update, there is no way to prove they didn't drop the system or get a surge overload.
It is now a used Item. I would sue them for shady business practices and for falsely selling a used product as new.

Regarding extended warranty; NEVER EVER buy them. Most electronics items have a 90 day to one year factory warranty. Items generally never break down in that time period. I had a three year warranty for a tv I got at Best Buy. It broke a week after the warranty expired.

I hate the fact that when I go to best Buy, I end up educating the sales clerk. Mainly because I research what I plan on buying for some time before doing so.

quote:

Originally posted by zeeEVIL1:
I hate the fact that when I go to best Buy, I end up educating the sales clerk. Mainly because I research what I plan on buying for some time before doing so.

I believe that.

Best Buy hires people who are outgoing and good with people, because all they care about are the sales. Seldom do they actually know about their products, and by the time they figure it out, they're rotated to another department they have no clue about.

Lots of the guys in the gaming section were clueless. I wasn't even in that department (customer service paid better ), yet I constantly found myself having to help them when customers had gaming questions. I recall one time a media associate was asking everyone on his walkie, "I have customer looking for a game that's called Orange something?" He received responses from the other guys saying, "No, we don't have any games called Orange!" After I got a chance to talk I told them the customer was probably talking about The Orange Box, and everyone was like, "Oooooh."

I knew more about gaming than any of the guys there.