J David Macor

Well, in case you haven’t read about it yet, there is this incredible saga blazing across the net involving a poor guy, his new TV, and Best Buy. I can vouch for his claims about their dismal service. In fact, I can do so from an insider perspective. That’s right: I used to work for Best Buy.

I can tell you that from my first day of training, they pushed us to push you into service plans (also known as PSP’s). These are very profitable for the company, as at the point of sale, no cost is incurred for Best Buy. They just sold you something that you will probably never use. The odds are that nothing will ever happen to your new shiny gadget and the company enjoys pure profits.

Now, I am not saying that anything is wrong with that. In fact, the customer enjoys the benefit of peace of mind. You know that your investment is protected, even if nothing ever happens to it. This is what the entire insurance industry is based on. However, the problem comes when it is time to redeem the service you pay for. As you will read in the story, the service is not performed by Best Buy, but is outsourced to the lowest bidder. And as you know, you always get what you pay for… unless you pay someone a lot to do something, but instead of doing it themselves, they higher someone cheaper and keep your money… Oh and don’t forget, those other people do it cheaper because they are probably crappier at doing it. But don’t just take my word for it; there are many haters of Best Buy out there, like this ‘lemur’ guy.

At any rate, go read the story and be amazed/horrified.

Update: The situation for this guy has been resolved! Best Buy has replaced his TV, but is it really enough?