Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners I just got "FutureShopped" at BestBuy

Dean, my take on FShop(BB bought them out a few years ago) is that the salesman seem free to come in and work whenever they feel like it, perhaps they are on 100% commission(is that possible?) with no base salary. As a result, you get a whole whack of them in the store esp around Christmas time...you'll see 5-6 of them in a group at a time eyeing prospective suckers. We used to have a chain of audio/electronic stores that went by the name of Majestic Sound(?) or something like that. They unsurprisingly disappeared many years ago due to their high pressure sales tactics, outright rude in fact. I still recall going in one of their stores to browse and from the time it took me to walk past the TV section, about 80 ft perhaps, I was accosted by 6 different salesman, the last of which became almost hostile.

"Can I help you?"

No thanks, just browsing....

"Browsing for what?"

I'm just looking, thanks....

"You must have come in here for something..."

(this exchange kept going on while I was slowly walking/browsing then finally I'd had enough)

You know what? I was going to buy that $5000 big screen over there but you're acting like an a-hole so I'm leaving...

I had no idea of the connection between BB and FS, in fact I’d never heard of FS except in this forum. It’s funny that BB is getting pushy because one of my several gripes about it way back when was that you couldn’t ever find anyone to help you.

FS has been around since the early 80's in Canada(Largest electronics retailer in Cnd), think of it as a BB with a commission-based sales staff. BB bought them out in 2001 and it's kind of funny because they play off of the fact that they (meaning BB) are not on commission as some of their 'competitors' are.

Just because you may be swamped by a number of salespeople doesn't mean you'll be helped in any way so, yes that is still the case today Dean.

Ha! Well put Rick.

You know, that's one business model I just don't get. FS is owned by BB, both sell virtually the same products at the same prices and they are usually located almost next door to each other. Doesn't that just mean essentially twice the overhead? Other than the commission thing and different store colour schemes, what's the difference and why have both stores?

Personally I go to FS 1st if I need something because they're on commission you can usually haggle a better price, but not so at BB.

We don't have a Best Buy locally, but the few times I've been in the One in Kanada, (For our friends beyond our borders, this is not a misprint, there is indeed a Kanada in Canada.) I didn't find them pushy at all.

On the other hand, every time I even go to the Future Shop web sight, some pimply faced kid with an extended warranty form stares in my window.

Funny enough they don't always have the same prices. I returned a Bluray player I bought at BB and bought the same one at FS, saved $90+ plus tax. It was during Christmas when they get very good with their pricing.

You could have just brought in the receipt to BB and asked for the price guarantee and received another 10% off the FS price from BB.

I think it's actually 10% of the "difference", not of the total amount. If I see something I might buy in any store that I've seen somewhere else for less, I just ask one of the clerks if they price match with store 'xyz' then tell them the price. Usually they just phone them up to 1) verify the price and 2) make sure they have one or more in stock.