Sunday, February 8, 2009

Apathy and the retail sales drone.

I was recently in a Best Buy seeking to burn up 2 of the gift cards I had received over the holidays. I held these cards waiting for just the right item that had enough desire-ability to make me want to put up with Best Buy in order to purchase it. iLife09 was just such an item. I went into the store local to me but alas, they apparently were not smart enough to have any Apple products outside of iPods. In our adventures this past weekend we happened to be passing by another one so I figured what the hell. We get in and I find the section only to see iLife08 regular and family packs on the shelf. Not only iLife08 but also iWork08. Apple stores typically pull the old software when the new version is announced or just around the corner. To sell someone 08 and then release 09 the next week is just bad business and down right rude. Apple prefers customers to have an exceptional experience and remain satisfied rather than just run you through the stalls like comsumer cattle like most retail establishments prefer.

I grab the iLife08 box and begin the annoying quest to find a blue shirt that will actually stop and talk to you. The first guy was looking dead at me when I started scanning for help. He immediately engaged the guy next to him in conversation to avoid helping me. Just past him I got the eye of another associate but in a white shirt.

Ah, the ol Geek Squad, once an independant company and a name to be respected and revered. Now the butt of every support joke and laughing stock of the industry. Geek Squad people are not trained to troubleshoot or fix problems, they are trained to SELL you stuff. The few times I've been in a Best Buy and happened to be passing one of the Geek Squad chatting to a customer have made me cringe. They play on the customers fears and phobias to scare them into extra$, upgrade$, and of course lets not forget their $ervice$.
Congrats Best Buy for taking a great name and concept and filling it with enough ineptitude to circle the globe 8 times.


Anyway, I digress...

Mr Geek Squad asked me what he could help me with and I asked him if they had any of these that weren't outdated? He laughed and said "we should have it, i mean we do sell it, let me see if we have any locked up" As we were walking I countered with "this version shouldn't even be on the shelf" and he laughed. His response was "some people still want it and we have copies to sell". I told him that was a stupid position to take since its an outdated version and nobody in their right mind would want outdated and obsolete software. He chuckled again and said it wasn't his job to decide what to put on the shelf. We got to the mini-cage and he dug around and found copies of iLife09 buried in the back behind some plain cardboard boxes mixed in with a bunch of MobieMe boxes. I'm surprised they didn't still have .Mac boxes to try and sell to people.
I got my iLife09, used up my gift cards, paid the difference and will hopefully never have to set foot into a Best Buy again.

1 comment:

  1. I'm not a Best Buy fan either, from past experience buying a fridge from them. Good info to know about the Geek Squad. Nice work on your blog.

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