[JohnnyP]

You mean they actually work on computers there? Every time I go into my local BB the GS people are just standing around and there are no computers. Or you might find them on the sales floor misleading a poor unknowing customer into buy a laptop.
When me and my friend were in college sometimes after class we would go over to BB and listen to who ever was trying to sell somebody some sort of computer and when they started getting into bs and started making up stuff (unless that what BB told them) we would correct the sales person witch usually lead to them walking away and we would answer the questions they had. It was only a little fun to do it but it drives me crazy when sales people start making stuff up. When anybody tells me they are going to BB to look at something (laptop, desktop, digital camera etc...) I tell them to know what they are looking for before so they know what the sales person is making up and are not let down when they find out after they bought it. (Sorry I know this is a GS thread not a BB thread but I think everybody that works there is incompetent)

[RedHelix]

Even after my few years with GS I find myself doing that as well. I've bought a few things from BB since I left and when the salesperson starts telling me everything I should know about the product, I do politely correct them. Not because I'm spiteful or anything; I just want them to have all the facts so future customers don't come back and yell at the GS Agents because the salesperson told them something that isn'tn true.

Usually when I correct a salesperson, they are genuinely appreciative... I don't hold them to a fault for the company failing to train them on the product. I know what it's like to work for BB, so I empathize.

What I disapprove of, however, are people who waltz into the store thinking they know everything and make it a point to call employees wrong in front of customers. I know you're doing your civic duty on behalf of consumers, but the sales person learns nothing from the experience and ultimately you haven't really accomplished anything other than feeding your own ego. This happened to me several times, and even though the "correcter" was wrong, it tripped up my sales pitch.

For example, once I was telling a customer about how it's important to keep Automatic Updates enabled, as a lot of people deliberately disable it and hinder the rollout of service packs. (This was part of a sales pitch on Trend Micro AV. I don't use it but I think it's pretty good.) Then this jerk walks by and says service packs aren't delivered through automatic updates. He's wrong, and I told him he was wrong to his face, but now I had less control over the sales pitch.

Another time I was discussing a Centrino-based laptop with a customer, and when they asked for details on the CPU I told them about the Pentium M. (This was when the Carmel platform came out.) Then this guy about my age comes up and starts accusing me of misleading the customer, because "clearly" it uses a Centrino processor. Sigh.

[JohnWill]

Originally Posted by RedHelix

What I disapprove of, however, are people who waltz into the store thinking they know everything and make it a point to call employees wrong in front of customers. I know you're doing your civic duty on behalf of consumers, but the sales person learns nothing from the experience and ultimately you haven't really accomplished anything other than feeding your own ego. This happened to me several times, and even though the "correcter" was wrong, it tripped up my sales pitch.

What about when you're wrong and the person correcting you is right? Does that change anything, or is this just an objection to being criticized no matter what the reason? I confess I don't normally interfere, but when I see a person being really sold something in left field that does nothing to do with his issue, and for sure won't solve the problem, I've done it a couple of times. Quite frankly, I don't see anything wrong with that, and I could care less if I upset the salesman's sales pitch, because he was dead wrong in the first place, or I wouldn't speak. I'm not talking about a matter of degrees where he's just selling him something more than he needs, but rather when he's pushing a totally incorrect solution.

[Compiler]

yeah - the old days when Sales people sold a $1000 for a computer noobie was kind of a rip. But in the Vista era of computing - we now need quad core 3.0Ghz CPUs with 3GB RAM to have a good MS-Office experince.

Argh

[RedHelix]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

What about when you're wrong and the person correcting you is right? Does that change anything, or is this just an objection to being criticized no matter what the reason? I confess I don't normally interfere, but when I see a person being really sold something in left field that does nothing to do with his issue, and for sure won't solve the problem, I've done it a couple of times. Quite frankly, I don't see anything wrong with that, and I could care less if I upset the salesman's sales pitch, because he was dead wrong in the first place, or I wouldn't speak. I'm not talking about a matter of degrees where he's just selling him something more than he needs, but rather when he's pushing a totally incorrect solution.

I totally see your point, John. I've never seen a salesperson egregiously mislead a customer into buying the wrong product to the point you're describing... so I guess part of my opinion is derived from not having any examples of situations I've been in where I thought intervention would be justified.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is if a salesperson pitches Norton to a customer with a virus problem, I won't step in and say "Norton sucks, oh my god" as I've seen plenty of customers do. Selling an iPod dock to a Zune owner on the other hand, though... yeah, I can see stepping in on that situation; I've just never seen anyone botch a sale that badly.

[JohnWill]

OK, you win that argument. I wouldn't do that either. Those are just opinions, and everyone has a different opinion on various products. OTOH, the examples I speak of would be selling someone a router when he really needs a network switch (one in my recent memory). Since he already had a router, and all he wanted to do was connect additional Ethernet devices, I was amazed that the sales guy was pushing a router. BTW, they guy bought the switch (much cheaper) and thanked me as he walked out the door.

[new tech guy]

Originally Posted by RedHelix

I totally see your point, John. I've never seen a salesperson egregiously mislead a customer into buying the wrong product to the point you're describing... so I guess part of my opinion is derived from not having any examples of situations I've been in where I thought intervention would be justified.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is if a salesperson pitches Norton to a customer with a virus problem, I won't step in and say "Norton sucks, oh my god" as I've seen plenty of customers do. Selling an iPod dock to a Zune owner on the other hand, though... yeah, I can see stepping in on that situation; I've just never seen anyone botch a sale that badly.

Ive kind of done that "o my god mcafee sucks" thing a few times and realize it isnt right. However, i did notice my latest and best story a while ago when a GS agent told a guy that mac does not get viruses. I never said anything but i should have stepped in and explained that mac has the same problems with security that windows does, the reason it is attacked less is because of a small user base. Im not always right either but i try to learn what i can.

[purple_princess]

You have to remember that Geek Squad is tied to Best Buy which is never the Best Buy. I would pick PlumChoice over Geek Squad any day.

[JStergis]

Originally Posted by purple_princess

You have to remember that Geek Squad is tied to Best Buy which is never the Best Buy.

I always thought their name was ironic as well. Out of the four or five retail stores that sell anything PC or electronic related around here, Best Buy is usually the worst buy. Looking around the other day, the cheapest internal ATA DVD Burner I could find was 80 bucks!

Not that Staples is much better, though, their cheapest was about 60 there. I think Wally World had a 50 dollar HP DVD Burner, but I can't remember.

I think I'll stick with ordering from Newegg! A quick look there reveals a sub 30 dollar Lite-on drive with free shipping.

[n2gun]

Originally Posted by JStergis

I think I'll stick with ordering from Newegg! A quick look there reveals a sub 30 dollar Lite-on drive with free shipping.

How about a Samsung with Lightscribe for $30 free shipping?? http://3btech.net/cdromcddvddr1-dvdredr.html

[JStergis]

Originally Posted by n2gun

How about a Samsung with Lightscribe for $30 free shipping?? http://3btech.net/cdromcddvddr1-dvdredr.html

I've been thinking about getting a lightscribe burner. I already have a ton of non-lightscribe DVDs and CDs, but I suppose I could buy some lightscribe disks in order to burn special things that I want labeled. Since the difference is marginal in price, I probably will get a lightscribe one.

[n2gun]

Bad part is the cost of Lightscribe disks. They are a lot more expensive than regular cd or dvd disks.

[iltos]

not too dampen the festivities, but i actually had a good experience with a geek squad guy...tho it was IN the store

i'd driven about an hour to give a powerpoint presentation with my laptop....it's an old emachine and the battery is not that good, so i always take my AC stuff with me....and i left the AC-to-transformer end of the chord there

would best buy have it?....i didn't think so, but it was close, and it was late, and so i went there.....i figured my best bet was to go to the geek squad counter, and this very jolly chinese guy perked up when he saw me and asked if i needed help.

i explained my situation. "no problem", he smiled, "i'm sure we carry that in the store".....so i followed him up and down the aisles

gee....it wasn't there, unless you wanted to spend like $50 for a lot of stuff i didn't need, that did include the one thing i did need...

but he was lookin out for me, and told me to wait a second....and he dashed off to the drawers behind the geek squad counter, where he rummaged around for a bit, before disappearing through a door into the squad's "inner sanctum"

meanwhile, i started looking at new laptops

"oh, there you are" he says about 10 minutes later, and he pulls out the chord i need and does a little chinese bow

"courtesy of the geek squad"

pretty cool ....most people wouldn't have bothered

[Compiler]

You imagined that....

... you didn't see anything...


That was nice of him... there are GoOD people and BAD people... okay

[JohnWill]

Originally Posted by n2gun

Bad part is the cost of Lightscribe disks. They are a lot more expensive than regular cd or dvd disks.

Not to mention the labels are monochrome and pretty low contrast. I have a couple of LS burners, and I got some disks just to try them. I'm not that impressed, I'd rather print the labels with a printer that handles CD/DVD media, much cheaper and you get better looking labels.

Did I mention it takes longer to do a full LS label than to burn the disk?