Did you know that Best Buy expects you to negotiate with them? According to their sales manager, they do. Apparently it’s like going to a car dealership or a garage sale or an antique store. Items are overpriced with the expectation that you’ll negotiate a lower price.
I didn’t know this when I bought my MacBook there a few weeks ago.
My MacBook was discounted by 5% because it was an “open box” sale – someone had bought and returned this laptop. It was also discounted a little because the new generation of MacBooks had just come out, thereby outdating this slightly older model. There was a price sticker on the box, reflecting these two discounts, and that’s the price I paid.
At the same time, I purchased what I assumed was genuine Apple Care – an extended warranty through the manufacturer. It cost $299 for three years.
Last week I was talking to my brother Michael and he asked if I was sure I’d bought Apple Care, and not Best Buy’s extended warranty, which is the same price but not as good. I was pretty sure I had, but I was wrong. Turns out I paid $299 for Best Buy’s extended warranty.
GC and I went to Best Buy on Saturday night to convert the Best Buy extended warranty into an Apple Care warranty.
The greeter summoned the sales manager, Mark, to talk to us. I’m not going to go into the whole discussion, which took about 20 minutes and got a little heated.
Let’s just say Mark was reluctant to refund my $299, because the extended warranty was part of a ‘negotiated package.’ And let’s just say GC and I were completely blown away that this was considered a ‘negotiated package’ when we hadn’t even known Best Buy’s prices were negotiable.
“What are you saying – it’s like buying a car?” asked GC.
“All stores are like that now,” said Mark.
“In that case,” said GC, “Don’t we feel like idiots for having paid the sticker price?”
“I’m blogging this,” I said.
Finally – after disappearing into a back room to call Rosa (the Mac person who, he insisted, personally remembers every customer and the specific details of every single sale she has ever negotiated, bar none) – Mark returned and said he would refund my $299. But he thought we were making a mistake, because in his opinion Best Buy’s extended warranty is better than Apple Care.
We thanked him, and then wandered about the store checking out prices on surge protectors and the Coraline movie. A little while later Mark came looking for us again. He said he felt bad that we were left feeling like idiots for not having negotiated the price of the MacBook in the first place. Therefore, if I wanted to keep the Best Buy extended warranty, he would refund $150 to me.
I accepted his offer and I felt pretty good about it too. All’s well that ends well.
I decided to blog about it anyway, because I think it’s important that Best Buy’s customers know that Best Buy’s products are priced with the expectation that you’re going to negotiate. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s only fair if the customer knows.
Negotiate? News to me! I wonder who he means by “all the stores”?
HA! I just this minute came back from having a head-to-head at Best Buy. Item was discounted by 50% as per the sticker on the shelf. I wait 10 minutes in line because they only have 2 cashiers on during lunch time when every office worker from miles around comes to do their electronic shopping. 6 people in line. AND the 2 people already at the cash were taking forever to make their purchases. Meanwhile all sorts of Best Buy guys are wandering aimlessly around the store looking for things to do.(“HEY!! Man the cash, if you’re not doing anything else. I have to get back to work.” )I finally get to the cash and she insists that my item is not discounted 50% at all. That was probably an old sale sticker. She has to charge with the bar code tells her to. No, she can’t come and see the sales sticker. She’ll have to call someone. I’ll have to wait. There are other customers. I left sans item. They can keep it.
XUP, I hate giving in by just leaving the item and storming out of the store. That’s what I used to do. NOW, I stand my ground. This time it was worth $150 dollars. We did the same thing at the LCBO for $1.00 the next night. You need to have a lot of time and make sure you’re up to date with your blood pressure meds.
That is news to me. I knew that Best Buy’s people aren’t on commission (they blast that all over their commercials) but not that prices were negotiable! I will have to try that out the next time I go.. though admittedly it’s not often, I’ve never been impressed with Best Buy’s general appearance and customer service.
I don’t know about Best Buy, but a friend of mine bought a computer at Future Shop and had a horrible time with their warranty when she needed it repaired. My husband had to return a serious lemon of a computer to Staples, and even though it had a full warranty, they would only give him the same model or a $600 store credit. I don’t trust any store warranty, at all. I have Apple Care and will be using it in the next little while because my cd drive is busted…I’ll let you know how that goes.
Even knowing, I’m not sure I can do it. Okay, I probably could on an open box deal like yours (I don’t know why that feels different to me, but it does), but otherwise I’d feel weird about it.
But ours isn’t a haggle culture. I can’t imagine going into best buy, looking at a $1000.00 camera and straight out offering $750 instead. I’d feel the need to have a bargaining chip (maybe that’s why I’m better with the open box thing, such a product is hypothetically more difficult to sell).
But without a bargaining chip, I wouldn’t even know how to start such a conversation.
I have had Future Shop issues with computers in the past. I bought a very expensive Toshiba laptop a few years ago and ended up putting 2 hard drives into it, plus a new touch pad, keypad, etc…
Future Shop’s warrantee only kicks in after the third major breakdown and then it is limited. The staff makes their commission on the extended warrantees not the products and that is why they push them so much. I know this for a FACT.
Ha! I love it. “I’m blogging this”. Well done. But I didn’t know that about Best Buy. I’ve never haggled for anything in my life! They do well taking advantage of teens and young adults like me who have no idea they can ask for a lower price. I usually go to FutureShop — is it the same there, I wonder.
GC – I have no time. Patience is not in my vocabulary. lack of patience is what I quote in job interviews when they ask me about my worst quality. If they’re not interested enough in me and what I’m buying, then I’m happy to do without it. You have to be willing to walk away — that’s a phrase to live by.
Also, I don’t thing everything is negotiable at BB (or Future Shop, their parent company). I think maybe only the high ticket items.
Zoom: Changing the world, one blog at a time.
I’ve done a good bit of shopping at Best Buy (there aren’t many brick and mortar electronic stores around here anymore) and Never once has the idea of haggling for a price crossed my mind. I guess they don’t want us to know. And I think I lack the self confidence to haggle. I think I would cave and pay what they asked. I don’t like to haggle. Even at flea markets. I’m a patsy.
XUP – Look up the Code of Practice for Scanner Accuracy. http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173091
You should have gotten the 50% off plus 10% of the price difference of your items old price and the new price. If only customers knew about this… most stores, at least all big stores go by this Code and they try to not advertise it because it makes them lose money. They just can’t change all the signs everywhere all the time at the right time, so they make mistakes. I love getting free stuff when the price is under $10.
Zoom – I hate Best Buy. I went with my fiance to buy 2 laptops. We thought hey since we’re buying two laptops, we might be able to get a good deal out of the sales dude. But nope, the guy wouldn’t budge because he said that laptops are not overpriced. He said if he lowered the price then BB would lose money since they’d sell it under cost. My a$$!
(Tried to post this yesterday, but it didn’t show… trying again!)
There is nothing better than the AppleCare warranty. My daughter bought a used macbook for $900 and kept having problems with an overheated keyboard. She picked it up, repaired, the 4th time and they agreed that her repeat visits were unacceptable, and assured her that the next time they would replace the macbook. It happened and they gave her, within 10 minutes, the newest top of the line $1800 macbook. That company knows how to keep it’s customers loyal. Best Buy, not so much.
I’m not surprised: I went through a similar experience buying a TV at Future Shop, but the context was much clearer that this was a sort of negotiation and there was a degree of hand-waving going on. I was buying an open-box unit as well, so it made more sense to buy the service plan from FS than the usual new unit (in which case I probably would’ve refused it), but the salesperson made it clear that by buying the warranty he was able to knock some more off the posted price, so it was obviously not an “official” price.
My guess is that anything that involves some sort of service plan might fall into this trap (or as XUP suggests, the high-ticket items), because they have a good margin on the service plans that they can fidget a bit with the sticker price and then tell you later on that this was a “negotiated” price.
The salespeople may not be working on commission but they’ve still got quotas they’re expected to meet or risk getting into trouble and the managers & supervisors get bonuses based on store performance… almost the same thing.
The high ticket items don’t have high markups…things like CD holders that retail for 24,99 have a cost of about $3 for an 800% markup…whereas computers have less than 5% markup in most cases and that’s why they make the money on service plans. Rechargable batteries have about 500% markups…it is amazing.
Gwen, the way he said it, it sounded like every retail store in the known universe operates on the basis of haggling now!
XUP, I agree you have to be prepared to walk away without the item. But in your case, you walked away in a bad mood without the item after wasting your valuable time. You got nothing for your aggravation! It was a lose-lose situation for you and the store. From my perspective, if I’ve already invested that much time and aggravation, I’m not leaving until I’m happy.
GC – I think it’s hot when you wear your ConsumerMan cape.
Valerie, yeah, they insert that line about commissions into every conversation. They never mention anything about the negotiation…no wonder we’re all so surprised!
Payton, I’m very curious to hear how your AppleCare service goes. The Best Buy guys did a pretty good job of showing that their warranty is just as good as Apple’s, even better in some respects (eg in the event of a power surge, your equipment is covered by Best Buy but not by Apple Care…and Apple will endlessly repair your computer rather than replace it if it’s a lemon, whereas BestBuy will cut its losses after the third repair).
April, you’re right, ours is not a haggling culture. And haggling suits some personalities better than others. It doesn’t seem fair to shyer or nicer people, does it? (I learned how to haggle from one of the best hagglers in the antiques business, actually – it’s an art, it takes time and you improve with practice. But I can only do it when I’m in the mood.)
Deb, that’s very interesting about how FS employees make their commission on the warranties. That explains why they’re so relentlessly aggressive about them. I wonder if it’s true of BB too.
La Canadienne – it’s not just teens and young people who don’t know they can haggle – from what I can tell, nobody knew. It’s a very well kept secret.
XUP, you’re probably right about not everything being negotiable. But if you go to the Best Buy on Merivale, ask for Mark and start haggling. If he says it’s not negotiable, tell him I sent you.
Tom, it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it.
Donna Lee, haggling’s an acquired taste. You should start small, with garage sales, and then work your way up to Best Buy.
Nancy, that’s interesting, because that’s exactly what Mark said Best Buy would do but Apple wouldn’t!
Kelvin, see it makes sense in a situation like that, and it seems fair if both parties understand that they’re in a negotiation. In my case, I paid the sticker price and the full warranty price and then was told later that I’d negotiated that package price and the bundle couldn’t be undone!
James, are you sure they have quotas? (You’re one of the best consumers I know, actually. Did you know that?)
Deb, no WONDER I hate paying so much for rechargeable batteries! So do you think there’s much room to haggle over things like that?
Stephanie – your very interesting and helpful comment somehow ended up (twice) in my spam comments hole. I just happened to be looking in there (I don’t look nearly as often as I should) and was able to rescue it. Probably a little late for the discussion, though.
Going there today to buy a t.v. with cash in hand. Went last night and decided on a 37 in. that is priced at $549. I want to negotiate!! Any tips? I want to talk them down to $520.