This one's a gimme, Best Buy tortures its customers, Target doesn't

I like Target. Lots of choices, good lighting, and they circulate the air.

Is this like pitting the #1 seed vs. the #16 seed? I don't know anybody who has Target as their least favorite company. I know lots of people who hate Best Buy.

This must be the #1 seed versus the #16. Target for the win.

Seems like an easy win for Target. There I don't get pestered by by 8 different people before I get out the door to buy and extended warranty on a pack of blank DVD-Rs.

I've had nothing but good experiences with Target and their customer service. Their one bad area is having two checkout lanes open and two thousand people in line.

Everything I've bought from Best Buy has been defective right out of the box. I never had any trouble getting refunds, and they are one of the few places (around here, anyway) that will recycle old televisions and computers for free.

But I'm giving this round to Best Buy. Where do they buy their stock - from the warehouse that's full of broken stuff other people send back?

If it wasn't for target always asking me to open a credit card, I'd almost say they don't belong in this game.

Yay Minnesota!!

Target hires cuter, younger cashiers. Point: Target.

Target vs. Best Buy? Really?

Never gotten the hate for Target. Every Target that I've ever been to is clean, safe, well lit, and has an excellent selection of things that I want to buy at a great price.

Best Buy is a company whose time passed a decade ago. I don't shop there, but I don't hate them.

I'm curious, but is there ANY company that the Consumerist likes? Or do they just hate that companies have to charge people money to provide them goods and services and sometimes make mistakes.

My only complain about my SuperTarget is they tend to hire retards to man the checkout lanes but even that is a point in their favor, somebody has to give jobs to retards.

Oh. In my mind "worst company" involves Monsanto levels of evil, not simply annoying-the-customer levels of evil

I can buy booze at Target, so, Best Buy wins, hands down.

well, i can't imagine anyone having any complaints about target.

and while i personally wouldn't shop at best buy, the complaints in the article are pretty much generic to the products being purchased---"computer has adware", "have to pay extra for extended warranty". yeah, that sums up the deal with computers nowadays. of course, if best buy really wanted to go above and beyond they would help consumers solve these problems, but we're not judging whether they go above and beyond here, just whether or not they're sociopathic.

this must be a first four game, but i assume bb will run away with it.

Best Buy shrink wraps used video games to make them look new before reselling them. They should win.

Best buy seems to have at least a 50% mark up. That and their annoying sales people make them the worst.

I don't hate Target, but I can certainly see they've got room to improve. I grocery shop at Trader Joe's first, then Target. The people at Trader Joe's have anti-depressant levels of happiness, the store is always well stocked, and if they are out of something they tell me when it's coming in, rather than "it might be on the truck next week".

Target.

Checkout lines.

A 60 year old has to have their drivers license, scanned into target's computer to buy a video game for the grandkids.

Kids clothing that will fall apart in about 7.2 hours

No employee to be found to get an item (stored in back), no one to unlock, no one to ask a question.
In general, no one to be found.

It's funny when people try to pull a PocketNinja and fail at it miserably.

Oh man, I think it comes down to Comcast and Ticketmaster in the final, with Ticketmaster running away with it. Comcast has terrible customer service, but at least they provide a service. Ticketmaster takes a service fee for tickets I am perfectly willing to pick up at the venue.

pseudologue: Oh man, I think it comes down to Comcast and Ticketmaster in the final, with Ticketmaster running away with it. Comcast has terrible customer service, but at least they provide a service. Ticketmaster takes a service fee for tickets I am perfectly willing to pick up at the venue.

Bank of America

I dunno, I went to Best Buy to attempt to buy a small form factor desktop PC the other day (don't ask). I had a choice between a Celeron and a P4.

I didn't know they even made Celerons anymore.

ChuDogg Smartest
Funniest
2012-03-13 12:38:49 PM


It's funny when people try to pull a PocketNinja and fail at it miserably.



True, but sadder still are the legion of acolytes who gush over every word of certain Farkers and kiss ass.

Did Best Buy ever resend its 15% restocking fee ? Will NEVER shop Best Buy, my very last purchase I got my credit card information stolen. I swear the guy behind the Geek Squad counter was the guy, should have known when he told me the credit card swipe thing wasn't working and he had to manually put the numbers in. Fortunately the credit card people were on top of it and canceled the card right away. They didn't recognize the purchases as mine.
When I went back to talk to the manager, he just blew me off with a sorry, nothing I can do.

calm like a bomb: I don't hate Target, but I can certainly see they've got room to improve. I grocery shop at Trader Joe's first, then Target. The people at Trader Joe's have anti-depressant levels of happiness, the store is always well stocked, and if they are out of something they tell me when it's coming in, rather than "it might be on the truck next week".

Target employees really don't know when things are coming in. They really don't tell them. Opening a truck is like getting a surprise. It really shouldn't be like that, but it isn't the employee being unhelpful.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: Some 'Splainin' To Do: Two words: monster cables. You can't go to Best Buy without them actively pushing over-priced crap.

I went recently for an extra HDMI cable. Best Buy had one for $30; I found the exact same cables online for $10.

The convenience of getting cables *RIGHT NOW* was not worth $20.

HDMI cables at Big Lots, $6-$12 depending on length, work just fine for the average guy.

Best buy, the store that will try to sell you scratch protection for a game that isn't on an optical disc and will mark up a cable by over 1000%.

I understand the need to make a profit but when your markup percentages hit 4 digits you have hit pure evil levels of greed.

netcentric: Target.

Checkout lines.

A 60 year old has to have their drivers license, scanned into target's computer to buy a video game for the grandkids.

Kids clothing that will fall apart in about 7.2 hours

No employee to be found to get an item (stored in back), no one to unlock, no one to ask a question.
In general, no one to be found.

Most people consider the clothes to be of a better quality than those available at Walmart. As far as not being able to find anyone on the sales floor, look for the little red call buttons, the store gets dinged each time one is hit and more for the longer it takes for someone to come clear it. If the store isn't getting the buttons the store team leader is at least getting chewed out weekly by the district team leader.

proteus_b: well, i can't imagine anyone having any complaints about target.

and while i personally wouldn't shop at best buy, the complaints in the article are pretty much generic to the products being purchased---"computer has adware", "have to pay extra for extended warranty". yeah, that sums up the deal with computers nowadays. of course, if best buy really wanted to go above and beyond they would help consumers solve these problems, but we're not judging whether they go above and beyond here, just whether or not they're sociopathic.

this must be a first four game, but i assume bb will run away with it.

The real problem is how many times you have to say no about the extended warranty, and when you *do* buy it, nothing is covered.

Any other year, this would be an easy "win" for Best Buy. Its gonna be closer now with Target's whole "We spy on you and know when your daughter is pregnant even if you don't" gig.


Still, Best Buy is worse, they are just THAT bad

Ooh, tough call. Target at least has pony merch and tasty granola. But Best Buy, despite others' horror stories, hasn't treated me too badly. I had an issue with my laptop, and customer service showed me the unplug-and-take-out-the-battery trick that fixed it, no fee.

Oh you guys will love this...got a Best Buy employee here in Canada to pick me up an HDMI cable on his employee discount. 80$ cable was mine for 10$. No markup there at all eh.

tacojohn: Target employees really don't know when things are coming in. They really don't tell them. Opening a truck is like getting a surprise. It really shouldn't be like that, but it isn't the employee being unhelpful.

That's pretty much every retail chain and not just Target. People expecting a front line grunt in such places to know things like that off the top of their head are asking for disappointment.

FuturePastNow: Target hires cuter, younger cashiers. Point: Target.

In general, this is very true at my local target. Not always, but often enough that I look forward to stocking up on kitty litter.

Hacker_X: Best buy, the store that will try to sell you scratch protection for a game that isn't on an optical disc and will mark up a cable by over 1000%.

I understand the need to make a profit but when your markup percentages hit 4 digits you have hit pure evil levels of greed.

That can't be true. We were greeted as liberators.

Red_Fox: Oh you guys will love this...got a Best Buy employee here in Canada to pick me up an HDMI cable on his employee discount. 80$ cable was mine for 10$. No markup there at all eh.

Having sadly dated someone who worked there, this!! It was ridiculous the amount of markup that he would get cables or desk chairs for! Games and movies and cd's don't have much of a markup, but everything else does.

As for GeekSquad, the first thing they do when they go to "fix" your computer (assuming you left it there) is to search for any and all porn/nekkid photos, etc, on there. Besides the fact that, yeah, they have no idea what they're doing most of the time.

Red_Fox: Oh you guys will love this...got a Best Buy employee here in Canada to pick me up an HDMI cable on his employee discount. 80$ cable was mine for 10$. No markup there at all eh.

No five-finger discount either, eh.

Protip: the only person who gets an 88% "Employee Discount" would very likely be on the board of directors for the chain you're visiting, and not wearing a blue polo shirt and yellow name tag answering customer questions in some store in Canada.

Yes, I'm aware you're making a point about how expensive things are at Best Buy. Pretty sure that even if it were "reasonably priced", your helpful employee-on-the-inside still would only have a 15-20% employee discount... at best.

I work for comcast currently, we always keep an eye on this every year, and we all know full well that we are almost garenteed a Top Spot, I don't see that changing this year either.

God help you if you have a problem bigger then "sending a signal" to your box.

I checked out the full brackets. How the fark do I choose the worst between Citibank and Wells Fargo or Bank of America and Chase? As far as I'm concerned, they're all evil shiatbags who made their executives filthy rich while they destroyed the economy. No other companies up there can begin to compete.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat
I went recently for an extra HDMI cable. Best Buy had one for $30; I found the exact same cables online for $10.

The convenience of getting cables *RIGHT NOW* was not worth $20.

I'm convinced that cables and converters are a racket for brick and mortar stores. They must figure that most customers want the cables now, when they buy their electronics, and don't know how badly they're getting hosed.

HDMI cable from Amazon recently - $6. Best buy - $30
Digital coaxial to RCA analog audio converter - $20 on Amazon, $50 from Best Buy (including bestbuy.com where I can tell by the pic that it's the exact same part as Amazon has)

The worst are the stores that always want every bit of personal info before they ring up your purchase.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand your zip code?" is always at the beginning of a routine that winds up with them asking my full name, home address, if I'd like to receive their catalog, whether I'd like to tack on a warranty for a $11.48 item, etc.

I've tried a few different things just to see how they react. First I just started answering with a calm, but firm "no" as soon as I hear the phrase zip code. The absolute look of bewilderment on most cashier's faces that a customer would have the audacity to simply want to PAY for their item and leave without submitting to an interview is unthinkable to them.

Then I just decided that as soon as they finish their verbal regurgitation that I simply respond with "What was the total again?", and fork over cash. You know......cash......money......the stuff we exchange for goods. I can hand you $11.50 in cash for an $11.48 item and get $0.02 back faster than it takes to swipe a card, punch in a pin and wait for the machine to process it and print out a receipt.

And since I'm on a rant anyway, what the fark is with these "frequent shopper cards" you have to sign up for to get the sale price at grocery stores and drug stores? They don't even ask for proof of information. My supermarket keychain card has me listed as General Dynamite and my address is the local sewage treatment facility. Boy I bet that really helps their demographics research to know that a "General Dynamite" buys a tube of toothpaste every so many weeks.

STFU and take my money in exchange for the product I've placed on the counter you minimum wage twat waffle.