!@#$%& Best Buy! And Ent. Weekly, Too!

[Frank]

@amaranta

If the PM’s place had a postal code, I’d so do that.

The Right Honourable Paul Martin
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
Canada
K1A 0A2

I couldn’t find find his home address.

[zweisamkeit]

@amaranta

If the PM’s place had a postal code, I’d so do that.

Anyway, I hate everywhere from grocery stores to boutiques asking for my address. I used to do the “Why do you need my address or phone number?” but it just goes back and forth, and I find most of the people who staff them are a little slow or else just don’t care. Most cashiers won’t even blink when you supply them with 24 Sussex Drive as your address. If they look a little quicker on the uptake, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue works, or 221B Baker Street, or 36 Craven Street, or 7 Eccles Street. And so on.

You make it sound like these cashiers dearly care about getting the correct address and that oh ho ho, you are being quite the dashing wit by giving them a false address they don’t seem to react to (and hence don’t recognise).

Ever think that they don’t give a shit? I’m doing a temporary retail job while at an internship, and I have to ask for a phone number. If they give it to me, fine. If they obviously make one up, fine. If they say no, fine (I just type in 555-555-5555). I’m not going to look :eek: :eek: :eek: shocked :eek: :eek: :eek: if someone says “867-5309”. Oh ho, you have most certainly outwitted me! :rolleyes:

[DooWahDiddy]

@interface2x

And nearly every time I go through one of those sales files for a client, you can guarantee that ZIP Code 12345 has a couple million in sales. We just delete it.

But… but… but what about all those people in Schenectady that really did buy something?!?

[Hampshire]

@zweisamkeit

You make it sound like these cashiers dearly care about getting the correct address and that oh ho ho, you are being quite the dashing wit by giving them a false address they don’t seem to react to (and hence don’t recognise).

Ever think that they don’t give a shit? I’m doing a temporary retail job while at an internship, and I have to ask for a phone number. If they give it to me, fine. If they obviously make one up, fine. If they say no, fine (I just type in 555-555-5555). I’m not going to look :eek: :eek: :eek: shocked :eek: :eek: :eek: if someone says “867-5309”. Oh ho, you have most certainly outwitted me! :rolleyes:

Same goes for the zip-code collecting. Give them 12345, 55555, 90210 or whatever you want. They don’t really care. The guys collecting the data probably count the number of hits they get on a dozen or so surrounding zip codes. Anything else is just discarded. If you seriously don’t think your throwing a monkey wrench into their studies by giving them a bogus zip think again.
It’s just basic data they use to know where there customer base is coming from for future expansion or knowing what areas to advertise more heavily in.

[Cluricaun]

I always thought that the zip code thing was to let them know where customers were coming from to get to that particular location. If they get a ton of hits on a certain code, it lets them know to consider opening a location within that particular area.

There is a cheapo haircut place around here that insists on you giving them your phone number, but I always give them the phone number to the McDonalds that I worked at when I was 15. I just like to think that they’re still getting phone calls for me there. Maybe I should stop in, check my messages.

[Amaranta]

@zweisamkeit

You make it sound like these cashiers dearly care about getting the correct address and that oh ho ho, you are being quite the dashing wit by giving them a false address they don’t seem to react to (and hence don’t recognise).

Ever think that they don’t give a shit? I’m doing a temporary retail job while at an internship, and I have to ask for a phone number. If they give it to me, fine. If they obviously make one up, fine. If they say no, fine (I just type in 555-555-5555). I’m not going to look :eek: :eek: :eek: shocked :eek: :eek: :eek: if someone says “867-5309”. Oh ho, you have most certainly outwitted me! :rolleyes:

I’m guessing you missed the “Or just don’t care” part. Hmm.

Frank: It appears Sussex Drive has postal codes on the even numbers up to 22. then it takes up again at 42. So you can’t mail anything crazy to the PM. You just have to break into his house. It’s apparently not that difficult.

[interface2x]

@DooWahDiddy

But… but… but what about all those people in Schenectady that really did buy something?!?

Lamentably, unless they’re within a few miles or a fifteen minute drive of a store location … they won’t receive the fantastic deals we present in our advertising. Or they can probably pick up a copy at the entrance of the store. Whichever.

@Cluricaun

I always thought that the zip code thing was to let them know where customers were coming from to get to that particular location. If they get a ton of hits on a certain code, it lets them know to consider opening a location within that particular area.

Yes and no. The real estate dept might use that information to investigate areas that could be a good match for retail locations. More often than not, the ZIP Code information (usually total sales, but occasionally just transactional counts) is aggregated and used to determine where the advertising should be focused.

[Trunk]

@interface2x

And nearly every time I go through one of those sales files for a client, you can guarantee that ZIP Code 12345 has a couple million in sales.

That makes me happy.

A collective, tacit, minor and pointless case of sticking-it-to-the-man.

[RogueRacer]

Our local Best Buy seems to be of the not too bad variety for the most part. The sales associates really don’t know much, but I wouldn’t trust them to do my product research for me anyway. They switched from asking for zip codes to phone numbers about a year ago. They get the same answer from me as before, “sorry, no.”

As to why it’s a big deal, simply put, it shouldn’t make a damn bit of difference in the sales transaction. Second, I really don’t like giving out my phone number where 10+ people can hear it. Every time some little hottie in the line in front of me gives out her number, I laugh to myself and wonder if I should call her. I don’t, obviously, but there are people out there who would. Last, it’s just an extra 5 seconds of my life (and the cashier’s and the people behind me in line) that we will never get back. Quit wasting my fucking time.

[Guinastasia]

Kmart used to collect zips so they’d know where to send their circulars. When I worked there, if people didn’t want to give me their’s, I just punched in my own. No big deal.

The thing was, though, we had to ask because before each sale, you had to punch it into the computer, or you couldn’t ring anything up.

It was a huge pain in the ass.

[ExTank]

@duffer

Finally, I’d be interested in knowing exactly how you got charged for this whole shitstorm. It would really help in letting the rest of us know what to look for in this instance. It’s good to be able to get charges and fees reversed along with refunds, but they take time. What about if you need to throw $20 of gas in your car to get to work today? The refund and reversal of fees ain’t gonna help if you have to pay the clerk at that moment. Something like this is an annoyance to many, but for a few people I can see this being a major life-fucking incident.

Being ignorant of how a retail cash register works, I can only assume that they were able to get my address through one of two ways:

1. They were able to get it at the point of sale somehow off of my debit card, or;

2. They still had it on file from the free extended limited warranty I received from BB when I purchased a computer and accessories (with the same debit card) over a year before. See Hampshire’s post, above.

@duffer

Also, do you have a Visa debit card? Debit or credit doesn’t matter when that logo is on the card. The dispute/fraud policy applies in either instance. That’s one of the greatest things about Visa getting into the debit industy.

Which is why BoA gave me ZERO trouble removing the NSF fee, once EW refunded the $39.95 subscription fee. So my account is squared up once again.

I’m mostly pissed at how many times I’ve had to tell these people that I don’t want their !@#$%& magazine.

[Feydeau]

@TommyTutone

If you really want to fuck with them, and I do, tell them 8124G.

I was going to ask about this here, but I decided to start a new thread so as not to hijack.

[gigi]

Our Kmart asks for biling ZIP code on the credit card swiper thingie. I thought maybe it was a doublecheck on the card as security, but I put in 99999 and it still processed fine.

Thanks for the heads upo about this magazine business; I haven’t seen it around here but I am paranoid enough after this that I will back out of any transaction that involves the question.

[Critical_Mass]

@Guinastasia

Kmart used to collect zips so they’d know where to send their circulars. When I worked there, if people didn’t want to give me their’s, I just punched in my own. No big deal.

The thing was, though, we had to ask because before each sale, you had to punch it into the computer, or you couldn’t ring anything up.

It was a huge pain in the ass.

Fair enough - you feed the computer something just to complete the transaction.

I’m curious to know about the store’s official policy and procedure when a customer declined to provide their zip code or phone number. If you couldn’t proceed without entering something, were you directed by management to enter a bogus one? Were you supposed to call a supervisor? Were you supposed to turn the customer away?

[ethanwinfield]

I know it’s the pit, but you Dopers are the best!

Mr. EthanWinfield brought home an issue of EW yesterday. George Clooney is on the cover. I looked at the address label and it is addressed to me (current name) at my parents’ address. I thought maybe someone ordered it for me as a Christmas gift (how nice).

Then I read this thread. I haven’t shopped at Best Buy in nearly 5 years so I knew it couldn’t be them. There’s only one company that has my information the way it is printed on this label. Fuck. It is my credit card company. They have my credit card information.

I called EW. It was strange. I was told, “[Name of company] ordered it for you. It looks like they got a deal for - Wow! - 5 cents an issue! And they paid for an entire year. It doesn’t have automatic renewal attached to it, so it will end at the end of Jan. '07 if you want to continue receiving it.”

Damn. Here I was expecting (hoping?) for a fight! “No thanks. Please cancel.”

“Okay. You will probably get 2 or 3 more issues and then it will stop. Thanks for calling.”

Damn. Can’t you be a little annoying so I can use hyperbole in the pit?

[interface2x]

@Trunk

That makes me happy.

A collective, tacit, minor and pointless case of sticking-it-to-the-man.

But … but … I’m not the man. Why do you have to stick it to me?

And FWIW, Kmart is one of the companies I’ve done this for. I don’t do it for them currently, but I do know the people who do. You can feel free to stick it to a couple of them.