Then complain to managment. The cashiers do not set the policy-they only get fired when they don’t follow it. And don’t say, “Well, they should tell managment.” Trust me, that doesn’t work. They don’t listen to us.
They WILL listen to customers.
Ya right. It is not like we here a the straight dope are a secret cabal that are the only people that know this sort of information gathering pisses people off. This ranting about infromation gathering is known to everybody in the retail business. The manager knows it pisses people off already. It is up to people that don’t like it to not put up with it gracefully. That doesn’t mean you need to be abusive but we don’t have to be meek sheep and make other people’s lives easier at our expense.
Darn it, it’s always one wee something that sends 'em back to their husbands. 
But the skeeters are eating me alive and the bank won’t extend my overdraft!
Just had a lovely example of this with my business. Customer asked me to build her a system, even posted the specs to the dope to let the dopers nitpick it. Gave her the specs in generic terms 256M PCI-E video, 2G Ram, etc. No brands, no nothing along with a note that when she decided to go ahead I would do a final check and see if I could get her either the same thing for less or better for the same price and would advise her of those options before ordering parts. She promptly gave her list to another shop who knocked off $20 and she bought it from them.
Can’t wait till she wants help or repairs to that machine and wonders why the other shop won’t come out and fix it at her house like I do :rolleyes:
Well, fine. Just don’t start bitching that employees at these stores aren’t pleasant, then. What HONESTLY do you think bitching at the help is going to accomplish?
And people wonder why customer service is so shitty at these places.
Customer service at electronics stores has been crappy long before they started asking for this information.
Not giving your personal infromation accomplishes a lot. If when they ask for it people don’t give it then the whole program of gathering it becomes a waste of time and it will be dropped. It worked with Radio shack they don’t ask for this infromation anymore.
As I tried to say before there is no need to be an asshole to the person at the register but that does not mean we have to give the information.
It’s cool that we get the “other side” from those Dopers who have worked retail. Still, I actually stopped shopping at Radio Shack because I got tired of them asking my addy every time I went there. I avoid Linens & Things and Microcenter for the same reason.
I am not a shopper that responds well to direct marketing. Best Buy occasionally sends a flyer for a sale, but I never make it there. When I need a big purchase, I’m more likely to get it online cheaper. I’m usually in those stores for small things. I think I would be okay with being asked all that stuff if I was buying a plasma screen TV or something, but when I’m buying a USB card reader or some coaxial cable, it’s annoying.
I suppose I’m an unusual shopper. I rarely go to stores, and when I do, I know what I want. I like to be greeted, asked if I need help (usually “no thanks” or “where do you keep x?”) and be left the hell alone. I don’t complain about bad service, I just leave and shop elsewhere - and tell my friends about the shitty service. All of the strategies of talking to the manager, writing letters to corporate, browbeating clerks - it’s just not me. I don’t have the time or interest to do these things.
Luckily Microcenter always asks if I reside at my old address. Why, of course I do!
I read this article when it first came out, but I’d forgotten about it. I can’t put my finger on it, or articulate exactly why this is, but this kind of thing just sets every one of my teeth on edge. I avoid BB anyway, but this makes me want to find a way to EXTRA-avoid these stores. It’s the kind of thing would cause me to flip off the stores as I go past, as a completely futile and ineffective gesture of hate.
I don’t think anybody here is advocating being rude and patronizing to cashiers because of store policy. And there is nothing rude or patronizing about refusing to give your phone number to a store that tries to extort it out of you before letting you walk away with what you just paid for.
No doubt it’s hard on cashiers to have to upsell at that register, but it’s not the customer’s duty to make the cashier feel better about it.
For the record, yes, I have been a cashier.
I get the impression that the ‘customer service’ to pamper the hell out of the ‘Jills’ could very easily be used to trick them into spending more buying things that they really don’t need, such as if they go in to buy a computer that will be used for surfing the web and checking email and are sold a 3,000$ gaming machine.
I have had BB employees try to do that to me when I went in to buy one specific hardware item. I went to buy a hard drive; they suggested I replace the entire computer. They almost refused to sell it to me unless I agreed to pay for one of their people to install it. I was treated like an idiot.
If a ‘Jill’ is going to be treated like someone who knows nothing about computers/electronics, and a Jill will be identified by not knowing the entire layout of the store and the fact that she has breasts, this is going to lead to some ugly confrontations when I go to BB.
What’s a Barry?
I don’t see how you ‘require certain info’ if something’s being purchased on a credit/debit card. This is not like the old days when you ran the card through an imprint machine and made a carbon copy of it to submit the purchase later, or you had to phone in the card number to make sure that the customer wasn’t over limit and that the card was good. You’re running the card through an electronic card reader that verifies the card as valid, not stolen, and not over limit in order to authorize the purchase. That does not entitle you to my phone number, and if you think it does, you’re fooling yourself.
And that’s exactly what that nifty little doo-dad card reader thing tells you. You don’t need my phone number and home address to be sure you’re going to be paid. The card company pays you, and then I pay them or it’s automatically deducted from my bank account.
Best Buy will never be as bad as the local Radio Shack was where I grew up. They demanded that you give them your ENTIRE address, and phone number, even if it was unlisted, with every sale - including a cash sale of a $1 battery - or else they would let you walk out of the store and lose the sale. And they just didn’t care, either. If you were so unfortunate as to use a credit card, they would photocopy your credit card and drivers license, front and back, before allowing you to use it. :eek:
Not only that, this store had this gimmick - they gave dollar-based change in ONLY Susan B. Anthony dollars and $2 bills. After I got to know a woman there, she told me that the gimmick had been dreamed up by their manager - so every time you opened your purse and saw the grim, stoic face of Susan looking at you like a disapproving Russian ikon, you would think of “Radio Shack”.
I witnessed a customer walk out, leaving a hundred dollars of stuff on the counter, because he demanded $1 bills as change, not “those fucking coins” - and they refused to give him bills. And the store just didn’t care.
I can’t put my finger on it, or articulate exactly why this is, but this kind of thing just sets every one of my teeth on edge.
Oh, I can put my finger on it. They are engaging in naked stereotyping. They might as well call “Jill” Mrs. Stepford. It is insulting and patronizing. For all farkwad BB salesperson knows, the lady is an EE.
I went in and had them put in a nice stereo for my car. The guy actually seemed surprised that a mid 40’s white guy was interested in getting a decent system. They could have probably sold me an amp and a sub if he hadn’t tried to pigeonhole me. As it is, I got those items on the internet and saved a bundle, so nah.
What I really hate is when you finally get your item, there aren’t enough checkers open to begin with and a long line and they still hold up the whole show with that warranty/address song and dance.
This is why I usually shop at Fry’s. Fast no-nonsense checkout. Oh and Fry’s is like ten times as fun and has mucho stuff BB wouldn’t bother to stock.
How exactly does that little gadget I run the card through verify it’s not a stolen card or a fabrcated card with someone elses number on it? I’ve worked retail for a few years and when someone steals a card they usually go straight out to make major purchases {the pros anyway} before the stolen card report can catch it. Some people don’t even notice a missing card for days. That means when the charges are disputed the store gets a charge back. I’ve personally stopped several of these by spotting the warning signs and am glad to say I got one perp arrested. Believe me, swiping the card is not enough and neither is comparing the signitures.
It’s the non legit purchases we are trying to avoid and that doo dad doesn’t protect my store or you.You may be sure thats your card and you intend to pay but we’re not. If you’ve had a stack of bad charges from a stolen card you know what a major hassle it is to get your account credited. Imagine how we feel at the store when a month or so after a major purchase the CC company wants their money back on a bogus charge and our exspensive merchandise is still gone.
Now, if the CC company promises to pay even the bad charges then we;d be happy not to inconvience anyone. I don’t believe they do. Certain things are required of us to prevent fraud and that means management must have a way to insure that cashiers are doing their job. Any suggestions?
BTW I’ve had shoppers from parts of Europe that tell me it’s almost unheard of to make a CC purchase there without presenting ID. In some cases customers will report a cashier for not being cautious enough. I feel that way when a cashier ignores “ask for ID” on the back of my card and just charges me. Any Dopers from there have any insight.
Wow and wow again. Thats messed up. That sounds like a store manager who is a real jerk. I can’t imagine how a store like that would stay open but the manger is probably district VP by now.
The store closed, but not due to the reasons I gave - from the general and slow slip of the neighbourhood into serious decay. I think the first warning sign was when the 7-11 next door turned into a pawnshop, and the local, quaint babershop on the other side turned into a sex and porn emporium…
While I lived in the area, the store had a lot of business, and they would happily turn away customers that didn’t submit to their purchase demands. One reason was the next closest Radio Shack, or anything like it, was nearly a 20 to 30-minute drive away.
Honestly, I understand people not wanting to give too much personal info for a sale.
I talked to one customer who had a nifty idea for that. When he gave out info he would change one minor thing such as his middle initial or a minor spelling change in his last name or street address. Then he would note the change on his reciept.
If he got junk mail with that specific change he would call the store a read them the riot act about selling his info. One store actually sent him a check. It should be totally illegal to sell my name and address and merchandising info to other companies. Now, when my local grocer or store keeps track of my purchases and sends me coupons for merchandise I buy often I don’t mind. I also think the store should ask permission before they put you on any mailer.
Credit Card fraud is really a very serious issue for stores and customers. Most customers now thank me for asking for ID. I’m always glad and polite when I’m asked for mine and often annoyed when they don’t ask when I have "ask for ID "clearly written on my card. I do wonder how management knows that an employee is taking the right precautions. That’s why we do what we do at my store. It’s to make sure the employee is not hurrying through the sale and not doing their job. Bad charges hurt a small private business more than the big guys.
Keep in mind that the bottom line is what matters. That’s why return policies are changing. Loss from bad charges and checks have to be made up somehow. That means service agreements and other crap like that.
That would be incredibly short sighted, since the idea is to turn Jill into a repeat shopper who wants to make her consumer electronics purchases at Best Buy instead of Target where she is to pick up her laundry detergent anyway. If she comes home with more than she needs and her husband/kids/friends tell her so - she won’t come back.
Its stereotyping, but it has been effective - after all stereotypes are useful. And if “Jill” turns out to be an EE who doesn’t need help locating the exact switch she needs for her home network, she can always say no thank you.
I figured something like that. That’s how bad policies get to stay in place. It’s too inconvienient to avoid them. Our own neighborhood is becoming more and more latino. Fortunatly we have a music store and can adapt to that change. We now sell Bajo Sexto’s and Accordians. Our latino customers are great except for the language barrier can also be overcome.
As a young guy, I don’t get the “you’re a complete idiot” routine, though I have gotten the “you’re a shoplifter” routine. I bought my latest video card at Best Buy because that was the only place I could find one with enough horsepower without driving to El Paso. Luckily, it was almost hassle-free and no one tried to insist that I’d need them to install it and if they had I probably would’ve walked. I wouldn’t trust the “Geek Squad” (idiots as far as I can tell) with my computer as far as I could throw it, which, being a mid-size tower, probably wouldn’t be very far.
The store layout in Las Cruces sucks too. Too crowded.
I asked what certifications they had and the answer: NONE. :eek:
Fortuanately, I built my first computer a long time ago so I don’t really need them. 