Best Buy Gives Me Premier Black Reward Zone Membership - Then Takes it Away
At 5:19 PM yesterday, I received an email from Best Buy Reward Zone telling me that I am now a membership at their highest level, Premier Black.
Then about 10 hours later I get this email completely revoking it:
In case you can't see the picture, here's the text:
The Best Buy® Reward Zone® program is always looking at ways to make our program even better for our members. Today, you may have inadvertently and inaccurately received the below message during an initial email testing process. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. You continue to maintain your current membership status. If you are eligible for the Reward Zone program Premier Black test that will run in a limited number of select markets, we will notify you by a separate email. If you have any questions about this or the Reward Zone program, please visit www.MyRewardZone.com or contact our Customer Service Center at 1-888-237-8289. Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Best Buy Reward Zone program team
This brings up an interesting point: Why does anybody still buy from Best Buy? Their prices are ridiculous.
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I recently purchased a $1800 LCD at Best Buy today. They upgraded me twice (for free, without me griping because of their boo boos) so payed just $1400. I think people's experience with BB can be rather hit 'n' miss. But like most retailers it has more to do with that store's staff and management.
@the geek man what a rejection just call um up and tell um you want it back lol you never know you could get lucky
but i don't know maybe if you show them this and how many readers you get maybe then you may be able to work something out free pc parts supposedly because who can turn those down hehe 
hope all goes well for you in the future
This is the sort of thing that make me cringe when I see the words "Best Buy"… I don't buy anything from them unless it's both of trivial cost and is on sale, a rather rare combination.
Of course, I'm in Southern California, so I've lots of options. Those in more rural areas may be stuck with dealing with these folks.
I agree that they have some highly overpriced items, however, my son has purchased a number of items at a great price during a promotional sale and purchased the Best Buy service plan that offers replacement of the item if it breaks….which usually I am not a fan of, however:
1) He bought the zune when it first came out (on sale for $40 off) with the service plan. 4 months later, the battery isn't working as well as originally so he took it in (no box, no cords, just the zune complete with a few scratches and a small dent)-and walked out with a brand new one. 6 months after that, they came out with a larger zune. He walked in with his zune (again, nothing else) and they gave him the store credit of the full amount of the zune so he could purchase the new zune. No questions asked.
2) His 360 overheated on two occasions - the store did a direct exchange (we have the service plan) and didn't question anything or try to sell us the $50 cooling fan for it. We were in and out of the store with a new one within 15 minutes.
3) We purchased something online with them (no service plan). When I wanted to return it very shortly thereafter, the store said to contact the online customer service. 3 months and many frustrating calls later-i still had the item in hand and plenty of different Reference Numbers from customer service, all with promises of taking care of this. I went back to the store, explained what was happening and they returned the product for full price. And somehow the online store managed to send a gift card for the value of the product about 30 days later. The store told me they had nothing to do with the online store and as far as they knew, the case was closed on this (and the gift card was now truly a GIFT card).
Moral of the story: The store itself isn't that great however, they are somewhat more accomodating than other stores.
@Kaylen
I'll agree, they sometimes do have really great deals.
I just get annoyed that they are the only store in the area I can go to in a pinch… and they mark up those types of items almost double what I can find them online for.
@the geek
and they mark up those types of items almost double what I can find them online for.
all retail stores do this. when you order online you are buying from a completely different type of store. online retailers are able to offer lower prices because they do not have the overhead (ie employee compensation, benefits, retail space rent, utilities, and liabilities associated with a traditional retail establishment) in online stores are great when you do your homework or know what you want, but that is a really small slice of customers. also accessories and high margin items like services are priced high to offset the many products (computers, any apple product, tvs, video game consoles) which are sold at cost or just above cost. most people dont know that if a laptop at best buy is on sale or clearance the store is actually LOOSING money unless you attach accessories or services to the ticket. that is why an hdmi cable that cost the store 4$ sells for 89$. It is to add profit to the television sale that on its own earned your store 10-20$ tops. if the tv is on clearance the store may actually lose 20-30% of the money spent to put a slow moving or end-of-life product on the shelf.
also you are paying for instant gratificiation. if you need a usb cable at 730 the night before your paper is due because your dog chewed it good luck with your online retailer. when you buy from an online retailer you are many times dealing with an uunknown entitiy. that may be fine for you but most people like to buy from a retailer they know and have experience with. also you must wait for the online merchant to actually ship you your goods. most people do not want to wait a week for their new toy to arrive,.
finally, i can tell you from experience, most people have no clue what they want, need, or can afford when they are considering an electronic purchase. electronics have an extremely short life span, the industry is filled with jargon, and most people are not interested in spending the time necessary to inform themselves of what is currently available and cutting edge.
ps good luck making a quick return if you god forbid accidentally order the wrong product.
sorry to preach asermon, but retailers like best buy operate in a cutthroat and unstable marketplace. retailers have to constantly manage an environment that is fluid, rapidly deprecating, and expensive to markett and warehouse. also they provide employment and economic stimulation to local communities all over the world. nobody forces you to buy anything you believe is over-priced, and if you examine most brick and mortar retailers all price the same way. ALL accessories are viewed as pure profit to a retailer. Apple only pays 4-8$ to a retailer that sells a 200$ ipod. It is understood that the retailer will make their profit by selling accessories at high margins. That is why no printer comes with a USB cable no tv comes with hdmi cable and no camera comes with a memory card. once a person has purchased a low margin big ticket item it will not work without accessories, and after spending a thousand dollars on a tv most people are willing to do what it takes to get it working right now. I know I wouldnt want to wait a week to watch my new huge hd tv while i waited on an online retailer to send me an hdmi cable.
i have best buy, circuit city, hh greg (or what ever they're called now), radio shack, and walmart within a 3 mile radius. i go to circuit city the most, mainly because they have really good looking chicks working there. not really, yeah, well, kinda…
circuit city seems to be the least sucky of them, plus they've let me return software. they don't try to sell me junk at the check out like best buy does in their corral.
I've been boycotting Best Buy for quite some time for what Geek Squad did to my mother's computer that I built her. There's only one instance when I go there and that's when they have Verbatim DVD+R media on sale (50 pack spindle for $12 or whatever).
I cruise through to play with their toys. I have bought a few things that have been mis-priced. One thing that comes to mind was a 1TB HDD when they first came out for the price of a 250GB (ie really cheap!). Goofballs…
BB is one of the better stores here in Southern AZ. (Granted, our only other choices for electronics is a Radio Shack, Sears and maybe one or two other places that aren't really all that great.
Geek Squad is a joke in my eyes, but they took a headache off my hands with an elderly lady that thought spam in her email meant she had been hacked…now Geek Squad fixes her computer for her- thankfully.
About five or six years ago I needed a new PCM/CIA modem card for my laptop. Best Buy was close at hand so I went there. When I entered the store I was directed to a kiosk in the vacinity of such items. There, a surly teenager with a ring in each ear and one eyebrow took me over a few aisles and said "If we have any, they will be back there", gesturing down a very long and dark aisle. Then he walked away. Fifteen minutes later, I finally found the only one they had on a bottom shelf nearly all the way back. The price was about what I expected to pay. That was the first and last time I ever entered a Best Buy store. I doubt I will ever do so again. Good luck to you on achieving Premier Black status.
i have to say it:
The best buys…are ALWAYS at Fry's! Guaranteed!
Best Buy near me is losing its touch. all they sell are TVs and high-priced games and movies. and their PC game selection gets smaller and smaller, leaving me to support the evil acts of piracy. the staff at the nearby Best Buy are not very helpful at all. i think the reason those employees work there are for the discounts on goods there. as far as customer service goes, i took a local Fry's newspaper ad to see if they could price match it, cause Fry's had run out of the item i wanted. they refused to honor it telling me it was not a valid advertisement. same day, different store and they wouldn't price match? felt real down about that cause i really wanted that ATI Video Card…
also a thought: maybe BB could not find a personal Concierge for you after all. that or the conierge quit.
Bestbuy sux and is indeed way over priced and over rated..
And geek squad is equally as bad if not worse.