Do You Want Best Buy Opening Your New Laptop? 543
An anonymous reader writes "I went to Best Buy the other day to get a new laptop for a client. I didn't realize till I got it home that they had broken the seal and opened the box. They put a sticker on the box that said, 'Inspected by Best Buy.' I found they had created the user profile, recovery disks, and installed a trial of Trend Antivirus. Seems to me this is more of a marketing agenda than inspection."
Why.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why.... (Score:5, Funny)
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Only buy business warranties. If you want to be treated like a consumer, then buy consumer models and consumer agreements. You will get what you paid for. But if you want to be respected, but "business class" machines and get business class agreements. It's that simple.
Re:Why.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed. Business class laptops are better built.
Okay. I am not employed by a computer manufacturer or distributor, so you know. I don't even really like the brand I'm about to talk about. I'll probably catch flak for using this particular brand as an example, but it's pretty common that people consider it when buying a PC.
Take for example the Dell Vostro, the "home user" aka consumer grade model. Then look at the Dell Latitude. They can be ordered with similar specs, but the Latitude costs a lot more for the same specs. Why? Well, besides the obvious "because a business will pay more" factor, they have sturdier mounting hardware that holds everything in place inside the chassis. That means when you carry it around every day, it won't fall apart as fast. It WILL fall apart eventually - that's always been my experience with laptops in general - but the Latitude will reliably outlast the consumer class Vostro by a great amount. Then again, you've still got a Dell.
When you call the company for support on an enterprise class laptop, you'll have a different number to call, with a different length queue, and different agents to talk to. Even the website you visit is different. They have to maintain a specific level of service or businesses wouldn't do business with them, so you get in on that if you spend enough money on the computer.
So you're absolutely right. It makes a difference.
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Re:Why.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps you should have asked for their macbook PRO line.
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That means when you carry it around every day, it won't fall apart as fast. It WILL fall apart eventually - that's always been my experience with laptops in general - but the Latitude will reliably outlast the consumer class Vostro by a great amount.
Yes, but with the savings from the Vostro you can buy a new mid-range laptop when the current one breaks for the same per-time costs rather than being stuck with a well-built but dated machine for long enough to justify it's increased purchase price. Given how fast computer hardware accelerates, it makes more sense to replace often rather than sinking lots of money into a fast-depreciating asset. In 2 years, a $1000 laptop will be outspecced by entry level models at $500, so buying one of those twice as oft
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But it can be mitigated by using external USB drives and the 'dd' command, which allows an entire file system to be stored as an image file and then restored or even mounted temporarily.
No need to use 'dd' as you can just take a tar-ball of one filesystem. That way you don't waste space on storing (and more importantly moving) the garbage in unallocated space. There's nothing special about any of it, except whatever the bootloader (ie. grub hopefully) requires. You can use some Live ISO (usually the same one you used to copy the data over) to chroot into the system once the data is copied over and tell grub to reinstall itself (update-grub). The only other tweak required is patching new UU
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I always go for the rust-proofing too. Those Coleco's will rust up on you.
how to use best buy warranties (Score:4, Interesting)
had a camera covered by Best Buy warranty, one of those point-and-clicks (Canon Powershot SD400 or something). After a while, something mechanical failed --either the lens barrel wouldn't extend/retract, or the lens cover wouldn't close up. Also the slider switch (to select Photo/Video/Playback) was loose. It was covered by the 4-year warranty, so I went to Best Buy and they took it and sent it back for repair.
After a month, repair dept sent it back to my local store, and I picked it up. It was exactly the same: mechanical failure, loose slider switch. I showed the staff at Best Buy, that it was malfunctioning and I hadn't even walked out of the store after picking up the camera. So they sent it back for repairs a second time.
After another month, repair dept sent it back again. Again it was exactly the same, so I told the staff, WTF?? THey said they'd check. After a while, someone called and said, the repair dept could tell that I had damaged the camera, so the repair wasn't covered. What!? I spent almost an hour on the phone with some Best Buy headquarters person, saying, Hey, I just sent it back a 2nd time after having gotten it back from your repair department, and the 1st time there was no mention of damage, so it must have been the repair department that damaged it! (I was confident that it had not been I who damaged it.) The guy said that just because they send it back the first time it doesn't mean that they guarantee that it's in good condition, so it was perfectly valid to say that the 2nd time it was in crappy condition because it was already that way when they sent it back the 1st time.
I said, fine, what about the slider switch that was loose? The guy said, it was already loose, as I had given in my statement the first time I sent it in. That's when it struck me: if I had *NOT* told them about the slider switch, then *THEY* would have been responsible for fixing it since it would seem that they had damaged it during the repair process.
It was maddening, but finally I found a reason to send it back (I remember now: the first time the lens had gotten stuck in the retracted position, and now I could say that it was stuck in the extended position) and it went back. Of course it came back unrepaired, and I ranted and raved at the local Best Buy, saying that I had been missing my camera for 3 months now (in fact, it was a big deal since we had a birth in the family and I had wanted to take pictures). The local staff quietly upgraded to --well, an equivalent camera, but of course the model number had advanced since the 3+ years since buying the malfunctioning camera.
Lesson: if there is more than one thing wrong with the camera, do NOT mention anything else wrong. Gives you more leverage when they try to send it back saying that repair is not covered, and you can say, "What about this here thing wrong? Did you cause this?"
Maddening.
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The real lesson here is that non-manufacturer extended warranties or a horrible, expensive scam.
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That's how to use a BestBuy warranty?!!!
Sounds more like why you should avoid BestBuy at all costs.
Re:how to use best buy warranties (Score:4, Funny)
A conversation between a friend and a Best Buy employee:
Friend: I need to return this.
CS Rep: What's wrong with it?
Friend: It doesn't work anymore.
CS Rep: It's out of warranty.
Friend: But I bought the extended warranty.
CS Rep: It looks like normal wear and tear. That's not covered.
Friend: Is accidental damage?
CS Rep: [checks warranty text] Ummm, yeah.
Friend: So if I leave here and trip in the parking lot and it shatters into a million pieces and I accidentally slip while getting up and kick the shit out of it, it'd be covered?
CS Rep: Ummmm.....
Friend: See where I'm going with this?
CS Rep: I'll start the replacement process.
Friend: Knew you would.
You just have to know how to ask properly.
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Lesson: if there is more than one thing wrong with the camera, do NOT mention anything else wrong. Gives you more leverage when they try to send it back saying that repair is not covered, and you can say, "What about this here thing wrong? Did you cause this?"
What the hell kind of lesson is that? So your idea is, 2 things break, you send it back and only mention 1 thing? Ok, so when you mention the first thing, they take your camera for a month, and even if they successfully fix it, the 2nd thing is still broken and you've got to send it back for another month. Sounds like a great plan.
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We CompUSA employees used to love the hell out of extended warranties back in the day, because they only cost us pennies on the dollar at cost, and pretty much nothing had to be verified as broken outside of the store. Since it was left to manager discretion whether or not to replace or repair the item, it was pretty much like getting to roll over your electronics every year or two. I bought a $300 17" LCD monitor when I started there and by the time they went out of business had rolled that over into a 2
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Re:Why.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Your first paragraph described why insurance policies must be a bad deal because they'e good for businesess.
Your second paragraph then described that they can still be a good deal if you happen to need an insurance policy?
Isn't that the business model of every frickin thing in the world? Somebody sells something at a profit because other people need it enough to satisfy that profit for the product they need?
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Because BB matched Apple's edu price, included a $100 GC, and gave me nearly $60 in Reward Zone rewards; and I got a brand new unopened MBP. Sure, I normally use Amazon or NewEgg but sometimes BB's prices are less or I'm buying a gift that would be a pain to return to Amazon if they already have/get at the same time the game or DVD.
Plus, it's fun to listen to the salespersons talk to customers. I never realized they needed to install anti-virus software on the Mac and optimize a OSX because there are two Ma
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In my experience, I love buying from BestBuy. I have seen situations where the computers are opened with the mentioned seals, at least in the cases I have gone through, it tends to happen with very cheap, horrible quality machines that are returned way too often. Don't work there to know for sure, but if I was manager I'd tell my employees to go through all of them and make sure they are in working order before they leave the store.
That aside, BestBuy has some darn good service (again, in my experience, the
Re:Why.... (Score:5, Funny)
The preceding post was brought to you courtesy of Best Buy.
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I do evening and weekend computer repair - and I have to admit from the stories I hear - definitely ask around before setting foot in a mom & pop shop. Worse than car mechanics, they will make up problems that don't exist just to take your money. Stuck CD-ROM drive? That's a bad motherboard, sorry! That's a real example. I guess they couldn't be bothered to keep a 20 cent paperclip on hand. I took one of their customers, and they told everyone they knew that went there - I'm a little more busy tha
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I don't know cars too well, but I always act extra dumb, as a way of tuning their talking down to the range of my crap filtering ability.
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Restocking fee (Score:3)
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try at best buy, buy at newegg.
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Actually, Best Buy has a lot of models that you can't find anywhere else. You may be able to order a similar model online, but you won't know if the keyboard is the same.
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Generally, that's because Best Buy's models are made specially for them and usually use CHEAPER parts then the main stream model... I would NEVER buy a Best Buy model... that's just asking for problems...
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Generally, that's because Best Buy's models are made specially for them and usually use CHEAPER parts then the main stream model... I would NEVER buy a Best Buy model... that's just asking for problems...
I doubt they use cheaper parts. They're just models specific to their store so they don't have to price match because no other store carries those models. Even if the only difference between their model and someone else's is a single letter.
Re:Restocking fee (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt they use cheaper parts. They're just models specific to their store so they don't have to price match because no other store carries those models. Even if the only difference between their model and someone else's is a single letter.
No, he's right. "Cheaper parts" makes it sound like they're buying them from the back room of some storefront in Hong Kong, and that's not the case. But Best Buy's models are designed to be cheaper.
Wal-Mart does the same thing. If you buy a Dickies jacket at a regular store, it might have a pocket on the inside front and inside left of the jacket. If you buy it at Wal-Mart, it might only have a pocket on the inside left, and the name of the product might be slightly different, but otherwise it looks the same and it will cost $10 less than anywhere else.
I bought a laptop from Best Buy and as near as I can tell the main difference is that most versions of that model come with a Core i5, while mine came with a Core i3. I made the judgment call that for a price that was roughly equivalent to what I paid for a Eee PC 901 with a single-core Atom processor a few years ago, Core i3 vs. Core i5 simply was not going to make any difference for what I actually use a laptop for.
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Actually, they make sure, you dont find the same model elsewhere, so that you cannot price match it.
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and you can use their "price match"
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If I shop on NewEgg or Amazon, unlike at a brick and mortar store, I don't get a chance to try a laptop's screen and keyboard before I buy it.
This is why Best Buy needs to change their name to Test Buy. Everyone knows that you go to Test Buy to test the model out before buying it from Newegg.
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Restocking fee? You need some stronger consumer laws. In the UK anything bought mail order, including from sites like Amazon, has a statutory 7 day 'cool-off' period where you can return it for a full refund. The only thing you lose is the cost of shipping either way, but since most places do free shipping on expensive items like laptops in practice you only end up paying the return postage costs.
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Ironically, your reason for shopping at Best Buy is the same reason I occasionally eat at Applebees. Every time they give out some award at work they throw in a $25 Applebees gift certificate.
Oh well - their burgers are better than fast food, even if the rest of the menu is pretty blah.
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Most computers these days don't come with installation discs - they come with restore disks (or more commonly now - a software program on the system to generate them). Unless you plan on buying an OS separately, there is no clean install available.
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And if you do buy a computer from Best Buy, why wouldn't you wipe it and start with a clean system as soon as you got it home/to the office?
The people buying the laptop at Best Buy in the first place, more often than not, are not savvy enough to do a full OS reinstall. There are obviously exceptions, but after selling computers for years at CompUSA, it's a pretty good assumption in my observations.
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No (Score:2)
How do you know it wasn't a return? ( tho to be fair, even sealed you still don't know 100%. i got burnt like that once, another company took a return, resealed it and sold it as new, even tho what was inside the box was a far older item, covered in years of dust. )
What does that do to the warranty? What else did they install that you don't want?
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In my experience, when you by a consumer laptop from Best Buy, you'll want to wipe the drive just to install Windows. Best to repartition it, actually -- whatever's on that "Recovery Partition," you don't want it coming back.
Just make sure, if it's an HP laptop, that you burn the "SWSetup" directory to a DVD before you start. It has all the hardware drivers in it, and I've seen cases where not all of those drivers are available from the Web site.
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Geez, wipe the darn thing and install Linux.
Sure, most of us around here can undo any damage in any number of ways, but the average citizen would have no clue they may have just got screwed.
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> Only after you've determined that all the components have working Linux drivers.
That's easy enough with a LiveCD or thumbdrive.
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You do that before you buy it.
I hear this complaint over and over, all it says is that the person was too stupid to check first.
Return it (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd take it back and tell them it isn't new, then demand a heavy discount or an unopened/unstickered laptop. Better yet, I'd go somewhere else.
While you're at it, take some time to wonder why you're buying a client's computer at Best Buy. Are you really doing your client a favour by getting them a machine with a return-to-depot-and-you-probably-won't-get-your-data-back warranty?
Re:Return it (Score:4, Interesting)
While you're at it, take some time to wonder why you're buying a client's computer at Best Buy. Are you really doing your client a favour by getting them a machine with a return-to-depot-and-you-probably-won't-get-your-data-back warranty?
I've done this. Its usually because they want a laptop by lunch time, and do not want to wait a week or even overnight for a special order job.
So you walk into BB and grab a unit that meets the specs, and just deal with the fact that its got windows 7 home premium, and you hope you aren't getting some goofy grey market product that you have to go to the japanese support site for drivers because according to the North America site that model doesn't exist...
I used to work for Geek Squad.. (Score:5, Informative)
I used to work for Best Buy Geek Squad (about 3 years ago, and for almost 5 years before that), starting when I was a sophomore in high school. And, I do hear this a lot, but not every "kid" that worked for a big box electronic store was terrible at their job. Geek Squad, yes, I know, I know. But that was a different time for me, so don't hate on it too much.
Anyway, I can personally tell you that we saw at least 1 DOA laptop for every 20 we sold (a certain brand or two I won't name that sold for cheap accounted for most of them). That being said, customers, especially the grumpy I'm-entitled-to-everything suburban kind, do not like getting home, opening their new laptop, and seeing either a blue screen or nothing at all. It pissed off the customer, and then usually the store ends up losing more money because of people who demand to be compensated for the time they spent bring the computer back to the store. Remember, computers don't have a high profit margin, so giving away anything more than 5-10% on a computer which usually end up in a loss for the store. You may have your qualms with this practice, but it keeps their average customer satisfaction up.
Now, in addition to that, I would also like to point out that when I was working for Geek Squad, we weren't installing trial versions of anything on there. In fact, back in the day, we used to do a free performance upgrade (registry fixes, bloatware startup-item removal, etc). I'm not sure why this particular part of the process has changed, but I'm sure there's a marketing reason for it.
Besides, the only people this would really irk is the extreme power user crowd (us), and most of us are wise enough (hopefully) to buy our electronics elsewhere, anyway.
Re:I used to work for Geek Squad.. (Score:4)
registry fixes....performance upgrades
Not to rain on your parade, and Im sure you were a good tech.
But precious few registry fixes are performance upgrades; if they were, Microsoft would have had that switch on by default (since registry switches only do something when the kernel reads them and sets a known option).
After years and years of screwing with the registry, xtweaks, etc, ive determined that generally, unless you have a specific goal (like "broken driver" or "virus in startup list" or "fix Office 2010 incompatibility"), you shouldnt be messing with the registry (and this includes registry cleaners). The people who designed the registry generally know a far sight more about it than the folks writing articles on 101registryhax.com.
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Great, more garbage (Score:2)
One thing I despise on regular windows laptops is all the crap they add on. Apple does this aspect correctly (and for the price one pays, it should).
And no, I don't want BB touching my laptop. The recovery disk is nice (but should be there from the manufacturer anyway, cheap bastards), but I wonder what other bloatware they installed?
The average buyer will probably see this as the same as the car prep done when buying a new car... but I want no part of it. In that case, it should work out just fine, geek
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geeks generally don't buy at BB unless they need a part fast.
Every time I've tried that they either didn't have the part I needed (9/10 times) or it was at least 3 times more expensive than the average online resource. So this geek doesn't buy there, period. If I need a part fast, Amazon/NewEgg will overnight it - never needed one faster than that. Best Buy is a waste of good retail space.
Uhhh (Score:5, Insightful)
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Taco leaves and the place goes to Hell. (Score:5, Funny)
This article is from 2009. Why is this now hitting the front page?
Taco leaves and the place goes to Hell.
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Taco leaves and the place goes to Hell.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
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Yeah, under his watch you only get Timothy posting 12 year old stories [slashdot.org] rather than 2.
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This article is from 2009. Why is this now hitting the front page?
Taco leaves and the place goes to Hell.
Or, Taco leaves because the place is going to Hell.
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This article is from 2009. Why is this now hitting the front page?
Taco leaves and the place goes to Hell.
Or, Taco leaves and decides to AC Troll.
Re:Taco leaves and the place goes to Hell. (Score:5, Funny)
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This article is from 2009. Why is this now hitting the front page?
Because it was posted by timothy.
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It was in Taco's backlog. Now that he left, someone's going thru it, finally. And they're at 2009 already, we'll soon start seeing current news!
(Jokes apart, Thanks for so many years Rob!)
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Damnit... I want to eat Tacos now...
they open everything (Score:5, Interesting)
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Do you have a prepared spiel that you give them ("Before I buy this, I'd like to verify that it all works correctly")?
That's pretty much exactly it. "OK, I like this one, but I'd like to open it and make sure everything's alright before I take it home." The salesman will figure out a way to make that happen if he wants his commission. Be firm, though. Sometimes they'll reply with something like, "you can tell it's in good shape because it's still sealed and the box looks fine." Stand your ground. You aren't asking for anything unreasonable, even if it's not very common. You wouldn't take delivery of a car without checking
Old News (Score:3)
Tell me when they AREN'T doing shady practices like this and then that will be news to me...
Ehhhh (Score:2)
I'm just going to format it and reinstall the OS anyway. OEM probably puts as much, if not more, junk on there than Best Buy.
For some time now (Score:5, Informative)
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Check your receipt (Score:2, Informative)
This was standard practice when I had the unfortunate experience of working for Geek Squad. They would have us do some 'pre-setup' units that would also have a 'pre-installed services' bundle attached at the register.
If it was the only unit left, and you didn't want this service, you could get them to remove the cost by complaining, but otherwise they'd get you a unit that wasn't 'pre-setup'.
Of course they're going to hand you the pre-setup one if you dont specify, and don't check...
truth (Score:2)
At least they're honest about opening it.
Unlike a certain game company that's fond of opening boxes and pilfering coupons...
Best Buy? (Score:5, Funny)
Do You Want Best Buy Opening Your New Laptop?
No, I don't. And I'd hope the security at the Apple Store is good enough to keep the Best Buy guys out!
Video cam manipulation (Score:2)
I read a story from a girl who took her laptop in to Best Buy for work (Geek Squad?) and found that the video cam was routing output to one of their addresses. I never use mine and it's something I would have never even considered checking.
What about the EULA? (Score:2)
Did they accept the EULA?
First and last mistake: (Score:2)
They tried this on me (Score:2)
They charge for this (Score:5, Interesting)
I work at Geek Squad.
Before I worked here, I abhorred the Geek Squad. But I needed a job, so I took this one. It's not really that bad.
Tons of people actually want this service. They pay $100 for us to turn on the computer for the first time, go through the Windows out-of-box experience, uninstall the Norton/McAfee 30-day trial, install 1-year (or more) Trend Micro/Kaspersky/Webroot of their choosing, burn recovery discs (since the OEMs don't include them anymore), and install all Windows updates.
All this takes about 2-3 hours and we use automated software to do this stuff.
We "preset" computers as well, meaning we take them out of the box, perform all of these services, and then rebox them up and badge them as "Set up by a Geek Squad Agent." We are only supposed to pre-set up a certain percentage of our stock, however, a lot of what we agents call "cowboy managers" (managers who break standard corporate operating procedure) make agents set up 50% or more of the stock, hoping that people will be more inclined to purchase setups if they are already performed and they're all that's left.
A lot of times at my store we give away the presets because the client doesn't want to pay and the preset stock is all that's left. It sounds to me like you got one of the preset units and they never charged you for it.
By the way, the only two types of tape available in the entire store are "Inspected by Best Buy" tape and "Geek Squad Priority" tape. The tape says "Inspected by Best Buy" because it indicates that Best Buy is the one who sealed the box last. It doesn't mean that the presetup process is an "inspection."
Given the high demand by some to buy their computers pre-set up, I don't think it's such a horrible service anymore. Some people are just stupid and want to turn on the computer for the first time and just click IE. The out of box experience, as silly as it sounds, can be confusing to many users, and they would rather walk out the door knowing that the antivirus is installed properly, even if that isn't hard to do at all.
Before you go hating on Best Buy, keep in mind that margins in PCs are extremely low. Best Buy _loses_ money if you buy a non-Apple computer without any Geek Squad services. This is called selling a "brick." The PC sales market is extremely cut-throat. Office Depot makes its money by hoping you never send in a rebate or send it in incorrectly. Best Buy makes its money by attaching services. Without this, the price of buying a computer from these stores would go up.
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My first and last store-bought PCs were two eMachine Celeron 400s in 1999. (They lasted about ten years after I passed them on and one still works, amazing for an eMachine!)
The only things I buy with an installed OS are notebooks, and I make recovery media for my collection then wipe 'em to install Linux.
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> The only things I buy with an installed OS are notebooks, and I make recovery media
> for my collection then wipe 'em to install Linux.
I bought a laptop for my wife this week (from Best Buy) -- and this is _exactly_ what I did (except I did leave a minimal Windows installation -- just in case).
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I haven't either, but every time I walk past the Apple store here it is slam full of people, plenty of whom walk out having bought something.
Apple makes a laptop, a netbook, a tablet, a couple of different music players, and a phone. That is it more or less, so I can't figure what those people are all in there doing. But never the less they are in there.
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They're worshiping at the altar, my friend, worshiping at the altar. Apple isn't a company, it's a religion. I swear to god, they could put out the iTurd, a steaming pile of shit on a plate, and the fanboys would be in there bragging how they bought two of them or how they'd heard rumors about the iTurd 2! Of course, what's really sad is that a few weeks later, Samsung would be releasing TurdX, and would have it banned in the EU because it stinks like shit, and thus violates an Apple design patent.
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If you KNOW what you are buying you can save money as an informed consumer.
I stick with Newegg since TD used to have a bad reputation and the Egg has excellent service. No objection to TD anymore, but Newegg has always been good to me.
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That is not what he is complaining about. He is complaining about gamestop's practice of opening new games and still selling them as new. They did this to the new Dues Ex to remove an onLive coupon, They also do it when they let their employees play the games and still sell them as new.
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How about a link from this March [consumerist.com] or even
end of June? [consumerist.com] Within a month and a half recent enough for you?
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is this news?
It's more history than news, considering this article is from 2009 . But lately that time scale seems par for the course. /. quality is declining.
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CmdrTaco is gone, we're doomed.
(scenes of chaos and mayhem ensue...)
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We need a replacement... maybe CmdrBurger or CmdrPizza.
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It's news because a LOT of people still don't know about BestBuy and the crap they pull on an unsuspecting public. I have had people at my office come to me AFTER BestBuy people hosed them and their machines over. There are many things I have heard which I am sure cannot be legal.
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[Rainier Wolfcastle mode
That's the joke.
[/Rainier Wolfcastle mode
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Yep. I went to BB with my dad to buy him a new PC. They explicitly offered this setup service, which we declined. I'm perfectly capable of doing this kind of stuff myself.
Like the AC says: Next time, pay attention to what you purchase.
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Yup that is exactly how they roll, we used to do that at Circuity City (worked so well for them). Basically it was 30 minutes of my time to open the box, remove adware, install AV, clean up msconfig and burn some recovery disks. We only charged around 50-60$ though for the service, which was mostly the AV and a bit on the top.
I still think its sleazy but for some users in the area (red neck town) it worked out very well. The recovery disks and AV kept them from coming back two months later for an anti-virus