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The Almighty Buck Technology

Best Buy's New Beta Program Promises Concierge Tech Support For $200 a Year (theverge.com) 29

Posted by BeauHD from the have-you-tried-turning-it-off-and-on-again dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Best Buy is piloting a new paid membership service that would provide exclusive perks, including concierge-style tech support and exclusive pricing. The subscription service, which will cost $200 a year or $180 if you have a Best Buy credit card, bears similarities with Amazon's Prime subscription as Best Buy looks to expand its services outside the sale of consumer tech products. The new membership, called Best Buy Beta, grants members access to a slew of benefits, including free standard shipping, unlimited Geek Squad technical support, exclusive member pricing, and a 60-day extended return window. Best Buy confirmed that Beta members will also have 24/7 access to a concierge team, which they can contact by phone, email, chat, or through the Best Buy mobile app. The retailer is piloting the new Beta membership in three states: Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma, with plans to expand the annual subscription to select stores in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Tennessee sometime this month.
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Best Buy's New Beta Program Promises Concierge Tech Support For $200 a Year More

Best Buy's New Beta Program Promises Concierge Tech Support For $200 a Year

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  • That I had a Personal Shopper/Concierge appointed to me (from Best Buy)

    I never used it, and I don't think I've even been in a BB in like 7+ years.

    • I was on the best buy site only to compare prices. Oddly enough, they now sell refurbished products and it's from random 3rd party businesses. They seem like a desperate and failing company pulling out all the stops and gimmicks.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Luthair ( 847766 )
        Huh? The market place stuff is no different than what Amazon and Walmart are doing as well. IMO its a bad decision all around to allow third parties to trade no your name, from reviews we can tell that many people struggle to differentiate between items from third party sellers and from the store.
        • Incorrect. Amazon will assure a certain level of customer service. With Best Buy you are on your own.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          Best Buy doesn't even have a marketplace, at least not in the US. Maybe in Canada. Not sure what that guy is talking about. In the US refurbs are all from Geek Squad, which they own.

  • Unlimited geek squad? (Score:3, Funny)

    by grasshoppa ( 657393 ) on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @06:10PM (#61248952) Homepage

    That's rude. I've never done anything so hateful to them.

  • 2-year prediction (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rogoshen1 ( 2922505 ) on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @06:17PM (#61248976)

    "Amazon (AMZN) has completed its acquisition of failing retailer 'Best Buy (BBY). Despite multiple initiatives undertaken to save the flailing company, the retailer has been unable to turn a profit in recent years. Amazon plans to maintain some staff, and continue with the companies primary purpose; to serve as a show room for Amazon's higher priced items, such as TV's."

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Yup. Back in the late '90s, I worked in computer tech support (ACPC) for one of the major electronics retailers. Our tech support was as good as or better than all of the computer makers themselves (Packard Bell, Compaq, Toshiba, etc.). People could buy a new computer with confidence knowing that we'd help them set it up for free.

      And then corporate decided that we weren't worth the cost, so they shut down the computer side of tech support and moved the electronics side back to headquarters on the east coast

    • Re:2-year prediction (Score:5, Interesting)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot@worf.ERDOSnet minus math_god> on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @07:09PM (#61249054)

      Actually, they've turned around - they had a bit of touch and go just after the financial crisis through 2012 or so, but after that, they've actually grown and hung around.

      You have to remmber they're not a store, they're a real estate company - they rent out space by the square foot. Manufacturers pay Best Buy to provide space for their products, and if Best Buy sells it, Best Buy gets a small cut. But manufacturers are responsible for providing Best Buy with demo displays and product. If a product sells out, the manufacturer is responsible for providing Best Buy with product - either directly to store, or to a distribution center.

      They've embraced showrooming - the manufacturers are the real customers renting square feet to display their wares. It's how Best Buy can offer ridiculous price matching - they don't care - they make a cut if they sell it to you, the manufacturer is responsible for the price in the end.

      Next time you go in - look at the empty shelves. No retailer in their right mind will have valuable real estate sitting empty like that because that's space that can't sell anything. But since Best Buy is contractually obligated to rent space to a manufacturer if that manufacturer has no product to sell, the space remains empty - if Best Buy attempted to fill it they would be in breach.

      they still do have some in-house products, but you'll find it's relatively sparse, while they have an entire aisle with the exact same HDMI cable on pegs - again, the manufacturer rented the whole aisle out.

      Amazon could still buy them out, but they've already become Amazon's showroom. They realized that in 2012 and that's when they pivoted. it's why things like TV displays have so much more room - the big names (Sony, Samsung, LG, etc) have bought floor demo space, while the rest have to deal with the "standard shelf display" where their product is merely put on a table with boxes underneath.

      These and other services like geek squad are really complimentary - Bset Buy knows Amazon can't easily make money in this area so they provide the value-add for enhanced profits. We've all got that relative who always screws up their computer on a weekly basis, so $200 to foist them onto Geek Squad isn't exactly a bad deal after reinstalling all the software on their computer on a monthly basis. And yes, I've know people who having been on site on call tech support for their family, fixing computers on a weekend, who have simply paid for one of these services just to get their weekends back.

      • It's how Best Buy can offer ridiculous price matching - they don't care - they make a cut if they sell it to you, the manufacturer is responsible for the price in the end.

        Look carefully at the machines being price matched. The standard HP system has 8GB or 16GB of memory, but BestBuys version of that HP has 12GB, a size that nobody else sells.

      • Except the people who work under the Geek Squad brand still typically don't know their tail from a hole in the ground, mainly because they're being paid only a pittance above minimum wage.

    • "Amazon (AMZN) has completed its acquisition of failing retailer 'Best Buy (BBY). Despite multiple initiatives undertaken to save the flailing company, the retailer has been unable to turn a profit in recent years.

      Best Buy have been profitable for many many years. I don't see that changing within the next 2 years.

      https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/BBY/best-buy/gross-profit
      http://investors.bestbuy.com/investor-relations/news-and-events/financial-releases/default.aspx

      Best Buy annual gross profit for 2021 was $10.573 Billion, a 5.22% increase from 2020.
      Best Buy annual gross profit for 2020 was $10.048 Billion, a 0.87% increase from 2019.
      Best Buy annual gross profit for 2019 was $9.961 Billion, a 0.86% increase fr

  • This is sure to be knowledgeable, high-quality support. Oh, it's Geek Squad.

  • If they want to attract more customers, and they have those services available,
    offer them to everyone, at no charge. If they don't bill it, they will come.

    Charging an upfront $200/yr is just insulting. How many TVs a year do people buy
    that require setup and support? Plus, those customers will end up getting those
    $200 Monster cables per the installer's recommendation and insistence anyway.

  • When you're in the Geek Squad do you list your occupation as Geek?

  • For values of tech support. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Revek ( 133289 ) on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @07:57PM (#61249146)
    Had a friend/coworker who always sang the praises of best buy. His wife got mad because they told her the data was unrecoverable on a three year old laptop. My friend knew I was a sysadmin but he never wanted my help. His wife calls me out of the blue one day and asks if she can drop off a tub of electronics. She wanted me to go through it and decide what can be repaired. She points out the laptop that has the kids pictures on it and ask me if I can save them. There was around eight grand worth of electronics. Tablets, laptops and phones. I fixed everything except one old phone that needed a screen. I didn't even reload the laptop she wanted the pictures from. Its crazy but best buy just kept telling my friend that the device was bad and he would buy something new. So best buy doesn't try real hard to fix things if they can convince you to buy a new one. He was a understandable pissed at me since every time he wanted something new she would call me and ask if he needed it.

  • I have spoken to them, they are not geeks!

    They could not code their way out of a paper bag.

    • "They could not code their way out of a paper bag."

      To be fair, not all IT involves coding. And their role is tech support for home electronics, not software development.

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @10:20PM (#61249482)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • If I'm being cynical, I bet they'll recoup their costs on selling these customers crap that they don't need. Someone willing to pay $200/yr for Geek Squad is going to be much more receptive to buying an entire new device when a simple repair would do, or to buying extras like Monster HDMI cables and extended warranties.

  • Beta? As in second or not ready for production? And it's supposed to compete with "Prime", first or of highest quality?
  • Not only shameless, but blatant! This is a "report"? From an "anonymous reader"? There's nothing about this item that isn't a commercial, pure and simple. And I can pretty well guess who the anonymous reader is.

  • I tried Costco concierge. They were ignorant and useless.

    I also tried Dell concierge about my $3k laptop, they were very helpful. The Dell one costs a lot.

    I would not expect much from BB.

  • It looks like a "Elite Plus Plus" level for their current loyalty programs:
    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/m... [bestbuy.com]

    That currently offers 45-days returns, free same day delivery, and dedicated customer service to people who shop over a limit ($3500 / year).

    For a reference, their profit margin is about 20%: https://ycharts.com/companies/... [ycharts.com] . So that would make the old program cost approximately $700 / year for the user. But that math would be incorrect. They are not known to make profit from the actual products, b

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