Frank’s adventures in retail

[fbhjr]

My DVD player broke last week. It was a special one that let me play DVD’s from other countries. Having lots of free time, I watched a lot of movies.
I was sad it broke and wanted a new one. But, wanted to make sure I could still play all my DVD’s.
Amazon has the special ones. But, it would take all week to get it.
So, I checked the Best Buy web site. They had the same ones Amazon did, in stock, one town over. But, their description didn’t say anything about regions. However, their customer reviews said that with a special code it could do it.
I grabbed a DVD from England, and drove over.
I walked to the “home theater” department.
There was no one there.
I don’t mean no customers. I mean no one. I could see sales folks in other departments, but not a single one in this department that takes up almost 1/4 of the whole store.
They had the player I wanted. But, like the web listing, the box said nothing about the regions.
Over near the entrance a young man was working setting up a display stand. He came through the department, went to the desk and started taking out screws for the display.
“Has anyone helped you?” he asked me.
“No,” I said.
“Have you been waiting long?”
“Yes.”
“Let me put these screws in and if no one has helped you yet, I’ll come back and help.”
“OK.”
He went over to the entrance and continued his assembly work.
No one else came into the department.
“If you have a question, I can answer while putting this together,” he called from the entrance.
I went over.
“I need a new DVD player,” I said. “I want one that plays DVDs from other countries. The on line review of this one over here says it does it, but I can’t find anything on the box that confirms that.”
He looked around.
“We’re not allowed to sell region free DVD players,” he said. “So, I can’t tell you that one will do it, or that the two Toshiba ones in the same row will do it too. I can’t even tell you that I know the code given in the on line customer reviews works just fine.”
“I brought a sample region 2 disk with me,” I said. “Can I try it?”
“No,” he said. “Only corporate approved disks are allowed in the machines. But, if you get it home and it doesn’t work, bring it back and get your money back.”
“There wouldn’t be any problem because I was trying to put in that code you can’t tell me about?”
“You bring it back to me, I’ll give you your money back. All you have to say is you were unsatisfied with the product. That’s all I need to know. If you look under the display where you are, you’ll see one a customer brought back last week that is $20 off because the box is open. I’ve tested it myself, it works fine.”
When I bought it, they gave me another on line customer review that goes right to the main office.
I rated the store pretty low. I shouldn’t have had to wait anywhere near that long.
I rated my sales guy very high. He was very useful.
(The code worked just fine…)

Then, I went over to the Home Despot to get a new bookshelf for the bedroom. As I wheeled my cart down the aisle, a man in the company shirt asked me if I needed any help.
“Which aisle has the bookcases?” I asked.
“I’ll take you there,” he said.
“I don’t want to take you away from what you were doing,” I said. “Just tell me which aisle.”
“Nonsense,” he said. “Helping customers is what I was doing and showing you where the bookcases are is doing that. You aren’t taking me away from anything.”
Best Buy needs folks like that.

So, the bed room has a new bookcase.


It caused me more pain then I can remember for any other piece of furniture in the house. While trying to put the bottom shelf in and trying to hold all 4 verticals up, one fell and landed right across my foot.
Then, when putting one one of the other shelves, the plastic retainer slipped down against my arm, then pinched closed on that.
But, I wanted something I can pile a lot of stuff on as the bedroom is the last room to be cleaned out of junk this year. And, this will hold a lot more than the fiber board bookcases. So, hopefully it’s worth it.

This evening my wife bought me a balloon to cheer me up.


She took me to the balloon store and said I could get any one I wanted. So, I picked the one that seemed to take the most helium. And, I’m pretty sure it could be used as a floatation device if needed.
It did cheer me up and lot and it was very nice of her to get it for me.

Comments

[saeble.livejournal.com]

that balloon would be great for an ENTP girlfriend you want to marry. Put it over her head and inflate.

"There... I think thats a pretty good indication of me wanting to marry you."

:D

In fact... if you could secure a copy of it for me, that would be grand.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I can get one. I'll leave the helium to you.

[saeble.livejournal.com]

nah, its kewl, decant for yours if you wish, roll* it, or magic tape it to a bit of card and post it to :

Craeg Bennett
24 Seventh Street
Gawler 5118

I'll send you a care package in return.

*foil balloons hate folds, they tend to set into creases which promote leaks.

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

Ugh, was that the BestBuy in the city of W?

Didn't you have pretty good service before? It's a shame you got dissed like that. Too bad for Bestbuy.

I think there is something more sinister going on under the surface here, he said some things are not allowed...Yet, these are things that would determine the sale of the product they are promoting...Very strange and ass-backwards.

Brownie Points for Home Despot Guy. That is a far cry from the 'service' I've gotten before. They've just told me the aisle or pointed....Or worse, had no idea what I was talking about

Maybe what we need to do is when we need to go to those stores, have us both go to the other store, so I'll go to Bestbuy and you'll get great service at home despot; You go to Home despot and I'll get good service at Bestbuy
...Or something like that...I'm sorta confused now, nevermind...

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

"I think there is something more sinister going on under the surface here, he said some things are not allowed...Yet, these are things that would determine the sale of the product they are promoting...Very strange and ass-backwards."

Technically you're not allowed to over ride the "zone" your DVD player is set for, so I understand why he couldn't confirm that. The DVD industry is very big on keeping people to their own zones to prevent piracy. It's part of the very fine print in the user agreements.

[pallid-regina.livejournal.com]

I'm sad the service was so bad, but the guy sounds GREAT. I like that he wasn't afraid to say he couldn't SAY what he was saying, then say it anyway.

You know what I mean.

That balloon is fun.

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

My mom's DVD player broke last week too - I may have to check out these DVD players that will accept codes - she is very fond of some british shows that I haven't seen available in the US.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

This is the one I got:
Philips - DVD Player with HD Upconversion
Model: DVP5990/37

Thank you !

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

I will check it out!