I went to best buy today in so cal, because I needed to get my wife a new laptop. I went to ask about the n800 or N810 and the sales people have no idea what that is...

Anyway, like I said, that was not the reason I went to Best Buy... I went to buy a laptop and they had the unit I wanted to purchase. However, I HAD TO BUY an "optimized" one that the geek squad, in all it's infinite wisdom, went in and removed all the trialware stuff. It added 30 dollars to my purchase and that is fine, but I would rather not have to pay it.
I sort of laughed at the Best Buy folk and said the only way to make the laptop faster was to remove windows vista... But this is ridiculous for best buy to have to charge for that.
That being said, I was hoping for a better experience. The staff was scarce, noone came by to ask me if I needed help, nor did they seem to want to help me. I already knew what I wanted, and it took another 30 minutes to just get someone to find if they had anything in stock. When they did find out they had it in stock, it took another 10 minutes to get someone to open the cage and another 10 minutes for checkout. Of course they wanted me to buy the extended warranty and I had to decline 3 times.
Oh well... I guess that is what I have to put up with to purchase electronics at a brick and mortar store. I know the staff doesn't make much money and I can't blame them for not really being too enthusiastic about their work.

Oh well... just had to rant.

Moral of the story, don't buy from the big box stores.

NEVER buy a laptop from a big box retailer. Oh and the next time they try to sell you a warranty, ask them how much they SPIFF from each warranty sold and tell them to give you that amount for wasting your time Retail addons are all about "Go For No" I work in retail but I dont try and add-on and thats why im always getting yelled at

Sales drones have quotas for extended warranties... it's not their fault they're trying to push it, they'd like to retain their employment (it's sad tho, I feel bad for em despite literally saying '#*$# off, I'll walk if you keep that up').

Never ever buy a computer from a big box. Go local Ma & Pa or straight from the manufacturer.

Well, buying keeps the economy rollling.
I normally go in knowing exactly what i want. It is a shames that there aren't a larger population of intelligent sales people,, i used to go into the stores to learn about products, now i go in to get hassled about warranties. Wish there were more forum-like people as staffers, they would yell at me for asking the same questions as the previous shopper and tell me to google it.

i bought a laptop from bestbuy and got the 3 year warranty .. i had to take my laptop back because my keyboard wasnt working (even though i could have fixed it) ... well after 2 weeks with out it i got there so called new keyboard (which was obviously used ) and the Esc button was stuck down more broken than when i brought it in .. so they sent it back and i told them i wanted a NEW effin KEYBOARD they even wrote it on the work sheet they send with the laptop back to Tard Squad ... another 2 weeks went buy .. got back a brand new USED!! keyboard ..... i will never buy from them again ..

You forgot to mention how the Geek Squad scanned your computer for any entertaining media files or personal files, to be copied onto their servers for playing with later. They've been caught doing this a few times in different locations.

I'm working as a seasonal employee at one of those chains, and spiffs / commissions / bonuses are pretty much a thing of the past. They were only a few dollars in most cases anyhow, so the only guys making noticeable amounts of money are the ones in computer sales. The only reason most retail employees push the warranties, etc. is because they don't want management to ride them for low sales numbers.

The margins on computers and most consumer electronics are so narrow that add-ons or massive volume are the only way that anyone can make money in retail. Buying a laptop on its own isn't going to make anyone much more money than the sale of a long Belkin printer cable.

The IT systems at some of those big box stores use for inventory and registers are older than most of the floor staff, so I'm not surprised it took that long to find out what's in stock and complete the transaction.

My Best Buy purchase experiences have been fine. I like the simplicity of just going and buying off the shelf. And I've found their prices competative, especially if you wait for their sales prices. Their staff has seemed just fine to me also- reasonably helpful given the complexity of the subject and not at all pushy. I'd usually rather go there than deal with on line purchasing hassles like getting charged too much for shipping. Worrying about when UPS is going to arrive. Wondering what to do if my product prematurely fails.

my 2 cents
Neil

Buy from [enter name of big box retailer here] if you work there. Otherwise do your research and surf the web.