NEWS

Best Buy Will Create 1000 British Jobs

Rob Crossley's picture

By Rob Crossley

March 11, 2009

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Despite Best Buy‭ ‬delaying the arrival of its first‭ ‬UK store until‭ ‬2010,‭ ‬the retail giant boasts that‭ ‬1,000‭ ‬new jobs will be created when the business finally crosses the‭ ‬Atlantic.

The business‭ – ‬a joint venture between Best Buy and the Carphone Warehouse‭ – ‬was scheduled to open its first UK store this year,‭ ‬yet the group has since delayed plans until‭ ‬2010‭ ‬as it seeks cheaper property leases.‭

Andrew Harrison,‭ ‬the Carphone Warehouse’s chief executive,‭ ‬was pleased to confirm that some‭ ‬1,000‭ ‬new‭ ‬UK jobs will arrive with the Best Buy Stores.‭ ‬Carphone hopes to see‭ ‬200‭ ‬new Best Buy sites by‭ ‬2013.

Yet the arrival of Best Buy has coincided with challenging times for the‭ ‬Carphone‭ ‬Warehouse.‭ ‬The firm recently‭ ‬said it‭ ‬will cut‭ ‬450‭ ‬office jobs‭ ‬in the‭ ‬UK and‭ ‬reduce its product catalogue in order to meet‭ ‬economic challenges.‭ ‬The group is set to close‭ ‬30‭ ‬stores.‭

Harrison said:‭ “‬Rather than wait for things to get worse,‭ ‬we are looking at what we can do to make ourselves leaner.‭”

Last year,‭ ‬the Carphone Warehouse sold‭ ‬50‭ ‬percent of its retail business to Best Buy for some‭ ‬£1.1‭ ‬billion.

Source:‭ ‬PC Retail

Anonymous's picture

Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson has set up a dishonorable corporate business regardless of where the place opens up to do business! That is for sure!

Over 40,000 complaints have been filed against Best Buy with the Better Business Bureau in the last 48 months.

Five states in America have Attorney Generals who are seeking legal action against Best Buy right now for things like:

* Refusal to honor insurance policies

* Refusal to honor warranties

* False advertising

* Bait-n-switch advertising

* False pricing

* Fraudulent kiosks

* Claiming that they don't work on commission or receive sales bonuses when the managers actually do.

The Attorney General of Connecticut actually has an email address you can contact for more information about Best Buy's selfish business tactics. Here is what the Better Business Bureau said:

For more information, you may contact the Connecticut Attorney General's office at www.ct.gov

My friends and I have personally had trouble with Best Buy store 415 with a Customer Relations Manager named Brian Sawa and a General Manager named Dave Bertram. Their refusal to honor insurance and warranties was horrible. And the fact that they virtually never match prices or honor the supposed "sale" prices is a shame. Those two men literally take it personally and claim to be "the boss of 'their' store." They harass people and ask them to leave the store for literally no reason, and then claim Brad Anderson’s “corporate” office in Minnesota allows them to do whatever they want.

I once heard Customer Relations Manager Brian Sawa say "I get to decide who shops in 'my' store, and I want you out." I watched a customer come into the store, grab some ink pens and go to the checkout line; she was in the store less than three minutes and didn't bother anyone or cause any trouble. But this Brian S. Customer Relations Manager walked up to her in line and made her leave! Brian S of store 415 claimed "I get to do whatever I want and Best Buy Corporate will always believe me rather than some consumer they don't even know." When the customer asked to speak to his boss, Brian S. said "I am the highest ranking person in the store." Obviously, Brian S. was telling a 100% lie.

Okay, I could go on and on about Best Buy, but I'm not going to bother telling anymore. I just recommend you stay away from Best Buy, since my friends and I (and 40,000 others who filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau) have had such a horrible time with Best Buy.

All I can say is, don't bother listening to Best Buy about "insurance," because they leave out the details and deliberately tell lies about what the policies cover and how situations will be handled. The receipts and fine print make it clear that virtually everything is left up to the managers discretion. I can tell you for sure that at Port Huron, Michigan store 415, Brian Sawa will claim to be the highest ranking manager in the store (even though he isn't) and then he will not allow the warranties/insurance/exchanges to be fulfilled appropriately the way they were originally promised when he was actually there listening to what was being said.

For example, even though you spend $400 on insurance for a Plasma HDTV set, they will not replace the TV just because a "few dozen" pixels burn out. Best Buy's Geek Squad technician claims that "there are over a million pixels on the screen, so we can't replace a $7,000 HDTV just because a few dozen pixels burn out." Well, that isn't what the people told my friend when he was buying that HDTV. He specifically asked that question because he noticed how annoying and visible it was in the store when a Plasma HDTV had just one pixel that was burn out.

I've talked with friends who have had similar problems with projection TV sets. The Sony 60" Projection that had purple spots on the screen, and the JVC 61" Projection that has green/yellow spots on the screen. Best Buy claims they will fix stuff like that when they sell you the insurance. But once you have a problem like that, the Geek Squad comes to your house and tells you they won't replace the TV. Even though an HDTV has about 30% of the screen covered in greenish tint that is very visible on white and blue backgrounds, Best Buy says "We won't replace that, because it's mostly around the outer perimeter, and most of the action on the screen takes place in the middle."

That's why the Attorney General's of five American states are going after Best Buy. I certainly hope that the United Kingdom has an organization for consumers to file complaints, because tens-of-thousands of them will need it each year when dealing with Best Buy and the poor customer service that "corporate" allows.

Trust me, the U.K. will not be missing anything from Best Buy.