Best Buy Reviews in Raleigh-Durham, NC Area

Pros

Fun and friendly atmosphere, alot of good people to work with

Cons

tough to move up, lack of raises

Advice to Senior Management

make managers help customers, also need to get away from training customers to want everything as cheap as they can get it.

Pros

Pay is usually above standard for normal retail. Benefits are pretty strong as well. Can be a really fun job at times.

Cons

Seems to be a disconnect between corporate and the districts. Most of the districts manage in their own way instead of instituting a lot of the great things trickling down from corporate.

Advice to Senior Management

Truly care about your people. Don't just show "face". Make it more then retail.

Pros

Plenty of freedom, and the discount/accomodations are solid

Cons

Quarterly reviews lack substance and direction...Ive worked in a few stores and the current one lacks the leadership to provide clear and direct coaching, only provides statements of the obvious with no effort to help. This is the only time ive run into this with BBY as my older stores were more excited to help coach you and get you to where you want to go.

Advice to Senior Management

Watch you GM's and AM's more closely...When district and territory level staff are walking stores they should only talk to line level w/o the store managers there, and more surprise visits...

Pros

you get a very nice employee discount
the job is not hard or tiring

Cons

best buy believes its sales people (the ones actually getting customers to buy the expensive stuff that fuels profits for the whole company) deserved any credit or compensation when they do a good job. the company would rather take the sale guty's commission and give it to his manager who standsx or sits behind him so that he can hassled him about the service plan he didn't attach. after all he gets a bonus if i sell enough service plans. this creates a situation where the only motivation i have to push high margin goods is to keep my boss from reminding me that his bonus dedpends on me selling high margin attachments for him.

the problem with this is that the managers don't sell they babysit and tell you what you sholuld have recommend so he can get his bonus. other than him pushing me to earn his bonus for him i make the same pay regardless whether i move 200 or 20000$ worth of goods out the door. in fact i make 10 bucks an hour whether i sell or i fake sell.

this working arrangement also leads the managers to insist on pushing employees to do things that our training, company policy, an\d care for our customers would advise against. if you didn't want your boss to give you a hard time or schedule poorly thjen it was strogly encouraged you say whatever. m is needed to sell that service plan afterr all i wouldn't want my boss not to get his bonus right?

Advice to Senior Management

You seriously need to reexamine the structure of the sales floor. i am not motivated to sell your high profit products to earn my boss a large bonus while he watches and tells me to not take no for an answer. perhaps if you gave employees who actually do the selling an incentive to give excellent service your associates would be more motivated to learn product knowledge and go the distance to make sure your customers are leaving happy and with products and accessories they actually will know will meet their needs. instead, i hear about how great my maager gers payed while i'm talking people into buying thousands of dollars worth of goods and he watches. its not a motivating work relationshikp. customers notice as well.

the most common comment i would hear (at least several times a week:
customer: i want to make sure you get credit for your hard work and recommendation on this laptop you helped me choose. you really know your stuff!

me: it doesn't matter mam i'm not on commission

customer: you should be....

this exchange 3 or \4 times a week can realy kill an employee's moral.

when you get pushed to sell service plans so your boss will get thousands of dollars and you get nothing really make you feel like your an important and valued member of the store sales operation

Pros

Great environment if you're into electronics. Best Buy is one of the biggest movers in the electronics retail market. The work environment varies from store to store, but customer service is key (at least at my store).

Cons

Some problems with consistency of goals and other company policies, but this is mainly on a store level. As of now, I would not say the majority of the problems I have are directly related to any major policy at best buy, more so I would call into account the attitudes of the management of the store. I suppose this could be expected, but those who engage in amicable activities with managers outside of work tend to get the most favor.

Advice to Senior Management

As long as stock is kept plentiful and consistent around the holiday season, I have very few complaints regarding Senior Management (provided the question is referencing corporate).

Pros

The discounts are nice, leadership is different depending on the person but most of the managers are young and still have attitudes that they take out on employee's alot of the time.

Cons

They don't let you advance. When first getting hired with Best Buy I applied for computers or Geek Squad, I didn't get hired for either one though I finally did get into computers but they will not let me into Geek Squad even though I'm doing the work of an agent already. Basically I'm doing double the work for the same horrible pay that allows me to live paycheck to paycheck

Advice to Senior Management

Don't assume that just because you hire young kids that they to do not have any bills to pay.