I will now walk around Best Buy stores looking for people with their hands cupped over TV screens, and I will know who the real Gizmodo readers are.
Ironically, one could use this same test to discover the certifiably insane.
In my experience, stores have the cheapo LCD TVs set to sub-optimal settings. I usually find I can make the image look much better by messing with the brightness, contrast and sharpness levels. It pisses off the employees if they see you doing it, though. my sense is that they're trying to sell the higher priced models.
It would seem that this practice is counterintuitive. I would think that the store wants to sell all HDTVs. And unless you could compare the TVs to a dark lit room, everything is seen in the same, (excuse the pun) "light."
On a different note, I personally wouldn't buy a TV that was showing anything by Tyler Perry, regardless of the (really excuse this pun) "black levels."
Note: I'm not at all racist, the joke just works on so many levels.
@jmeltzer:
"I would think that the store wants to sell all HDTVs"
That right there is the point. In a brightly lit room, all HDTVs look good. In a room with proper lighting people will be more likely to see that the cheap TVs are crap and completely avoid them. There is actually more motivation to sell the cheaper TVs than the more expensive TVs because the mark up is so low on TVs compared to other things that they can sell. Typically, TVs only have a mark up of about 10%. If someone buys a $1200 TV and leaves with only that TV, the store only makes $120 profit. Meanwhile, if someone instead uses that same amount of money to buy $1000 TV, $120 worth of HDMI cables, and an $80 service plan, the store is going to make closer to $250 profit.
While there are people that are going to buy the expensive TV and all of the accessories to go along with it, these are typically going to either be people who
A) have no budget and will buy things based on the price, not the picture
or
B) have already done the research and are not going to be motivated by the displays anyways.
For the most part, the displays are only necessary for those who are on a budget; getting those people to spend more of their budget on accessories rather than TVs means more profit for the store.
i bring in a large blanket and drape it over myself, the set, and the best buy rep. i do this with each set before making a decision. i also bring gum in case the best buy rep likes to invade personal space.
@Nick: is a peelin': I just walk through the store and turn off all of the lights, and then when they try to arrest me I slip off in the darkness and go to another store to actually buy the TV.
@Nick: is a peelin': I bring a large blanket with me when I go to furniture stores. That way, when I rearrange all the cushions to make a SUPER-awesome fort, I can have a roof to hide under. You'd think the sales reps would have a problem with this, but most of the time, they actually help out.
When I questioned one of them on this, he said "hey, whatever get's the couch sold."
He sold a couch that day.
@TheCrudMan: got a 32" in my bedroom right now. looks fantastic. i would compare it to my roommate's 40" sammy, but best buy calibrated his and it looks like crap. ZING!
@TheCrudMan: My 26" Vizio suits my college lifestyle well. Will I consider the brand as the centerpiece to a home entertainment system? Hell no. But for applications where I'll need a TV and picture doesn't matter, the price/quality ratio reigns supreme and Vizio is arguably the best at that.
@nukee:
In an article about how big boxers use lighting to sell you TVs with bad blacks I don't think my assertion that Vizio TVs bad picture quality should rule them out as a primary TV is a particularly bad one...in the context of a comment on an article about "inferior HDTV" and black levels, contrast, etc. If it was an article on finding the cheapest HDTV i'd stfu...but seriously it's about how budget TVs aren't as good, and how they TRICK you into buying them..if you know you're getting crap and that's all you need (which is fine, i might be buying one soon) than that's fine, but that's not what the post is about. End of run-on rant.
@TheCrudMan: that is where you are wrong. Vizios are no longer the cheapest TV out there nor do they have the worst picture quality. i don't just describe my Vizio as adequate, but more so as "good quality." i was of the same opinion as you, my friend, but i have since changed my tune.
@Nick: I love Nick: I purchased a SOYO and that is by far the WORST POS on the market. But then again, you get what you pay for right?! 37" 1080i for $350 w/ free shipping (referb) and it requires a proper spanking twice a day to get the bottom half of the TV to turn back on. I wanted to send it in (RMA) but I would have to pay shipping which cost more that I paid for the TV. :shrug: By name brand, they work to protect their name. SoYo does NOT care in the slightest!!
@Whi7eRa66iT: my refurb Vizio actually broke and they sent me another one once they got mine back. all free. the other option is to charge me the price i paid and they would send me another TV and i can send the broken one back at my leisure. and then when they get the broken one back they refund the card. Vizio really impressed me there.
@Nick: I love Nick: Until they fix the multitude of problems that causes us to have no less than 5 Vizios waiting to be sent back to the manufacturer for repairs at any given time I would not refer to them as "good quality," no matter how much they improve their shitty picture quality.
@Nick: I love Nick: Because when the TV breaks within the first 90 days, people bring them back to the store to either get an instant exchange or to trade it in for a different TV.
I don't know how many times I have suggested to someone to get another brand over a Vizio due to the reliability issues and they get the Vizio instead only to come back a week or two later to exchange it for another TV after it breaks.
I dont trust anyone who works on commission to help me back a decision based on my needs; it will bebased on their commission, so I do the research myself. For those who can not/will not do the research, simply do what all my friends and family does, and call me to do it for them. ALL my recent purhcases have been on line. For price, selection, and even customer service, the e stores are beating out brick and morter every day. Let the silly fools who must have it in their hands THAT day pay the extra money and deal with the salesmen.
@Curves: I do not blame you, but I do personally take slight offense to not trusting the sales person. I worked Electronics retail for 2.5 years roughly 1 year of that(in the middle) was commissioned. I was always more concerned about my customers needs/happiness than I was my paycheck. That is why I was voluntarily demoted down to a non-commissioned sales position. I did not like the pressure of having to make my paycheck if it would require me to lie cheat and steal. I know I was probably the exception to that rule, but still not ALL sales people are out to screw you over.
@Brandon Smith: No personal offense is intended toward you or any other commissioned sales people, I was one myself at one time, but the fact is, that you are in the extreme minority of salesmen if you want the customer to be happy more than you want the commission. Giving your complete trust to a salesman is like trusting a lawyer or a televangelist, which is just nuts (no offense intended to the lawyer/televangelists who read Giz).
@Curves: Actually, I cared more as a commissioned sales person than as an hourly one.
I worked for Best Buy during the transition from commissioned to hourly, and not only did the knowledge evaporate from the store, but so did the will to actually care about the customer.
As for people complaining above about a salesperson not wanting to show a customer certain other brands. I can understand it. I had a lot of people who came in demanding to see an RCA because they only bought American Made TVs because they wanted quality etc. I, as an hourly person, had no problem telling them that they were smoking crack.
I had one lady who wrote my name down on the sales slip. A year later when she had problems w/ the TV and it was just out of warranty, she insisted that I sold her the TV. I responded perfectly honestly, "Ma'am, if you bought an RCA TV it was because you demanded it, not because I wanted to sell it to you."
She dropped the TV off outside the store w/ a sign that said "Shit from Best Buy!" on it. After she left I wheeled it into the store so Security could watch it. She didn't come back, so I had it repaired and used it for 2 years in my college dorm room.
Call it anecdotal, but I knew which floor models didn't hold up to customer use/abuse. I knew which models had remotes that broke easily. I knew which models had a higher than average percentage of faulty power supplies.
I actually cared about this information, because I didn't want to sell people crap. But as an hourly sales person? If you were even remotely a jerk to me I'd ignore you.
eh, i'm sketchy on the notion of accepting advice from anyone who's on commission. i'd rather do my own research, thankyouverymuch. if i'm going to plunk down some serious change for a new toy and risk disappointment, i'd rather blame myself than feel like a sucker for trusting someone who was collecting a percentage.
@dave the wet sprocket: You're assuming that the person on commission is out to gouge you utterly.
You seem to have missed the part about keeping employees for a long time. If the customer walks away happy with their purchase, they will be back. If the customer feels gouged, then they won't.
Real commission sales people tend to understand that creating not only store loyalty, but salesperson loyalty is key to their paycheck.
If you return the item because you feel ripped off, then they lose that money out of their next paycheck.
So when does Walmart start producing Wall-E's and the Axiom space ship to allow the citizens of Earth to drift in space while their planet is cleaned up?
@frigg: Considering WAL*MART's push towards manufacturers to save costs to keep prices low in their stores, no doubt any WALL-E's produced by WAL*MART won't last nearly as long as PIXAR's version did.
@Kaiser-Machead: A perfect opportunity for Buy 'n Large to grow their market share. Yeah, yeah, no one wants to pay the "Buy 'n Large tax," but mark my words, when people realize that Buy 'n Large's WALL-E's last longer and are more fun to use, it won't only be yuppies and college students buying them.
If I were Best Buy competing against this aggressive move by Wal Mart, I'd go Apple-Store-high-end: I pretty much guarantee that you won't see, say, Macbook Pros or Alienware gaming laptops at Wal Mart, or even the new LED TV's. For a drool display, Best Buy should have one of the new Sony OLEDS as a display, and purchasing option, in each major market store.
Wal Mart's pluses is their huge customer base and their heavy discounting. Their weak spot is that, for unknowledgable about electronics customers, $7/hr employees couldn't care less if they were stocking or ringing you up on a flat panel TV or Charmin toilet paper.
For you and me, Joe Consumer, who has researched a product pretty wall prior to walking into a store, we won't be hassled by blue shirts pushing warranties, installation and calibration services.
@Jimmy1: From everything that I have heard, Wal-Mart carrying the iPhone was in part a test to see how they would do with carrying something Apple a little more involved than just an iPod to see if selling Macbooks could be viable.
Of course, by eye-catching, higher end TVs they mean carry the lowest model of the brand names and then stock a few 120Hz Vizios so they can say they have 120Hz TVs.
@ceilingFANBOY: That's what they do NOW. Presumably by "expanding into CC territory" they are going to start carrying mid-level models at least (you know, stuff that normal people can afford, not overpriced Sony XBR's).
@bilups: What I meant is that we just got in 120Hz Vizios for this big mod reset of electronics. Before that, we carried no 120Hz TVs. For the name brands, we just got in more sizes (52" for Sony which used to only go up to 46" and 46" for Samsung which used to only go up to 40"). Also, now we carry up to 55" instead of up to 52" for Vizio and I think I recall seeing a Phillips 55" (Phillips are rebranded Emersons so I'm not going to call those a name brand).
08/07/09
Ironically, one could use this same test to discover the certifiably insane.
08/07/09
*clicks brightness up on laptop*
Muahahaha
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
HIYOOOOOOO!
08/07/09
08/07/09
On a different note, I personally wouldn't buy a TV that was showing anything by Tyler Perry, regardless of the (really excuse this pun) "black levels."
Note: I'm not at all racist, the joke just works on so many levels.
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
[www.adultswim.com]
08/07/09
Why do you have a star? "you're" comments are terrible.
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
I'm sending you the bill for my prescription.
08/07/09
08/07/09
"I would think that the store wants to sell all HDTVs"
That right there is the point. In a brightly lit room, all HDTVs look good. In a room with proper lighting people will be more likely to see that the cheap TVs are crap and completely avoid them. There is actually more motivation to sell the cheaper TVs than the more expensive TVs because the mark up is so low on TVs compared to other things that they can sell. Typically, TVs only have a mark up of about 10%. If someone buys a $1200 TV and leaves with only that TV, the store only makes $120 profit. Meanwhile, if someone instead uses that same amount of money to buy $1000 TV, $120 worth of HDMI cables, and an $80 service plan, the store is going to make closer to $250 profit.
While there are people that are going to buy the expensive TV and all of the accessories to go along with it, these are typically going to either be people who
A) have no budget and will buy things based on the price, not the picture
or
B) have already done the research and are not going to be motivated by the displays anyways.
For the most part, the displays are only necessary for those who are on a budget; getting those people to spend more of their budget on accessories rather than TVs means more profit for the store.
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
"the call on the field stands. monster cable is a rip off."
08/07/09
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08/07/09
When I questioned one of them on this, he said "hey, whatever get's the couch sold."
He sold a couch that day.
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
My Vizio VO32LF is a fine display, thank you very much.
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
In an article about how big boxers use lighting to sell you TVs with bad blacks I don't think my assertion that Vizio TVs bad picture quality should rule them out as a primary TV is a particularly bad one...in the context of a comment on an article about "inferior HDTV" and black levels, contrast, etc. If it was an article on finding the cheapest HDTV i'd stfu...but seriously it's about how budget TVs aren't as good, and how they TRICK you into buying them..if you know you're getting crap and that's all you need (which is fine, i might be buying one soon) than that's fine, but that's not what the post is about. End of run-on rant.
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/08/09
I don't know how many times I have suggested to someone to get another brand over a Vizio due to the reliability issues and they get the Vizio instead only to come back a week or two later to exchange it for another TV after it breaks.
05/27/09
05/27/09
05/27/09
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05/27/09
I worked for Best Buy during the transition from commissioned to hourly, and not only did the knowledge evaporate from the store, but so did the will to actually care about the customer.
As for people complaining above about a salesperson not wanting to show a customer certain other brands. I can understand it. I had a lot of people who came in demanding to see an RCA because they only bought American Made TVs because they wanted quality etc. I, as an hourly person, had no problem telling them that they were smoking crack.
I had one lady who wrote my name down on the sales slip. A year later when she had problems w/ the TV and it was just out of warranty, she insisted that I sold her the TV. I responded perfectly honestly, "Ma'am, if you bought an RCA TV it was because you demanded it, not because I wanted to sell it to you."
She dropped the TV off outside the store w/ a sign that said "Shit from Best Buy!" on it. After she left I wheeled it into the store so Security could watch it. She didn't come back, so I had it repaired and used it for 2 years in my college dorm room.
Call it anecdotal, but I knew which floor models didn't hold up to customer use/abuse. I knew which models had remotes that broke easily. I knew which models had a higher than average percentage of faulty power supplies.
I actually cared about this information, because I didn't want to sell people crap. But as an hourly sales person? If you were even remotely a jerk to me I'd ignore you.
05/27/09
05/27/09
You seem to have missed the part about keeping employees for a long time. If the customer walks away happy with their purchase, they will be back. If the customer feels gouged, then they won't.
Real commission sales people tend to understand that creating not only store loyalty, but salesperson loyalty is key to their paycheck.
If you return the item because you feel ripped off, then they lose that money out of their next paycheck.
05/18/09
We-Say-So. We know what you want. We know what you need. We know where you live.
05/18/09
05/18/09
05/18/09
05/18/09
Wal Mart's pluses is their huge customer base and their heavy discounting. Their weak spot is that, for unknowledgable about electronics customers, $7/hr employees couldn't care less if they were stocking or ringing you up on a flat panel TV or Charmin toilet paper.
For you and me, Joe Consumer, who has researched a product pretty wall prior to walking into a store, we won't be hassled by blue shirts pushing warranties, installation and calibration services.
05/18/09
05/18/09
05/18/09
05/18/09