Bent Corner

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I decided to make the switch from XM Satellite Radio to Sirius Satellite Radio. My reasons are many. I looked around and decided to buy the Sportster 5. It retails at $169 no matter what retailer you purchase it from. I stopped in at the Hagerstown Best Buy, found the unit on the sales floor, and took one up the the register at the front of the store.

The employee at the register started to go through the motions of selling me the radio unit when she asked me for my phone number. I gave her the standard fake phone number I usually give out in situations where a retailer asks for it. She typed it into the computer and told me that I wasn’t in the system. She asked for my name and address. I asked her why she wanted that information. She told me that she needed it to process the sale. I told her that I didn’t want to give out my personal information. I just wanted to buy a Sirius radio. She went on to tell me that she had to enter my personal information because it needed to be assigned to the radio. That way no one else but me could activate my radio.

This sounded like a load of crap. I never had to go through this when I bough my XM radio. I told her thanks, but no thanks. I would just activate it on my own without their help.

I was told that they could not sell me the Sirius radio without taking my personal information. It was a requirement from Sirius. This too sounded like crap. Since they were refusing to sell me the radio without giving them my personal information, I left without getting the radio.

When I got home, I called customer service at Sirius. I told them what I just went through and I asked them if there was any shred of truth to what I was told at Best Buy. They assured me that there was not. They do not require a customer’s personal information to be taken by the retailer when making a sale. In fact, they had no clue what Best Buy was talking about.

I went to Circuit City. I bought the same radio at the same price without having to give out any of my personal information. Imagine that.

I hate when I am lied to. I understand that a company like Best Buy would like to have my personal information. That doesn’t mean they have any right to it. What does it say about a company’s integrity if they will stoop to lying to get hold of your personal information?

It says nothing good.

Tags: Best Buy, Personal Information, Privacy Rights, Sirius Radio, Sportster 5, XM Radio

I stopped in to the Hagerstown Best Buy yesterday and ended up buying a new hard drive. It’s a Western Digital 500GB External Hard Drive.

I took it up to the register and the the total came out to be over $170. I knew the Maryland sales tax went up recently, but not that high. I told her that the tag said it was on sales for $129. She told me that she could go grab a weekly sales ad and take a look. She looked though the entire ad, but the hard drive could not be found. She then called the computer area and asked them to look for the posted price.

Luckily there wasn’t anyone else waiting in line. I hate holding things up.

The person called her back and informed her that that price was indeed $129. This is getting to be a definite pattern on the part of Best Buy. Other then a spindle of blank DVD +R discs, the last few items I have purchased there have scanned in at the register at a price different then what was posted in either the weekly ad or the sign displayed where the item was sitting.

I don’t mean to be bitching about Best Buy. I’m old enough to remember ordering peripherals for my Commodore 64 over the telephone when I was stationed on Guam. I was calling a 1-800 number, but to call anywhere in the United States was .99 a minute from Guam. The dork I was talking to on the phone was taking his sweet old time taking my order. If I didn’t want that second 1541 floppy drive so badly, I would have hung up.

The point is, I remember what it was like living in a world without Best Buy.

Tags: Best Buy, Commodore 64, Guam