How freaking ridiculous is that! I bought a video cable which turned out to be duff, so I took it back with the receipt and all the packaging. I had paid cash for it. The woman at customer service says "Ok I'm just gonna need to see your ID." 
 
Now that annoyed me. I had ID on me of course, but out of principle I told her I didn't but that I would like a refund for the faulty goods they sold me. I asked her: what's the difference? I paid cash for it, I have the item, I have the receipt, you sold me a stinker. Why do you need to see my ID? 
 
She told me that it was so that they could keep track of "who" is returning "what." Huh? Never heard anything so stupid in my life. She also said that since the computer system needed some record of the ID to proceed, there was no way she could bypass it. So I handled this the best way I know how: by making a scene 
 
As if by magic, the manager appeared and promptly reassured me that he could bypass the ID requirement and return my doubloons. It really is amazing how flexible these impenetrable corporate computer systems are in the right circumstances. But jeez...Best Buy stinks. 

With my recent dealings with their sales reps I will say Best Buy is Lame

They are spectacularly lame in lots of ways. To be honest I don't know why I ever go back there after they threw me out a few years ago. I had been in the market to buy a new laptop for work and had spent about 5 minutes taking a look at a few, doing the usual things - you know, testing the keyboards and touchpads, seeing what kind of crap was installed on them, bringing up the system specs etc. After a while this Best Buy tool comes up to me and says "excuse me sir, do you need any help?" I very nicely told him no, I'm fine for the time being. Just taking a look. So he says "well if you don't need any help could I ask that you please leave the store, because we consider what you are doing as loitering." 
 
I told him that he was perhaps the most ridiculous sales rep that I'd ever encountered and that he'd just talked himself out of a $1200 sale, then went straight next door to P.C. Richards and spent the money there. 

You're experiencing the downside of cheap retail trade. I was in a Best Buy recently, and the only action was in the phone dept. The rest of it was some kind of zombie land. Employees (the few of them) were only partially visible, peaking through display shelves. ANy of them foolish enough to move from cover, was immediately set upon by the customers wandering through the isles.
 
Eventually, we wont even have the current quality of employees to deal with. When in the Best Buy, I realized they only had a small number of items that were actually in the store. It's becoming an Amazon world. Not that they're any better.

Yeah I noticed their stock is dwindling. There was once a time when you could go into the computer department and purchase almost anything accessory-wise. There were shelves and shelves of everything you needed. Now they've spread out their laptop section so that it takes up half the department, and the rest is tablets and printers. The accessories have been relegated to a couple of threadbare shelves in the back. They had a very poor selection of video cables and what they had was all on the wrong hooks with the wrong prices. They used to have quite a good selection of monitors but now they're not selling a single one. 
 
I've noticed that the Radio Shack stores have been modernized quite recently. I wonder how long they're going to last. 

I think the next stage in the business model might be to have a large store where people can go in and physically see and try what they want to buy, but then they must make the actual purchase online.
 
Not being able to be touchy, feely with an item is about the only downside to buying in the virtual world (well, along with the loss of instant gratification).

Yeah man...nothing like getting home with your new purchase and unboxing it that day. I know online purchases are often cheaper, but it's a real PITA for me because I don't get packages easily at my building (no doorman and the super is rarely around) so I always end up having to trek to the UPS pickup joint across town. And if it's a heavy package then it's a taxi fare back....sometimes if the item is small enough I can have it sent to an Amazon Locker near me, but if it's anything substantial (like the monitors I just bought) then it's a hard slog. 

sharke
Yeah man...nothing like getting home with your new purchase and unboxing it that day. I know online purchases are often cheaper, but it's a real PITA for me because I don't get packages easily at my building (no doorman and the super is rarely around) so I always end up having to trek to the UPS pickup joint across town. And if it's a heavy package then it's a taxi fare back....sometimes if the item is small enough I can have it sent to an Amazon Locker near me, but if it's anything substantial (like the monitors I just bought) then it's a hard slog. 

Sounds silly but I miss that feeling I had in NY when I walked back home with a new guitar under my arm, all the way from Sam Ash to lower 42nd. In spite of the heat and the humidity and the people on the sidewalks all, there was something so real about it...

Rain

sharke
Yeah man...nothing like getting home with your new purchase and unboxing it that day. I know online purchases are often cheaper, but it's a real PITA for me because I don't get packages easily at my building (no doorman and the super is rarely around) so I always end up having to trek to the UPS pickup joint across town. And if it's a heavy package then it's a taxi fare back....sometimes if the item is small enough I can have it sent to an Amazon Locker near me, but if it's anything substantial (like the monitors I just bought) then it's a hard slog. 

Sounds silly but I miss that feeling I had in NY when I walked back home with a new guitar under my arm, all the way from Sam Ash to lower 42nd. In spite of the heat and the humidity and the people on the sidewalks all, there was something so real about it...

Had pretty much the same experience when I bought my Telecaster from Sam Ash. Walked all the way home to the East Village with it. It's like bringing a new pet home. Sam Ash has now moved to 34th St just off 9th Avenue, so you would have probably had a shorter walk home to the Silver Towers had you lived here now. 

sharke
 
 
Had pretty much the same experience when I bought my Telecaster from Sam Ash. Walked all the way home to the East Village with it. It's like bringing a new pet home. Sam Ash has now moved to 34th St just off 9th Avenue, so you would have probably had a shorter walk home to the Silver Towers had you lived here now. 
 
Here in Vegas, walking home really isn't an option. :s

I thought I'd heard about that a bit after we left. I'd be curious to visit - I've always felt like there was something magic about the old place - all of my favorite musicians had either shopped there or even worked there - from Hendrix when it was Manny's to Charlie Clouser...