Best Buy Plan Erases 12 Volt Install Fees

1. Btw @Amy Gilroy, some of your claims are wrong. BBY will not troubleshoot car audio equipment brought in with this plan. They’ll only troubleshoot equipment installed by them. So this whole statement of your,” Additionally under Total Tech Support, if you bring in any car audio product, Geek Squad will try to fix it, whether Best Buy carries it or not. If they can, the repair is free. If they can’t repair it, they’ll send it out and there’s an extra charge” is wrong. You’re spreading misinformation.

   1. From Best Buy website:

      All your tech. All the time.
      This is Total Tech Support. A membership dedicated to supporting ALL the tech and appliances in your home — no matter where or when you bought them. Get help in store, over the phone and 24/7 online. We’re here to answer your questions and help you use all your devices.

      Total Tech Support also includes many computer and connected car services at no additional cost, and it gives you big savings on standard in-home services, repairs, and most Geek Squad® Protection and AppleCare plans.

      1. If you stretch the wording you could maybe argue under the “big savings on repairs” wording, but it’s certainly not as black and white as “we will try to fix your broken amp for free!”
         The main premise of Total Tech is services relating to installation and set up, and in execution it’s being used as such. Best Buy won’t be attempting to repair your $50 BOSS amplifier, they will be recommending one of their products and installing it at no charge if you have a total tech plan, and will also offer 20% off a 2 or 4 year protection plan to cover hardware failure of that new amplifier

2. There’s a reminder sent to your email 30 days before the resub fee is charged. Good try though!

3. Lol “Desperate” companies don’t go from $10 a share stock price to $70 a share in stock price within a couple years.
   The markets this has been tested in had been a huge driver of traffic through the store and revenue within the car audio department. The installs may be included but the cost of speakers, subs, boxes, etc is still well and strong.
   Sorry to those who aren’t included in this, but the idea has (so far) been playing out well and has been in test markets for over a year. Best Buy is trying to become their clientele’s ‘go to’ for anything from computers, to cars, to in home electronics, all by offering this. They’re hungry for getting and keeping as many customers as possible, and this is their solution.

4. This Will Be The Real Reason for Extinction.. Truly Ours Is The Only Industy that seems to actually devalue Itself! If we think that’ what we produce is Not worthy of any monitary benefit, how is the consumer supposed to value our products or our workmanship either? ” • “As a Man thinks in his heart so is He”

   1. What does ^ that even mean??? Are you not aware that car audio products sport some of the largest margins in the electronics industry? Second only to accessories, which guess what, are required to be paid for on every install! Devalue……yeah right, more like adding more value to the work we do. This will allow us to focus on the clients needs/wants and not how much we can charge them in labor.

5. All the more reason to separate yourself from the big box mentality. We’ve already had people in the store talking about this program and the perceived “free” install. Some are for it and have clearly stated that they signed up to get the deal but will cancel asap because they see what BB is doing. Kinda like the extended warranty idea. Only a portion of customers actually use the warranty therefore those warranties are very profitable. This is the same idea.

   Also, this new program has brought us a few new clients due to install issues that the nearest BB couldn’t figure out and they were not complicated. One was simply a phasing problem! Our new client stated that BB spent over an hour trying to figure out why their new speakers didn’t sound very good and we showed them the problem in less than a minute. Bam… new client, a little money and a 5 star Google review. Guess I should be thanking BB not criticizing.

   1. That’s with anything. Best Buy has some inexperienced techs and independents have some inexperienced techs. Best Buy install bays should be seen as independent fixtures, just like independent shops. Some Best Buy techs are true master installers and understand advanced system design, tuning, troubleshooting, etc.. and some independent shops couldn’t diagnose a blown fuse with an entire day at their disposable. The opposite is true as well.

6. “Margins on 12v products are some of the highest in the store” WHAT!?! There is all the margin that the small stores can’t get.

   1. When a harness costs $1 and you sell it for $17 and each radio install needs a harness, dash kit, and antenna adapter.. that’s like $40 profit before you figure in any labor cost or radio margin.. not bad

7. Oh and to the person saying we will gouge… we don’t. We charge retail prices and for the shop savy customers we still match Amazon.

8. Funny all the fails mentioned here, but no logical thought behind it. As an tech at BB, we have been testing this for over a year now. This is a big time money maker. Margins on 12v products are some of the highest in the store, and this program now allows us to up sell like crazy. Our bay has been booked out 2 weeks for months. People wanting just a deck, now are getting a deck / four speakers / and back up cam. People looking for a deck/4 are now getting 4ch and sub/amps. Add in the fact they are now getting more people in the store (computer service), and in the store longer (longer install times), means customers will buy more stuff overall. Toss in the fact they can now get home services done for $50… now they are buying more home theater/smart home/security. Like I said this has been tested for over a year and is a clear money maker.

9. This will be a flop. Of course it will take one to two years to decide that. They didn’t mention how they will gouge you for the required install supplies that are not covered under this program.

   1. Compare our prices for ANY metra installation parts to ANY big box retailer like Electronic Express, Walmart, or online competitor such as Crutchfield. Sometimes they are cheaper, usually we are. The prices of our installation parts have not changed under this new plan, and will not. Best Buy is transition from a business that sells products and offers services to a business that performs services and happens to carry the products you want serviced. They realize that the edge they can take against business destructive internet retailers like Amazon is their ability to service your tech needs in store and at home with little to no difficulty thanks to their retail business model vs the online only model.

10. A swing and a miss… you really added value to a failing car audio at Best Buy…

11. Keep in mind that’s an annual subscription. And they know how people seem to forget about those and get charged again each year.

    Desperate companies can do stupid things.,….

    1. Desperate? Where do you get your financial info from? Google? Lmao! This company hasn’t been “desperate” since the mid 90’s when we were close to being bought out by Sears when our stocks were like $7 a share.

12. So if I have 20 cars do I get free install on all of them? Hmmmmm

    1. Sure, as long as you aren’t using the service for commercial purposes IE your dealership, that voids the ToS agreement for the plan. But if you collect classic cars and have a private garage full, bring it on big boy. We’ve got you covered.

13. lol Making the most lucrative part of their car audio department “free”. Nice move…..

14. Instant FAIL….

Comments are closed.