The last time I complained about Best Buy, their website inventory system told me they had the item for pickup, then it turned out they didn’t, then they did. So when I needed a new large screen LCD HDTV, this bad experience made me scared to order it online.  First, I looked online and saw that my local Best Buy did have them for pickup. But resisting just buying it online, I visited the retail store.

Lo and behold, the retail salesman tells me they only have one in stock and that it’s the floor model, which cannot be sold. WTF!? If I was a normal shopper, this would have been the end of it. Best Buy loses a sale and I don’t get my HDTV.

I didn’t even try arguing about it with him. I left and went home to my computer, and bought it online. I got a confirmation email in 15 minutes that it was indeed available at the same store I just visited.

Upon returning to the store within 30 minutes, the LCD HDTV was waiting for me to pickup. I just don’t know what to do now. Buying online the first time turned into a nightmare. This time, it would have been the quicker method.

So what the moral of this story? Best Buy’s inventory system is clearly F-ed up and needs to be fixed. If they don’t remedy this sooner than later, mark my words, they will be the next Circuit City.

This looks like baby sized condoms but actually, it should be used for the “shocker.”

Although the original company was partly owned by McDonald’s, Coinstar bought them out and created redbox. It’s only very recently that they have put their new DVD rental machines (made by Flextronics - also manufactures Zune, Xbox 360) at Southern California area 7-11 stores.

As you can see below, the main part of the unit is about the size of an ATM machine but they display is much larger, to attract more attention from potential customers coming to 7-11.  The machine is located on the outside of the 7-11 so I assume it’s water resistant.

There is a touch screen located on the front of the vending machine, much like the newer ATM machines. From there, you make your movie selection, and pick from the inventory inside the machine. Next, swipe your credit card, and out pops a DVD from the side.  You can also reserve your DVD from their website (redbox.com) and go to the nearest vending machine that has your movie. The machines are connected to the Internet so it will not give out your movie to somebody else.  I wish Blockbuster had that feature online.

The cool thing about the rental is that it’s only $1 per day (return by 9pm) and there are no late fees. They just keep charging you $1 per day until 25 days, then you own the DVD.  Also, you can return your DVD to ANY redbox vending machine.  So you could rent one near work, then return it near your home.

The only thing stopping me from using this service right now is they don’t have any Blu-ray movies yet.  When they do, I’m going to be on it.

Sprint has a friend referral program that gives you $25. Since I switched from Verizon to Sprint, I was eligible for this program. You can get full info at sprint.com/landings/refrewards/

All you have to do is follow the instructions and enter your friend’s Sprint phone number and you both get a $25 Visa debit card as shown below. It takes a few weeks for them to send out the card. But hey. It’s free money.

Update 1/2010:
Not only is this program now over (as of 1/24), but it turns out they charge you $3 per month “service” charge. What a rip off.

There’s probably a book that talks about this at length, but since I don’t read, I decided I’m going to write about it.

Have you ever visited a restaurant on a Friday night and couldn’t get good service?  Forget good service.  You couldn’t get service, period.  Even though they have a ton of waitresses, there’s so many people, they can’t get to everyone.  So, you thought to yourself, “Hey, self.  Let’s come here when it’s not so crowded.”

So, you return to the restaurant on a Monday at 5:30pm.  This time, there’s only 3 other tables with customers, but there’s only one waitress.  Guess what happens.  The waitress seems to disappear after she goes to one table.  When she finally reappears and takes your order, she disappears again, not to be seen for 20 minutes.

What you have experienced is what I call “Customer Service Equilibrium,” or CSE.  Basically, it just means that the quality of service goes to the level required to perform the minimum required work.  Therefore, when the business is super busy, the workers work quickly and hard to just barely maintain some level of customer service.

However, when it’s slow, the few workers slack off because there are less customers.  They no longer rush or work hard because they don’t have to.

I’ve noticed this happening at badly managed restaurants, retail stores, bars, and even strip clubs.  There’s not much the customer can do.  Complaining to the waitress will just make them spit in your food.

But this CSE factor is the difference between a well run business, and one that’s probably going to fail eventually.  I guess it’s like Darwinism for business.

You may recall that I had a heck of a time getting an adapter for my LG EnV2 from Best Buy. Well, unfortunately for me, after only 24 hours of use, the adapter started to make scratching noises. It got so bad, it became useless in just 2 uses. What a quality product.

To make sure nobody buys this piece of crap product, I’ll put it’s picture below once again.  You can find it at Best Buy in the car & GPS section of the store.

Well, I still needed a working adapter so I finally broke down and checked the Radio Shack website.  Unlike the prices at Fry’s or Amazon, their price was a little more at $11.  That would be on the high side compared to the other places, but then it’s Radio Shack after all.  That’s what they’re known for.  But like 7-11, it’s really close.  In fact, there are no less than 4 Radio Shacks close to me.

Upon entering the store, the lady (yes, a female clerk at Radio Shack!) walked up and I explained what I wanted.  She went to the adapter section and they had everything there, including a Y adapter, 3.5mm to 2.5mm, female to female, except for what I wanted.

Interestingly, the one I wanted was placed in the cell phone area of the store, of all places.  The place that I would automatically assume it should be located, is exactly where Radio Shack put it.  The clerk told me that they had moved just that item over to the cell phone section recently.

These guys are a little smarter than Best Buy, that’s for sure.  Maybe there’s a reason why these guys have been around so long. The item is shown below on their website.

Although this adapter isn’t as slick looking as the one from Best Buy, at least it works.  So this round goes to Radio Shack of all places.

As you may know, I downgraded to the LG EnV2 because I hated the touchscreen on the Voyager. In any case, the headphone jack on the EnV2 (and probably all LG) is 2.5mm, and not the 3.5mm for normal headsets.  This means that I need a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter to use a headset to listen to my music on the LG.  I decided to take a look on Amazon to see what was available.

The list below shows what pops up on Amazon when you search for “2.5mm 3.5mm.”  Some items were only $2, up to around $12, but with shipping, it would be more like $7 to $19 or so.  And of course, I’d have to wait for it in the mail, which I wasn’t in any mood for.

Next, I did a search on Fry’s website and got the following list with the same search.  On here, they have adapters from 99 cents up to $5. Of course, the problem with Fry’s website is that there’s no direct connection between the online items and what’s available in their stores.  You can call them, but sometimes it’s very hard to find out if something is in stock at the store.  There’s no Fry’s close to me so I decided to keep searching.

Next, I did the same search on Best Buy’s website and came up with the following list.

As you can see, Best Buy’s search sucks big time. It lists 4 items which have nothing to do with what I was looking for.  For that matter, I couldn’t figure out how my 2.5mm search was matched with those items.  If you have any online store, rule #1 is to make sure that your searches work properly so people can find what they want.

In any case, being the Internet savvy guy that I am, I googled Best Buy’s website by using the search “site:bestbuy.com 2.5mm 3.5mm” and came up with the following list:

As you can see above, the top item on google’s list is exactly what I wanted.  I clicked on it and found the following item below on Best Buy’s website:

Interestingly, the item is under “Car & GPS”, then “Antennas & Adaptors.”  Sure.  I would have easily found this.  NOT!  Unfortunately, this item comes with a bunch of other adapters that I don’t really need, along with the one that I do need.  But since Best Buy is close, and they do have the “pick up at store” option, I decided to go ahead and pay $15 for the conveinience.

This last decision turned out to be a big mistake.

The closest Best Buy did not have this item in stock.  However, all the other ones did.  So I ordered it for pickup at the second closest store in West LA. The following email came back 20 minutes later telling me the store did not have it in stock and that I would have to call their 888 number.

After going back on to the Best Buy website and figuring out that there is no way to cancel the order, or to even change it for pickup at another store, I was forced to call their toll free number. After going through their bot, the nice lady on the phone changed my order to the Culver City store, which is the 3rd closest.

After another 20 minutes, I got another email telling me the Culver City store was out of stock.  OMG!  Now, I’ve already spent almost an hour with this crap. I could have almost driven to Fry’s and back in that time.

Once again, I call Best Buy and this time, another nice lady answers the call but she can tell that I’m getting pretty frustrated by now. She tells me that the online inventory is separate from the in-store inventory and that she will check the in-store inventory for me.  After a few clicks, she tells me that the West LA store does indeed have 6 in-store and that I can simply go to the store and pick it up.  So she cancels my online order, and out the door I go.

So next time, I’m just going to call the toll free number and ask for the in-store inventory instead of using their stupid website.  That’s the lesson I learned here.

I wish my story ended here but it goes on a little more.  When I got to the store, I decided I wanted to test the in-store people to see how smart they were.  At the entrance, the cell phone section had 3 live clerks helping people. I went to the first one and asked if they had a adapter for my LG EnV2 so I can use a headset. She told me no.  So, I showed her the SKU number for the item I was looking for.  She told me to ask the second guy there.  So far, this is a fail.

I go up to the second guy and ask the same question. He types in the SKU number but it doesn’t come up because unknown to me, I wrote it down wrong. He does a search on the Best Buy website and comes up with the same stupid list that I got. BWAHAHA!  I tell him how to use google to find it and he’s amazed how well google works.

He sees the item on his computer but can’t figure out exactly where it is. We walk to the MP3 area and it’s not there. He asks the Geek Squad guy walking by and he knows that it’s in the car adapter area.  He walks me there and finds the item.

Basically, this last guy is the only person that really helped me find my item. The online store pickup, didn’t help me, except to tell me to go into the store.  The first lady at the store didn’t help me. Only this last guy helped me.

Most people would have given up BEFORE the second call to Best Buy.  That should be an indicator to Best Buy that something is wrong with their setup and they will soon be on their way holding hands with Circuit City if they don’t do something about it.

Dont’ say I didn’t warn you, Best Buy.

Once again, it was time to visit the Westfield Century City Shopping Center to meet my friend. It hasn’t been that long since my last trip but as soon as I went into the parking lot, I noticed what appeared to be really early Christmas lights in October.

As you can see in the picture above, there are a bunch of green and red lights everywhere.  At first, I just thought it was some weird viral marketing for some movie.  Then I noticed a pattern.  Spaces that were open had green lights, and spaces with cars had red lights.

The picture below shows the lights close-up.

As a gadget lover, I had to get out of my car to take a closer look.  Upon closer inspection, each and every parking space has what appears to be a distance sensor that detects when a car is in the parking space.  I’m not sure what technology is being used (laser, sound, or other) but from what I could tell, it worked very nicely no matter how big or small the car was.

Frankly, from a shopper’s point of view, this is great.  As you are looking for a parking space, you can clearly see the green light which indicates there is a parking space available.  It would be difficult to install the same device in outside parking lots, but it sure seems to work great indoors.

Of course, these lights still don’t stop a-holes from taking your space before you get there.

On Monday, my HP ink jet ran out of ink so I went over to Best Buy to replace it. They tried to charge me $42 for a box of 2 but I had already checked the prices online and told them that it should be $38.99.  After a quick check, the clerk changed the price down for me.

To my pleasant surprise, she also added a free 500 sheet of HP paper. The cash register showed that it normally costs $7.99.  The cachier told me that you have to be a Silver Reward Zone member, and I don’t know how long this deal lasts but it’s a great deal so hurry.

While I patiently wait for my Playstation 3 to come in the mail (hopefully by Wednesday this week), I decided to get the HDMI cable for it because I know that the PS3 doesn’t come with it.

Best Buy has the 3.3′ React HDMI cable for $59.99, or the 4′ Monster cable for $84.99 (on sale from $99.99), but I decided to order a 6′ Syba Premium Grade from OutletPC for $6.98.  Yes, $6.98.  The LD HDMI from OutletPC was on sale for $2.98 each but it’s not “premium grade,” and I like premium stuff so I opted for the more “expensive” one.

Since it’s so cheap, I decided to get 3 for $27.13 including $6.19 in shipping (and no tax).  I got 3 because my Vizio has 4 HDMI input ports and I stil have 3 left open.

HDMI 6' cable in packaging

One thing to notice is that I ordered the HDMI cable at the same time as my PS3 and I’ve already gotten my HDMI cable.  When OutletPC says, “Same day shipping,” they mean it.

The second my PS3 comes in the mail, I’ll hook it up using this HDMI cable and let you know if it works or not.  I hope it works or I’ll be pissed.