Meathead

Best Buy is eliminating the Elite and Elite Plus tiers and moving everyone into the standard "My Best Buy" program.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/my-best...311100050001.c

I called Best Buy and yes Elite/Plus also lose the extended return window and free shipping... unless you want to upgrade to the Totaltech program for $199.99/yr.

GFY Best Buy

Decker

Ugh that's terrible!

fujishig

Yup, Totaltech for the win, I guess. Though if you shop at Best Buy so much you're in Elite Plus (or if you buy a large appliance) that might actually be a decent deal as long as you read the fine print.

maxfisher

The return window isn't as big a deal for me, but losing free shipping and having the reward points values drop will probably lead to me going elsewhere for small purchases. It's a pretty shitty action by them. I bought a new MacBook Pro for my business last year and the reason I bought it at Best Buy instead of Apple was to keep my free shipping and increased points for another year. They should've coordinated the program to end with a calendar year to avoid taking away something that they have told customers that they already 'earned'. Hell, when I open their app right now, it's still telling me 'Spend $3,500 this year to keep another year of Elite Plus!'

Also, it's nuts to me that they think a $200/year program of 'previously free stuff + installations, tech support and extended warranties' is the way to go. I guess if you're buying two new iPhones (or other Apple products) and would already be buying AppleCare+ for each of them, it's close to the same cost. That's about the only way I can see it being worth it for most of the population. But I can't imagine Apple is going to give them too steep a discount on reselling their own extended warranties, so it's like Best Buy decided to come up with a product that's laughably overpriced for most people and provides them with a tiny profit margin for the subset of people who may find it to be of value.

Honestly, I finished typing this and found I was irritated enough to come back and add that I think I'll call their customer service over it. It's complete bullshit that they spend a year telling customers 'if you spend $3500 with us, we'll give you x, y & z for a year' and then they only provide the benefits for four months after customers meet the conditions they set. Maybe I can get them to kick me a $50 or $100 RZ certificate as a trade-off for their lousy business practices.

John Galt

I read about this the other day and was really disappointed with the news. I think we all kind of expected these programs to contract or get eliminated after they rolled out TotalTech. But people spent money in 2021 and earned their benefits for all of 2022, and then they just cancel those less than halfway through the year. The proper thing to do would have been to provide the benefits through the rest of 2022.

Personally, I spend wayyyy more than I should at Best Buy. Enough to have been top tier Elite Plus every single year since the program was rolled out. A lot of that spending is knowing that I can probably find a better price online, but by buying from Best Buy I can pick it up today and get the benefits of the rewards programs. Without the rewards programs, the value of that trade off wont be nearly enough and I suspect I will be spending a lot less there and saving more money by buying through other online vendors.

TheBang

Wow, I qualify for Elite for the first time in probably 7 or 8 years, and they pull this shit. I agree that they really should have at least honored the Elite levels for the remainder of this year.

Meathead

They should have honored the levels for the rest of this year. The point values don't change for me as I always used my BB card to get the bonus points. It's the loss of the free shipping and shorter return window for me.

Also, in the fine print (and this may already be the case)... no points for Apple/Bose products unless you use a Best Buy card with standard credit. (No financing/promos).

I will definitely be spending far less with them now. And it will be a cold day in hell before I sign up for Totaltech.

Maxflier

I will be spending less money at Best Buy. This is a dumb move on their part, hopefully they are doing well enough to be able to afford to lose a lot of business from people.

b2net

We use their Visa and due to using it outside of BB + BB purchases, we have been elite plus for many years. This is definitely a slap in the face of existing Elite and Elite Plus members.

The shorter return period is annoying as other retailers who have 30 up to 90 day return periods.

The lack of free shipping is terrible. At least with Prime we also get other perks like music streaming, prime video, books, etc. So why use BB over Amazon now.

The slight loss in points if using their Visa is minimal yet annoying.

fujishig

Yeah, that's the rub with AppleCare +. Yes, you get it for two years, as long as you also subscribe to Totaltech for the second year. I know you know that because you said two devices to make it worth it but man I wonder how many people get suckered in thinking they were going to spend 200 bucks anyway?

Probably worth it if you bought a bunch of appliances and need setup or something, I guess. But I knew they would be taking away from other things to make this more enticing. Even this exclusive "Totaltech" prices thing is some BS.

b2net

They eliminated 1 point per $1 from Elite Plus with Visa card (was 6%, will be 5%).

Yet the outside BB points just dropped drastically. 1 point per $2 (1% back) stays the same but looks like they are eliminating the 1.5 points per $1 (3% back) at Gas Stations as well as 1 point per $1 (2% back) at restaurants, grocery stores, and bars.

So that drops the incentives to use the Visa outside BB stores.

Decker

I recently got Total Tech because I needed them to mount a new TV and set up a new receiver. So I guess I'm okay for the rest of the year at least. After that we will see I guess. They did a nice job with the two install jobs and that alone was worth $200 for me.

Josh-da-man

The way Best Buy is moving, in five years their reward program will be a five dollar door charge and a punch in the nuts just to get in the store.

dsa_shea

Them dropping the ball on the last few game release day deliveries, the reduction in media, and this will lead me to spend far less money at Best Buy and via using their credit card.

b2net

The highest percentage of our spending at BB each year is media. Then the occasional electronic item. Maybe we are an exception and the loss of our purchases will not hurt their bottom line.

Giving us less stuff at a discount/free with certificates likely will help their bottom line. Yet the loss of our other purchases might offset their savings.

fujishig

I mean they've been cutting down on media for a reason. IIRC even years ago what saved them was getting into appliances, cell phone plans, and the service plans (which is what Totaltech is) so this trend makes sense, unless you were buying media for like Suncoast/Tower Records prices from them on the regular or something. And I'm sure buying media online or for in store pickup without having you browse through the store for impulse buys made the whole loss leader thing a whole lot less attractive to them.

dsa_shea

Still a really bad move to cut people off that earned those benefits. At least phase them out instead of just cutting them off.

Eric F

I guess they figure they make more money with their total tech program than with customer loyalty and my rewards.

Screw ‘em. The only thing I’ve used them for in years is wall mounting a couple of TVs and anyone can do that.

kahuna

I have a stupid question about total tech benefits.. I know it's $199.99 a year. But then I see this statement "Up to 24 months of product protection included on almost all devices". If I'm covered for 2 years why do I have to pay $199.99 each year?
I might just buy the 2-5 year standard warranty.

fujishig

That's the fine print.

So you get 2 years of applecare+... but only while you're subscribed. So if you're getting it ONLY for the warranty, you better be getting multiple warranties because you'll be paying 400 bucks for two years, it's not 199 for two years of the warranty.

kahuna

Ok thanks for the clarification. I guess I may just buy the 2-5 year warranty. I have gotten full purchase refunds on 3 TV's and 1 washing machine. That have broken and not been able to be repaired during the warranty period.

Maxflier

My Best Buy members will now get free shipping at Best Buy for all orders, no minimum purchase required https://t.co/Zl1HhEfpmN

Starting Feb 14th, earning points on eligible Best Buy purchases will become an exclusive benefit of the My Best Buy Credit Card pic.twitter.com/uUP49OPcs4

— Wario64 (@Wario64) January 9, 2023

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

fujishig

One step forward, two steps back. Though I swear they had earlier changed their rewards points to accrue at a pitiful amount, because I haven't been issued a cert in ages (though that might be because I cut back my spending there a ton).

lwhy?

It took forever to get a certificate anyways, but it was nice to get a $5 certificate after making a big purchase like a PS5. Free shipping is a nice perk though.

Alan Smithee

Considering how little they have in their stores now, free shipping is good.