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It’s 2006 all over again.

Sources tell me that Best Buy is sitting on a stockpile of Wii which they plan to unleash on the line-waiting masses in the coming weeks. I assume this will be done as some sort of weekend event advertised in their weekly circular. Now the real question is how many of the people willing to sit on cold asphalt overnight will be doing it for themselves and how many will be doing it to turn around and sell the console on eBay.

I’m not sure which I would prefer: Best Buy selling the system as they show up, or selling them in one big weekend blow-out.

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Customers were deceived into subscribing to MSN Internet access

When James Odom purchased a PC from Best Buy, he assumed that he knew what he was buying. Odom was offered an Internet access “trial” CD with his computer, but refused to accept the disc on the premise that he already had his own Internet access. Despite his refusal, Odom later found that Microsoft charged him on a monthly basis for MSN Internet access.

Odom never provided his credit card information to Microsoft.

In 2002, Odom filed the suit against Best Buy and Microsoft over customer deception under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Odom alledged that Best Buy provided Microsoft his credit card information as part of a joint marketing agreement. Thousands of similar accusations were rolled into the Odom case soon after.

The suit was dismissed initially, but a panel of minority judges have sent the case back to trial.

“If the customer was paying by debit or credit card the Best Buy employee would scan the trial CD. If asked why the trial CD had been scanned, the Best Buy employee would claim it was for ‘inventory control’ or otherwise misrepresent the purpose of scanning,” stated the appeal. The case insinuates that the Best Buy employee would then sign the customer up for MSN Internet using the credit card and trial CD without the customer consent.

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Five ways Best Buy drives the costs out of the system, sullying Geek Squad CEO Robert Stephen’s vision of superlative computer repair, as told by a former Geek Squad Senior Agent.

Until recently, I was a Geek Squad Agent. When I saw the “Geek Squad City Tell All” story, I had to write in and give another Agent’s point of view.

I was the Geek Squad Senior at a Best Buy location in Arizona. I worked with the Geek Squad for almost two years before I left to find a less-stressful job. Needless to say, I know the Geek Squad pretty well. Here’s what things look like on the inside…

1. We receive little or no training.
Very few Geek Squad Agents have extensive computer knowledge before they are hired. Many Agents are hired simply because the hiring manager liked their personality. What little training we have we get from watching our fellow Agents work or from studying on our own. Geek Squad provides some great training material, but Best Buy makes sure the Agents never have time to read it. That ties in with my next point…

One of the largest and certainly most popular DSL providers in the United States has been acquired by Best Buy, according to the two companies. The purchase price was reported as $97 million, which the companies put at 20% greater than Speakeasy’s 2006 revenues.

Best Buy bought Speakeasy for its business operations. The plan is to promote Speakeasy Small Business DSL through the company’s lesser-known Best Buy for Business program (BBFB).

Does this mean big changes are in store for Speakeasy customers? It’s unlikely, at least in the short term. The deal won’t even go down until the first quarter of 2008, and even then the plan is to run Speakeasy as an independent subsidiary of Best Buy. For now, both Speakeasy and Best Buy are focusing much of their public statements on keeping customers comfortable with the change.

“We have a high regard for Speakeasy’s employees, their culture, and their valued relationships with customers and vendors,” Darren Jackson, Best Buy executive vice president and CFO said in a statement. “They have a strong customer service-oriented approach, which is an excellent fit with Best Buy’s culture and direction.”

According to unofficial Best Buy sources, stores are sitting on their PS3 shipments since 12/21 for a flyer advertisement being released New Year’s Eve (12/31) stating they have a minimum of 25 60GB units per store. Our sources have the number at around 40 per store currently — but it can be more in some locations. One source, using Best Buy’s Retek Store System (RSS), says some stores have 60 units. We will continue to follow this story as more information comes in.

The Best Buy source who sent us the internal memo — originally sent 12/18 and a portion of which you see above — does apologize for the grammar in the email received from his Retail Supply Chain Manager regarding this New Year’s Eve PS3 sale. We’d remove the “rumor” tag from this post if the grammar of our email evidence didn’t send up red flags. If the information does pan out we are happy for those getting a PS3 on New Year’s Eve and we shake our heads at the atrocious use of the English language by this Best Buy manager. We say again that this is still a rumor, but might help explain why those eight PS3s are just sitting in a Best Buy cage instead of being sold.

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