Best Buy's $10 headset pairing service includes testing, finger pointing

See what it's come to Bluetooth SIG? Headset-to-cellphone pairing is so utterly baffling to average consumers that they are now handing over a Hamilton at Best Buys in California (in support of the new hands-free calling law) just to avoid the procedure. Eight years after the launch of the world's first Bluetooth headset from Ericsson, this is where we're at. Still, at $10, consider it a bargain -- that's half of what Best Buy will charge you for the already free-to-download (and free to ship on CD) Ubuntu OS.

[Thanks, Tarek]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 7:24AM]

This sounds like it came about because less buyers in the "know" ask the staff to set up their BT, because they figure the service would be simpler to set up for a tech kid, and they HATE THAT! (omg I havent had lunch yet booooy). So this scheme comes up to charge the customer something, that should be free... at least they could ADVERTIZE free, since all their crap is overpriced, and can be had on the internet, amazon, or ebay for cheaper. Yeah, even that damn bluetooth enabled microwave.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 7:49AM]

Gotta give WM6.1 some credit here (for once): when you pair your headset with that OS, you don't even have to enter in the 4-5 digit "code" as most are listed within the OS now to fully automate the procedure.

That makes it a lot more transparent to the end user.

Waiting for some other mobile OSs to do the same.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 9:41AM]

yes, definitely. especially in a mobile environment where space is limited, dedicating storage resources to common pairing codes is a totally efficient use of available resources. especially when those codes change, and its impossible to enter the correct code because winmo knows better.

for example, who needs to use gmail in imap mode without some ridiculous workaround? nobody thats who! winmo 6.1 wins again!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 9:13AM]

well, i work for the old bby, and quite frankly we offer that service to people that ask us to pair it for them (which is quite a lot)... you forget that 99.9 percent of the people that shop at bby are not as tech savvy as the rest of us. Granted there are some that can handle it themselves, and we reserve the right to offer and they reserve the right to refuse. The whole point of that service is to get them in the hands of a knowledgeable associate who can give them an experience that they wouldn't get anywhere else...

if you go to circuit city and ask them to pair your bluetooth headset do you think that they would do anything?... no... they would send you to best buy like everyone else in my town does to answer peoples questions. because we are the only people who give 2 shits compared to our competition.

don't talk smack about a company that you know nothing about. they take care of people and their employees like most people wouldn't even imagine. the people that you hear on the net bashing bby that are ex-employees have no basis. its pure fallacy... people don't quit companies... they quit managers... and just like any other company, best buy has a few bad mangers. And we are currently working on finding them and promoting them to circuit city employee...

peace and love... talk to any full-time employee there and they will tell you how much their company loves them... until they screw bby over... then we weed out the bad just like everyone else.

i have worked for a lot of companies and best buy takes care of people more than you could ever know... most employees cringe when we hear the bad stories about some store in a po-dung town in the midwest, but the fact is that when you employ a hundred thousand people, some of them are bound to be tools... i apologize for them all... they don't represent the values that the rest of us try to uphold...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 10:51AM]

Thanks for insulting the midwest, really appreciate it :)

BBY just enjoys charging consumers for doing things that SHOULD be part of good customer service. I have yet to meet a store that sells BT (except BBY and Wal Mart) that won't pair it if you ask, such as RadioShack, carrier stores (AT&T, USCC, T-Mobile, etc), and even the electronics guys are Target. My point is keep defending them, they'll keep charging people for half-*** customer service until people just start leaving the big box retail system.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 2:53PM]

Somebody has gotten into the Kool-Aid again...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 5:16PM]

I'm gonna have to side with ravegrunt. Best Buy's customer service is lacking. It's sad that you have to pay them $10 for some kid to spend 30 sec pairing a phone to a BT headset. When you go to a store and pay something like a 40% markup on a $50-80 headset, that should come at no extra cost.

How much does Geek Squad charge to remove spyware again?

There's really no excuse to be gouging customers just because they're not tech savvy.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 10:16AM]

Well, I work for a local Radioshack dealer in Western NY. Charging 10 bucks for this is just one more way to screw over the customers at a time when those in Cali are getting screwed by the state too. We pair up every headset we sell for free, and show the customer how to do it themselves in the future. It's a thirty second process, that frankly When a customer is spending anywhere from 40 - 150 dollars for a headset should be included. That's called good customer service, and it's a great way to build customer loyalty. It's the little things like this that the customer remembers.,

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 10:45AM]

RU KIDDING???????????

It's something that can be done for FREE by your neighbor, your average 5th grader or even your cell phone reps at your local Sprint, Verizon or wherever you carry service!!!

It's BT pairing, not DNA splicing??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 5:19PM]

If it's DNA splicing you're after, you're better off trying match.com. Not some pimply-faced kid at BestBuy.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 11:57AM]

I also work for Best Buy Mobile. We used to have to charge $14.99, but this month it was lowered to $9.99. Everyone at my store thinks its kind of ridiculous and if a customer comes in asking for help we still do it for free anyways.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 16th 2008 3:36PM]

Hey Carly,

This has nothing to do with the conversation but i wanted to ask you a questions. Do you like working for Best Buy Mobile? I have an interview there this week. I have worked for 2 cell companies. I was wondering what they start you off at? Salary wise and if you liked it. Thanks!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 12:27PM]

You should pay 10 bucks for not reading the manual.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 14th 2008 3:33PM]

Hell, I am a huge computer person and know loads about phones and all that crap, even I have trouble pairing at times. Its one of those things that hasn't been made easier over time. Okay, yeah, its easy, but still. Even the Apple headset is difficult to pair with the iPhone, thats a problem.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 15th 2008 12:33PM]

I've never had a problem pairing a phone w/ a headset...and I've had 5 different earpieces and 8 different phones in the last two years.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 17th 2008 4:50PM]

the question is would you pay to see some sucker take his iphone into bestbuy and try to pair it with a set jabra 8010s