Best Buy extends their stellar, untarnished brand name into consumer electronics
posted Oct 4th 2004 12:28PM
Mmmm. More Best Buy for us.
Finally, we can all own products with Best Buy's own brand slapped right on the front. Their new in-house
Insignia brand will include TVs, appliances, and computers—in other words, Best Buy is cutting out the middleman and is
having random companies in South Korea and Taiwan make cheap PCs and TVs for them. As you wander the aisles looking for
a new laptop, some pimply boy in blue will approach you, with something along the lines of, "So, you're looking
at the new Vaios, huh? Pretty nice, right? Check out this even newer Insignia - you can only get it at Best
buy, too." Oh joy of joys. Which reminds us that Best Buy tried this once before with their vpr Matrix line of
PCs, and in fact the new Insignia PCs will still include the vpr Matrix logo, but real small and in the corner just in
case those of you who became fans of that brand lose any faith in the new line of products. For those of you ready to
get up and buy, the new Insignia line includes two Intel Pentium 4 processor desktop PC models, priced at $559 and $659
before rebates (that you may or may not ever get), respectively, and a $109 17-inch CRT monitor
to go with them. It also includes a 23-inch LCD television for $1,499, and two portable DVD players, which offer 7-inch
or 10-inch screens and sell for $229 and $449, respectively. Go get 'em!
For those of us still waiting for our $150 5-megapixel Gateway camera that was "In Stock" to be removed from eternal back-order, (Thanks a lot Engadget ...hehe )this is VERY good news! Maybe the order will be replaced with a $250 Best Buy brand one instead!!
This is hardly a new sales strategy for a large retailer, they're called house brands. All the major department stores have/had them.
Back in the day, I worked for the dominant HiFi retailer in California, Pacific Stereo ( no longer with us, management drugged themselves into bankruptcy). We had three house brands. Transaudio, Quadraflex and Concept (don't you just love those 70's names). Care to guess which brands were favored by us salespeople?
Anyway, while the entry and mid level products were pretty much junk, the "high" end was quite nice; it was built by Sanyo. One of my friends still enjoys his Concept 2.0 stereo reciever after 30 years.
...when CompUSA started building their build-to-order systems, hah.
Shall we start taking bets on what will be worse, their customer service, products or just a visit to their migraine center, er, I mean store.
I bought my vprMatrix 17" LCD from BestBuy when they had to cover demand for another LCD that was on sale. It was fairly cheap (plus had a rebate), and is actually a rebadged Samsung.
It's much better in quality than I had expected... even the color is spot on. Not saying that their new brand will follow the same vein, but y'never know what's under the skin.
I have that monitor too, love it a lot. Not quite as good of response time as I might like for gaming, but other than that its wonderful. The $160 rebate didn't hurt that either.
I have owned a 17" and a 15" VPR Matrix and have to say they are still one of the best laptops I have ever owned (including two tibooks, an HP and now a gateway). The only consistent problem I had with them was the power terminal shorting out after a while. Looking forward to checking these Insigna machines out.
I love Best Buy but I often absolutely refuse to go because they have so few cashier check outs! They have only about 3 open on even holidays and the lines end up wrapping around the entire store! Oy.
Am considering buying Best Buy's INSIGNIA pentium 4 desktop....anyone have any advice on that? Thanks
I just had to return two Insignia 26" LCD TVs. The first one was DOA. The second one worked ok but I found that when using component video the screen would go black for 1 to 2 seconds every 30 to 40 minutes. This happened on both my cable box and on my DVD player. I even tried the high priced Monster component video cables to fix this to no avail. I am now owning a Sony Wega LCD TV. To Best Buy's credit, they took both Insignia TVs back - they grilled me on the second one. It is interesting to note that the stores have 4 Insignia units on hand but they have to get the other brands in from the warehouse in 3 to 5 days.
Typing on a vpr Matrix 1620 (desktop) right now... 3 Years later, I still consider it one of my best buys ever. (Sorry about the pun, I swear it was unintentional)
I would stay as far away from vpr Matrix/Insignia products as possible if I were you. vpr Matrix and Insignia are one and the same; they only changed the name of the company.
My wife has a vpr Matrix 180B5 laptop that suffered damage from one of the hinges becoming so stiff that it broke through the back of the case, which is apparently a manufacturing defect that affects nearly every single one of them manufactured (look at what comes up on Google when you search for "180B5 hinge" http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=180B5+hinge to see what I mean).
And to top it all off, even though manufacturing defects are explicitly covered by the Performance Service Plan that we purchased on the laptop when we bought it, they are refusing to repair it because it has physical damage as a result of the defect. I am going to be filing a lawsuit in small claims court next week, as well as filing a claim with the attorney general's office here in Arizona.
As a technician for best buy I can tell you first hand that on the outside the new insignia's have the same look as the VPR's but the quality is much better. I the new VPR's have Intel branded motherboards (not some generic board with an intel chipset I beleve its the GBF865 if you want to look at the specs on Intel's site) The burners are usually Liteon, Sony, or Pioneer (no lite-on is not a best buy brand, its a name brand that is very reputable). The hard drives as before with the VPR's are Western Digital although this time they are the Special editions with an 8 MB cache instead of the usual 2MB cache) the Processors are only Pentium 4's no Celerons. And the the drivers are not Best buy generated drivers they are from the manufacturer of the components (generic drivers). And no they are not built in store. They do not come with extra software, only restore disks. which is great if you have all the office applications that you need. And as far as the pimply kid with the goofy lines don't be so hard on them, its just a job and much of what they have to say is required of their job (and very much monitored by their supervisor), remember best buy is a business and like all business want to make money and be successful. To be honest Insignia is one of the best computers I've looked in, very well thought out design, quality parts, but like everything that can be defects, I've had the best branded parts go bad on me after a week before, processors dead on arrival, it doesn't mean the the brand is the problem, you just get a bum part every once in a while. If you don't like rebates, fine, don't get products that have them, save up a little more money and get something that will suit your needs. Personally I hate rebates and try not to buy anything that has them, if you fill everything out correctly though you will get your money back...I just hate the wait. I can't vouch on the other insignia products since work only on computers but the computers are fine much better than the VPR's. Also just friendly suggestion, not even from a best buy standpoint, get a battery backup (UPS), clean your computer regularly(dust kills), be careful browsing the web, always have microsoft updates, and updated virus software. And remember be nice, if you ever have worked sales you know you have to give your pitch, but be patient, listen, ask questions if you want, just don't be agrivated with the employee for doing their job.
I bought an Insignia 26" widescreen HDTV on Sunday and am very happy with it. It's about $100 cheaper than a comparable Samsung or Toshiba with as good or better picture. I read elsewhere that this may be a re-badged Sansui model. It lacks a digital interface (HDMI/DVI) so that would account for some of the price difference but, realistically, I didn't think I would make use of this before I shifted this TV to the bedroom and eventually bought something bigger for the living room. It's attractive and the built-in digital tuner decodes many of the digital/HD channels available over Comcast cable without the need of a converter box or any additional charges. No OTA HD antenna needed!
Don't buy Insignia brand unless you spring for the extended warranty. I am a servicer for Best Buy, And CANNOT get replacement parts for these sets!
I bought a 26" Insignia LCD TV for $1200 but did not purchase the $300 Service agreement. 7 months later, the picture went out and Best Buy has had it for 2 months now with no end in sight. They say they can't get parts. They say I should have bought the service agreement which is really a bribe to get them to move faster. A brand new TV and you can't get parts???? For 2 months????? Give me a break. Circuit City, CompUSA and Fry's now get my business.
My son's Insignia TV, model ISTV040925, just went out after barely four months. The TV had a 90 day warranty. They purchased it at Best Buy. Best Buy's response so far is that they should have purchased the $60 warranty protection when they bought the TV. I don't get it! I have had many TVs over my 57 year life, and they have all lasted 10 to 20 years. I have never heard of a TV with a 90 day warranty - unless the product quality is so poor that the manufacturer and retail store can't support it. Tough Luck is Best Buy's approach. If this is what Best Buy calls customer service - then Circuit City, here I come.
Here is an update on the Best Buy Insignia TV. My son went back to Best Buy and spoke to the store manager - a decent and smart guy. The manager gave them a store credit for the purchase price of the bad TV, and they purchased a new JVC and paid the difference. This basically reversed a negative situation and restored my confidence at Best Buy. A word to the wise - Insignia probably is not the most reliable TV; so if you're planning to purchase one, get the warranty agreement.
I am going though the same thing on the same model Insignia. I am being told basically the same thing on "You should have bought the warranty". My set went out about three and a half months after I bought it and the customer service at Insignia would NOT talk to the service company I took it to...the SAME service company BestBuy told me to take it to. They told the service co. that they did not talk to the service companies about warranty issues and they would only talk to the customer directly. I now am the proud owner of a four month old 32" paper weight with a 9" Magnavox (mfg date of 1990 btw) sitting on top of it. I will NEVER buy a "BestBuy/Insignia" product again and I recommend that others not buy them either. They are JUNK.
I just bought an Insignia model IS-TV040926 32"
flat screen and am trying to find out who manufatured it. I want to set other remote controls to operate it if possible.
Bought a Insignia 26" TV in late August it stopped working in early November, we took it back and asked if we could get credit for the purchase price if we bought a much more expensive TV, No they were not willing to do that, it was supposed to be fixed after 2 weeks but now they say a month maybe. My question is do I turn this TV on and off repeatedly or do I turn it on and let it go, steer clear of this brand we were not the only ones at the store that day.Did you know in WI the "lemon law" for tv's is 4 times broken in 12 months, more than a car. We went to Circuit City and bought a new TV. I think I am done with Best Buy
I am another buyer of insignia 32" TV model #IS-TV040925. We bought it in June 2005 and it died on November 2005. It was working fine, we figured if it lasted two years we would have got our money's worth, but no go. We came home one day and turned it on, only didn't get a picture, could hear the audio though. Turned it on and off a couple of times and then it died. Now you only get a buzzing sound. That is a buzzing sound all the time! We had to unplug it thinking it might be a fire hazard! I do not reccomend this model at all! Beware! My husband is going to try to go to the Best Buy store we purchased from, I will update later.
i just bought the Insignia 26HDTV Flat tube...and I'm thinkin about returning the TV. The call center is useless when it comes to getting any information. Right now I have a universal remote and I was wondering if anyone knows how to get the component cables to work. I have two sets hooked up to the HD/DVR Cablebox and another set to the DVD player. How do i get the components to work in order to get my HD channels? PlEASE ADVISE!!!!
Do you know anything about the Insignia 1000 Watt Home Theater System? How does it compare to the name brands? The specs look good, but I don't know about the reliability and the quality.
I just bought the Insignia 7" portable DVD player. The guy at BestBuy said it was manufactured by Sharp. Is this true? Does anyone know? I almost bought the more expensive Zenith 7" portable, but the same guy said that the Insignia had a better picture on it's build in screen. It works great...So far!
Here's some advice on the Insignia desktop:
I bought an Insignia 400a desktop about a year ago, and am very satisfied with it. PC Magazine did a review on it which pretty much tells the gist of the system. Let me say some bad points before the good.
It's performance is a bit lacking (if you're playing computer games), however if you're just using it to surf online and/or do office worksheets like excel, powerpoint, etc. and maybe burn/play DVDs/CDs (that's what I mostly do) then it's more than enough. I must say though, I have to set the performance in the systems icon to "adjust best for performance" to improve speed; setting to "adjust best for appearance" or "let windows choose..." did give me some problems with response times. Games can obviously still be played on the computer, but just realize you're not going to be running any high-end computer game with todays graphics like Doom3, Quake or whatever.
Upgradability is not very good. The motherboard is an Intel D845GVSR, and if you know anything about that type of motherboard, you'd know that it has no AGP slot for graphics, can only hold up to P4's with 800Mhz Front Side Bus (FSB) and supports I think up to 277Mhz RAM. But hey, the case looks nice and very spacious.
I'll tell you why I'm satisfied with it. For one, I don't plan on upgrading it. Never, or at least, not in a very long time. I mostly do just basic computing stuff so I have no need for any higher performance gains. It's actually very stable. I ran many computing stress tests with stress applications and all of them passed. I never really had any major problems with it to warrant a call to their services. I have a one year warranty, but that year is almost up, so far it's still running perfectly fine, but you never know what will happened after that warranty is up.
It comes with DVD playback software, burning software, and MS works 7.0, that's pretty much it. It's not your typical computer that comes with a whole bunch of useless and some useful software (like anti-virus). I bought it since I already have anti-virus software, firwalls, anti-spyware and other various necessary software.
The hard drive is large 180GB. This is useful for me since I'm a Computer Scientist and have lots of tools and other operating systems on the computer. For those tech-savvy people out there, I created a dual-boot with linux fedora 3 and Windows XP, partitioned at 80GB each.
Good points:
- stable, reliable.
- large hard drive.
- performance is just fine.
Bad points:
- limited upgradability.
- Got to make a few tweaks for full performance gain (very minor problems).
Bad or good:
- doesn't come with much software (depends on how you look at it).
Really, it fits perfectly in my own situation. You need to assess which computer is right for you. This is called being a smart consumer and having a little computer parts knowledge in buying a computer. Hope this helps anyone.
Sorry, I meant 160GB hard drive, not 180GB.
You're never going to believe this. I bought a 24" Insignia flat screen "out of the box" around 2 months. Today I went to manually turn the volume down on the tv, I got an electric shock as I touched the volume button, and the tv dropped dead. The screen became blue and the channel is now stuck on 4. I had to pull the plug to turn the set off. Now, its not working, just the blue screen is on displaying channel 4 and its on continuously. Of course I didn't purchase any warranty...who expects that a brand new tv will have problems like this after just a few months. After reading the above comments, I'm afraid that my tv won't get repaired and I'm now out $150. Well, tomorrow I'll go to Best Buy and see what will happen. If anyone had a similar problem, I would like to know how they resolved their problem. Thanks
I bought an Insignia 26" LCD high definition TV from Best Buy. It was an open box and was marked down some. It had a remote with the tv but I got it mounted on the wall. and tried the remote and it would not operate the tv. Went back to Best Buy to try to get a remote but no luck they kept the old remote and give me a cheap universal remote that would not operate it either. It is out of their hands they cannot do anymore. I can oder a remote from Remotes.com but it will cost about $100.00. I would have been better off to have bought somewhere else.. The manager was no help at all. Will not go back there.
I am checking out the Insignia Brand because I'm just looking for an inexpensive 20" TV for my 10yr old sons room.It's about $50. cheaper than the Toshiba. Anyway, my comments are regarding the most recent comments about getting a bad set that dies right away. NOTHING is a dead deal unless you let it be. The squeaky wheel gets the grease...ask for the manager & demand they DO something. Trust me, they will not want the other customers to hear you speak about the 'bad' product very loudly. They WILL help you if you demand it. If you bow down...they will let you do that too. I'm the girl who gets refunds and makes returns when the big signs say "No Refunds/No Returns" Yeah, right. :>)
Update on my dead Insignia T.V. It's still dead, I took it back to the BestScrew I bought it from and I spoke with the little cashier at the returns desk, department manager, asst. manager and finally the store manager- who in turn sent me back to the department and had a sales associate "take good care of this gentleman and make sure he is happy." Bull-biscuits. When it was all said and done, they offered me a whopping $20 off the PURCHASE of a new television. This is even with the store having the same model STILL for sale in stock ( I know because I had them check ) No matter what I could say, the store manager REFUSED to take care of this squeaky wheel. As I was leaving I was horribly tempted to dump the tv out in the parking lot or at the front doors, but I figured the store dictator would call the police. I highly recommend buying anything other than Insignia anything. This is BestBull's house brand and good luck getting parts. Also, I have joined the ranks of http://www.bestbuysux.org/ 's completely UN-satisfied anti-bb customers. I recommend this site for anyone considering a purchase at BestWeasels. You have a better chance of being taken care of at a garage sale. In case youre wondering...Yes I took my experience at BestJerks personal. Have a great day and good luck!
Anyone have any comments on the Insignia INP4227 Plasma?....this is the more expensive Plasma of the Best Buy line....
I just bought Insignia 20" Flat TV from best buy in Brea, CA. Monitor stays on channel 3 and none of the buttons on TV work. Remote also does not work.. I am really disappointed with this product. I wonder whether they ever tested this particular piece in the factory..
Our 2 cents:
We too bought an Insignia brand 32" TV model #IS-TV040925 from BestBuy on May 28,2005. This TV quit working just before Christmas 2005, lasted almost 7 months ... We tried to return it to BestBuy to either get a refund or exchange for a working TV, but were told that since we didn't buy the service plan ... "tough" We also contacted the manufacturer, but got the same response from them ... So now we're the proud owners of a 114.8 Lb. paperweight ... We're the parents of Multiple Multiples and can't afford to throw away $$$ on junk products! We will no longer shop @ BestBuy.