New Wal-Mart Offering...

[derelicte]

Wal-Mart Offering Tv, PC, Home Theater Installation

Just screams "quality", don't it?

[Silo5]

Originally Posted by derelicte

Wal-Mart Offering Tv, PC, Home Theater Installation

Just screams "quality", don't it?

Wow!! Now they just need to add ISF Calibration!

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by derelicte

Wal-Mart Offering Tv, PC, Home Theater Installation

Just screams "quality", don't it?

I really wonder just how often they will do the "follow-up visit." Once they are finished, I bet they high-tail it out of there in a cloud of dust to never be seen or heard from again.....

[VinnAY]

I can see plenty of the rank and file user looking for help, of course it sounds likes a scam to us hobbyists.

[connect42]

Wow, people here sure are crazy.

I think it is a good thing they are offering these services. I know people who would use them and would be very happy with a simple set-up.
Would I use them? No, and I don't need to.

[SlmShdy1]

I bet they'll be outsourcing to an installation company they've hired.

Edit: I guess I should've read the link first. That's exactly what they're doing.

[cathexist]

Originally Posted by connect42

Wow, people here sure are crazy.

I think it is a good thing they are offering these services. I know people who would use them and would be very happy with a simple set-up.
Would I use them? No, and I don't need to.

It's a good thing for wal-mart financially...but unless they get some better people to actually work for them, it's going to be the blind leading the blind.

[slaizer2000]

I wonder what nationallity the 8 year old kid will be that comes to my house in a walmart uniform.

[bhampton]

Ha,.. I would be dreading that follow up visit. Sounds scary.

-Brian

[K_Williamson42]

Might not be a bad idea for those that are out there that just want a simple setup and arent technologically sound. Working at a movie rental store, I get asked a ton of questions about this and that, primarily why there player wont play this movie but plays that....and also what the new technology is all about. So from the walmart standpoint, sure is a good way to make some money off the consumers who just want to watch a hi-def movie and not care about all the rest of the sweet features of blu-ray!

[Propellarhead9]

It will be a good thing for the joe shmoe consumer that doesn't know much about the product they are buying.

[billt928]

That just scares me, More than the sales guy I overheard giving the Monster sales pitch to a old couple at Best Buy today.

So the $99 gets you exactly what, They take it out of the box, and as mentioned they take the box away. Plug it in and tell you how to use the basic remote functions. I'm sure after Walmart takes there cut of the $99. exactly how much service do you get for whats left from a professional installer or are you going to get some kid working for minimum wage. That was pushing Monster Cables last week and has no real clue why other than what the rep told him or he read on the package.

I'm not bashing Monster here, just how some retail stores push them, and the thought of Walmart getting in the game can push this to a whole new level.

[derelicte]

What scares me is the number of times I've seen a TV (in Wal-Mart, Futureshop, Best Buy) showing off some "demo material" where the player output or TV input is improperly set up ("why are all the people in the movie short & fat?").
I can just imagine the pimply teenager setting up someone's TV at home - "don't worry about it - that's what HD is supposed to look like. See, it fills the whole screen, doesn't it?".

Of course, if they do the basics right and get people up & viewing hi-def properly, then I'm all for it. The more Joe Shmoes get hooked on blu-ray, the more they'll buy/rent - the faster our favorites will get released on BR! If Lucas and Spielberg know that millions will buy it, maybe they'll unlock the vaults and make us all happy...
For the time being I'll remain cautiously optimistic (and continue to educate my friends/colleagues as best I can).

[Propellarhead9]

I would hope that there is at least some industry certification that the installers will have to get.

[derelicte]

Originally Posted by Propellarhead9

I would hope that there is at least some industry certification that the installers will have to get.

One would hope. But will the average Wal-Mart consumer know to ask for that?

Okay, which of the blu-ray.com members will take the $99 hit and run the poor guy through the ringer?

[Yautja]

What's with all the walmart stuff ???
Im Australian so Im just wondering

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by derelicte

One would hope. But will the average Wal-Mart consumer know to ask for that?

Okay, which of the blu-ray.com members will take the $99 hit and run the poor guy through the ringer?

I was wondering the same thing, but I'm not sure I would buy anything Wal-mart would need to install, let alone consult me on.

[cojake]

This makes me kind of sad. I worked for Magnolia Hi Fi for 12 years (9 before Best Buy bought them) It was a family run quality business. We like to say we were the "Nordstroms" of electronics retailers.
Our sticker prices would sometime scare people away because of store like Walmart and the internet selling at such high voulme/low margin. We would price match and we had the authority to alter prices to compete for business.

What we did offer that you could not get at Walmart or on the net was Knolwedge, experience and passion for the products we sold. We owned the stuff we sold and knew how it worked. We had a top notch installation team. We offered service. It cost a little more sometimes, but I would gladly pay 15 dollars more for a set of speakers when the salesguy would spend all the time I needed to make up my mind. I would even stop by a customers house to make sure their stuff was dialed in properly. I took care of my customers because I wanted them to come back to me and they did. I have never had thast kind of customer loyalty that I had there.

The thouht of a 99 dollar service call and hook up by walmart scares the heck out me. By the time you pay a 2 man crew their wage and the cost of travel, fuel, insurance, truck maintenance you might break even. Yikes!! I would hate to see what you get.

[painted_klown]

Originally Posted by derelicte

Okay, which of the blu-ray.com members will take the $99 hit and run the poor guy through the ringer?

LOL!!! I would SERIOUSLY like to see a prominent and super tech savvy member of this forum do just that.

I know it sounds a bit cruel but this would be a really interesting experiment into this service. Perhaps we are mistaken and the workers contracted to do these installations really do know what they are doing.

I used to install cable and we were told that if the customer wanted us to hook them up through a VCR, receiver, DVR, ect...that we were to not do it. The only thing we could do was run the line into the room and straight to the t.v. So I can imagine that will be the case here. Very basic sevice only.

More than likely it will be older couples having a guy come in to run the HDMI cable to their new t.v. I doubt that most people seriously into home theater are purchasing their gear at Wal-Mart...in fact I am not completely sure if Wal-Mart even sells the gear needed to put together a decent home theater system.

[Nick4Blu_81]

As a licensed Electrician, this is the part that I find interesting: "A premium TV service that costs $339 will also offer wall mounting, concealed in-wall wiring and setting up two additional A/V components." I can guarantee that a Wal-Martian is not qualified/certified/licensed to do this.