Best Buy? This is strike two...

Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 16, 2006 11:30PM

(Strike one was when I was lied to about their 'extended service' plans, another story for another day)

So I go online this morning to check the price of a TV I am going to buy for my Dad. It was $189.99 on the website. I go into the store, get the TV, go to the check-out and they ring up the price as $199.99. I say wait a minute, the price should be 189, I checked it on the website this morning to be sure. The cashier says "We don't match the prices on our website".
Can you believe that? This is fraud. I tell her I think that is stupid, this is the exact same TV as on the website, why should I pay more for it simply because I didn't buy it online? She says if I had a print out of the page showing the price then I could get the lower price.
Of course I had my dad with me right there, and it was his birthday am I'm not gonna go home empty handed, so I manage to get out of her that if I come back with a printed page with the lower price on it I can be refunded the difference.

Ridiculous.
It's not like we're comparing your price to a local competitor, because IT'S THE SAME FREAKIN' STORE. Nothing I saw on the website says you have bring in proof to get the advertised price that they publish themselves. I would have bought it online if I had known, or better yet I would not have even come to Best Buy in the first place because I didn't want to pay that price for that TV anyway!

Thanks for saving me a trip. /sarcasm Now I have to go back again to get my lousy $10.

Spearmint, can I hire you to go all vigilante on Best Buy?

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: The Grim Ninja

Date: July 16, 2006 11:41PM

Keep in mind that it's a two-way street...

They had a pair of Cerwin Vega speakers listed at $199 a Pair online. They're really $199 each. I bought online, took the printout to the store, they weren't ready, so I just picked them up off the floor and bought/pricematched them, canceled the order.

I ended up with $400 worth of speakers for $200.

Then there was also the time I got 512 MB of DDR RAM for free. Instantly.

(up to $90 off RAM purchase with purchase of RAM + Installation) I just bought it and filled out the installation info that I would bring my computer in later. Gave them the address/phone number of my old house which was demolished. Walked out with 100% free RAM.

I only go into Best Buy to screw them over. I hate them.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: JoeH

Date: July 16, 2006 11:43PM

Worst Buy has had three strikes from me for a long time. Have not bought a single item from them in over two years. In fact they ticked me off enough the last time I took everything that I had bought from them recently and returned it. Ended up getting it all for less elsewhere anyways. Good luck getting the refund, I have heard of similar situations and they did not honor their own webprice.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: ztirffritz

Date: July 16, 2006 11:47PM

Just buy it online and pick it up at the store.

**************************************
MacResource User Map: [www.zeemaps.com]#

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 16, 2006 11:52PM

Quote
The Grim Ninja
I only go into Best Buy to screw them over.

I may have a new hobby.

I knew a guy who did get them good one time-
He bought a very expensive in-dash car CD player on ebay, it was used and actually didn't work right once he got it. Since they carried that same unit at Best Buy, he supposed that it would be possible for him to buy a new unit from BB, then simply return the defective one for a full refund. End result is a brand new unit for whatever he paid for the used/broken one off ebay.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2006 12:08AM by mikebw.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Baby Tats

Date: July 17, 2006 12:04AM

Quote
ztirffritz
Just buy it online and pick it up at the store.

I think the point of Mike's story was that he didn't. BUT he shouldn't need to. I am sure that given what he knows now, he will either buy it online for in-store pickup or, more likely, take his business elsewhere even if he has to pay more.

You have to understand that many people, myself included, loathe entering a bunch of freaking information into a web browser (a monster and perpetual database) when they still have to go to the store to get the item. It is easier to just hand them cash, check, a gift certificate, or your card when you are there. Maybe they have an open box of that or another model. Maybe they have an instore only sale that wasn't available on the web. I never do the buy online, pick up in the store unless it is the only way I can get that price. Then again, I never go to the store without a print out of the page either. I was once accused at Sears of doctoring a web page printout to get a lower price- it was $50 cheaper than the instore price but they gave it to me eventually.

BT

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Seacrest

Date: July 17, 2006 12:07AM

Quote

Here's what I call my low price tip. If you are in search of the absolute lowest price on something. Strike up a coversation one of the employees and only sound moderately interested. Let them feel like they are really selling you. Go ahead and listen to their speech about all the accessories and performance service plans. Then act like your sold and ask the sales person to check with their manager and find out what the best price could be if you were to buy the product, the service plan, and all the accessories. If they think you are going to buy all of it they will drop the price on the product. Then when you get ready to ring it all up say that you changed your mind and all you want is the product itself. They have no recourse but to sell it to you for the price that they already gave you. If they do have the balls to try and change it back to full price ask for that person's name and tell them you are going to report them. They will usually change their mind because if they changed the price solely based on the fact that you were buying service plans and accessories they did something known in the Best Buy world known as "in-boarding" which is an immediately terminable offense. You end up getting a really low price on your product. If by chance you want to know how low they can go on something sneak up to a register and read down on the bottom of the screen, it should have an option to push F4 to check employee price, go ahead and push F4, it will ask for an employee number, just type in 1 and hit enter. Then type in the SKU number of the product you want to check (the SKU number is generally a 7 digit number located in small print on the price tag, it will generally begin with a 3, 4, or 5) or if you can scan the UPC you can do that instead. The employee price will then pop-up the screen. Employee price is usually 5% above the cost of the product, so now you know exactly what is a good deal and what is not.

[www.ihatebestbuy.com]

I am not Ryan Seacrest, and I do not approve this message.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Baby Tats

Date: July 17, 2006 12:14AM

Could be worse. I remember this story about Fry's. I think this was the original telling of it.

[forums.dealmac.com]

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 17, 2006 12:21AM

I had actually considered paying online in case they were low on stock so I could potentially reserve one for myself. But then I remembered a story someone told me about Fandango, where they paid for a bunch of tickets online for a movie, but then when they got there the people at the theater had no idea what Fandango was and least of all were going to just give him tickets to a movie. He ended up having up pay for more tickets so he wouldn't miss the movie.

So, considering that I decided it would be less hassle to just go in the store and pay for it there since I would have to physically go there anyway to pick it up. Plus, I hadn't actually seen this model in person and usually like to do so before paying for an item.
>>
Seacrest, a good tip, but in my case since I was shopping for a less than $200 TV I don't think I could have paid for worse customer service. If you're not ooh-ing and aww-ing in front of a 50" DLP or plasma you're not going to get the time of day from any employee. There are virtually no employees in the area of the store where these models are on display, in fact it was so well hidden that I had to ask where I might find a 20" CRT TV. I understand they want to push the flat screen technology, in fact I'm suprised they even carry CRT based TV's at all anymore. So anyway, to finish my thought- I don't think I could have used that strategy because they didn't seem to care that I was interested in buying that TV to begin with, much less to try and sell me any accessories for it. In the future though, I might give it a shot, just for fun...

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Mike Johnson

Date: July 17, 2006 12:57AM

Yeah, well, that's SOP, and it's stupid, but it's not fraud. Fry's works the same way, as does Home Depot. If they give you the ten bucks, they'll be bending the rules for you. They really truly aren't supposed to PM the website, even if you have proof.

So with Best Buy (and Home Depot), at least you have a fighting chance of getting them to PM the web site. Some locations will, some won't. Some managers will, some won't. And with Best Buy, you can buy it online and pick it up locally. It's a bizarre loophole, and one I have availed myself of after several failed attempts to get them to PM the website. Of course, I've always tried it when it was more like a $200 price difference, not $10.

Printing out the web page is a pain, and especially goofy at a place like Best Buy where of course a manager has access to the web. It's dumb, too, when you consider how easy it would be to tweak the printout to edit the price. Not that I would or ever will do this, or condone it. That'd be theft. And I bet if you tried it, the manager would try to verify it before calling the cops on you. Which he would do, and good for him, you lousy stinking theeeeef.

I hate Best Buy because they bought Pacific Sales, which was the best place to buy appliances in Southern California, bar none. Great service, great prices. How that's supposed to fit with Best Buy I'll never understand.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2006 01:01AM by Mike Johnson.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 17, 2006 01:16AM

I agree that $10 may be trivial, but I just don't understand how they can charge more than their advertised price.

When I worked at a computer store (apple reseller) the sales manager would say that we could charge a customer whatever price we wanted, as long as it was not more than our advertised price.

The BestBuy website is advertisment for the products they sell, so if they post a price on it then, according to my logic, then they MUST sell it to me for no more than that price. It just doesn't make sense any other way.

It certainly irked me that it was outside the realm of the cashier to be able to verify a price on the very website of the store that we are standing in, the establishment that employs this person, the one that sells the product I want to buy.

I have my print out now, and I plan on going back for my $10. It's really not worth my time, but it is worth it to me in principle at this point.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: TL

Date: July 17, 2006 01:26AM

BestBuy's pricematch policy:

"What if I find a lower price at a local Best Buy store or BestBuy.com?

If you find a lower price on BestBuy.com or at another local Best Buy store either at the time of your purchase or within 30 days of your purchase (14 days for desktop computers, notebooks, projectors, monitors, printers, camcorders, digital cameras and radar detectors), we will refund you 100% of the difference. The extra 10% of the difference does not apply. (Web exclusive offers advertised on BestBuy.com are not eligible for price matches.)"

[www.bestbuy.com]

A call to corporate might be in order. You may, if you play up the hassle, get a gift card out of the ordeal.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: TL

Date: July 17, 2006 01:28AM

Quote
mikebw
The BestBuy website is advertisment for the products they sell, so if they post a price on it then, according to my logic, then they MUST sell it to me for no more than that price. It just doesn't make sense any other way.

Your logic isn't every store's logic. Some chains specifically exclude pricematching their own website. That's fair, I think, as long as they are clear about that exclusion. In Best Buy's case, however, their policy does include PMing their own website without the 10% "bounty" that PMs to other retailers would ordinarily get.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 17, 2006 01:38AM

Yes, if it were clear that I need proof or that I shold just buy it online I would have done that. Thanks for the info.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: ADent

Date: July 17, 2006 02:25AM

They have been doing this for a long time.

About two years ago went to buy HD and no rebate in store. Looked around and realized it was an online deal. Almost ordered it at the store, but not sure if there was a key logger or what on their public terminal.

Went home. Ordered it for store pickup. Picked it up the next day and got the rebate.

Also back then I was getting better prices on my computer than at the store, at work, whatever. I had bought a couple of things online (free shipping) and guess I was due for a couple of percent extra on some stuff.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: ADent

Date: July 17, 2006 02:28AM

PS You should buy from Office Depot.

You can pay online with a coupon or whatever for local pickup - and the local store will refuse to give it to you - even though you have already paid for it.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 17, 2006 02:45AM

Quote
ADent
PS You should buy from Office Depot.

You can pay online with a coupon or whatever for local pickup - and the local store will refuse to give it to you - even though you have already paid for it.

That sounds like what I feared would happen had I paid online.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: shadow

Date: July 17, 2006 06:35AM

Quote
mikebw
The BestBuy website is advertisment for the products they sell, so if they post a price on it then, according to my logic, then they MUST sell it to me for no more than that price. It just doesn't make sense any other way.

Not that I want to defend Best Buy, but even if this were true, on the bottom of EVERY page on their web site, it says:

Online prices and selection generally match our retail stores, but may vary. Prices and offers are subject to change.

- Shadow

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 17, 2006 07:33AM

aah that was just added recently.

hmm, they must be watching this thread...

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: JPK

Date: July 17, 2006 08:30AM

Strike two?????

Best Buy struck out for me years ago. I have not been in a Best Buy in years!

I could live with the incompetance and pimply faced sales people, but when they screwed me over on an a return of an out of the box non working digicam I vowed to spend my and my company's money elsewhere.

Between personal and work stuff, I probably spent over $4k a year at BB.

They may not miss me or my business, but the feeling is mutual!

JPK

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Robert M

Date: July 17, 2006 08:41AM

Hi everyone,

Just want to point out something. Web stores and a retail brick and mortar locations of a store are often independent of each other. Meaning, they're owned by the same corporation but do not necessarily have to offer the same prices on identical items. They don't even have to offer the same products sometimes. Price matching iis another ballgame.

Mike did his homework on the web and I applaud him for that. I'd've done the same thing. However, it was Mike's responsibility to confirm the price on the item was the same at the brick and mortar prior to walking into the store. If it wasn't, then it was his responsibility to bring the printed page from the web site with him as a means of showing and then getting the lower price from the local location.

I can understand the frustration but the reality is that Best Buy did nothing wrong. I'd expect any brick and mortar shop to respond in the same way, be it Circuit City, Bed Bath and Beyond or even a local supermarket. That's why I always bring with me a hard copy of the web ad of any item I plan to purchase locally. You never know when a store will have a different price and/or be willing to priice match if and only if you have written proof of a lower price.

Robert

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: incognegro

Date: July 17, 2006 08:56AM

"Ten bucks is ten bucks, eh?" -- The McKenzie Brothers, SCTV

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 17, 2006 08:58AM

It's all true, but for me this is the first time I have had a problem with price matching online within a store so it was a suprise to me.
I guess what really had me was that I went to far as to add the item to the online cart and select the exact store I intended to buy it from to see if they had it in stock, and they did.
Even if the online business is separate from the actual store, they were drawing from the same stock, linked, and in this way are portrayed as one entity. I've learned not to trust this will be the case once I actually go anywhere now.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Robert M

Date: July 17, 2006 09:10AM

Mike,

They may not be drawing from the same stock. The web store may draw from an entirely different location.

Robert

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: mikebw

Date: July 17, 2006 09:16AM

Certainly if you bought it and had it shipped online, but if you buy it online and choose to pick it up in the store I can't imagine there would be a separate stock room at every store to draw from every time that happened. But then what do I know about BB's policies anyway. Smoke & mirrors...

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Robert M

Date: July 17, 2006 09:37AM

Mike,

My response about items moving from stock was directed to the following sentence in your post:

> "Even if the online business is separate from the actual store, they were drawing from the same stock, linked, and in this way are portrayed as one entity."

This is why I said the online store and the local store do not draw from the same stock. Buying online and picking it up locally is a different matter and the item will likely be removed from the stock from the local store. Not sure how they account for it, though.

> "Smoke and mirrors..."

I understand your frustration because I've been there myself at Circuit City, Best Buy, Bass Outlet and all too many other stores. Unfortunately, they are not accurate and because of that innapropriate. Best Buy did nothing wrong here even if it may seem like they skewed you.

Robert

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: $tevie

Date: July 17, 2006 09:55AM

Quality Paperback Book Club prices some items differently in their print catalog than on their web site. And they won't match one or the other if you hold your breath and turn blue. I see "book reviews" complaining about this all the time, but they don't seem inclined to change.

I think there are quite a few stores that have prices that vary from catalog to store to web site. I'm not saying that I like it, I am just saying that Best Buy is not the only company that does it.

It's funny, I have had nothing but great success shopping at Best Buy. Maybe someday something will go wrong, but until then I'm a happy camper.

BTW, I never pick up anything and take it to a cashier without looking at the price first.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: rgG

Date: July 17, 2006 10:50AM

I don't like Worst Buy either. One small story. I bought a CD. It was "supposed" to be "The best of the Beach Boys". When I got home it wasn't. It was some other band. The CD was printed as the Beach Boys, but it was recorded as some other band. You could not believe what I had to go through just to EXCHANGE the CD for one that really was the Beach Boys. They acted like I was trying to pull a fast one and even went to listen to the CD to make sure I wasn't lying. I didn't want my money back, I just wanted what I paid for and they still treated me like a criminal over one lousy CD. Sheeze.

So much for their customer service.

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Mactel

Date: July 17, 2006 11:12AM

I went to Circuit City the other day to buy a dvd player. I picked out the one I liked and went over to their one computer that is online and went to their website to read the review before buying it. It got great reviews but I saw that they had a web sale only rebate on the unit. I promptly returned the unit to the shelf and went home and ordered it on their website. The rebate didn't specify if I could pick it up in store or not so I had it shipped to me. I find this whole thing kind of retarded because it ended up costing CC more to ship me the unit with the rebate than it would have cost them to just have the special in store. I guess they figure most people don't research things they buy or need immediate gratification.

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Re: Best Buy? This is strike two...

Posted by: Rain

Date: July 18, 2006 02:35PM

Their retail stores have one of the worst return policies in the industry!

Just make sure you will keep the item before you buy it
Rain

The Band: [www.rhythmandrain.com]

Thanks for everyone's help and support after Hurricane Katrina!

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