about a week ago, i was watching a podcast of digg.com’s diggnation when i heard an interesting rumor. apparently, one of the top digg stories of that week had been the introduction of the possibility that everyone’s friendly, neighborhood best buy franchise was cheating people out of deals it advertised on its website by showing different prices in the store.
well, you may think that is not too bad, but there’s more.
apparently, customers would see the price for an item on best buy’s website and go to the store to pick it up. they would then see that the price in the store was, maybe, about $100 more. they would then confront a salesperson claiming ‘i just saw this tv on your website for $100 bucks less’. the salesperson says ‘ok’ and directs the user to a computer with the ‘internet’. they then look at the product, and the price on the best buy screen matches what is in the store. what the customer doesn’t know is that the website they are looking at in the store is a separate secret website bestbuy purposely uses in the store to support their shady practices.
well, now, the courant online newspaper has reported that best buy has confirmed this reality.
while the obvious will point out that ‘just print out the price’ is a happy solution, why is it that i must even go through this charrade with a store i used to enjoy very much?
wow, super bogus indeed.
Kimberly Michelle
very bogus indeed, but if i saw something online i would just order it right then and there instead of going out of my way to drive to the store and get it. online shopping is the bomb.
March 3, 2007 at 2:01 pm
JC
Best Buy is the roxxors. Stop slandering my favorite store!!! And yeah, like Kim said, order the joint for store pick-up and problem is solved. But yes, uber shady indeed.
March 6, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Fredric
indeed.
March 6, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Justin
Actually. The website specifically states if the sale price is “In Store Only” or “Online Only”. We dont show all instore sale prices online because a Best Buy in Seattle could have different sale then a store in Dallas. Also in our price match policy we state ” BEST BUY MATCHES BESTBUY.COM SALE PRICES”. Shady? People just want to think that stores that do very well are ripping them off. Get a life.
February 15, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Roger
I have bought items from Best Buy. It used to be a good store. Not any more. They cheat, lie, and rip off.
I bought warranties on vaccums, laptops, ipods, and other items. They just keep adding money you go back with any complaint and their customer service in the stores “sucks”. They should be thrown out…
and then if you question, they call cops on you..
July 28, 2008 at 1:56 pm