Best Buy's secret intranet site exposed
By Jeannie Choe 
posted Mar 3rd 2007 2:05PM
posted Mar 3rd 2007 2:05PM
Those looking for a good buy, nay, the best buy, would be wise to note Best Buy's recently exposed secret intranet site, allegedly used to prevent customers from reaping the benefits of discounts advertised on BestBuy.com. Two Connecticut stores denied customers of discounted prices advertised on BestBuy.com by referencing the visually identical intranet site, which doesn't always reflect the lowest prices. The site, quickly disclosed by a local publication, was then put under investigation, yielding vague answers from Best Buy and no clear explanation of why it even exists. Best Buy issued a statement assuring their intent was not to mislead the customer and that they are "reminding [their] employees how to access the external BestBuy.com web site to ensure customers are receiving the best possible product price." Whether or not Best Buy encourages the ol' switcharoo is still up in the air, with local officials' investigations being hindered by BestBuy's "fuzzy responses" -- but something tells us they're not to be trusted.
[Via Techmeme]
[Via Techmeme]
Calvin, do you know what "intranet" means?
If not, maybe you should go look it up before you make a fool of yourself on a public forum.
Do you know what intranet means. I guess not. YOU CANNOT AcCESS THE SITE FROM YOUR HOME COMPUTER! It can only be accessed at a Best buy store
With your kind of technical knowledge, you should get a JOB at BestBuy. You may be management material.
It's an Intranet site, we couldnt access it from home if we wanted to!
lol this guy should be a bestbuy employee...he has the knowledge necessary haha
The sad thing is that I totally believe they have to remind their employees how to access the internet. :)
Why wouldn't people just use the local pick-up option anyway since you can do that and ensure the price?
Best Buy's in-store pickup is horrible. It always takes me at least 4 hours to get the confirmation email. Circuit City and CompUSA are light years ahead in this department.
Most of the time, the employees do know to check the external website, but I have had one not do that.
Wow. Are you defending them? Why should anyone HAVE to do that in order to get the price that can be verified on the external site (and on the registers by the way)? They're shady, and have been for some time. If you do some research, you will see that Best Buy has a terrible reputation; things seen/heard of, and unseen/unheard of to the public. Many State Attorney Generals DO NOT like Best Buy's business practices and haven't for years. Ohio's actually sued them for something (lemon policy & honoring warranty issues).
Intranet sites can only be accessed from inside store. The mere fact that it is made to look identical to the website, with the intent to get customers, who at that point are already there with the intent to buy, to pay a little extra to turn a larger profit, is FRAUDULENT and UNETHICAL period.
I know the store is cool and all, but its like defending the crime of a superstar athlete simply because he's famous. It's silly.
That is false, in most cases. Their store and their website are like 2 different stores. So what you do, you buy the thing full price at the store, then a day or 2 later you print out the advertised lower price from their website and then show it to them up front at the cashier along with the receipt. They will accept the print-out as a COMPETETERS DISCOUNT. and also give you an aditionsl 10% off that. I got a Zen Vision: M their for 249.99 at bestbuy in store. Then a day later brought the printout and they straight out gave me 70 bucks back.
If you dont want to go through the hassle of driving to town 2 times to get 1 item. Just bring the printout to the store the day you purchase your item, you will not get the additional 10% but you will get the lower price. again, The treat their website and their in-store AS 2 DIFFERENT STORES. they even compete with eachother, its an odd concept. just get used to printing out the price/sale you see online and bring it upfront. Sure its a hassle, but it beats waiting for shipping. and quite often their sales are good. like the Zen VIsion: M i bought. I saved 50 bucks from the printout sale, then the 10% (20) ADDITIONAL SAVINGS...
What's the site?
Intranet site. We cannot access from our home computers.
This is really bad and Best Buy needs to be put through the ringer over this one.
I got my Zen Vision M from Bestbuy. it was 200 online and when I went in the store it was 250. The lowest that they would go was 215 not 200
same thing happened to me. I went to buy the sony alpha as a package w/ lens that i saw online...went there, i was told no. I said "it's online" and the guy took me to the comp and logged into something that looked IDENTICAL to the site. i looked at the URL and saw that it obviously wasn't the .com site. Having watched tv all my life and my sister being a lawyer, i knew that is definitely not ok. I told the guy, "do you want me to go to bestbuy.com on my phone and show you?" as i pulled out my BB pearl. He then proceeded to say "no no, thats ok" as he logged into the regular bestbuy.com site on the same computer where he found the package deal. lolol he thought i was a newb.
...shame on bestbuy. but, then again, you gotta love the rewards program. :-)
>> ...shame on bestbuy. but, then again, you gotta
>> love the rewards program. :-)
No, I don't. They have repeatedly made their rewards program anything but rewarding. It started out like "spend $100, get a $5 coupon." Then they moved to "spend $150 and get a $5 coupon, and we won't count any money you may get back as a rebate." Then they changed it to "spend $250 and get a $5 coupon." In case this isn't clear enough: Best Buy is telling you they would rather you find something for $5 cheaper at circuit city than spend $249 at their store.
F that. Rewardzone is useless. Oh, and the capper: when I called to complain after getting the second letter informing me of the "exciting changes" that they were making to make it harder to get coupons, the support person told me they increased the points required based on customer feedback. Yeah, I bet tons of customers called saying "it's too easy to earn rewards. You should make it cost more."
Whatever. As for price matching, the guy at best buy told me (when I was buying my TV) that they purely price match bestbuy.com and price match + 10% difference of price for competitors. And when I brought in a CC ad showing the same price that best buy.com had, they said they already price matched that price to BestBuy.com and so I couldn't get the 10%. This is on a plasma too, so the extra 10% would have been like $30.
Best Buy can go screw.
-p-
They've always been shady. I bought my sister a computer there once. Our salesperson kept going on about the extended service plan. I refused it. He said, "Well what if lightning strikes and it causes a surge and it blows the computer?" I said, "Well, then the surge-protector company owes us $250,000--in accordance with their guarantee." He said, "Well, what if it breaks?" I said, "We'll send it in for repair." He said, "What if the warranty has expired?" I said, "I'd diagnose the problem and fix it myself." Then, later, some other guy comes by and says, "Nice computer. Did you get the extended warranty?" Our salesperson says, "No. He didn't want it." Then guy #2 says, obviously shocked, "He's doesn't want it?!" I said, "No. I don't." Then HE laid into me about how I needed it. This went on for at least ten minutes as they were "readying" our computer and delivering it to the front of the store. Finally, when there were three salesmen surrounding us and grilling me about it, I snapped. I screamed, "I've had it up to HERE with your service plan!!!" One of the guys took off immediately. The other two looked down and a second slowly backed away. Finally, they shut up, though.
On a different occasion, I heard a salesman say to an elderly woman interested in purchasing a Sony television, "You really should get the extended service plan. Nowadays, these things break after a year or two. Sometimes they don't even last a full year..." I wondered to myself what the people at Sony would think of the way they were being represented by these clowns.
Dude - trust me , the performance plan is a scam. When they sell the performance plan they will give you tons of promises and when you go to use it - they will not honour it. I bought a PSP for my laptop and they gave me a lot of bla bla when they sold it to me. When my adapter stopped working, i took it to them and they told me they cannot cover it under PSP as they think it is User Damaged. I asked them who decides it is user damaged? they said best buy had the last say in this and if they decide it is User damaged then it IS user damaged. This was the second year of my PSP so even if i returned it, i would get back pennies. Dont buy from Best Buy and NEVER buy their performance plan
it's true....read best buy employee's comments here
http://www.retailworker.com/node/33404
Absolutely its purpose is to confuse the consumer. Over a year ago I needed to replace my DVD burner. I checked online and saw one on sale for $79. When I got to the store, it was $99 and the salesperson said it was not on sale. When I checked bestbuy.com at the store, it was indeed $99. I did not purchase it. When I returned home, I checked again and it was $79.
Be careful purchasing anything at best buy. After careful comparison shopping, you will find that they often charge higher than manufacturer's suggested retail on many items. For example: Apple's replacement earphones for the iPod (MA9394G) are $39.00 if purchased at an Apple store or online. At bestbuy.com the identical item is $49.99! Even the iPod's are priced $.99 more at the store or online than if you purchase directly from Apple.
Be careful. "Best Buy" is usually the worst buy.
Amen on charging higher than list !!! Watch them like a hawk. Many times you can get cables, accessories , etc. cheaper elsewhere.
Also , regarding that "web site", A few weeks ago I saw that BB showed stock on the Logitech Edge at 5 of the 6 local stores. When I went to one of the stores with stock, the associate pulled up the "same" web site that showed none of the stores carrying it. Thinking I had dreamed the whole thing up, I went home, pulled it up again, and sure enough, they were showing stock? What the f*k?!
My biggest beef with Best Buy....They sold me a $400 Video Card that only contained cables and software disks. That was about 6 years ago. Letters to BBB did no good (don't even bother with BBB) Yeah I got screwed, but I still shop there. Why??? Because I'm an electronics junky.
I work for them and i assure everyone it's not to mislead a consumer, it's there so when you hop on a computer it's the price you'd get in the store. if anyone doesn't show you the price you saw at home, it's complete error and not intentional (unless your best buy is malicious) i know the first time i did it was a mistake and my supervisor showed me the correct way
As a Best Buy Employee, I was never aware that the site existed, but it would make sense why I would be able to show a person that the online price is more than they are telling me it is.
Best advice: bring in a printout with a timestamp and show customer service.
I was (briefly) employed at Best Buy and I can say that there is NO WAY to access the external bestbuy.com site. the only thing you can access is the dupe site this article refers to.
terrible store, terrible sales people, terrible pay, terrible selection. I only buy from there when the price is so low that I know they're taking a loss on it.
Employees CAN access BestBuy.com (the real one) from the store, but customers cannot.
How ironic. I just recently experienced the woes of this site in my quest to purchase my new Canon PowerShot SD630. The price on the website was $60 less than the one in the store, and when I mentioned it, the sales associate checked BestBuy.com and told me I was mistaken. I drove all the way home, selected in store pickup, and brought the receipt and showed it to them. They said they had seen this happen before, and said they think that they have been denied seeing the web prices in order to keep the customer sale at the store at a higher amount. Now it's exposed, and hopefully, someone will do something about it.
I work at Best Buy. There are two sites that we can access from any of the Kiosks in the store. One is going to be the one that you see at your house and will show what we sell in the store as well as online-only deals. The other is the intranet site you can only see in the store, it shows different prices because in most cases you get free shipping. From what I understand, I think every store might have different prices on the intranet site. Im not sure, I've only worked at best buy for a few months. But from first hand experience, I know that we'll honor the lower price in the store as long as it's not a online only deal.
"i looked at the URL and saw that it obviously wasn't the .com site."
Ha...I'm surprised the didn't trick out their router/DNS to take requests for the internet URL to the shady in-house page...I mean in an ELECTRONICS store they'd have to expect at least some of their customers to have a modicum of computer/internet savy and notice something like that.
""do you want me to go to bestbuy.com on my phone and show you?" as i pulled out my BB pearl. He then proceeded to say "no no, thats ok" as he logged into the regular bestbuy.com site"
Double ha...I love it how the sales guy buckled like a belt. I actually applied for a part-time job at my local best buy while I was in college. I'm glad they never called back...
BestBuy.com and Best Buy are two separate companies with separate prices, etc. We used the site to allow people to see if we offer a product but the prices come in as the same as in-store prices. If someone asked, we'd tell them its not the real site, otherwise I didn't honestly care. Its not that hard to order it online and do a pick-up.
And whatever Best Buy actually says, most employees don't know. In the store I was in, I would say half if not more had zero idea, though it has been in effect for a very long time. Of course it is to confuse the customers. In that regard its a great idea. Power to them.
Just print the damn page and bring it into the store. Buyer beware, always!
Worked at best buy for two years. The bestbuy.com accessible by customers at all of the in-store kiosks reflects the prices that are printed on the signs in the store. This causes more harm than good because customers see a price online at home and arrive at the store expecting that price. Additionally, it is difficult for an employee (who doesn't know this) to access the "real" bestbuy.com to verify online prices.
It pisses off every customer.
I worked at Best Buy for about 1.5 years and most of the employees there had no idea that there was an internal website.
The bad thing about this is about a year or so ago Best Buy changed their price matching policy to include the prices on Bestbuy.com. Before this change the two (Brick & Mortar and Online) were seen as different entities and we normally not match the online price. I have seen a lot of comments about Bestbuy not responsible for matching their website price because they are two distinct entities. While this may be true for some retailers, BestBuy has specifically made it part of their policy to do so.
Whether it's ignorant employees or not, BestBuy has made a big mistake here. My brother just tried to get a price match the other day to BestBuy.com and they totally showed him their intranet price, which was $20 more. He called me and I told him to have them look the price up on one of the Geek Squad computers (these computers are not connected to the internal site). They, at first, looked at him like he was an idiot when he told them about the "intranet site", but they checked the price anyway. Low and behold, the Geek Squad computer reflected the lower price.
Anyway, now that this is out in the spotlight I'm sure the empluyees will be a little less ignorant.
"I worked at Best Buy for about 1.5 years..."
...now that this is out in the spotlight I'm sure the empluyees will be a little less ignorant."
Oh, the irony.
I worked in customer service at Best Buy for several years, and this is true. However, the price match policy only allows for them to match retail brick-and-mortar competitor prices, which does not include BestBuy.com. Think what you will of that policy, but stores are actually doing more than they should when they match the online price.
This is not exactly true. If you look at their Store Price Guarantee on their website, it states: If an item you purchased at Best Buy is advertised at a lower price at another Best Buy store in your local area or on BestBuy.com within 30 days of your original receipt purchase, Best Buy will refund you 100% of the price diffence. To bad the employees are not aware of this as I have been screwed before.
I work at Circuit City and we don't do anything like this. The only intranet site we have is one that employees can log in to to get accommodations, check benefits, download new sales info...it's all non-customer information. When we go online to check an online price...we go to circuitcity.com just like the customer does. 90% of the time we just price adjust the product to the web only price for the convenience of the customer, but thats just my store so others might not be so accommodating. I knew Best Buy was going to try and squash CCity with some big million dollar campaign but I didnt know that million would go towards a fake website.
I think they are doing the old switch and bait. Too bad too cause their service is ok compared to CompUSA (which normally doesn't use switch and bait).
When I happened to work there, oh about a year ago, to get to the customer bestbuy.com, we had to log in and go to some manufacturer's page and right click to get to a internet explorer error page. Finally from here, we could type in any url, which is blocked at every other place. I always used this method to price check bestbuy.com. I was even scolded by my some of my bosses (I think there were like 12) for using this method. I hate BestBuy and will never work there again.
I work at Best Buy and honestly it doesn't really affect the customer. You can only really access the site through the Employee Toolkit, so employees would be the ones logging onto it.
Just yesterday a guy came in looking for Casper. Casper is $9.99 on www.BestBuy.com (intranet and internet). It's $11.99 in the store. We price matched it for him and he got it for $9.99.
Real misleading. :O
This actually did happen to me with best buy. Their website "magically" updated prices from when I got up to go to the store and got to the store. god dammit.
As shady as this is, it's an incredible marketing tool and my only question is if there will be some kind of class-action suit that I can get in on? It may not even be illegal though, so maybe not.
To those who have said its just as easy to order something online and pick it up in store. One of the only reasons they say "hey lets see if we can order this online for you" is because they don't have it in store, or any store in the area. So you wouldn't be able to do a pick up. Its just like ordering something online, except you generally don't have pay shipping.
This is exactly WHY I order my computer stuff from Newegg.
Best Buy always seems to be more expensive than everyone else...even the name is deceiving...lol.
I discovered this fraud at the Best Buy on Shady Grove Road in Rockville MD over 6 months ago. After reviewing the pricing of some products from home, I got in the car and went to the store, where the price on the rack was different (higher). I then went to one of the computers in the store ant the Best Buy site also had a higher price.
I requested access to the internet and low and behold the price was the same as when I check from home less than 15 minutes before.
At that point, I asked them to match the price and was told NO. I immediately asked to see the store manager who after I demonstrated the problem, had no problem matching the price.
The reason I was given, was that the store displays an "internal" site that is not always updated.
This is a purposefull act by Best Buy to defraud customers. There is no doubt in my mind. They only capitulate when caught.
i love when it is discovered when big corporations are dealing from the bottom of the deck. it was only a matter of time. the employees should have spoke up sooner. it goes to their crdibility too....
Yeah, I'd be very careful when buying big electronics at BB. What I don't get is why the hell do they charge 2000 Wii Points for $22.99 not including tax. Even EB and Gamestop aren't that shady, at least they sell them for the usual $20.
I hate Best Buy!! Worst franchise ever! I will never! ever! buy another thing from them. They are rarely (if ever) the "Best Buy" and last Xmas, after spending 2 hours looking over theater systems, and making a decent deal on a floor model, they're stupid check clearing system refused to honor my check. I have NEVER had a problem like this anywhere else. F__k them! (Go ABC Warehouse!!, Thanks, Gordy)
This is true, we have them at the store I work at. Mostly the intranet site keeps a more accurate count of what is actually in stock then the Internet site. Ocassionally, out instore RSS item tracker will go down, and the intranet site is our only means of locating in store product.
What this probably fails to say, is that yes, prices can vary from intranet to internet sales, because sales aren't always entered into our intranet site, but, the internet site is accessable at any kiosk, and we will match the internet site no questions asked. It happens, and any honest employee will either take it to a manager, or just price match it.
It's Best Buy that should be going out of business, not CompUSA!
I used to work for BBY and I just want to say that you CAN access ANY website through thos kiosks.... Got me in trouble plenty of times showing friends other websites.
My boss immediately told me that if I showed another employee I would be fired. Then he wanted to know how. Pretty funny since no one in Geek Squad or the entire store for that matter, knew the simple little "trick" that everyone should know by now.
CTRL + E opens a search box on the left side, and you can go any where by searching ;)
The same thing happened to me a Circuit City when I was trying to purchase a Canon SD600 camera. I didn't get the $30 discount advertised on the website, so I asked about it, but was directed to "the only computer in the store with internet" which was using CC's INTRANET! The discount wasn't listed there, so I called home where my family verified that the discount was still on the external website.
CC employees told me I would have to go home to print the page showing the discount and bring it back just to get the discount. I finally found a laptop in the store that was left logged in to the store's network where I could access the internet. There I pulled up the page and showed an employee the discount.
After 45 mins of trouble, I finally got the discount, but CC DOES HAVE AN INTRANET AS WELL with different prices and discounts. Still, the employees were willing to let me prove the discount existed. Some seemed to know about the intranet and others didn't... so there's my story.
I'm gonna copy this from my Download Squad comment so people see it here:
I'm really confused, because this never happens at the store I work at. Nobody tells anybody to do shady things at my stores; maybe you all are the victims of some scheming management.
For example, we often get iPods on sale on BestBuy.com. If a customer finds this and wants it for that price, no problem--I use the Yahoo method to check the dotcom price, bring the product and customer to customer service, that rep checks it on the manager's computer (which runs normal Windows, on normal IE, no fancy Best Buy shell), and pricematches. I really don't even think about it.
I honestly believe this is exaggerating some stupid employees' mistakes. I really doubt there is bad intent, even though a lot of employees don't know the difference. The intranet version is intended to be an information tool for product in the store, and BestBuy.com is an alternative to the b&m store down the street and the one across town. They offer exclusive deals to entice you to not waste our store's labor, so we can focus on people who come in to see and experience products. That's really.. all there is. It's sad to see this get all blown up like this.
As a former employee of BestBuy, I can tell you that in deed BestBuy does have this site. The site is intentionally set up to rip off the customer. The employees DO have the ability to access the "real" internet quite simply by using a well known back door in the system. Furthermore, the customers can access the "real" internet as well, provided they have some basic computer skills. This is not the only attempt by BestBuy to rip you off, I could name several others, but that's not why you're reading this. My advice to the consumer is to do your research on-line at home first and narrow your search to a few select choices, then print out each one so you have that with you when you go into the store. The employees at BestBuy are going to sell you whatever they have in stock, not what is necesarilly best for you, so try not to let them "up-sale" you to something you don't need or want. And last but not least, when buying their warranties.... BEWARE!!! Read the fine print before you buy it, see what it doesn't cover, the list might surprise you. Good Luck!
What pisses me off about the whole bb.com vs brick-and-mortar, is how this stuff is stocked. On more than one occasion, I've ordered something from bb.com, gotten my confirmation email, printed it out and gone up to the store. Then, when they can't find or just don't have it behind the counter, they go out to the floor and pick it from stock! Certainly kills the idea of 2 different stores!
Seriously who still shops at Best Buy?
They are one of the worst retailers in the US, this type of bullshit just shows how bad they really are. Please people, do not buy anything from them, they don't deserve you as a customer.
Wow talk about overreaction. This site is not used as a bate and switch for customers. The site exists simply as a reflection of instore pricing. Hence how the site is ONLY viewable by Best Buy employees in the store. It is company policy that we match any price given on the CONSUMER bestbuy.com website. So if any stores are attempting to not do that then they are definitely in the wrong. However believe it or not many in fact most best buy employees are not even aware that there are 2 different sites so it could be an innocent mistake. Nevertheless if you are going to price match the sure fire way is to just PRINT the page you see at home and bring it in with you. In fact in most cases the best buy POS system automatically will retrieve the consumer bestbuy.com price when doing a price match.
This is not innocent in my mind. The best buy site (internal store one) is available at multiple computers for consumer use. In fact when you ask to use a computer to go to their site, they always take you to one that has this "internal" site on it. I was specifically turned down for getting the price from the printout from the primary web site that I brought with me until I figured it out and talked to the manager. I would never shop at Best Buy without specific knowledge of available pricing from the internet site. I wish I had been the one to spill this out on the web over 6 months ago. I'm glad to see this out in the public. Best Buy.. Get your act together. Even if this was "meant" for internal consumption, which I personally doubt, it has now been discovered.
Once I discovered it, I've had friends go in and have the same situation occur well after my experience. That means that the store manager knowingly let it continue.
This actually happened to me. i had a printout of a blackfriday TV from their website and their server showed that it wasnt on sale even though i had a printout of earlier in the day. But they dont pricematch their WEBSITE even. so it doesnt matter.
This is definitely true. I actually looked for a CD on BestBuy.com last night before I saw this story anywhere, and it was $9.99 (the CD is the only one they have by Josh Radin). I just went to the store and the sticker was $11.99, and I checked the website *in-store* (less than an hour ago) and it said $11.99. But then I came home and checked online, and...still $9.99.
it's been said numerous times in the replies already. the internal site is just that. it's an internal site that reflects the prices of the products IN STORE. it's not there to confuse customers. it's for people who are in the store and want to check prices on other items IN THE STORE THEY'RE CURRENTLY IN. stores have no problems price-matching bestbuy.com, but like it's been said numerous times, bestbuy.com is a different entity.
you want to price match something from compusa? bring a printout of the sale into the store. you want to price match bestbuy.com? bring a printout of the sale.
what's the problem?
It all makes so much sense now...
Recently a buddy of mine was in the market for a TV stand that was originally $149.99. It was discontinued and slowly dropped in price until it was all the way down to $29.99. We went to BB and when they pulled it up there it showed $149.99. We figured the price had gone up and checked it from home when we got back and it was still showing $29.99...
It appears that the majority of past and current BB employees at least recognize the existence of the site; however some defend it as a reflection of instore pricing,and others use it directly as a disservice to upset customers. Whether one BB's employees were instructed to use the intranet site for malice or whether they honestly believe it is simply a reflection of the in-store price, I think it is valid to note that if the corporate powers that be truly wanted to present the "best buy" to customers, there would be no need for an intranet site. The "best buy" would be reflected on one site that was available online, and only in-store deals that bettered the online offers would stand out from the online site.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. If, truly, Best Buy has been allowing employees to maliciously manipulate in-store and internet differences to assuage their own egos, this truly does add up to a large-scale scandal. I hope some sort of suit is brought against them, and I hope that people will learn to not trust the corporate giants' honesty (i.e. best buy and Walmart) that they're really trying to do the best thing.
i used to work at staples and they use intranet for their instore website but most of the time they are actually cheaper on the intranet site...so a little tip is to always check the staples.com kiosk in the store before buying stuff that seems over priced...which is actually most of their stuff but i know canon ink carts are cheaper on the site =P
This practice is certainly shady, but pales in comparison to Best Buy's outright FRAUDULENT price match policy. After much research, I found an LCD HDTV highly discounted at a local brick-and-mortar store and brought it in to Best Buy to utilize their advertised price match. First they tried to tell me it was not at a brick-and-mortar store, which it was. Then they tried to tell me the unit was refurbished, which it was not.
I had them call the store in question to verify and when they found out it was in complete accordance with the terms of their policy, they flat out told me they refused to honor it! The difference between the price match price and their price was $500, so this really pissed me off. I had them call corporate and explained that I was looking right at the policy delineated on their wall and could not fathom how they would resort to such blatant false advertising. They then concocted some b.s. that since the Best Buy was in West LA and the store I wanted to price match was in downtown LA, that these were totally separate markets and as such did not abide by the terms of the price match agreement. (Which is *not* mentioned anywhere in the policy, btw.) When I pointed out to them that there wasn't any Best Buy downtown and this was probably their closest store to the one I wanted to match, they said that was my bad luck but they would be happy to price match any store within the same zip code as the Best Buy. (For those unfamiliar with LA, the stores in question are at most 10 miles apart and postal mail sent to either would both be addressed as "Los Angeles, CA.")
I was incredibly pissed off and went to Circuit City instead -- they sold me the TV and honored the price match without any hassle whatsoever. (And for the record, the Circuit City was in Santa Monica, which is twice as far from the downtown store in question, and "technically" not even in the city of Los Angeles.)
If I had more time on my hands, I would sue Best Buy to expose their scam, but I'll instead have to simply resort to never buying there again, and encouraging others not to as well. Caveat emptor!
My local Best Buy pulled this tactic on me once. I told the sales kid the price I saw on the web. He says: "Oh, that's not right. Here, I'll show you the price from the web right here on my screen." From my perspective, it was a deliberate lie. Shame on you Best Buy.
For what it's worth. Wal-Mart will not price match their own web site. Crazy.
I don't get it. Whenever I've gone into my local Best Buy and told them I've seen an item cheaper on the internet I'm told that they don't price match internet sites, not even their own. If this is indeed the policy, then I don't see why this issue is such a big deal. If you want the cheaper price, buy it from their site.
This exact situation happened to me this week. I went to buy a Sony CyberShot DSC-W55 camera for my folks. The Internet site said $269.99 on sale. In the store it was tagged as $300.00, no sale. The salesperson was ready to walk over to the computer kiosk (which I looked later and it was listed as $300.000) and showed him my phone which had the $269.99 price on sale page showing.
Pretty shady stuff here.
I currently work at Best Buy, and I can tell you, if these stories are represented accurately(no disgrunteled employee or P.O.'ed customer) than it's definitely a per-store basis. My Best Buy(1003 in Lexinton Park MD) will definitely match and brick and mortar store AND our website WITH 10% still. And in our toolkit, the intranet site does reflect our ad prices. the only thing it does not reflect is online only deals. The site any customer pulls up on any kiosk I believe is the inTERnet site that reflects sales prices(ads) and online only prices (which, in large font says ONLINE ONLY) If all these people are getting screwed over, I can say, it is the fault of your personal store/that employee, that kind of misleading WILL get us fired. Oh, and charging above MSRP is called mark-up and all brick and mortar stores that have to pay things like rent and utilities use it, it's called business. Mark-up is different on different items at different companies, thats why you can go to a different store and save money.
No, markup is the cost plus the companies profit. The MSRP already includes and reflects the store's profit. Some stores sell items below MSRP as either a sale price, or to bring in more customers. Charging above MSRP is called price gouging.
You my friend, are mentally incapacitated, or should be-
"No, markup is the cost plus the companies profit. The MSRP already includes and reflects the store's profit. Some stores sell items below MSRP as either a sale price, or to bring in more customers. Charging above MSRP is called price gouging."
or, if you asked the all-powerful google
"Noun 1.price gouging - pricing above the market when no alternative retailer is available?"
And for those of you that are on the soap box preaching
"If you want the cheaper price, buy it from their site."
If that's over your head than why are you at engadget anyways?
If you've ever seen lines in front of Best Buy at opening on Sundays, which is very very often, then you'll see where people are taking advantage of a thing called a sale where MSRP is thrown out the window and we take a 300 dollar hit on laptops when we sell them for 400 bucks.
"Currently, "sticker price" — the price as advertised by a particular dealer — often includes a substantial markup over the MSRP."
Well, by your definition Wineaux, you've been price gouged nearly everytime you've bought a vehicle, or any item for that matter.
But that's not the point here.
For those of you that are saying "just do an in-store pickup" or "Bestbuy is not obligated to match their online prices" you are totally missing the point. You should not have to do an in-store pickup or bring in a print out. Their policy clearly states that they will price match their website (except for a few exclusions; see below), so they should just do it. Do not pull up an intRAnet site that looks exactly like your intERnet site and say "I'm sorry mister customer, you are mistaken, but you can buy those speakers for $50 more right now...Don't forget the $150 service plan, $100 Monster speaker wire, and $500 power center." That is total BS.
Whether the employees know that the site exists or not is irrelevant as well. If they don't know then it is Bestbuy's responsibility to train them.
From Bestbuy.com:
"WHAT IF I FIND A LOWER PRICE AT ANOTHER BEST BUY STORE OR ON BESTBUY.COM?
If an item you purchased at Best Buy is advertised at a lower price at another Best Buy store in your local area or on BestBuy.com within 30 days of your original receipt purchase (14 days for select categories*), we will refund you 100% of the price difference. Simply bring in your original Best Buy receipt to the customer service counter while that lower price is still in effect. Clearance items, open-box items or Web-exclusive offers advertised on BestBuy.com are not eligible for price matching."
My experience with Best Buy has been nowhere as bad as my experience with Circuit City. Once I saw a laptop advertised by CC. I drove to the store but they were all sold out and told me to return the next day when they were getting a shipment. When I did they claimed the shipment had been held up. They told me to come back the next day. I was beginning to get irritated so the next day I called ahead. The salesman claimed they had received a shipment of five. But when we got there he said he thought we meant another model not on sale. When I complained he said he could reserve the laptop for 24 hours after it arrived for us and that they would definitely be getting a shipment the next day. He was partly right. They received a shipment of 3 the next day, but when I got their after work they had sold all three and the salesman claimed he had never talked to me. Because it was such a good deal I went about calling 7 more stores, figuring all stores are different and it couldn’t get much worse. I finally found a store about an hour from where I live that claimed to have 6 that they had received a few days ago. But when we got there the sales people claimed that they had never received an order. I final said screw this and went to walk the mall across the street. While walking the mall I happened to go in BB. They had the same laptop for $5 more. Upon finding the computer the salesman told me there were also 10 at the BB down the street from my house. Every experience with CC has been bad for me. I agree BB isn't great but CC is far worse. As for this business with two sites I think it is absurd and wonder if other companies do the same thing. Does this apply to their paper advertisements or just their site, because I compared the two once and they were identical. This is why I do not mix online and in store shopping.
PS: Sorry my post is so long.
Hey, since you're all huffy (rightly) about Best Buy's unethical practices, don't you think you should at least link to the source of this investigation?
Seems it ain't east to just add an href=
Go to http://www.courant.com for the source of the investigation
I am an ex-employee of the big ass corporation of Best Buy. As an employee there for four years, I was aware of this ''secret" site and the actual bestbuy.com along with every other external website is practically prohibited through the employee toolkit provide on virtually every kiosk in the store. My last position at the store was a Personal Shopping Assistant, where we helped customers as best we could. (This meant bending over backwards when the program first started, and btw the program was so much better than it is now.) Because we were the highest paid sales associates in the store, we were able to access more than most sales associates, which meant ACTUALLY getting the bestbuy.com external site's prices on our kiosk. (Only two kiosks in our store were able to access the external site, ours and the one in the manager's "bridge" as they called it. And I worked in the largest store in the region.) Best Buy holds many secrets from its customers and this is one of the reason's why I quit working there a little over a year ago. When I first started I loved the company, they were great to their customers, their employees and their investors, once segmenting took place it went downhill.
I still shop there only because most of my friends are still there and I know how to work the system, otherwise, I think inexperienced shoppers should stay away and do some homework before they walk into any store - especially Best Buy.
> Best Buy holds many secrets from its customers and this is one of the reason's why I quit working there a little over a year ago.
Please tell us some more ;-)
We knew this one here before..
What's a recommended site for price comparisons in the states?
Here in Europe I prefer geizhals.at (for Austria and Germany), which offers pretty good informations:
- many companies
- price trend visualization
- links to further product infos
- different sorting options (e.g. price per MB for storage media)
- different price displays (e.g. including costs of delivery)
One of the benefits - or drawbacks - there is that a link via this comparison site may show lower prices than you will get at the shop directly, unfortunately sometimes without any indication of different price policies.
I don't have time to read all of the other comments, but I did want to come to BB's defense, since my experience was very positive. I recently picked up a Philips DVD player and was charged $80 instead of the $70 price I found on their website. I pointed out the price problem to the cashier and he directed me to the customer service desk. The woman there checked, what I assume was the real website, saw the price difference and credited my bank card $10. This was about 3 weeks ago, so maybe things have changed since then?
I don't know. I'm not a huge fan of BB, but I have no reasonable alternative to shop in. :( Still they treated me fairly, which is nice and all too rare these days.
i don't get the problem.
1. best buy retail stores and bestbuy.com are considered 2 different things(according to best buy policies) so pricing isnt going to always be the same and it doesn't have to. even though they will most of the time pricematch each other(obviously meaning retail adjusting to .com)
2. the intranet website is so people that are in the store get the correct instore pricing
3. sure it can be misleading and sometimes(if employee is aware) done on purpose by employees but thats your fault for not checking to see if prices are the same in store as well as online before visiting the retail location. and if u get to the store and you see it cheaper on bestbuy.com u can print it out and get the price adjusted in store. easy.
sometimes youl find things cheaper in store than online not all the time but sometimes, and yeah i guess bestbuy should change, at least the layout, of the intranet site for all dummies out there. im gonna write a book called "retail shopping for dummies" lol
I worked at a bookstore here in Canada and we had the same issue with the in-store intranet pricing and the online website pricing. However, we did not have any kind of "price matching" policy (not very competitive in the book market, I guess) so it was only confusing for the customer. People would come into the store to find a book they'd seen for 30% off online to find it at full price in the store. However, they would have to pay shipping if they ordered the book online.
FYI: Best Buy does not use that to "mis-lead" customers. They simply use it to refrence the weekly ad for the area. There is a local weekly ad and a national ad. The ad you see on-line, is the national ad. The ad you get in the newpaper is your weekly ad for your area. When go into the store and see a different price than the one online, its because their local ad is different than the national ad based on the area. So if you dont read the on-line ad correctly, you will miss the words that say ON-LINE OFFER ONLY, which means, exactly what it says. Best buy will price match the national ad as long as it is not exclusive to the national ( on-line)ad. So the next time you post a blog, make sure you know what your talking about.