Best Buy's secret intranet site exposed
By Jeannie Choe 
posted March 3rd 2007 2:05PM
posted March 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]
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.