Best Buy's Shady Pricing Scam Unravels
Fri Mar 2, 2007 6:49PM EST
See Comments (164)
Reading stuff like this makes me lose what faith I had left in corporate America. You probably won't believe it, but here goes.
Many big box retailers let you use "price matching" when you come into their store, a policy which lets you get the same price that a competitor charges or, in the case of Best Buy, pay the same price in the store that Best Buy charges on its website. Sounds great, but customers were finding themselves puzzled when they checked the price of something they were about to pay for at a Best Buy store. When using the store's in-house computers, the prices on bestbuy.com didn't look quite as low as they remembered at home. In other words: Web prices were somehow higher when you were shopping inside Best Buy.
The answer to this riddle has finally turned out to be something quite noxious: Best Buy has been using a secret intranet site inside its stores. It's a private version of its public website that looks identical to bestbuy.com, with one key distinction: The prices are considerably higher. George Gombossy of the Hartford Courant sussed this out with some old-fashioned in-store sleuthing and reports on it in detail here.
Best Buy has finally admitted that the secret site exists, and it's facing formal investigation by the state of Connecticut. However, Best Buy says it never intended to mislead anyone... perhaps claiming that the prices on the intranet were just mistakes, not intentionally inflated. Hmmm, sounds fishy to me. What do you think?
Top 5 Posts
More About Miscellaneous
Comments on Best Buy's Shady Pricing Scam Unravels
Post a Comment
Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.
-
2 Posted by ponder30501 on Fri Mar 2, 2007 8:29PM EST Report Abuse
Just one more example of Corporate Feudalism, the de facto government of the USA. EULAs, DRM, off-shore support, etc. From "The customer is always right" to "Screw the sucker". Time for the American Consumer Revolution? You bet!
-
3 Posted by uzunoff on Fri Mar 2, 2007 8:40PM EST Report Abuse
I used to work at Best Buy and it was no secret that the prices on bestbuy.com accessed from the store are the same as in the store prices. I don't know if anybody will be deny it, and I have to admit that this could be misleading for shoppers.
-
4 Posted by robotimes on Fri Mar 2, 2007 9:58PM EST Report Abuse
"...this could be misleading for shoppers." Thats the understatement of the year. I can't believe bestbuy can even do that, that is one ugly sales gimmick if you ask me. I was completely oblivious to this entire process. I avoid bestbuy for outrageous prices as it is.. now i simply will NEVER go there.
-
5 Posted by jgray44@sbcglobal.net on Fri Mar 2, 2007 10:07PM EST Report Abuse
Well...Another reason to continue NOT shopping there...This is straight fraud...
Post a Comment
Sponsored Links
Videos
Tech Close-Ups
Want a slim digicam that can take still photos as well as create YouTube friendly videos? Check this ...
Gadgets You Might Like
Also on Yahoo! Tech
| Computers | Home Office | Wi-Fi & Networking | Phones & PDAs | Cameras & Camcorders | TV & Home Theater | Portable Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Posted by commorancy on Fri Mar 2, 2007 7:12PM EST Report Abuse
I never trust getting prices inside the stores. If you see a price on the web at home, print it out and carry the printout to the store. There will never be a question about what price you saw at home. I never trust dealing with web sites in the store. I also already knew that Best Buy used a corporate site when visiting the store, so it is no surprise to me that the pricing you see in the store is different. Two other similar, but not necessarily related points. Best Buy's price matching program doesn't work as promised. BB only price matches to big box stores no matter what they tell you. They will not price match to online stores. And, they will not price match even to big box stores if the price drops below a certain threshold. So, their price matching is suspect anyway. If you carry a price in, they will say initially, "Oh yea, we can match that". Then, 5 minutes later after consulting a manager, they come back and say, "Sorry, but this is the best we can do" (which is usually a much higher price than the price you carried in). The second point is in-store stock. They always count demo units on the shelf as 1 in stock. Demo units are not identified differently when checking inventory numbers on the web. So, don't expect to find what you're looking for if you check the web and they have 1-3 pieces in stock. In fact, there was one time BB claimed to have 8-10 pieces of an item in stock and they had 0 pieces. Be wary when checking their inventory or when trying to price match. Basically, the only thing I find BB good for is demoing and researching features.. then I go elsewhere to actually buy the item.