Comments on: Best Buy responds to price match accusations

Best Buy has supplied a written statement responding to an article describing employees at the company's stores refusing comply with the company's own price matching policies.

[jetman999]

One major problem with Best Buy's (and some other retailer's) price matching policy is the requirement that the price match will only be honored on models with the "same model number". This is a problem because some big retailers (especially Best Buy and Sears) will have model numbers that differ only slightly from the same exact product that is widely available at other stores. For example, a Sony LCD TV might have a model number of x00010 at 90 percent of retailers, but the same exact product with the same features and specs will have a model number of x00010x at Best Buy and maybe x00010z at Sears. This allows them to refuse a price match, even though the products are identical. Consumer Reports magazine exposed this practice in an article a few years ago.

[wilbertohernandez]

Stories like these really upset me! I have been a loyal customer of Best Buy for over 10 years and unlike most people, I had the opportunity to travel nationwide up to 11 months out of the year during this time.

I have been to just about every Best Buy store there is in the country, from as far north as Buffalo, NY, Miami, FL to the east, Redding, CA to the west and Laredo, TX to the south and everywhere in between, including Dallas, Indianapolis, etc. and I have NEVER had a single bad experience with Best Buy.

I love Best Buy, because they always have what I want, their stores are always clean, in order and are an exciting place to shop! Additionally, and most importantly to me is that their no hassle, exchange, refund and price match policy, which is the best there is!

For example:

On May of 08, a few months after one of Panasonic's 1080p Plasma TV's hit the market, Best Buy had it for $2,299.99, but it turns out, as hard as it is to believe, Fry's had the exact TV for $1,599.99, so I went to Fry's, got a quote and took it to Best Buy, due to my loyalty to them and they sold it to me for that price, minus an additional 10% of the difference!

This past Christmas, December 24, to be exact I obtained a price match for a TIVO Wireless G device, Best Buy's price was $69.99, but Fry's had it on sale for $29.99! I asked for a price match, I was asked for proof of the sale, as per their price match policy, I did not have any, but I pulled it on my iPhone and showed it to their associate, and I got the price match! How cool is that?

Most recently, I purchased a Harman Kardon GPS 810, which retails for $599.99, but was on sale at Best Buy for $299.99! So, I ordered one on February 25, and received it a few days later. However, I found out yesterday, that the price had decreased an additional $60.00! So, I called 1-800-BEST-BUY and I was processed a refund for the difference back to my Discover Card, no questions asked, no hassle and no excuses, despite the fact that it was almost 30 days to the date, since I had ordered it!

Now, these are just three examples, out of literally hundreds of price matches that I have received from Best Buy, since I have been their customer and at least on these three examples, each price match adjustment has been well over 6% in some cases, over 50% and I have the receipts to prove it!

I don't understand the discontent and seemingly unjustified backlash and ill will against this company! I wish many of you had the opportunity to shop in stores outside the US, where there is no such thing as price matching, or even returns or exchanges! Their policy is you pay what they tell you and believe me, not even God himself could convince them to get an exchange, much less a refund for a defective item!

Lighten up people! I will never forget the hypocritical people that I saw leeching at the remains of a local Circuit City who were "saddened," to see it close. Well, maybe they should have gone their more often and practice some degree of loyalty towards the company.

Best Buy is an awesome store, an awesome company which from what I have seen and been told, treats its employees very well. If it were not for the fact that I am not 10 years younger and have many financial responsibilities or my love for law enforcement, I would probably be working with them in some capacity at this very moment!

[kano1]

Bonuses Paid To Managers That Violate ?Price Match? Policy, Former Employees Allege.

US District Court Rules Class Action Against Best Buy To Proceed

The US District Court, Southern District granted a motion on 3/19/09 for Class Action Certification to allow Plaintiff Thomas Jermyn and any similarly situated NY State residents to sue Best Buy for violating its ?price match? policy.

According to the ruling, the plaintiff alleges, ?Best Buy uses false and deceptive trade practices in advertising and applying the company?s well-known ?price match guarantee? policy. Best Buy tells the consuming public it will match a competitor?s lower price on any item purchased it the store.? Plaintiff alleges that Best Buy uses its ?price match guarantee policy as a ploy, to lure unsuspecting consumers into its stores and to induce them to purchase its merchandise, while allegedly having an undisclosed ?Anti-Price Matching Policy,? pursuant to which employees aggressively deny customers? legitimate price match requests.?

Among the major revelations listed from evidence within the decision based on internal BB documents, depositions of current BB employees and declarations by two former BB employees are the following allegations:

· Best Buy had an undisclosed Anti-Price Matching Policy

· Corporate headquarters disseminated the anti-price matching policy to regional managers, store managers, assistant managers, and necessary store personnel

· Best Buy taught its employees how to deny price match requests in its training facilities in New York

· Best Buy provided financial bonuses based, in part, on denying proper price match requests

· Best Buy denied more than 100 proper price match requests per store per week.

[mouseclick]

Reasons such as these are why I probably only buy from Best Buy once a year at best and, that is usually because I have little to no choice. It's not hard to see that Best Buy costs more than just about any online option. It makes no sense to buy something from them for 10+ percent more if you can wait a week and buy it online for far less. I understand sometimes you have to (only they carry it; you must have it the same day, etc.). But for those of you buying retail and expecting to be able to price match against another retailer later on - you should have looked and bought online to begin with. There are several good online stores that are almost always far less than Best Buy (Amazon, Newegg, Buy.com, etc., etc.) Find the 5-7 you like and trust and always look at their price first. If it is cheaper (with shipping) than Best Buy, why buy it retail? It makes no sense. True, it's your money and you are free to spend it as you wish but, it is also this mentality that has helped put America in the economic condition it is suffering through today (credit craving, non-saving, free-spenders that buy or pay more for things than they can afford). Saving is saving and saving is always a good thing.

[stteve]

This article was very interesting as I recently experienced this same issue with the Best Buy store in Chicago (on Clark Street). I found an HD camera for $200.00 less at a local retailer (ABT), they had it in stock at the local store location. When I called Best Buy to see if they would match the price the manager became mean-spirited and extremely argumentative. I really wanted to purchase from Best Buy because I had their credit card, but the reaction from this location turned me off and I decided to use my AMEX to purchase from ABT. I have since stopped making major purchases at Best Buy and I exclusively purchase from ABT.

[joshd7]

To play Devil's advocate here; I've never once experienced any issues price-matching a single item with Best Buy that actually falls within the price-match guidelines (which half the examples in the comments aren't). I'm not saying there aren't instances where it does happen, but I also don't feel some sense of false entitlement that any company is required to give me a product at little to no markup as most of these complaints are.

What's worse, is that CNet continues to pass off a blatant editorial as news, while it plasters the website with Apple products.

[aztony]

I just wanted to add my two cents worth. I've also had at least a couple of experiences with BB not price matching an item. Telling me they had the right to refuse a price match. I would end up at CC or CompUSA and getting the item pricematched with no problem. I would write an email to BB customer service only to be told I was in the right and it shouldn't have happened. But that's after the fact and the sale would be over and done with so not much help. Too bad the other two stores didn't fare that well.
Isn't this the same company that had a fake website to show customers that the item was not the price they thought it was? Go figure!!!

[bit2in]

Well,now that they Best Buy competitions are down,I check their price matching policy on line & to my surprise they're only price matching their own.I'll take my business somewhere else Buy.com,Amazon,Frys & Costco.I love Costco.They will extend the warranty an extra one year without a charge.Price is cheaper too.I was gong to buy a Nikon D40 at best buy that was advertised on sale for $499.Costco has it for $399 (not on sale) with extra 1 year warranty.I'll rather keep the gravy in my pocket.Goodbye Best Buy.

[bit2in]

Well,now that they Best Buy competitions are down,I check their price matching policy on line & to my surprise they're only price matching their own.I'll take my business somewhere else Buy.com,Amazon,Frys & Costco.I love Costco.They will extend the warranty an extra one year without a charge.Price is cheaper too.I was gong to buy a Nikon D40 at best buy that was advertised on sale for $499.Costco has it for $399 (not on sale) with extra 1 year warranty.I'll rather keep the gravy in my pocket.Goodbye Best Buy.

[dsjr2006]

I find all this very interesting because at work at BB and many customers get really bent out of shape when I tell them I can't price match something even though the policies are very clear. After reading many of the things that people have posted here it is pretty clear why their price match was denied because the policy is very specific. I have people come in all the time and want me to price match the local Sears store, but they rarely have the item in stock that they have on-sale. The BB price match policy states that a local retailer must have it in stock. I had a guy swear to me that he had a TV on hold at Sears, but when I called they said they hadn't had any in over a week so he was obviously lying. I personally am much less likely to really go the extra mile to help someone out when they march in barking demands and other prices they found online to me. The nice person who comes in will get much farther with me and my co-workers.

I think it is really funny when people talk about how much worse BB prices are than the online competition. They should take a minute to consider what it costs to keep 100 TV powered-on and on display for them to look at. Not to mention paying people to help them find the right one. Last time I checked you couldn't preview/handle the products you intend to buy from NewEgg or Amazon.

What it really comes down to is a lot of grown-up people whining and pouting when they don't get their way. BB exists just like any other business and you completely have the option of whether or not to shop with them. Don't storm in making demands and expect the non-commissioned employee there to wait on you hand and foot with a smile.

The funny thing to me is when a customer comes in talking about how he can't get something to work and I ask them where they bought it and......... One of the most interesting things lately was this guy who bought a Blu-Ray player for $10 cheaper at Walmart, but he said he was having problems with it and wondering if I could check it out. Of course not because I've never even seen any of the Blu-Ray players they have there. Why doesn't he go to one of Walmart home theater specialists and ask them?? They don't have any. Too bad. Sometimes you have pay for better customer service. I also noticed that Sears has a 15% restocking fee so good luck if you don't like the $2000 TV you just bought from them, they keep your $300 if you don't like it. BB has no restocking fees on TVs. Returning to Amazon or NewEgg? Have fun paying to ship a big screen TV back to them. They might not have restocking fees, but shipping for a big TV can easily hit $300.

[Kendokill]

How about matching the price of their own COUPONS?! I wanted a 30gb Zune when it first came out, and received a coupon from Best Buy in the mail for a certain percent off of mp3 players. On the backs of their coupons, they state the disclaimers and which mp3 players were not available for use with the coupon. The Zune was not listed on the back as one that could not be used in conjuction with the coupon so I drove down to Best Buy to use it. When I got there, the store employees REFUSED to take the coupon. When I asked why, they stated it was because they got a letter from corporate that stated to refuse to except the coupon for the Zune. Apparentley, they printed the coupon without realizing the Zune was coming out before that coupon came out. So there I was, miles from home having burned and wasted my own gas for nothing. How was it that I was getting screwed over for THEIR mistake.

I have never gone back to BB since. I used to shop there for everything electronic before, and even shopped there for business expenses. They're missing out on literally thousands of dollars in sales a year.

[dave412]

I think the only thing i had a problem with was when i went to purchase a new macbook. I looked online to see if everything i wanted was instock the macbook, case, etc. So i went to my local bestbuy and everything that i saw online was in the store,

So i ask for everything and hes ringing me up and the total price was different from the one i saw online. so i use one of the computers i go to there website and show him. 20% for the accessories bought on their website and 10% off instore. although no where did it say online only. he didnt want to price match the online price. gave me some BS excuse about he can't do it in the computer and kinda argued with me why he couldn't do it. So I said alright this is what ill do i will buy everything online and chose in-store pickup and ill be back in 2hrs to pick it up. They kinda felt stupid and found a way to make the price right so i can just buy right then and there.

You can add Conns to the list of retailers who do not honor their price guarantee. The item was advertised by them at a lower price and they did not honor it. Now they do not respond to emails or customer service contact. I am considering legal action and would love to make it a class action. If interested respond here. Thanks.

[Wildcatzlair]

All

I had an interesting one in the past 2 weeks too. I too was looking at the Panny TH-58PZ800u which at the time was at $2392 on Amazon, $2499 on Newegg, $2496 at Vanns, $2432 at B&H and also locally at for $2499. I go to the store where the price was $3699 (even though the week before it was $2999) and they told me they could not go to $2499 as it was lower than cost. Best they could do is $2799 (how is that a price match ?). They also told me they have the option of saying no at all times and did not match with others even though when it works in their benefit (buying accessories, warranty etc) they have price matched even against Amazon.

Either the policies Best Buy state they abide by either need to be re-written to state ALL the caveats that can be thrown at you or they need to start stepping up and honoring a policy that was put in place by BB corporate because the fact that so many customers are having to go through this craziness is ridiculous. It amazes me that the BB representative that responded to the allegations states "We encourage customers to become familiar with our price-matching policy and use it to their advantage, especially in these tough economic times" is a real slap in the face because it seems they are not standing behind this at all and instead screwing customers harder when times are tough to line their own pockets.

Want to get another kick out of their pricing take a look at the Panny 850u 65". On Amazon currently it is $4469.98, last week it was on sale at BB for $5400, this week it is now at $6999.98 !!!!! Can you imagine any of us consumers getting them to price match by $2400 dollars !!!!

Terrible customer service, hope something changes. You cannot afford to take your customers for granted in an economy like this.

[Daniel28TN]

I use to work at Best Buy and yes we were encouraged to try and avoid having to price match. We also were told not to price match unless the company we were price matching had a retail location within 50 miles of our store.

[cohenri7]

I had a similar issue with the price match policy and I didn't even need to go into the store. I found the Samsung TV I wanted to buy at B&H Photo for significantly less than what BB had listed on their website. I called a local BB and asked if they would match the price I found at B&H and they told me over the phone that they would not. I proceeded to buy the TV from B&H. I wanted to buy from BB because it was closer to home and I would have to go into New York City if I wanted to return the TV to B&H. No DICE!! BB lost my sale and my respect for their so-called price-match policy.

[xavierwalls]

People come into big box retail stores expecting the store to do whatever it takes to make money. Whether its price matching an online retailer or price matching refurbished models. The fact remains, people want to purchase from BestBuy but want to get it for the prices that NewEgg or Amazon offers. You cant have the best of both worlds. If you are so concerned about price and do not see the value in purchasing from a brick and mortar store, ALWAYS buy online.

[vsantiago]

There is an inconsistency with their policy between stores. This weekend Frys had the Samsung 52in. LCD TV (750 series) for $1949.00. I went it to Best Buy store A and they said they can match the price, tried store B in another city (primarily because that city has a lower sales tax rate so I would haved saved $15.00 in sales tax) they said they would not match the price. Eventually bought from Frys because they had the TV stand I wanted in stock.

[xavierwalls]

FYi the margin on stands is huge. That $300 stand you bought cost them $45.

[vsantiago]

I'm sure it is, mine was $400. It has a spine to mount the TV, I knew other than buying from the web a decent stand would cost $300 minimum. But didn't want to wait for it to be shipped.

[1kingsfan]

everyone who is trying to remain informed should know that electronics stores like BBY make their money on cables, installation, stands, any accessories. They certainly don't make much on TVs and they actually LOSE money on laptops and computers.

[zgreenwell]

I never worked at Best Buy but I did work at a competitor and their is a lot of confusion about price matching both internally and from customers. I'm sure there are paid incentives for stores to increase profit margin, but I doubt that is where the real problem is coming from. Its probably because items customers want to match don't qualify because they're limited quantity, or comparing to online retailer, or because they're comparing it to a completely different item.

[1kingsfan]

I beg to differ. That's not always the case. Of course, the managers who do less price matching probably go further on in their development within the company, but it's pretty routine for most places to refuse a price match or try to talk you into another model. If they relent to a price adjust quickly you can almost always pinpoint the reason : tons of attachments or add-ons. If you purchase THEIR warranty, the cables THEY recommend, and THEIR install you will pretty much be guaranteed an easy price adjust. It is what it is. That's how company's stay in business and make a profit.