(Credit:
Best Buy)
Update: March 19, 2009, 1:00 PDT: Best Buy's replies to our follow-up questions have been added since this article was originally published.
Responding to a March 17 Crave article, which pointed to an article on HDGuru.com describing how Best Buy employees refused to honor the store's own price matching policy, the electronics retailer has supplied a written statement.
According to the statement, "The price match in question was over $700 difference from our pricing at the store; while our pricing may vary from our competition, such huge fluctuations in price are rare and rightfully set off red flags to our employees." The statement encourages dissatisfied shoppers to contact customer service.
We asked the Best Buy representative who sent us the statement whether the policy had a price limit, and he said that it did not.
Since March 17, we have received further information from readers regarding this issue. For example, a February article at StoreFrontTalkBack.com describes a class-action lawsuit filed in 2008 where former Best Buy employees alleged the company's management actively discouraged honoring the policy. According to the deposition of one former employee:
"Best Buy had a corporate undisclosed policy of discouraging and denying customers the benefits of its price match guarantee. Management mandated that all price match requests that resulted in a product being sold at less than 5 percent above cost would be denied. Best Buy provided a financial incentive for denying proper price match requests."
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Is Best Buy refusing to honor its own price-matching policy?
(Credit: BestBuy.com)Update March 19: Best Buy has responded with a statement, and we have posted an update.
Web site HDGuru.com has published a report describing three separate visits to Best Buy locations where salespeople refused to comply with the store's own price-matching policy.
The report goes on to provide advice to customers interested in obtaining a price match themselves. Here's the meat of the HDGuru's exchange:
When asked to match the price, salesmen at all three stores said, "no," giving the same excuse: "The advertised Panasonic was on sale for three days, and Best Buy's price-match policy exempts limited-time sales."
However, there is no "limited time" exemption in Best Buy's price-match policy. Store personnel simply made up a phony excuse or were instructed to do so by higher-ups.
The report also cites an unnamed Best Buy source who claims that the order to refuse price matches, despite going against the company's stated policy, descended from management, with the aim of increasing the chain's profit margins.
HDGuru's advice to shoppers ranges from common sense (don't make a scene) to mildly deceptive (ask if the store offers extended warranties, even if you don't want one).
We're not advocating or endorsing said advice, but if you're serious about getting a price match or have been refused, it might come in handy.
What's your take? Have you felt deceived by an electronics retailer recently, or have your experiences been good? How do you feel about pretending to want a warranty or cable to get a better price? Sound off in comments.
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