NOT HOT! BestBuy's new PM policies

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Murph74
Had a similar issue back in February with an HP laptop. CC had it for $949 out the door. BB had it for $1199. Both had a $250 rebate available. In South County/St. Louis, the asst Mgr, Hugh, refused to PM it stating because of the significant difference he didn't have authority to PM it. The store GM, Greg, was apparently involved with family issues and unavailable to override it.

I called Corporate Customer Service, and spoke with a Todd, who claimed the PM poilicy was "Just a guideline, it's not an actual policy. The Store Managers are NOT required to PM a price if we lose money on it. That would just be bad business, and we'd be out of business!"

Thanks for that input - I don't suppose you have that in writing, do you? (Somehow, I doubt that they would give you that response in writing if requested.)

That really disgusts me - if it's "just a guideline", then why do they use words like "guarantee" when presenting the offer to the customer? And about that "bad business", does that mean that it is "good business", to decieve and mislead the customer instead? (I guess so, it gets them into the store.)

Originally posted by: Murph74
Needless to say, very disappointed-- I wound up buying from CC at their advertised price, although I would have prefered BB for their extended warranty. I even wrote a letter to the Best Buy CEO. And still have heard nothing back from the company, nor been back into one fo their stores.

And no, I don't agree with the 'rip off' comment- it's Best Buy's posted policy. If people who use the policy to save money were truly trying to 'rip off' BB, I'd think we'd all be buying THEN going after the PM to get the extra 10%-- not just looking for a straight PM.

Murph

Exactly. As a customer, I only want what is advertised and present to me as an offer. If BestBuy is unwilling or unable to stand by their offers, then they shouldn't be legally allowed to make them in the first place.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: lMlHuxley
And the whole calling other stores for a price match is a bit much for me. The consumer should bring in a flyer if they want to price match. Why would a store want to waste the time of their employee only so a person can pay less for an item (possibly below cost). Doesnt make good business sense.

Yeah, I know, tell me about it. Da*n those customers for expecting a store to give them actual customer service, and be held to their stated offers and policies. I mean, if retail giants can't mislead and decieve customers, how the hell are they supposed to be able to make money and stay in business, and most of all, to be able to pay wages to clueless high-school kids, so that they can offord their drugs and alcohol, so that they can rot their brains out even more?

Those pesky customers, they just screw up the whole cycle of things...





(the above was sarcasm, for those that may be humor-impared)


On a more serious note, if a company doesn't want to offer a price-match policy, because it "doesn't make good business sense", then they simply should not offer it. Not offer it as a form of lip-service, and then not follow-through with the offer.

If a store will accept (mass-)printed sales flyers as the ONLY form of price-verification of a competitor, then they should state that. The text on the wall of the BestBuy, only states "bring in verification", nothing more, no definitions of what that means, which is a very large loophole.

 

[lMlHuxley]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: lMlHuxley
And the whole calling other stores for a price match is a bit much for me. The consumer should bring in a flyer if they want to price match. Why would a store want to waste the time of their employee only so a person can pay less for an item (possibly below cost). Doesnt make good business sense.

Yeah, I know, tell me about it. Da*n those customers for expecting a store to give them actual customer service, and be held to their stated offers and policies. I mean, if retail giants can't mislead and decieve customers, how the hell are they supposed to be able to make money and stay in business, and most of all, to be able to pay wages to clueless high-school kids, so that they can offord their drugs and alcohol, so that they can rot their brains out even more?

Those pesky customers, they just screw up the whole cycle of things...





(the above was sarcasm, for those that may be humor-impared)


On a more serious note, if a company doesn't want to offer a price-match policy, because it "doesn't make good business sense", then they simply should not offer it. Not offer it as a form of lip-service, and then not follow-through with the offer.

If a store will accept (mass-)printed sales flyers as the ONLY form of price-verification of a competitor, then they should state that. The text on the wall of the BestBuy, only states "bring in verification", nothing more, no definitions of what that means, which is a very large loophole.

So you did write down exactly what it said on the wall or not? Does it say "see customer service for more details" or anything of that kind? I imagine it does. Leave your sarcastic remarks out of this because it just makes you look dumb and unable to debate the subject on an adult level. Anyway, I don't remember it saying in any customer service policy that the customer service desk should call other stores for price matches. You are being hypocritical in that statement because the "sign" doesnt say anything about customer service people calling stores for you at all. It only states that it agrees to match advertised prices.

 

[lMlHuxley]

Originally posted by: MrCoyote
Do any of you ever get harassed by employees at BB? Everytime I walk into the store, immediately someone asks if they can help me. I walk around shopping, and continually get bombarded by employees asking if I'm doing okay. I can't stand to go in that store anymore.

When they do that I think they think I am trying to steal cd's for some reason lol.

 

[phillydog]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Circuit City states they will match any competitor, either B+M or online...

BZZZ! Sorry, wrong answer, thank you for playing:

"If you've seen a lower advertised price from a local store with the same item in stock, we want to know about it. Bring it to our attention, and we'll gladly beat their price by 10% of the difference."

Circuit City's Definition of Terms:

Advertised price - Any printed or electronically broadcast price that is verifiable and made available to the general public. Special offers or promotions do not qualify. This includes, but is not limited to, rebates, free-with-purchase offers, and special financing.

Local store - Refers to a location in the same metropolitan area and/or within a reasonable distance of our store, as long as the lower price is advertised.

Same item - Exactly the same model, in the same condition, new, in a box, with applicable manufacturer's warranty available.

In stock - Available for sale and delivery that day.

It is unheard of for a B&M retailer to pricematch outside of their local competitive market nor do they pricematch online offers....unless its their own online offer that is lower.

This was a store not even 5 miles away... I brought in a printout of what I wanted to pricematch, including tax and shipping, as well as a printout of the 'About Us' stating it is a local store in brooklyn which people could walk in the store and purchase.

I may have neglected stating that, but still, they didn't honor it.

 

[lMlHuxley]

Originally posted by: Z80
I really really hate BestBuy. I tried to PM a telephone that was on sale at CompUSA and the manager refused saying CompUSA was out of stock. No way, I had just been to the CompUSA down the street and they had 4 or 5 on the shelf. Pissed off, I went back to CompUSA and bought the phone and took it and the sales receipt back to Best Buy. The manager still refused the PM saying I must have gotten the last one. Come on, it was obvious the manager enjoyed screwing with me, he had a big smirk on his face when he refused the second PM request. I thanked the manager, left the store and have never been back.

what the...why would you leave compusa to buy the phone for the same price at best buy? Why would you then come back to get another one at best buy if you were just at compusa for the second time? That is weird...

 

[phillydog]

Originally posted by: lMlHuxley
Ok, maybe I am the crazy one here but I would never expect a store to price match an internet site. They would go bankrupt if they had to do that. I also agree that the only price match that should be done is a mass flyer advertisement and only if the store is in that area (such as you cannot use a fry's advertisment in minnesota).

I like a hot deal just like the rest of the folks around here but I can't believe you are so angry about this and actually expected them to price match an internet advertisement. I thought it was well known everywhere that internet advertisements are most definately not to be used for a price match. I worked retail for a few years in my high school days and the same policies I describe were in effect then.

If I can only pricematch to a retail chain that is local in my area, and in-stock, then why would I pricematch in the first place and not just go to the store with the better price originally?

Let me give a better example.... Circuit City (999.99) would not pricematch to MicroCenter (799.20) even though it is local since it was below their cost of (878.00). I'm not trying to start flamewars, just stating, if there is a policy, printing in huge letters on the walls, with no small print, it should be honored.

A few years ago when Circuit City had their (We'll beat all competitors prices or the item is free) best value guarantee, they didn't want to honor that either, and I guess many complaints came in and they had to remove it.

Atleast with J and R music world, their policy is that they will beat any 'authorized' dealers prices. Thus, if you buy a Sony product, they actually have a list of authorized dealers. That way, there is no guesswork.

 

[phillydog]

Originally posted by: AcuraTLSFan
I had the same problem with BB as all of you. But there was an Ironic Twist. A month ago the MS X-Box controller was $20 @ CC (normally $30), I came to BB w/o and AD to show them. They called in and asked CC, well, a dumba$$ sale rep told them it was $25 (he confused it with a generic one). I told them I could show them verification online, they said, we don't care about online prices. So i walked over to a BestBuy computer infront of her, went to CC.com and ordered the controller for $20 with free shipping.

Nice... hearing you did that just took away all of my stress trying to pricematch the camera I wanted and all of the hassles.

 

[phillydog]

I know this is a bit off topic, but BB tried to sell me an extended warrantee on the camera I bought from MicroCenter. Unless someone else knows something I don't know, I would guess that:

1.) The extended warrantee would be useless
2.) I would be a dumbass for buying the useless warrantee


Hey, a $100 warrantee for 5 years on a $1000 camera wouldn't have been too bad.

 

[yukichigai]

I've never had a particularly bad experience with BB in terms of PMs, but I've yet to have a successful one. All of the times I've gone in and been turned down it was for something reasonable, e.g. competitor is out of stock, advertised price expired a few days earlier (fine print), etc.

In terms of exchanges I've had good experiences, though I will say it really helps when someone you know works at the store.

 

[lavergne9]

Originally posted by: lMlHuxley
So you did write down exactly what it said on the wall or not? Does it say "see customer service for more details" or anything of that kind? I imagine it does. Leave your sarcastic remarks out of this because it just makes you look dumb and unable to debate the subject on an adult level. Anyway, I don't remember it saying in any customer service policy that the customer service desk should call other stores for price matches. You are being hypocritical in that statement because the "sign" doesnt say anything about customer service people calling stores for you at all. It only states that it agrees to match advertised prices.

The only beef I have with that is the policy says "Just bring us a current ad or other verifiable written proof of the lower price, plus your original Best Buy sales receipt to claim your refund. This offer good only on all new in-the-box products of the same brand and model that are available in-store at any other local authorized retailer." It doesn't say anything about the item being "in-stock" so if the manager refused a PM to Z80 because he said the item was not in-stock at CompU then that would not be following the stated policy. Or if they mean for "available" to actually mean "in-stock" then how are they to verify that something is in stock without calling the store? If they don't call the store than they don't have to give you the PM even if you bring a print-ad in because they can't verify it is in-stock.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: lMlHuxley
So you did write down exactly what it said on the wall or not? Does it say "see customer service for more details" or anything of that kind? I imagine it does. Leave your sarcastic remarks out of this because it just makes you look dumb and unable to debate the subject on an adult level. Anyway, I don't remember it saying in any customer service policy that the customer service desk should call other stores for price matches. You are being hypocritical in that statement because the "sign" doesnt say anything about customer service people calling stores for you at all. It only states that it agrees to match advertised prices.

Apparently you failed to comprehend the points that I have been making. Aside from that, I specifically did ask them at the customer-sevice desk, for a copy of their pricematch policy, in writing. They were in fact not able to do that for me, the best that they could do is print out the PM policy off of their web site.

I have not yet gone back to the store in question to copy down what it says on "the wall", I went out with a friend yesterday instead. Forgive me. But if the PM policy on the wall said to "see customer-service for more details", then by logical extension, you would think, that they would have been readily able to provide me with more information. What actually happened was that they spent perhaps nearly 10 minutes running around, even just to possibly find the information that I was looking for. That experience would not tend to support your supposition, but it doesn't outright disprove it either.

 

[crazyb0y]

hi,

FYI . sears pm policy will pricematch internet prices, but include shipping.
I pricematched a big screen tv with some store.yahoo.com site which had $50 shippping.
just printed it out, actually i brang 2 different printouts with pretty close prices after shipping.
They pricematched the lower.
I would have never bought from those unknown dealers a 65" bigscreen hdtv coming on some freight truck for me to setup. the mitsubishi come in 2 pieces, needs to be aligned, etc.
saved almost 2K and had a delivery guy bring it and set it up.

was less than a year ago.

great deal.

 

[lMlHuxley]

Originally posted by: phillydog

Originally posted by: lMlHuxley
Ok, maybe I am the crazy one here but I would never expect a store to price match an internet site. They would go bankrupt if they had to do that. I also agree that the only price match that should be done is a mass flyer advertisement and only if the store is in that area (such as you cannot use a fry's advertisment in minnesota).

I like a hot deal just like the rest of the folks around here but I can't believe you are so angry about this and actually expected them to price match an internet advertisement. I thought it was well known everywhere that internet advertisements are most definately not to be used for a price match. I worked retail for a few years in my high school days and the same policies I describe were in effect then.

If I can only pricematch to a retail chain that is local in my area, and in-stock, then why would I pricematch in the first place and not just go to the store with the better price originally?

Let me give a better example.... Circuit City (999.99) would not pricematch to MicroCenter (799.20) even though it is local since it was below their cost of (878.00). I'm not trying to start flamewars, just stating, if there is a policy, printing in huge letters on the walls, with no small print, it should be honored.

A few years ago when Circuit City had their (We'll beat all competitors prices or the item is free) best value guarantee, they didn't want to honor that either, and I guess many complaints came in and they had to remove it.

Atleast with J and R music world, their policy is that they will beat any 'authorized' dealers prices. Thus, if you buy a Sony product, they actually have a list of authorized dealers. That way, there is no guesswork.

It was an advertised sale price with no rebates involved and they wouldn't honor it?

 

[ams30gts]

boo...blah on BB

 

[lMlHuxley]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: lMlHuxley
So you did write down exactly what it said on the wall or not? Does it say "see customer service for more details" or anything of that kind? I imagine it does. Leave your sarcastic remarks out of this because it just makes you look dumb and unable to debate the subject on an adult level. Anyway, I don't remember it saying in any customer service policy that the customer service desk should call other stores for price matches. You are being hypocritical in that statement because the "sign" doesnt say anything about customer service people calling stores for you at all. It only states that it agrees to match advertised prices.

Apparently you failed to comprehend the points that I have been making. Aside from that, I specifically did ask them at the customer-sevice desk, for a copy of their pricematch policy, in writing. They were in fact not able to do that for me, the best that they could do is print out the PM policy off of their web site.

I have not yet gone back to the store in question to copy down what it says on "the wall", I went out with a friend yesterday instead. Forgive me. But if the PM policy on the wall said to "see customer-service for more details", then by logical extension, you would think, that they would have been readily able to provide me with more information. What actually happened was that they spent perhaps nearly 10 minutes running around, even just to possibly find the information that I was looking for. That experience would not tend to support your supposition, but it doesn't outright disprove it either.

I did read your post but I thought you said the policy was written on the wall? Don't be an asshole when I am trying to be civil. Well what does the online policy state?

 

[M0RPH]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Here's the other strangely hypocritical irony

You want to know what's ironic? Ironic is the fact that it's entirely because of people like you that Best Buy has been forced to get more and more restrictive with their price-matching policy. It's because of people like you who are constantly scheming and trying to dream up ways to take advantage of the price-matching policy and twist it in ways in which it wasn't intended. For example, price-matching to AFTER-REBATE prices of other stores and then sending in rebates on top of that. That's not how pricematching is intended to work. You are abusing the system. Ironic how the biggest abusers of the system are the ones who are the loudest to complain when they get called on what they're doing and the stores get wise to their games.

 

[lMlHuxley]

Originally posted by: M0RPH

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Here's the other strangely hypocritical irony

You want to know what's ironic? Ironic is the fact that it's entirely because of people like you that Best Buy has been forced to get more and more restrictive with their price-matching policy. It's because of people like you who are constantly scheming and trying to dream up ways to take advantage of the price-matching policy and twist it in ways in which it wasn't intended. For example, price-matching to AFTER-REBATE prices of other stores and then sending in rebates on top of that. That's not how pricematching is intended to work. You are abusing the system. Ironic how the biggest abusers of the system are the ones who are the loudest to complain when they get called on what they're doing and the stores get wise to their games.

preach the word man. I am 100% behind you and agree with you on all points. I cant believe the work people go through to save 20 bucks. I have no idea what their motivation is.

 

[kindest]

Originally posted by: ams30gts
boo...blah on BB

 

[Tsunami982]

i hate bestbuy.... the odds of getting one of their rebates back (at least for me) is about 50%.

BB: "WE ARENT OBLIGATED TO PRICEMATCH OURSELVES, EVEN OUR SHELF TAGS" STORY

one time i went there and picked up a pair of hard drives for 49.99OTC. it rang up 109.99. i told them that it said that price on shelf. so they sent a guy to check it out. he came back and said "nope, 109.99" so i told him id go with his him to get the tag. as i was walking over there he starts to nervously hurry up to get there before me. as i get there he grabs the shelf tag and tries to get in the back room. the only reason that he didnt get away with it was because i made a huge scene (i was pissed at the time) and got the attention of tons of customers. i started telling everyone basically telling everyone that could hear me what they were doing and how they should never shop at BB again. the guy looked like a deer in headlights and was stunned, so i grabbed the shelf tag from him and took it up to the counter.

end of story right? NO. so i take it up and show it to them. the manager and clerk look at it for a while and whisper a bunch of stuff to each other. list of excuses BB gave me as to why the shelf tag wasnt good enough to prove the price:
1. they said it was an old tag. all BB price tags have the date they were printed at the bottom (this one was printed that day no more than 2- hours before)
2. HAHAHA this one is good.... they said they dont pricematch themselves. i was like, "this isnt a PM, its a shelf tag... in your store". THEN HE SAID IT... "WE ARENT OBLIGATED TO PRICEMATCH OURSELVES, EVEN OUR SHELF TAGS" so i guess they consider the prices on the shelves a PM? HAHAHAHAHA
3. they said i could have printed the tag myself, at this point they were getting desperate.

so... by now its been over an hour and a half of stupidity. they had insulted my intelligence and now my integrity... so i now im pissed and start being really really loud so that every customer in the store would know what they were getting into with BB. they threaten to call the cops to remove me and i busted out the ol' "false advertising" line (i did have their shelf tag and all). so customers started leaving and eventually they caved....

and through it all i still cant believe they said "WE AREN'T OBLIGATED TO PRICEMATCH OURSELVES, EVEN OUR SHELF TAGS"

 

[lavergne9]

Originally posted by: Tsunami982
i hate bestbuy.... the odds of getting one of their rebates back (at least for me) is about 50%.

BB: "WE ARENT OBLIGATED TO PRICEMATCH OURSELVES, EVEN OUR SHELF TAGS" STORY

one time i went there and picked up a pair of hard drives for 49.99OTC. it rang up 109.99. i told them that it said that price on shelf. so they sent a guy to check it out. he came back and said "nope, 109.99" so i told him id go with his him to get the tag. as i was walking over there he starts to nervously hurry up to get there before me. as i get there he grabs the shelf tag and tries to get in the back room. the only reason that he didnt get away with it was because i made a huge scene (i was pissed at the time) and got the attention of tons of customers. i started telling everyone basically telling everyone that could hear me what they were doing and how they should never shop at BB again. the guy looked like a deer in headlights and was stunned, so i grabbed the shelf tag from him and took it up to the counter.

end of story right? NO. so i take it up and show it to them. the manager and clerk look at it for a while and whisper a bunch of stuff to each other. list of excuses BB gave me as to why the shelf tag wasnt good enough to prove the price:
1. they said it was an old tag. all BB price tags have the date they were printed at the bottom (this one was printed that day no more than 2- hours before)
2. HAHAHA this one is good.... they said they dont pricematch themselves. i was like, "this isnt a PM, its a shelf tag... in your store". THEN HE SAID IT... "WE ARENT OBLIGATED TO PRICEMATCH OURSELVES, EVEN OUR SHELF TAGS" so i guess they consider the prices on the shelves a PM? HAHAHAHAHA
3. they said i could have printed the tag myself, at this point they were getting desperate.

so... by now its been over an hour and a half of stupidity. they had insulted my intelligence and now my integrity... so i now im pissed and start being really really loud so that every customer in the store would know what they were getting into with BB. they threaten to call the cops to remove me and i busted out the ol' "false advertising" line (i did have their shelf tag and all). so customers started leaving and eventually they caved....

and through it all i still cant believe they said "WE AREN'T OBLIGATED TO PRICEMATCH OURSELVES, EVEN OUR SHELF TAGS"

Man that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. If they don't honor their own shelf tags, that's absolutely ludicrous. At OD if a customer showed us that a shelf tag had a lower price, even if the shelf tag was just old and someone had forgotten to change it, we would honor the price. We took some big hits that way, but it's just good customer service. In fact, that particular override was called the "customer satisfaction" override. That's what it would say in the computer. I mean geeze, if you don't change the shelf tag then it's your fault, you should honor the price. And then to lie about it too, that's just going waaaayyyy beyond cool.

Actually, according to their own policy they would have to PM. I would think that a shelf tag from their own store, with the same date on it would constitue, "verifiable written proof" of the price.

 

[hansmuff]

VulnoX, thanks for your very informative post.
I myself have had only one slightly negative experience at BB, and one bad one.

The slightly bad one was when they had a shelf tag advertising a $99 120GB drive (that's over a year ago, big deal back then) and they were OOS but I pulled the shelf tag and asked for a rain check @CS and they denied me, then the dude in the computer section wrote one out for me. So I got what I wanted with hassle.. alright.

The bad one was Unreal Tournament 2004 SE which I pre-ordered thru BB but they delayed the pre-order fulfillments. I was dumb-lucky enough to call the B&M the day the game was released and they had stock, so I went there to pick one up, then cancelled the pre-order. That was ass on BB's part. Honor pre-orders.

On topic, I see in this very forum how people really bend the rules as far as somehow possible to get something for next to nothing. Sure, it's your right, the policies allow it but wait.. they're changing policies ?! I can't get things for 30% of the regular retail price? BB IS SCREWING ME. Get a grip.

Sure it stinks that they put all those loopholes in. Then again I would do the same to protect my business from being sucked dry by people who take PMing etc to levels it wasn't supposed to be taken to. But to stay competitive, there HAS to be SOME PM strategy, right? Well this is the result. If they took the whole PM policy away, I can't even imagine the whining and complaining that will ensue in this very forum!

I don't work for BB, nor have I ever worked for them. I don't even really like them. But some of the complaints here are totally ridiculous.

IMO.

 

[lavergne9]

Originally posted by: hansmuff
VulnoX, thanks for your very informative post.
I myself have had only one slightly negative experience at BB, and one bad one.

The slightly bad one was when they had a shelf tag advertising a $99 120GB drive (that's over a year ago, big deal back then) and they were OOS but I pulled the shelf tag and asked for a rain check @CS and they denied me, then the dude in the computer section wrote one out for me. So I got what I wanted with hassle.. alright.

The bad one was Unreal Tournament 2004 SE which I pre-ordered thru BB but they delayed the pre-order fulfillments. I was dumb-lucky enough to call the B&M the day the game was released and they had stock, so I went there to pick one up, then cancelled the pre-order. That was ass on BB's part. Honor pre-orders.

On topic, I see in this very forum how people really bend the rules as far as somehow possible to get something for next to nothing. Sure, it's your right, the policies allow it but wait.. they're changing policies ?! I can't get things for 30% of the regular retail price? BB IS SCREWING ME. Get a grip.

Sure it stinks that they put all those loopholes in. Then again I would do the same to protect my business from being sucked dry by people who take PMing etc to levels it wasn't supposed to be taken to. But to stay competitive, there HAS to be SOME PM strategy, right? Well this is the result. If they took the whole PM policy away, I can't even imagine the whining and complaining that will ensue in this very forum!

I don't work for BB, nor have I ever worked for them. I don't even really like them. But some of the complaints here are totally ridiculous.

IMO.

While I agree that there are some who abuse the PM policy, there are just as many that do not, yet still wish to take advantage of it. I don't mind them changing their policy, since that is their right, but I do think that it should be defined in the policy what is and is not acceptable and what the exact procedure is to obtain a pricematch. Certainly this would cut down on complaints as it would be clearcut whether you will get a PM or not instead of the apparent discretion of the manager that they have now, which means you could get denied a PM by a manger and then come in the store later in the day and be granted one by a different manager. I would think a simple, clear, easy to follow policy would be the best way to go for everyone.

 

[brbrice]

Do you work for BB or something lMlHuxley?

 

[VaG]

Cliff notes version please.