Best Buy fake website debacle

[Easy180]

Had read about this a while ago, but it just affected me personally tonight...About 2 months ago we went into Best Buy to get a digital camera...Of course the one on sale was out of stock, but the girl offered to check it on the "website"

Was looking over her shoulder and it looks identical to their actual website...Anyway my wife tried to return a faulty camera battery charger at the store tonight and they said they couldn't help her....Told her she had to call a 1-800 number since we ordered it that way and stated IT"S A SEPARATE COMPANY

Don't really know what they are up to, but this knocks them down big time in my book....Think I'm going to cut down my purchases there...Shady stuff

Article explaining what's going on


Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming ….that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.

Company spokesman Justin Barber, who in early February denied the existence of the internal website that could be accessed only by employees, says his company is “cooperating fully” with the state attorney general’s investigation.

Barber insists that the company never intended to mislead customers.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy’s practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website and showed how employees at two Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com.

What is more troubling to me, and to some Best Buy customers, is that even when one informs a salesperson of the Internet price, customers have been shown the intranet site, which looks identical to the Internet site, but does not always show the lowest price.

……they threw in this interesting line: “Although we have an intra-store web site in place to support store operations (including products and pricing), we are reminding our employees how to access the external BestBuy.com web site to ensure customers are receiving the best possible product price.”

That last sentence seems to indicate that Best Buy, which is supposed to be staffed by tech-savvy employees, is putting the blame on memory lapses: that employees have somehow forgotten how to access BestBuy.com from the store.

After making sure the computer is turned on, employees should click twice on the Yahoo Internet icon and then type in BestBuy.com.

This is not the first time the giant electronic retailer has gotten into trouble misleading customers. …Attorneys general in New Jersey and Ohio have accused Best Buy of deceptive sales practices, repackaging used merchandise and selling it as new, and failing to pay rebates and refunds.

[Midtowner]

I worked in consumer electronics for many years in undergrad. Repackaging used merchandise to sell as new, failing to pay rebates, etc... par for the course.

Now as to refunds? Those are at the store's discretion. It's not even bound to follow its own policy.

[MadMonk]

That last sentence seems to indicate that Best Buy, which is supposed to be staffed by tech-savvy employees, ...

That line gave me a good laugh!

More like "clueless, sales-literature-parrotting drones."

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

That line gave me a good laugh!

More like "clueless, sales-literature-parrotting drones."

I dislike BB to begin with (low level products, pushy and generally non-knowledgeable staff, and not-so-hot pricing), now I REALLY don't like them.

The only thing I go there for is movies that I want to buy the day they come out. I'd not buy them there except for the fact that they're about the only place in town with a decent movie selection.

Just about everything else is ordered online.