Worst Buy

Cutriss writes "Steve Lynch of Hypothermia has been running a consumer awareness page following of an Internet pricing disagreement between Best Buy and over 2000 angry customers, where Best Buy refused to honor a web-only sale price of a GeForce4 Ti 4600 for $129.99, at a "Special pre-order price". The situation has escalated further - Rod Hill, Store Manager for Best Buy #513 in Tucker/Dekalb County, GA, had a customer arrested on Friday of last week, citing Fraud and Criminal Trespassing. Hill informed police that Abraham Cherian, an Indian American, was trying to rip off the store, the same store that had conceded to give another customer his video card as requested 10 days earlier. Best Buy is now apparently red-flagging inquiring troublemak^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcustomers who attempt to obtain their purchased cards from Best Buy locations." FWIW, if the description of what happened is accurate, Best Buy has entered into a binding contract to sell the cards at the advertised price, and if they don't want to honor it, the people affected should take them to court (or contact their local Attorney General's office, which is what they appear to be doing). It's Best Buy's obligation to make sure their prices are accurate.

Comments

Re:Disclaimer?

[macrom]

Sure they have a disclaimer, but is the disclaimer legal? They're basically telling you that they can change the price of a product at any time, regardless of when the purchase was made. That sounds rather fishy to me. One would think that Best Buy has a decent legal team, but if it's anything like the team of people in their stores...well, most people here know what I mean.

So the question now (probably) becomes : Does Best Buy really have the right to arbitrarily change the price on any item you purchase, just because the disclaimer says so?

Re:Cowboys and Indians

[dattaway]

I would expect the incident report would refer to the "suspect" by his name, after all they have identified him, right? Instead, they make repeated comments to his skin color as if that has any bearing to the case.

"He's not white, so he must be guilty your honor!"

I'm "white," but I do like it when officers that are required to uphold the law know what are important facts from the details. Sometimes police scare me. That guy shouldn't have made it past the interviews for a "security guard," not to mention a police officer. Sounds racist to me if I have seen it.

Re:Out of the woodwork :)

[ryants]

Things I would do if I were you:

• Have the manager arrested for filing a false police report. See how he likes the cuffs.
• Sue Best Buy for "damage to your reputation".

Few things you should do now

[Sycraft-fu]

As always, this does not consitiute formal legal advice, get a lawyer in your jurisdiction for advice.

First off, get a lawyer. Once of the nice ambulence chasing kind. If they like the case, and they probably will, they should do it for a split of the settlement. Of course nothing is ever sure in the court system, but juries are generally sympathetic to cases of consumers suing big corperations for being assholes.

Next, I would talk to your DA about possable criminal charges against the manager. It sounds like he knowling lied to the police to have you arrested, and that's illegal.

Finally continue to do what you are doing now, which is to spread the word. Bad press hurts the company immensly.

Once money changes hands, the contract is final

[Quixote]

Many of the people here seem to be missing one crucial point: once the money changes hands, BestBuy has to honor the price! They advertised a special "pre-order" deal. People who paid for this (and whose payment BestBuy accepted) have a right to get the card at that price. Once the money changes hands, the "contract" is in place.

People who never paid for this "special" pre-order don't have the same rights; they can't force BestBuy to honor the mistake (legally speaking).

Re:Out of the woodwork :)

[erroneus]

If you don't sue I'm going to get SO PISSED OFF at you it isn't funny.

You need to sue on behalf of every wronged customer on the planet. You need to sue for triple damages based on the humiliation you suffered. You need to sue for wrongful arrest based on the false charges. You need to sue for illegal detainment. You need to sue for them being arrogant assholes.

If people want to run a public business that's great. But there are laws the govern the operation of public businesses. Therefore those laws must be followed in order to continue running a public business.

"Disclaimers" and "EULAs" do NOT supercede the law. Just for emphasis, I will repeat it several times. "Disclaimers" and "EULAs" do NOT supercede the law. "Disclaimers" and "EULAs" do NOT supercede the law. "Disclaimers" and "EULAs" do NOT supercede the law. "Disclaimers" and "EULAs" do NOT supercede the law. "Disclaimers" and "EULAs" do NOT supercede the law. "Disclaimers" and "EULAs" do NOT supercede the law. Only a signed waiver can remove someone from their lawful responsibilities and even that may not be enough.

So how much should you sue for? $1M minimum. Maybe you won't get it... who knows... maybe it'll be $1M in store credit ;) hahaha... but SUE. The story doesn't end here. This will happen to more people than just you. This has happened to more people than just you. This country is shifting into a company-run nation. Business interests come before those of citizens. Hell, we're not even citizens any more... we're "consumers." If that's not an insult to your dignity as a human, I don't know what is!?

SUE THOSE BASTARDS. You have to. DO NOT SETTLE out of court. DO NOT SIGN any agreements to "keep quiet" in exchange for money. It doesn't matter if the amount you sue for is more than you could have hoped to earn in two lifetimes. The point is to damage THEM, not to reward yourself. A company the size of Best Buy will not feel $90,000. It wouldn't even make their lawyers blink...let alone any of their accountants. Make it hurt to a level that will send a message to Best Buy and all other abusive retailers out there that each time they pull some crap like this, they run a serious risk not only of bad P.R. but of losing a whole lot of money.

I'll be happy for you and very jealous when you collect your rewards, but the reward is not what you're suing for -- it's the damages. If they are not damaged by this, then you've lost... we've all lost.

Okay?

(Am I being too passionate about this? Nah.)