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

Kodak and others

[56ker]

You'd think after the Kodak fiasco & another online vendor got the price of an X-Box wrong - and in both cases the customer got it (eventually) at the advertised price they'd just cave in and avoid the bad publicity!

Re:Kodak and others

[dorsey]

A friend of mine came across a typo on the BestBuy website once. They were listing 5-port ethernet switches for $0.01. He ordered 10 of them, as did a coworker of his. Neither actually expected to get the switches, but a week later, my friend got his switches, and his credit card was only charged a dime!

Re:Kodak and others

[ncc74656]

A friend of mine came across a typo on the BestBuy website once. They were listing 5-port ethernet switches for $0.01. He ordered 10 of them, as did a coworker of his.

I used to work at Best Buy...you'd occasionally see stuff tagged in the store at a penny because it had been on clearance for so long that they just wanted to get rid of the product. I have some cell-phone battery packs somewhere at home that I bought that way for use in projects (nothing like getting 40 NiMH cells for 8 :-) ).

It was a fairly cool company back in '94 (when I started there), but it started losing sometime in '97 or '98. I quit in mid-'99. After a "customer-no-service" incident about a year and a half ago, I haven't been back since. Spend your "toy budget" at Circuit City or PC Club instead...that's what I've done.

Re:Kodak and others

[Zeio]

The worst part of this all is that the "new" price of $399 is horrible. They are also trying to shirk with a $30 coupon. Link below.

Here are a few links to show you how to find a deal on this card, Vision Tek part number 30001522 :

Pricewatch Search for 30001522

Tip on searching Pricewatch (my favorite); the url format is: [http://brook.pricewatch.com/search/search.asp?cri teria=item_criteria_here]

Streetprices Search for 30001522

Pricegrabber Search, I don't like Price-grabber, but its here to show that even a crappy Shylock engine is better than Worst Buy ©(TM)®.

BEST BUY charged with FRAUD:
Best Buy & HRS Credit Insurance Fraud to their customers. Big Ripoff Scam!

Story also covered here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/10020202.htm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/24005.html

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/19176/

http://courses.wcupa.edu/jredingt/BestBuy.htm

http://www.hardocp.com/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/24041 . tml Worst Buy Highway Robbery Inc. Trying to give only $30 bucks for mistake.

http://hypothermia.gamershardware.com/

http://hypothermia.gamershardware.com/articles/bes tbuy_gf4deal.html

http://hypothermia.gamershardware.com/articles/bb_ arrest.html

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/4/24/11357/3033 .

I have had horrible experience with them as well. I won't even go into it, but they tried to do something fraudulent and were obstinate about owning up to it.

Disclaimer?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing they have a disclaimer on their web site. "We reserve the right to cancel sales in the event of errors" or somewhat. Don't know if it'll hold up in court, but it seems somewhat reasonable to me. It's not like they took the money and didn't give it back. Although I guess it would make a difference if the credit card was charged, and that would be the equivalent of money actually changing hands.

Re:Disclaimer?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.bestbuy.com/infoCenter/Policies/Deliver y.asp#2

Best Buy may, at its own discretion, limit or cancel quantities purchased per person, per household or per order. These restrictions may include orders placed by the same BestBuy.com account, credit card, and also orders which use the same billing and/or shipping address. Notification will be sent to the e-mail and/or billing address provided should such change occur. We reserve the right to limit the quantities sold, including the right to limit or prohibit sales to dealers.

Prices and availability are subject to change without notice. Errors will be corrected where discovered, and Best Buy reserves the right to revoke any stated offer and to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions including after an order has been submitted and whether or not the order has been confirmed and your credit card charged. If your credit card has already been charged for the purchase and your order is cancelled, BestBuy.com will issue a credit to your credit card account in the amount of the charge. Individual bank policies will dictate when this amount is credited to your account.

While Best Buy takes steps to ensure the accuracy and completeness of product and third-party services provided, please refer to the originator of information for details, for example the manufacturer for complete product details.

Re:Disclaimer?

[jmauro]

Putting a disclaimer on a page doesn't either make it true or enforcable. Many things can override silly disclaimers. (Like laws conserning advertising fairness). They're usually there to scare people off from actually following through when harmed. Because if it's in a disclaimer, it must be true.

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:Disclaimer?

[ADRA]

It says it will cancel the order, not jack up the price and still force you to buy it. The difference is VERY important. The worst that can happen is that you have to re-order the product at the higher price.

Re:Disclaimer?

[flatrock]

If you read the letter from the AG which is on the web page, it seems like the issue isn't them canceling all the orders. It seems like the issue is that they are honoring the price for some people and not for others. It seems like that MAY be illegal, and least in some cases.

Does Best Buy really have the right to arbitrarily change the price on any item you purchase, just because the disclaimer says so?

Is anyone really stating that they are arbitrarily doing this? Someone made an error. They don't want to have to honor erroreous prices, which in this case would cost them over half a million dollars for the 2000 customers that placed orders. They are also canceling before the products were shipped.

Cowboys and Indians

[dattaway]

"The Indian was arrested and..."

The police report seems to have an old fashioned Western approach to law and order.

Re:Cowboys and Indians

[Sunkist]

not that it matters much but doesn't NATIVE AMERICAN refer to the "Indian" part of the "cowboys and indians" mentioned here. So in this case, maybe Indian American means someone from India.

in all, it is just stooopid that ethinicity plays any part b/c labels are not what is at point here.

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:Cowboys and Indians

[Romancer]

How "American" can you get?

The "Indians" were here first, and the only reason they weren't called "Americans" was because some white guy couldn't read a map or take a look around him to see that he wasn't in India.

Sigh.

[juuri]

Hill informed police that Abraham Cherian, an Indian American

... and what exactly does that last part matter for?

Re:Sigh.

[KingKire64]

If you read further down on the page you will read this is a possible instance of descrimination

I have attempted to call Mr. Hill all morning to ask what criteria must be met to actually have the original price honored. Do you have to be Male? Female? Black? White? Does it matter that the first person to get the correct price at this very same store was a White Male, and the person turned away today happened to be dark skinned of Indian Nationality?? Well, we won't know, because if you go into the store to ask...you will be ARRESTED.

Re:Sigh.

[arkanes]

Having worked in retail, this actually sounds ALOT like someone who came into the store, got refused the price, and then proceeded to be really loud and annoying, probably refusing to leave, until the manager called the police. People who do this often throw down any sort of minority card they can. It's possible this is a genuine case of discrimination, of course, but purely from the quotes in the article it sounds more like an annoying, abrasive, disruptive customer.

Re:Sigh.

[m3000]

The guy who this happened to went into a little more detail on Kuro5hin about what happened. According to him he was never rude at all. He asked for the manager, and then was lead to a backroom to wait. He thought it was so that the other managers could confer with one another to see if they would honor the price match or not, but instead it was jsut to keep him from leaving the store until the cops came. I know I won't be stepping in a Best Buy in Tucker, Georgia anytime soon.

oh shit!

[paradesign]

now best buy will be dual /.ed. both their site and their stores!

What's even more disturbing...

[Deltan]

They seem to do this intentionally. This isn't the first time Best Buy has misguided customers on its website. They purposely mark a product with the wrong price to get everyone's pre-order dollars and then don't ship it and call it a "typo". They then proceed to either refund you or give you a "discounted price" for their "mistake" which is no where near the original price advertised on their website.

It is some kind of cheap ploy to get people to use their website for all of their purchases. This is all to common with e-tailers these days. I for one sincerely hope that Steve and Hypothermia take Best Buy to the cleaners over this one.

Re:What's even more disturbing...

[ekidder]

I once tried to buy a digital camera from Best Buy. I was spending decently phat l00t for it -- something like $850. When I placed my order, they swore before Man and God that it would be at my doorstep in a week.
Two weeks later, I called them. They apologized profusely, but it seemed they were out of stock and it was backordered. I told them to cancel my order and I would get it somewhere else. They refused because they could not cancel an order that was on backorder.
I said 'Fine' and told them that my credit card company (AmEx) would be informed, along with the Better Business Bureau, and possibly the FTC if I could find a relevant statute.
My order found itself canceled. I ordered the camera directly from Casio and got it in two days.
Bastards.

The police sided with the customer.

[Hamshrew]

It's not that bad... the police sided with the guy, saying the manager shouldn't have done that. Seems like they're doing just what they should, in this case. Best Buy are being assholes about it, and they're getting slapped for it. No news here.

Re:The police sided with the customer.

[drinkypoo]

It's not that bad... the police sided with the guy, saying the manager shouldn't have done that. Seems like they're doing just what they should, in this case.

Uh no. They didn't need to cuff him. That was completely unnecessary.

You cuff someone if they're dangerous. He was being completely calm, and the cops could see that. So putting him in cuffs was definitely going overboard.

Once, when I was in my early teens (but I was 6' tall) I punched a sign in a park in Lakeport, CA. A cop (and member of the SWAT team) cuffed me and put me in the front of the car without sliding the seat back; So I was bent over in the FRONT seat with my hands behind my back, bent over so far that my face was about a foot from the dash, because I would otherwise not fit into the car.

Now, I want to tell you that this cop is a bad cop; He's known for predjudice, and for getting into the pants of someone's underage daughter. The guy's in his thirties, mind you, AND A COP. So one hopes that he's atypical...

What's the point of all this crap? He had no right to treat me that way, especially since I did no damage to the sign (of course he claimed that I was the cause of a 2" crack in the wooden sign, which was BEHIND a piece of plexiglass) but he did anyway, and he got away with it. Don't start making excuses and allowances for cops because some of them are DEFINITELY bad guys. This asshole was one of them, and he's still a cop.

We should hold our peace officers to a higher standard of behavior than anyone else in our society. Otherwise, the entire law enforcement system becomes one that is founded on hypocrisy.

Re:The police sided with the customer.

[Sloppy]

Firstly, when he wants to get a job, a loan, anything, most of those forms always ask "Have you ever been arrested?" - now he has to write "Yes" and an accompanaying letter to explain it each time.

He said, "Kid, we only got one question. Have you ever been arrested?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Best Buy incident, with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all the phenome... - and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, did you ever go to court?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Best Buy ad and the twenty seven gazillion polygons per second with the textures and blitters and the paragraph beside the ad, explainin' what each feature was, and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group B. Now, kid!"

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group B's where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the company after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people on the bench there. Shoplifters. Receipt forgers. Receipt lifters! Receipt lifters sitting right there on the bench next to me! And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest receipt lifter of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly 'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and didn't get the Geforce." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Defrauding a corporation." And they all moved away from me on the bench there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said, "And refusing to leave the store." And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, shop forging, receipt lifting, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of things, until the HR director came over, had some paper in his hand, held it up and said:

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58 -words-we-wanna- know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-an y-other-kind-of-thing- you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I- want-to-know-arresting- officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-got ta-say",

and talked for forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there, and I filled out the incident with the four part harmony, and wrote it down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the following words:

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

I went over to the HR director, said, "Director, you got a lot a damn gall to ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group B bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join your company, fake accounting reports, forge requisitions, and lie to customers, after bein' arrested for trying to trick Best Buy about a video card price." He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Corporate."

Re:The police sided with the customer.

[Skapare]

However, there are some especially sensitive jobs for which merely an ARREST is flagged. The fact of being arrested generally doesn't disqualify one for such jobs, but if you fail to reveal it when asked, that's lying, perjury, and in some cases (applying for government jobs involving security and secrecy) possibly even a felony. When you do put down "YES" then you will be asked to explain the circumstances. While this is certainly not something that would be a problem, the fact of having to do this, possibly the rest of your life, can be a hindrance. And in some cases you can be improperly discriminated against if the employer finds it more convenient to hire someone slightly less qualified than you just because they won't have to check and validate the arrest record (if they have to ask for ARREST instead of CONVICTION for highly sensitive jobs, they surely have to followup and verify). Fortunately most jobs don't fall into these categories.

Mr Cherian should have a lawyer pursue an action to have his arrest expunged so he can then legally say "NO" in the few cases an arrest might be asked about ... and then file suit naming the Best Buy store, the Best Buy company, and the store manager Rod Hill, to cover all legal expenses to set things straight. There is even the possibility of pursuing criminal action against the store manager for false arrest (the lawyer needs to advise on that).

In the mean time, be sure to do searches on the bestbuy.com web site for terms like "arrest", "ripoff", "rod hill", "consumer terrorism", etc. They do log these things.

MaxPC

[blankmange]

Remember reading about this in MaximumPC a month or two ago; Best Buy's stand then was that it was an error/typo and not a legally binding contract -- they said that they would not honor the price... seems that some of the stores have been honoring the price, unbeknownst to corporate management..

Other Best Buy stories

[Wells2k]

I work for an educational institution, and one of the doctors that I work for recently had an experience at the local Best Buy.

He had just bought a harddrive and taken it home, only to find that inside the sealed box was a can of tuna. This is something so utterly rediculous, he decided to back up his case. He called the tuna manufacturer and found that the code stamped on the bottom of the can showed that the can had been shipped to the same county as the manufacturer of the harddrive.

So now it is time to go to the store and try to get a replacement. Of course, everyone knows the story. The manager refused to honor the story, even when presented with this amount of evidence.

The next step was for our doctor in question to go to a bigger regional manager and tell the story. When this manager heard the information about the problem and had looked up the purchasing history of this doctor, he immediately had a new harddrive waiting for the doctor.

I have left quite a bit out of this story, including the bit about where the police were almost called and where the doctor notes to the first manager that he makes more in a month than the manager does in a year, but you get the idea.

Bad Buy

[umm qasr]

Best Buy advertising then refusing to sell the GF4 at the low price is actually quite old news. The arrest of the Indian American is actually new. We know Best Buy should honour the low price, but as any company would, they tried to get out of it. Steve @ Hypothermia (and HardOCP) has done alot of work, and indirectly (&directly) got many people their GF4's at the low price, Good Job!

If what has been reported is true about the Indian American being arrested for trying to get his GF4 at the low price. That is a whole new story. Reading up at Hypothermia and the HardOCP Forums it seems so. After some of my experiences at Best Buy, and all this nonsense over the GF4 they are definately on My List. This story about arresting a guy over what happened is just the icing on the cake.

What exactly happened still seems a bit unclear, and we should probably what for Best Buy's response, but it really doesn't surprise me that Best Buy acted this way. Their company cultrue seems to foster turning employees into assholes. IMHO, of course.

Re:Bad Buy

[shren]

Their company cultrue seems to foster turning employees into assholes.

You'd be an asshole too if you worked register there. I have never been in a best buy where each register didn't have at least two people waiting in line. I've stopped shopping there since twice they've had register wait times of over 15 minutes or more.

You'd think that they'd know how bad that is for thier buisness - half of what I bought in Best Buy was impulse buys. You make me wait that long and the impulse fades - I set my 'best buy' on the counter and go see a movie instead.

I ordered one of the cards....

[telstar]

To make up for their screw-up, BestBuy sent everybody a $30 gift-certificate. Obviously, it's not a GF4, but it seemed like a good attempt to correct an obvious misprint.

Re:I ordered one of the cards....

[coldmist]

Actually, the $30 coupon originated from Cheetah Mail, an online direct marketing company. So, now they sold your information to a marketing company as well.

The $30 "gift-certificate" (actually a "coupon") also had a few extra strings attached.

What a nice way to "make up for their screw-up."

Also, if you used it, then you forfeit your ability to enter into any class-action lawsuit, or complain in any way after that, or receive any part of a settlement or compromise that could happen at a later date.

Email response

[ajs]

Still waiting for mine! ;-)

--

From: onlinestore@bestbuy.com
To: <ajs@ajs.com>
Subject: BestBuy.com Backorder Notice
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 05:32:13 -0600
Message-ID: <EC0250S603avN3qljWw0001d1ed@ec0250s603.xbby.co m>

Dear Aaron Sherman,

Thank you for shopping at BestBuy.com!

Unfortunately, the following item(s) are still unavailable to be shipped, but we hope to be able to ship this item(s) to you soon.

If you prefer to cancel this item from your order, please contact our Customer Care representatives at onlinestore@bestbuy.com or call our Online Store help center toll-free at 1-888-BESTBUY (1-888-237-8289).

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

ORDER NUMBER: 213****
Order Date: Feb 6, 2002
Credit Card Used: ****************

Item Description Type Qty Web Price Total Status

VisionTek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 46 --- 1 $129.99 $129.99 On Backorder

[................] SNIP!

Re:Wow

[Col. Klink (retired)]

I have seen several customers arrested before, but not for asking for what is reightfully [sic] thiers [sic]!

They've had customers arrested for comparison shopping.

Re:Nothing better to do?

[Phoenix]

If it were a typo, I'd have to agree with you. But quoting a "$200 savings" along with the listed price, which just happens to match the average pricewatch price on that card, isn't a typo.

Besides, there is one other thing to consider here...people have PAID for the card at that price. Even if it were a honest typo, Best Buy (or any other company) is obliged to give the option to either use the money towards the proper purchase price, give a refund or give store credit. They only have rights to your money in exchange for goods or services rendered.

After all how would you feel if you paid your hard earned money for something that you aren't getting and when you asked for your money, you were told to "sod off"? I don't know about you, but I'd be rather miffed

Re:oh really?

[Viking Coder]

When does this cross the line to bait-and-switch, which is illegal?

I think it's a pretty fine line, not a blatant misunderstanding on the part of the poster. Don't be so critical - there's a real issue at stake, here.

Or, to sum up Best Buy's mistake in Fortune Cookie wisdom :

Measure twice, cut once.

Out of the woodwork :)

[cOdEgUru]

Allright, can I have one minute of fame here ?? please :)

They even got my name all wrong, it should be Cherian Abraham, not the other way around..sheesh!

Its true. This all went down last Friday at the Best Buy store at Tucker, GA. I am just gonna repeat what happened word by word. Makes quite an interesting reading. And I would really appreciate if you guys could tell me where I should go from here.

So I went to BB at Tucker,GA last Friday armed with the receipts, my original and the copies I printed from the site. I was dumb enough to trust BB and I didnt have anyone to take along with me for the ride. I know I should have.

There was only one card left on the aisle, so I grabbed with a couple of other things (a 80GB HD and a Platinum Audigy) and went to the counter. There was this customer service lady who told me that six or seven people have been trying to PM with the same receipt there and its not possible. She said that the receipt was a fake, the guy who created it is no longer with BB etc. She asked me if I wanted to talk to the manager, so I said yes.

Out comes the General Manager called Rod, I politely explained why I am there. He asked me to follow him to a separate room. He did not want to discuss further details standing outside, he wanted me to follow him. Neither did he tell me then and there that I should get the heck out of there. I was kinda hesitant at first, but I thought no better of it and followed him. Inside we sat down and started going through the receipts. Then another guy, a sales manager called Paul McKim comes in, and suddenly Rod jumps out and drags him out whispering something. Rod comes back in and we start going through the same shit again. I believed that I would make him see the sense of it if I kept my cool and explained everything . He was giving me all fucked up reasons and all I wanted was a yes or no. He told me "I dont know whether I can pricematch that low, but let me ask my Sales manager".

15 mins later, cops walk in. Then I knew they were stalling me on all the time, that he was just waiting there, making sure I was there till the cops arrive. Anyway I still kept my cool and explained to them the reason why I was there. Half an hour goes by and I am still alone in the room with the cops talking to them. Cops are all the time outside talking to BB and not even bothering to listen to my story.

In comes on of the cops, cuffs me (God that hurts) and then tells me that I was cuffed so that I wouldnt hurt anyone. Yeah right!. So here I am cuffed for the first time of my life and humiliated. Then they told me that I was being arrested for Fraud and that I am being taken to the Dekalb Office and a detective would take it up from there on. They brought me out amidst the whole store, but I kept my head high , because I hadnt done anything wrong and I had nothing to worry about.

Cops took me on a joy ride for half an hour and it was a damn uncomfortable one. Once there, they took me to this holding pen alone and made me wait there. In comes one black lady, who looked far more reasonable and intelligent than all the three cops combined, and she told me that she is going to talk to the BB guy (Paul) first and then myself. I waited there for almost an hour (the whole thing took from 11:30 till 3:30) and then she came in and asked me for my story. I explained her everything. She tells me then that she does not believe BB's story that I forged the receipt. Looks like they first told her that the receipt was a Fraudulent one and that they have proof to that effect, but once we all got to the precinct changed the story saying that they cant prove it anymore. Also they changed the charge from Fraud to Criminal Trespass, though at no time whatsoever they had asked me to leave the store. I work as an Analyst for a firm in Atlanta and I was looking quite respectable in my work clothes. anyway, she told me that BB does not want me as a customer and I told her that I would be happy to take my business elsewhere.

She told me that they had changed their tactics from "Forging the receipt" to "Trespassing - not leaving the store even when I were asked to". I told her that all the time the General manager Rod, wanted to keep me there so that the cops would come in, and never he asked me to leave the store. She sympathised with me and told me that she ended up warning the guy from BestBuy.

So here I am Vindicated, Harassed, Ridiculed. Given up ? Hell no! I guess thats one thing you learn when you are a geek.

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".

Re:Out of the woodwork :)

[FatRatBastard]

Spread the word far and wide (and honestly). Nothing will hurt more than the bad press Best Buy will recieve. Also, try taking the matter up to corporate. Chances are they'll be none too happy with what was done (and if they don't care then you've only lost some time and effort).

Re:Out of the woodwork :)

[Mexican]

Did you say you printed the receipt off the BB site? If so, I wonder if this could be a issue for a federal court - IANAL, blah blah - but if the part of BB that is responsible for the site is in another state, maybe this is something that would be considered to have taken place "in interstate commerce". I once served on a federal grand jury, and the federal prosectors used any link, no matter how tenuous, to haul folks into federal court if the CRIMINAL charges looked like something worthy of federal charges. So you were enticed by something off a out-of-state part of the company(if this is true, and their web site shows a contact address in MN), you try to assert your rights to hold the local representatives of BB to that contract, and you get falsly arrested. While you are shopping for a lawyer, you might want to keep this in mind.

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.)

Re:oh really?

[scottdj]

I suggest you re-read the hypothermia web page. The wording of the original Best Buy offer on the Best Buy web site made it very clear that this was an intentional pricing sale, not a typo.

In case you missed it, here is the quote from hypothermia about the original web offer:

Here's a strange one... we found an Advertisement at BestBuy.com yesterday that proclaimed "VisionTek GeForce4 Ti4600 for Special Pre-Order Price of $129.00..the savings is a $200.00 Value". Normally a "typo" or mistake would be something to the effect of a misplaced decimal point or an accidental wrong price. It usually doesn't consist of adding terms like Special Pre-Order Price and savings is a $200.00 Value, ( since it sounds reasonable $129.00 + $200.00 savings for a card announced that day with no real set price yet ) all over the advertisement. So we did the right thing and CALLED. BestBuy.com confirmed the price of $129.00 twice, at which time they gave us the $200.00 value / saving quotes.

Re:Disclaimer? -- yeah, but....

[GreyPoopon]

I was going to post exactly the same thing. Congratulations on being quicker to the draw. I was also going to add that there's one problem with that. At least one of the buyers called and confirmed twice that the offer and prices listed were valid. Any legal experts out there know how this will change things?

Re:oh really?

[Phanatic1a]

You're on crack.

If the price read "129.99" instead of "329.99," that's a typo.

"SPECIAL PRE-ORDER! 129.99 $200 SAVINGS!!" is most obviously not a typo.

In addition, if it's a typo, then you don't honor it. You don't honor it for some people, turn other people away, and have other people arrested for trying to get what they ordered at the price they ordered it at.

I used to work at Incredible Universe, an electronics store where the television department alone was roughly the size of a Best Buy. All the ones that made money were bought out by Fry's, and I was at one of the ones that made money. The way it was always explained to me was that we actually weren't responsible for the physical price tags on the items on the self; people could switch those, alter those, and so forth. We also weren't responsible for misprints or out-of-stocks on the newspaper ads; the ads are run for the whole country, and so long as one of the stores has the item in stock, it's a legal ad and not bait-and-switch. Misprints, of course, are the responsibility of the printer.

So people'd buy an item, take it to the register, and the clerk'd scan the UPC. We were responsible for the price the item scans at the register, and if it was wrong, tough titty, we'd have to sell it anyway. We'd change the price in the system pretty damned fast, but we'd at least have to sell it to that guy.

Wrongful detention?

[InterruptDescriptorT]

At this point, I would call the local friendly legal professional. I bet he or she would be very happy to pursue a wrongful detention civil suit against Best Buy and its manager. Lawyers love this sort of case, especially when it's a little guy clearly in the right versus a big retailer. You get the chance to teach BB a lesson, see the manager get his ass fired, and you could get a nice little chunk of change for your trouble.

And let us know how it goes. BB deserves the smackdown for this one.

'I'm tired of waltzing for pancakes.' - Gwen Mezzrow

Re:Wrongful detention?

[Bilestoad]

Sometimes it's great to live in the land of lawyers. Talk to one, Cherian. If you don't wind up being offered an apology AND a video card I will be very, very surprised. Oh, and if your legal advisor OKs it, talk to your local newspaper too!

"General Manager" Rod is going to be very sorry!

Why it's not a typo

[Wanker]

From the Best Buy consumer abuse site (before it gets Slashdotted back to the Stone Age):

Here's a strange one... we found an Advertisement at BestBuy.com yesterday that proclaimed "VisionTek GeForce4 Ti4600 for Special Pre-Order Price of $129.00..the savings is a $200.00 Value". Normally a "typo" or mistake would be something to the effect of a misplaced decimal point or an accidental wrong price. It usually doesn't consist of adding terms like Special Pre-Order Price and savings is a $200.00 Value, ( since it sounds reasonable $129.00 + $200.00 savings for a card announced that day with no real set price yet ) all over the advertisement. So we did the right thing and CALLED. BestBuy.com confirmed the price of $129.00 twice, at which time they gave us the $200.00 value / saving quotes. After a whole day of ordering, they reneged on the deal and cancelled all orders. The money has yet to be refunded. I have made a sign-up page for all of you that placed orders with Best Buy so that we may get as many people taken care of as possible. I have been in contact with them all day....

The evidence these folks have collected (scanned receipts, etc.) appears to be pretty damning for Best Buy. It will be interesting to see how badly Best Buy gets thrashed in court or if they just settle up and offer the cards at the price they advertised.

IANAL

[Anonymous Coward]

but, if you are who you say you are, you should talk to a lawyer before talking to anyone else. There's a reason you hear "no comment" in disputes from parties on advice of their lawyer.

If true best buy did break the law.

[systemaster]

Assuming what you said is true, then best buy did break the law. Its called "bait and switch" and that is illegal. Of course the hard part is proving that they intentionally showed the lower price to get people to come and spend more than that. Its more detailed than that, but the point is its illegal(I think in the US). It happend to me with a mail order place, had a duron w/ main board combo advertised in a magazine. I called them, 2 days after getting the mag, and they said the sale was over. and that by the time the magazine gets to peoples hands the sale is usually over...I said the words "sounds like bait and switch, thats illegal" 15 minutes later my stuff was ordered and on the way.

Best Buy = Best Fraud

[rossz]

Several months ago I my daughter spent her allowance on a game at best buy. When we got it home I installed the game and found it would not run (crashed on startup). This was on my wife's HP Pavilion (about as generic a consumer computer as you can find). I then tried it on my own computer, a bastard, self-built, multi-booting geek box from hell. Same exact problem, failed on startup.

We went back to the store to exchange it for a different game. No chance. They will not exchange a game unless the media is damage, and then only for another copy of the same game.

I spent far too long arguing with the manager. I pointed out that they would lose a regular customer over a $30 game. He would not budge.

I have not been back to that store since then. So as not to disappoint my daughter, I let her buy another game (from a different store, of course) as it would have been cruel to tell her she lost her allowance.

Unfortunately, this refusal to exchange software is a growing trend. Eventually, I will be forced to pirate all software for testing before I make an actual purchase.

Granholm in Michigan

[the_2nd_coming]

will StaPle their balls to the wall. she has been the biggest advocate for price laws in Michigan since she took office 4 years ago.

if you are getting screwed and you call her office, in a week that store will have an investigation going on its butt and a lot of the time they get taken to court.

The Tucker store stinks

[jkinney3]

Welcome to the Tucker Best Buy. Now take your business elsewhere.

I have had problems with that store as well. That manager, in fact. They must be desparate for ANYONE to work there as a manager to keep that bozo.

I was also accused of attempting to defraud them when I tried to return som RAM that wouldn't work in an IBM Aptiva. (Picky box, Crucial ram worked fine). He told me they didn't even sell the brand I was returning. I had purchased it less than 30 minutes earlier! When I tried to get him to look in the locked case where the ram is so he could SEE THE SAME BRAND, he ordered me out of the store.

I am no longer a customer. I will not EVER be customer again. I go out of my way to tell anyone who will listen to my story just how crappy of a store Best Buy, and the Tucker store in particular is.

I vote for quality business with my money. Best Buy would eventually go out of business if it were not for the hourdes of people willing to tolerate crap for service where they shop.

I would never hire you, you trespasser!

[gosand]

Yeah, I heard about you - harassing the good folks at Best Buy. You, sir, are a troublemaker, and I would never hire you as an analyst because of that. We don't like your kind around here.

(there, your reputation has now been damaged - feel free to sue Best Buy for false arrest and damaging your reputation)

Re:Sickening

[mr. roboto]

Apu: Today, I am no longer an Indian living in America. I am an Indian-American.
Lisa: You know, in a way, all Americans are immigrants. Except, of course Native Americans.
Homer: Yeah, Native Americans like us.
Lisa: No, I mean American Indians.
Apu: Like me.

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.

Legal Prescedent?

[Dyslexic]

A few years back, buy.com advertised a 19" monitor for sale at a price of $169 (list at the time was in the mid $400s). I saw the ad and ordered a monitor, thinking it was a great deal.

Well, word aparrently got out and buy.com got flooded with orders for the monitor. Buy.com sent out a couple e-mails explaining the typo. They decided the only fair way to award their stock of monitors, was by taking a random pick of all purchasers. I did not end up with a monitor. Buy.com apologised profusely, and for the most part was very responsible in the matter. It was not like the bait and switch that BBY is known to do in the past (don't think for a second that this is the first time they've tried to pull this trick).

I was not really upset over the matter. I was not really looking for a monitor at the time, but the big size and low price appealed to me. Granted, I would not probably order from buy.com ever again, but I was not furious. It's not as if I was charged for a product I did not recieve.

Fast foreward a year and a half. I recieved a letter from a law firm that was handling a class action lawsuit against buy.com in the monitor mishap. The judge in the case found that buy.com was responsible for their typo and awarded the suit a large settlement. Well, after legal feeds were subtracted, each customer in the suit gained somewhere around $300. IANAL, but wouldn't this set some kind of legal presecent to force Best Buy to honor their online price, typo or not?

Re:Wow

[Oliver Wendell Jones]

Wow, that's a scary story!

I worked for BestBuy for about 60 days many years ago, and was told on a Saturday evening to be sure to bring a white shirt to work on Sunday.

Sunday morning I was given a micro-cassette recorder and was told to change into the white shirt and head off to a local competitor (H.H. Gregg's) to record all the prices on equipment that we sold at BestBuy as well.

Then when I got back, I had to fill out a form of all the items I had seen, compare our prices to their prices, and if necessary print up new signs with prices that matched our competitor.

Kind of sad that they would arrest someone for doing something that they pay their employees to do!

Price Mistake Of The Day

[DeadBugs]

It's kind of funny that after having trouble with this in the past, Buy.com has a "Price Mistake Of The Day" special on their front page everyday.

More Best Buy Shennanigans

[MAXOMENOS]

Here's another data point to consider, a story about how Best Buy gave a customer a hard time, apparently, for buying something besides their top-of-the-line sattelite system.

I know it's going to be years before I make a purchase from Best Buy again...they're going to have go to a very long way to recover my confidence as a customer. Issuing a formal apology to their customers would be a start.

Facts for the Less Informed

[FleshWound]

Rather than reply to each individual post where someone has made a grave error because they're not aware of the facts, I'm putting them in one post for easy reference:

Best Buy advertised the VisionTek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti4600 for preorder at the price of $129.99 (plus applicable sales tax) on their website (bestbuy.com) on Wednesday, February 6, 2002.

Over 2,000 customers placed orders for the card at this special price.

These customers were greeted with confirmation web pages, confirmation e-mail messages, issued order numbers, and some even received backorder confirmation e-mail messages (some even received multiple backorder confirmations).

Within hours, Best Buy pulled the offer, and "corrected" what they later called a "pricing error."

Cancellation e-mails were sent out, and cited a "systems error" for the mistake.

Best Buy issued a press released (only published at news.com) which blamed "human error" for the mistake.

Customers who called Best Buy to inquire about the order cancellation were told that VisionTek would not allow Best Buy to sell the cards at the originally agreed-upon price (Best Buy was falsely accusing VisionTek of illegal price-fixing tactics).

Best Buy does have a disclaimer on their web site in the form of their Terms of Service Agreement.

At no point during the account-creation or order-placing processes are customers required to read or actively agree to these terms (see Specht vs. Netscape; also see the FTC's Advertising and Marketing on the Internet: Rules of the Road).

Best Buy has actually changed their Terms of Service since this entire fiasco began.

Best Buy's Terms of Service do not supercede federal, state, and local consumer protection laws, which (in many cases) specifically outlaw this type of activity.

Best Buy's Terms of Service exist for the sole purpose of tricking customers into surrendering their consumer rights. The way consumer law is written, customers must exercise their rights; if they surrender them, the company in question is not required to adhere to these laws.

"E-tailers" are subject to the same rules, regulations, and laws that apply to their brick-and-mortar cousins. (See the FTC's Dot Com Disclosures)

Best Buy has stated that absolutely no one will be receiving the card at the previously agreed-upon price, yet well over 140 customers have already done so.

Best Buy is ignoring its customers at this point. E-mails go unanswered, and phone calls are greeted with a promise to escalate the call, but the customer must wait for someone to contact them; this, of course, never happens.

At least one person has already taken this to Small Claims Court. He had his first hearing a couple of weeks ago, but Best Buy requested a continuance, which was granted.

A class action lawsuit is still an option, and one that may be used.

There are more facts that are pertinent, but these are the most commonly misunderstood or ignored pieces of information.

Re:Facts for the Less Informed

[clontzman]

One thing I didn't see mentioned -- I ordered the card and Best Buy did, in fact cancel. A week later, I got a $20 gift certificate to the site. I never expected to get the card for that price anyway (it was obviously an error), so I was happy to get the Robotech DVD box set for $15 instead of $35.

And we have a Winner!

[Amazing Quantum Man]

In the "Worse than Fry's" contest.

Combine this with their backing of access controlled "silver disks with music" (to use Phillip's term), and we have a new Evil Retailer(tm).

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).

Racism?

[Otter]

Well, at least you got some Slashdot karma out of it... ;-)

Out of curiosity, the linked article seems to think (on the basis of no evidence they mention) that your ethnicity played a role on this. You don't mention any such thing here. Any idea where that insinuation came from?

Anyway, while I know there are two sides to every story, you seem like a class act and it sounds like you were really treated shabbily. I wouldn't blame you if you sued the pants off Best Buy.

Best Buy supports CBDTPA

[happyclam]

Because Best Buy owns Musicland, they support the CBDTPA.

Another reason to avoid shopping there.

Thank God for the police...

[gdyas]

Maybe a little O/T, but everyone please notice that the police in this instance behaved completely properly throughout the situation, to the point of empathizing with this gentleman.

With the cops, when they fsck up, everyone's on their back. Nobody notices when the system works, and it appears to be working well here.

As for Best Buy, get a good lawyer who'll work for a split of the rewards for such harrassing behavior, and drain them dry.

Make sure you get your GeForce4 out of it, too. Make that manager hand it to you himself.

Re:Disclaimer? -- yeah, but....

[markmoss]

Best Buy not only gave a verbal confirmation of the price, they accepted the order and CHARGED IT to the credit card. IANAL, but I can't imagine any twist to law where this _wasn't_ a valid contract. Generally, a sales contract is made when one party makes an offer to buy or sell at a certain price and the other accepts. More generally, contracts are made when there is "a meeting of minds". The advertising wasn't a valid offer (too many ways advertising can get screwed up, OTOH if there are a lot of such "errors" the state AG should conclude that they weren't errors and prosecute for bait-and-switch). The verbal confirmation of price was an offer, although it might not be possible to prove it really happened. But all that doesn't matter, because if the seller didn't make an offer, then placing the order for such and such at $129 was an offer by the _buyer_, and the seller accepted it by taking the order and the money. About the only way out of that is to claim that it is impossible to fulfill the order due to circumstances beyond your control (you don't have stock, and can't get it), and pretty clearly this isn't the case when stores all over the country have the item...

So what is BB's real defense here? Maybe, "there couldn't have been a meeting of minds because we are mindless"? ;-)

The way telephone sales and support works

[Eric Green]

Okay, since you never worked for a business, and have no idea how telephone sales and support works, here's how it works:

When you call, say, Best Buy.com's customer service number, you're talking to employees of Best Buy, right?

*WRONG*!!! You're calling employees of a contracted customer service provider. These people are sitting in a tiny cubicle in a call center in Phoenix, Arizona or Gary, Indiana and provide sales and customer service for several different companies. They are provided with scripts and access to the advertising copy and price database for each company they're supporting. If you ask them a question about a price on the advertising copy, guess what they do -- they read it right off the web site right back at you! At least, until somebody notices that hey, we're getting a lot of inquiries about this product, it's time to push this inquiry upstream to actual Best Buy employees.

Now, of course this is shitty customer service. The fact that it is standard industry practice doesn't make it any less shitty. Frankly, I do not buy from Best Buy, and in fact have a one-sentence statement on my web site saying, "Shopping at Worst Buy is the worst thing you can do". But the point is that an employee of a 3rd party contract firm reading mistaken advertising copy back to you does not make the mistaken advertising copy any less mistaken.

And yes, if I'm going by the nearby Krispy Kreme and see them advertising a dozen donuts for 12 cents, I'll go in and ask them about it. If they sell me the donuts for 12 cents, great. If they say, "Whoops! Bad sign!" and hurriedly rush out and change it to say "$1.20", I'd happily pay $1.20 for a dozen Krispy Kremes (of course, the real price is more like $6 for a dozen of those sinful but utterly delicious things, but that's another story :-( ).

-E

Re:Sickening

[Lemmy Caution]

I wasn't around when my employer merged with another company and then liquidated their assets, but I have no difficulties saying "we" did it. There's an institutional "we" by which institutions and organizations can accumulate liabilities and responsibility even though all the individuals involved have changed over.

Re: please, please get a lawyer

[raresilk]

I am a lawyer, and if I were licensed to practice in the state of Georgia I would be sending you an email right now, inviting you to become my client. Since I'm not (California only), I urge you very strongly to consult a local lawyer and pursue whatever rights you may have under Georgia law, with particular attention to the tort of "false arrest." According to your story, what happened to you was wrongful, and quite possibly illegal as well.

Re:Sickening

[Peyna]

It's more cultural sensitivity than politically correctness. United Statesians tend to forget the rest of the world exists, and most of it did so long before the United States. It is important to recognize cultural differences and to respect them.

I consider myself a citizen of the United States of America. I have ancestors from Europe, but I am not a 'European-American' anymore than anyone is an Indian-American or African-American. I am as American as a Canadian and Mexican and Brazilian.

Besides, we're all human in the end, (unless we're non-human animals). My point is that labels such as these are pointless and only lead to more bigotry and hatred as they tend to create divides. Yes it is important to recognize where you came from and your ancestors, but it is more important to realize that your ancestors, where they lived, and their ancestors are NOT what defines you. You are what defines you. Ethnical classifications are becoming more and more moot anyway, due to extensive interbreeding, etc. I for one, wish that the need to even keep track of ethnicity on any form would be done away with all together.

Insight are good guys!

[Mike the Mac Geek]

They put a 200$ motherboard up for 21 bucks on monday.

Dual P3 with built in RAID.

I jumped on it, and got one. After I ordered, the price was put back up to 229.00. Luckily, the good people at Insight held up their end of it, and shipped the board. These people will be getting a LOT more business from me. This is the kind of customer service that really shows they value me, even when I get the better of them. Goodbye Best Buy, Hello Insight!

My DDR story with BB

[(H)elix1]

My DDR Ram story

Here is my story. I was putting off getting a couple sticks of DDR RAM until after the MPX motherboards were ready to ship. Prices started to skyrocket - thinking they would come down again I waited another week. That next week, Best Buy ran an add for 256 stick of crucial DDR RAM for $25 (after $10 rebate on one) when the market was closer to $50. I went to the store and sure enough, it was stripped clean. On-line, however, it showed in stock so I picked up some for in-store pickup.

Order Date: Dec 10, 2001
In-store Pick-up Items:
Crucial Technologies 256MB PC2 --- 2 $34.99 $69.

It looked good. No problems. The store was near by, so I stopped in and checked. We should have another shipment any day now.... Then the email...

Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001
From: onlinestore@bestbuy.com
To: xxx
Subject: BestBuy.com Order Cancellation Notice

Dear (sucker-my-name-here),

Thank you for shopping at BestBuy.com.

One or more of the items that you've recently ordered have cancelled. Please take a moment
to contact our Customer Care representatives by replying to this e-mail or by calling us
toll-free at 1-888-BEST BUY (1-888-237-8289) for further assistance.

I called the customer service people, and they said that if the item was offered again, they would honor the price. Early January, I saw the RAM was listed on the website again. I called the CS department before I ordered and asked for the details. They said if the item was exactly the same skew number, they would honor the price and ship it to me free this time. Call back with the order number. I ordered, called with the info, and got the item....

Order Date: Jan 10, 2002
Shipped Items:
Crucial Technology 256MB PC210 --- 2 $89.99 $179.98 Shipped on Jan 11,
2002

As one may guess, getting the credit was less than easy. Turns out after I took shipment they tell me - ah, well the credit is not automatic. OK... They will forward it to another department for review.. Gha! Well, after many phone calls and showing up in person (something about working a few blocks away may help) they relented and gave me the full credit promised. The email was not clear, but eventually the credits came.

Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002
From: BestBuy.com Customer Care
Subject: Shipping Credit Applied

Greetings from BestBuy.Com,

This email is regarding the recent order you placed on www.BestBuy.com for
In-Store Pick-up. Because our store did not have the product(s) you ordered
in-stock, we are providing you with free shipping to your home.

Your credit card statement will show that you were charged the price of the
product(s) plus applicable taxes and shipping costs. The billing statement
will also show a credit to your account that reflects the cost of shipping
and handling. There may also be a credit for any applicable tax difference
and difference in the price of the product(s). Your credit card bank will
receive notice of this credit within the next 24-48 hours, however, it may
take up to 2-3 billing cycles for the credit to appear on your billing
statement. If you have questions regarding this credit please contact your
credit card bank for more information.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and we hope that you
will continue to shop www.BestBuy.com for all of your future entertainment
needs.

It gets worse.... One of my friends ordered for normal delivery. They decided not to give her the credit, but were gracious enough to take the unopened package back and refund all the cost involved. The lameness filter here sucks - but the twists and turns it took to do both were insane.

Open suggestion to CEOs of Circuit City et. al.

[wowbagger]

Were I the CEO of (Circuit City|Frys|Wal-Mart), I'd be pulling in my marketing director and purchasing director, and saying:

Purchasing - order in 2000 of these cards. I don't care how much they cost - get them.

Marketing - Media blitz. The slogan is "When they screw up, they arrest you. When we screw up, we make it right." Offer one of these video cards for $129.99 to anyone who can prove they ordered one from Best Buy, the order was accepted, and then canceled.

Get over to the guy who was arrested - give him a card. Ask him if he would be willing to appear in our ads.

They screwed up - let's make it REALLY hurt.

BY LUNCHTIME, PEOPLE. MOVE!

Should anyone working for one of these companies read this, please forward to the appropriate parties.