Best Buy Accused of Overcharging

An anonymous reader writes "Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has accused Best Buy of overcharging its customers. His accusation is that customers see one price on Best Buy's website, in stores salespeople would show them a different internal site from a kiosk. Best Buy denies the charges. 'Previously, the company confirmed that store employees have access to an internal Web site that looks nearly identical to the public BestBuy.com site, but the company's policy is always to offer customers the lowest quoted price unless it's specifically identified as a deal available only to online shoppers. Jerry Farrell Jr., Connecticut's consumer protection commissioner, said the lawsuit should be a warning to companies to be more transparent in their business practices.'"

Comments

Eh

[Cowclops]

If you're worried about getting the lowest possible price, why are you shopping at best buy ANYWAY?

Re:Eh

[Anonymous Coward]

Because you can get this great service plan, for only PENNIES a day! I'll sign you up for that, OK?

CAPTCHA: honest

Hmmm...

[rob1980]

Busch, Best Buy's spokeswoman, said the company intends to vigorously defend itself in court.

"The future of our company depends on our ability to build trusted relationships with our customers," Busch said.

Would that be with or without an extended warranty?

there's a reason it's called WorstBuy

[EllynGeek]

Best Buy is famous for its shady, customer-hostile tactics. I don't know why people even shop there. Maybe it's for the thrill of combat with idiot Stepford Staff who are trained to foil your every wish. The ole bait-n-switch is something they've been doing since their doors opened- just try to find an advertised special actually on the shelf, at the advertised price. When you do get lucky and find one, their highly-trained Twit Squad pressures you to purchase a more expensive model, or to purchase useless junk like protection plans. The only time store staff don't bother you is when you need them.

Biggest laugh of the day: "The future of our company depends on our ability to build trusted relationships with our customers," Busch said.

I guess it's a form of trust when you trust Best Buy to always try to stick it to you.

Re:there's a reason it's called WorstBuy

[AKAImBatman]

When you do get lucky and find one, their highly-trained Twit Squad pressures you to purchase a more expensive model, or to purchase useless junk like protection plans.

My favorite was when I was looking for a new switch for my home network. The guy at the store (who I didn't ask for his help in the first place) tells me, "That one you're looking at is a switch. You won't get the full speed out of it because it splits the bandwidth. You want a router."

It's lucky for him that I was feeling a bit under the weather that day, or I would have given him a proper education in networking basics. (Hopefully keeping him away from the other poor customers in the process.) :-P

Circuit City too

[danbert8]

Circuit City tried to pull that shit with me. Luckily, I was smart enough to go to their laptop/mobile wireless display and use their real website, order what I wanted for in store pickup and then watch the same sales guy who wouldn't give me the lower price walk over, pick the product up, and take it to the front desk, where I promply showed them my credit card I used for the purchase. Took a bit longer, and was absurd, but that's what you get for giving me free internet in your store.

Re:About damn time

[grub]

Did they verify your printout? If not, I just had a great idea...

I can see a Best Buy Boy running to his manager waving a printout "Sir, a customer wants the $9.99 'Man Stretching His Backside Wide Open' but I can't find them on the shelves!"

Re:About damn time

[TrekkieGod]

I went in to a best buy a few years ago for some laptop memory that was quoted as a 512 mb SODIMM for 90 bucks or so and stated nothing about being an online special.

I don't get the "online only" specials. If you pick them up at the same store, what's the point? A few months ago I needed a new keyboard. I saw a wireless mouse / keyboard combo reasonably cheap at Best Buy online, but didn't bother making the purchase online since I was going to pick it up at the store anyway. When I got there it was twice the price. I got the keyboard, told them the price I saw it online for. The clerk checked, and told me it was an online only offer. I asked her if I could still pick it up at the store if I bought it online and she said yes. So I asked her, why don't I just make the purchase at her computer then. She told me that she couldn't let me do that.

At that point, I told her to wait a few minutes. I stepped to the side, got my PDA out, checked to see if they had public wi-fi available and they did. I made the purchase with my PDA in front of her, then showed her the confirmation number and asked, "can I pick it up now?" She thought it was funny as hell :)

Re:About damn time

[gEvil (beta)]

Funny, huge assholes are just about the only thing I can reliably find at Best Buy...

Re:$31.99 for a USB cable...

[legojenn]

I bought a printer from Bestbuy and the sales dude told me I needed to buy a USB cable. When I told him, that I had a few spare cables, he told me that I needed a special printer USB cable. I then asked him what the U in USB meant.