Silly Jason. He thought a Best Buy sign reading “2 for $25″ meant he could buy two DVDs for $25. He obviously didn’t read the part of the sign that requires customers to buy Saw IV.
Oh, that’s not part of the sign? Then why did the manager of the Best Buy in Beaumont, TX refuse to honor the in-store advertisement? Read Jason’s story, after the jump.
To preface this story, I would like to say I shop at this Best Buy almost exclusively for games, movies, electronics, and computer related items on a local level. Obviously online shopping is still typically the best place for this stuff, but when I want it in my hands, I go here. I happen to frequent this Best Buy every Tuesday like clockwork because I have about 30 minutes to waste when I leave my main day job and go to a freelance job just down the street from this store. I have been in this routine for over 4 years so I am obviously very familiar with this store. I wait for sales and try to pick up deals when I can. When it comes to deals, I am also very aware of the nuances of sales promotions and disclaimers. I never try to push an issue that I know is not correct based on disclaimers and so forth. I worked in advertising so I am actually sensitive to this stuff myself and I also know that people get paid very well to make sure they don’t let mistakes like that through, especially for a company the size of Best Buy. With that all being said, let me explain what happened.
I walk into the Best Buy Store #238 in Beaumont, TX at around 6:30pm Wednesday, January 23rd. I am looking for an extra little birthday present for my 66 year old father, specifically a movie, just as a little side gift as entertainment to counter the tools I already bought him. I wander around looking at the movies for awhile and finally decide on 3:10 to Yuma, a new release. The price on it is $19.99. I decide that standard definition movies are a pretty poor investment at that price and put it back and decide to look around for something else. I think standard definition movies should be $14.99 (and below) these days now that the HD formats are becoming the standard. But as I look through the movies, I see one of their sales promotions on a tiny yellow tag. The promotion says:
” 2 for $25 – Choose from: 3:10 to Yuma, Good Luck Chuck, Saw IV, and War. Disclaimer: Must be purchased on same receipt. No rainchecks. See a customer specialist for details. TempPart #b015021 Expires 01/26/08″
Now I think to myself, that’s a pretty good deal since all of these movies are new releases and it meets my self-imposed restriction of buying standard-def movies for under $15. So I am convinced at that point that it’s a good deal.
I end up choosing two copies of 3:10 to Yuma. One for my father, and the other for me.
Now some people may point and say that choice is not valid to begin with because I am buying two of the same movie….and typically, I might agree with that, but I thought since it didn’t say anything about not getting two copies of the same movie, then that must be a valid choice, so I was ready to put one back and get War instead…. the odd thing is, that was never the issue.
So I get to the register and they ring me up as I pull out my Reward Zone membership card to put the purchase on my card like I always do…….and the clerk tells me $43 dollars and change, meaning, of course, the movies are ringing at $19.99 each. I very politely say they should be ringing at 2 for $25. The clerk then grabs a mailer circular from under the register and says, “No sir, I think for that promotion one of the titles needs to be Saw IV.” and proceeds to show me a promotion in the mailer. I still politely tell him that I didn’t use the mailer to make my decision to buy these, I used the in-store advertising promotion listed in the DVD section and he asks to see the tag I was referring to. I leave the counter, go to the DVD section, grab the tag and then walk back over to the register to show him and he still says I need Saw IV to be one of the movies. I still at this point politely tell him that they must be different promotions because this tag mentions nothing like that and is spelled out in black and white that I can choose any two of the following movies with no reference to a specific movie required in the purchase.
Another Best Buy employee walks over and asks if he can help me…….now this guy comes over with a chip on his shoulder already it seems like, and a headset on. (At this point, I am wondering where the drive-thru is.) He seems like some kind of floor manager or assistant manager. He is very abrupt and not too friendly in his demeanor and I am a little sick from the winter weather, a little tired after working all day, and really not looking for a confrontation or anything. I am staying very calm and never raising my voice or causing a scene or anything. Besides, this is MY Best Buy…..I come in here all the time….and none of these people recognize me? I shop here every week, sometimes twice a week or more….and have been for over 4 years now. This new guy with the headset is telling me that I can’t take advantage of the promotion without one of the movies being Saw IV. I told him, I understand that promotion from the mailer…..but this is a different contradictory promotion in the store. I show him the tag. I also show him the 10 tags or so in the store that are identical to it. He then tells me that the mailer circular takes precendence over the in-store advertising, which is kind of shocking to me, since I never saw the mailer and didn’t receive one, yet I am shopping in the store. I finally realize I am getting nowhere with this individual and decide to go the old “manager route.” At this point, I don’t even care about the movies at that price, I am just wanting to make sure they understand that the promotion in-store is a direct contradiction to their mailer promotion. No one will even admit this yet. So I ask him to get the manager to resolve this so I can go on about my evening. The headset guy goes off to find the manager and leaves me for over 10 minutes, just standing around in the front of the store. He finally comes back talking over his headset and says in a mumbling way “I talked to the managers and they said you need to buy Saw IV.” At this stage, I am standing here in disbelief that a manager didn’t come out to talk to me. I am not even sure this guy ever TALKED to a manager now. I tell him that I need a MANAGER to tell me that for me to understand. This headset guy actually tells me at this point that the managers are too busy to talk to me about it. Well, now I am getting a little irritated. Since when, at any retail establishment, is a store manager too busy to handle a customer problem? I am dumbfounded and annoyed all at once. This same headset guy is now getting belligerent when I have shown no signs of being “one of those customers” who is about to cause a scene. I am calmly and quietly trying to take advantage of an offer that is advertised in the store. Normally I don’t even care about this kind of stuff. Typically I would have left empty-handed if the employees would have said “Sir, I see your point and that advertising is misleading or false, I really apologize, but the register won’t even allow me to do that kind of deal. Let me pull that advertising off the shelf right now to resolve the matter.” I would have been fine with that response and left the store and never thought about it again. My real problem now is that these two employees and the absent manager are basically reacting to me like I am crazy to not “get” their promotion. They think the tag spells it out completely for me and that I must be mentally challenged.
Finally, the store manager shows up and is over-the-top friendly, in a QVC talk show host kind-of-way. I explain to him very politely the whole story from scratch. Let me remind you that we are standing in the check-out area among several other customers checking out with their own purchases. The manager listens intently to my story and finally without missing a beat upon me saying “So there ya have it, isn’t that crazy?”, he says as if he rehearsed it “Yes, but you have to buy Saw IV.” Now I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone here because I just explained to him the difference in the promotional wording from the mailer and the promotional wording from the in-store advertising. It is right here in black and white. I am showing it to him right here in front of us. He refuses to acknowledge that it even remotely seems inaccurate or misleading. I finally get irritated and say, “You need to sell me these two DVDs for $25 to make good on your in-store advertising.” and he says “No, I don’t.” I am seriously floored at this point. I am three levels deep into Best Buy employees and they are all treating me as if I am crazy and we are seriously talking about $15 here. It’s crazy. So I tell him that this whole thing has kind of gotten out of hand and that if he just honors the deal then I will be on my way. He still says “No, I can’t help you…..unless you buy Saw IV.” At this point, I swore if I heard “Saw IV” one more time, I was going to throw up. So basically, I finally tell the manager as a last resort that I could call the consumer hotline and report the store for not honoring the deal. He responds with “It doesn’t matter, call them, I make the final decisions at this store and you are NOT getting those movies for $25.” Oh man, I have NEVER been talked to by a store manager like that in my life. I worked in retail and I worked in advertising and I know what it’s like on both ends of the business. This is just unbelievable at this point for me. I ask the manager what his name is and he says “Brian” and I follow with “Brian what” and he says “BRIAN…THE MANAGER” and then I ask him to get his full name so I know who to report and he says “Brian the Manager is all you need to know.”
I set the movies down on the counter and grab my cell phone and dial the 1-888-BEST-BUY on the back of my reward zone membership. The manager and all of the employees have now scattered and I am wandering around the DVD section again on hold. I want to be able to see this tag again to read it verbatim to the consumer hotline because the headset guy took the tag I was holding up at the front. Finally someone comes on the line and it sounds like a young guy, probably early to mid-twenties from his mannerisms and vocal cues. I tell him the entire story from the beginning and that I have now been in the store for over an hour to buy two DVDs. I also tell him I am calling now just to prove to the manager that he can’t treat people poorly like that. It has become a challenge to right this wrong. He listens without interruption and says, “Okay, let me verify all of this while I put you on hold.” He is of course calling the store, or so I assume. I am thinking he is going to contact the manager and then the manager will fold under pressure thinking I wouldn’t really call, and certainly not call while I am there in the store no less. So at this point, I am on hold for about 10 minutes. The consumer hotline guy comes back on the phone and says the story checks out and that he just got off the phone with the manager. I tell him “Great, I am so glad we can finally get this resolved.” and I kind of laughingly tell him “This is so crazy isn’t it?” He kind of laughs and goes “Yea….crazy…..but you need to buy Saw IV……”
Wow……I just went through all of the channels…..I followed the system the way a customer is supposed to……..and the system failed.
I tell the guy on the phone that this is really crazy now. He tells me the store manager has final say over all transactions in the store. That’s the boast that “Brian the Manager” had made. So now I am in the understanding that Brian is basically all powerful, even over corporate. Wow. I stand corrected. I should have never doubted the power of “Brian the Manager.” I tell the guy on the phone that this is now totally unacceptable and I wasted an hour and a half of trying to get two movies advertised for $25. The guy tells me he can’t help me to resolve the matter and that he’s sorry for my trouble, but to take advantage of the promotion, I would need to buy Saw IV. Now I go off on a mild rant about how this is 2008 and I am standing in a retail store trying to resolve a matter based on the idea that “the customer is always right” and I have a corporate employee at the consumer hotline for one of the largest retail chains in the country and they are telling me they can’t help me. Knowing that I am at my wit’s end at this point, the guy on the phone finally makes me an offer to send me a $15 gift card in the mail to make up the difference in me buying the two DVDs. I say that’s finally at least SOMETHING, but how does that resolve the matter right now? I don’t even want the gift card (and who knows if I will ever see it), I just want them to honor the deal right now and then we can call it a day. He says the manager refuses to honor the deal. I tell him, fine, give me a $15 gift card in the store right now and then I can use it at the register and the guy on the phone tells me he can’t do that, he can only issue one in the mail. I am still not satisfied and I go off on a rant again about how I could post this whole story on the internet and that if they just resolve my issue, we could all save ourselves a lot of trouble and hassle. The guy on the phone still says he can’t resolve it and can’t help me. I ask him if they are going to pull the in-store promotion to not mislead people and he says “No, those are produced by corporate and will be left in the store unless the manager sees fit to remove them.” Wow, the manager STILL is all powerful. So finally, I go off on another rant about how this whole scenario is one of the most ludicrous experiences I have ever had and finally the guy on the phone basically tells me that he doesn’t really care about the advertising or anything at this point and that the absolute most he can do (to get me off the phone) is to up my gift card to $25. I finally concede defeat and say, “Fine, send it.” He verifies my address and we hang up.
Here’s where the cherry is put on top…..as I hang up the phone……the manager walks out from the back and looks at me across the store and gives me this smug look of “I win.” That’s what kills me.
I begrudgingly go and buy one copy of the movie for $19.99 and leave the store because I needed the birthday present regardless of the outcome. Now some people may feel like I won this battle because I came out ahead financially, but I don’t feel that way. I still feel like Best Buy won overall because they are still promoting misleading, inaccurate in-store advertising and not honoring it. I also went into the store again the next day to pick up the promotional advertising pieces to write this article and needless to say they were still up throughout the DVD section.
So take a look at these advertisements and you guys tell me if you think these two things are the same. What conclusions would you draw if you saw the in-store promotion and had never seen the circular mailer?
Here is Best Buy’s circular:
The circular is not an incontrovertible edict from headquarters. Any responsible manager would have honored and then removed the incorrect in-store advertisement. Instead, Brian chose absolutism and pissed off a religious customer.
Best Buy could easily have defused the situation. Jason didn’t want a $25 gift card. He wanted an apology, and for someone to acknowledge the first rule of customer service: the customer is always right.
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Just to make you feel a little bit better, my wife and I just priced a Sony LCD 1080i television at BB and she insists that we need to buy one. So instead of getting it at BB we will look and purchase elsewhere.
I feel your pain!
Christ Lord people, dont you have anything better to do than moaning over a freaking advertisement? go to Circuit City and send a copy of the receipt to BestBuy?? Dont you have anything better to use your time and stamps on? how about buying both movies at Walmart? yeah it will cost you $28 but hey all that heartache you save for a measly $3 extra *lol*
Jason, I was with you until you told Brian Who Is God of Best Buy “You need to sell me…”
He was right on that one point only: no he didn’t.
I have to ask — why did you buy the movie anyway? CC usually (deliberately) has a store w/in walking distance of BB. Target is another option. So is Wal-Mart. For the love of God, don’t let them bully you!
I have a BB story from 1999 which involved several calls to corporate and three bad attempts at getting what I wanted from the store before corporate finally kicked some ass for me. I was a retail manager myself at the time and in it for blood — that this particular store was “under new management” a month later made me very happy, though I never shopped there again. I’ve actually learned my lesson — nine years ago. I am joined by many fine people on this board who would never shop Best Buy either.
Join us, Jason. You won’t be sorry.
PS: Don’t forget that CC will usually price match BB sale prices (though corporate policy, I found out, is not to *always* match sale price) at 110% of the difference, so you could have had two movies for $22.50 at Circuit City, hun.
I own a company where all of the work is done online – I need computers, lots of them, and most of them are laptops. Last year, 2007, I bought 23 laptops from Best Buy, this year I’ve already bought 4, all from best buy.
Two weeks ago I bought a tobisha laptop for my sister, advertised as coming with 3G of RAM. Turn it on, check the system, only 2. I figured 2 was probably right, but the tag said 3 so i want three or the right computer.
I get screwed, they say it was just a mistake -AND THEY ARE NOT GOING TO COMPROMISE!
Solution, I go and collect every computer that I had purchased within the alloted time to return it, with my reciepts, return to the store two hours later and tell them that I need to return almost 20 thousand dollars worth of computer equipment and the manager basically shits in his pants. Long story short my computer never could have 3G of RAM, so I tell him to upgrade another computer. They did it, no problem.
I still returned the computers. F BEST BUY!
Boo f-ing hoo. It’s not like you bought a Raptor hard drive and got a 5 year old beat to shit Maxtor drive which they wouldn’t give you an exchange on. That was me. Or a box of bathroom tile (that was some other guy).
It’s a truism that Best Buy sucks, but the parking lot always seems to be full for some reason.
I agree with the others that were surprised that in spite of wasting all that time and aggravation there, that you still gave them your money. The only thing I would have given Brian was a well accessorized c-word.
I used to work at Target – there could be an ad up, it could be for the WRONG PRODUCT _AND_ EXPIRED, and we would STILL honor the ad. I’ve never, ever, ever heard anyone say anything good about any Best Buy. I’ve only been there maybe five times in the past five years, and it was only to kill time – I only made purchases twice. Their staff is comprised entirely of ill-informed predators that stalk customers and try to convince them to get the most expensive version of a product by hyping it up.
I know that Best Buy _should_ honor their own ads, but they don’t. Their prices are too high, their service is lousy, there’s no reason at all to go there when other retail stores sell for lower prices and provide better service. Best Buy is unwilling to change their policies – so do yourselves a favor and avoid the place altogether. I promise – you can get anything they sell there somewhere else.
I hate when people say “the customer is always right”, but in this case, the customer WAS right. The in-store signage wasn’t exactly vague, and I’d bet that he wasn’t the only customer to have this problem, either. It would have been in the store’s best interest to just honor the 2/$25 deal, regardless of whether the customer purchased Saw IV.
I have also had a bad experience at the best buy in Beaumont.I bought a fridge there a year ago and it had an ice maker in it at the store. The sales lady acknowledged it had a ice maker when I purchased it. It was delivered five days later and did not have an ice maker. I drove 30 minutes to the store and talked to the lady who sold me the fridge and asked about the ice maker. It turns out the ice maker was not included and it was only in the display fridge on accident. I was upset and asked her if she could comp me an ice maker because I felt this was deceptive. She could not do that and I talked to the store manager who offered me a 50 dollar discount on a new one which would cost me over $100. I explained to him that I have spent in the last 3 years over $3,000 at his store and that he would would lose me as a customer over $50. He did not care and said it was $50 and nothing more. I left on principle and promptly called corporate and explained the situation and was sent a $100 gift card without any hassle. I promptly went to the local Conn’s and bought the same ice maker for $50. Since that time I have not bought any thing at the store in Beaumont. I now go to Lake Charles. I was very happy with corporate best buy’s handling of my problem.
Yeah, buy your movies at wal-mart, and target. Their customer service is amazing……
lol
@RvLeshrac: It does not make the ad knowingly deceptive. It means if you want the details of the promotion, you must ask a specialist for details. The specialist gave him the details which he chose not to accept.
I think we need to impose a 1:1 ratio of dollars to words for stories like this: if you are scammed $25, you may use 25 words to describe it. $1000 lost equals 1000 words to describe.
This post was pointless. Besy Buy sucks, so do their customers.
Best Buy will continue this practice right into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Or at least, I hope.
if its DVDs you were looking for, i’m sure everyone would’ve suggested a membership to netflix.
@jamesshieh88: Except it was a gift for his grandfather.
My eyes glazed over, thought I was reading War and Peace. Why didn’t he just go somewhere else with his money?
I went to Bestbuy recently and purchased a copy of Call of Duty 4. The price on the box said $49.99, but on the shelf there was a small sticker that said Call of Duty 4 $39.99. I figured there was a sale. When I checked out it came up on the register as $49.99. I asked if the sticker I saw on the shelf was still good. The cashier asked me to show her the sticker, so she walked back with me and I showed it to her. She then asked a manager who happened to be standing near by what she should do. The manager said without hesitation give it to him for $39.99. He then took that sticker off the shelf right away. No argument or nothing, he saw that it was advertised as $39.99 and honored it, he also saw that it was a mistake an took it down so there would be no confusion. Sounds like ol Brian has a complex.
You should report the store to the State Attorney General. They are breaking Texas law.
BUSINESS & COMMERCE CODE
CHAPTER 17. DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES
§ 17.12. DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING. (a) No person may
disseminate a statement he knows materially misrepresents the cost
or character of tangible personal property, a security, service, or
anything he may offer for the purpose of
(1) selling, contracting to sell, otherwise disposing
of, or contracting to dispose of the tangible personal property,
security, service, or anything he may offer; or
(2) inducing a person to contract with regard to the
tangible personal property, security, service, or anything he may
offer.(d) A person who violates a provision of Subsection (a) or
(b) of this Section is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction
is punishable by a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $200.
I had an irritating issue recently with Best Buy that involved lengthy conversations from the store with their customer service people at corporate HQ. Bottom line, the store couldn’t get their register to complete a transaction properly when they were running a certain deal, and it kept coming up as $117 more than it should. The corporate CSR’s finally told me to pay the higher total, and they would send me a gift card for the difference of $117. As with our friend in the story, by this time the manager and other clerk had long since disappeared.
Here’s where my story ends differently. Unlike our stubborn friend, I knew a good thing when I saw it. As soon as I heard that offer, I said “thanks” quite cheerfully, and ended the call. I made the purchase and left the store. Got into my car, drove five minutes down the road to the next Best Buy, walked in, and returned the item for a full refund. Then I went home, ordered my widget from Amazon, and waited. The promised gift card arrived about two weeks later, and I spent it in due time on something entirely different. Hey, free money, I don’t turn that down.
The extent of my inconvenience was that I had to wait a couple of days for my widget to arrive instead of being able to use it immediately; price was the same.
I realized immediately that I didn’t owe Best Buy nuthin’. No one in the store gave a shit about me. I probably didn’t even have to go through with the farce of buying and returning the item. I could’ve just walked out of the store without buying anything and just waited for the gift card. But it wasn’t a big deal. Fifteen minutes later I had my refund anyway.
In the end, I got my widget at the price I wanted to pay, and I got a little $117 gift from Best Buy, which I consider decent compensation for irritating the feck out of me for a good 40 minutes. And now, I am the legal owner of Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (I added a few bucks to make up the price). Thank you Best Buy!
I hope this doesn’t come across as flamebait or trolling. I’m really astonished that there are Consumerist readers that will even consider stepping a foot into Best Buy and here we have a guy who faithfully purchases once a week and continually shops at BB for 4 years.
How long have you been reading The Consumerist?
Seriously folks. Don’t shop at Best Buy, I don’t know how many times it has to be said…
@arkaycee: bestbuysux.org was legendary; it had some of the most consistently horrifying customer service stories ever to populate the internet. Last time I saw it, there were probably a thousand complaints and the site drew a ton of traffic. The bad publicity eventually drew the attention of the Best Buy Muckety Mucks who tried to bully the site owner’s host into taking it down, but since the stories were true, Best Buy was not successful.
The complaints kept flowing in until eventually, Best Buy stockholders started to take notice. There were even some articles about it online (I believe, my memory is hazy on the particulars) and dozens of copycat sites sprung up. Since Best Buy couldn’t keep a lid on all of the horror stories people were relating, they threw piles of money at the site owner to sell the domain name to Best Buy. (The amount was rumored to be in the hundred thousand dollar range.) The guy took the money and Best Buy wasted no time in publicly fellating themselves with the site you see today.
/End of history lesson.
Oh yeah, here’s one of the sites that hasn’t been bought off… yet:
[www.ihatebestbuy.com]
I would check with the Better Business Bureau. In most states it is illegal for a store not to honor in-store advertising. They do have the right not to honor typographical errors in printed advertising (the newspaper or printer makes an error) but they are generally required make a public correction immediately. Often, when there’s an error in a newspaper ad, as store will post a correction in the store. To simply refuse to honor an in-store ad or price tag is, as I say, simply illegal in most states. I recently purchased a DVD player that had been priced incorrectly. It had a price tag that was $70 less than the price in the store’s computer. They honored the price tag for two reasons: good business practice and the law required them too. In this case there may be a bit of problematic wording on the sign. That “see Customer Specialist for details” wording make give them an out. Again, contact the BBB in your area.
For what it’s worth, I e-mailed Best Buy about this situation and pointed them to this posting. I hope at least a few other people have done the same.
I think the store won because they treated the guy like crap yet he still gave them a purchase. Honestly, was there really no where else to buy that birthday present? If you’ve already spent an hour and a half on this, what’s another twenty minutes to drive somewhere else and buy the movie? DO NOT give your business to stores whose policies you do not agree with!
Jason, sorry bud, you got screwed by Best Buy. Last weekend, my wife and I were in Menards Home Improvement store in Richmond, IN. My wife was over looking at the christmas clearance that they still had, while I was looking at tools. She came over and said “I want that tree they have on clearance.” “That tree” being a 9 foot, pre-decorated, pre-lit christmas tree. Original price of tree – $389.99. Decorated price – $499.99. Clearance sign in front of tree – $182.87 plus an addition 75% off. I find 2 employees of the Hardware Dept. and proceed to ask them if they have any boxes because I would like to purchase the tree and put it in a box for storage when I get it home. The hardware manager (the 3rd person to enter the situation) asks if she can help, I then tell her that I wanted the tree, and she said, “I am sorry, as we do not save boxes.” I then go with plan B – come back the next weekend with some storage tubs. The manager of the Hardware Dept. then tell me that the sign is in the wrong place, but since it was brough to her attention, she would honor the price. Final price of tree – $45.72. Point of the story – Screw Best Buy, shop at Menards Home Imporvement Store, they have DVD’s there as well.
I’d be pissed too if someone tried to get me to buy Saw IV.
Aaaaand to whoever said “who buys dvds anymore?” um ME for one and millions of others. Have fun wasting all your dollars buying into that HD and Blu-ray hype.
@tampersanda:
eggzackly. After all the bitching and the whining, this idjit still bought the item from them, when the same damn product can be purchased at the same price (give or take a buck or two) at five or six other stores within a stone’s throw. Where there’s a Best Buy, there’s a Target, Circuit City, and all their cousins. Not to mention the online options.
Of course Best Buy won. And then we lose too, because after giving them his money, he comes back here to whine to us some more about how Best Buy screwed him and he bent over and let them. Well, we didn’t really lose, because we sure got our money’s worth in entertainment value, LOL. This item’s got 225 comments so far.
It really is “silly Jason” because after that runaround anybody who would still pony up a dime is a tool.
You could have purchased the DVD from Amazon, from Wal-Mart, from Target, from any other competing retailer.
Even if I had to pay more, I’d have done it on principle. Hell – I’d have taken a copy of the ad to Wal-Mart and had a price-match with customer service that probably would work smoothly as they are too bored to fight you.
I’ve shopped in my local best buy a few times, and recognizing one of the managers each time I come in the store has gotten me a price match + a discounted product on two occasions.
YMMV, but I’d have told Brian “The Manager” to piss off.
Try reporting it to the BBB and consumer affairs or whatever you can in your state. It is likely Best Buy could be fined for failing to honor an in-store price.
you still bought the dvd? Stupid you, I would have bought it somewhere else. Then wrote a letter, also ripped off one of those tags and sent a photo copy of it to corporate, posted your internet story and sent a letter to Better business breau.
Good job, dude.
And good God, does Best Buy suck.
This story seems like something straight out of “Brazil.”
@82300sd: if nobody bought dvds snd ripped them, where would you steal your movies via the internets?
I agree that the best choice would have been to say “screw it” and go buy your birthday present elsewhere. However, this is a total bait and switch. People have been doing it for years, and it is in no way legal. Call the Better Business Bureau.
Before Christmas I picked up Talladega Nights and Casino Royale on a similar sale.
No copies of C.R. were on the shelf though, so I asked a kid for a rain check (my experiences’ sign didn’t say “No rain checks”). The manager came and told me I could only have it if those movies were the ones listed in the circular.
I found a copy of Casino Royale on an end cap, so problem solved…except she told me that excluded it from the offer.
That’s 2 attempts to avoid honoring the in-store ad in 2 minutes.
I told her she was wrong on both counts, it didn’t matter what the circular said, or where in the store the DVD was, and I had nothing better to do with my time than see that it ended that way – be it in the store that night, or with lawyers later.
I won.
I once bought a Digital Camcorder at Best Buy for around 500 dollars many years ago when they were still rather expensive. Of course, having never worked Retail before, I got tricked into buying the $100 for year Best Buy replacement plan warranty on it.
Meaning if somehow the Camcorder broke for good and the manufacture warranty had expired, Best Buy would replace it.
So one day the Camera stops working correctly. I’m living in Jacksonville Florida at the time, so naturally I bring it to a Jacksonville Best Buy, where they ship it to the manufacturer for me. A few weeks later I come in and they tell me “We sent it to the manufacturer but they said it was a busted mother board and can’t be fixed.”
So they gave me store credit and I didn’t find a camera I liked that day. I ended up moving back to Georgia and tried to go get a Camera from the local Best Buy. They said I couldn’t get a Camera there because I brought it into a Jacksonville Best Buy. But they never gave me my camera back as it was still at the manufacturer’s! So after 2 hours of waiting around aimlessly at customer service, they gave in and let me leave with a Camcorder. Worst retail experience I ever received.
i vote this to be on the next consumerist t-shirt.
Worst Buy pissed me off a long time ago. Back before teh internets, I ordered a couple games from them through one of their advert circulars. A “snail mail” send-in. After waiting over two months with no response, I called them. They were holding my order because I didn’t include tax. Of course I didn’t: my state was NOT listed as one of the states to include tax for. I remember that clearly. Of course arguing this was fruitless, so I asked for a manager, and still lost. I still wanted the games, so I gave them my CC# for the miniscule charge and told Worst Buy I’d never patronize them again. Neither drone made any attempt to apologize or do anything for me as a customer. So I’m no longer a customer to this day.
But that doesn’t stop me from going into the Worst Buy stores in the mall and being a prick. Wasting their time with questions amid jabs of ‘your prices are high’ , ‘what a poor selection of DVDs’, etc.
Google BB if you want to see other examples of their unsavory tactics. But do the right thing and never buy from them again!
@CharlesJBarry:
That’s ridiculous – the sign was clearly misleading.
But I still can’t believe you bought the movie anyway.
I always save my returns without receipt opportunities for situations like this. It always works like a charm…
No, the customer is not always right. Brian is always right. He’s the Manager.
HOLY FUCK OMG
2864 word “story” on how HIS Best Buy screwed him out of sixty five cents
i wonder how many revisions it took to gather this mighty epic into it’s current stab me in the fucking eyes please form
all this over yuma too
i only wish i could have been that manager
i would have followed Jason out to the parking with that sign
All that BS and he still gave ‘em money.
Good way to get them to stop, genius.
After reading articles like this I want to kick someone in the shins really hard.
Honestly, I can say that in the 2 BB’s in my area, I’ve never encountered a problem. Is it because I only go in there when I’m right in the area and needs something RIGHT THEN? Is it because the Best Buys around me DON’T suck? Is it because I know when to walk out? No idea… But in this case, the OP is just another BBslave and now, oh, he’s locked in omre with his BBbucks!
Question:
All I read on this site is complaint after complaint about Best Buy, moreso than any other company hands-down.
Why do you people still shop there?
Everyone complaining about how long this is…you’d be the same ones asking for more information about what happened. Just because he d1dn’t wr1t3 w/733t sp3ak and use abb. means ur gonna have 2 use ur brains for longer than the 4 seconds it takes you to read subtitles on your japanese tentacle porn cartoons.
@TPIRman: Hate to burst your bubble, but diffuse is actually valid. Diffuse is often used as a verb meaning ‘to soften.’
I think that the policy of “the customer is always right” is one of the biggest mistakes made in retail. That said, the customer was absolutely without a doubt correct. Stores need to honor their advertising, and this is a clear case of a manager’s personal power play.
I made the mistake of buying software there, some cheap Macintosh game for the kids, $5. Got home, it wouldn’t install (the Mac install wasn’t on the CD).
I took it back. “Sorry sir, we don’t take software that has been opened.” I argue with them for about 10 minutes, and finally say to the teenage clerk, the Geek Squad guy, and the store manager, “I’ll pay you $100 dollars if you can successfully install that game on a Mac” and remember, all of this was for $5 in store credit.
Finally they did it, but made me feel like they were doing me a favor.
I would have at least been kind enough to help them with their false advertising by destroying it for them on the spot. After all, we wouldn’t want other customers to get a bad taste in their mouths too over deceptive advertising, right? I’m sure the store would thank you for your help!
Should’ve emailed the bbb, had something similar happen at kmart with a grill, long story short they wouldnt honor the ad I made the email and 2 days later I had my grill
+ an extra 25% off