Seems like a lot of trouble just to overcharge him. I think he caught them in the middle of a price change, and got screwed over by the poor timing. Also, hold the iPhone with two hands when taking a picture, please.

Guess I won't be buying an iPhone for the camera feature!

Ugh. Motion sickness.

*blech*

I don't get why you'd have to stay at the checkout counter. Should have shown the guy to it yourself. Although who would have expected them to go and change everything around

Target tried to screw me over the price of some pants (only about $5) so I went back to the area where I got the pants. I then proceeded to take the sign down with the lower price and got my money off. If there is a physical sign, in a dispute, take sign back to the register with you.

I think a $100 is an awfully large amount just for a "price change". More likely they ran over and put the right sticker on. Why else have the customer wait for 7 minutes for a price check?

I think he would've had a lot more luck if the photo had been clearer. Taking a quick photo doesn't mean take it while you're running away. It does look like Best Buy was in the middle of changing its price, or baiting people to buy something. If it was $85 instead of $80, I think most people would be ok with it and pay the extra few dollars. But from $80 to $180 is ridiculous.

why does that price look hand written.

Did you make sure the UPCs matched?

@CumaeanSibyl:
Probably not. The guy likely saw it, knew it was probably wrong, and thought he'd take advantage of it. I doubt he did anything to make sure the price on the shelf matched up to item above it.

I would like to know if the sku on the box matched the sku on the 79.99 label. Unfortunately the pic is terrible and doesn't do anything to prove or disprove the op.

This appears to be another "gotcha" posting about box store mislabeling and a consumer expecting a tremendous discount.

Or it could be a more nefarious, switch the labels around and demand the lower price scam, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the poster and say that its just labeling incompetence (not a shock, I don't trust any labels I read at best buy or other similar stores)

1. If labeled, make sure the skus are matched, a lot of stuff gets shuffled around this time of year, both by workers (many of whom are merely seasonal know nothings) and even consumers

2. Price tags at bestbuy probably have the date its good for, so make sure it still applies.

3. if price seems off, say by the 100$ it is in this post, have a guy in blue ring it up. Much better than finding out after standing in line that there is a labeling problem.

Hmmm....photoshopped? I mean, could you possibly post a more questionable photo for an incident such as this?

However, this does sound like best buy to do something like this. Of course, if you are reading this, you already know.

180 does sound too high for a 7" frame--was it wi-fi or something?

@infinitemojo: I use to work in a BBY as a third party vendor... Their store is so incredibly mislabeled. I would believe any store like this.

I think I see Bigfoot on the top right!

@rewinditback: Because the photo was taken mid-seizure?

@girly: Touch screen, but no Wi-Fi.

Is anyone else REALLY irritated by all the nasty/snippy/rude comments on here lately, not only of the blame the victim variety but to other commenters, and about the subject matter? Seriously, I think maybe we could all be a little nicer, and this site would be a lot more enjoyable.

@AlisonAshleigh: the only kind I don't like are "Slow news day Consumerist?".

As if this is the only site on the internet for anything.

I like a little snarky/funny, but nothing that's downright rude.

I've done more than my fair share of the 'shelf price waltz' in the grocery store to show the staff the wrong price -- after another employee came back to say 'no'. I'm just disappointed they changed the "if we screw up the price, it's free" policy. No more free snack food with week old shelf tags.

@mercurypdx: ah, well 80 bucks does seem too low for that?

@girly: I think THIS is the one that you're looking for. When I buy a fool-proof frame for my dad, it will be this one.

I'm not sure about the laws in Connecticut, but here in Georgia the sku on the tag and the sku on the product have to match. As mightypen wrote above there are customers out there who will place a more expensive product in the spot of a cheaper product and demand the lower price. There are also customers who pick up an item and then place it back on the shelf in the wrong spot. The only protection the store has is to have the skus match. On the other hand, I too have ran into mislabeled items in pretty much every retailer I've ever visited. It just a fact of life, it happens.

@mercurypdx: When people are like "THIS DOESN'T BELONG ON A CONSUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMERSIT WEBSITE" I want to throttle them a little.

Its obvious that they re shuffled the stock when you pointed it out to them, that picture is good enough, you can read the price tag. I would write to best buy corporate, go to planetfeedback.com and write a nice public letter to them.

Wow, thats just slimy.... What a scam, not like i was surprised to see best buys name associated with this story.

@AlisonAshleigh: When people are like "This doesn't belong in a discussion thread!!!" I want to throttle them a little. ;-) jk, I do know what you mean. But it's a hard thing to stop - I find myself getting snarkier as time goes on...

it looks to me like the tag says westinghouse on it, which is what the pink one on the left is( i bought one of those for my mother in law for xmas and it was 79.99

@Mercurypdx: That's a nice picture frame you've linked to, but I hope it's equipped for security against unauthorized picture dumps. Otherwise someone could maliciously drop some objectionable pictures onto a victim's picture frame.

Thing is, they had others sitting in a basket behind the register, obvious that others had seen the mislabeled price and tried to purchase it as well. It's just downright wrong to call me a liar to my face and ask me to leave the store due to their mislabeling practices.

Where the sku should have been read something to the tune of "7INTOUCH" not a model # or anything to identify the tag to a particular item. Convenient.

@AlteredBeast: haha!

@pylon83: When I worked in a grocery store, this was very common. People would grab an item, assume that the first price tag that entered their field of vision matched the product they wanted to buy, and then complain about how cans of tuna weren't individually stamped with prices anymore, like in the olden days when their product rang up at a different price.

Somebody with better GIMP/Photoshop skills than I should be able to de-blur the image a little bit. I don't know if the SKU would be legible, but the product name should be.

@dreamcatcher2: I'm a big fan of the "BE NICE" policy over at Jezebel, I must say!

I got a $200 external hard drive from Staples for $80 because of a tag mix up. Needless to say, the careless stock boy who verified the price for me in the aisle must have received a severe tongue lashing as the manager was obliged to give me the tag price. Score one for the consumer!

Kohl's has twice charged me more than the price listed on the shelf for items. Both times, the clerk just shrugged when I told her what the shelf tag said and changed the price manually--no questions. I was surprised, but given that most Kohl's I've been to look like giant rummage sales, maybe the clerks are used to that sort of thing.

According to the picture, it looks like a Digital Spectrum 7" Elite Frame priced at $179.99 on Best Buy's website. It could have been on sale for $79.99 as a Christmas special, but Best Buy's ads run Sunday to Saturday. I'm suspecting it was on sale, the new prices were already in the computer and because of that, threw up the new tag to make a quick $100 on the item.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised with Best Buy the way they've acted recently and with CompUSA's crumble that they've notified cashiers how to proceed when price changes go into affect and how to reset the display before the customer sees.

Anybody have a Best Buy ad laying around for the week of December 16th-22nd? I'm really curious to see if this frame is in there. In that case, Best Buy would really be screwed.

Also, the customer should have tried to grab an ad for that week on his way out of the store just in case it was in there.

@AlisonAshleigh:
no.
i enjoy reading the Consumerist because of the blunt honesty.

well best buy had done that to me before and luckily, i had the presence of mind to secure a legible photo with my cellphone of the mismarked tag that showed the UPC. with that info..you're outta luck.

in an unrelated note...i'm miffed that a best buy salesperson talked my wife out of letting buy the dslr camera that i have been wanting for over a year. he told her that we could go home and come back tomorrow (Sunday) and the same financing and pricing would be in effect. I asked him, "are you sure? tomorrow's sunday."

he said yes it wouldn't be a problem...sure enough...on sunday the 18 month financing option was gone and i'm back to not being able to afford my camera.

thanks a lot jerk.

I ALWAYS check the label/sku with the product above it.
So many stores have customers and employees putting things anywhere.

@AlisonAshleigh: i don't like the blame the victim people, but i have read some articles on here and been thinking? this is news?! perfect example: "judge judy not a real judge".......uh hello? did i miss something here?

but i have noticed an extremely large volume of haters (victim blamers) and a lot of people on here seem to be big on defending large corporations.

Great, more people complaining about getting called out when trying to scam a store.

@Infoclast: And you know they are scamming because why? Sure I have questions about stories where I only hear one side of the story, but I don't automatically jump to the conclusion that because the story is not air tight the person must be a scammer. In this case the price tag clearly shows $79, it looks like from the blurry picture that the product is neatly behind the price tag (if the product where all of the place, that would clue you in that you needed to find what product went to what tag). And he if was was just scamming and got caught, why would he put himself out there in this story? I would think most scammers would not complain to the Consumerist.

@Ben:"It looks like retailers ...have resorted to elaborate Potemkin shelf displays in order to dupe their customers."

Way to HighBrow this place up.

If its a state law, then you should file a police report. Presumably the state can levy fines against a retailer, and their only defense includes forcing minimum wage employees to commit acts of perjury.

slow COMMENTS day??<--
@AlisonAshleigh: how's that. that ought to balance things out.

I side with the consumer in this case. The part that tips me over is the deliberate deception on the part of the manager to change the prices after the fact.

I'd be more inclined to give the corporation some leeway on screwing up the prices, if they hadn't tried to LIE and change the pricing after the fact.

He changed it because he knew he'd get dinged for the mistake.

-

I'd bring as many small item merchandise up front from the computer sectino of the store in a shopping cart (just toss it in by the fistful... then at the counter, I'd tell them I changed my mind and decided not to buy it. Abandon the cart and go. Bastards.

I'd definitely raise a stink to corporate about it.

So because you couldn't get the price that some store clerk getting paid $6.50/Hr places on the picture frame you will no longer shop at Best Buy? I could understand if Best Buy, overcharged you on the correct price and then refused to give you back the difference, but in this case you are mad because some 18 year old messed up on the sign and to avoid getting into trouble switched the sign to the correct one. Plus with the heavy use of photoshop I find it impossible to trust your blurry photo.

I guess you can always shop at circuit city and CompUSA while they are still in business.

@snoop-blog: It kinda bugs me when people don't get obvious sarcasm. Like the "Judge Judy is not a real judge" post.

@unclescrooge: "on sunday the 18 month financing option was gone and i'm back to not being able to afford my camera. thanks a lot jerk."

If you couldn't afford it on Sunday, you couldn't afford it Saturday.

Why is there all this open hostility against the consumer on this site?

The law is that you pay what an item is marked. If this item was marked for $79 and it rang up at $179, the marked price should control. I do not care what the clerk makes or who gets into trouble. The law is the law. The company faces the possibility of a class action lawsuit, which will cost them far more than $100 if they were to continue such "mistakes".

I am not saying the story is true, but the picture looks clear enough to me to see that it is a $79 picture frame.

When taking a photograph during an earthquake, try to move your hands with the same motion to reduce what some call a "blur" effect.