He tells me that if I had tried to purchase over the web, I'd have actually paid $119.99. I tell him that my wife and I have been JcPenneys customers for a long time. We've bought clothes, bedding, all kinds of stuff and recently dropped $200 on cookware. He says to me, "Well, the price is $119.99 and it does show $79.99 as the sale price in the web site. I'll tell you what, I'll split the difference with you."

The cashier pulled up the Urban Outfitter's website on her computer and showed Chaely the bag with the sale price of $19. After calling her roommate to confirm that the "real" website still showed the bag at $58, Chaely complained to the manager, but was refused additional store credit. She took her bag and went home.

Sure enough, when she got home, the website said the bag was $58. She was never able to return the item for its full price and now it's just sitting in her closet. She's wondering if there's anyone out there that can explain why Urban Outfitter's website said one price in the store and another price when viewed at home from her computer.

Anyone?

Here's Chaely's letter:

I was just reading the latest Consumerist update about the Best Buy secret in-store only website (dated 12/27/07) and realized that it sounded strikingly similar to an experience I had with the mega hipster-magnet store Urban Outfitters. I wonder if anyone has any experience or insight into this particular company and their undoubtedly twisted pricing scams.

Back in August I had a birthday and my roommates decided to pool their money to buy me a single gift. They ended up purchasing a handbag from UrbanOutfitters.com at the cost of $58. It was gift boxed and sent to our house with a gift receipt (no bar code, no price, just a packing slip basically). I opened it and unfortunately didn't quite fall in love with the handbag like my roommates had hoped I would. No worries, I work only a few blocks from our only local Urban Outfitters retail store. I'll just return it. I checked online to make sure it was, indeed, still worth $58 since some time had passed between the order and my actual birthday (maybe 3 weeks). It was definitely $58 on the website when I checked from my office at about 4pm.

My first attempt to return the bag at about 5:15pm that same day was a feeble one. The girl at the register (with the help of her manager - maybe she was new) couldn't scan any tags or slips to make the return because there weren't any included in the package. Manager found the bag in a different color and attempted to scan THAT tag but the tag had fallen off. He then told her to look it up online to get the SKU number and just type that in to make the return. She looked it up on their website, copied down the number, then proceeded with the transaction. I was handed a gift card and a receipt and I wandered off into the store to shop. For some reason I was struck with an urge to check the receipt and realized that the card she had given me only had about $21 on it. She had refunded me $19 plus tax for the $58 bag.

I went back to the girl at the counter and informed her that she had only given me $21 when the website had, in fact, listed the price at $58 only an hour earlier. She apologized and pulled up the website on her computer. She flipped the screen around and presented what appeared to be their regular website, only this time it said that the bag was $19 - about $20 cheaper than any comparable sized handbags were on that site, to my knowledge. Exasperated, I told her that I couldn't even buy the OTHER bag that I wanted with the gift card (which was also $58 but ONLY available through the website) so I might as well take the original bag back. She pulled the gift box out of the trash, re-packed the original bag, and cut up the gift card.

I immediately left the store and called my roommate to ask her to check the website. "According to the website it's still $58," she said, "it's not on sale as far as I can tell." I walked back into the store and asked the girl to get her manager. I explained to him that my roommate was on the phone with me and looking at the website and only seeing the original $58 price on the website. He apologized saying that he couldn't change what price came up when the SKU was typed in. "It's in the system that way," he said. He suggested that maybe it's GOING on sale this week but wouldn't do anything to help but to offer to issue another $21 gift card.

For various reasons I still have the stupid bag sitting in its gift box in my living room. My roommate probably could have used the e-mail confirmation to return the back online for its original price but that's another story completely. My concern, however, is how their website, which I accessed from several different computers to check its authenticity and my sanity, showed the price as being $58 for about three solid months. I can't understand how the website in-store, which I witnessed with my own two eyes, twice showed that the bag was on sale months before it ever changed on their public website.

Are any readers Urban Outfitters employees or just loyalists who can explain this? Has anyone else had this problem with the already overpriced, soul-sucking retailer? I would love to know if this was an isolated incident or another case of the mysterious Secret In-Store Website.

Thanks,
Chaely C

(Photo:emilybean)

From kevinq2000's livejournal:

I had read that this happens (Consumerist.com has been following this for a while) but I had never had it happen to me. I had gift certificates, and my eye had recently been drawn to a certain single-serve coffee maker, so I decided to buy one.

I looked up the price online, and sure enough, it was on sale. (About $7.50 cheaper. Not a fortune, but about the cost of extra coffee, so why not.) Knowing that Best Buy pulls these shenanigans, I printed off the page from their website showing the price:

See: $142.49.

I went to Best Buy, looked around for the coffee maker, and couldn't find it. So, I looked it up in their kiosk. Lo and behold:
Back up to the $149.99.

Those sons-of-bitches. So, prepared for battle, I eventually found the one I wanted, stacked near a wall, grabbed one, grabbed the accessories I wanted, and headed to the register.

Sure enough, guy rings me up, the coffee maker comes up at the higher price. I say, "That's on your website at a lower price," he says, "Do you have the website?" I pulled out the printout I had made at home showing the lower price. After scanning the printout and the item's box (trying to find a loophole?), he knocks $7.50 off the price, I pay and go home, happy to have my coffee maker, but slightly upset that they tried to rip me off.

So, lesson for the day: If you are going to buy something from Best Buy, check their website for prices, and print out the item you are looking for, showing the price. Keep that with you, and when they ring out out, watch their scanning, and show them the printout if they try to rip you off, too.

It's a deceptive practice, and they said they were going to stop it, but they haven't. Protect yourself - be an informed consumer.

K

Has Richard Blumenthal, the Attorney General of Connecticut who first sued Best Buy over this deceptive practice finally met his match?


Best Buy Lies - Evidence
(Photos:kevinq2000)

PREVIOUSLY: Best Buy Still Embracing Deceptive In-Store Kiosks

According to our tipster:

Not that anyone should be surprised, but Best Buy is still at it.

My wife spent several hours at home researching digital picture frames online, and Best Buy actually had the best price on one, as well as being the only way to get it in time for Christmas. Last night we went to our local Fairfax, Virginia, Best Buy. They didn't have the frame at first, and I actually have to commend the staff, they searched for about 30 minutes because one of them thought he had seen it somewhere. They finally came up with one, the Kodak EasyShare EX1011. I took it to a different station and asked them to price check it, and it came up at $255.99, well over the $234.49 that was listed online.

We went to one of their public computer terminals and searched it and it came up at the $255.99, no surprise.

iPhone to the rescue. At first it was showing the $255 price on my iPhones browser, then I realized it was connected through WiFi, so they have it blocking the external Best Buy site and feeding the fake one. I disabled WiFi and searched again and bam, there it was, $234.99.

The electronics department said I had to go to customer service for such a thing, and they promptly took care of the price change.

Keep up the great work, Consumerist.

[Sue Busch, a Best Buy spokeswoman] said the kiosks were never intended "for price-match purposes," but admitted that "a small percentage of customers did not receive a price match when they should have due to errors in policy execution."

"Every day we get at least one person asking why he can't find a price he saw online," the salesman replied.

I said I was looking for a DVD player I'd seen online that was selling for $71.99. I said it wasn't on the kiosk site.

"Here," the salesman said, "let me show you a secret."

He switched to a different screen, typed in his employee I.D. number, and the real Bestbuy.com came up. "Try now," the salesman said.

I asked why the real website wasn't available to everyone.

He shrugged. "I wish I knew."

Maybe that's something California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown should also be wondering.

For those of you new to this issue, Best Buy was caught using a duplicate website to fool customers who tried to compare internet prices with in-store prices.

Customers who asked why the price was higher in the store were often told that "the sale must have ended" in the time it took them to drive to the store. They were then told to "check the website" to see for themselves, then were shown an identical-looking website that displayed different "in-store" prices.

We think Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said it best back in May (right after he sued Best Buy):

"Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal - a bait-and-switch-plus scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher in-store prices," Blumenthal said.

"The company commonly kept two sets of prices - one on its Internet site and an often higher set on its in-store, look-alike, available on kiosks. The in-store site was an Internet look-alike, commonly with higher prices, which were charged to consumers. Best Buy broke its promise to give the best price - an Internet version of bait-and-switch - a technological bait-and-switch-plus.

"Best Buy used in-store kiosks to conceal lower online prices and renege on its price match guarantee. Consumers seeking bargains were led to believe that lower online prices had expired or never existed. Best Buy treated its customers like suckers, not patrons to be prized."

Attorney General, DCP Commissioner Sue Best Buy For Deceiving, Overcharging Customers [Connecticut AG]
(Photo:Thanks, MK!)

PREVIOUSLY: Connecticut Sues Best Buy For Tricking Customers With Secret Internal Website
UPDATE: Best Buy Still Using Its Secret Website
Best Buy Confirms The Existence Of Its Secret Website
Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site
Best Buy's Secret "Employee Only" In-Store Website Shows Different Prices Than Public Website

I have read on your website about deceptive practices involving Best Buy where they advertise one thing on their website for a price, and then it is different when you go in the store.

Today I wanted to purchase a simple CD for Son Volt's new album, The Search. On bestbuy.com it is advertised at 9.99, available for in store purchase, or online. I drove to a local Best Buy store to find it listed for 13.99. I took it to the customer service counter, and the person at the desk showed me a website listing it for 13.99. He stated, "maybe thats a special on-line pricing for the CD." I shook my head in disgust and walked out. Misleading advertising will doom this company. Hopefully people will catch on at some point.

(Photo: cmorran123)

PREVIOUSLY: Best Buy Confirms The Existence Of Its Secret Website
Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site
Best Buy's Secret "Employee Only" In-Store Website Shows Different Prices Than Public Website