<![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site - Consumerist Comments]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site - Consumerist Comments]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]> Although a bit dated, this post refers to a frequently used catch by retailers to completely avoid honoring the price matching guarantee.

Note the phrase: "... a lower advertised price offered by a local retail competitor on the same available brand or model..."

The local store will stipulate that this refers specifically to local printed ads (newspaper or flyer) for that specific model/brand combination.
Many large retailers use this trick where a manufacturer will offer identical units for sale with different model numbers to various retailers within a geographic area. So while Best Buy may advertise a price on model #1234ABC, the competitor across the street sells a completely identical unit from the same manufacturer as model #1234XYZ. They never have to match the price since the model numbers are different.

jmattey

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]> I ran into this issue at Best Buy about a month ago. I was getting a new kegerator (mmmm, beer) and they had it for $50 off on their site. When I went to the store it showed the normal price. I asked the guy "is this an internal site or your public site" and he stated it was an internal site and proceeded to pull up the public site, which listed the sale price. I didn't really think anything of it until I saw this story though. Ended up not purchasing it from them in the end, not because of this, but kind of glad I didn't buy it from them now.

jmfc

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]> I've done in-store pickup at Sears and it's great. It means you can do all your research and comparison at home and don't have to pay for shipping or wait 7 days, but you get to avoid all the greasy salesmen that try to hump your leg the instant you walk into the store because they're on commission.

☠Gяяя I love funky unicode symbols☺RRR!

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]> Doing in-store pick-up also guarantees (well, to 99% accuracy) that the exact thing that you want, is available and in-stock and ready for you to pick-up.

I've found it especially helpful when buying DVDs because I hate looking through the stacks and stacks of DVDs for the exact thing I want.

lore

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]> Doing in store pickup also often saves you the shipping costs, and allows you to purchase items that that location may not carry.

BTW, I can't provide any documentation, but I know for sure that I've seen sales on BB's website, then gone to the store looking for a similar deal only to have the Rep point out that the deal isn't actually on their website.

Thank you, Consumerist, for reaffirming my sanity!

Darren W.

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]>
The in-store pick-up seems futile. What's the point in creating an account, submitting your credit card info, and then driving to the store to pick it up?

I do it sometimes because it means I don't have to spend as much time in the store. When I've got two five-year-olds in tow, this can be a major advantage.

John Stracke

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]> Seems to me that this would fall under the concept that a product should be sold for the price labeled, unless the label is obviously a gross mistake. In this case, the website becomes the store, as that is where the shopping is done. The moment they direct the customer to in-store pickup for the item purchased online, it would seem that they are on the hook to provide the item for that price. Otherwise they're engaging in bait and switch practices which will ultimately land them in an assload of hotwater.

heypal

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]> The in-store pick-up seems futile. What's the point in creating an account, submitting your credit card info, and then driving to the store to pick it up?

LatherRinseRepeat

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]>
"a lower advertised price offered by a local retail competitor on the same available brand and model."

I would interpret the prices on the website to be "advertised" prices, and certainly they are of a local retail competitor, since you can do in store pickup for most of the items on the website.

rbf2000

]]> <![CDATA[Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site]]> We applaud the CT State's Attorney for moving so quickly on this, but wonder if the investigation will have any teeth.

In the three years that I've lived in CT, I've noticed that Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's Attorney General, seems to have a pretty good record for looking out for the consumer. Although I don't know him personally, I feel pretty confident that any investigation from his office will have teeth.

acambras

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