Chris writes: “I had been last minute Christmas shopping on Saturday morning with my younger brother and sister and we happened upon Best Buy where we were looking for a digital picture frame for my Dad as a Christmas present. We got to the section near the digital cameras and noticed a decent deal. “7” Digital Picture Frame Touch” 79.99 was the label. A whole slew of product (NuTouch 7″ Touch button Frames) were neatly stocked on the shelf. Note: STOCKED not STACKED. I quickly picked one up and proceeded to the register. At the register- the product rung up for the incorrect price (179.99)- here in CT, when that happens, so long as the item is labeled as such in the store (mistake or not) the retailer is legally supposed to give you the product for free (if food items) or at the marked price if it is any other type of consumer product…”

I quickly informed the cashier of the price mishap and he said, “No this is the right price” (how would he know what the RIGHT price is?). I asked him to have it checked. He quickly walked away from his post to find someone to go check on it. At that moment I had my brother go over and snap a quick picture of the items stocked on the shelf with the incorrect tag. The cashier came back within about 2 minutes and said we would have to wait. I was ok with this. About 5 minutes later, a “Computer Specialist,” as his nametag read, came over and asked if I needed some help. I explained the situation and he invited me to come over and check out the products on the shelf and re-verify the price. All of the digital picture frames had been restacked and reorganized with new tags on the shelves and whatnot (Mind you this was about 10 minutes overall). Since all I had was a picture (blurry at best from the iPhone) I couldn’t really do much- he either invited me to take a 30$ discount off of the 179.99 price or to please vacate the store. I was infuriated.

I will not be shopping at Best Buy ever again.

– Chris

This happened once to me too when I was a teenager. I was buying kitty litter at Shop Rite and I noticed it rang up the wrong price. I told customer service and they sent someone to go check it out and he came back and said, “oh, nope, you’re mistaken, the register was correct. So then I went back and grabbed the sticker off the shelf and came back and showed it to them and they had no choice but to give me the litter for free. It looks like retailers have become more sophisticated since then and have resorted to elaborate Potemkin shelf displays in order to dupe their customers.

In his original email, Chris asked for some Best Buy executive email addresses so he could send his complaint off to a senior somebody. We told him that the email address format for Best Buy is firstname.lastname@bestbuy.com and that he should combine that with a list of top company executives and go to town. CC the Connecticut Department of Weights and Measures as well.

Here is the full-size version of the picture:

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