Late last night, Best Buy posted what seemed like the greatest Black Friday in July deal ever: a $200 gift card for only $15. This was an obvious pricing error, but humans are humans, and people were willing to put up with an Isaac Mizrahi-designed floral gift card if it meant that they would get $185 in free money. Fortunately for Best Buy, they corrected the pricing error after only a few hours. [More]
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Best Buy Can’t Stop People From Using My E-mail Address
By 6.5.15
More than 10 years ago, when Gmail was first born, Jeff signed up early enough that he was able to snag [nickname]@gmail.com as his address. As years passed, this seems like less of a coup: it seems that people who shop at Best Buy love using this address as a throwaway. [More]
Best Buy Changes Mind, Ends Its Ban On Apple Pay
By 4.28.15
When Apple Pay launched last fall, Best Buy was among the most high-profile retailers who refused to accept the new mobile payment platform because of its allegiance to the in-development CurrentC, a competing service from a Walmart-led coalition of retailers. But with CurrentC’s rollout still lingering in the vague future, Best Buy has decided it’s time to give Apple Pay a shot. [More]
Best Buy Closes Future Shop Stores, Will Turn Half Into Best Buys
By 3.30.15
Future Shop is the best name ever given to an electronics retailer, and also a chain in Canada that for the last 14 years has been owned by Best Buy. Best Buy also operates stores in Canada, which means that Future Shop has really been competing with itself. Until now. All of Future Shop’s current stores closed abruptly this weekend, and half will soon re-open as Best Buy stores. [More]
Best Buy Introduces Wedding Registries
By 2.12.15
A few years ago, I thought it was hilarious when friends included a video game console and games on their wedding registry at Walmart. Was it, though? Most households would get more use out of a PS4 than a set of fancy china or a crystal punch bowl. That’s why it makes sense that Best Buy now offers wedding registries. [More]
Best Buy Becomes First Retailer To Sell Samsung’s Gear VR Headset (Galaxy Note 4 Not Included)
By 1.28.15
The Samsung Gear VR headset has been on sale since the fall, but it’s been hiding quietly on the Samsung website, which isn’t exactly the place most of us do our shopping. But now the virtual reality headgear has popped up on the website for Best Buy. [More]
Is In-Store Pickup Any Faster Than Just Shopping At The Store?
By 12.30.14
For years, an increasing number of retailers have been pushing their “buy online, pickup in store” (BOPIS, for all you acronym lovers) option as a expedient option that offers the convenience of online shopping without the hassle of having to search the aisles. But is it really any faster than traditional bricks-and-mortar shopping? [More]
Best Buy Promotes Itself With Hilarious Reference To Real-Life Murder
By 12.11.14
If you’re not a listener of the podcast “Serial,” you might have glanced at something that Best Buy tweeted earlier today and thought that it was either a complete non sequitur or a very roundabout promotion for mobile phones. “We have everything you need. Unless you need a payphone,” said the official Twitter account of America’s biggest electronics retailer. Ha ha! Murder is hilarious! [More]
Best Buy Website Goes Down On One Day Of Year It Shouldn’t
By 11.28.14
We’re hearing lots of complaints about the website for electronics retailer Best Buy being down, and multiple news outlets are confirming that BestBuy.com is unresponsive nationwide. [More]
Warm Up For Black Friday: Here’s A Pop Quiz On The Best Deals
By 11.26.14
You can’t depend on retailers to tell you whether you’re really getting a good deal or not. Is $89 the cheapest that you can find an Apple TV for? Is a $199 Dyson vacuum cleaner too good to pass up? You can make sure that your deal-finding senses are finely tuned and ready for Black Friday with an interactive deal quiz over at CNN. Some deals are exceptional, and others compare unfavorably to other recent sales, sometimes at the same retailer. [CNN] [More]
Where Do People Buy The Stuff They Used To Buy At Sears?
By 11.26.14
Many American consumers have sworn off shopping at Sears and Kmart, their local stores have closed, or they have just forgotten that the chains exist. Business that once went to Kmart now goes to discount store competitors Target and Walmart, logically enough, but where do Americans go for the things that they once bought at Sears? [More]
Best Buy Is Actually Managing This Whole ‘Turnaround’ Thing
By 11.20.14
We haven’t featured very many reader complaints about Best Buy on this site in the last year or so. Is that because people aren’t shopping at Best Buy at all anymore? Surprisingly, no. Best Buy is doing great, thank you very much, having convinced enough customers to quit showrooming and actually buy things there. [More]
Best Buy’s Stupid Shipping Gang Sends 45 Packs Of Pens In 45 Separate Boxes
By 11.14.14
Buying stuff that’s on sale is always a heady moment on the retail battlefield, leaving your proudly standing over your vanquished enemy and wiping the sweat from your brow and knowing that the price you paid wasn’t as great as it could’ve been. Then 45 separate boxes show up at the door. [More]
Two Black Friday Shoppers Have Been Camped Outside Best Buy For A Week Already
By 11.12.14
In the rush of retailers opening their doors for big sales on Thanksgiving Day, the idea of devoted Black Friday shoppers so determined to score deals that they’ll line up hours ahead of time might seem like it’s a thing of the past. Not so, as two friends who have been camped out at their local Best Buy for a week already in order to get the best possible spot in line when the time comes. [More]
Best Buy Also Has Better Things To Do Than Eat Turkey, Will Open At 5 P.M. On Thanksgiving
By 11.11.14
We’ve been here before; it’s all so familiar! Ah, yes. That’s because we just wrote earlier today that RadioShack will open its doors at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, and yesterday that Target would open at 5 p.m. and so on and so forth. Best Buy is here to join the club of businesses who have better things to do than gorge on holiday feasts and snore off into a happy slumber, and will be open from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thanksgiving. [More]
Walmart, Best Buy Won’t Accept Apple Pay At Their Stores
By 9.12.14
Though the highways and byways of America may be dotted with their stores, customers shopping at Walmart and Best Buy won’t be able to pay for stuff using the new Apple Pay system announced this week. Both retailers are eschewing the near-field-communication (or NFC) method of payment in favor of another mobile wallet application. [More]
CPSC: Best Buy And Its Closeout Stores Sold Electronics And Furniture After Recall
By 7.25.14
Once an item has been formally recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it becomes illegal to sell that item. Yet the CPSC reports that Best Buy, Magnolia, Best Buy Private Auction, CowBoom, and TechLiquidators continued to sell products that had already been recalled in 2012 and 2013. [More]
Best Buy Doesn’t Want You To Know They Take Returns Without A Receipt
By 7.14.14
Every store has two sets of policies: the official ones distributed to customers, and the policies from the other end that employees learn in training. A source inside Best Buy contacted us recently to explain how it’s possible to return items to Best Buy without a receipt. Yes, it is possible. No, customers aren’t supposed to know that. [More]
