Another Best Buy Rant

[her209]

Yep,... I went to BB today in hopes of getting a P4 2.8 Northwood on clearance. Went to the first BB and had them check on the stock. Zero at the current BB but had five at another one. Drove out and had them look for it. They couldn't find any of the five they supposedly had in stock. Makes you wonder how many items go "missing" at that place.

 

[Reel]

I wonder if you could clear their cookies and put in the proper zip code (my guess about how they do the different pricing). That would have confused them though and they might have had you arrested for computer crimes.

 

[KK]

Couple weeks ago I went to CC and bought a game for my kid. The web site had it for 12.99, the store had it for 19.99. I just took it up to the check out and told the girl working that the website had it for 12.99. She honored the price and didn't even have to verify whether I was lying or not.

 

[SithSolo1]

If you are gonna buy from BB I find it better to always order online with instore pickup. That way you save money(for the most part) and you can pick it up sooner than it would be shipped.

 

[gwlam12]

Originally posted by: toant103

Originally posted by: flot
Now this is ridiculous.

I'm buying my parents a DVD/VCR unit for Christmas, and obviously I'm a little down to the wire. So I decide to do my research/comparisons/price checks online, and then buy in person. I end up deciding that Best Buy has my best option, listed at $79.99. I scribble this down and head out with my BB 10% coupon and drive to the store. (it's only 5 mins away from me)

Well, I get to the store, which of course is a total zoo today, and the same model is listed at $109.99. I ask the clerk to double check the price, and yes, he verifies it's $109.99. Now I'm thinking I might have screwed up and written down the wrong model # or something like that.. so I wander off, and as luck would have it, stumble across the "Best Buy Internet Kiosk" over in the music section. I click on "bestbuy.com" as it is clearly labeled on the screen, and am taken to what looks like bestbuy.com.

I look up the DVD player. $109.99, it says, and the spot where it used to say "You save: $30" is now gone.

Frustrated, I call my sister up. She gets on the internet, goes to bestbuy.com, and sure enough the player is listed at $79.99.

I go to the customer service desk and basically give them a "WTF?!?" and in their defense, they do offer to give me the price if I print out the page and bring it in. But this is just absurd. Apparently, they actually maintain a different version of their website with the IN-STORE prices, as opposed to the ones you can actually get online.

I figured it's not worth the hassle of going back and having the cust service chick go "ohhh that's a website price, I can't match that." I came back home, ordered online with "in store pickup" and we'll see how long it takes before I can actually go pick it up. But give me a break, this is just ridiculous.

you can buy it online and pick it up at the store.

See his last paragraph? It says he ordered online for in-store pickup.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: gwlam12

Originally posted by: toant103

Originally posted by: flot
Now this is ridiculous.

I'm buying my parents a DVD/VCR unit for Christmas, and obviously I'm a little down to the wire. So I decide to do my research/comparisons/price checks online, and then buy in person. I end up deciding that Best Buy has my best option, listed at $79.99. I scribble this down and head out with my BB 10% coupon and drive to the store. (it's only 5 mins away from me)

Well, I get to the store, which of course is a total zoo today, and the same model is listed at $109.99. I ask the clerk to double check the price, and yes, he verifies it's $109.99. Now I'm thinking I might have screwed up and written down the wrong model # or something like that.. so I wander off, and as luck would have it, stumble across the "Best Buy Internet Kiosk" over in the music section. I click on "bestbuy.com" as it is clearly labeled on the screen, and am taken to what looks like bestbuy.com.

I look up the DVD player. $109.99, it says, and the spot where it used to say "You save: $30" is now gone.

Frustrated, I call my sister up. She gets on the internet, goes to bestbuy.com, and sure enough the player is listed at $79.99.

I go to the customer service desk and basically give them a "WTF?!?" and in their defense, they do offer to give me the price if I print out the page and bring it in. But this is just absurd. Apparently, they actually maintain a different version of their website with the IN-STORE prices, as opposed to the ones you can actually get online.

I figured it's not worth the hassle of going back and having the cust service chick go "ohhh that's a website price, I can't match that." I came back home, ordered online with "in store pickup" and we'll see how long it takes before I can actually go pick it up. But give me a break, this is just ridiculous.

you can buy it online and pick it up at the store.

See his last paragraph? It says he ordered online for in-store pickup.

After his initial "fiasco".

 

[Deeko]

First things first.

I highly doubt they maintain a second version of their site, with different prices, for use in the store. Find some proof of that.

Secondly, why didn't you order for pickup in the first place?

Thirdly, I don't know how it works at BB, but I know at CC as soon as you order for pickup, if its in the store, its ready for you to pick up. None of this 'well see how long it takes' crap.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Deeko
First things first.

I highly doubt they maintain a second version of their site, with different prices, for use in the store. Find some proof of that.

Secondly, why didn't you order for pickup in the first place?

Thirdly, I don't know how it works at BB, but I know at CC as soon as you order for pickup, if its in the store, its ready for you to pick up. None of this 'well see how long it takes' crap.

The ONE time I ordered for pickup at WorstBuy, I get there and it takes them almost 10-15 minutes before they tell me no one has pulled it and maybe they don;t have it. At which point I told the girl to LOOK at me, and FOLLOW me with her eyes. I then walked over to the item, in plain site, grabbd it and walked back to the counter.
:roll:


One of the MANY reasons I do not shop at bestbuy.

 

[Ryuson99]

Seriously how many stores do this?

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: Deeko
First things first.

I highly doubt they maintain a second version of their site, with different prices, for use in the store. Find some proof of that.

Secondly, why didn't you order for pickup in the first place?

Thirdly, I don't know how it works at BB, but I know at CC as soon as you order for pickup, if its in the store, its ready for you to pick up. None of this 'well see how long it takes' crap.

Why do you say that? The kiosk in their stores could be connected to their intranet. They probably don't coordinate the sites (Internet vs. intranet) at exactly the same time, so, yes, there could be some price variances.

 

[drum]

WRONG FORUM



this goes in the UPS/FEDEX/BB/Tiger direct Rant Forum
on topic, I find that disturbing although interesting and wouldn't it past BB

 

[dragonballgtz]

You're a devil, and Best Buy just exorcised your ass.

LOL!

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

Originally posted by: Deeko
First things first.

I highly doubt they maintain a second version of their site, with different prices, for use in the store. Find some proof of that.

Secondly, why didn't you order for pickup in the first place?

Thirdly, I don't know how it works at BB, but I know at CC as soon as you order for pickup, if its in the store, its ready for you to pick up. None of this 'well see how long it takes' crap.

Why do you say that? The kiosk in their stores could be connected to their intranet. They probably don't coordinate the sites (Internet vs. intranet) at exactly the same time, so, yes, there could be some price variances.

When I worked at CC, we had a regular, live internet connection at the store. I don't see what the point of having two versions of the site would be.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

Originally posted by: Deeko
First things first.

I highly doubt they maintain a second version of their site, with different prices, for use in the store. Find some proof of that.

Secondly, why didn't you order for pickup in the first place?

Thirdly, I don't know how it works at BB, but I know at CC as soon as you order for pickup, if its in the store, its ready for you to pick up. None of this 'well see how long it takes' crap.

Why do you say that? The kiosk in their stores could be connected to their intranet. They probably don't coordinate the sites (Internet vs. intranet) at exactly the same time, so, yes, there could be some price variances.

When I worked at CC, we had a regular, live internet connection at the store. I don't see what the point of having two versions of the site would be.

To screw flot out of $30.00.

 

[flamingelephant]

Back when I worked for the Home Depot, we got a memo from HQ that said we have no obligation to match our websites pricing. For us it makes more sense I suppose, you can't go and pick up the stuff from a store, its always shipped. The only time we had stuff cheaper on the website was if it was clearance, and clearance stuff was always "while supplies last, at that location only"

 

[Gibson486]

Well, online rpices do not reflect in-store....

On a seperate note..... I thought it was funny that ComUSA said thatt their 15 hour price specials were in store only. I actually belived the ad, so I went to 2 Compusas only to find out that they were out of stock with what I wanted. I came home, went to teh CompUSA website and found that, yes, indeed, they were avaliable online at the 15 hour price specials.....

 

[Kelemvor]

At BB.com you can buy it and flag it for In Store Pickup. Then you don't pay shipping and get it at the store while payign the online price.

But lots of online stores have different prices for things than the B&M stores do.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
Well, online rpices do not reflect in-store....

On a seperate note..... I thought it was funny that ComUSA said thatt their 15 hour price specials were in store only. I actually belived the ad, so I went to 2 Compusas only to find out that they were out of stock with what I wanted. I came home, went to teh CompUSA website and found that, yes, indeed, they were avaliable online at the 15 hour price specials.....

Bingo! Same way when I worked retail.

I hate how so many people say they hate BB and then still shop there. Idiots.

 

[flot]

Originally posted by: Deeko
First things first.

I highly doubt they maintain a second version of their site, with different prices, for use in the store. Find some proof of that.

Secondly, why didn't you order for pickup in the first place?

Thirdly, I don't know how it works at BB, but I know at CC as soon as you order for pickup, if its in the store, its ready for you to pick up. None of this 'well see how long it takes' crap.

Ok, in order...

1) Some proof of that? Ok. Go to best buy's website. Look up the DVD player I mentioned. Print out the page. Now walk into a best buy and use one of their internet kiosk machines to look up the same model. Note different price displayed. (PS: Clearly I am not suggesting that they have two entirely indpendant copies of their website that they update - rather that their website can certainly tell the difference between a customer connecting from a store and an end user request. I couldn't easily get at the actual URL I was looking at, so I had no way to see if it was a URL flag or internal/external sites, or if it looked at the incoming IP, or what, but it was pretty apparent what was going on. (yes, screwing me out of $30)

2) I didn't order for pickup, since they are a quick drive from my house, and it honestly didn't occur to me that I'd have any trouble just walking in and buying it. I did my price comparisons online between the 3 closest stores to me, so I wouldn't have to deal with holiday traffic. Wait, actually, I take that back - I didn't do this because on the website it gave no indication that the lower price was any sort of online special etc (it just said "you save $30") so I figured I'd go in with my perfectly legitimate coupon and save my in-store 10%. (we all know best buy hates that)

3) That's not how best buy CLAIMS it works. In fact, when I asked an employee, he said "oh you have to order it online and then they ship it to the store where you can pick it up." (this was clearly wrong) On best buy's website, when you complete the process, they tell you it takes about an hour, and warn you a few times not to bother going to the store until after you have your 2nd confirmation email. I understand this, I also didn't see any reason to waste some employee's time going and finding it on the floor etc when I could walk in and get it myself.

oh, and 4) someone asked why people bitch about BB and then shop there - it's something I do as a last resort - I can't stand BB or CC, but will shop there if I am in a big time crunch, if I suspect I won't be happy with an item and want to return it, or if they happen to have something on sale that makes it worthwhile to skip the hassle of shipping etc. So yes, I am probably the exact customer they want to get rid of - which is too bad, because I'm 100% the target demographic for an electronics store otherwise. Of course, whenever I go there, I get laughable service, uninformed employees, and a very k-mart experience, so I'm in no hurry to give them any more of my money than I "have" to.

 

[RaDragon]

There is such a thing as prices good for online purchases only -- you just have to make sure you read the fine print! Most stores state that somewhere in their page...

 

[flot]

Originally posted by: RaDragon
There is such a thing as prices good for online purchases only -- you just have to make sure you read the fine print! Most stores state that somewhere in their page...

Ok, cliff notes:

Bestbuy.com accessed from my house: online price, $79
Bestbuy.com accessed from the kiosk inside the store: "online price": $109

I could open up my own bestbuy.com kiosk across the street and make a killing!

 

[RaDragon]

Originally posted by: flot

Originally posted by: RaDragon
There is such a thing as prices good for online purchases only -- you just have to make sure you read the fine print! Most stores state that somewhere in their page...

Ok, cliff notes:

Bestbuy.com accessed from my house: online price, $79
Bestbuy.com accessed from the kiosk inside the store: "online price": $109

I could open up my own bestbuy.com kiosk across the street and make a killing!

The Kiosk in the store isn't necessarily their "online" database (obviously -- you've discovered that!); It could be accessing that store's stock, etc.

Anyway, did you end up getting a DVD player for your 'rents?

 

[flot]

Originally posted by: RaDragon


The Kiosk in the store isn't necessarily their "online" database (obviously -- you've discovered that!); It could be accessing that store's stock, etc.

Anyway, did you end up getting a DVD player for your 'rents?

Agreed, but funny that the button I clicked on to get to that price said "bestbuy.com" ...

And yes, I drove the 5 minutes home, bought with in-store pick up, saved $30 minus $2 in gas.

 

[RaDragon]

Originally posted by: flot

Originally posted by: RaDragon


The Kiosk in the store isn't necessarily their "online" database (obviously -- you've discovered that!); It could be accessing that store's stock, etc.

Anyway, did you end up getting a DVD player for your 'rents?

Agreed, but funny that the button I clicked on to get to that price said "bestbuy.com" ...

And yes, I drove the 5 minutes home, bought with in-store pick up, saved $30 minus $2 in gas.

Not too shabby! And thanks for the heads-up on their website discrepancy! Oooh... I wonder if you email their customer support?! Maybe they'll give you some sort of credit for going through all that trouble!

 

[RightWinga]

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