Does Best Buy misrepresent stock of Ad Items?

[TheBlackRabbit]

Ordered a Logitech K400 for $19.99 before the store opened. Got an email that said my order was ready to be picked up. About an hour later someone from Best Buy calls me and says they don't have any available and they are going to cancel my order...no offers for a rain check or anything.

Then when I went to re-order the closest store that had one was over 30 miles away in boonfux somalia. Luckily I am passing through boonfux so I reserved one from there to pick up.

Does this happen alot with worst buy? I haven't ordered there in YEARS. Only reason I even ordered the keyboard is I have a need for it and I had a $16 balance on a gift card that had been collecting dust for several years.

 

[amdhunter]

Happenned to me a few years back when they had a sale on dual-layer DVDs. 25 for $10, which was unheard of at the time.

I went to the store, and inventory showed 99+ in stock, but they couldn't find any. They said they were on the way to the store. They offered a rain check, but only for 1 pack. Needless to say, I went back for the 1 pack, and there were tons of them on the shelves.

That was the moment I realized how shit Best Buy could be.

 

[ultimatebob]

Sounds like they sold the item you reserved online. Sounds typical for Best Buy.

Once you know, you Newegg...

 

[Number1]

Similar story here with Future Shop. I tried to purchase an item on sale on the last day of the sale in the afternoon. I called several stores and nobody had any in store. I could not get a rain check or order one for pick up later.

The morning after, I checked their flyer only to find out the same item was on sale again but for only half the discount of the previous week. I called one store and they tell me they had plenty in stock!!!!!!! WTF

I drove to the store, talked to the manager and he gave me the full discount of the precious week plus 15% off on an open box unit.

The fuckers try to screw you anyway they can. It won't keep me from shopping there in the future but it's consumer beware.

I have to admit I love my new receiver. :thumbsup:

 

[shortylickens]

Yup, and thats not even the worst of their shady practices.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

They did this to themselves. I use to wonder why people put up with them. Now it's painfully obvious when I drive by my local best buy and it's a ghost town that people aren't putting up with it.

 

[hclarkjr]

this is one of the reasons why they are going out of business

 

[CPA]

Then when I went to re-order the closest store that had one was over 30 miles away in boonfux somalia. Luckily I am passing through boonfux so I reserved one from there to pick up.

In my day, we used to call it "bumfuck Egypt". I guess times have changed.

 

[sixone]

In my day, we used to call it "bumfuck Egypt". I guess times have changed.

I accidentally mentioned BFE in front of my grandmother. She asked what it meant.

 

[olds]

in my day, we used to call it "bumfuck egypt". I guess times have changed.

bfe, ftw!

But every time I have ordered online for in store pick up, he item has been there.
Often it takes longer to get it than it would if I had walked in and picked it up, off the shelf. But Ii use it to "hold" something that is low on stock. The BB is less than a mile from my place.

 

[mnewsham]

Great news nobody, searching for "boonfux" on google gets you this page as the first link

 

[Dulanic]

Having worked retail many many many years ago i can tell you the reason it happened is simply shrinkage. Theft is very common in retail though shrinkage had many causes.

The no offer of a rain check is pretty shitty though.

 

[CallMeJoe]

this is one of the reasons why they are going out of business

It's difficult to maintain a B&M when the majority of your potential customers treat you as Amazon's storefront.

 

[olds]

It's difficult to maintain a B&M when the majority of your potential customers treat you as Amazon's storefront.

I do this. Research online. Go to Best Buy to handle it. When I decide, if BB is close in price, say withing $25, I'll buy it at BB. Otherwise, Amazon.

 

[Ichinisan]

WARNING: I bought three of those keyboards with Logitech 50%-off coupons. There's a serious flaw in the tap-and-drag function that Logitech still doesn't acknowledge.

When you double-tap to initiate a drag, it doesn't engage the "mouse-button-down" event until your mouse has moved a certain distance. That means it's practically impossible to grab the edge of a window to resize it. Sometimes I can't even grab a title bar to drag. It ends up dragging some icon on the desktop or some other window. It has caused so many accidental screw-ups in such a short period of time, I had to get rid of it after only a few days.

Of course, you can take your left hand off the keys and hold the mouse button to drag (there's even a mouse0 button on the upper-left corner), but I don't want to move my left hand and have to find my position again in a dimly-lit room.

 

[mugs]

WARNING: I bought three of those keyboards with Logitech 50%-off coupons. There's a serious flaw in the tap-and-drag function that Logitech still doesn't acknowledge.

When you double-tap to initiate a drag, it doesn't engage the "mouse-button-down" event until your mouse has moved a certain distance. That means it's practically impossible to grab the edge of a window to resize it. Sometimes I can't even grab a title bar to drag. It ends up dragging some icon on the desktop or some other window. It has caused so many accidental screw-ups in such a short period of time, I had to get rid of it after only a few days.

Of course, you can take your left hand off the keys and hold the mouse button to drag (there's even a mouse0 button on the upper-left corner), but I don't want to move my left hand and have to find my position again in a dimly-lit room.

Or you could click with your index finger and drag with your middle finger...

 

[Imp]

Similar story here with Future Shop. I tried to purchase an item on sale on the last day of the sale in the afternoon. I called several stores and nobody had any in store. I could not get a rain check or order one for pick up later.

The morning after, I checked their flyer only to find out the same item was on sale again but for only half the discount of the previous week. I called one store and they tell me they had plenty in stock!!!!!!! WTF

I drove to the store, talked to the manager and he gave me the full discount of the precious week plus 15% off on an open box unit.

The fuckers try to screw you anyway they can. It won't keep me from shopping there in the future but it's consumer beware.

I have to admit I love my new receiver. :thumbsup:

BB and FS are practically the exact same with the only difference being a few alternate lines of items. BB bought out FS years ago, so makes sense. Seriously, I cross-shop the two sites for shits and giggles and it's almost all the same.

 

[Slew Foot]

Amazon...... and you're done.

 

[Leros]

I heard from a Best Buy employee that its pretty common for employees to stash sale items for themselves before the store opens. So the store might have 30 in stock, but the employees grab 25 before the store opens.

 

[BladeVenom]

I usually don't even bother with Best Buy. Other than blank media, I can't remember the last time I bought something from Best Buy.

 

[Leros]

I usually don't even bother with Best Buy. Other than blank media, I can't remember the last time I bought something from Best Buy.

The only time I go to Best Buy is when I'm Christmas shopping on December 24th.

 

[0roo0roo]

the stores barely stock anything to begin with.

even a hot price isn't worth a trip to bb, easier to buy on amazon and not deal with bullsh*t.

ever higher gas prices only seal the deal.

 

[Baked]

Here's how shitty worst buy's inventory system. Or maybe it's just how shitty their staff is. I went over to their store the other night, planning on picking up a copy of Skyrim (PC). I went straight to their smaller than midget PC game section, couldn't find it. I went to one of the service desks and ask the associate if he can check store inventory for me and see if they have any Skyrim (PC) in stock. He said sure, and walked me to the PC game section. I went /facepalm.

 

[Exterous]

Sounds like they sold the item you reserved online. Sounds typical for Best Buy

Unlikely. Inventory systems typically remove the item from stock so it would need to be manually put back in stock to sell if it was the last one (And they denote that is is reserved for pickup so its not even acase of 'Oh the system says we have none but I have this in my hand so I'll add it back to sell')

Having worked retail many many many years ago i can tell you the reason it happened is simply shrinkage. Theft is very common in retail though shrinkage had many causes.

The no offer of a rain check is pretty shitty though.

Shrink or shipping/recieving issue. I'd be curious to know what what their margin of error is. I worked at a place that had margin of 1 (so if you only had one in stock you couldn't get in online as often that 1 had actually been stolen). It was fine for big ticket items but for music/cds etc never worked. They changed it so it varried by item

I heard from a Best Buy employee that its pretty common for employees to stash sale items for themselves before the store opens. So the store might have 30 in stock, but the employees grab 25 before the store opens.

Only if its a really good sale - which rarely happens. Far more common was getting the discontinued items for really cheap