YABestbuyT BB to not honor their sales, at least with me

[Vette73]

First off I dislike BB. The ONLY reason I was going to buy was they had 20% off. This is what happened and what I wrote to them...


I tried to make a large order last night, 1-5-08, of 4 appliances. There was a 20% discount since I was ordering 4. Yet when I got to checkout it said that ALL 4 were not available.

So this morning I wake up and try again and low and behold they are now ALL available, of course the 20% seems to be gone. I hate to think best buy is committing fraud/bait and switch by saying nothing is there when there is a sale but as soon as it is gone all the items show up ready to be delivered at full cost.



So I called and was told to bad. But I have already wrote the BBB, FTC, and a couple of sites. Will also write the state AG as well later.

Anybody ever had this happen to them? I tried to place the order last night so it was less then 12 hours from when it said none out of the 4 could be delivered to all 4 could be this morning and on top of that they could be here on saturday, less then a week. :|


UPDATE1


Got my first e-mail back from them, BB. It just said the appliances I want ARE on sale now. Mind you I went and rechecked, 1 of then is $50 less. So it still is about $1100 more then what I would have paid when there was a 20% discount.
I guess they are still trying to push them NOW that there is no 20%.

 

[MyThirdEye]

if you called with the same attitude as you wrote this post, then I would of said "that's too bad."

 

[amdhunter]

They did that to me when they had DVD-DL 5 Packs for sale for $4.99. I went to the store, it showed ~300 in stock on their computers, yet they couldn't find any. THE VERY NEXT DAY, when the sale was over, they were right back on the shelves.

They did issue me a rain check, but the maximum I could rain check was 2 packs according to their manager. Utter bullspit. I wish there were other options in the NYC area. For such a big city, there isn't really much.

 

[BigJ]

On the recent Gateway laptop deal I called to check availability about an hour after opening. Two different stores told me that "they didn't have any in stock and weren't getting any in stock. We didn't even have any for the sale today." Classic bait and switch.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: amjohns5
if you called with the same attitude as you wrote this post, then I would of said "that's too bad."

What attitude? Everything I said was true. I told the guy they were not there last night and now today they ALL are there? I did not lie or make anything up. I filed my complaints after I called not before. I gave them a chance to do the right thing first.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: BigJ
On the recent Gateway laptop deal I called to check availability about an hour after opening. Two different stores told me that "they didn't have any in stock and weren't getting any in stock. We didn't even have any for the sale today." Classic bait and switch.

why does no one know what "Bait and switch" actually means, yet continue to tout "classic bait and switch"?

 

[Tweak155]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: BigJ
On the recent Gateway laptop deal I called to check availability about an hour after opening. Two different stores told me that "they didn't have any in stock and weren't getting any in stock. We didn't even have any for the sale today." Classic bait and switch.

why does no one know what "Bait and switch" actually means, yet continue to tout "classic bait and switch"?

Refer to your own sig.

 

[Q]

Originally posted by: amjohns5
if you called with the same attitude as you wrote this post, then I would of said "that's too bad."

What are you talking about?

 

[The Stigenator]

BB runs their sales Sun-Saturday, so if you tried last night this morning the sale changed.

Buy yeah they have been going downhill of late.. as circuit isnt putting up much of competition and compusa is gone.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
BB runs their sales Sun-Saturday, so if you tried last night this morning the sale changed.

Buy yeah they have been going downhill of late.. as circuit isnt putting up much of competition and compusa is gone.

Yep I agree. Of course I went out today to buy 3 DVD players. I went to CC instead of BB. So thats couple hundred they lost.
I am still looking for a 46-48 inch LCD TV and also a 26-32 inch LCD TV as well.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: BigJ
On the recent Gateway laptop deal I called to check availability about an hour after opening. Two different stores told me that "they didn't have any in stock and weren't getting any in stock. We didn't even have any for the sale today." Classic bait and switch.

why does no one know what "Bait and switch" actually means, yet continue to tout "classic bait and switch"?

What's your definition of bait and switch?

-The company advertised the laptop at a very low price during the three weeks where they had laptops for $399.
-On the day of the sale, they didn't have a single laptop in stock at the 2 stores. They didn't receive any shipment at the two stores. They weren't getting any in at the two stores.

The only part that doesn't satisfy the bait and switch criteria is that I wasn't physically in the store to find this out. I called first. If I had been in the store, they would've tried to sell me a more expensive laptop. Which is the final part of it.

So assuming I had gone into the store and found all this out, which part of the "bait and switch" criteria wouldn't have been satisfied?

 

[Raduque]

Bait and Switch includes somebody pushing a more expensive item after you get there to buy something cheap that never existed. Nobody mentioned if the sales associate told them to buy something more expensive or not.

 

[altonb1]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
First off I dislike BB. The ONLY reason I was going to buy was they had 20% off. This is what happened and what I wrote to them...


I tried to make a large order last night, 1-5-08, of 4 appliances. There was a 20% discount since I was ordering 4. Yet when I got to checkout it said that ALL 4 were not available.

So this morning I wake up and try again and low and behold they are now ALL available, of course the 20% seems to be gone. I hate to think best buy is committing fraud/bait and switch by saying nothing is there when there is a sale but as soon as it is gone all the items show up ready to be delivered at full cost.



So I called and was told to bad. But I have already wrote the BBB, FTC, and a couple of sites. Will also write the state AG as well later.

Anybody ever had this happen to them? I tried to place the order last night so it was less then 12 hours from when it said none out of the 4 could be delivered to all 4 could be this morning and on top of that they could be here on saturday, less then a week. :|

Considering they probably did not have a truck delivery last night, I'd say they were not allowing the products to be sold at discount.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Raduque
Bait and Switch includes somebody pushing a more expensive item after you get there to buy something cheap that never existed. Nobody mentioned if the sales associate told them to buy something more expensive or not.

Honestly, what do you think would've happened? You think they would've just said "Oh, don't got it, have a nice day!"?

 

[Eeezee]

Most stores restock on Sunday, and that's when the new ads come out (old sales end, new sales begin). This is something to remember for the future.

Did you believe you were the only one going for the sale? Don't show up on Saturday night if you actually want to buy something at a great price. Show up the day the sale begins and you'll have a shot.

 

[warmodder]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: Raduque
Bait and Switch includes somebody pushing a more expensive item after you get there to buy something cheap that never existed. Nobody mentioned if the sales associate told them to buy something more expensive or not.

Honestly, what do you think would've happened? You think they would've just said "Oh, don't got it, have a nice day!"?

They actually did say that. A bait and switch is when they use a low price to lure you into the store (the bait), then say they don't have that particular model but they do have this more expensive widget over here. (the switch)

There was no switching here.

@ the OP: Good luck with your referral too the bbb. I hope best buy gets there act together with their scummy practices.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: warmodder

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: Raduque
Bait and Switch includes somebody pushing a more expensive item after you get there to buy something cheap that never existed. Nobody mentioned if the sales associate told them to buy something more expensive or not.

Honestly, what do you think would've happened? You think they would've just said "Oh, don't got it, have a nice day!"?

They actually did say that. A bait and switch is when they use a low price to lure you into the store (the bait), then say they don't have that particular model but they do have this more expensive widget over here. (the switch)

There was no switching here.

@ the OP: Good luck with your referral too the bbb. I hope best buy gets there act together with their scummy practices.

::sigh::

You honestly believe they were going to try to sell me a laptop over the phone on a busy Sunday morning during the holiday season with the store bustling with potential sales?

I was lucky. I called before going into the store. How do you think the situation would've gone if I had walked into the store, unaware of the information I received on the phone, and went to purchase the laptop? You think they would've let me go on my merry way and not try to sell me a more expensive laptop?

I can tell you they wouldn't, because I went to the store the week before looking for the Acer/Compaqs that were on sale. They were out of stock (had sold out a half hour ago, wound up scoring the Acer at another store) and the guy tried to sell me a more expensive laptop. And for those that I have to spell things out for, I'm using this as an example of practices employed when an item is unavailable.

So once again, let me spell this out for people. My anecdote above was only describing the bait situation of the bait and switch. I had hoped you people would be able to connect the dots and realize that a consumer who hadn't called in would enter the store, see that the laptop wasn't there, and then a salesperson would then try to sell them a more expensive item, fulfilling the switch aspect of it. Obviously I aimed too high in my hopes this time.

 

[ultimatebob]

I usually go to good ol' Sears when buying electronics. Much less BS, and the prices are good when things are on sale.

 

[slayer202]

although they didn't try the switch on him, the bait may have been there. but since he didn't go into the store, they didn't have the opportunity to try and switch him, even if that was their goal.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Most stores restock on Sunday, and that's when the new ads come out (old sales end, new sales begin). This is something to remember for the future.

Did you believe you were the only one going for the sale? Don't show up on Saturday night if you actually want to buy something at a great price. Show up the day the sale begins and you'll have a shot.

Most BestBuys I've ever been to get their trucks in on Thursdays.

 

[compman25]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Most stores restock on Sunday, and that's when the new ads come out (old sales end, new sales begin). This is something to remember for the future.

Did you believe you were the only one going for the sale? Don't show up on Saturday night if you actually want to buy something at a great price. Show up the day the sale begins and you'll have a shot.

Most BestBuys I've ever been to get their trucks in on Thursdays.

Most Best Buys along with alot of other big stores get deliveries everyday. I've delivered to quite a few of them and it wasn't always on Thursdays, it could be any day of the week (m - f)

 

[Vette73]

UPDATE


Got my first e-mail back from them, BB. It just said the appliances I want ARE on sale now. Mind you I went and rechecked, 1 of then is $50 less. So it still is about $1100 more then what I would have paid when there was a 20% discount.
I guess they are still trying to push them NOW that there is no 20%.

 

[jandrews]

ya that would really piss a guy off, 1100 dollars is like the full cost of 1 of those appliances nearly.

 

[ObiDon]

did they state "limited quantities" for that prior sale?

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: ObiDon
did they state "limited quantities" for that prior sale?

Nope. They just said limited time offer which I knew would end on Sat, so I tried to order before it ended.