Best Buy Confirms It Has Secret Website March 2, 2007 Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com. Company spokesman Justin Barber, who in early February denied the existence of the internal website that could be accessed only by employees, says his company is "cooperating fully" with the state attorney general's investigation. Barber insists that the company never intended to mislead customers. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website and showed how employees at two Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com. Blumenthal said Wednesday that Best Buy has also confirmed to his office the existence of the intranet site, but has so far failed to give clear answers about its purpose and use. "Their responses seem to raise as many questions as they answer," Blumenthal said in an interview. "Their answers are less than crystal clear." Based on what his office has learned, Blumenthal said, it appears the consumer has the burden of informing Best Buy sales people of the cheaper price listed on its Internet site, which he said "is troubling." What is more troubling to me, and to some Best Buy customers, is that even when one informs a salesperson of the Internet price, customers have been shown the intranet site, which looks identical to the Internet site, but does not always show the lowest price. Blumenthal said that because of the fuzzy responses from Best Buy, he has yet to figure out the real motivation behind the intranet site and whether sales people are encouraged to use it to cheat customers. Although Best Buy also refused to talk with me on specifics of the intranet site or its use, it insisted that its policy is to give customers the best price. "Our intention is to provide the best price to our customers which is why we have a price-match policy in place," the company said in a written statement to me. "As prices and offers may vary between retail and online, our stores will certainly match BestBuy.com pricing as long as it qualifies under the terms and conditions of the price match policy." "As a company, everything we do revolves around our customers' needs and desires. It is never our intent to mislead them as their loyalty is incredibly important to us," the statement said. Then they threw in this interesting line: "Although we have an intra-store web site in place to support store operations (including products and pricing), we are reminding our employees how to access the external BestBuy.com web site to ensure customers are receiving the best possible product price." That last sentence seems to indicate that Best Buy, which is supposed to be staffed by tech-savvy employees, is putting the blame on memory lapses: that employees have somehow forgotten how to access BestBuy.com from the store. Having been to many Best Buy stores where some helpful employees showed me how they access the intranet and Internet, I can assure Best Buy officials that the re-education process will probably not be lengthy. After making sure the computer is turned on, employees should click twice on the Yahoo Internet icon and then type in BestBuy.com. This is not the first time the giant electronic retailer has gotten into trouble misleading customers. The firm, based in Minneapolis, operates more than 1,100 electronic retail stores in the U.S., Canada and China. It has more than 125,000 full-time employees. Attorneys general in New Jersey and Ohio have accused Best Buy of deceptive sales practices, repackaging used merchandise and selling it as new, and failing to pay rebates and refunds. It paid $135,000 in New Jersey three years ago to settle that state's suit, which was based on hundreds of consumer complaints. The Ohio case is ongoing.
Best Buy is absolutely terrible. In fact, the last sentence mentions repackaging used goods. I got a used printer cartridge once. And just yesterday I bought a Frank Zappa double disc (Joe's Garage - Acts I, II, & III), and the second disc was completely missing. I was a little leery to buy it to begin with because the shrink rap clearly looked like it was done at home with a blow dryer or heat gun. Not to mention that their prices are no better than most other places. Glad they are getting exposed.
I've had this happen. I was intending to buy an Ipod that was one price online and when I got to the store the clerk goes to ring it up and it's higher. Without proof of the online price with me I decided to forget about it. Sure enough when I got home the lower price was online. I passed on the purchase.
It's a shame how that place works. I am ashamed to say that I used to work for them when I was younger. They all need to rot in hell. I refuse to purchase anything from them.
I honestly won't buy anything from them again after my recent experience buying a Lenovo Thinkpad T60. My trials and tribulations with Windows Vista were posted here at http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=139203 and, when I called them to ask for permission to bring it back without penalty, they told me that unless it was physically broken, I was liable for a 15% restocking fee. No ifs ands or buts. I even offered to let them order another one with XP installed and they just said flat-out "no". Jerks. I took a laptop back to Staples without penalty a few days earlier. We were looking at refrigerators there before we bought the laptop. I guess I'll be buying from Lowes or giving a local store some business. Luckily for me I got XP working on this machine. Otherwise, I would have been out $250+ by bringing it back to Best Buy. RMX
No one is immune from being smacked like a little beeyotch. CompUSA is closing a bunch of stores nationwide. It's just a matter of time - might take a while, but it WILL catch up with them eventually. RMX
Staples has been awesome, always great deals going on for customers. I must get coupons everyother week for like $50 off or 20% off.. Another great retailer is Costco. Costco = game ova.
I don't like the way that site makes you jump thru hoops just to view content! Paypal sucks is so much better.
Haha..whoops..beware! I went to BB in Bolingbrook, Illinois on January 2nd to get my computer looked at. I was having trouble with my JAVA SCRIPT and I couldn't change my background picture. The JAVA was infected and I couldn't access my email accounts. One of the Geek Squad employees did a scan while I waited and showed me the results. He said that there was a maximum of Trojan viruses infecting it. They asked me if I wanted to save any files and I said yes. Then they suggested that they do the advanced diagnostic and repair. So I put $280.19 on my credit card and I left it for them. I called them on the 4th and they said it would be a few more days. I called again on the 6th and asked someone went to check on the status. A manager got on the phone. She told me that they found many files of pornography and contacted the police. She said it is store policy to report any pornography to the authorities. I was never contacted that there was a problem. The police confiscated and had to view all images and compare it to their database. The store manager then gave me the name of the officer and case number and suggested I call for more information. I called the Bolingbrook police on the 8th and talked to a detective from the evidence room. I asked him why they took it and he said they had to compare the images to make sure all the models were of appropriate age. I told him that I DO NOT LOOK AT CHILD PORN. He said they will have it for awhile. I have been without it for 5 weeks now. I only wanted them to clear my computer of viruses and install some software to keep them from coming back. It has been very inconvenient for me as I use the Excel program for important things. I now have to go to a friend's house to do such documents. The police have my computer for me to collect but won't relinquish it until they speak with me and everyone who has access to my computer.
WTF, holy s***, thats horrible. Geek Squad is a rip off in the first place, almost $300 for a "scan", you could have bought a new computer. Plus what was geek squad doing on your computer anyway to come across porn files. No offense, but I would run this by a lawyer, it sounds pretty fishy to me.
It's from the website, wasn't me, though it is from near where I live. I'm an IT professional and wouldn't ever use Geek Squads services..
Man, I can't believe the number of detailed complaints on that site. I wonder how many more people hate BB and don't post. Another exampe of a company that says "hey, as long as we're making money, who cares?" RMX
I will not do business with them. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I really don't know how they stay in business. Al Martino gets compaints against them every time I tune him in. Fchatters, proceed at your own risk. You've been warned. No excuses.
I wake up every morning and pray for their complete and total bankruptcy. They are by far the worst store I have ever shopped at.
And they may not be too far off. Their other competitors, Circuit City and CompUSA, are closing half their stores. Best Buy has to be next..
