The Connecticut attorney general's office sued Best Buy in May, charging the electronics heavyweight with using deceptive in-store websites to trick customers into paying higher prices than available on the company's actual site.
"We thought Best Buy had addressed this," Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal said the other day. "That's what they said to us. Apparently that's not the case." Apparently not. Last week, Simi Valley resident Leigh Murphy, 53, went online in search of a new DVD player. He finally settled on a Toshiba model that he found on Bestbuy.com, marked down from $79.99 to $71.99.
He decided to stop by the store and buy it there instead. "I just assumed the same price would be available," Murphy said. "That's why I didn't order it online."
He found the DVD player at the store without difficulty, but it was selling for the full $79.99 price. Murphy asked a salesman about the discrepancy. He said he'd found it online for less.
The salesman guided Murphy to one of Best Buy's in-store kiosks, which displayed a page virtually identical to the website Murphy had seen at home. He called up the Toshiba device and, lo and behold, no more markdown. It was going for the full list price.
Murphy, an engineer, wasn't sure what to make of this. So he returned home and went back online. Once again he visited Bestbuy.com, and once again the DVD player came up at the reduced price of $71.99.
So Murphy purchased the player online and then returned to the store to pick it up. But the experience left him wondering. "It seems like they have one website online and a fake website that's available only in the store," Murphy said.
That's also what Blumenthal in Connecticut concluded after receiving numerous complaints from local residents. He called Best Buy's in-store kiosks "an Internet bait-and-switch" that allowed the store to charge higher prices once it got online shoppers through the door.
"Consumers seeking bargains were led to believe that lower online prices had expired or never existed," Blumenthal said. "Best Buy treated its customers like suckers."
Jerry Farrell Jr., commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, said in a statement that the in-store kiosks appear to be "an intentional effort to mislead."
The state's lawsuit is proceeding.
Sue Busch, a Best Buy spokeswoman, acknowledged that customers may encounter different prices on the company's website than may be available in the store -- and at the store's kiosk. "Bestbuy.com is the national price," she said. "Individual store prices may vary from market to market."
Busch said the in-store kiosks closely resemble Best Buy's website "for the sake of efficiency and to ensure that customers who were familiar with the national website could easily navigate the in-store kiosk to find what they were seeking." She said the kiosks were never intended "for price-match purposes," but admitted that "a small percentage of customers did not receive a price match when they should have due to errors in policy execution."
Busch said that in response to the Connecticut attorney general's investigation, Best Buy placed a notice on its in-store site making clear that prices might not reflect what was available on the company's Internet website.
On another note, I went to a local Best Buy early morning today with their 'weekly ad' (prices effective December 23-31, 2007) in tow to look for an HDTV on sale. Upon meeting Jeff at the TV department, he went on to point out that my ad was 'outdated'. So, I checked my watch date and it stated December 23, 2007. I told him that the weekly ad I had was just received the prior day at home and prices are effective from December 23rd to the 31st of 2007 on the loweer right of the ad cover. Without even checking, he told me bluntly that the date are only good for the "cover page" and does not include the inside cover of the 48-page weeky ad.
The controversial weekly ad dated December 23-31, 2007 printed on lower right of cover."Is Best Buy not only misleading their customers online but also on their weekly ad? I asked for a manager and apparently Jeff the TV salesperson (officially called a CSR: Customer Service Representative) is too busy standing at his cash register doing nothing. I asked him pointedly, "Can I get the HDTV that was in the ad at the advertised price?" He bluntly answered "NO." Without even checking where the item is, he shrugged his shoulders and said with hint of humor (or was it a smirk?)"Merry Christmas", and sent us away.
So I went in search of a Manager and I finally ended talking with Jorge (one of the Managers on the floor). He clarified that yes the HDTV is still on sale but it was not at the TV section of the store, and yes he acknowledge that his TV sales people (CSRs) are not aware of it. This puzzled me alot. While we were now talking at the front of the store where I found him, I glanced to my side and behold, there in front of the entrance walkway is stacked countless HDTV of the exact type and brand that is on the ad. Amazingly, it was located near the front of the store together with the candies and the camera memory cards and not where a customer would expect, at the TV department !
Apologetically, Jorge (the Manager) was able to let one of the cashier complete the transaction. As I left the store, I had a bad feeling of a typical "bait-and-switch" tactic which left a bad taste on my mouth. "Bait-and-switch" is the practice of advertising an item and when you the customer get to the store, the item "is no longer availabe or cannot be found" and then you are stuck with the ones on "regular price." I hope this is not true of Best Buy otherwise they should change their name.
So I placed a call to their Corporate Customer Care in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I spoke to a nice lady by the name of "Jenny" which promised to do an internal review of the 'ad discrepancy' on the sales floor as she deligently recorded her incident notes on her computer. She listened and apologized and listened some more and ended by giving me a "Case Number." I asked her if I would get a reply and she nicely stated that customers do not get a response on "internal issues."
I know Best Buy is striving to create good customer service, but these holiday examples just perplexes me. I hope Santa Claus won't have the same problem on his last minute shopping spree. Otherwise Santa might get delayed, or worse, bankrupt.
Merry Christmas to all.
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