a little thing that I promised to post about.
So I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was having a bit of trouble with Best Buy either being extremely idiotic or lying bastards. Well, I sent my last e-mail out at the end of December and never heard from them again. Maybe I dazzled them with my logic and my well thought out argument, maybe they got scared that I was on to them and ran hiding to their caves. More then likely I just pissed them off with an over abundance of annoyance like a lot of my customers at work do to me.
Here's how the whole fiasco got off the ground.
It all started when I found a DVD collection on Best Buy's website that I wanted to get M for x-mas. The price was a lot cheaper then what I was expecting it to be and therefore, with the new bambino on the way, quite excited. Thinking that the online price would be the same as in the store I headed to the nearest Best Buy. I found the collection but it had a price tag of about twenty more dollars then the online version, same item different price. I then went to ask a nearby blue-shirted Best Buy employee about the discrepancy and he said that that happens some times but that he'll check the website and match the price, this being their policy. Fantastic, I just checked the site before I left work and lo and behold when he pulled up the site it..was...the...same as the store pricing. Damn. Well maybe I was remembering the pricing from some other site. My bad. Sorry. I contemplated my options and, because I hadn't waited until the last minute, I had enough time to get it elsewhere. I put the DVDs back only to go home empty-handed.
Just to make sure that I hadn't lost my mind I checked their site as soon as I got home and found...the same damn twenty dollars less price that I had thought it was. That little lying, pimply faced prick. Well, ok, maybe he wasn't that bright so I decided to lodge an online complaint, truth be told, my first ever.
Here's what I wrote, their response and how our lovely little discourse progressed. Best Buy employees names have been omitted because it could have been all of them for all I care.
Questions or Comments: I have a concern related to the relationship
between your online store pricing & instore pricing. I recently found an
item on your site for $44.99, The Thin Man Collection. I then went to my
nearest store & found the DVD collection there for $58.99. I asked an
employee if it was normal for the pricing to differ between the physical
store & the online store. He said no & if it was listed at a lower price
in the online site that they would gladly match it. I thought this was
fantastic because I was sure that I had seen it for $14.00 cheaper
online. Well, he put in the product number into, what appeared to be the
online site. It pulled up the correct item, but one thing differed from
what I had seen before; the price was the same as the one I was holding
in my hands, $58.99. I thanked him, thinking I made a mistake & then
decided to not purchase the item. When I got home I wanted to double
check the site and, sure enough, it shows up at $44.99 This is
ridiculous. It was nice of your employee to feign that he was trying to
help me out but apparently they run on a different system instore then
what I saw online. Essentially, you wasted my time. I consider myself a
loyal customer & usually only purchase items elsewhere if I cannot find
them at your store. Needless to say, I am slightly more then a little
irritated. Thank you for your time.
*******
Darryl,
Thank you for contacting Best Buy about pricing. I'm Moron (ok,I changed his name) with Customer
Care.
We appreciate your concern about the difference in pricing. Our retail
and online website do operate independently of each other and offer
different products and pricing. The DVD at the store may have been a
different format than the one online. We apologize for any
disappointment this may have caused you.
Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. Please do not
hesitate to contact us with additional questions or concerns.
Best Wishes from Best Buy,
*******
That is the most generic response I could have hoped to receive. To answer one of your insinuations, no, the DVD at the store is not of a different "format". After purchasing close to 200 DVDs from your store I think I know what I'm looking at. Another point you try to make is that the website and stores operate independently of each other. If this was the case then why is it possible to pick up items at specific stores that I purchased from the website? Also, why did the employee say that he would match the pricing on the website? If this was the case, I would not be so angry, because he would have checked the actual website. This was a blatant lie because he had no intention of checking the public website. If he did he would have seen the same pricing that I did.
I normally have a good experience when dealing with your company. This particular, single transaction between the in store employee, myself and you is grating my patience as to how much you actually "care" about the people that keep you in business. Not that it particularly matters in this case, but I have purchased a decent amount of products from your company; 3 DVD players, an i-pod, a computer, television, video games, CDs, a digital camera, video camera, and the aforementioned DVDs. Needless to say, I think something is going to have to change. Either my, and the people I talk to, spending habits when concerning your company or something from your end that would assure me that this, somewhat fraudulent, activity has been remedied.
********
Thank you for your reply.
We apologize for thinking it could have possibly been a different DVD
format, we assure you there was no insinuation made. Additionally, the
online website does have some, not all products the stores have and vice
versus. If a product is available at a store, but ordered through the
website, the store can do a price match on the item. If the item is not
available for in-store pickup, the item would not qualify for a price
match. We do agree that the employee should have looked online to see if
a price match was available, and we apologize that you said that did not
happen. We appreciate your comments and will use your comments to
improve the service we offer our customers.
*********
You seem to have completely missed the point that I was making. He said he could do a price match, it was the same item that was on the website, he said that he was going online to check the website pricing. Either the training of your employees is sorely lacking and they can't tell the instore system from the internet, I know I couldn't because it looked exactly the same, or they know what they are doing and are deliberately trying to make it seem like they are trying to do something that they have no intention of doing. What do you think would happen if I went into the same store, asked them to check pricing again, and when the same situation arose asked them to check the actual website? What would it say about your company if they told me that they were on the actual website.
Nevermind. You're obviously not going to address the actual problem no matter how many times I try to point out the fact that there was a deliberate attempt at giving false information.
*******
That's it. I never heard from them again. If I acted like an asshole let me know. If you think that they are idiots and agree with me let me know. Either way, I've pretty much given up on their establishment.
Here's how the whole fiasco got off the ground.
It all started when I found a DVD collection on Best Buy's website that I wanted to get M for x-mas. The price was a lot cheaper then what I was expecting it to be and therefore, with the new bambino on the way, quite excited. Thinking that the online price would be the same as in the store I headed to the nearest Best Buy. I found the collection but it had a price tag of about twenty more dollars then the online version, same item different price. I then went to ask a nearby blue-shirted Best Buy employee about the discrepancy and he said that that happens some times but that he'll check the website and match the price, this being their policy. Fantastic, I just checked the site before I left work and lo and behold when he pulled up the site it..was...the...same as the store pricing. Damn. Well maybe I was remembering the pricing from some other site. My bad. Sorry. I contemplated my options and, because I hadn't waited until the last minute, I had enough time to get it elsewhere. I put the DVDs back only to go home empty-handed.
Just to make sure that I hadn't lost my mind I checked their site as soon as I got home and found...the same damn twenty dollars less price that I had thought it was. That little lying, pimply faced prick. Well, ok, maybe he wasn't that bright so I decided to lodge an online complaint, truth be told, my first ever.
Here's what I wrote, their response and how our lovely little discourse progressed. Best Buy employees names have been omitted because it could have been all of them for all I care.
Questions or Comments: I have a concern related to the relationship
between your online store pricing & instore pricing. I recently found an
item on your site for $44.99, The Thin Man Collection. I then went to my
nearest store & found the DVD collection there for $58.99. I asked an
employee if it was normal for the pricing to differ between the physical
store & the online store. He said no & if it was listed at a lower price
in the online site that they would gladly match it. I thought this was
fantastic because I was sure that I had seen it for $14.00 cheaper
online. Well, he put in the product number into, what appeared to be the
online site. It pulled up the correct item, but one thing differed from
what I had seen before; the price was the same as the one I was holding
in my hands, $58.99. I thanked him, thinking I made a mistake & then
decided to not purchase the item. When I got home I wanted to double
check the site and, sure enough, it shows up at $44.99 This is
ridiculous. It was nice of your employee to feign that he was trying to
help me out but apparently they run on a different system instore then
what I saw online. Essentially, you wasted my time. I consider myself a
loyal customer & usually only purchase items elsewhere if I cannot find
them at your store. Needless to say, I am slightly more then a little
irritated. Thank you for your time.
*******
Darryl,
Thank you for contacting Best Buy about pricing. I'm Moron (ok,I changed his name) with Customer
Care.
We appreciate your concern about the difference in pricing. Our retail
and online website do operate independently of each other and offer
different products and pricing. The DVD at the store may have been a
different format than the one online. We apologize for any
disappointment this may have caused you.
Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. Please do not
hesitate to contact us with additional questions or concerns.
Best Wishes from Best Buy,
*******
That is the most generic response I could have hoped to receive. To answer one of your insinuations, no, the DVD at the store is not of a different "format". After purchasing close to 200 DVDs from your store I think I know what I'm looking at. Another point you try to make is that the website and stores operate independently of each other. If this was the case then why is it possible to pick up items at specific stores that I purchased from the website? Also, why did the employee say that he would match the pricing on the website? If this was the case, I would not be so angry, because he would have checked the actual website. This was a blatant lie because he had no intention of checking the public website. If he did he would have seen the same pricing that I did.
I normally have a good experience when dealing with your company. This particular, single transaction between the in store employee, myself and you is grating my patience as to how much you actually "care" about the people that keep you in business. Not that it particularly matters in this case, but I have purchased a decent amount of products from your company; 3 DVD players, an i-pod, a computer, television, video games, CDs, a digital camera, video camera, and the aforementioned DVDs. Needless to say, I think something is going to have to change. Either my, and the people I talk to, spending habits when concerning your company or something from your end that would assure me that this, somewhat fraudulent, activity has been remedied.
********
Thank you for your reply.
We apologize for thinking it could have possibly been a different DVD
format, we assure you there was no insinuation made. Additionally, the
online website does have some, not all products the stores have and vice
versus. If a product is available at a store, but ordered through the
website, the store can do a price match on the item. If the item is not
available for in-store pickup, the item would not qualify for a price
match. We do agree that the employee should have looked online to see if
a price match was available, and we apologize that you said that did not
happen. We appreciate your comments and will use your comments to
improve the service we offer our customers.
*********
You seem to have completely missed the point that I was making. He said he could do a price match, it was the same item that was on the website, he said that he was going online to check the website pricing. Either the training of your employees is sorely lacking and they can't tell the instore system from the internet, I know I couldn't because it looked exactly the same, or they know what they are doing and are deliberately trying to make it seem like they are trying to do something that they have no intention of doing. What do you think would happen if I went into the same store, asked them to check pricing again, and when the same situation arose asked them to check the actual website? What would it say about your company if they told me that they were on the actual website.
Nevermind. You're obviously not going to address the actual problem no matter how many times I try to point out the fact that there was a deliberate attempt at giving false information.
*******
That's it. I never heard from them again. If I acted like an asshole let me know. If you think that they are idiots and agree with me let me know. Either way, I've pretty much given up on their establishment.