Best Buy's dirty secret

[Grenadier]

Not surprising at all... I may not like Dick Blumenthal as a politician, but in this case, I'm glad that he's after these guys, since he's the equivalent of a wolverine who won't let go.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-watchdog0302,0,5198012.column?coll=hc-utility-local

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.

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.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I refuse to shop at Best buy. I've heard too many things, and been treated rudely each time I did attempt to shop there.

 

[The Kidd]

Royal scumbags

 

[fireman00]

i wanted to buy a new stereo head unit; not looking at a top-end 5.1 or 7.1 unit just a stereo unit for under 200 bucks and the salesman walked away from me after giving me a nod in the general direction of their lower end units. Since then i've gotten 2 pcs, a laptop, wireless cards, TV, home theater unit, couple of universal remotes, bucket load of CD, some DVDs and two head units for my cars at CircuitCity - so they lost about 4,700 bucks in sales thanks to a jerk of a salesman.

 

[14 Kempo]

I agree, rude sales people, rediculous prices. Stay away from Best Buy.

 

[Ping898]

The only benefit to Best buy is to price match to other stores and make sure you bring into the store the other store circular and buy the item before you try to price match it....otherwise Best Buy is a waste of time and space...

 

[Tames D]

i wanted to buy a new stereo head unit; not looking at a top-end 5.1 or 7.1 unit just a stereo unit for under 200 bucks and the salesman walked away from me after giving me a nod in the general direction of their lower end units. Since then i've gotten 2 pcs, a laptop, wireless cards, TV, home theater unit, couple of universal remotes, bucket load of CD, some DVDs and two head units for my cars at CircuitCity - so they lost about 4,700 bucks in sales thanks to a jerk of a salesman.

Interesting. I've had the opposite experience. Circuit City didn't have rude service, they didn't have any service in the times I've shopped there. Wait,wait and more waiting, they just don't seem to give a ****. On the other hand Best Buy has always had great service, prices,friendly etc. Just my experience.

 

[evenflow1121]

I used to shop there a lot however, after purchasing their insurance plan on my laptop, and after having the lap top malfunction and their failure to replace or fix the problem without charging me, I decided to take my business elsewhere. The customer service there sucks for the most part, I let it go, cause I usually know what I am looking for and a lot of the people that work there are kids, but, once they didnt want to do good on my warranty I decided to purchase my stuff some where else. Even though Circuit City is a lot farther from me than Best Buy, I d rather shop at Circuit City.

 

[shesulsa]

Interesting. I've had the opposite experience. Circuit City didn't have rude service, they didn't have any service in the times I've shopped there. Wait,wait and more waiting, they just don't seem to give a ****. On the other hand Best Buy has always had great service, prices,friendly etc. Just my experience.

Me too. Best Buy here has lower prices than any other place in the area that I can find. They've always been helpful to me and my family.

And I've had the same experience with Circuit City. My husband and I went there to shop for a refrigerator (ours was completely broken), waited for 30 minutes, finally held $100.00 bills over our heads, still got no attention. We went to a local vendor instead.

 

[Flatlander]

I believe that it's not entirely unreasonable that you'll find some good, and some not so good stores. Each manager will have their own management style, will coach their employees differently, and have their own aspirations. Staff morale has a great deal to do with the service experience at any retail outlet. Staff morale is generally a function of the management style of the store manager.