From: "David B" 

Remind me to feign surprise later. Best Buy sucks.

"mike"  wrote in message
news:at0ju25gqnkmlutehl9cfpa30h6a6dmsr2{at}4ax.com...
>
> http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-watchdog0302,0,5198012.column?coll=hc-ut
ility-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.
>
> 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.
> ===
>
> /m

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