Best Buy Confirms The Existence Of Its Secret Website

[BK 0]

http://consumerist.com/consumer/best-buy/b...site-241097.php

In the wake of an investigation launched by the Connecticut Attorney General's office, Best Buy has finally admitted that the now-infamous "secret intranet" (used to mislead in-store customers about BestBuy's online prices) exists. The website looks identical to BestBuy.com...except for the prices.

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.

[Chadd 916]

They are masters of the bait and switch too. Try and buy the floor sample of a reduced price product when they're "sold out" sometime. Better yet, note the fact they suddenly have a number of computers the day after a sale ends despite not getting a shipment overnight.

[Viking 1]

What is their intent with that? I don't understand how that would get them more customers, or make them more money. I'm not even sure I understand exactly WHAT they're doing - their website advertises something as being on sale, and then when you get to the store, it's not on sale anymore? That's just stupid - why even pretend to have a sale, then? Do people just go in there and see the non-sale/higher price and pay it anyway? I'd just ask for the sale price, and if they wouldn't give it to me, I wouldn't buy the thing - that's what I assume any rational customer would do.

[Chadd 916]

What is their intent with that? I don't understand how that would get them more customers, or make them more money. I'm not even sure I understand exactly WHAT they're doing - their website advertises something as being on sale, and then when you get to the store, it's not on sale anymore? That's just stupid - why even pretend to have a sale, then? Do people just go in there and see the non-sale/higher price and pay it anyway? I'd just ask for the sale price, and if they wouldn't give it to me, I wouldn't buy the thing - that's what I assume any rational customer would do.

When a customer says, "it was on your website for $X less" the employee pulls up the fake site and shows them a higher price.

[RadioGaGa 162]

What is their intent with that? I don't understand how that would get them more customers, or make them more money. I'm not even sure I understand exactly WHAT they're doing - their website advertises something as being on sale, and then when you get to the store, it's not on sale anymore? That's just stupid - why even pretend to have a sale, then? Do people just go in there and see the non-sale/higher price and pay it anyway? I'd just ask for the sale price, and if they wouldn't give it to me, I wouldn't buy the thing - that's what I assume any rational customer would do.

When a customer says, "it was on your website for $X less" the employee pulls up the fake site and shows them a higher price.

That's why I sometimes print off the website and bring in the online ad with the price & date on it. Not that it is a guarantee...but it's better than "Oh, it was $X when I saw it"...

[Drewhunz 3]

Just an aside: When you buy a car, ALWAYS get a copy of your credit report before you go to the dealership. My credit rating is in the low 800's, however the dealer said I could "barely" recieve financing as my credit rating was in the 570's. Needless to say, they didn't recieve my business, and info was turned over to the attorney generals office.

Anyone in Dallas- don't buy from Huffines Chevrolet.

[LkptTiger 1]

A bunch of my buddies and I worked as detailers for a local Ford dealership this past summer - some of the stuff I heard from/about some of the (completely drugged-out) salesmen boggled my mind.

[Monty22 833]

AG Richard Blumenthal is about to drop the smack down.

This should be interesting....

[cabreezy 0]

What is their intent with that? I don't understand how that would get them more customers, or make them more money. I'm not even sure I understand exactly WHAT they're doing - their website advertises something as being on sale, and then when you get to the store, it's not on sale anymore? That's just stupid - why even pretend to have a sale, then? Do people just go in there and see the non-sale/higher price and pay it anyway? I'd just ask for the sale price, and if they wouldn't give it to me, I wouldn't buy the thing - that's what I assume any rational customer would do.

They do that to just get customers into the store, and then try to sell them things they didn't originally go to the store for. They try to get Mr. and Mrs. John Doe to think, "My mistake, anyway while we're here let's take a look around so it's not a wasted trip."

[Jason Harris 31]

This story is a bit similar to what Amazon was caught doing about 6-8 years ago. They placed a cookie on computers to determine who was already a customer. New customers were shown better prices: "$24.98" versus "$25.98" if someone had bought before.

I know it became a class action lawsuit and I believe Amazon had to make reparations.