Best Buy / BestBuy.com price matching for online store pick up purchases misleading Moreno Valley California
11 year old son received a gift card for birthday. Ordered a DS game online for store pick up. Picked up item, purchase amount deducted from gift card, signed and left. Two days later item was on sale at a competitor.
Went back to store to get a price match and was told i had 2 options: call the bestbuy.com number for refund or get a full refund at store and it would go back to original gift card used. Told employee gift card tossed because amount was used up.
Who in their sane mind saves used up gift cards? Well then employee said they couldn't help me. I told them that it did not make sense, the item came from their store and surely affected their inventory because it came from store stock. Yes i ordered online but picked up item in their store.
I would understand if item had been an online offer only or special promotion but it was a stocking item. I left upset and when got home called that phone number. The person at customer care said that when you buy online they only price match with their website and best buy store.
I told her the same thing about it being an in stock item and it doesn't make sense since it was not a special order or it did not come in mail from a best buy online warehouse. She said sorry but couldn't do anything. I told her that was the first time i ordered online and it would surely be the last time.
I told her i will make sure to let my friends and family know the way they do things and treat customers. I then called back store to speak to a manager (adam) and told him what happened.
This manager did not even know that online purchases are only price matched if the sale is on their website or store. And this is management not knowing? I told him i will never shop there or any other best buy again and they had ripped off an 11 year old.
I beforehand had called a competitor and they price match whether you purchase in store or online. I only bought at best buy because of the gift card. I cannot believe in this age and time how bad customer service has gotten.
Next time whenever i order not only will i read the return/exchange policies buy also the price match policy. I guess a company will do Anything to ripp off the consumer.
Mary
riverside, California
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Iworkthere12
Jeannette,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Helpful Hint...
#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, January 19, 2009
Mary,
I work for a Best Buy and although the information that you provided is pretty much correct-there is more to it. If an item is purchased on BestBuy.Com the only way that it can be price matched through BestBuy.com is if it is lower on the site or in the store. Primarily the reason behind it is because BestBuy.Com purchases and in-store purchases are handled completely different in the register. There is no way to manipulate a BestBuy.Com receipt in the regular sales screen for the store. In addition, when purchasing online for in-store pickup associates only have the capability to hit a button that says "pick up" or "return" and those options automatically generate paperwork from BestBuy.Com-so the amount would have originally went back to the purchasing gift card-I also agree that this is a ridiculous way of handling it but unfortunately that's the way it is.
Prior to a recent system upgrade there was a way to 'create' a receipt for situations like this, but that capability has since been extinguished. If the store really wanted to assist, they could have refunded the unit in the sales screen using a "no receipt function" and then processed a price match from that receipt which would in turn allow them to generate a new gift card with the refunded amount. To be honest, it is possible that the store may not be aware of how to work around the system for these kinds of issues. If you decide to take this information back to the store I would suggest remaining calm and asking for a resolution-the associates are only human as well and although you are frustrated due to the issue, I can assure you that the system capabilities are frustrating as well to those who work there.
Dane
Anchorage,Alaska,
U.S.A.
wow
#3UPDATE Employee
Wed, December 31, 2008
"Next time whenever i order not only will i read the return/exchange policies buy also the price match policy."
good.