- Report: #424698
Complaint Review: Best Buy - San Jose California
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Best Buy
3090 Stevens Creek Blvd San Jose, 95128 California, U.S.A.
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Best Buy, Jim The General Manager Did not honor price match, said they were soldout, lied to the customer. San Jose California
I was in the market for a Samsung 52" LCD television, model number LN52A650. Best Buy was selling it for $2699, but Fry's was selling it for $1889. Fry's price was NOT a weekend special, special rebates, or anything, it was a straight discount to $1889.
So, the first time, I went to my local bestbuy and told them I wanted to buy the television and they told me the price was $2699. I told them to price match the $1889 from Fry's, and the customer associate said he would have to call the local Fry's and see if it was in stock. I said OK. Twenty minutes later, he comes back and tells me Fry's is selling it for $1889, Fry's has it in stock, but Best Buy was out of stock on the Samsung LN52A650. I didn't believe him so as I was leaving, I went to the Geek Squad counter and asked them to do an inventory check. The Geek Squad associate told me they had 3 new ones and 3 open box ones. I told him what had happened in the television department, and the Geek Squad associate told me sometimes inventory is not updated automatically and that the next time I called in I should tell them to do a physical check.
The next day, I called the same best buy looking for the same TV. This time I told the associate to do a physical check for the inventory. He found the television and even put my name on the TV. Problem solved? No.
First, I called the two local Fry's to make sure they had the TV in stock, and they both had 7 and 9 NEW ONES respectively. They also had open boxed TVs in addition to the new ones. I arrived at the store 15 minutes later and told an associate to price match the TV. First, he told me they couldn't price match it because cost price was $1871.xx for Best Buy. I asked him what the price match guarantee was for then? He said he actually needed to call Fry's to make sure they had it in stock for $1889. He called and confirmed both Fry's had multiple new TVs of the same model available. He called the General Manager of the store, JIM.
Jim comes about 15 minutes later and tells me they cannot price match the TV because Fry's was sold out. I tell him this is bullshit but he tells me, "My associate and I both called the local Fry's and they had only ONE new one and it was already ON HOLD." First, this is impossible because I use to work at Fry's and Fry's does not hold sale products for customers. Second, it was very unlikely that Fry's sold seven TVs in fifteen minutes. Jim called the associate over that made the initial phone call, and the associate LIED and said there was only one new one on hold at Fry's, even though he confirmed to me there were multiple new ones.
I told Jim I would call Fry's right now and ask them if they had any new ones, and he said it didn't matter because I had already used my one "Price Match Phonecall". Apparently each customer only gets one shot at a price match phonecall, according to Jim. So I said "okay, my mother (who was standing next to me) wants to buy the TV. Does she get a price match phone call?" Jim the General Manager said, "No, because she is with you." I told him that's ridiculous and left the store.
I just love how best buy will throw so much BS your way when they don't want to price match. They lie, lie, lie, but ultimately they don't need to price match because they can pull a million excuses out of their asses. I would love to see one of the Best Buy employees on this board reply to this incident.
Dealseeker
San Jose, California
U.S.A.
So, the first time, I went to my local bestbuy and told them I wanted to buy the television and they told me the price was $2699. I told them to price match the $1889 from Fry's, and the customer associate said he would have to call the local Fry's and see if it was in stock. I said OK. Twenty minutes later, he comes back and tells me Fry's is selling it for $1889, Fry's has it in stock, but Best Buy was out of stock on the Samsung LN52A650. I didn't believe him so as I was leaving, I went to the Geek Squad counter and asked them to do an inventory check. The Geek Squad associate told me they had 3 new ones and 3 open box ones. I told him what had happened in the television department, and the Geek Squad associate told me sometimes inventory is not updated automatically and that the next time I called in I should tell them to do a physical check.
The next day, I called the same best buy looking for the same TV. This time I told the associate to do a physical check for the inventory. He found the television and even put my name on the TV. Problem solved? No.
First, I called the two local Fry's to make sure they had the TV in stock, and they both had 7 and 9 NEW ONES respectively. They also had open boxed TVs in addition to the new ones. I arrived at the store 15 minutes later and told an associate to price match the TV. First, he told me they couldn't price match it because cost price was $1871.xx for Best Buy. I asked him what the price match guarantee was for then? He said he actually needed to call Fry's to make sure they had it in stock for $1889. He called and confirmed both Fry's had multiple new TVs of the same model available. He called the General Manager of the store, JIM.
Jim comes about 15 minutes later and tells me they cannot price match the TV because Fry's was sold out. I tell him this is bullshit but he tells me, "My associate and I both called the local Fry's and they had only ONE new one and it was already ON HOLD." First, this is impossible because I use to work at Fry's and Fry's does not hold sale products for customers. Second, it was very unlikely that Fry's sold seven TVs in fifteen minutes. Jim called the associate over that made the initial phone call, and the associate LIED and said there was only one new one on hold at Fry's, even though he confirmed to me there were multiple new ones.
I told Jim I would call Fry's right now and ask them if they had any new ones, and he said it didn't matter because I had already used my one "Price Match Phonecall". Apparently each customer only gets one shot at a price match phonecall, according to Jim. So I said "okay, my mother (who was standing next to me) wants to buy the TV. Does she get a price match phone call?" Jim the General Manager said, "No, because she is with you." I told him that's ridiculous and left the store.
I just love how best buy will throw so much BS your way when they don't want to price match. They lie, lie, lie, but ultimately they don't need to price match because they can pull a million excuses out of their asses. I would love to see one of the Best Buy employees on this board reply to this incident.
Dealseeker
San Jose, California
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
colletteardith
United States of AmericaI'm an employee
#2UPDATE Employee
Mon, November 23, 2009
So I've been reading a few of these complaints against Best Buy. I am an employee at the Best Buy in Charlotte, NC. I do want to let you know that what the GM you met with did was wrong. There is no such thing as a "one chance price match call", that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Now, however, it is policy that the competitor has to have the same item IN STOCK, because we want to know that you wanted to shop at Best buy, not just because we were a last resort. We do price match Frys, it shows up at the price match screen.
I don't know if it's just our particular store that's so nice, because I've read a lot of bad complaints, and I'm not going to lie, I had a rude interaction at a Best Buy closer to my home (not the one I work at). But as an honest employee, I know that the managers at our store would have probably price matched Frys, even if they didn't have it in stock. Just thought I'd reply :)
Dp
Germantown,Ohio,
U.S.A.
I was honored with a price match- no problems or hassles, i think your exagerating
#3Consumer Comment
Wed, February 18, 2009
I purchased a 32" sony bravia from best buy about 3 weeks ago on a sun. I paid 699.00 for the tv because I didnt find a better deal anywhere else in the market. The next day, I found it for 498.00 at kmart and decided to go back to best buy with a kmart ad showing the price (of which had a 100 dollar in store instant rebate) and the price difference was gladly honored at 110% by the store associate. Now of course they were not happy having to give money back to me, but they did with no questions asked and didnt even call the store to find out if they had it in stock. Also if you read best buys website on price match guarantees, they are very explicite on the exact conditions it will be honored, as to whether it is a major competitor, online sale, etc... I bought a second tv that next day and was price matched at the kmart add of 498.00. So i got 2 tv's in 2 days from them and was price matched 110% on each of them with no hassles. I think your case is simply a little exagerated. I am sorry
Vimot
Richmond,Virginia,
U.S.A.
I'm a little confused...
#4Consumer Comment
Tue, February 17, 2009
You started off your report by stating you wanted to buy that particular tv. You went to the store and they said they were out of stock, so you had another department check for you and found they had the tv. This is after you had them call Fry's to confirm they had the tv in stock. Here's where I'm confused. Why did you not purchase the tv at that time? You had an associate at Best Buy confirm the item met the eligibility and was in stock at Fry's. Again, why did you not purchase the tv at that moment? Well, for whatever reason you did not. You call Fry's the next day and confirm they have the tv's in stock, and then call Best Buy and have them hold the tv. You go to BB and they go through the process of verifying the tv's availability at Fry's. Then they tell you Fry's is out of stock and you cannot call to verify because of a "one time pricematch phone call"? Actually I am more apt to believe that they wouldn't match the price because it was below their cost. I believe their price match has a "manager discretion" clause which would make sense. I'm still baffled as to why you did not purchase it the first time. Something about this story just does not add up. If you were sticking to your guns because of the extra 10% of the difference that would only be around $80. At that point I would've just bought it at Fry's (which is what you should've done in the first place).
