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Steve Kovsky (Blog) - May 26, 2007 12:41 AM

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49 comment(s) - last by juice13610.. on Jun 5 at 5:13 PM

Deceptive computer kiosks helped retailer overcharge customers, suit alleges

Electronics retailer Best Buy is facing a civil suit brought by Connecticut's attorney general, seeking to punish the company for misleading customers with a phony internal Web site.

Best Buy officials strongly deny the charges leveled by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who claims that store employees deliberately mislead customers to deny them access to lower prices advertised on the company's Web site. When buyers came to stores seeking the online discounts, they were shown an ersatz Web page running on the store's internal fileserver displaying higher prices, the suit alleges.

Blumenthal told the Associated Press that, "Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal - a bait-and-switch-plus scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher in-store prices."

Best Buy countered in a statement released by spokeswoman Susan Busch, saying that the retail chain "used the same Web site platform for these in-store kiosks as we did for our national Web site."

The suit seeks customer refunds, civil penalties, and a ban on the practice, among other remedies. Best Buy has until June 13 to respond to the attorney general's complaint before it is filed with the state's Supreme Court.

The civil case follows an investigation conducted by Blumenthal's office in March, pursuing reports that consumers had been deceived and overcharged at Best Buy stores. One such case was documented by a reporter for the Hartford Courant newspaper, alleging that a Connecticut man went to a Best Buy store to buy a laptop PC that was advertised on BestBuy.com for $729.99. A store employee looked up the product on an internal Web site, which showed a price of $879.99 for the item, according to the report.

Best Buy's Busch acknowledged that a small percentage of customers did not receive the best price for products displayed on the in-store computer kiosks. She added that as soon as the issue was brought to the attention of Best Buy management, it was swiftly remedied. "We provided immediate training for our employees to help ensure that all customers received the best price" Busch said. "We are in the process of making changes to eliminate future confusion."

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i cant stand this company

By sixth on 5/26/2007 1:41:13 PM , Rating: 2

i cant stand this company...its about time someone sues them.

RE: i cant stand this company

By MaK2000 on 5/26/2007 1:44:39 PM , Rating: 2

This is just like the Dell bait and switch allegations. Dell has promo codes that offer $100 off and the price when you go to the link is $100 more. Why are the largest companies always trying to screw people?

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RE: i cant stand this company

By CrimsonFrost on 5/26/2007 1:57:33 PM , Rating: 2

Holy crap! This stuff happened to me! I went to buy a Sony Wega TV and the site said one price, then I go to the store and they show me a site with it for a higher price! I had to go back home and order it online and then come pick up the same damn TV to get the lower price. Gawd I hate that company.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By GlassHouse69 on 5/26/2007 7:26:27 PM , Rating: 1

you should buy from a private dealer. i bet your tv would have been 10-15% cheaper and you would not be screwed with.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By Samus on 5/27/2007 3:34:41 AM , Rating: 2

the same thing happened to me at target last christmas. i was like wtf? had to order it at home, pay shipping, and it was still cheaper than it was in the store.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By juice13610 on 6/5/2007 10:54:12 AM , Rating: 2

At Target they will tell you right out that the online store is a completely different animal than the physical store. Their Sunday ad is different, sales are different, everything is different.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By JeffDM on 5/27/2007 11:20:42 AM , Rating: 2

you should buy from a private dealer. i bet your tv would have been 10-15% cheaper and you would not be screwed with.

I've never really seen that to be the case, doubly so when it comes to any sale item. Best Buy has economies of scale on their side. The best a small dealer can do is provide better service, but that costs money. That cost of service is part of why Best Buy is often cheaper because they don't provide as much of a service, nor are they as likely to provide as competent of staff.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By Proteusza on 5/27/2007 4:02:35 PM , Rating: 2

Having never been to america I cant say for certain, but usually places like Best Buy charge a much higher markup compared to online retailers. They also tend to sell old technology, for the same price as new technology.

They have the advantage that most people who walk into a brick and mortar store dont assume the sales people will either not know enough or blatantly mislead them. They are also guaranteed sales because of where they are and the convenience associated with it. Some people want their digital camera right now, and they want to be able to see it before they buy it. An online retailer knows his customers are more likely to be savvy, so he cant get away with high markup.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By Christopher1 on 5/29/2007 2:28:11 PM , Rating: 2

That's actualy true, about Best Buy charging a big markup compared to some other retailers. After my father bought our family a new Toshiba notebook PC, I went online to comparison shop.

From Toshiba, the thing was 100 dollars less than the sale price my father bought it for in Best Buy, even with the shipping included.

Something is wrong here, and I hope that more of these places get their asses stomped by the attorney generals and others.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By TimTheEnchanter25 on 5/28/2007 9:18:36 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
I've never really seen that to be the case, doubly so when it comes to any sale item. Best Buy has economies of scale on their side.

Actually, most electronics companies set a minimum price that store are allowed to advertise on their products. Best buy sells at exactally that price. I buy all my stuff from a local place that also posts that same price, but they will sell a lot of things at a lower price. I bought a 60" Sony TV the first week it was out for about $500 under Best Buy's price.

I really don't understand why these people were coming into the store to get an online discount. Why wouldn't they just buy it online? I order everything for instore pickup, they have stuff cheaper online a lot of the time, plus they will lie and tell you they don't have things instock if they aren't on the shelf.

The only good thing about buying things in BB is that they will pricematch anything. If you find a super low price online of something they sell, just print it out and bring it in. They don't even factor what you would pay for shipping. I saved my dad over $300 on a Garmin GPS doing this.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By exanimas on 5/27/2007 10:53:51 PM , Rating: 2

Because, sadly, they have the money to.

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RE: i cant stand this company

By MattCoz on 5/28/2007 2:33:36 PM , Rating: 3

They don't screw people because they're big, they're big because they screw people.

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I like best buy

By Conman530 on 5/26/2007 2:02:36 PM , Rating: 1

I have yet to have a bad experience with best buy. they are way better than Fry's Electronics, at Fry's 50% of the folks dont even speak english or kno what they are talking about. And they always want to bait-and switch you all the time. Last year I saw an HP Photosmart 2710 Printer, a printer I wanted, advertised there for $199 - a fantastic price. I call them up to see if they have any in stock, they say yes so I drive over 25 miles there only to be told "Im sorry, we dont have any HP Photosmart 2710s in stock, would you like a 2610 instead?" I didnt want a damn retarded 2610, so I left, Frys sux. My friend went to the same Fry's location a couple of months later looking to buy a new graphics card, well the PNY Verto 7900GS at Fry's was like $229.99 at the time, so he drove over to Best Buy (only 1 mile away) and bought one there for $149.99. One time, I even saw a Sears ad for the game Call of Duty 2 that had a lower price than Best Buy, I took the Sears ad into Best Buy, and they not only gave me the Sears price, they knocked 10% off the Sears price, so I wound up saving $15. The people at best buy are always helpful, In my humble opinion, it has always been a pleasure to shop at Best Buy.

RE: I like best buy

By Hare on 5/26/2007 2:44:51 PM , Rating: 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing ;)

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RE: I like best buy

By Captante on 5/26/2007 3:18:23 PM , Rating: 2

I've never had a problem with Best Buy either ... in fact they've taken good care of me every time I've shopped there, matching prices & accepting returns without any hassle at all, including a Philips HDTV that failed on my 3 months after purchase that they gave me full credit on. They also matched Newegg & beat Circuit Citys sale price by 10% when I bought my Canon SD800IS camera a couple weeks ago.

In fairness however the only thing they do that does aggravate me involves their sale prices advertised online. If you fail to mention that a product is on sale they will charge you full price & it happened again with the Sandisk 2gb memory card I purchased along with the camera... when I complained they adjusted the price immediately, but its not somthing a customer should need to do.

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RE: I like best buy

By exanimas on 5/27/2007 11:03:00 PM , Rating: 1

It all depends on which location you go to. I work at a Best Buy and I can honestly say 90% of the employees know their stuff about their departments. The other 10% are either new employees or managers. In contrast to this, I've heard nothing but bad things about other stores in our district, and I have even had a bad experience with one of the locations, so no, not every store is perfect.

On the topic of this whole thing, I think Best Buy should have had things set up the way they do now for employees with the differentiating between Local and National sites. They should also just pay up to reimburse the customer's for the lost money. It's a multi-billion dollar corporation, what they would have to pay would be pocket change.

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RE: I like best buy

By Rugar on 5/27/2007 2:20:46 PM , Rating: 2

That's hilarious. Especially since his name is "Conman". True or not, it's a pretty funny post.

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RE: I like best buy

By Treckin on 5/26/07, Rating: -1

RE: I like best buy

By Seer on 5/27/2007 12:26:35 AM , Rating: 2

I was just in BestBuy the otherday with my friend, who was buying a 360. He had called earlier about a possible price match of a deal another big store had involving a 360, 2 games, and a certain carrying bag. Since BestBuy didn't carry that specific bag and one of the required games for the bundle, we had 2 employees spend 15-20 minutes bending over backwards in an attempt to get us a comparable deal -- without buying the bag or the specific game! We just kept adding on items we knew he would need so that they could give us a discount on them, including an extra controller and live 12 mo. sub. They aren't allowed to touch the price on the system itself at all without super manager approval, but they did every possible discount on all the other items in order to save us money. ++ to them.

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Age-Old Problem

By ScythedBlade on 5/27/2007 8:54:09 AM , Rating: 2

Wow, I can't believe no one has realized the quick patch-up solution yet.

This kind of stuff happens at nearly EVERY STORE, not just Best Buy itself. What I do is that every time I actually go to a retail store, I would print out everything. Once I get there, if they overcharge me, THEN I show them the page, and every time they have no option but to give me the price on the sheet.

RE: Age-Old Problem

By AntiM on 5/27/2007 12:22:30 PM , Rating: 2

I would like to see a few car dealers get sued for the same practice. BestBuy hasn't done anything that car dealers haven't been doing for decades...as far as bait and switch goes. Tricking customers with a fake internal website,... that's taking it to a new level.

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RE: Age-Old Problem

By PitViper007 on 5/27/2007 2:45:48 PM , Rating: 2

Actually it's funny that you bring up car dealerships. Several years ago my mother was buying a used Toyota, and the dealership tried to get her to pay way too much for it. I looked up that car with all the specifics on Kelly Blue Book, printed out the page, and got them to lower the price based on what KBB said the car was worth.

Someone above said it well. If YOU the customer want to make sure you avoid this, print out the page with the online price before you go to the retail store. In this case however, BB is still in the wrong I believe.

PitViper

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RE: Age-Old Problem

By Rugar on 5/27/2007 2:34:37 PM , Rating: 2

I've done that and I disagree with you. I have seriously had BestBuy employees tell me that the online BestBuy is a "different company". After I managed to pick my jaw up off the floor and point out that they are one and the same. The middling manager I was dealing with continued to argue. I went so far as to do a WhoIs on my phone and show it to the pinhead, at which point he began to claim that the add was photoshopped and kicked me out of the store.

Seriously. BestBuy wants to know why people hate them and screw them any chance they get? That's the reason right there. I'm their worst nightmare now. I'm one of the biggest "devils" (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20041108-4382... ) at BestBuy now. I don't even go in the store unless it's to buy a loss-leader.

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RE: Age-Old Problem

By Christopher1 on 5/29/2007 2:30:03 PM , Rating: 2

That's the right thing to do. When you go to a store for an online price, take a copy of the page with you! That's simple common sense but most people, myself included, don't even think about that for some reason.

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Minor correction

By Optimizer on 5/27/2007 9:49:32 AM , Rating: 2

"Best Buy officials strongly deny the charges..."

or

"A Best Buy official strongly denies the charges..."

RE: Minor correction

By sheq on 5/28/2007 12:36:28 AM , Rating: 2

strunk and white to the rescue!

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Ew Best Buy

By vhx on 5/26/2007 8:17:34 PM , Rating: 1

BB should be sued based on a deceptive company name. They hardly ever have the 'best buy.'

I've had my share of BB troubles as well from deceptive pricing to asshole employee's. It almost seems like it's BB policy to take advantage of and screw them over as much as possible. This stuff is pretty common, just take a quick glance over at www.bestbuysux.org which has hundreds, perhaps thousands of complaints by employees, managers, and consumers. I'd definitely give it a read if anyone is ever bored.

RE: Ew Best Buy

By Treckin on 5/26/2007 8:48:32 PM , Rating: 1

I wish it were possible...
However, there is now regulation excepting copyright laws that regulate what one may name a business.
EX: I could start a data entry firm named "BEST BLOWJOB"S IN TOWN", and even though my business has nothing to do with it implied name, its still legit.

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New concept

By crystal clear on 5/27/2007 12:19:52 AM , Rating: 2

New virtualization feature in marketing-parallels !

Policy

By Alexstarfire on 5/27/2007 10:54:18 AM , Rating: 2

Well, I've never been bothered by such crap, but to be honest it's because it doesn't work on me. One of two things happens, depending on what I am actually buying. Either I look up prices online to see which retail store is cheapest and go there to buy it. If the price their is not the price advertised on the site then I don't buy it AND I go buy it online since it will be cheaper. If it's an item I have to have now I go to the store that had the second cheapest price, and repeat the steps. All of our stores are within 2 miles of each other so it's not that much of a hassle over here.

The other scenario is that I don't even look up prices online and I go in there with how much I'm going to spend no matter what, mostly on items I have to have, and I'll just pick the best product for the price.

BTW, Best Buy doesn't exactly blow around here, but it's not the best. Fry's is actually the cheapest on most things, other than major computer hardware, like sound cards, video cards, CPUs, etc.. All those are very expensive there. the HDDs aren't priced too bad and can be a steal when they have a sale. The only reason I even shop there is because of their return policy, it's top notch. No restocking fee and I get a 30 day return policy on almost anything I buy.

My policy is to always go with the cheapest place if I can afford to wait, since the cheapest place is usually online.

Short memories?

By gsellis on 5/28/2007 8:25:20 AM , Rating: 2

Didn't this get covered about 2 months ago with the New York AG? Same deal. Best Buy redirecting all Bestbuy.com searches in the store to an alternate site instead of the web-facing site. DNS redirection for the loss.

Best Buy is anything but...

By dtm4trix on 5/29/2007 10:43:06 PM , Rating: 2

This company has anything but the best buys. In my opinion they are scam artists who deserve to have a class action law suit filed against them or for the management to have racketeering charges filed. Of course they will deny it all but who are they kidding. Best buy has always been a shady company and I will never shop with them as long as I can avoid it. Newegg rocks....!!!

This is funny...

By Beenthere on 5/26/07, Rating: -1

RE: This is funny...

By PitViper007 on 5/28/2007 9:37:03 PM , Rating: 2

Unfortunately, probably never. They will get off with the typical fine, maybe a large one, but still only a fine, and that will be it. I think that this kind of "punishment" doesn't hurt a corporation such as this. They consider it merely a "cost of doing business" and pass that cost onto us, the customer. The need to hand out prison sentences to really press home that this kind of conduct is not acceptable. Then other corporations will take notice.

PitViper

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sigh

By regexp on 5/26/07, Rating: -1

RE: sigh

By HaZaRd2K6 on 5/26/2007 7:33:50 PM , Rating: 4

Fact 1: I work in the retail industry and the website is a crucial part of our business, run by our company. Prices are the most up-to-date on the website, and we have a stock checker on it, too, so people don't have to phone or come into the store to see if we have a certain product.

Fact 2: Our company also has computer kiosks (three, in my store) where customers can check prices on components. Thing is, they're not the cut-down, Best Buy-only versions of Internet Explorer, you can visit any site you want (and some people take the to the extreme, if you catch my drift). So if a customer comes in and says, "I've seen X product for Y price, and I think Best Buy has it cheaper," we can check that.

Fact 3: Turnover and training are not problems. I can't speak for Best Buy, but the people I work with are very knowledgeable (and I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable, as well) and very well-trained. If there's a problem, there's always a manager around to take care of it (if a salesperson can't handle the situation). As for turnover, yeah some people are just summer employees (I'm a full-time summer employee and part-time during the school year) looking to make some money, but the people I work with have all been there for at least a year, so that's not a problem.

And who says the Attorney-General is running for office? Sometimes doing the right thing will get you more recognition than if you just want to run for office.

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RE: sigh

By 887 on 5/27/2007 2:18:10 AM , Rating: 4

This is where you are simply wrong. Training IS the problem. Since you are not a Best Buy employee I will just realize you don't understand the in-store Best Buy Kiosk system.

Basically it goes like this. Best Buy has a link to BestBuy.com when an employee logs into "Employee Toolkit" (where Best Buy employees can check inventory, order products, and pretty much anything else). That link takes them to the instore best buy inventory which reflects the store prices.

*Many times, a sale item on the internet based www.bestbuy.com is literally not present in the store. Example, a sku that rings up as $49.99 on sale on Bestbuy.com will ring up at $59.99 in store if that sku is on sale online but not in store. *

Then there is another Bestbuy.com that is a bit more hidden in Employee Toolkit. This is where the training comes in. Managers, not corporate, do not train their employees about this feature because they do not want to match online prices and bring down store GMD and store GMP. This could be reached through "Products and Services" > "Best Buy.com" > "Web Pricing". That link there, Web Pricing, is basically a copy of the bestbuy.com that is available to one from home or personal internet.

With all the accusations, I must say, recently Best Buy has changed this. Instead of having just one link of BestBuy.com when an employee logs in reflecting in store pricing, in Employee Toolkit there is now two links, BestBuy - Local (reflecting store pricing, hell, when you click this there is a big yellow banner across the top saying 'These are store prices, not online prices') and then there is BestBuy - National, which reflects prices one can reach on www.bestbuy.com from home.

So in conclusion, the feature to check web pricing was always there, but like I said training was the key problem. I've seen it happen many many times. A newer employee is asked about an online price. The new employee answers "errr.... look.... this is best buy.com and this is a different price ... uhhh" the customer gets mad and leaves or if he does ask for a manager, after the manager takes 30 hours to get to the department, he or she simply say "that's an online only price, you must order it from home" because of the reason I said before.

Like any other retail store, Best Buy stores are in huge competition with each other with frequent "Banner Races" and "Disctrict Bonus'", managers simply want their numbers to be high.

Of course it's morally incorrect, but this will be taken care off as you can see.

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RE: sigh

By JeffDM on 5/27/2007 11:39:42 AM , Rating: 2

I really wouldn't have a problem with Best Buy keeping a different price online than the B&M. It costs more to operate a retail front in higher-rent retail districts than it does to operate a warehouse that could be near any package shipping hub.

The problem I have is that their system seems to be designed to be a little dishonest, rather than say "that's an online-only price" and make that clear on their web site, they make it hard and frustrate their customers.

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RE: sigh

By PitViper007 on 5/26/2007 7:40:13 PM , Rating: 5

The problem isn't that the internal and external sites were different, it's that the internal site was being represented AS the EXTERNAL site. Ex.:

Customer: I want to buy the $729.99 laptop you have advertised on the web site.

BB rep: Hmm, I don't think we have one, let's check the site. Nope, there's the laptop you are talking about right there on the site. It's $849.99.

This is CLEARLY a deceptive practice at the least. And if they were isolated incidences, I would agree that it was a training problem. But the frequency of these occurances kind of blows that excuse out of the water.

PitViper

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RE: sigh

By TheDoc9 on 5/26/2007 9:35:31 PM , Rating: 2

I thought this was a modern business practice. It's happened to me numerous times at BB and the Sprint store. Needles to say I didn't purchase the items.

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RE: sigh

By abhaxus on 5/27/2007 4:14:11 AM , Rating: 2

What is humorous to me is that people don't realize that online retailers screw them over on shipping. Two examples:

My company, a semi-major online retailer and local electronics chain, sells a TV for 999 in store. A customer walks into the store and buys it for 999, and is charged sales tax. The company loses money because the salesperson was not able to add on accessories to the advertising loss leader.

Scenario two: A customer goes onto Amazon.com, google.com products(froogle) or pricegrabber.com and sees that my company offers the TV on their site for 978. They add the item to their cart from the normal company website (which now has a cookie saying they have visited one of the aforementioned sites) and they are charged shipping of $80 on that item. They think to themselves that for a 42" TV $80 seems fair shipping. They buy the item without realizing they could go to the normal company website without those aforementioned cookies and buy the TV for $999 with the REAL shipping cost of about $10.

Of course there is a third scenario where the customer sees the price represented on one of those sites and comes in to see if we will match the price, only to be told that we only do so including shipping. Sometimes the price including shipping is lower than the price in store, sometimes it is higher, but the customer does not realize, even after we tell them point blank, that the company charges an outrageous shipping charge on those crazy online prices to make up some profit, because for some stupid reason people think $100 shipping is acceptable on a TV, when UPS charges us $10.

EVERY ONLINE RETAILER DOES THIS. The online business is separate from the in store business. Go to pricegrabber or amazon right now and look at the price of a sony 42" lcd projection and then compare to the price that you could get if you walk into a local retailer and buy one. Do the same with a sharp 46" lcd flat panel. It will open your eyes to the scams going on online.

I hate best buy, mostly because I work for a local chain and I hate seeing their moronic salespeople taking our business by flat out lying to customers. But in this case, I don't really see how they are doing anything wrong, other than misleading people into believing that the in store kiosk price for a web item is the same as an outside web price. I don't see anything wrong with charging a different price on the web as they do in store.

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RE: sigh

By Proteusza on 5/27/2007 5:07:12 AM , Rating: 2

No, there is nothing wrong with having different prices.

There is something wrong, however, with tricking customers into thinking the higher one is the only price, when in fact there are two prices.

The correct thing to do would be to say, "If you order it online its cheaper." rather than screw customers over.

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RE: sigh

By PitViper007 on 5/27/2007 2:26:56 PM , Rating: 2

Exactly my point. It's not that they have different prices, it's that they deceptively represent the higher price as the only one. THAT is illegal.

PitViper

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RE: sigh

By TheDoc9 on 5/27/2007 12:45:51 PM , Rating: 2

Let's discuss this from a customer's perspective.

I just looked up a Samsung 4665f on amazon.com - $2300 no tax, with free shipping.

The same tv is in BB and CC for 3000 + tax, plus hastle of buying; 'super premium' cables for 100+, the special noise cleaning surge protector for 200+, and the extra warranty for 400+.

Fry's has the tv for 2900+ tax, and likely all the above hastle.

Excellent cables and surge protector online for 100 or less, shipping included.

It's ok to change your perspective on things.

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RE: sigh

By pixelslave on 5/27/2007 12:55:37 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Scenario two: A customer goes onto Amazon.com, google.com products(froogle) or pricegrabber.com and sees that my company offers the TV on their site for 978. They add the item to their cart from the normal company website (which now has a cookie saying they have visited one of the aforementioned sites) and they are charged shipping of $80 on that item. They think to themselves that for a 42" TV $80 seems fair shipping. They buy the item without realizing they could go to the normal company website without those aforementioned cookies and buy the TV for $999 with the REAL shipping cost of about $10.

Not sure about froogle, but the retailer is paying a heavy commission to Amazon -- it goes from 8% to 20% depending of product categories. And, unlike eBay, Amazon charges commissions on shipping also. So, the retailer actually ends up getting less than $978. While on their web site, even after the credit card processing, it may still make more money than selling thru Amazon. The retailer also has a higher chance to lure customers into buying other products from it on their own website, while on Amazon, the customer may not buy from the same retailer even if he/she buys another product from Amazon.com. Therefore, the retailer is more willing to charge a lower price on their own web site.

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RE: sigh

By BMFPitt on 5/27/2007 1:19:48 PM , Rating: 2

When I went to the store to get my TV a few years back, they wouldn't honor an online sale (though the price was reflected the same) with the in-store sale. Granted I was trying to stack 3 promotions on them, but still.

In the end I still got the TV, and was ahppy with the deal until $3000 DLPs turned into $2000 DLPs 6 months later.

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RE: sigh

By juice13610 on 6/5/2007 4:48:12 PM , Rating: 2

Give me a break people.
Im tired of people acting like the $6.50 an hour employee is actually TRYING to rip someone off. They don't make commission at Best Buy, or most any other retail store for that matter. They could care less if you purchase something. Of course its bull that you are given a different price when you get there in the store, but they can't help it. What do you want them to do? Run home and jump online and check it externally, then drive back and give yo uthe price you drove there for?

They most certainly aren't "training" people to deceive customers. They would've paid out millions already if that was the case, because the 500 new employees and 500 exiting employees every day would turn them in at least 50 times a day for such deceptive practice.

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RE: sigh

By juice13610 on 6/5/2007 5:13:53 PM , Rating: 2

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RE: sigh

By senbassador on 5/27/2007 2:23:47 PM , Rating: 2

" fact 1: in the retail industry the online web site is almost always a completely separate business then the retail outlets."

Yes, but thats really not the issue. The issue is "would a reasonable person be aware that the advertised price online is different from the store price." It should be the company's burden to spell out on their website that this price is only applicable to online purchases, not store purchases.

"fact 2: in most company's the internal and external sites are on completely separate infrastructures that may share the same data source."

I don't think that matters. Its still their responsibility to make sure they're insync.

"fact 3: turnover and training is always a problem - its of no surprise to me that a low wage summer BB employee doesn't know the top two facts.... or even what a website is for that matter."

Which is BB's fault, not the customers. At most, they can say that it wasn't deliberate in which case they can dodge punitive damages.

"My only question is what political office is this AG running for? He has no case so the only reason he is filing is to raise his image. And just because you don't like BB or had an bad experience there (as I have) doesn't mean they are out to deceive you or broken a law."

He's probably running for something, therefore looking to nail someone, but that doesn't leave BB off the hook. I hope this doesn't turn out to be like the Duke rape case all over again, and I do believe in the presumption of innocence. However, based on what I know now, I looks like BB is at fault here. I still have an open mind to the possibility that they're innocent, but I doubt it.

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"Well, we didn't have anyone in line that got shot waiting for our system." -- Nintendo of America Vice President Perrin Kaplan