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The Connecticut Attorney General has at least confirmed parts of serious fraud allegations instigated against Best Buy last month

Connecticut’s daily newspaper, The Hartford Courant, reports that Best Buy confirmed that its stores run a secret, employee-only intranet site. The clandestine site is identical to the Best Buy website accessible on the Internet, save for one large difference; prices. The secret intranet site is said to have discourage customers from buying products that were advertised at cheaper prices on BestBuy.com.

The Courant specifically mentions that walk-in customers in Connecticut Best Buys were shown the secret intranet site when the customers asked to price match items on the public website.  This intranet portal, which looks identical to the public BestBuy.com site, displayed higher prices on several items.  Thus, customers that attempted to price match items from the website were foiled.

Early last February, Best Buy spokesman Justin Barber denied the existence of any such website. Despite this, in response to George Gombossy’s investigations and reporting, the State of Connecticut’s Attorney General Office announced they would begin an investigation into whether Best Buy actually maintained a secret website in order to trick customers and elude discount prices. 

According to The Courant, the Connecticut State’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation on February 9. Last Wednesday Blumenthal stated that Best Buy had confirmed the existence of the intranet site, however, it failed to provide a solid reason for its existence and purpose.  

In an interview with Gombossy, Blumenthal stated, "Their responses seem to raise as many questions as they answer. Their answers are less than crystal clear."

The most troubling part of the ordeal is how customers have been blocked from buying products at prices advertised on BestBuy.com. In some cases, customers hoping to buy certain products discounted on BestBuy.com have been led to believe the price listed on the intranet website, which is higher than the discounted price, is the real price. In other cases, the intranet site has also been used to make customers believe a sale has ended, although on the BestBuy.com website the sale is still shown as active.  

In a statement written to Gombossy, Best Buy stated "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."

Our intention is to provide the best price to our customers which is why we have a price-match policy in place, 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.”

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The Two "Separate" Companies Routine
By qdemn7 on 3/5/2007 4:56:18 AM , Rating: 3
Best Buy is trying old "routine" about Best Buy.com being a complete separate entity from the Best Buy "Brick & Mortar" stores. This is despite the fact you can pay online and either have it shipped to your home or "Pickup at a local store". The BB.com site also allows you to check inventory so when you go to pick the ietm up it is actually in stock at that particular store.

The problem has arisen when people see at item online at the BB.com 'site at say $150, and DO NOT buy online, rather go into the store to purchase the item where they find it for say $175. The employee then looks the item up on the INTRANET 'site where the price is $175, and says "See it's NOT $150, you must have been mistaken." So the customer figures "Well maybe it was a mistake, I don't have any real proof." The BB employee is figuring that the customer will buy the item after making a trip to the store rather than go away empty handed.

So the lesson from this is to have a paper printout in your hand when you go into any BB store. Does not matter where it's from, have something they cannot argue with, and do not take no for an answer.

The only time this would not apply is when it shows "Not available in stores", which means it's a web only item.

BB is going to be forced to either drop the "Price Match Gurantee" or start doing business in an ethical manner.




By gsellis on 3/5/2007 7:55:57 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
BB is going to be forced to either drop the "Price Match Gurantee" or start doing business in an ethical manner.

Well, considering it is BB, that means they will drop the "Price Match Gurantee".

/had a BB employee lie to my face and called him on it. Told me Clark Howard (ATL consumer reporter who dislikes extended warranties) told everyone to BUY theirs.


RE: The Two "Separate" Companies Routine
By BladeVenom on 3/5/2007 8:28:13 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
So the lesson from this is to have a paper printout in your hand when you go into any BB store. Does not matter where it's from, have something they cannot argue with, and do not take no for an answer.

Last time I did that the manager accused me of forging it, and threatened to call the police on me.


RE: The Two "Separate" Companies Routine
By dice1111 on 3/5/2007 9:27:36 AM , Rating: 3
Ha! Well, if you didn't forge it, then let him call the police. You have nothing to be affraid of. Let BB get in trouble by calling the cops on themselves. Would serve them right.


By Tedtalker1 on 3/5/2007 10:46:09 AM , Rating: 2
Let them call the cops,get arrested and sue them like there is no tomorrow LOL.


RE: The Two "Separate" Companies Routine
By Chernobyl68 on 3/5/2007 1:29:03 PM , Rating: 3
I still get a laugh when I think about the customer who was handcuffed in the store after having had the cops called on him when he tried to purchase something with about 150 dollars of $2 dollar bills. The clerk and the manager both thought the bills were counterfeit. Yep, they only hire the best at "best buy"


RE: The Two "Separate" Companies Routine
By walk2k on 3/5/2007 1:57:37 PM , Rating: 2
Funny, but that story is an urban myth. Check Snopes.


By CZroe on 3/6/2007 4:36:37 PM , Rating: 2
Nope. Snopes has no verdict on the Taco Bell story and they practically CONFIRM the Best Buy story by telling you where it was reported and then using it to maintain the the original (and very similar) Taco Bell story is plausible. On their reader comments, many people have surprisingly similar personal stories. In fact, I too have thought about an incident I had at Taco Bell every time I've heard the (most likely true) Best Buy $2 bill story. I had no idea that a Taco Bell incident was already famous until last night when reading Snopes. I chose not to say anything about it because many of the people replying were talking about their own experiences at... Taco Bell! Mine was just a simple "Yes, the Sacagawea dollar coin is real. You haven't seen the commercials [that were still airing back then] showing George Washington dancing and stuff to promote these coins? Haven't you seen the vending machines that say "New Golden Dollar Accepted Here!?" They were really just curious/interested and accepted it with no fuss after my mini "you're out of the loop" conversation. The register lady stuck her own dollar in the register and kept it for herself... contributing to what has caused the dollar coin to fail so far (people think they are more valuable and keep them in drawers instead of spending them).


By exanimas on 3/5/2007 12:31:38 PM , Rating: 3
I can't really see them trying that defense with this... the whole "two separate entities" thing. I do work for Best Buy and they always say some stupid thing about how our online store is our biggest store. I do agree with you 100% to bring in a paper printout, because in the store I work at, customer service is usually so busy they don't even get a chance to go check a website.

One last thought: I do hate this kind of stuff and its the main reason that I hate large corporations (dishonesty and lack of care for the customers as well as the employees).


Intranet...Customers..eh?
By jabber on 3/5/07, Rating: 0
RE: Intranet...Customers..eh?
By Kilim on 3/5/07, Rating: 0
RE: Intranet...Customers..eh?
By cheetah2k on 3/5/07, Rating: 0
RE: Intranet...Customers..eh?
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 3/5/2007 5:23:36 AM , Rating: 3
It's actually just the opposite. The internal site had higher prices. When customers came into the store to price match off the Best Buy site, the intranet site displayed higher prices.


RE: Intranet...Customers..eh?
By gsellis on 3/5/2007 7:51:25 AM , Rating: 4
...following the thought up for KK. The intranet site having a price listed at higher prices, when a customer says it was cheaper on the internet, the BB employee would pull up the intranet BB site and say, "no, it is more expensive. See what a great deal we have in the store!" Easy to do with an intranet site and a DNS entry for their URL to point to an alternate site.


RE: Intranet...Customers..eh?
By Suikakujyu on 3/5/2007 4:34:08 AM , Rating: 3
I believe they are talking about the bestbuy.com website that is up on the display computers inside the store. That site leads you to believe you are on www.bestbuy.com, but you are really in an internal website. On this internal website, the prices are inflated so that you believe you are getting a deal on the item in store, and you will be pressured to buy the in store item.


RE: Intranet...Customers..eh?
By cheetah2k on 3/5/2007 4:38:44 AM , Rating: 2
yep you got it...... i can see it now - after reading the article 5 times LOL


RE: Intranet...Customers..eh?
By jabber on 3/5/2007 4:44:59 AM , Rating: 2
Phew, glad it wasnt just me that was struggling.

You really have to watch these people.


RE: Intranet...Customers..eh?
By Etern205 on 3/5/2007 9:34:14 AM , Rating: 2
You can always go to Newegg for price
comparison. :)
While they are showing the price on their internal site, just
take over the computer, type in newegg.com and show them the
price on that site. Then compare it to Best Buy's real site and they ask them where is my deal? >D


By livelouddiefast on 3/5/2007 2:08:38 PM , Rating: 1
few retailers will bother matching internet prices unless it is a fellow retailer's site (Best buy, circuit city, office depot, staples, officemax)


By hemming on 3/5/2007 9:07:06 AM , Rating: 2
Please note that I live in Canada, so I am not sure how entirely applicable this story is ... but I have another interesting add on to it.

The Canadian Chain Future Shop (futureshop.ca) is owned by the same parent company of Best Buy. Just check the website and see how similar they are too, esp in the weekly flyer search engine and how to check store stock.

For quite some time when Best Buy stores entered Canada, they were treated as the same entity. So, for example, if Future Shop had a sale for $30 off a product ... Best Buy sometimes would match it and other times wouldn't. And even if they would match it, it would be an exact match because they claimed they were the same compnay and NOT COMPETITORS.

I am glad to say that this has recently changed, or if I point out that the exclusions in the price match gaurentee doesn't specifically state it ... I get the full 110% price difference. This was a great help on a laptop that FutureShop had on the website for $400 off, so i got my full $440 off at Best Buy.

But this story goes full in line with shoddy business practices that they seem to want to promote. I find it strange how much better it is to shop in store at future shop with their commission employees who care about making an sale (tho sometimes more pushy) to Best Buy (no commissions, just kickbacks to my knowledge) who just don't care getting the best price for the customer to make the sale.

Food for thought.




By raphd on 3/5/2007 10:49:07 AM , Rating: 2
futureshop is a joke. xmas time they would not match the game gears of war, (it was $40 at best buy and $69.99 at futureshop.) They said it was limited quantity. Another time i forget what I was buying, but I was doing a price match from tigerdirect (there also overpriced) and they said "no, we do not compete with them. we only price match a couple of stores."

had nothing but bad expierences with them. I hate them both. I dont even feel like writing my best buy stories cause i'll just get pissed again.


By jm20 on 3/5/2007 1:24:03 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, I've had terrible price matching experiences at both stores. Staples is a different beast altogether....

Both BB and FS are terrible stores, I enjoy going to them, and leading the employees on that I will buy some large ticket item, only to say no after 30 minutes and purchase the product online for much cheaper.


By hemming on 3/5/2007 1:49:35 PM , Rating: 2
I think they don't know exactly how far they need to go to understand what the internet is doing to get a lower price. And I really had to read their policy to get to know what the ins and outs were.

For the most part, I needed to include next day shipping in the price tag of the product. Also, they need to be an "Official Licensed" retailer. For example, I know CanadaComputers.com and NCIX.com are legit retailers for the D-Link product line. I literally had to make a fuss in the middle of the store, and openly told the Sales Associate Manager to CALL D-Link Canada and confirm it. Which he finally did after I told him that he had to point out the exclusion on the big figgin version of the policy posted on the wall.

This was my breaking point that day, beause he said that it wasn't the "complete" policy. If it's not complete, then don't post it and I basically claimed false advertising to loudly around the customer's at the returns desk.

Oh, how quick the tables turn =)

But then again, I wonder how many people would make that much of a fuss. For $82, I'll make that sort of fuss.

^___^


By arazok on 3/5/2007 3:23:07 PM , Rating: 2
The FutureShop/BestBuy thing is an interesting one in Canada. BestBuy 'jumped' into the Canadian marked by buying FutureShop. Everyone thought that we would see the stores renamed, but instead BestBuy kept the Futureshop name, and also opened BestBuy outlets...often right across the street from an existing Futureshop - which they now own!

I'm not sure that I fully understand the logic, but I believe they are creating the illusion of competition and getting the best of both worlds. There are frequently price differences on the same products at the two stores. Those who shop around get the best price, and BB still gets the business. Those who don't shop around pay the premium, and BB still gets their business! It's frigin genius.


By hemming on 3/5/2007 5:42:27 PM , Rating: 2
If you take a minute to really review the product available on each of the websites, there are some areas in which Best Buy is not a competitor with Future Shop in all aspects.

Specifically, I have not seen Best Buy enter into the kitchen appliance market. Future Shop is pretty expensive when it comes to getting a Fridge, Stove, or Washing Machine/Dryer. However, there were some seriously good kickbacks on boxing day and grand opening sales tho. Like buy a fridge for $X off and get a $x hundred dollar gift card.

What I haven't seen is what Best Buy carries that Future Shop doesn't.

The same thing has happened with many other companies in the past, which is friggin genius. I just won't comment on the Apollo VS HP DeskJet 500 sitation in Y2K.


Intranet = store prices
By fbrdphreak on 3/5/2007 8:20:16 AM , Rating: 2
First of all, the intranet website featured in-store pricing, not just "higher" pricing. Second, the intranet website isn't a secret, or it shouldn't be. At the stores I worked at we were supposed to tell customers that it featured in-store prices only. If some particular stores are telling customers its their actual web site pricing, then they are misleading customers, not the company as a whole. At least as of a couple years ago anyway. Not defending them, Best Buy as a whole sucks.




RE: Intranet = store prices
By fic2 on 3/5/2007 12:13:30 PM , Rating: 2
From the article:
quote:
Early last February, Best Buy spokesman Justin Barber denied the existence of any such website.


So, you are saying that as a BB employee you were told to be upfront with customers about the in-store pricing and that the intranet wasn't a secret and, yet an official BB spokesman denied that the intranet even existed.

Hmmm. I think your store must have been the only honest BB out there.


RE: Intranet = store prices
By TomZ on 3/5/2007 12:46:30 PM , Rating: 2
It actually makes sense. After all, BB corporate managements knows that they couldn't actually tell its employees to use their intranet site in a deceptive manner. But it could certainly direct their IT and marketing people to build the site, and leave it to stores and individual employees to put it to their "best use."


RE: Intranet = store prices
By theguy711 on 3/5/2007 4:12:36 PM , Rating: 2
Well a lot of things are clear to me now. I work at best buy and have run into this problem. At my store we were never told that the portals on our best buy terminals were different from the actual website. There have been several cases where a customer has claimed to see something on our website, I enter the "intranet" and see the price we have listed on our tags. I assume the customer is lying to me. I assume this because customers lie... a lot, as often as some of my fellow sales people.

I can say that hence forth I will no longer use the bby portals and will instead pull up our website from an internet accessible computer. Best Buy doesn't pay me to lie to customers, and they can never tell me to either.


RE: Intranet = store prices
By mindless1 on 3/5/2007 7:42:08 PM , Rating: 2
You can't just pull up the site from an internet accessible computer and trust it unless it is not on their network (including any wifi). It would be trivial to route the browser request to the intranet 'site instead of the website.


?
By walk2k on 3/5/2007 2:03:00 PM , Rating: 2
I don't really see what the big deal here is.

They have internet pricing, and in-store pricing. That's not really surprising. No B&M store can compete with internet prices. Not around here anyway where rents are sky high!

They shouldn't be deceiving people, but you should expect to pay more in-store, that's normally really. If you want to buy it online, then buy it... online? ........




RE: ?
By TomZ on 3/5/2007 3:16:09 PM , Rating: 2
I think you missed the point of the article.


RE: ?
By CascadingDarkness on 3/5/2007 3:40:04 PM , Rating: 2
Big deal is they weren't saying out right "In-store is different than online".

They were showing these people in-store site and acting like it was the online that customer was viewing at home. If they made everything out right, clear, and obvious the two were different there wouldn't be a problem to begin with.


RE: ?
By mindless1 on 3/5/2007 7:44:23 PM , Rating: 2
The big deal is the offer to price-match, then deliberate misrepresentation of the price being matched.


best buy
By justmemyself on 3/5/2007 5:32:49 AM , Rating: 3
Personally, I have seen this in action. Best Buy claims to have one price online, and when you go to their store, the price is higher.

Best Buy, tried to tell me, I needed to order it online, and then pick it up in the store to have got that price, after I called them, from being upset.

The store flat out refused to honor the price. They didn't show the price of the product at the online price, inside their store! They told me I must have been mistaken!

However, their Customer Careless Department, claims their online pricing is just for comparision shopping and online ordering at best. No guarantee you can get the product in their stores for that price. You have to place all orders online, pay for it, and then go to the store to pick it up, and hope it's the same price.

Of course, ever since then, I have tried not to purchase anything from them. Now that Comp USA's are starting to close, this will have to change, no doubt.

But, only for emergency situations, where I need something now and can't wait for a day or two to have it delivered, via a better alternative online-over Best?Buy.




RE: best buy
By Omega215D on 3/5/2007 6:03:32 AM , Rating: 2
There was an instance that I could use their computers to order an item online and then have the option to pick it up in the store that is if it was in stock. Now I just do most of my tech shopping at Newegg, except when it comes to CD's and DVDs.


RE: best buy
By bldckstark on 3/5/2007 12:33:37 PM , Rating: 2
If CompUSA would open more than one store in my city maybe they wouldn't have to close. I love going there, but it is a 45 minute drive. There are about 1000 best buys in this same city, so it's not like they wouldn't get any customer traffic.


This happened to me in Brick, NJ
By Mitch101 on 3/5/2007 12:38:21 PM , Rating: 2
I went to the store to purchase a remote that was Tivo compatible and it rung up about $15.00 more than it was supposed to. I questioned the price and when we brought it up on the website in the store the price was $15.00 more than I recalled it being but I needed it and I figured maybe the sale ended. That day I saw the same remote $15.00 less from my home machine.

I think the fines for doing such a thing especially since Best Buy makes hands over fist should be spectacular. I hope the judge makes an example out of them to which they never consider pulling this scam again.

So much for the consumer always being right.

Thier return policy on defective items is also very poor I had to argue with a manager on returning a TV just for an exact replacement. The unit was a few weeks old but under 30 days and still had packaging foam on it. They eventually replaced the unit which luckily has been good but still this company needs a judge to hand them thier ass at least once to straighten them out.




By CascadingDarkness on 3/5/2007 3:11:47 PM , Rating: 2
Apparently the consumer is only always right unless they don't know any better.


Hard to believe
By margon on 3/5/2007 1:37:34 PM , Rating: 2
I have no problem conceiving BB trying to deceive customers to increase profits. But I am just amazed that they would pull something this blatant, it is so obvious that they are going to get busted at some point. The lack of ethics speaks for itself, but the shear stupidity of this move which obviously had to come straight from the top really makes you wonder about how these people got to be in charge.




RE: Hard to believe
By mindless1 on 3/5/2007 7:47:56 PM , Rating: 2
I'd imagine they had planned for a plausible deniability factor. Something like "we didn't directly state this was the website price, the customer only ASSUMED it."

It still reeks, but having been annoyed by BB long before now, my refusal to shop there has offered immunity from it.


LOL
By Alexstarfire on 3/5/2007 5:32:41 AM , Rating: 2
Can't say I'm surprised. In fact I kind of remember something like that happening to me. I don't really remember, though. I know that unless it's something I actually have to have, like thermal paste, I just walk away if the price is different. I've done it several times, from things like media to software.




Agree 100%
By spinejam on 3/5/2007 6:53:29 AM , Rating: 2
I would occasionally have price discrepancies b/w the B&M stores and online -- Bringing in a printout from the BB website w/ the date on it would usually clear things up. Now I understand why I had to submit proof for those transactions. caveat emptor!




Say it isn't so!
By JustKidding on 3/5/2007 8:39:47 AM , Rating: 2
You mean to tell me that a salesman would actually lie or be deceptive? But...but... the salesman told me that I needed to buy the extended warranty because the gas in my plasma television needed to be changed periodically.(lol, I actually had some kid at best buy try that one out on me.)




Now that's just dumb...
By jskirwin on 3/5/2007 9:57:40 AM , Rating: 2
Did BB honestly believe they would get away with this forever?
And what brand of pot were they smoking that convinced them that even if they were caught, the cost savings was worth it?

State AGs are elected officials. State AGs like nothing better than to take down a large corporation because honestly, who loves them besides a few board members? So even if this practice was legal - which I doubt - it would net them a ton of bad publicity. And given the market, it doesn't take much to convince people to head to Circuit City.

Only a large committee could come up with something this stupid.




BB employee
By daj03 on 3/11/2007 1:36:59 AM , Rating: 2
I'm an employee for BB. I actually JUST found out about this intranet site today and I've worked for BB for 3 years. The public needs to keep in mind that the majority of the employees working there don't know about the difference of the intranet site versus the actual website. The employees working there are every day people just like you... you probably know one of them or you have a friend who does. The intranet site should serve the customer in a beneficial way as a primary objective. -Such as special promotions for that store's region can be reflected on the intranet website whereas on the main BB website, those lower prices won't be shown. I've seen items in the local BB newspaper ads that have a lower price than the BB main website. The fact that apparently some items aren't matching the main BB website prices is a problem, mainly if the intranet isn't less or equal to the BB website, but again, on occasion the intranet site will actually be lower than the BB site. So, the problems that have arisen do address the need for a change in the system so the intranet site has an equal or lower price.




intranet
By daj03 on 3/11/2007 1:56:19 AM , Rating: 2
Adding to my last post -It is definitely a good idea to print out the webpage with the price listed for the product you want. Most of the time employees will just get the price adjusted to match the printout, but obviously if the difference is substantial they may check the website to verify that the printout is A.) current (as in printed today) B.) an authentic non-forged printout.
Now, if you have a laptop you can bring that in the store and just get on the BB wireless internet and use that if you wish or just go to the Geek Squad counter and ask them to go to the best buy website on a normal computer (not a kiosk) and look up a product price because you feel the kiosk is not synced with the main website. Don't raise your voice, don't argue, don't let your bp rise over this. Just be calm and polite, keep in mind that if the persons you are talking to appear to have their hands full (helping many customers at once)... they may need a moment before they can give you proper attention in slowing down and taking the time to look up the price through a the normal website. I've worked at 6 different best buys total and the SOP is well... standard, BB strives for customer loyalty, when the situation warrants (when it's not insanely busy) employees WILL go the extra mile to help you.




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