Another Reason to Boycott Best Buy
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From: Sanity on 3 Jun 2010 11:03 "Scott in SoCal" <scottenaztlan(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:8mff06p6gpnfml34jlqpdu0k0k4kpbtkc7(a)4ax.com... > A co-worker needed a replacement HD for his laptop. He found a > suitable candidate on the BB web site for $99. He went into the store > and found the drive, but the tag on the shelf said $109. He asked the > clerk to check the price; clerk confirmed it was $109. When he pointed > out to the clerk that the same HD was $10 cheaper on the BB web site, > the clerk admitted without a trace of surprise that the $99 price was > correct (i.e. not some bullshit "online only price"). > > To his credit, my friend decided not to reward their sleazy > bait-and-switch behavior by making the purchase at BB. He ended up > buying the drive from MicroCenter instead. Many retailers have different prices online vs their stores. It's their prerogative and it's your prerogative not to buy from them.
From: Mark Anderson on 3 Jun 2010 17:58 In article scottenaztlan(a)yahoo.com says... > To his credit, my friend decided not to reward their sleazy > bait-and-switch behavior by making the purchase at BB. He ended up > buying the drive from MicroCenter instead. Why would anyone step foot into a Best Buy for computer parts if they have access to a Microcenter? Whenever I happen upon Best Buy, I browse their computer section for a good laugh at the poor fools who don't know any better and pay these prices. BTW: Microcenter always has an $80 drive at the current genre of massive storage. I think their $80 drive is up to 1.5T now but I haven't checked in awhile.
From: BigDog1 on 3 Jun 2010 18:26 On Jun 3, 8:48 am, Scott in SoCal <scottenazt...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > A co-worker needed a replacement HD for his laptop. He found a > suitable candidate on the BB web site for $99. He went into the store > and found the drive, but the tag on the shelf said $109. He asked the > clerk to check the price; clerk confirmed it was $109. When he pointed > out to the clerk that the same HD was $10 cheaper on the BB web site, > the clerk admitted without a trace of surprise that the $99 price was > correct (i.e. not some bullshit "online only price"). > > To his credit, my friend decided not to reward their sleazy > bait-and-switch behavior by making the purchase at BB. He ended up > buying the drive from MicroCenter instead. I agree with Mark's assessment of Best Buy vis-a-vis MicroCenter. That said, your friend, if he wanted to buy from Best Buy, could have ordered it online for local pickup and gotten it for the online price. By the way, MicroCenter also sells some items on their web site for less than in their stores. But you can work the same deal - place on online order for local pickup and get the online price if it's in stock. Not rocket science.
From: The Real Bev on 3 Jun 2010 22:40 On 06/03/10 15:26, BigDog1 wrote: > On Jun 3, 8:48 am, Scott in SoCal<scottenazt...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >> A co-worker needed a replacement HD for his laptop. He found a >> suitable candidate on the BB web site for $99. He went into the store >> and found the drive, but the tag on the shelf said $109. He asked the >> clerk to check the price; clerk confirmed it was $109. When he pointed >> out to the clerk that the same HD was $10 cheaper on the BB web site, >> the clerk admitted without a trace of surprise that the $99 price was >> correct (i.e. not some bullshit "online only price"). >> >> To his credit, my friend decided not to reward their sleazy >> bait-and-switch behavior by making the purchase at BB. He ended up >> buying the drive from MicroCenter instead. We've bought quite a bit of stuff from Best Buy. Sometimes they have the best price on something you want. It's right across the street so it doesn't cost us anything to check their open-box items every once in a while, and if the stuff is actually defective we can return it. Fry's has better prices on some stuff, but it's a 20-mile round trip so you have to factor in the cost of gas. > I agree with Mark's assessment of Best Buy vis-a-vis MicroCenter. > > That said, your friend, if he wanted to buy from Best Buy, could have > ordered it online for local pickup and gotten it for the online price. FWIW, it costs only a buck to order stuff from Walmart for home delivery, it comes WAYYY faster than the free store pickup orders, and you don't have to drive or walk. > By the way, MicroCenter also sells some items on their web site for > less than in their stores. But you can work the same deal - place on > online order for local pickup and get the online price if it's in > stock. Best place I've found for tech bits and pieces is http://www.dealextreme.com. Excellent prices on stuff and free shipping. Takes several weeks from Hong Kong, but that's not a problem for most stuff. You can waste lots of time just roaming around looking at the weird stuff. -- Cheers, Bev ==================================================================== Paranoid schizophrenics outnumber their enemies at least two to one.
From: Rod Speed on 4 Jun 2010 01:51
Scott in SoCal wrote > BigDog1 <bigdog811(a)gmail.com> wrote >> By the way, MicroCenter also sells some items on their web site for >> less than in their stores. But you can work the same deal - place on >> online order for local pickup and get the online price if it's in stock. >> Not rocket science. > Not rocket science, but still a sleazy practice. Dunno. Presumably they do it like that so they end up at the top of the net price search systems like froogle and arent prepared to offer such as good price to those who are stupid enough to show up in the physical store without checking prices online first. Hard to claim thats sleazy. > It's kinda like the grocery stores that make pricing "mistakes" whereby > the scanned price of the item is higher than the price on the shelf tag Nothing like, actually. > (and somehow, magically, these "mistakes" never result in > the scanned price being *lower* - amazing how that works). I have in fact got a lower price when scanned than the shelf tag more than once. > If you're alert, you catch the mistake and don't get raped, but that doesn't make it right. Yes, but its hardly surprising that you do see some mismatches with so many items in any particular store. One of our operations actually has electronic shelf prices which are allegedly updated via the fluorescent lights, but its not hard to see that few are prepared to pay for that sort of system. And that doesnt work with all the fresh fruit etc particularly, because the loose stuff has to have the checkout operator enter the correct item name. And the self serve checkouts are open to abuse with the customer selecting the wrong fruit or vegetable with loose items too. |