Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[Amfortas]

We shop at Best Buy all the time. Even spend enough per year to qualify for a free Premier Silver Reward Zone card (Not the credit card) since it was first offered. We prefer seeing and trying out products instead of blindly buying on-line a lot of the time.

I was interested in a home theater receiver that Best Buy offers for $329.99. I saw the very same model regular price at Fry’s for $249.99 and Amazon.com for $240.99. I brought a printout of both to Best Buy. Now I can somewhat understand Best Buy not wanting to match prices with an on-line only retailer, but not to match a price from Fry’s?

The Best Buy salesman told me that since price difference was so much less they more than likely wouldn’t match it. I asked if they could come down a little in the price and was told “no”. When I asked to speak to a manager he refused my request. Instead he went to a computer entered something and then told me “if I were you I’d buy from the other retailer and save the money”. He then started helping someone else.

With everything that I’ve been reading from “experts” saying basically that Best Buy’s days are numbered unless they change their model, I understand that better now. The way I was treated shows that the customer doesn’t manner. Even when that customer is in there a lot and they all recognize me (my wheelchair is very unique and stands out). Many in the store know me by name.

You have to spend a certain amount of money per year to qualify for the Silver card. If customer service is starting to take this approach I doubt that I’ll even come close to qualifying for the Silver level in the future. If they couldn’t even reduce the cost of the product in question by $25 why not just say that Best Buy doesn’t match prices at all?

In closing I’ve always been all about supporting my local economy. Many times I’ve had to spend a little more for doing so. However, if Best Buy feels that sales are so great locally that it’s not worth at the very least reducing the price of an item proven to be less elsewhere I’ll just start shopping elsewhere! Some “brick and mortar” retailers and places like Amazone.com for example offer free shipping. So, you get a better deal, even after sales tax and end up with the very same product for far less. And they don’t require you to be a member of a reward program to have access to those benefits. Best Buy needs to change very soon or even loyal customers like myself will go elsewhere.

[LiquidTension87]

I will admit that turning a customer away for something like that can affect future purchase decisions, but selling items below cost wouldnt necessarily help a store's numbers either.

[Amfortas]

It obviously hasn't hurt Fry's bottom line or they wouldn't have offered the same item for noticeably less. Also, I know for certain that offering something like $25 less would've still been far above cost.

I realize that retailers mark up items due to overhead and still leave room for profit. That is the most basic of business knowledge. That said, is telling a loyal customer to buy elsewhere business savvy? Especially when that costumer has shared their experience on quite a few sites.

With ever poor experience the store's numbers are negatively effected. All Best Buy had to do was offer some sort of price drop and I more than likely would have bought it. Instead, this salesperson decided on his own that advising a customer to buy elsewhere. Talking about something that does impact the store's numbers for certain.

[SlimJim77]

Frys is well known for advertising items cheap, with little or no inventory to actually backup the ad.

With that said, there are rules to the price match. If this item met all the requirement, then the price should have been adjusted.

[Ryan-BBY Senior Social Media Specialist]

Hello Amfortas -

Justin from our Social Media team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern. Thank you for your continued patience!

[Justin-BBY Community Connector]

Hello Amfortas, 

Backing up what SlimJim77 said, in order to receive a price match, the following criteria must be met. Since I don't physically have the ad, I can only make presumptions as to why this price match request from Fry's wasn't accepted. On the other hand, as you know, we don't match online competitors' offers, so the Amazon.com pricepoint would be denied.That said, negotiating prices is not a customary action and I'm very sorry if this encounter left you less than satisfied.

I'll surely communicate your concerns internally to our management teams, and if you have any additional comments, feel free to post here or send me a private message.

Sincerely,  

[LiquidTension87]

Out of curiosity, what receiver is it?

[Solomon87]

 Slimjim, please stop spreadng FUD about Fry's. I tried many times to get my local bestbuy to price match Fry's gret sales and every time they had stuff in stuck for that sale item but Best Buy just refuses to price match for any and all excuses.

[Walrus Valued Contributor]

Amfortas -

While I agree that $25 may not seem like a lot to come down, it does cut into profits more than you may think it does.

I work for a competitor, and its been revealed that for every $100 spent there; the company's profits are $4 after all expenses have been paid. If this is true for Best Buy, then on a $330 sale their profit would be $13.20. So cutting $25 off the price would give them a net loss of $11.80. With Price Matching they can go back to the Manufacturer and tell them: "Look, you made a deal with Fry's so they could afford to advertise a sale selling this product for this smaller amount.... we want that same deal (or better) so we can recoup our loss for Price Matching." Then the manufacturer makes a similar deal with Best Buy and they don't lose that $11.80 (or approximately $70 in this case). This is why they don't price match online advertisements; usually the manufacturer has no involvement.

I don't see how Price Matching is a "scam" as you state in the thread/post's title.