Gaming Support

[TedSeattle]

The ad says that if you buy SOCOM 4, you can get $30 off Killzone 3 if you buy it at the same time.  KZ3 is advertised at $50, so shouldn't it cost only $20?  But when I bought the two, it rang up as $30.  This seems misleading.  If the ad had said KZ3 would costs $30, that'd be one thing; but it said $30 _off_.  Is it typical Best Buy policy for a sale ad saying "$xx off" to mean "$xx off MSRP" rather than "$xx off our regular price"? 

[CrystalWoW Community Veteran]

In the ad it does say that KZ3 is 59.99 so technically the ad is correct. The price dropped but in the ad it was advertised at the full 60.

[GBAstar]

Best Buy is famous for messing up these types of promotions. I loved how some of the RZ Gamer Coupons, now the @Gamer coupons, were never accepted at my local Best Buy because the game they were supposed to work for was always on sale during the ENTIRE coupon promotion. I know this is off topic but why would Best Buy issue coupons (these aren't 3rd party coupons) themselves and NOT accept them due to their own sale? If as a business you are going to be a "Big Boy" and issue your own coupons for a product wouldn't you have the foresight to see what your pricing scheme is going to be for the duration of the coupons' validity? Also, if I get a manufacturers coupon for a product that is x amount of $ off and go to use it at Walmart or Target neither one of those retailers will deny the coupon because it is on "sale" but because Best Buy is the manufacturer of their own coupons they don't want to take money from themselves.

Regardless I was burned by this KZ3 promotion as well. I preordered 3 copies of SOCOM4 and decided to pair them with Killzone 3 because at $20 it is a steal and the associates wouldn't budge and override the extra $10 I should have gotten off for each copy.

They also wouldn't let me use the 10% off coupon I have for being a RZ Silver member in place of the $10 GC that is being give out for the Mortal Kombat TE edition. Simple math tells me I'll save $15 by using a 10% coupon on a $150 product while I'll only save $10 (that's debatable) if I buy the product at full price and get a $10 GC. The issue at hand at my Best Buy when I bring up these issues are that the "computers won't allow it".  Furthermore I also was denied trying to use the spend XYZ amount of dollars and get 10% back in a GC coupon which is really unfortunate because I spent close to a $1,000 this week on games and electronics.

Sometimes I really wish best buy was run more like staples who always accepts their own coupons and often times they'll accept their $ off and % off at the same time.

[GBAstar]

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Crystallee wrote:
In the ad it does say that KZ3 is 59.99 so technically the ad is correct. The price dropped but in the ad it was advertised at the full 60.

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Also it's funny how the ad is "correct" if it saves Best Buy money but is clearly wrong and called out as such by employees during a misadvertisment or price mistake when they are losing money or their profit margins are diminsihed. Are prices "correct" if they are on BestBuy.com too? If so Best Buy owes me a $500 55" TV...

but wait.. that wasn't cancelled due to a price mistake; it was cancelled because my CC information couldn't be verified... right befor the price went up $1200

[enuf]

Crystallee
The ad does say $60 & it's $50 online but I went into the princeton NJ store & there's a sticker on KZ3 "As advertised $49.99". So if it rings up $60 there I would just got get the sign and they'd adjust the price. My local BB's are never a problem getting adjustments to BB.com though as long as I show them proof. So there's obviously something wrong when when store has it one way & others have it another. Inconsistant pricing will drive away customers.

1-The OP is obviously a gamer, RZ member, probably a gamers club member and may have even comitted to BB in pre-order form. Which is what BB wants to attract.
2-The KZ3/LBP2 offer is basically an "up sell" that he wouldn't have purchased w/o the deal.
3-If the OP was thinking ahead using the gamers club counter, the purchase maybe what needed to game the $150 gaming total to ensusre a repeat trip into BB in 35 day but an experience like this could push the OP to another retailer altogether.
4-I look at the total purchase amount also, if the OP got the Socom 4 bundle($150) would it make sense to lose a $170 sale over a $10 mistake/error/typo or whatever? Even if the OP got the reg Socom 4 spending close $80-$90 that's a tank of gas plus the gas to get to BB.
5-This is a big week for BB game releases Portal 2, MK & Socom 4 all coming with $10 pre-order bonuses & $10 giftcards, a customer could also be tempted to make another purchase while picking up their pre-order like Sly collection $20 or only ($10) if KZ3/LBP2 was $20.

[GBAstar]

I agree with all the above points. I still very much like Best Buy; it always gets all the special/collector's editions of video games unlike some retailers and it never seems to have any problems with games going out of stock mid promotion. I just dislike the mentality sometimes of "the computer rules everything" meaning that the associates have no say in being able to manually adjust a price like in the OP's example.

[aznhero913]

LOL @ crysallee.

The ad is "correct"............

Wish I could use that line when there is an accident/misprint w/ a price in the ad.

[BOOGIE_BOTZ]

Really Crystallee?  So if I were to buy Killzone 3 alone, without Socom, even though it rings up in the system as $49.99, would you add the $10 back on top of that because "the ad has it at $59.99?"

Honestly, if it wasn't for another $30 off Killzone 3, I would never bring my business to Best Buy.  The employees and managers literally work off of a script.  This is rediculous, I'm not making a big deal out of $10 but its more so the principle aspect.

Next time Best Buy has another pricing mistake in their ads, I'll make sure to quote Crystallee and make sure I get my product, because "the ad is always right"

[BOOGIE_BOTZ]

Someone needs to be on top of this, because this is rediculous.  It seems after every visit, I'm less inclined to go back to BB for my electronic and video gaming needs.

[ywxiez]

Not just BB, but whenever I visit store that had $xx off, they took it off the regular, non-sale price.

Also, I wish BB was like Staples; then again, if Staples was "bigger," I doubt they would follow their own practices.