Best Buy Store Purchase

[vitawyh]

Hi BestBuy team, 

Our family has been loyal customers since the day I walked into a BestBuy store 7 years ago. Every time I go to a BestBuy store, all the associates are really helpful and friendly. We bought the whole house appliance from BestBuy when we got our first house and BestBuy associates were really supportive for the whole process from order to installation. 

However, BestBuy is losing me as a customer. Today when I went to the BestBuy store in City of Industry, CA, I was trying to buy an iPad for my father's birthday. I asked the store associate to price match the iPad price from Micro Center. She told me that BestBuy does not match apple retailers and Micro Center is an apple retailer. I asked her to clarify what is an apple retailer since all big retailers except apple can be considered as apple retailers. She said Mirco Center is an example of an apple retailer. So I asked her what is the difference between Costco and Mirco Center since they both should be seen as apple retailers. She told me that Costco is not considered as an apple retailer but Micro Center is an apple retailer. I was confused so she called her manager. Her manager was not very patient and not very polite. She said BestBuy does not price match Micro Center because it was the company policy. Then she asked me to google it. So I did. But I didn't find anything on the Internet. Instead, I found a post on Reddit. I saw an account named as BestBuy replying the same question to a post on Reddit saying BestBuy price match Micro Center. I tried to show her what I found on Reddit, but the manager looked at my eyes and said: "Girl, that is not BestBuy. Anyone can reply on Reddit." So I went home and I have reviewed the BestBuy Price Match Policy, and I don't see anything saying BestBuy does not match Micro Center.

In order to make my case clear: 

1. If BestBuy does not price match Mirco Center, please indicate it clearly on your website. 

2. If BestBuy does not price match Apple retailer, please indicate it clearly on your website and be more specific about the definition of Apple retailer.

3. If a store manager can use a tone like "Girl, that is not BestBuy. Anyone can reply on Reddit." when they are explaining company policy to a customer, I would question the quality of BestBuy customer service. 

[hockeycanuckjc Community Veteran]

What is considered a local retail competitor?

A local retail competitor for retail store purchases is a retail store authorized by a vendor to sell a new, factory-sealed product with a warranty and is located in the same market area (within a 25-mile radius) of your local Best Buy or Pacific Sales store. A local retail competitor for BestBuy.com purchases is a retail store authorized by a vendor to sell a new, factory-sealed product with a warranty and is located in the same market area (within a 25-mile radius) as either the billing address or the shipping address on record for the purchase.

So......... I don't see anything here wrong. Microcenter is a retailer authorized to sell Apple products. As long its within the area and market.

Also, it's my understanding that more stores don't know about this platform and it's a great way for them to reach out to customers on a national level no matter the locality of the store location.

Best  Buy staff are spotted with the BBY notation on their name tags on these forums. So they may be able to chime in as well.

One last thing, was this a special Black Friday price preview at Microcenter or part of a flash deal?

[vitawyh]

Hi, 

Thank you for your reply. The Micro Center deal is still available on their website. However, they run out the inventory now. I missed my deal because that store does not know BestBuy policy and my father's birthday gift is ruined. 

As I stated before, if BestBuy does not price match Micro Center, please make it clear on BestBuy price match policy page. If BestBuy do price match Micro Center, please train BestBuy employees especially the managers well so they do not go around and ruin other people's shopping experience! 

[hockeycanuckjc Community Veteran]

Ok so was the sale for 1 day only  ?

[vitawyh]

No, the sale is still going on but the item is out of stock.

[jdogg836]

Hockeycanuckjc called it.

1.  We have online retailers we match:  Amazon.com, Crutchfield.com, Dell.com, HP.com and TigerDirect.com

2.  We also match local competitors, defined as within 25 miles of the store you're at requesting a price match.  So if you have an Apple Retail or Micro Center within 25 miles, we can match that store.  I threw City of Industry Best Buy and Tustin Micro Center into Google Maps and it seems there is 1 route that is exactly 25 miles.  

Now that we have the WHO we can match out the of way, there are other stipulations that must be met.  Here are some of the more common things we do NOT cover:

• The online prices of retailers not listed in the Special considerations section.
• Products shipped from or sold by third-party sellers on websites.
• Pricing only available to select groups of customers including Membership Program members, loyalty offers, discounts relating to non-warehouse membership or paid loyalty programs and government exchange store offers.
• Transactions from Best Buy Education, Best Buy Business and from a Best Buy Marketplace store on a third-party website (e.g., Amazon, eBay, Google).
• Competitor offers including contract cell phones, service prices (including delivery and installation charges), pre-order offers, rent/lease to own items, liquidation offers, trade-in offers, items denoted as Black Friday pricing and special daily or hourly sales.
• Any financing offers, bundle offers, items included in bundle offers, subscription services,  free items, pricing errors, mail-in offers, coupon offers, items that are advertised as limited quantity, out of stock items, clearance items, open-box items, refurbished items, pre-owned items, credit card offers, gift card offers, items included in gift card offers, Point of Sale Activation cards, video game discounts related to a membership program, voice-only deals, and items for sale the Friday before Thanksgiving Day through the Monday after Thanksgiving, whether offered by us or a competitor.

Without knowing more about the specific iPad I cannot tell what, if any, was the reason for the denial.  You can find the a high-level overview of the Price Match Guarantee online here.  If you want to read deeper, you can click the FAQ link at the bottom of that page.

The manager was correct, the Best Buy subreddit is not run by Best Buy corporate and while it may be a place to get information there are often customers and/or employees who misspeak or are flat out wrong.  It is not an official support channel. As for how the information was presented, it seems like there was an opportunity there.

[vitawyh]

Hi, I was trying to share my experience and ask BestBuy to be more clear about their price match policy. However, I see all different people trying to tell me that I was wrong and what BestBuy manager did was correct.
Here is the Micro Center product I was referring to:

{removed per forum guidelines}

[vitawyh]

Also I want to point out that if the manager explains the situation with any evidence to support her words, I would understand the situation. Instead, I got:”BestBuy does not match Micro Center. BestBuy does not match apple retailers” with a lot attitude.

[AndrewB-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Good afternoon, vitawyh,

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us here on our community forums. Our Price Match Guarantee is a great way to make sure that you're getting the best price so I can understand wanting to make sure  you know how this policy works. I would be happy to provide some more information to help clear up any confusion.

As others have mentioned, we are able to price match Microcenter if they are a a local retail competitor. A local retail competitor for retail store purchases is a retail store authorized by a vendor to sell a new, factory-sealed product with a warranty and is located in the same market area (within a 25-mile radius) of your local Best Buy or Pacific Sales store. If Microcenter were not within a 25-mile radius, we would be unable to price match their products. Along with distance, this product listing would still need to meet the other criteria for a price match.

We strive to provide expert service at all of our locations and I'd like to document your feedback about your store visit here at our Corporate Campus. I will need a bit more information in order to do so. Can you please send me a private message with your:

Full name

Email address

Phone number

What date and time did you visit this store? Do you recall the name of the store manager you spoke to? You can send me a private message by clicking on the blue button at the bottom of this post. I'll keep an eye out for your response.