If you're about to buy a GPS, better think twice before heading to your local Best Buy. Turns out when customers ask a sales clerk to check special pricing they saw on bestbuy.com, the company uses a fake internal "website" that looks just like the real one, but lists higher prices. The scam goes something like this:
Continue reading "Buyer Beware: Best Buy Caught Trying to Scam Customers" »
Now tell me this Best Buy spokesperson...why would $1.98/hour Best Buy sales clerk, Snuffy Smith, have any knowledge of or even care about this fake site unless he was instructed to use it in these circumstances?
Snuffy will get paid a small hourly stipend plus receive a commission on the sale whether he sells it at the discounted price or the full price.
Unless, of course, Snuffy's commission is a percentage of the selling price. In that case, he might have an incentive to not sell merchandise at the sale price. Still, someone in authority had to set up the web site and instruct the Snuffys of the company how to use it.
Corporate Best Buy won't easily talk their way out of this one.
Totally unfounded and ignorant comment. If I may ask where do you work? I'm sorry you are misinformed, Bestbuy employess do not work on commision and we have the best paid associates in the industry. I know this because I have managed in retail for 20 years and understand the industry. I was most offended by the disrepsectful tone in your comment. All of us in retail work hard and most of our associates are pretty bright college students, just working there way through school. So I hope people think about your profession in a respectable manner so we don't lower to your standards.
Haha. Work there. They don't get paid on commission, but they shoot your hours to hell if you don't scam the customers into buying the extra warranties and accessories and whatnot.
First off, there is no fake internal site, nor do Best Buy employees EVER make commission, they haven't since the 80's. There is however "in store bestbuy.com" and "national bestbuy.com" the website will often run specials different than the store and vice versa. Associates have access to both sites. One should always use national since that is what the customer sees at home, and price matches always should occur if the site has it on special. The only purpose of in-store pricing is to let associates know what the item scans for IN-STORE. You people amaze me how you jump to conclusions when you don't even know.
I will say, it is a mistake to check the in-store price site especially if a customer said they saw it at home cheaper, I mean...DUH! But no one is trained to do this on purpose for the sake of selling it for more...there's no benefit to that.
This guy knows exactly whats going on. Best buy would never scam customers. They don't make commission, there's nothing in it for them to sell something at a higher price than they have listed. If anything they would want to sell it at a lower price in order to get repeat business.
First off, there is no fake internal site, nor do Best Buy employees EVER make commission, they haven't since the 80's. There is however "in store bestbuy.com" and "national bestbuy.com" the website will often run specials different than the store and vice versa. Associates have access to both sites. One should always use national since that is what the customer sees at home, and price matches always should occur if the site has it on special. The only purpose of in-store pricing is to let associates know what the item scans for IN-STORE. You people amaze me how you jump to conclusions when you don't even know.
I will say, it is a mistake to check the in-store price site especially if a customer said they saw it at home cheaper, I mean...DUH! But no one is trained to do this on purpose for the sake of selling it for more...there's no benefit to that.
First of all I have been at Best Buy for more then a year and I have not heard nor seen this alternate website for Best Buy I have read about on two different websites and second of all NONE of the employees at Best Buy works off of commission I would like to know which Best Buy's you are going to that do.
That is not true at all! I am a sales associate and The "Website" you talk about is just to help use find out info and the prices are not different. This toolkit helps use to help the customer and give them what they need! And we don't work on commisson we are just there to help you make a good choice so go bug another company!
what are you talking about? best buy employees havent been commissioned since the early 90's! hahahaha wow, and the fact that you come on this website and rip on their employees who provide a great service is completely unprofessional!
hey bud. I was hired in at 8.25 an hour and I'm only 16 years old. We get nowhere near anything you could call "commission". We all LOVE our jobs and enjoy learning the product knowledge. Best Buy is all about giving the customer the BEST BUY. I'd have to say you are ignorant and misinformed. Scamming customers is not our business. Anyone who believes this idiot is very simple minded. Do you even have a real job buddy?
there is no commission at best buy.. do some more research
Not saying yes or no to any of this particular discussion. But FYI Best Buy as a multi-national corporation does not work on commission. EVER. So just a heads up; A) If you value you paycheck at all you owe it to yourself to be an informed (intelligent) consumer. B) Know your facts before you start throwing slander around about anyone/anything.
You are just perpetuating idiocy and consumerism as it is. Step up learn your place.
Here's an idea... buy it online for the sale price and pick it up at the store...it is an option after all!!
Hey everyone.
I'm a Best Buy employee in the Car Electronics department in the Irvine, CA store. I have heard of this problem (from the internet, was never told by any of my superiors.) From what I understand, we now actually have changed it to show the same thing that you would see online. If this isn't the case, however, the way to get around this is to ask the associate to get to bestbuy.com from google or Yahoo. We have access to the internet on our computers and can go directly to Yahoo! If we go to BestBuy.com via link from a search engine, it's not the internal store site and is the exact site you all see at home. At Best Buy we don't get any sort of commission at all.
Like I said, as far as I know, the problem has been corrected. To be absolutely sure, always ask the associate to get to the website through a search engine. Hope this helps, guys.
Steve Lange:
OK, let me get this straight - I should wait 2 weeks to receive something I could drive a few miles for, plus pay shipping charges, risk it being damaged or lost in the mail, and buy sight unseen, to avoid Best Buy screwing me?? What's wrong with this picture?
You don't pay a shipping charge and the item ordered leaves the warehouse the day of/after it was purchased online. Then it comes on the next stock truck which best buy gets biweekly. This is always an option that I offer my customers if it suits their needs. And if an item is cheaper on the best buy website, customer service is happy to give the customer the item for the online price. I sold a ton of GPS systems the other day that were marked at 199.99$ for the online price of 104.99$. there is no scam and workers are always taught to inform the customer of options, not persuade them to buy something in order to make our basket goals.
Raine,
Thanks for the post, but it doesn't really address: 1) Why is there a seperate internal website?
2) Why are the prices different?
I've given up on Best Buy because they fought me tooth and nail against EXCHANGING a defective radio when it was outside the 90 manufacturer warantee (even though I had purchased the 2 year extended warantee). They treated me like I was a dishonest person. I'll never go back.
lol you are all retarded. there is two different sites because the internal one shows only items you sell so you can find if you carry what the customer wants and the second is national. that is where the sales are posted because that is where the customers shop at. the people freaking out over this are little baby backs and just got pissy over 30 bucks that they can bring the reciept back in and talk to a manager if a associate fucks up intentionally. but no best buy associate wants to make them money like that. its a retail brand of course there are some shady areas but to make it into a forum is a waist of time. go get a job and or a life.
Now, let me state that I am not defending Best Buy. I simply get my paycheck from them.
To answer your questions, though, Justin:
1. I have no idea why there is/was a separate internal website. I can only speculate as much as everyone else. Like I said, though, as far as I know, the problem has been corrected.
2. As I said before, I can only speculate.
Like I'd previously stated, if there IS still an internal website that differs from the external, then there is a way around it still.
It's really simple. The internal bestbuy.com shows employees what the product costs in our store versus what the online version is. The company policy is to price match bestbuy.com, not to oversell to our customers. We want to keep loyalty and business, and not lose this. There is no scam.
Garmin Nuvi 350 online at Wal-Mart.com $369. Price at local store $448. Seems like Wal-Mart does the same thing. Cheaper if you're a savvy shopper but $80 for those who just assume Always Low Prices mean you shouldn't shop around - even compare against their own website.
You cannot even bring commission into this, because Best Buy employees do not receive comission. They are paid on an hourly basis only.
wow! so much misinformation, first of all, yes scott, best buy employees are paid only on hourly basis, nice try fletch. and another thing, as an employee of best buy, we have 2 different options when serching our website, local and national- on the local site, we can see what is on sale and available in our district, the national site provides access to all sales and products nationwide- we pricematch both. so, no, its not a "fake" website- the national site (the one most employees use do to a bigger database) is the same as if you hop you your computer and type in bestbuy.com. and one last thing, nice job photoshopping the "worst" in the picture, looks real professional, better luck next time fletch
Okay, so, first of all.... when we log in to our employee toolkit we have to options to open Bestbuy.com. Local, and national. Bestbuy.com local has our store pricing, it was given to us to provide us with prodcut information without having to check various different systems, one for price and availability and another one for features. Steve, excuse me, but before you present yourself as knowledgible, you may care to know that every Best Buy sales position has been non-commission for years. The associates on the floor make the exact same regardless of their performance that day. Calm down, initially it was a mistake and now it has been made very clear that you are on the local site when you pull it up. Across the top there is a banner that says something to the effect of "THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT REFLECT NATIONAL BESTBUY.COM PRICING!" So long as the offer does not say "Online Only Offer" the store associate will match the online price, as outlined in the pricematch policy. Not to mention the fact that if you did wanna buy it online and its available in store you can just select in store pick up and save yourself from having to even speak to "Snuffy Smith" the sales associate. Customer Service will have your product available within 1 minute from the time you hand them your paperwork.
I work at best buy, scam no. Clicking a link that is mere centimeters above the right one by accident, yes. When bestbuy.com is pulled up in a store by an employee sometimes there are two different links. local and national, sometimes the local does not reflect national prices. Here's an idea for a headline READERS BEWARE I DO NO RESEARCH BEFORE POSTING MY OUTRAGEOUS FINDINGS!!!
I also work for BestBuy, and I am disgusted by this posting. I have half a mind to legally pursue you for putting out such erroneous misinformation, but it would be a futile cause. There is no "scam" at play here... and there never was. When we log on a store terminal we are presented with a Local and a National website link, as other people have already mentioned, the Local link is merely the current pricing for the district that particular store is under. If you weren't so irrationally filled with displeasure, you would realize that the BestBuy.com website does not receive or order products through a local or district warehouse, and as such does not have to incur the cost of shipping and packaging items like the actual stores do. So alot of times, the website can offer a product at a cheaper price for that reason. Huh... Thats strange... It makes sense doesn't it? That is also why the same prices often don't show up in the local district pricing of your BestBuy store. Believe it or not, the BestBuy.com website and your local BestBuy are not managed by the same people, nor are they the same thing. It is the same with most any major retailer, including WalMart, as another employee has already mentioned. I am offended, and disgusted at your ignorance and I urge you to research your findings before you make false accusations and post about them next time. Part of the reason why some people don't get quality service at BestBuy is because they are fed this kind of misinformation about our company, and they come into our store with an attitude backed by false knowledge. And it is highly unreasonable to expect someone to respond positively and help you out when you come in to the situation making accusations and false assumptions towards the employee right off the bat. Trust me, I have dealt with my share of customers like you... And I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but its not my customer service that is the issue, its the attitude of customers that cause most of the problems. If you just keep calm and remain understanding, and reasonable, 95% of the issues I deal with every day would be avoided. Remember that there is no big nation-wide plan to steal your money and rip you off while treating you badly, these people are just doing their job, and chances are, they are just as offended that you treat them poorly as you are when they don't just give you a new product without knowing what happened.
Dumn ass.Best Buy Rocks
You people are retarded. Best buy is a multi billion dollar corporation and doesn't need to scam you worthless fucks
Best Buy has left me with the worst experience shopping online I've had. After purchasing a laptop online, I was sent the UPS tracking number for someone else's shipment and NEVER received mine. It's been over a month since I reported the problem (and I've made over 10 phone calls on the issue!) and they have not refunded my credit card. A card I opened with them! All the customer service reps can plainly see that they package was not mine and was not shipped to me, yet they can't seem to get it resolved. I will never give another dime to Best Buy.
Kara:
YOUR PROBLEM IS OUT OF ANY CUSTOMER SERVICE REP'S HANDS! I can honestly tell you, that as a Customer Service Representative, our leverage on any Bestbuy.com issue is no greater than your own. We don't have some sort of secret hotline number to call and solve every problem that comes around. The 1888BESTBUY number is the same one that you call. Best Buy and bestbuy.com are 2 different stores essentially. As cited earlier, the same relationship ensues between Walmart and Walmart.com. We have just about as much say in how bestbuy.com transactions are handled as you have the chance of fixing the economy. So don't get fussy with CS Rep's.
the two websites these people are referring to are the local and national versions. national is what the customer sees and local is what the pricing is in our local stores. there is no scamming at best buy. there is no commission and we have some of the smartest fucking ppl to answer your questions cuz your too retarted to figure out how to program your remote or setup your computer. so have some respect for employees of best buy! our motto is to have fun while being the best! not hey guys lets see much money we can fuckin rip the customer off for today! jackass!!!!!!!!!!!!
No that employee was not trying to get more money out of you you hoser, he was trying to help you. I get that you as an average consumer are retarded but that is no excuse for slandering the associate. If you knew any thing about computers you would understand that having a dual CORE. not coil, processor is going to have a much better performance. The reason being that processor cores could almost be equated to additional processors and a dual core machine is almost like having 2 processors. He was trying to sell it to you because the machine you bought is a pile of shit and he wanted you to get something that will WORK FOR MORE THAN A YEAR. I really hope that piece of shit you bought dies fast so you can buy another one every year for the rest of your life instead of every 4 years like a normal person.
I recently was shopping for an inexpensive laptop and did some research online. I saw best buy was selling an acer laptop for 329. I looked at the reviews on best buys own site and it got between 4 and 5 stars. I checked out quite a few of the reviews and they were for the most part positive. Well I went to buy the thing and I noticed there were none of them in stock near the display computer. I asked if there were anymore and they said they were out. I live near a couple of different best buys and i went to another one and it was the same situation. So I waited a few days, checked online to see if the laptop was at a best buy store near me and this time they appeared to be in stock. So I went to best buy, but to my dismay, I saw just the display model of the particular inexpensive computer with no boxes of that model below. So I asked a best buy employee and he said he "thought" they had that laptop in the back. But, he went on to caution me that I should really know what i was getting into buying the inexpensive acer. He went on to to talk about about how it had a single coil processor vs double and that any multitasking would be slow. Im not extremely hip to computer tech talk but i kept in mind the fact that from the reviews i have seen there has been no complaints about the speed of that computer. it has 3ghz processor but i guess single coil. So i bought it....rejected the warranty he wanted to sell me...so now i have it and and it has been perfect so far. No problem with multitasking as of yet... i run Finale with other things at the same time...a somewhat demanding program as far as memory goes. The best buy employee seemed to REALLY want to sell me the more expensive computer and warranty. I would bet my life savings that not having the cheaper laptops right below the display models is a strategy to sell the more expensive ones. So, this is what caused me to do a google search about best buy employees and commission that got me here to this site. That particular employee was definitely motivated to get more money out of me. No doubt about it.
the best buy employee was not trying to get you to buy a more expensive laptop to make more money. computers, tvs, and other expensive products are generally sold not much above cost so retailers make less money on those sales than one would expect. the majority of profit comes from smaller items like cables, adapters, ect. that retailers can get get at lower cost and sell for higher prices (all retailers do this). chances are even if you bought a computer that was $100 more best buy wouldn't make much more money, if any, off of the sale. if he tried to sell you the black tie protection (not the same as a manufactures warranty) then he was really offering you a great deal. Black tie protection can cover accidental damage and we can replace your computer pretty quickly whereas the manufactures warranty usually doesn't cover accidental and, since you have to go through the manufacturer, often takes much longer to resolve problems. if you choose not to purchase any coverage, that is fine, but be mindful that if something goes wrong there is very little best buy will be able to do to help.
When referring to a computer's CPU the term is "CORE" not "COIL".
AGAIN I WOULD LIKE TO REPEAT FOR EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT TAKE THE TIME TO READ. BEST BUY EMPLOYEES DO NOT RECEIVE COMMISSION! THE LADIES AS THE PERFUME DEPARTMENT IN MACY'S DO! BEST BUY EMPLOYEES DO NOT! DO I HAVE TO POST THIS AGAIN?
Honestly, Best Buy is THE best retail job I have worked at. And to reiterate some of what other people have been saying:
1) Best Buy employees do NOT work on commission, so in all honesty we really don't care if you buy extra stuff or Black Tie Protection.
(Caveat: Best Buy's margin on computers is insanely low and sometimes negative, so when you don't buy some accessories or services that we offer, it IS possible for us to LOSE money from you buying the computer. We have to do this to stay competitive with companies like Walmart that sell computers bought in stocks of millions where they can mark them down to only make .01 on the computer and still come up several hundred thousand in profit. But when you go to Walmart, you truly are getting a high school dropout who doesn't know the difference between gigabytes of transfer rate, gigabytes of RAM and Gigabytes of hard drive. So, yes... we are pushed to sell accessories with the computer, and to offer you protection plans, but our jobs do not depend on it. Our jobs do however, depend on whether or not we offer the full range of what Best Buy can do for our customers. And honestly, many of my customers will come in and listen to what we can do for them in terms of Total Solutions and are absolutely THRILLED that they don't have to spend the time and extra money elsewhere getting an IT guy to their house or going through the multitude of installation processes, or just seeing how happy someone is that they bought a protection plan when two weeks after they buy the computer, their son or daughter spills a glass of juice into the keyboard. Just because you know how to use a computer and can do everything yourself and think it's a sham doesn't mean everyone knows what they are doing. [That comment was not directed at anyone in particular but rather to skeptics in general])
2) As mentioned earlier in the forum, that Best Buy workers are paid minimum wage and are high school dropouts, while I can't speak of all stores, I can tell you that that is far from the truth at my store in Asheville. With the exception of the cashiers and people at customer service, practically everyone on our sales floor has a Bachelor's degree or higher, or at the very least is in college working on a degree. Nine times out of ten, the degrees that people have in our store are directly related to their job, so you know that when you come in, our sales associates know what they are talking about and can help you come up with solutions you may have never considered, thought about, or knew the technology exited for.
3) Could it not be that people work at Best Buy because they actually enjoy working there? Best Buy offers their employees amazing benefits and opportunities, which makes up for the loss of small stipends here and there for big sales or profits for Best Buy. Best Buy takes care of it's employees and honestly, I have a lot of fun at work with associates, managers, supervisors, etc... The hierarchy within the store is practically non-existent when it comes to interrelationships and valuing the ideals of ever person within.
It’s a man’s world.
Best Buy will never enjoy my family's business again. Their return policies are too rigid and their prices are terrible. They are fast talking and quick to sell you products, but when the products malfunction in as little as ONE week; they refuse to take them back.
They will NEVER see us again.
Really? Too rigid. You must be joking. If you buy something, you have 30 days to return it on MOST products and 14 days for computers, etc. IT SAYS IT ON THE BACK OF THE RECEIPT. If that is too little time for you then I feel bad for you. If the product malfunctions we are GLAD to take it back if you have your receipt and sometimes we can give store credit. I know for a fact as I work there, we don't refuse to take it back. And we talk fast because we get A LOT of customers and are trying to offer you GOOD DEALS that you WILL SAVE YOU MONEY!!!