Silly Best Buy price match "Policy"? (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

And there was a time when most Europeans knew the earth was flat.

The reality I will live with is the couple times a year I price match a DVD, it will be at Target or Wal-Mart, who honor their policies. Wal-Mart is closer and Target is right across the street from Best Buy.

The reality Best Buy will have to live with is when I am looking for something they sell, I will be unlikely to consider buying it from them.


Also, please do move on. I started this thread to express puzzlement at BB's treatment of my using one of their policies. You have repeatedly expressed your disagreement. Fine. However, continuing further is nothing more than thread crapping.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I used to work for Circuit City and they have the same policy as Best Buy. The policy is in effect because often times customers would go to the competitor looking to buy the item they saw on sale in the competitor's ad, and when they found out that it was out of stock they would come across the street and attempt to price match. If it wasn't for the policy then Circuit City could place an ad offering the most popular new release DVD for $2 while only stocking one title per location. Then every other competitor in town would be stuck giving away their merchandise, while the store that placed the original ad gets off for free.
Whenever I got a call from someone checking to see if something was in stock I would put them on terminal hold because I knew that there was a 99% chance that it was an employee from the store across the street.

 

[JohnRice]

You're right Carl. There are certainly disreputable businesses who would do that. There are two things though. Doing that is illegal. It is a form of bait and switch. Plus, Circuit City is not going to do that. If I came in with some mysterious retailer's ad for an absurd price, I wouldn't expect them to honor it. In fact, I wouldn't do it in the first place.

The fact is, BB has had this same title on sale more than once in recent weeks for the same price. This was just the first time I made it to that part of town to get it. Besides, the dishonest retailer would hardly "get off free". They would piss off countless customers, and probably face a class action suit. It's not a stretch. I've personally seen it happen.


Anyway, this topic has been made rather tiresome. I think suitable feedback has already been contributed, and then some. Unless someone from BB, particularly an honest manager, has something to add, I think the discussion has been worked through.

 

[JohnRice]

Looking back, this is such an absurd thing to get into an argument about. The bottom line is, I always perceived this policy as one that certain retailers chose to do without hassle in order to get people in their door. It is one I use once, or possibly twice a year at the most, and a rare positive to retailers like Best Buy. I can't specifically remember the last time I did a price match, but let's say it's been a year, and it would have been a DVD, which is the only thing I've used it for. It's never been a hassle and I've never been made to feel like a criminal before.

A few years ago they started requiring customers to go to CS to price match, which is just fine. The problem is, I resent being scowled at by some 18 year old girl and made to feel like I am doing something wrong. If they don't want people to price match, they shouldn't have the policy. It is dishonest, regardless of what some people may claim. I'm not a fickle person, but the result of this is, I will no longer price match at Best Buy, and will be unlikely to buy anything else there either.

 

[troy evans]

The thing is John, you are absolutely right. The argument was made that customers are the reason why customer service has gone out the window. I completely disagree with that. That is unacceptable as an attitude from anyone in customer service and the ones that feel like that need not deal with the public. I would say sadly these people litter the stores as sales reps now. The people who used to be in the business and defend this kind of attitude were more than likely no better themselves. Service has degraded over the years and that's why we deal with these situations. The point of the price match policy is un-arguable as far as I'm concerned. Like you said, if they want to make it a hassel they shouldn't offer it. With big chains the few bad customers that try to get over surely can't out weigh the customers that don't. Profit that may be lost on a few will be made up for by the many.

 

[JohnRice]

The "problem" is certainly with a minority and is no reason to scowl at honest customers. Where I work, we have a couple "customer friendly" policies which are far more liberal than any of the competition. the vast majority of the time they are positive policies. Sure, there are people who use them to the extreme. In fact, some people use them to such excess, they actually end up defeating the purpose and not really getting anything. It's too much to go into. We have one employee who has tended to complain about the policies, believing it makes certain orders take too long. I'm always saying to not sweat it. Just do it and move on. It's true, it results in some orders which are a monumental pain, but it is the policy we have chosen to enact, so we take the small amount of bad along with the good. I can't imagine just deciding to refuse the policy to people who use it heavily and repeatedly, or at all for that matter.

Just to add, there are absolutely customers who are a complete pain. There always have been and there always will be. It's no excuse to cast aspersions on everyone, which is plain and simple stupid business practice.

 

[Brian^K]

And this is one of the main reasons why I'm contributing to this thread. You're making inflammatory and scurrilous accusations against the retailer. Opposing perspectives are essential when such accusations are thrown around.

 

[Brian^K]

We're not discussing "attitude" nor "feeling" in this thread. We're talking about the reality. Denying reality doesn't help clarify anything. Regardless, this is not a customer service agent's perspective: It's an investor's perspective. It is about what really matters: Consumer behaviors and profit.

 

[troy evans]

Brian, with respect, you seem to have missed the point entirely. This wasn't John's first time doing this at Bestbuy. It was the first time the policies supposed rule was brought into play. The bottom line is, if a policy has a certain way it is handled then that should be done all the time and not whenever the employees feel like it applies. That is what I believe John's position was about. John please correct me if I'm wrong. Everything that has come after has been a debate on the state of the customer service in stores today. You do have the right to your opinion, but, that doesn't make your opinion anymore right than ours. That's how you are coming off, however. My mom owned her own business and I've worked in retail for more than 15 years. I know more than a bit about how you handle customers. Now, what's really sad is John is taking his business elsewhere. I can't speak to the average people who go to BB, but, the crowd here at the forum who shops there spend more than a few dollars. It's more like hundreds and if BB doesn't care John will take his hundreds to another retailer who will do what BB didn't. So, in the long run BB loses. If they keep it up losses will multiply and that is the REALITY.

 

[JohnRice]

In a way, I feel like trying to make my point is just feeding a troll. If the point hasn't gotten through yet, it isn't going to. The argument of "this is the reality, so just accept it because all that matters is money." (the original word used, which was changed) is really beside the point. My basic point is this. They should either honor the policy without games, or eliminate it.

I shudder to think what would happen if certain people attain a position of power. "Come on Abe. Slave labor is a reality, it's good for the bottom line and all that matters is money, so get over it." Sure that is an extreme example, but the argument is the same.

Hopefully that one doesn't get me into trouble.

 

[troy evans]

John, I'm getting the impression Brian works for Bestbuy. Given the attitude he's shown and your experience at the store these responses are really no surprise. I learned from my dad that you can always tell how wrong something is by a persons persistence to defend it( retail stores policy). If somethings right it's right and needs no defense. Oh well, like you said it seems to be going nowhere.

 

[JohnRice]

Whatever the motivation is, I've argued this issue all I care to.

 

[Brian^K]

In the last few months, I've been accused of working for Best Buy, Verizon, Comcast, American Airlines, The Disney Company, and Exxon-Mobil. It seems to be a very common tactic, for folks who don't like to see a pro-business perspective, to accuse the pro-business supporter of working for the business, instead of just being a real capitalist.

 

[nolesrule]

As a business owner and a consumer, I'd tend to side with Brian's point of view. There's a reason why mass market retailers have put the mom and pop stores out of business time and time again. Consumers want more for less. They don't care about customer service until something goes wrong. Since that doesn't happen 99% of the time, they take the risk by getting what they want at a lower price.

The only way for businesses to give the consumers what they want is to lower prices, which means reduce costs. Mass market retailers can do that through volume discounts from wholesalers and by paying wages that only "I don't give a rat's ass about my job, I'm only here because school's not in session and I need some going out cash while I live with my parents" or "this is my second job, it pays less than my first job but I'm here because I have to pay the bills" people will accept.

Mom and pop retail shops trying to compete with the BBs, CCs and Wal-Marts of the world can't retain the good employees or maintain a consistent turnover at low enough wages or get the lower cost items to compete on price so they are screwed.

 

[Brian^K]

And to be clear, my "point of view" is not my preference. It is simply a description of reality. :shrug:

 

[troy evans]

I guess my problem with that is, I've seen too many examples that contradict it. I have and will continue to shop at Bestbuy. About 3 years ago I almost said to hell with them. I seemed to have bad experiences left and right. I would go in on new release day and be told that things were sold out after asking about them, only to see them sitting in another part of the store. So, I was basically lied to. I brushed it off as a mistake the first couple of times, but, after awhile it seemed to be a consistent problem. Then there would be instances where I would be looking all over the place for a rep and when I finally got ahold of one they were like, "this isn't my section." WTF? In a last attempt to see if it was me or them with the problem, I wen't looking for a dvd which had exclusive bonus content to BB. I didn't see it anywhere in the store. I went to a rep and told him I wanted to purchase it and couldn't find it. He said," I'll check in the back and see if I can find it." I thought to myself, "yeah, Riiiggghhht." He came back out with it in his hand and said, "there you go." As small a thing as that may seem to be, it made my day. Over the years I've watched the service of the BB in my area improve. Now, I'm not saying it's the best by any standard, just way better then it was. So, what changed? Why the renewed interrest in customer service if people don't give a damn as long as it's cheap? The facts are, no matter how big or small the business, customers do matter and so does how the're treated. When this thread started it was about BB calling around to confirm a store had something in their ad so they could in turn do a price match for the item. We'll gentlemen, stores don't get bigger than Wal-Mart and as long as you have the competitors ad with the price in it they do the match no fuss, no muss and no phone call. Unless, you're saying that BB and CC's are, compared to Wal-Mart, mom and pop stores.

 

[Brian^K]

Because it is going down, overall, despite your feelings that things are improving for you in one circumstance. And customer service is degrading because consumers take it and still make the purchase, or because consumers don't financially reward companies that provide better service.

 

[Marty M]

I think the whole point of the original posting was that it seemed to be a waste of time for a CS person to call Cicruit City for an item that only cost $6. He could be putting in over $6 effort. I think this policy is reasonable and practical for more expensive merchandise.

 

[Brian^K]

Best Buy doesn't pay that well.

 

[Scott Shanks]

This happened to me recently when I got BB to price match an HP printer. The salesperson called CC to see if they had it in stock before she would honor the price match. I was similarly irritated while waiting until I actually read the huge sign you mentioned. The policy states they will match competitor's advertised prices "on the same AVAILABLE brand and model, let us know and we'll match that price on the spot, tax included."

The keyword there being available. While I agree it seems a little silly to check stock on a nominally priced DVD, the salesperson was following company policy.