Best Buy -- Many Superbit DVDs now $9.99 (1 Viewer)

[ChrisBEA]

I don't think it's over, the ad didn't have a date and is still readily available at my local store. Didn't try buying any though...

 

[Mike Frezon]

My store still had the front-of-the-store display with the $9.99 white price tags tonight.

 

[Craig W]

BestBuy.com is now showing Superbit titles at their previous higher prices. So I think the sale is officially over. The ad in Back to School DVD flyer stated the sale ends on 9/3/05.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Damn. There's a guy over in Software for Sale/Trade who just posted looking for a bunch of these SB titles. I hope his store is still transitioning the sale.

 

[Ernesto.Morin]

No it doesn't. That is the weird thing, the ad has no end date.

 

[RickER]

They all went back to 22 to 24 bucks here. They did forget to reprice Hook. It was the only Superbit i found that didn't have a new higher price. The display was gone too. Sure was nice while it lasted.

 

[Bill_Rockefeller]

Well, I ran, didn't walk to my local Best Buy, grabbed about 10 titles and ran for the register with a printed copy of the ad from their website.

They called me a liar, implied that I made the ad up, said it was fraud, and said that it's not their ad.

I pulled it up on my cellphone.

They said that wasn't proof, pull it up on one of their computers, so I did.

Just go to Bestbuy.com click on DVDs under $10, click on This Week's Offers, and scroll down a bit till you see the 11+MB PDF file.

I pulled that up, they said 'Oh, the sale is over. It's just not printed on the ad.' Everything else in the ad says that the offers are good until 10/15/2005, but the ***** still refused to honor the ad.

Right now I think a letter to our local news stations, Cnet, techbargains.com and everyone else under the sun is in order.

This is quite plainly false advertising.

It's an active ad pulled from their website, and they refuse to honor it.

 

[Bill_Rockefeller]

Put together a quick letter to the news media. Is there anything else relevant that I've neglected to mention? It looks pretty cut and dried to me:

"Best Buy is currently falsely advertising DVDs for sale for $9.99 on their website, but when you go in to the store, they refuse to honor the ad.

The ad linked below specifically refers to ‘Superbit’ titles, very high quality DVDs which normally sell for more than $20. On page 5 of the ad linked below, they say ‘These and all superbit titles on sale for a super low price. $9.99’

The page in question does not specify an expiration date for the ad, but other pages in the ad state the offers end on October 15th, 2005. The fact that they currently have this ad on their site under ‘This Week’s Offers’ says to me it’s current. They said in store that the offer is over, but this is not stated anywhere in the ad.

Here’s a direct link to the ad, you can get to it by going to ‘http://www.bestbuy.com’, clicking on ‘Movies, Music & Games’, and clicking on ‘Movies’, then click on ‘This Week’s Offers’ in the top left corner. From there scroll down to the seventh offer, ‘DVD Insider Back-to-School Guide – with Coupons’. They also have this printed ad in many stores:

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US...cktoSchool.pdf

Please make this case of blatant fraud public, businesses should act with honor."

 

[Mike Frezon]

Bill:

Don't know how to advise you except to say your letter seems to cover it all. You might first try meeting up with your Best Buy store's overall manager...explaining your situation...showing him/her the ad again and see what kind of reaction you get. I am working on the assumption you only spoke with a department manager or assistant manager. Plead your case and say you want to spend $100-plus on these DVDs, throw in any substantiations that you have frequented or spent money in their store in the past (if possible).

If you continue to get nowhere, then take out your letter and tell them you continue to feel like a dissatisfied customer and will take the letter to the BBB and various media outlets and that they will lose your business and that of your friends and family over this poorly managed and communicated sales campaign. And take it from there.

Oh. Amd make sure you maintain copies of the ad from their website, etc...before they disappear into the ether of the internet.

In other words, you might try to reason with the upper management of the store before "going public". Other than that, good luck! BB is a tough nut to crack when they want to be. And there are a number of us here at the HTF who could regale you with stories about our own experiences.

 

[Paul D G]

Maybe it's just me, but I'd toss in that I was accused of making up the ad and they refused to cooperate until they made you pull it up on one of their computers. I would have demanded a manager immediately and made quite the scene.

-paul

 

[Mike Frezon]

Paul: Couldn't agree more.



Whatever happened to "the customer is always right?" To accuse a customer of fraud...especially when confronted with the evidence pointing otherwise...is probably the most egregious point of Bill's entire situation.

This whole SB sale on BB's part has been the peak of confusion since it was first discovered.

 

[RickER]

I wouldn't stand for them calling me a liar, and a fraud. I would have eaten some ass right then! I would own someone for that. Not honoring the sale you found is one thing, calling names is another. Forward a letter to corporate too Bill.

 

[Craig W]

I could have sworn that the printed copy I had in the store had an end date, but I am probably mistaken.

I ended up with SB titles I probably would have never spent the cash on if it wasn't for the sale. If Sony sees how many more disks they sold at that price, then hopefully they will reevaluate their pricing on SB titles.

I ended up with the following titles:

Air Force One
Das Boot
Black Hawk Down
Vertical Limit
Cliffhanger
Resident Evil
Underworld
Legends of the Fall
Johnny Mnemonic
Gattaca
SWAT
The Dark Crystal
Labyrinth
XXX
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Desperado
The Patriot
Hollow Man
Snatch

 

[Frank@N]

Don't know if this will help, but BB was recently handing out an offical in-store magazine called 'DVD Details' (or something like that) which hyped new releases and TV boxset.

The magazine had a full-page ad for the SB sale, so you might want to look around for one at the store.

I'm guessing they would leave a pile of them around till all were taken by customers.

 

[Wayne W]

I tried to pickup Seven Years in Tibet & Das Boot for the $9.99 deal yesterday and they rang up full price. I showed them the ad, but they told me the deal was over.

I checked online today and they are both still $9.99 on the website. So I ordered them with store pickup.

If you still want some titles I would check online.

 

[Craig W]

It appears that some of the titles are showing up again @ $9.99 online, but not all. So you may want to try online for in store pick-up.

Good luck getting these before they are gone.

 

[Wayne W]

I went and picked mine up a few minutes ago. These were the last two current Superbit titles I wanted.

I was bummed when they weren't on sale yesterday. When I grabbed them today the same customer service guy who wouldn't give them to me at the discounted price yesterday got them for me.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Nice twist to your tale, Wayne.

Wonder how Bill's story turned out? Hope he's not under arrest or anything!

 

[Bill_Rockefeller]

I had already ordered the ones I really wanted on ebay.

The rest I just ordered from their site, and I'll be going in to the store tommorow and picking up the DVD's in person, and I will find that manager and make HER give them to me personally, along with an apology.

I complained to ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, CNet, Techbargains, and yes I complained to corporate. I don't think it was my whining that changed things overnight, but they're changed so that's good.

 

[Jerry R Colvin]

Not the media's job (and not in their interest) to pursue this. Since Best Buy was breaking the law by not honoring an offer to sell, why not inform law enforcement?