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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
Price matching was discussed briefly he
I understand the tactics, and they are used in all industries; tires, electronics, carpeting, tools, etc. I thought I'd chime in with my recent experience at BestBuy (BB), in which the manager confirmed their deceptive tactics. Back in November, I had to get a desktop for a relative. I checked out nearby BB and found a Dell that would do. I also checked Dell online. Dell had a Black Friday 'week' on certain desktops, and the EXACT same model, with the EXACT same specs., and the EXACT same color, was $120 less from Dell. The webpage upon which BB listed this EXACT same Dell desktop has a link to "$ PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE", as they do on every webpage. Clicking on the link gives you this (crap), which still sounds good if you want to price match: ********* "Best Buy is dedicated to always offering the best value to our customers. We will match the price, at the time of purchase, on a Price Match Guarantee product if you find the same item at a lower price at a Designated Major Online Retailer or at a local retail competitor's store. Here's how:•If you find a qualifying lower price online, call 1-888-BEST BUY and direct a customer service agent to the web site with the lower price, or when visiting a Best Buy store, one of our employees will assist you. •On qualifying products, Best Buy will then verify the current price to complete the price match. Exclusions apply including, but not limited to, Competitors' service prices, special daily or hourly sales, and items for sale Thanksgiving Day through the Monday after Thanksgiving. See the list of Designated Major Online Retailers and full details." ********** The list of Designated Major Online Retailers includes Dell. But, there is more qualifying required: BULLSHIIT BEGINS HERE +++++++++++++++ "What Qualifies? Your product may be eligible for price matching if it is: Identical to the competitor's product. The product must be a matching brand, model number and color to qualify." +++++++++++++++ The Dell model number was 1234-5678-B, and the BB model number was 1234-5678- Blk. Me thinks, ok, both are black in color. I'll try the price matching at BB, and if for any reason they won't price match, I'll just order from Dell. Makes no difference to me. I printed out Dell's page and went to BB. A 'BB guest consultant' said sure, we can price match that Dell desktop. He looked it up on the Dell site to verify the price, and then rang it up on his register at BB's full price, and then a credit of $120 to price match Dell's price. Because the discount was greater than $100, he had to get BB Management Approval. Dun dah don dun. The conversation between him and me went something like this: BB: Hello, Boris, thanks for coming in today. What can I do for you? Me: Well, I just wanted to price match Dell's price on this desktop. BB: Of course. I can do that for you. Let me just see what we have here. Me: Great. (Wondering if this will go through.) BB: That's a nice computer. It also comes with a free subscription to Webroot Secure Anywhere worth $49.99, which can be used on up to three devices. If you'd like, we can set it all up for you. Me: No, but thanks for asking. I like to do all that. BB: I understand. Oh, you know, I see that that particular computer is a different model number than the Dell model number. I'm afraid we can't price match. Me: But the specs. are EXACTLY the same, and so is the color. BB: Yes, that's true. The computer is EXACTLY the same model, but our model number ends in Blk, and Dell's model number ends in B. That means we can't price match. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Me: So, you can't price match, even though it's the EXACT same specs, and the EXACT same model, and the EXACT same color, but BB just added 'lk' to Dell's 'B'? I sense BB never had any intention to price match on this item, even though you clearly have "$ PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE" indicated on the same page as this particular desktop.. BB: I'm afraid the model number has to be EXACTLY the same. There's nothing I can do. Me: Well, since "$ PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE" is on every BB page, what do you price match on? Anything? BB: We price match on less expensive items, like flash drives and mice. Me: So, if I wanted to price match on a washing machine or a TV, you wouldn't do it? BB: We'd have to look at each individual item when you come in. But we always add a character to our manufacturer's model numbers. Me: That pretty sleazy, deceptive, and unethical of you. BB: It's not my policy. It's BB's policy. Me: Then BB is pretty sleazy, deceptive, and unethical, aren't they? BB: (Silence) Me: I guess you can't say anything. Thanks, but I'll just order from Dell. BB: (Angrily) I will price match this one time only. Me: Fine. Sorry if I caused you any inconvenience. I later wished I had not accepted the price match, based on principle, and just gone to Dell. But what's done is done. BB is my last resort of places to do business. Always has been. Office Depot is two blocks from BB, and I usuall go there. I've prioe matched there without issue, and they bend over backwards to match prices. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"Boris" wrote
| I understand the tactics, and they are used in all industries; tires, | electronics, carpeting, tools, etc. | | I thought I'd chime in with my recent experience at BestBuy (BB), in which | the manager confirmed their deceptive tactics. | Thanks for that story. It's interesting to know. I've often found BB to have pretty good prices, but never tried their price matching guarantee. We have no Office Depot around here. Staples has gone increasingly toward high-markup fluff and printer ink. I used to buy a lot of computer parts there. No more. (Likewise with BB. Their stock of parts keeps shrinking as their stock of higher end items increases. Microcenter has the best prices, but a few years back they gave me a hard time about a CPU and motherboard return, with the receipt. Since they're basically a discount store and don't seem to take very good care of their stock, I've tried to avoid them ever since. So what's left? Amazon. I don't want to give them business. They're cheap but really just a middleman and I don't want to help them put everyone else out of business. When I build, I used to buy computer parts at TigerDirect. Good service. Informative website. But they sold out to PC Mall and now they're also just a middleman. Order 10 parts and they may come from 10 unknown suppliers. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"Mayayana" wrote in news26ek5$1v00$1
@gioia.aioe.org: "Boris" wrote | I understand the tactics, and they are used in all industries; tires, | electronics, carpeting, tools, etc. | | I thought I'd chime in with my recent experience at BestBuy (BB), in which | the manager confirmed their deceptive tactics. | Thanks for that story. It's interesting to know. I've often found BB to have pretty good prices, but never tried their price matching guarantee. We have no Office Depot around here. Staples has gone increasingly toward high-markup fluff and printer ink. I used to buy a lot of computer parts there. No more. (Likewise with BB. Their stock of parts keeps shrinking as their stock of higher end items increases. Microcenter has the best prices, but a few years back they gave me a hard time about a CPU and motherboard return, with the receipt. Since they're basically a discount store and don't seem to take very good care of their stock, I've tried to avoid them ever since. So what's left? Amazon. I don't want to give them business. They're cheap but really just a middleman and I don't want to help them put everyone else out of business. With Amazon,the item descriptons are frequently incorrect. You could end up with an item that is not as described, like pjp's Walmart story. The only way to see what you ordered is to open it up. But, Amazon charges a restocking fee for opened computer items. Yes, you could say the item was not as described, but they could still deny you, and no matter their decision, you still have to repack and send back, and find what you want elsewhere. Not to mention many of the reviews are for the wrong item, and shipping times are not always achieved. The rose is off Amazon's bud for me. When I build, I used to buy computer parts at TigerDirect. Good service. Informative website. But they sold out to PC Mall and now they're also just a middleman. Order 10 parts and they may come from 10 unknown suppliers. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"Boris" wrote
| | With Amazon,the item descriptons are frequently incorrect. You could end | up with an item that is not as described, like pjp's Walmart story. The | only way to see what you ordered is to open it up. But, Amazon charges a | restocking fee for opened computer items. Yes, you could say the item was | not as described, but they could still deny you, and no matter their | decision, you still have to repack and send back, and find what you want | elsewhere. Yes. That's the problem with all mail order. You don't really know what you're getting. And if someone steals it off the porch you'll never know. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"pjp" wrote
| | Not just Amazon. Was looking at TVs for sale online last night and the | specs for input/output often were in direct conflict with the pic they | show of what's supposed to be the back of the unit. Many stated | "Composite Input - No" yet pic clearly showed composite inputs. What | else is simply made up? | Speak of the devil: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/20/birk...eit-surge.html The US head of Birkenstock claims that Amazon allows forgeries and sells competing ads to show when people search for misspellings of their brand name. He additionally claims that Amazon won't cooperate in dealing with the frauds unless Birkenstock agrees to let Amazon be their sole dealer. So Birkenstock pulled out of Amazon and doesn't allow their resellers to go through Amazon. It's an interesting example of how so many would like to cast the Internet as a new world where normal rules and morals don't apply. Uber exploits workers and illegally avoids paying minimum wage, Social Security tax, etc. by claiming their company is a flowering of socialist utopia rather than a taxi company. They claim to be a tech company that deals in cellphone ride-sharing apps. Amazon cast themselves as a breakthrough in retail efficiency. 21st century razzmatazz here to make our lives wonderful at a bargain basement price. But they're really just trying to create a monopoly middleman operation where they bear little or no responsibility themselves, but get a cut of all sales. They've been widely criticized for their treatment of people: https://www.salon.com/2014/02/23/wor...ating_workers/ http://www.mcall.com/news/local/amaz...917-story.html I saw one story about how they like to employ itinerant elders because they'll work anytime and leave willingly when fired. At one center they arranged to have an ambulance on hand for people who passed out in the heat, refusing to open doors for ventilation lest someone walk out with a Veg-o-Matic. But they manage to fool most of the people most of the time. Especially Millennials who imagine themselves to be on the cutting edge of a new social movement. But Amazon also has great prices on things unavailable elsewhere. Hard to resist. I've had to go without hard-to-find books because I don't want to give Amazon the business, helping them to put bookstores out of business. I've watched with some shock as Boston, where I lived, has tried hard to seduce Amazon to build a new corporate HQ. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business...gAN/story.html The Boston mayor is gaga over it. Most of the public discussion sounds gaga. "A giant boost to the Boston economy." But it really seems to be more like a Trump tax cut: Smoke and mirrors for working people. Boston would undoubtedly give Amazon massive tax breaks. (The Boston bigwigs just recently got suckered by GE, but that won't stop them. I can only assume that it's mostly rich stockholders who decide these things.) The deal would replace one of the few low-rent areas left in Boston with a massive yuppie village for a corporation that's been characterized as "worse than Walmart". The area in question, East Boston, is not easily accessible from the kinds of places that Amazon management would want to live, so it's pretty much inevitable that the whole area (traditionally Italian working class) would be culturally sterilized and transformed into a geek village full of overpriced coffee shops and pseudo-yoga boutiques. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
On Fri, 29 Dec 2017 23:42:15 +0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote: With Amazon,the item descriptons are frequently incorrect. You could end up with an item that is not as described, like pjp's Walmart story. That's been the case for a long time, so I never do my primary shopping on Amazon. I figure out what I want by checking other sites, especially the manufacturer's site, to narrow it down to one or two models. Then I use Amazon (actually www.camelcamelcamel.com) to check pricing. The camel^3 site shows Amazon price history, so you can see if the current price is decent. The only way to see what you ordered is to open it up. Hmm, I never order blindly. I have to open the box to make sure it's not damaged, but I'd have to open the box anyway. But, Amazon charges a restocking fee for opened computer items. Yes, you could say the item was not as described, but they could still deny you, I've never been charged a restocking fee at Amazon. One time, when I was returning a car stereo, their automated email said I'd be charged a restocking fee so I mentally prepared for that, but then they credited the entire amount back to my credit card. and no matter their decision, you still have to repack and send back, and find what you want elsewhere. Repacking is easy. Just use the box that it came in. Likewise, sending it back is easy. Where I live, there are at least a dozen UPS drop-off points within 15 minutes, 4 within 5 minutes. FedEx drop off similar, but in my experience UPS is usually used. Just print the return label, tape it to the box, and drop it off. Couldn't be easier. UPS will even come to your house to pick it up, but I think there's a small charge for that. Not to mention many of the reviews are for the wrong item, and shipping times are not always achieved. The rose is off Amazon's bud for me. You can filter the reviews so that you're only looking at reviews for one specific item, rather than a family of items. I see both pros and cons to grouping the reviews like they do. Besides Amazon's prices, which around here are hard to beat, delivery times are pretty amazing. About 5-6 years ago they built a large warehouse about 3 miles from here, so depending on what I order, I could be presented with a delivery option of "Get it today (Free with Prime)", and some items have a "Get it in 30 minutes" option, but I think that has a fee. They've also started a "locker" program here, so most of the things I order now have a "Select a locker and pick it up in an hour" option. The locker location is usually a UPS store, but some are in bank lobbies, grocery stores, and other locations. If I know I'm going to be home, I just have it delivered to the house, but porch theft is increasingly in the news so that's a growing concern. Naturally, I do have Amazon Prime since we order a few things each week, on average, and access to the Amazon video library fills in some of the Netflix gaps. -- Char Jackson |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"Mayayana"
news alt.windows7.general, wrote: When I build, I used to buy computer parts at TigerDirect. Good service. Informative website. But they sold out to PC Mall and now they're also just a middleman. Order 10 parts and they may come from 10 unknown suppliers. Have you checked out newegg? I've been very pleased with them for years and they have a no hassle, no bull****, return policy too. -- To prevent yourself from being a victim of cyber stalking, it's highly recommended you visit he https://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php ================================================== = 'Be afraid....be very afraid...' |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"Diesel" wrote
| Have you checked out newegg? I've been very pleased with them for years | and they have a no hassle, no bull****, return policy too. | I haven't, no. I guess because their website never worked for me. It's completely broken without javascript. I'd enable it if I were buying from them, but if I can't even see the site then I go elsewhere. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"Diesel" wrote
...... The other nice thing about TigerDirect was that they used to (and probably still do) provide a lot of information. I can check out motherboard options, know what CPUs are compatible, check whether a board has a specific connector that I want, etc. My impression of NewEgg, to the extent that I could use their site at all, was that they were more like Amazon: Not really a store so much as a middleman. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
Diesel wrote in news:XnsA860EC589F7D5HT1
@l9h1694D3g.LAiW9mo5: "Mayayana" news alt.windows7.general, wrote: When I build, I used to buy computer parts at TigerDirect. Good service. Informative website. But they sold out to PC Mall and now they're also just a middleman. Order 10 parts and they may come from 10 unknown suppliers. Have you checked out newegg? I've been very pleased with them for years and they have a no hassle, no bull****, return policy too. Yes, and I do like them. I remember when they had a storefront presence here in the mid-90s. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
Boris wrote:
Diesel wrote in news:XnsA860EC589F7D5HT1 @l9h1694D3g.LAiW9mo5: "Mayayana" news alt.windows7.general, wrote: When I build, I used to buy computer parts at TigerDirect. Good service. Informative website. But they sold out to PC Mall and now they're also just a middleman. Order 10 parts and they may come from 10 unknown suppliers. Have you checked out newegg? I've been very pleased with them for years and they have a no hassle, no bull****, return policy too. Yes, and I do like them. I remember when they had a storefront presence here in the mid-90s. Wow, where was that? When did it close up its store? -- Quote of the Week: "The world flatters the elephant and tramples on the ant." --Indian Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly. /\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.home.dhs.org / /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail privately. If credit- | |o o| | ing, then please kindly use Ant nickname and URL/link. \ _ / ( ) |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"Mayayana" news
Fri, 05 Jan 2018 13:35:18 GMT in alt.windows7.general, wrote:
"Diesel" wrote ..... The other nice thing about TigerDirect was that they used to (and probably still do) provide a lot of information. I can check out motherboard options, know what CPUs are compatible, check whether a board has a specific connector that I want, etc. My impression of NewEgg, to the extent that I could use their site at all, was that they were more like Amazon: Not really a store so much as a middleman. Tigerdirect along with techdata, newegg, etc, are all middlemen. They don't manufacture the components they sell you. -- To prevent yourself from being a victim of cyber stalking, it's highly recommended you visit he https://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php ================================================== = The generation of random number is too important to be left to chance. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
"Diesel" wrote
| ..... The other nice thing about TigerDirect was | that they used to (and probably still do) provide | a lot of information. I can check out motherboard | options, know what CPUs are compatible, check | whether a board has a specific connector that | I want, etc. My impression of NewEgg, to the | extent that I could use their site at all, was | that they were more like Amazon: Not really a | store so much as a middleman. | | Tigerdirect along with techdata, newegg, etc, are all middlemen. They | don't manufacture the components they sell you. | Obviously. Nor does Apple, for that matter. Or HP. Or Dell. But that's not what I meant. I'm making a distinction between a merchant who chooses their stock and resells it to the customer vs the new breed of online middleman. It used to be that if I ordered 10 parts from TigerDirect I got a box from TG with 10 items in it. Now if I order 10 parts I'll get maybe 8 packages, all coming from different places on different days. It's no longer a store. They're just middlemen who sell merchants access to you. I don't really know about NewEgg. As I said before, when I've tried their site it doesn't work without script. If I go to an actual product page there's no price! So I've ignored them. Presumably they want to know who I am before telling me the price. |
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Price Matching BS at BestBuy
Boris wrote:
(Ant) wrote in news:vbedne6Zb6tayc3HnZ2dnUU7- : Boris wrote: Diesel wrote in news:XnsA860EC589F7D5HT1 @l9h1694D3g.LAiW9mo5: "Mayayana" news alt.windows7.general, wrote: When I build, I used to buy computer parts at TigerDirect. Good service. Informative website. But they sold out to PC Mall and now they're also just a middleman. Order 10 parts and they may come from 10 unknown suppliers. Have you checked out newegg? I've been very pleased with them for years and they have a no hassle, no bull****, return policy too. Yes, and I do like them. I remember when they had a storefront presence here in the mid-90s. Wow, where was that? When did it close up its store? Oops. A senior moment had me thinking of Egghead Software, who had a storefront nearby. I shopped there. It was next to Circuit City.. Ooh, I remember them. I miss them too. I used to love going to Egghead to look at its softwares especially games for Apple 2s and IBM PCs. Haha. Also, CompUSA! Oh hey, remember The Good Guys? -- Quote of the Week: "All good work is done the way ants do things: Little by little." --Lafcadio Hearn Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly. /\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.home.dhs.org / /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail privately. If credit- | |o o| | ing, then please kindly use Ant nickname and URL/link. \ _ / ( ) |
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