dvdlover631

I have always been a Best Buy supporter, but it seems to me that Best Buy is getting spanked by Circuit City in terms of their new release dvd prices. I mean they are not even close, $3 cheaper on many new releases. I am giving serious thought of switching sides and going to Circuit City from now on. Screw price matching at Best Buy, they can keep it!

Brian Shannon

For the record I have never ever been able to match a price at "Best" Buy. They always have an excuse, the other store is out of stock, it is a different version etc.

fujishig

I wasn't even aware that there were sides to take. Go to whichever is cheapest, or closest, or most convenient, whatever.

LordofWar

Circuit City does have better prices. And in my area bestbuy is allways packed so I go to circuit city.

DVDsAreMyLIFE

To bad its hard to find a CC these days....gwahahah (Best Buy supporter)

joeblow69

Well, technically, those are valid "excuses".

Brian Shannon

Unless they simply glance up at you at 10:05 am and tell you that.

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

Not when they pretend to call the other store and just make up an excuse (which has happened to me every time I've tried to PM there). It must be in their SOP.

utopianz14

Now that I think about it, it's been months since I last purchased something in a Best Buy ($10 The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly DVD 2-disc).

In the past few weeks, all my B&M DVD/electronics purchases were made at Circuit City (ever since they offered a wide selection of DVDs and video games for $10 each, and up through last week with Apocalypse Now).

It probably has a lot to do with my own personal tastes though. I'm sure Best Buy has better prices for items I'm not interested in.

cdollaz

Circuit City is ass. Their selection is very inferior to BB and finding something that they actually do have is usually a confusing mess.

Vipper II

That about sums it up. You go into Best Buy and they have boatloads of a lot of titles, whereas you walk into CC, and you're lucky to find more than 2 copies of any given title (even new releases), assuming they even have it to begin with, given their poor selection of titles. Then, it takes you 10 minutes to find an associate to man a register so you can pay and be on your way. I hate their checkout system.

tonyc3742

CC's got some better prices, especially on new releases, but their layout is not nearly as easy. Plus, it just seems like BB has 'more' stuff to look at....which it does, since it's got the appliances and a more spread out HT area etc. Some categories of product, I think CC has better quality/names. Ordering online and having it picked up is a good way to go, especially when you can use a cash-bank link. Unfortunately this doesn't apply for DVDs.
The few times I've PMed at BB, it's been fine.

chaz k

I have vowed to NEVER purchase anything from CC again. I purchased a portable DVD player from them a few months ago its was a name brand not one of those cheapos. So i bring it home and charge it fully, put the DVD in and the battery only lasted about 15 minutes. So i try again and the same thing happens. Now keep in mind this is the first thing i have bought from CC besides CD's and DVD's, so it left a bad taste in my mouth. So i decide to bring it back and shop elsewhere. I go back to CC the SAME DAY i bought the DVD player and they charge me a $60 restocking fee!!! They claim that it is now an "open box" item that they will sell at a discounted price. So i argue with the clerk and get the store manager to come down and basically they would not budge. I understand that "technically" there "open box" policy is in place, but instead of satisfying a customer they just wanted there $60. So in the next few years when i purchase 1-2 HD tv's, a PS3 and games, a blue ray or HD DVD player, and never mind the countless DVD's i purchase CC will have none of my business. They have there measely $60, but in actuallity they have lost thousands from me.

cdollaz

Why would they charge a re-stocking fee on a defective item? You should have been a little more persistent.

Xbox69

They should've at least offered to replace the battery. You say it was not a cheapo brand but was it your decision to return it just for a refund?

tonyc3742

Wow, that's a load of crap. My understanding of the restocking fee is as a deterrent for people 'renting' certain things. Not much you can do with it in less than one day, and if it's defective? Hell no.
When we bought a digital camera from BB who has a similar openbox policy, I asked "What if we get home, try it out for a day or two, and don't like it--we come back in and exchange it for another camera?" she said they'd 'most likely' waive the restock fee in that case.

FantasticVSDoom

There would be no restocking fee if someone wanted an exchange...But if you want money back, then yes, there is one. Its a policy. Whether or not its a good one is obviously debateable. And I have had my share of issues with both places (I would say they are equally pretty shitty imo). The fact is, at either store, and others as well, sometimes prices are good, sometimes not. Sometimes service is good sometimes not, and etc.

yellahoosh

I had my own price matching nightmare at Best Buy. I went to Circuit City to buy Wrestlemania 21 the day it came out, since they had the better offer. They hadn't even put it out yet, so I decided to go down the street to Best Buy. They had it for like $7 more and I told them that Circuit City had it for significantly less. So I had to go over to the customer help counter and they called, to which Circuit City said they didn't have it in stock yet. That was irrelevant, of course, but they said they won't price match an advertised price unless the other place has it in stock (how illogical is that?). So I went back to Circuit City, grabbed the ad, came back and grabbed WM 22 and In Living Color Season 4, and saved a combined $14 on BB's price with the ad I gave to the cashier. I haven't went there since. Lousy big chain store.

josuff247

Yes for the different version, but No on the out of stock IMO.

Once I wanted to price match something from Toys r us.
They said the one across the street was sold out.
However, there are about 4 in the area alone, but they based it on
the one accross the street.
Unless it is specifically stated about a mile radius, I would say Best Buy can't use that argument unless all stores of that franchise are called.

Also, Don't stores usually not give that information over the phone?

Also, again IMO, If you're going to offer a policy to stay competitve, don't be so restricting. Just offer the price match. and if the store is sold out...so what. Keep you customer happy. Most customers are not bargain hunters like us anyway. They are not going to lose money in the long run.

consoleman

I shop at both and I agree that both have certain advantages and their faults. I have made more purchases over the past year at CC than BB especially for DVDs, but lately, BB has been offering pretty good deals if you don't count new releases.

I've been able to pricematch at CC more often than at BB. CC always gives me 10% of the difference, but when I have been successful at getting a pricematch at BB, they would only match the price for me without the extra 10%.

I also agree that most CC stores do not carry enough copies of their sale DVDs for the week especially when it comes to TV boxsets and they tend to be more disorganized than BBs especially in their smaller stores.

Mordred

Last time I was in Best Buy I was looking at purchasing a DVD player but I was a little skeptical it would fit my needs. I asked one of the salesmen about the return policy, and specifically asked about a restocking fee. He told me that they have a "rental" policy, that is if you bring it back within one (or possibly two) weeks after purchase they will charge it to you, if you bring it in after that they won't. I thought he was mixed up and asked him to repeat that and he said keep it for two weeks and then return it if you don't like it if you want to avoid the restocking fee. Took it home, sure enough there was something that bugged me about the unit. I kept it for 3 1/2 weeks brought it back and they refunded full price no questions asked. They barely even inspected the unit. Absolutely painless.

joeblow69

I kind of disagree. The toys r us across the street is the one they are in direct competition with. What if there were 15 toys r us's in your town? Would expect them to call every single one to see if they have it in stock?
I think that it's unreasonable to expect best buy to call 4 different toys r us to see who has the item in stock. It's not like they can call up toys r us and get an instant answer. They have to transfer the call to dvd section, and wait for that guy to answer, and what if he's helping a customer, etc...

paulringodaman

even if best buy has "valid excuses" not to price match, they have this arrogance to them about that makes you feel bad...i havent been there since black friday...not because im loyal to cc or something, they've never had a cheaper price then cc or walmart or target or DDD.

josuff247

I agree, I do not expect them to call every one, but I am just saying it is not fair to say you can't price match just because the nearest store said so. By me, there are 3 toy r us within a 10 mile radius. I think those stores are all fair game for competition. My main point is, they offer the policy to stay competitive. they should not always try to find a loop hole every single time. I would say good customer service would be to do the price match. It will keep the customer happy and keep them coming back to you.

cdollaz

I don't think I would use arrogance in the same sentence with BB employees. I would tend to go for apathy and ignorance. They usually don't care enough to be arrogant about anything.