zoomgirl

Yesterday I went to a BB in Manhattan (on 23rd Street) to pricematch Target's ad for Smallville Season 6 (Target 22.99/BB 49.99)
The cashier ringing me up called the manager over so she could do the "override" to pricematch

Manager: Did you call the store to see if they have it?
Cashier: No, they told me not to do it anymore.
Manager: Well that is the policy, you have to call the store.

I am pretty much standing there wondering what the hell they are talking about. So the manager tells me, we have to call the nearest Target store and if they have the item in stock we can't price match it.
FYI- there are NO Target stores in Manhattan, so I wait while they call a store in BROOKLYN.

WTF??

This has never happened before, and I am trying to speak with the manager (two actually) but they are firm. If Target has it I will have to go there. WHAT????

Target had it and I left I wasn't about to argue with them as I could tell they were going to stand firm. I went to Circuit City in Union Square, they price matched it and gave me 10 percent off on top.

Do I need to break up with Best Buy....or did I have a horrid manager? Has this happened to anyone else?

disneyguy

Nothing new, this has been mentioned numerous times..
DG

zoomgirl

Hmm, I honestly must have missed those posts....as I had never heard about this before.

Shoveler

Yes, the item has to be in stock at a "local" "competitor". Both terms are quoted because both are subject to the manager's discretion, there is no set BB policy defining either term. I've had a BB manager refuse to PM because a Target 6 blocks down the street was in a different township and therefore not "local". Fortunately, the BB where I live now is very reasonable about these definitions, but they do call to confirm the item is in stock.

dplatt

But the OP is saying the opposite-- the manager said if it is IN stock at a local competitor, then he could NOT price match and the customer had to go buy it at the other place.

spainlinx0

Which absolutely makes no sense at all. The whole point of making sure the competitor has it in stock is so they don't have to match a competitor who has one of a product at a ridiculously price for a bait and switch.

The manager is obviously an idiot.

jjcool

I agree. This situation makes absolutely no sense. The manager seemingly has the policy reversed in his head.

zoomgirl

ER...the original poster is a girl...zoomgirl....

That being said....the manager was telling me the following "Well if they have it you have the option of going there....but if they don't have it in stock then you would have no choice but to get it here"
Either way...that is a sure fire way for me not to shop there as often. I would just go to Circuit City...who has never given me a problem with matching prices. I'll see what happens the next time I go to PM at the BB I usually go to (in Midtown) because honestly I hate CC, but love matching prices

Shoveler

OK, I'm confused... when you say that the mgr was telling you that if Target in Brooklyn had it in stock, then you "have the option of going there...", what were the other options he presented to you. Specifically, was he offering to PM if the Brooklyn Target had it in stock, or was he refusing to PM and calling the Brooklyn Target for no apparent reason (except possibly so that YOU would know whether they had it in stock and could make the trip to that Target)?

The impression I'd gotten from the OP was that he was calling BUT was declaring the Brooklyn Target to be non-local, therefore a PM was out of the question regardless of whether the item was in stock at the Brooklyn Target or not.

Even if I had missed the gender-specific username, this portion of the OP made it clear to me that the poster was, in fact, a girl.

Deftones

It is Best Buy's policy to only match items that are in stock at the competitor. However, if it's usually in the competitors ad, and it's not a huge difference, they'll often just do the price match.

The only times where it's a big deal is on a big ticket item, where there could be a big refund. I've had them call on a $2k TV before and on a $500 BluRay player. The nice thing is, at least with Circuit City, is that they list the stock online and that'll often satisfy that condition.

zoomgirl

Hee hee....my mistake
Let me see if I can make this clearer. When she asked the cashier where the circular was from that I was trying to price match the cashier replied "Target"
The manager asked the cashier "Did you call the closest one?"
Both the cashier and I replied that there were no Targets AT ALL in Manhattan...and the manager said that it didn't matter...and had her call the Target in Brooklyn....a train ride away.
The manager said ...that she would only price match if the Target in Brooklyn did NOT have it in stock. She had the cashier call the "closest Target" to the BB location I was in and spoke with a customer service rep there. So basically her posistion was .... get on the train and buy it there. If I wanted it for the sale price....go to Target.

I was given no other option by BB, and since I was already over extended on my lunch break I left figuring I could go to another BB and try again.

acubfaninmd

this is why i have stopped buying things from Best Buy hearing stories like this. Screw You Best Buy

Patman

Why would BB price-match if the Brooklyn Target NOT have the item in stock? That's even more ludicrous. The manager failed Logic 101.

Shoveler

Hmmmmmm... in that case, no apology needed, you stated it clearly and correctly, I merely skimmed it too quickly and got the wrong impression, my fault, not yours.

This manager is either A) an idiot who doesn't understand BB's PM policy, B) just saying whatever comes to mind to get rid of you, or C) both A and B.

Just out of curiosity, have you recently been banned from any BBs for excessive returns?

Deftones

Ok, yeah, that's contrary to their own policy. How weird.

zoomgirl

Now that would just be silly of me....

Kory

Call corporate and tell them they're not abiding by their own policy.

Xbox69

Fixed.

rhpsozzy

Wow, this is an interesting read. I just had a problem with Best Buy today concerning the New Line Platinum Edition of Seven. I recently posted it in a different forum, but here's what I wrote:

"I was at Best buy today trying to pricematch the platinum edition of Seven since it was in the CC ad. I knew something was up when the told me to go to customer service to pricematch (they usually let me do it at the register). They needed to call Circuit City to check the price. After waiting for what seems like forever, they said that it was on sale but they didn't have any in stock so they couldn't price match it for me. That didn't make any sense to me, don't they want people to buy at their store? I was about to leave and I saw a friend working on the register so I quickly snagged another New Line Platinum copy. She kept on saying it was the single disc was on sale even though it clear it is the 2 disc version. She would've helped me out more, But she was clocking out. I talked to a manager and he kept on insisting that it was the single disc, even though the single disc's lettering was in red. I kept on telling them that the 2 disc was the one that was in the ad. Finally they looked it up at CC's website and it said it was 19.99. I couldn't do any more so I just that i didn't want it at that price and left. This is the first time that I really had a problem with pricematching at Best Buy. Is there a new policy or something?"

I have been pricematching at Best Buy for about 4 years now and they have never done this to me. Why the hell would they not sell me the item if its not in stock at another store? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

Xbox69

Isn't that the basic term of any price-matching policy? The item has to be in stock at the competitor's store in order for them to match that price. They match the price in an effort to keep you at their store. If the competitor was sold out you would have no other option other than to pay the Best Buy price whatever that might be.

Brian Shannon

Not worth the time and effort to try and price match, I have never been able to get one.

rhpsozzy

They have never done that to me in the 4+ years that I've been buying there and there have been times that would be there 8 Tuesdays in a row and they would just pricematch at the register and they never ever called Circuit City. I just thought that this was a new policy until went to this forum.

As far as the "in stock" thing goes, that is just plain stupid. I would never pay a higher price if there is deal where I can get it cheaper. I'm hoping that they don't make this a regular thing for me. Because if it happens again, I'll just go to each store in order to save me some money.

fujishig

As others have said, the manager was probably confused about the policy (they should only pricematch when something is in stock at the other store). Having said that, they can probably deny a pricematch to Target based on proximity. Is it really worth it for you to save a few bucks to go to a Target that's out of town? They're betting it's not when they pull that card.

Of course, I had a Walmart blatantly refuse to pricematch a Fry's ad, when the Fry's was literally a couple of miles away, because they didn't consider Fry's a competitor. So I happily took my business elsewhere.

BKenn01

OP, Best Buy is a pain in the A$$ about this. Obvioulsy it is in their best intrest to call. I had this happen over a Target sale. The target 1 mile away was out. I told them to call the other Targets. Since it was in Louisville, there were several around. The Manager finally figured out that I wasnt going to back down and gave it. The next target was only 5 miles away so it seemed reasonable to me. But YMMV as always

zekeburger1979

I went to Best Buy tonight to get Ratatouille since I had a $5 RZ certificate and wanted to price match Target's ad.

The girl asks me if I'm paying credit or debit, I tell her credit and she brings me over to her register. I tell her I'm price matching Target and she tells me that since the difference is more than $5, I have to go to customer service and have them call Target to make sure that they have it in stock. No problem.

I go over to customer service and the girl there calls Target and after a few minutes, they tell her, yes we do have it in stock. She then tells me to go back to the register and have them ring me up. No problem, again.

I go back to register I was at before and the girl gets on the radio and tells the CS girl that I have to be rung up over at CS because of the over $5 difference. Aargh, I'm starting to do laps now.

I go back to CS and the girl, who is standing there with paper towels in her hand having just wiped down the counter, gets on her radio and tells the cashier that she can't help me because she's busy, so go ahead and ring me up at the register. At this point, I'm kind of laughing at this absurdity, but my mom is starting to get pissed off.

I go back to the register for the 3rd time, she rings me up, gets a manager to price match Ratatouille, takes my RZ certificate and money, and I'm out the door having paid $5.30 for Ratatouille and shaking my head at the miscommunication between employees.