So. Best Buy lies*. This is generally know. See this story, for an example

Basically what happens is this: You see that a product is on sale at BestBuy.com, and is available for instore pickup. You head on over to your local store, grab the item, and it rings up at a higher (or non-sale) price. You say to the cashier, "Hey, it was cheaper on your website. Don't you guys price-match?" He says, "Sure, let me see the website." He brings up the website on their in-store kiosk, checks out the item, and says, "It says here on our website that it's actually the higher price. Maybe you were looking at a different product." You don't feel like fighting, so you just say, "Whatever," and pay, and leave. You get home, look up your product again, and sure enough, it's on sale at a cheaper price. What just happened?

Best Buy uses a fake in-store website on their kiosks which lists a higher price, so they don't have to price-match like they promise. Best Buy lies to you.

Now, I had read that this happens (Consumerist.com has been following this for a while) but I had never had it happen to me. I had gift certificates, and my eye had recently been drawn to a certain single-serve coffee maker, so I decided to buy one.

I looked up the price online, and sure enough, it was on sale. (About $7.50 cheaper. Not a fortune, but about the cost of extra coffee, so why not.) Knowing that Best Buy pulls these shenanigans, I printed off the page from their website showing the price:



See: $142.49.

I went to Best Buy, looked around for the coffee maker, and couldn't find it. So, I looked it up in their kiosk. Lo and behold:



Back up to the $149.99.

Those sons-of-bitches. So, prepared for battle, I eventually found the one I wanted, stacked near a wall, grabbed one, grabbed the accessories I wanted, and headed to the register.

Sure enough, guy rings me up, the coffee maker comes up at the higher price. I say, "That's on your website at a lower price," he says, "Do you have the website?" I pulled out the printout I had made at home showing the lower price. After scanning the printout and the item's box (trying to find a loophole?), he knocks $7.50 off the price, I pay and go home, happy to have my coffee maker, but slightly upset that they tried to rip me off.

So, lesson for the day: If you are going to buy something from Best Buy, check their website for prices, and print out the item you are looking for, showing the price. Keep that with you, and when they ring out out, watch their scanning, and show them the printout if they try to rip you off, too.

It's a deceptive practice, and they said they were going to stop it, but they haven't. Protect yourself - be an informed consumer.

K

(* Could this be a little strong? I mean, "BEST BUY LIES!!!!11!!" could be overdoing it a bit. Couldn't there be an innocent explanation, such as, "This is just showing their in-store prices." I'll admit, stores are not required to sell things at the same price online as in their stores. However! Their in-store kiosk display is specifically designed to look like bestbuy.com. This is a conscious choice, with no indication to the consumer that the web pages are different. There is no legitimate reason why their in-store kiosk has to look like a page for ordering products online. See, for example, the difference between the kiosk display and website for Border's Books and Music. The only explanation is that they are trying to avoid matching their prices online, despite their promise to do so. That makes them liars in my book.)