Best Buy Price Match Denied because "It's Thanksgiving...?"

Tampa, FLJudging from the seemingly never-ending parade of consumers who voice complaints about Best Buy and their Price Matching guarantee, it would appear that the largest consumer electronics enterprise in the United States and Canada is inappropriately named. Perhaps 'Bets Buy' might be better, as in all bets appear to be off when a consumer comes in for a price match.

Best Buy offers a Price Match guarantee, which generically states that should a consumer find the same item at a competitor at a lower price, Best Buy will match the price plus 10 percent for the privilege of selling you the item instead.

It also holds true if the consumer has already purchased the item at a competitor. Bring in proof of sale, and Best Buy says it will refund the difference, plus 10 percent.

Of course, like any policy there is always a list of exclusions. However, many disgruntled Best Buy consumers have found that stores have denied price matching for reasons that have nothing to do with the stated exclusions, as wide-ranging as they appear to be.

As well, many consumers have found that, beyond the stated Price Match policy, individual stores allegedly have the discretion to deny, or deliver a price match. Regardless of what the corporate head office says, in the end the buck stops with the store.

The latest story coming out of the Best Buy den of disenchanted buyers, concerns a customer who had bought a DVD at Best Buy for a price of $16.99. Later, the blogger noted that the same DVD was advertised at Target for $14.98—a savings of $2.01. The lower price was part of a Thanksgiving sale.

And so our blogger friend tripped back into his Best Buy store to claim his refund under the Best Buy Price Match guarantee. However, Best Buy staff told him that the price match could not take place, as the guarantee does not apply to Thanksgiving sale ads.

Not accepting this news at face value, the customer asked to see this provision in the Price Match guarantee. After the sales associate could not locate any reference to Thanksgiving in the policy, other Best Buy staffers were consulted before the sales associate came back and re-affirmed that Best Buy does not do price matches for anything having to do with a Thanksgiving ad.

On his way out of the store, the customer picked up a copy of the Best Buy Price Guarantee Customer FAQs—a pamphlet available to anyone. Under exclusions, according to the blogger, it says...

"The Best Buy Price Guarantee does not apply to our, or our competitors' free offers, limited quantity items, open-box items, clearance items, mail-in incentives, financing or bundle offers. The policy does not apply to typographical errors or a competitor's price that results from a price match."

On its' web site, Best Buy states the exclusions this way:

"The Best Buy Price Guarantee does not apply to our, or our competitors' free offers, limited-quantity items, open-box items, clearance and Outlet Center items, mail-in incentives, financing or bundle offers. The policy does not apply to typographical errors or a competitor's price that results from a price match."

If Best Buy carries any policy with respect to a denial of price matches during holidays, that position is not reflected in the exclusions articulated on BestBuy.com, nor are they addressed in any of the related FAQs.

In the end, Best Buy lost another customer over $2.01. The customer looking for a price match on his DVD had planned to buy several camcorder accessories, at full price, at Best Buy after the Thanksgiving weekend, but changed his mind after the incident and made his purchases elsewhere.

Another store got his business, and this story has been repeated hundreds of times as disgruntled customers have been denied a price match—even for a couple of dollars—or have experienced such hassles trying to pursue it, that they'll never go back to Best Buy again.

Which gives one pause to wonder about the reason for the Best Buy Price Match guarantee in the first place, designed to drive traffic to Best Buy stores, and foster good will towards consumers in an extremely competitive industry.

Instead, the alleged actions of Best Buy employees and managers making the price matching decisions at Best Buy stores are not only alienating their customers, but driving them to competitors where the customer is, indeed always right.

Where the customer is always right, the customer always comes back.

A class action lawsuit is being launched with regard to the Best Buy Price Match Guarantee. For participants in the litigation, it's not the money, but the principle, that is at issue.