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Best Buy would not price match for me

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sdilley14

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 8, 2007
1,242
201
Mesa, AZ
Ok, so last Saturday I went to my local Best Buy in hopes that they would price match Wal-Mart on a new iPhone 5. It gets a little tricky though. The town I am in has a couple different Wal-Marts, then we have a couple small towns 10-20 miles away, each with a Wal-Mart. I called all of these stores and none of them had the phone in stock. I called another store about 60 miles away, and they had them in stock and on sale for the promo price. The Best Buy rep I was working with said they could price match without a problem. Then the "team leader" or whatever from the mobile department came flying in and said that they could not price match for me since that store wasn't in the same town as the Best Buy I was at. There is a Best Buy in this town 60 miles away and I would have to go to that location to get the price match. It didn't seem worth the hassle since it was only about a $20 difference.

Do I have any argument or any course of action to take here to get credited the difference? It isn't a big deal, but I was a bit put off by the BB "team leader's" immediate shoot down of my request without having any discussion with me at all, even after the regular rep said I could get the match.

Thoughts? Maybe I'm grasping at straws?
 
itoshiineko

itoshiineko

macrumors newbie
Dec 31, 2012
15
8
Best Buy Mobile is a store within a store and the manager of that department has the full authority over that kind of thing. It has always been their policy in general to only price match if you could get that price locally. The first rep gave you bad information unfortunately.
 
H

hafr

macrumors 68030
Sep 21, 2011
2,743
9
sdilley14 said:
Ok, so last Saturday I went to my local Best Buy in hopes that they would price match Wal-Mart on a new iPhone 5. It gets a little tricky though. The town I am in has a couple different Wal-Marts, then we have a couple small towns 10-20 miles away, each with a Wal-Mart. I called all of these stores and none of them had the phone in stock. I called another store about 60 miles away, and they had them in stock and on sale for the promo price. The Best Buy rep I was working with said they could price match without a problem. Then the "team leader" or whatever from the mobile department came flying in and said that they could not price match for me since that store wasn't in the same town as the Best Buy I was at. There is a Best Buy in this town 60 miles away and I would have to go to that location to get the price match. It didn't seem worth the hassle since it was only about a $20 difference.

Do I have any argument or any course of action to take here to get credited the difference? It isn't a big deal, but I was a bit put off by the BB "team leader's" immediate shoot down of my request without having any discussion with me at all, even after the regular rep said I could get the match.

Thoughts? Maybe I'm grasping at straws?
Click to expand...

They price match as a goodwill customer service in order to take customers from their local competitors, that's about it. They have no incentive to lower their prices because you've found a phone in stock 60 miles away that's cheaper...
 
T

takeshi74

macrumors 601
Feb 9, 2011
4,974
68
sdilley14 said:
Do I have any argument or any course of action to take here to get credited the difference?
Click to expand...
Nope. Read the policy:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Help-To...ee/pcmcat204400050011.c?id=pcmcat204400050011
What is considered a local retail competitor?
A local retail competitor for retail store purchases is a retail store authorized by a vendor to sell a new, factory-sealed product with a warranty and is located in the same market area (within a 25 mile radius) of your local Best Buy store. A local retail competitor for BestBuy.com purchases is a retail store authorized by a vendor to sell a new, factory-sealed product with a warranty and is located in the same market area (within a 25 mile radius) as either the billing address or the shipping address on record for the purchase.
Click to expand...

sdilley14 said:
It isn't a big deal, but I was a bit put off by the BB "team leader's" immediate shoot down of my request without having any discussion with me at all, even after the regular rep said I could get the match.
Click to expand...
In theory you could argue that the rep entered into a verbal agreement as a representative of the company but it's your word against his and you'd have to take it court. Probably not worth $20.
 
sviato

sviato

macrumors 68020
Oct 27, 2010
2,426
378
HR 9038 A
Apparently Best Buy lost about $65,000 in revenue on the day Wal-Mart lowered the price and BB had to price match, so I'm sure managers were told to enforce all potential policies that can allow them to refuse a price match.

Like you said, it's $20 and not worth the hassle so I wouldn't bother trying to do anything.
 
S

sdilley14

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 8, 2007
1,242
201
Mesa, AZ
Applejuiced said:
I have a friend that works at the best buy mobile store and he also told me they were given orders not to match walmarts price.
They said walmart never has any in stock or something like that.
I came across this article today too.
http://www.iclarified.com/26507/best-buy-complains-about-walmarts-iphone-5-ads
Click to expand...

I believe it. I called 5-6 Wal-Mart stores and none of them had them in stock. Any idea why that is? Seems like every other regular outlet has plenty in stock by now. At least in my area they do.
 
C

cdow

macrumors newbie
Jan 24, 2012
15
0
Phoenix/Flagstaff, AZ
sdilley14 said:
I believe it. I called 5-6 Wal-Mart stores and none of them had them in stock. Any idea why that is? Seems like every other regular outlet has plenty in stock by now. At least in my area they do.
Click to expand...

I think Wal-Mart really never had enough in stock to begin with, and were wiped out really soon after posting that price. I ran into the same issue with multiple stores when trying to get an iPhone from them, but I was able to get a price-matched 5 from best buy on 12/24 after giving up on Wal-Mart. But, if BB is going to be all upset for loosing money due to their own policies, $150 is a lot better than $200.

I have seen other stores offering the $127 price. If wherever you live has Fry's Electronics, they were selling it for that price (not sure if they still are though). Interestingly enough that's who BB price matched me to even though I told him Wal-Mart and had no idea that Fry's was doing it too.
 
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sdilley14

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 8, 2007
1,242
201
Mesa, AZ
I'm almost surprised BB wouldn't be a little more eager to price match people just to get more bodies through their doors. I know they are struggling massively, but maybe something like this wouldn't hurt so bad after all? Kinda like paying a nickel to (hopefully) make a dime. "I'm going to BB to buy my sweet iPhone. Hey, while I'm here, I might as well get a case for it and a car charger (huge margins on items like that). Might as well buy that 70" Sharp LCD too! ;) "
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
sdilley14 said:
I believe it. I called 5-6 Wal-Mart stores and none of them had them in stock. Any idea why that is? Seems like every other regular outlet has plenty in stock by now. At least in my area they do.
Click to expand...

Yep, same here.
But I don't get the reason BB is complaining. Walmart can charge whatever they want. If BB doesn't want to follow their price match policy any more that's up to them. Everyone is lawsuit happy over nothing.
 
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ThatsMeRight

macrumors 68020
Sep 12, 2009
2,289
251
Wow, so a phone that already costs $199 on contract gets a lower price of $149 and yet here we are, in a topic, complaining about how they aren't willing to lower the prices even more.

Any discount at all is already magical so soon after an Apple products launches.
 
S

saud0488

macrumors 6502
Aug 18, 2011
495
0
My local Sams Club had tons of them available for all carriers. Went last Friday and this past Monday (the last day of the sale) to get them for my parents.
 
jca24

jca24

macrumors 6502a
Jul 28, 2010
825
129
DFW
ThatsMeRight said:
Wow, so a phone that already costs $199 on contract gets a lower price of $149 and yet here we are, in a topic, complaining about how they aren't willing to lower the prices even more.

Any discount at all is already magical so soon after an Apple products launches.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. Support Best Buy, the $149 price was fantastic, got 3 for wife and kids. Yes BB has its problems but is is one of the last electronics stores left. We have Frys here also but is has become and dump. At least at BB they have good customer service and people in the mobile department that know something. Go to the WM counter and see the caliber of people behind that counter and the service you get, it really is laughable!

:apple:
 
S

sdilley14

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 8, 2007
1,242
201
Mesa, AZ
I'm not *complaining* at all. I was just posting to see if this was normal and if there was anything I could do to make up the difference since they wouldn't price match. I still bought the phone from BB, I didn't raise a fit with them at all, I even told them that $149 was still a very fair price.

----------
jca24 said:
Go to the WM counter and see the caliber of people behind that counter and the service you get, it really is laughable!

:apple:
Click to expand...

That's another reason why I chose Best Buy. In calling around to the Wal-Mart stores, just the lack of knowledge and basic customer service was enough to make me look elsewhere. The people at Best Buy were quick, friendly, helpful, and made for a pleasant buying experience.

It wasn't a matter of supporting one "big box" store over another, it was a matter of one of BB offering MUCH better service and a much better buying experience. If the local Best Buy wasn't as good as they were, I would have made the trip 60 miles north to buy it at that Wal-Mart for the discounted price.
 
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