Connecticut Attorney General Announces Lawsuit Against Best Buy
Blumenthal Accuses Best Buy of Charging Higher Prices In-store Than Advertised Online
On Thursday, Attorney General of Connecticut Richard Blumenthal revealed plans for a lawsuit against Best Buy Co. Inc., for deception of customers. The lawsuit details discrepancies between deals found at the Best Buy Internet website and "deals" found at in-store kiosks. Blumenthal noted instances of employees of the country's largest consumer electronics retailer charging higher prices for items by using its look-alike internal website.
According to The Associated Press, Blumenthal commented, "Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal - a bait-and-switch-plus scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher in-store prices."
The lawsuit would call for refunds for consumers, in addition to civil penalties, an end to the sales practice, and court costs. At least 20 complaints from Best Buy customers surfaced after a reporter for The Hartford Courant related one man's experiences at the store. According to the reporter, the Connecticut man found a laptop online at the Best Buy website for $729.99, then visited his local Best Buy store. At the store, an employee seemed to check the price of the laptop on the same Best Buy website and told the customer the price of the laptop was nearly $150 more at $879.99.
Best Buy company officials confirmed the existence of the internal look-alike website that employees have access to in-store. However, Best Buy also noted their policy is to give customers the lowest quoted price, unless specifically labeled as an online-only special.
As reported by The Associated Press, Blumenthal added, "There may be people who are entirely unaware they may have been overcharged."
The official complaint dates to May 18, leaving Best Buy until June 13 to respond with its own comments to the claims. After this, the lawsuit would be filed in Hartford Superior Court.
In addition, Connecticut's consumer protection commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. said the lawsuit serves as a warning that retailers nationwide should reanalyze business practices. The heart of the lawsuit rests upon Best Buy's promise to match any lower online prices, including prices from the company's own website. Furthermore, in-store kiosks which supposedly allowed customers to access Best Buy's public website listed in-store prices, not online prices.
According to LegalNewsline.com, Blumenthal stated, "The company commonly kept two sets of prices - one on its Internet site and an often higher set on its in-store look-alike, available on kiosks... Best Buy broke its promises to give the best price..."
As a result, Best Buy has added posters stating the in-store kiosks report store prices. However, Attorney General Blumenthal feels the changes are unacceptable since the in-store kiosks remain labeled "BestBuy.com," causing customers to think they are browsing the public Internet website instead of the company's internal system.
Stephanie Reitz. "Best Buy Accused of Overcharging Buyers." The Associated Press. URL: (http://www.wral.com/business/story/1442357/).
John O'Brien. "Blumenthal sues Best Buy." LegalNewsline.com. URL: (http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/195663-blumenthal-sues-best-buy).
Published by Jason K
Currently an undergraduate student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. View profile
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- Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal announced a lawsuit against Best Buy Co. Inc. for deception.
- The lawsuit details price discrepancies between the Best Buy website and in-store kiosks.
- One report: the website listed a laptop for $729.99 while an employee priced the laptop at $879.99.
18 Comments
Post a CommentI hope best buy will be out of business soon. I went there to buy a bluray, the sale man tried to rip me off by asking me to buy extra cable that I didn't really need. The guy said the bluray won't work if I don't have the HDMI cable. After I refused to buy it and made loud sound so other customer could hear our conversation. He then told me, it will work but low quality image. I hate it because he told me it won't work at the beginning. I decided to walk away and never come back to that store ever again. My brother in law had bought a labtop for 1000 only but he ended up buy $2000 for all other stuffs that he didn't really needed.
Having worked at best buy i can tell you the "internal website" is for local prices, they also have the national site as well, this practice is not unlike that of other retailers, to stay locally competitive, but yes, they will do you one better, and match their own online price as well, something the worlds largest retailer wont do. So instead of getting all hyped up to try and take down a business that does great things for consumers, try and understand the situation before you go filing lawsuits and such. One more thing, having looked back at my career there, best buy is the most customer centric business i have ever had the pleasure of working with. Stores 229, and 227. Casey H.
Best Buy has a policy of matching the price on the website of ANY brick-and-mortar store - including their own. Why would they do this if they're going to have to match it anyway?
According to The Associated Press, Blumenthal commented, "Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal - a bait-and-switch-plus scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher in-store prices." Are you kidding me. Why not just order online for in store pick up??? Have people become that complacent and lazy, that everything must be litigated. It's funny that everyone is skewed towards best buy here when circuit was doing the same thing. That's a big problem with this country nowadays, if something doesn't the way YOU think it should, sue! Okay, then have the company pay out a multimillion dollar suit, and then complain about prices, is this really where we have come to?
Its a bad trick, no doubt, but anyone who is charged an extra 150$ should just go home, order the product for pick-up online, and go back and pick it up for the $729.99. Best Buy can't charge your credit card $730 when you order online then ask for $150 more when you go to pick it up. :) I usually go to Best Buy only to look at products and buy small things, like DVDs and games, though. TVs and PCs I buy at cheaper, smaller stores.
Great article. I won't be shopping there anymore.
Great read.
I went there to purchase a wireless card, only to find that they carried only the highest-priced brands and the most fancy technology, none of which I needed. It's not the "best buy." Wal-Mart is much better. Or eBay. Good article.
What a dirty trick! They actually went through alot of trouble to intentionally defraud customers.
Great article. I had warned my husband about Best Buy before because I had noticed this. They are really not the best buy anyway. I have often seen lower prices on the items they carry at many other places. I hope this will open up the eyes of consumers to be aware of what they are buying and if they are getting the best value or not.