Best Buy Not Honoring $9.99 HDTV Price

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I can't believe the idiots who think the "right thing" is to honor the errant price. Is that really what you would do? If you were selling your care and mistakenly dropped a '0' off of $5000 would you accept an offer for $500 because that would be the "right thing" to do?

Also knowingly exploiting an error in pricing to your benefit is not only unethical but can even be illegal. That's not the case here because nobody received any goods and even if they had Best Buy is not going to go through the PR nightmare of trying to get anybody who did, but depending on the circumstances it could be illegal. As was mentioned above it comes down to what a "Reasonable Man" would do/think. If somebody were to walk into a Best Buy store and buy 10 52" TVs for $10 each then turn around and sell (thus being unable to give them back when the error is realized), that person could very well be facing criminal charges.
 
I don't blame people for trying, but anything past a slight hope is ridiculous. I think anyone expecting a typo to be honored should be taken in a field and shot. They canceled the orders and money was refunded, no harm no foul.
 
[citation][nom]blazeorangeman[/nom]I work at best buy and I have to deal with you freakin idiots on a regular basis! "Hey man give this to me for free" "no you retard" "ah this is a bait and switch" "here let me show you the ad in which it says 'limited quantities, one per household, etc.' I'm sorry you waited till Friday to come in and get this and the ad came out Sunday dickweed and we are out of stock." Use something called common sense, or your brain for crying out loud! Do some research before you come in, and for crying out loud don't piss and moan about not getting 300% off when you found it cheaper on ebay (and yes I've had customers ask me if we price match eBay). Go play in the middle of the road.[/citation]

+1 !!!!!

America largely beleives that they are "owed" something. We can thank lawyers and civil lawsuits for this, mostly. Customer Service has gotten out of hand. If anything goes wrong, people want something for free, not just to fix the problem. Unfortunately, businesses are so afraid of losing customers that they often comply and perpetuate their own problem.

 
To come a cross a deal like this and to assume that the "company" will have to agree to the purchase or worse to assume that the "company" is bound by laws to accept the online request says plenty about the person placing the order.

Bait and switch, give me a break - who are these ppl?

What happened in Taiwan does not apply to North America, wake up and smell what you're shoveling!
 
[citation][nom]doomtomb[/nom]52" TV for $10! I woulda bought like 10 if I had the chance...[/citation]
I would have bought at least 200-300 LOL... sell them on ebay for $1000 ea.
My Garage would be full :)
 
[citation][nom]ShadyAidy[/nom]Hey, cheaptards.Most countries will not force companies to honour pricing errors like this, [/citation]

That's why we live in america and have laws to protect the consumer. It's like the apple iphone price cuts etc... Best Buy better honor the price they put up, that's why they have insurance that covers them for employee screw ups.
 
[citation][nom]EnFoRceR22[/nom]yeah cuz anyone actualy gives a shit what the BBB says. Since they cant do anything to bestbuy aside put a you had a complaint on thier BBB record assuming they are even members of it. you sure showed them![/citation]

You'd be wrong on that. The BBB has a lot of power and it can get things done when trying to work with the company you are purchasing a product or services from and said company does not perform the required action. Case in point is what happened with me with Verizon phone and DSL. I order the service, they came to my apartment building and went into the phone room and ran their pair of wires to my apartment's punch down block, but never came to my apartment, even though they said they would, to confirm things were working. I spent the next two weeks trying to get them to actually do what was needed to get things up and working, even confirming with my apartment complex that the wiring from the phone room to my apartment was working (the apartment's maintenance people ran a tone from the phone room to my apartment and checked all phone sockets and were getting good tone). Eventually, because Verizon refused to actually check their work and were going to charge me to have someone come into my apartment to check things, I said no way to the charge since it was stated very clearly in the sign up for services that I needed to be physically at my apartment when services were to be connected.

I contacted the BBB about the situation and within a week I was talking with someone high up in the management of Verizon about the situation. I told said person at Verizon the situation and they were flabergasted that services folks did what they did. They immediately got the charges for services I had never been rendered reversed and even sent a written letter of apology.

Don't underestimate the power that BBB can provide, but at the same time, don't abuse it (cause BBB does track cases that each person puts in and if they see one person putting in a lot of frivalous cases, they will not help them even if they do have a true case).
 
[citation][nom]gimpy1[/nom]I like how a lot of people say what the law is, but they have no clue. This the law (in the US): Once you have a contract (like you paid online) if there is a material mistake of fact (like the wrong price), no contract is formed if the other party knew or should have known of the mistake. "Should have known" means a reasonable person would have figured it out. $10 for a 52" LCD, that is clearly a mistake.BTW, a mislabeled item (pre-purchase) is also not binding. Many courts have held that a price tag is not an offer, but an "offer to deal." This means that when you take the item to the register you are offering to buy for the list price, then the retailer accepts. At that point, it is binding. Stores that honor the wrong price do so for good customer service.The law makes sense. We as a society don't want people making a windfall because of a simple error. If you want a TV, get a job.[/citation]

A lawyer or law student here perhaps? Well you are not entirely correct. First, an ad is an invitation to sell an item at the stated price. If they accept your payment, i.e. charge your credit card, then it is not a mistake. They have accapted your offer. The equivalent would be going to a store and purchasing the same item for $9.99 and after they charge you and you've paid, they say sorry no deal. That's not how it works in B&M stores. Why should online be any different?

Regardless, individual states (such as Michigan) have various consumer laws, including elctronic price scanning laws. For instance, if a marked item is $9.99 and when I go to purchase it comes up $99.99, guess what? They have to sell it to me at the lower price, or if they refuse, and I purchase it at the higher price and sue them, they will be forced to pay my attorney fees and refund me up to 5x the difference.
 
[citation][nom]blazeorangeman[/nom]I work at best buy and I have to deal with you freakin idiots on a regular basis! "Hey man give this to me for free" "no you retard" "ah this is a bait and switch" "here let me show you the ad in which it says 'limited quantities, one per household, etc.' I'm sorry you waited till Friday to come in and get this and the ad came out Sunday dickweed and we are out of stock." Use something called common sense, or your brain for crying out loud! Do some research before you come in, and for crying out loud don't piss and moan about not getting 300% off when you found it cheaper on ebay (and yes I've had customers ask me if we price match eBay). Go play in the middle of the road.[/citation]

I've had to argue with idiots at Best Buy over price on a few occassions. The last case in point, the price tag on the shelf matched the item I was trying to purchase. Price on shelf was $84.99, when I got to the registry it rang up as $129.99. Under Va law(unless it was recently changed), which the store argees to abide by when it's doors open, the item was required to be sold for the price marked on the shelf, which was $84.99. Some states have specific laws to protect consumers from "bait/switch" tactics such as listing one price on the shelf while the item rings up higher. Now, I've been out of retail for a few years now....but I was told when I was hired "Under state law, the price on the shelf is the price of the item...period. Attempting to charge more than the price marked in store for the item is considered bait/switch." I've even had Best Buy try to charge a restocking fee on defective items...which is also against the law here. By charging a restocking fee, the retailer makes notice that they intend to place the item back on the shelf and sell it again with disregard to it's condition. I've even had to notify store managers that it's illegal to charge a restocking fee on a defective item. I don't argue with store managers about the laws here....I know exactly what they are when I walk in the store, and I have lawyers that do exactly what they're paid to do...win in court.

In this case, Best Buy followed the laws, as they're written. They either have to honor the price, or give a refund with an explanation as to why. Anyone that has an issue with this...needs to learn what the laws are. Best Buy was simply covering their own tails with the fine print on their website. Online pricing and in-store pricing have different laws governing how the retailer is required to respond to errors. Consumer laws regarding pricing do in fact vary from state to state.....what's considered bait/switch in one state may not be in another state. In Va, unless it was recently changed, if the price on the shelf/item is lower than the price at the register, it can be considered bait/switch and depending on the pricing difference it can even be considered consumer fraud.
 
I've actually lost track of how many times I've walked into a Best Buy looking for a sale item, just to find out my local store was no longer carrying the item. It's actually pretty annoying. If it's on sale, it's also a guarrantee that my local store no longer carries it. I walked in a few weeks ago looking for a Radeon HD4550, which they previously carried and was on sale at the time, just to find out my local store was no longer stocking the item. I'm sure there are people on this site arrogant enough to think this is a "bait/switch" tactic because they had the HD4670, which was roughly $80 higher through Best Buy than the HD4550....but the fact that they print in their fliers that not all stores carry the items that are on sale covers their tales. Wish the local store would start carrying items that I go in there looking for again. Like when the Antec Mult-Station Basic was on sale....my local best buy had sold out before the sale started and was no longer carrying the item....was listed for $14.99 on sale, regular price was $19.99....if you look on Newegg, it's now down to $36.99 whereas it was $39.99 at the time Best Buy had it on sale.
 
[citation][nom]sykozis[/nom]I've had to argue with idiots at Best Buy over price on a few occassions. The last case in point, the price tag on the shelf matched the item I was trying to purchase. Price on shelf was $84.99, when I got to the registry it rang up as $129.99. Under Va law(unless it was recently changed), which the store argees to abide by when it's doors open, the item was required to be sold for the price marked on the shelf, which was $84.99. Some states have specific laws to protect consumers from "bait/switch" tactics such as listing one price on the shelf while the item rings up higher. Now, I've been out of retail for a few years now....but I was told when I was hired "Under state law, the price on the shelf is the price of the item...period. Attempting to charge more than the price marked in store for the item is considered bait/switch." I've even had Best Buy try to charge a restocking fee on defective items...which is also against the law here. By charging a restocking fee, the retailer makes notice that they intend to place the item back on the shelf and sell it again with disregard to it's condition. I've even had to notify store managers that it's illegal to charge a restocking fee on a defective item. I don't argue with store managers about the laws here....I know exactly what they are when I walk in the store, and I have lawyers that do exactly what they're paid to do...win in court.In this case, Best Buy followed the laws, as they're written. They either have to honor the price, or give a refund with an explanation as to why. Anyone that has an issue with this...needs to learn what the laws are. Best Buy was simply covering their own tails with the fine print on their website. Online pricing and in-store pricing have different laws governing how the retailer is required to respond to errors. Consumer laws regarding pricing do in fact vary from state to state.....what's considered bait/switch in one state may not be in another state. In Va, unless it was recently changed, if the price on the shelf/item is lower than the price at the register, it can be considered bait/switch and depending on the pricing difference it can even be considered consumer fraud.[/citation]
I guess then the same thing would hold true for a contract in which you misspelled the word "accept". It should be able to be voided even if you stated at the bottom that any typos will not void the agreement...
 
A lawyer or law student here perhaps? Well you are not entirely correct. First, an ad is an invitation to sell an item at the stated price. If they accept your payment, i.e. charge your credit card, then it is not a mistake. They have accapted your offer. The equivalent would be going to a store and purchasing the same item for $9.99 and after they charge you and you've paid, they say sorry no deal. That's not how it works in B&M stores. Why should online be any different?

Regardless, individual states (such as Michigan) have various consumer laws, including elctronic price scanning laws. For instance, if a marked item is $9.99 and when I go to purchase it comes up $99.99, guess what? They have to sell it to me at the lower price, or if they refuse, and I purchase it at the higher price and sue them, they will be forced to pay my attorney fees and refund me up to 5x the difference.

I was responding to this statement not the one that ended up in the quote.
 
For all you idiots saying they need to "give away" the tv, this is taken from their website. read it!!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12101&type=page&contentId=1043363615722&entryURLID=cat00000&entryURLType=null&h=287

Errors on Our Site

Prices and availability of products and services are subject to change without notice. Errors will be corrected where discovered, and Best Buy reserves the right to revoke any stated offer and to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions including after an order has been submitted and whether or not the order has been confirmed and your credit card charged. If your credit card has already been charged for the purchase and your order is cancelled, Best Buy will issue a credit to your credit card account in the amount of the charge. Individual bank policies will dictate when this amount is credited to your account. If you are not fully satisfied with your purchase, you may return it in accordance with Best Buy's Return Policy.

oh my gosh!! They can cancel at anytime??!?!1 even IF they already charged my card!!!

So no they dont have to honor it, it's not bait & switch, get over it
 
For all you saying that a "store has to sell an item to you at the lowest listed price...", FYI stores are never obligated to sell to anybody. Even if the item is in stock and you are willing to pay any price they want they can still refuse to sell to you. I've worked in retail stores were I've told people whose attitude I didn't like that they couldn't buy anything in the store. It tends to happen a lot more frequently in the food service industry.

The legal question is "why are you refusing to sell?". If the intent is to defraud somebody then yes that is illegal. Contrary to what some of you may think the law (at least here in the US) is not absolute black and white. You have to take a close look at a case like this and use reasonable judgment to figure out if this refusal to sell was backed by an intent to defraud. Based on the facts you would have an awfully difficult time proving such in a court of law.
 
[citation][nom]bk420[/nom]That's why we live in america and have laws to protect the consumer. It's like the apple iphone price cuts etc... Best Buy better honor the price they put up, that's why they have insurance that covers them for employee screw ups.[/citation]
Actually, most of us live in America because that is where we were born. For those that came over after, i seriously doubt it had anything to do with consumer laws.

I thing the best post here was about the car. Would you sell your $5,000 car for $50 or even $500 because somewhere in the add placing process you lost a 0 or 2?

People need to stop being so greedy.
 
[citation][nom]esquire468[/nom]If they accept your payment, i.e. charge your credit card, then it is not a mistake. They have accapted your offer. The equivalent would be going to a store and purchasing the same item for $9.99 and after they charge you and you've paid, they say sorry no deal. That's not how it works in B&M stores. Why should online be any different?[/citation]
Simple, in a B&M store you are checking out with a human being, someone that can look at the price and realize something is wrong and get a manager to fix it. In this case, as stated, the first person will likely get the cheap price. I have never ordered online from BB, but I know Amazon does not charge you until the item has shipped. This is a great practice as it ensures a person can review every order before you are charged and fix any errors. If you think ordering online from the comfort of your own home and walking into a B&M store are the same you just might be the biggest idiot here yet.

I think what we can all take from this is that we need better laws covering the internet. From instances like this to the internet bullying that happened about a year ago I think that caused a little girl to commit suicide. It's just too fuzzy, laws need to catch up with the times.
 
[citation][nom]Impulse Fire911[/nom]Dell already makes so much money it doesnt matter...[/citation]

Did you know that dell cut over 8,500 jobs in the past year?
 
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