An epic BB price match story

mobius387

beer snob
Premium Supporter
Feb 16, 2009
4,404
Milwaukee, WI
So I get the idea of trying to price match Gamestop's $20 for Hawx deal at Best Buy today. I went to two Gamestop's first to make sure they had them, two because the first one was out of stock. The second one had it, but it was the floor model with an open case, and I'm stubborn and wanted a sealed version, so off I go to BB.

Walk in, grab the game, go to customer service to price match. The lady asks how much the price is at GS, which I reply $20, and then she laughs and says "We can't price match that," to which I reply, yes you can. Then she says no we can't. So I ask to see it in writing. She points me to the front desk where they have all their policies in writing, but unfortunately for her, it said nothing about any exclusions to the policy. So she calls up her manager. I wait a few minutes till the dude comes up, knowing hes gonna put up a fight. I'm tight for time though, as I had prior engagements in about a half hour, and I was about a 20 minute drive from there.

The manager finally comes here, and I explain the situation and ask for a price match. He also says he can't do it, because he'll lose too much money. To which I reply, that's not in the policy. Then he says it is in the policy, and this is pretty much exactly what he said "Price matching is on an individual basis, so basically I can disapprove any price match I want to, and I won't sell you this game at that price." So I again, ask to see it in writing. He then gives me the whole schtick of 'its gonna take some time for me to pull it up, you're gonna have to wait awhile for me to find it. But regardless of what it says, I'm telling you I won't price match this game." I knew he was just saying that to get me out of here, and he was lucky that I couldn't wait. So I left, unhappily.

I go home quick since its on the way and look up the policy on the BB website. I scan the whole thing, looking at all the exclusions and for any mention of a manager veto. Of course, I find nothing.

I give mister manager a call back on my drive to where I needed to be.

I tell him that there is nothing in the policy about him being able to veto a price match. I tell him he doesn't own Best Buy, and he doesn't have the power to subjectively approve or disapprove any price match. I told him I felt very wronged and got the sense he was just trying to get me out of the door. I told him if he treats all his customers this way he should be worried about losing them because it is flat out the wrong way to treat people. Also, I told him the funny thing is, that if he actually took time and put effort and care into my situation, he would have noticed that the game doesn't qualify for price match because BB doesn't match clearance items, which is basically what GS is doing with this game. Instead of actually thinking about the situation, he dismissed me with a BS reason that has no support to it. I also said that even if a policy existed where he could veto any price match (which he later admitted doesn't exist in writing, and he probably couldn't find it), it was a ridiculous one because it basically makes it a subjective procedure for the policy. Any manager could deny a price match for whatever reason they wanted. I demanded that he apologize for the way he treated me, and for lying/stretching the truth to get out of matching the price.

After twisting his arm for awhile, and using my jedi powers ;), I finally got him to admit that how he handled the situation was wrong and apologize, and he shouldn't have said he could veto the price match. He also contradicted himself because when he talked to me in store he told me it would take awhile to find the policy, but on the phone he said he and BB were aware of the GS promotion and had already agreed to not price match anything they had. Why he didn't tell me this from the get go, I ask him multiple times. He never really had an answer. I told him he should have all the policy in writing at a location that is easily accessible, so this problem doesn't happen again. He finally agreed to that as well. I ended the conversation with, "Well I guess we both learned something from this ordeal," to which he also agreed with.

By the end of it, I didn't really care that I didn't get the game, I was more proud of the way I got him to basically say he messed up. I only wish I could have done this in the store, and if I had 30 more minutes at the time, I would have.
 
So I get the idea of trying to price match Gamestop's $20 for Hawx deal at Best Buy today. I went to two Gamestop's first to make sure they had them, two because the first one was out of stock. The second one had it, but it was the floor model with an open case, and I'm stubborn and wanted a sealed version, so off I go to BB.

Walk in, grab the game, go to customer service to price match. The lady asks how much the price is at GS, which I reply $20, and then she laughs and says "We can't price match that," to which I reply, yes you can. Then she says no we can't. So I ask to see it in writing. She points me to the front desk where they have all their policies in writing, but unfortunately for her, it said nothing about any exclusions to the policy. So she calls up her manager. I wait a few minutes till the dude comes up, knowing hes gonna put up a fight. I'm tight for time though, as I had prior engagements in about a half hour, and I was about a 20 minute drive from there.

The manager finally comes here, and I explain the situation and ask for a price match. He also says he can't do it, because he'll lose too much money. To which I reply, that's not in the policy. Then he says it is in the policy, and this is pretty much exactly what he said "Price matching is on an individual basis, so basically I can disapprove any price match I want to, and I won't sell you this game at that price." So I again, ask to see it in writing. He then gives me the whole schtick of 'its gonna take some time for me to pull it up, you're gonna have to wait awhile for me to find it. But regardless of what it says, I'm telling you I won't price match this game." I knew he was just saying that to get me out of here, and he was lucky that I couldn't wait. So I left, unhappily.

I go home quick since its on the way and look up the policy on the BB website. I scan the whole thing, looking at all the exclusions and for any mention of a manager veto. Of course, I find nothing.

I give mister manager a call back on my drive to where I needed to be.

I tell him that there is nothing in the policy about him being able to veto a price match. I tell him he doesn't own Best Buy, and he doesn't have the power to subjectively approve or disapprove any price match. I told him I felt very wronged and got the sense he was just trying to get me out of the door. I told him if he treats all his customers this way he should be worried about losing them because it is flat out the wrong way to treat people. Also, I told him the funny thing is, that if he actually took time and put effort and care into my situation, he would have noticed that the game doesn't qualify for price match because BB doesn't match clearance items, which is basically what GS is doing with this game. Instead of actually thinking about the situation, he dismissed me with a BS reason that has no support to it. I also said that even if a policy existed where he could veto any price match (which he later admitted doesn't exist in writing, and he probably couldn't find it), it was a ridiculous one because it basically makes it a subjective procedure for the policy. Any manager could deny a price match for whatever reason they wanted. I demanded that he apologize for the way he treated me, and for lying/stretching the truth to get out of matching the price.

After twisting his arm for awhile, and using my jedi powers ;), I finally got him to admit that how he handled the situation was wrong and apologize, and he shouldn't have said he could veto the price match. He also contradicted himself because when he talked to me in store he told me it would take awhile to find the policy, but on the phone he said he and BB were aware of the GS promotion and had already agreed to not price match anything they had. Why he didn't tell me this from the get go, I ask him multiple times. He never really had an answer. I told him he should have all the policy in writing at a location that is easily accessible, so this problem doesn't happen again. He finally agreed to that as well. I ended the conversation with, "Well I guess we both learned something from this ordeal," to which he also agreed with.

By the end of it, I didn't really care that I didn't get the game, I was more proud of the way I got him to basically say he messed up. I only wish I could have done this in the store, and if I had 30 more minutes at the time, I would have.

:hilarious::hilarious:

These guys are best buy really aren't that smart. They also have no customer service skills whatsoever. Maybe if they would actually help out a customer once in a while they'd get more business (not that there's many options). I never buy anything from best buy anymore because the employees (not cali;)) are retarded. Most of the time they ramble out their ass.
 
Yeah, BB can be a pain sometimes. Just depends on the worker you get. Once I went in the morning and the guy didn't want to pricematch FRY's because they're 30 miles away, too far. Ppppfffffttt!!!! Whatever, I drive that way anyway to go visit fam. So later in the day, I came in, different employee, and he had no problem doing a price match.
 
Most of the time they ramble out their ass.

So true, they never know when to shut up. I always know more about whatever it is they think they are trying to "School" me on. This dude was trying to push an insignia tv (their brand, which isnt all that bad) on me ... so I started asking all kinds of technical questions he didnt know what to say LOL.


So later in the day, I came in, different employee, and he had no problem doing a price match.


Thats how it is, ALWAYS so long as your dealing with a manager since they have the power to "modify" anything ... I used to do management in retail for years ... its how it always was ... I could make something 1 penny if I so chose .. but then I had to answer to it ... I never had problems price matching for the most part ... and if someone wronged a customer or what not we could issue gift cards right then and there.

The one thing and only power you have over these managers at these retail locations is to get the phone # to the district office i.e. district manager ...

shiiiit you wanna get your way REAL QUICK ... just call the DM ... he will give you what you want and then turn around and tell the manager to issue a gift card and such at times ... Alot of times you just mention calling the DM to the manager and their whole tone changes and they try to avoid that phone call getting made.
 
So true, they never know when to shut up. I always know more about whatever it is they think they are trying to "School" me on. This dude was trying to push an insignia tv (their brand, which isnt all that bad) on me ... so I started asking all kinds of technical questions he didnt know what to say LOL.





Thats how it is, ALWAYS so long as your dealing with a manager since they have the power to "modify" anything ... I used to do management in retail for years ... its how it always was ... I could make something 1 penny if I so chose .. but then I had to answer to it ... I never had problems price matching for the most part ... and if someone wronged a customer or what not we could issue gift cards right then and there.

The one thing and only power you have over these managers at these retail locations is to get the phone # to the district office i.e. district manager ...

shiiiit you wanna get your way REAL QUICK ... just call the DM ... he will give you what you want and then turn around and tell the manager to issue a gift card and such at times ... Alot of times you just mention calling the DM to the manager and their whole tone changes and they try to avoid that phone call getting made.

+1 You call the local store's manager and tear him a new one, and they'll kiss your feet to make you happy.
 
Nice work!


did the same thing with my cable company, would have to call 3 or 4 times to finally get them to come out and change my cable box rather than just keep having me reset it every other week. Still had issues and finally wanted some return on my time investment in their crappy services that they just raised rates on. Said they would review it and promise to callback on a certain day. I waited a couple days after the date they promised to call back and then ripped them a new one.

Asked for a manager, lady asked me if she could explain to the manager what it was about and I simply said, "My account." Ended up dancing all over the manager about customer appreciation and asking why I have any reason to not cancel and just go with dish network, etc... It was awful. My wife was shaking her head at me the whole time saying I was a meanie.
EDIT: I remember what the clincher was, I said I'm just going to goto satellite and he said that with satellite the weather might provide service interruption to which I laughed and said, "You mean like how I have to call every other week because you can't keep my cable from looking like crap. Not to mention the time you took down our internet to repair some nodes but didn't even tell us and my wife had a paper due that evening? Satellite doesn't appear to be any worse than you, and it's cheaper."

Ended up with a permanent discount keeping my service exactly the same for a straight $108 a month which includes my home phone, internet, and cable with the HD package. Originally they wanted to charge me $166.

Win?
 
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It wasn't clearance, he has to price match it.. Its our guarantee... ****, My Best Buy price matches online retailers too...
 
A fortunate turn of events in the story just occurred.

I emailed Best Buy a couple days ago to tell them the story. I wasn't trying to get anything out of it really, I just figured corporate would probably want to know how some of their employees treat their customers.

Today I got an email back saying :
Thank you for your email and feedback. I?m sorry to hear about your most recent experience with your local Best Buy store. As a valued Best Buy customer we would expect our employees to treat you much better than you describe. I will have this information made available to the store and district managers in your area, so they can better improve the service at their stores.

I don?t think what you were asking for was unreasonable. We do after all post our Price Matching policy online for all of our customers to see. You can find it by typing ?price match? into the search field.

We would like to see you come back into your local Best Buy store and to help you do that I would like to offer you a Best Buy gift card in the amount of $15.00. If you would like to accept this, please send me your mailing address and I?ll have a card mailed out to you as soon as possible.

:)
 
lol...yeah speak up always if something is half ass'd done & some lazy pot head doesn't know wtf your trying to explain at times..


i've got one nice discount also that saved me 90 dollars because of a payment error They made & slipped by them