[wplug] Best Buy's insanity ...

[Tim Lesher]

On 3/7/07, Bill Moran <wmoran at potentialtech.com> wrote:
> In response to gregsim at telerama.com:
>
> > Lest we all pile on, I have shopped at Best Buy.  I think I have gotten some
> > good deals there.  If I don't, I look elsewhere.  There are usually competitors
> > within walking distance.
> >
> > I read the article Bill referenced and it strikes me as a bit phoney.  Nobody is
> > being forced to shop at Best Buy.  If you get a better deal elsewhere, go
> > ahead.  No store is obligated to give you any deal.  We (so far) still have a
> > free market.
>
> I agree with 90% of what you're saying.
>
> The problem is that BB is aware of the aforementioned free market, and knows
> they can't force you to shop with them.  Instead, they're trying to deceive
> you in to shopping with them.

Having read the article, I'm still not totally convinced that there's
intentional deception going on.  I can imagine:

1. BestBuy has an intranet that's accessible from its store terminals.
2. They add a feature to the intranet that lets employees check the
prices a customer sees on the public web site.
3. That feature has a synchronization bug which causes the prices not
to match in cases of (for example) limited-time or limited-area sales.

Of course, this should potentially cause errors in both directions,
but no customer is ever going to file a lawsuit about getting charged
too little, are they? They'll just go home and snicker about how they
"beat the man".

Not that I'm sticking up for Best Buy in particular--I've sworn them
off over two totally-botched warranty issues--but I get a little tired
of the "presumed guilty" assumption that occur when things like this
happen.
-- 
Tim Lesher <tlesher at gmail.com>