Computers

[#1]

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PDB wrote:

My guess is that is not the 11 cents - it is the 10% price difference which would equate to $20.00 + the 11 cents. Also the HST/GST/PST reduction as well. In Quebec I believe the total would be over $23.00 - not just the 11 cents.

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The 10% difference is not the overall cost of the product, it's 10% of the difference between Best Buy's price and the sale price - which in this case would be 1.1 cents, bringing the total to 12 cents... not $20+.

It is possible that the poster made the same mistake though, hence the seemingly odd concern over an 11 cent price match, and the store's refusal to grant it.

[#2]

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PDB wrote:

My guess is that is not the 11 cents - it is the 10% price difference which would equate to $20.00 + the 11 cents. Also the HST/GST/PST reduction as well. In Quebec I believe the total would be over $23.00 - not just the 11 cents.

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Maybe... but that's actually not what the policy says.  No where does it say we'll beat a competitor's price by 10%.  Here it is, quoted straight from our price matching policy.

For previous purchases, should you find a lower price in-store, in print or online from an authorized Canadian dealer we will beat it by 10% of the difference.

In this case, the difference is 11 cents.  10% of this difference is 1.1 cents.  Even if I rounded up, it'd be 13 cents total.

So, in this case the price should have been reduced from $199.99 to $199.86.  Again, something I would have done reflexively if approached about it.

[#3]

The item I was trying to PM was more than 2 days, and it's not limited quantity, it is just a black friday event, so once again the csr is incompetent and gave me the wrong answer and try to get me off the phone

[#4]

Allow me to weigh in on this! Maybe I can help shed some light on the situation. Best Buy will match any price out there and beat it by 10% of the difference, this is true. We will also refund the difference in the event a product you have purchased goes down in price within 30 days of the purchase. However, that policy does NOT apply to holiday sales, IE Boxing Day, Black Friday etcetera.

[#5]

The policy does not make any sense.

I just tried to price match something and got refused with the same reason, the sale is a limited time sale.

Every sale is a limited time sale, that is the definition of a sale. If you are excluding all time-limited sales, in effect there is no price matching guarantee for any sale that has an end date listed, which is every sale in case of weekly flyers.

To those who suggest that several hour sales are excluded, that is not stated in the policy. If that is indeed the intended policy, then the policy should say exactly that, eg sales lasting under 36 hours are excluded from price matching.

The person who said that all holiday sales are excluded: first of all cyber monday is not a holiday in Canada, it's a regular day. In addtion there is no such restriction listed in the policy that all holidays are excluded. If that is indeed the case, that should be stated clearly in the policy, and in that case at least people would know not to try to price match on Canada Day.

The way it stand, the policy of price matching can be applied completely arbitrarily and creates an illusion that there is a best price guarantee, when in fact there isn't. Everything is open to interpretation, which is exactly what is happening right here, people giving some arbitrary range of hours for sale to qualify, people extending the meaning of "Boxing day sale in the policy to all holidays, etc, etc.

[#6]

Totally agree! This is very absurd, you have price match policy that it doesn't apply for black friday sales/cybermonday. But in your policy it doesn't state what's the time frame for a limited time offer, your saying there is no PM at all for any holidays or special sales gimmick you have.

[#7]

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mo_mo wrote:

Totally agree! This is very absurd, you have price match policy that it doesn't apply for black friday sales/cybermonday. But in your policy it doesn't state what's the time frame for a limited time offer, your saying there is no PM at all for any holidays or special sales gimmick you have.

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It's not a gimmick - it's all right there, and a limited time offer is exactly what it sounds like - any discount that's being offered for a limited time.  While I think the company is pretty good about matching what we refer to as "regular" sales, they're certainly not obligated to, as per the wording of the policy.  It's not at all ambiguous.  

One of Best Buy's smaller competitors in Canada has a pretty liberal price matching policy.  At the bottom of the long-winded explanations of exactly what qualified, was something to the effect of "The short version is - if we're capable of price matching something, we will", and I think that's an appropriate description here.  We match the prices offered by competitors if follows all the guidelines, or if it's reasonable to do so.  Different retailers work out a variety of different sales, and there wouldn't be a point to advertising exclusive sales for Black Friday/Cyber Monday if other stores were going to be matching them.

It's unfortunate that you've had a bad experience, but I don't think our written policy contains any of the ambiguity you're describing.

[#8]

"limited time offer is exactly what it sounds like - any discount that's being offered for a limited time.  While I think the company is pretty good about matching what we refer to as "regular" sales, they're certainly not obligated to, as per the wording of the policy.  It's not at all ambiguous."

As I mentioned previously, every sale is a limited time offer. I don't understand what is the distinction between what you call regular sales and non-regular sales?

In any case, it's good to have it stated clearly here, that Best Buy's price guarantee does not extend to sales. I just wish that this was worded more clearly in the policy, so that people don't have false expectations that Best Buy is actually going to give them money back if there another retailer temporarily adjusts their prices (ie, puts it on sale).

"We match the prices offered by competitors if follows all the guidelines, or if it's reasonable to do so."

I'm glad to know the price match will be done according to whether Best Buy considers it reasonable to do the price match or not. I was thinking it works according to some pre-determined criteria, but thanks for clarifying that the factor at play here is "if it's reasonable to do so".

[#9]

"limited time offer is exactly what it sounds like - any discount that's being offered for a limited time.  While I think the company is pretty good about matching what we refer to as "regular" sales, they're certainly not obligated to, as per the wording of the policy.  It's not at all ambiguous."

As I mentioned previously, every sale is a limited time offer. I don't understand what is the distinction between what you call regular sales and non-regular sales?

In any case, it's good to have it stated clearly here, that Best Buy's price guarantee does not extend to sales. I just wish that this was worded more clearly in the policy, so that people don't have false expectations that Best Buy is actually going to give them money back if there another retailer temporarily adjusts their prices (ie, puts it on sale).

"We match the prices offered by competitors if follows all the guidelines, or if it's reasonable to do so."

I'm glad to know the price match will be done according to whether Best Buy considers it reasonable to do the price match or not. I was thinking it works according to some pre-determined criteria, but thanks for clarifying that the factor at play here is "if it's reasonable to do so".

[#10]

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MarkBern wrote:

"limited time offer is exactly what it sounds like - any discount that's being offered for a limited time.  While I think the company is pretty good about matching what we refer to as "regular" sales, they're certainly not obligated to, as per the wording of the policy.  It's not at all ambiguous."

As I mentioned previously, every sale is a limited time offer. I don't understand what is the distinction between what you call regular sales and non-regular sales?

In any case, it's good to have it stated clearly here, that Best Buy's price guarantee does not extend to sales. I just wish that this was worded more clearly in the policy, so that people don't have false expectations that Best Buy is actually going to give them money back if there another retailer temporarily adjusts their prices (ie, puts it on sale).

"We match the prices offered by competitors if follows all the guidelines, or if it's reasonable to do so."

I'm glad to know the price match will be done according to whether Best Buy considers it reasonable to do the price match or not. I was thinking it works according to some pre-determined criteria, but thanks for clarifying that the factor at play here is "if it's reasonable to do so".

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I was slightly ambiguous in a small amount of wording, and I'll correct it here - the 'we' in the following sentence "While I think the company is pretty good about matching what we refer to as "regular" sales" refers to the employees in my store, and isn't part of any serious or real criteria.  As a general rule, I'd think of any 'regular' sale as one that lasts the Flyer week.  That's Friday-Thursday at Best Buy, but might be a different set of days somewhere else.  If a competitor is willing to keep up a price for an entire week, we'll usually be willing to match it but aren't obligated to under the 'limited time offer' category, which brings me to your second issue with my post.

I worded that line as carefully and correctly as possible.  We match if it fits the criteria OR if it's reasonable to do so.  This lines up with "limited time offers" referring to anything that lasts for a limited time.  The criteria are predetermined - as per the printed policy.  Do we sometimes match things that don't qualify (like my so-called 'regular' sales?) Absolutely we do - We actually do it (much) more often than not - but if it's in violation of part of our guarantee, it's up to the discretion of whomever you're working with.

If you want the firm criteria, they're in this forum thread, they're on our website and they're posted (in large letters) on the walls of our stores (twice over, in the case of my store), but we do go beyond those to try to accomodate customers when we can.  It never hurts to check, anyway - the worst that can happen is a discerning manager has to turn you down.

[#11]

"limited time offer is exactly what it sounds like - any discount that's being offered for a limited time.  While I think the company is pretty good about matching what we refer to as "regular" sales, they're certainly not obligated to, as per the wording of the policy.  It's not at all ambiguous."

As I mentioned previously, every sale is a limited time offer. I don't understand what is the distinction between what you call regular sales and non-regular sales?

In any case, it's good to have it stated clearly here, that Best Buy's price guarantee does not extend to sales. I just wish that this was worded more clearly in the policy, so that people don't have false expectations that Best Buy is actually going to give them money back if there another retailer temporarily adjusts their prices (ie, puts it on sale).

"We match the prices offered by competitors if follows all the guidelines, or if it's reasonable to do so."

I'm glad to know the price match will be done according to whether Best Buy considers it reasonable to do the price match or not. I was thinking it works according to some pre-determined criteria, but thanks for clarifying that the factor at play here is "if it's reasonable to do so".

[#12]

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Forristal wrote:

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I worded that line as carefully and correctly as possible.  We match if it fits the criteria OR if it's reasonable to do so.  This lines up with "limited time offers" referring to anything that lasts for a limited time.  The criteria are predetermined - as per the printed policy.  Do we sometimes match things that don't qualify (like my so-called 'regular' sales?) Absolutely we do - We actually do it (much) more often than not - but if it's in violation of part of our guarantee, it's up to the discretion of whomever you're working with.

If you want the firm criteria, they're in this forum thread, they're on our website and they're posted (in large letters) on the walls of our stores (twice over, in the case of my store), but we do go beyond those to try to accomodate customers when we can.  It never hurts to check, anyway - the worst that can happen is a discerning manager has to turn you down.

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I did read the written policy, that was the reason I posted here in first place. My point was not about the fact that Best Buy denies price matching items on sale in other stores, my point was about the price guarantee policy which excludes items on sale at other stores, and as you mentioned it's up to the manager to make a voluntary decision to match a sale at another store for a customer.

The policy does indeed say that limited-time offers are excluded from the price-match policy. As you have explained that means that Best Buy is not oblidged to price-match weekly sales since they have expiration dates, and if it does price-match that, it's because of the discretion on part of the managers.

I understand that, and that's reasonable if Best Buy includes that in the policy but I propose that we avoid misleading the common folks. When in big fat letters it's written on the site and in the store "Price Guarantee - we will beat any price anywhere", people start assuming that any price really means any price, whereas now I am aware that in reality the policy excludes temporary price adjustments at other stores (a flyer sale, commonly).

Thanks for clarifying.