Best Buy Rebate & Pricing Scam North Hollywood California

Its not just Best Buy, any company will tell you that if the product is outside of its return policy, there isn't anything they can do about it. The return policies are listed online and in store and it is the responsibility of the consumer (you) to inquire about the return policy on items you are purchasing. Anyone in the store would have been happy to inform you that you have 14 days to return or price match a laptop computer.

Also, Best Buy runs weekly promotions. Every week a different set of computers goes on sale, and it is again the responsibility of the consumer to watch the prices and get the best deal. I am sorry that you were unable to get the sale price, but a complaint like this would not hold up in any retail store much less a court of law, because the policy is clearly outlined and publicly available. I've been in your situation before and unfortunately the solution is biting the bullet and learning from mistakes.

As an employee of the company, and also of that same department for the last two years, I must say that you clearly did not do enough research. You said that you have saved and looked up computers for 7 months yet are saddened by the fact they only have a 14-day price match on computers.

Do you know why?

I'm sure during your 7 months of research you found that new technology was coming out all of the time, and new models appeared probably every day.

This is because Best Buy (nor any other retailer) will carry a model for more than 30 days. The technology just changes too fast. I literally receive 7-10 new models every single week and we push out that many in the same period. If we offered a longer price match policy on laptops Best Buy would be out of business faster than you could imagine. It just doesn't make sense to offer a price match promise of a month or more on something that is likely to go clearance in a few weeks and be out of our system.

If you had done your research you would have seen that during those 7 months the technology became cheaper and cheaper for the same sort of specs you were looking for. There is a reason.

6 months ago the lowest end laptop we sold had 512K of ram... now it is 2GB and we maybe have 1 or 2 units like that, the rest have 3 or more..... STILL THE SAME PRICE AS THE 512K UNITS OF JUST 6 MONTHS AGO.

I apologize that you feel slighted, but nobody is going to help you out because technology just simply changes too fast to be able to offer any price matching policy on laptops more than 14 days. It just doesn't make business sense, and Best Buy is still a business and still needs to make money at the end of the day, like everyone else including you and me. They didn't rip you off or deceive you in any way, you just purchased it slightly ahead of the technology curve.

Wait for a sale next time or purchase on clearance if it still meets your needs. My only suggestion.

Things go on sale, babies are born, grass is green, and the world will continue to turn.
You could understand it going on sale 3 months later- so what should Best Buy do, keep track of each computer sold and not put it on sale until 3 months has passed since the last person bought it?
Sales come directly from corporate. Here's how they work:
Every Sunday morning, new laptops go on sale. They are on sale until Saturday night, and then they go back to normal price. So every person who buys a computer takes a gamble.
One more thing- if you had bought it within that 14 day period, Best Buy would have done you a gigantic favor. You know those annoying rebates where you have to send in a proof of purchase and then wait 6-8 weeks for your money? Best Buy does that for you. We automatically take that money off and get it back 6-8 weeks later. It's a pain for us, but for the customer, it is very convenient.
For those 14-day previous customers, we do not get that rebate. That discount comes out of the company's pocket. We take a loss on those computers, for the convenience of the customer. We do that because we are nice. But we can't do it for everyone.

By your own admission, "SELECT CATEGORIES" have a 14-day price match guarantee.

By your own admission, you didn't know the details of the price match guarantee.

By your own admission, you found a lower price 16 days after you purchased it.

By your own admission, you missed the deadline by 2 days.

By your own admission, nobody misled you on the price match policy of a laptop, and even demonstrated how easy it is TO FIND ONLINE.


And now you want to file a class-action lawsuit against a "big bad" company who has done absolutely nothing except stand by their own policy - which, by the way, is available on the website and could have been researched during those 7 months you saved up for a laptop. Your link proves my point.

So before you fill ROR with a bunch of other bogus "rip offs".... here are a few other deadlines you may want to familiarize yourself with:

1. The tax deadline is April 17th. If you're ONE day late, you get penalized.
2. Credit cards charge a substantial late fee if your payment is ONE day late.
3. Your bank will charge you an overdraft fee if you spend money ONE day too early.
4. You will have a judgment entered against you for showing up to court ONE day late.
5. Rebates submitted ONE day after the postmark deadline are rejected.

It's a bummer, definitely. But what's the ripoff? What crime did they commit?

Why should they owe you money when you didn't present them with a price match in the time-frame specified?