CheapyD
05-28-2007, 09:56 AM
Thanks for the heads up, dirtdog!
http://www.bristolpress.com/ (http://www.bristolpress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18386522&BRD=1643&PAG=461&dept_id=571108&rfi=6)
State officials are suing Best Buy, claiming the electronics chain cheated customers out of money using a bait-and-switch scheme involving its Web site.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and state Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. announced the lawsuit, filed in Hartford Superior Court on Thursday
The alleged scheme, he said, revolves around an internal Best Buy Web site that looks nearly identical to BestBuy.com, but is accessible only at in-store kiosks.
Salespeople, according to Blumenthal, told consumers who wanted to confirm the lower online prices that the kiosk connected them directly to BestBuy.com. But the kiosk actually connected them to a page that displays products' in-store prices. When the site displayed the higher in-store price, salespeople suggested that consumers, who thought they were viewing BestBuy.com, had previously misread the lower online price or that the online price had expired, according to Blumenthal.
"The company commonly kept two sets of prices, one on its Internet site and an often higher set on its in-store look-alike available on kiosks," he said.
Busch denies those claims, saying the sole purpose of the kiosks is to help customers access product information while they shop.
"Unfortunately, for all the benefits that the kiosks provided to most of our customers, there was a small percentage who did not receive the best price when they should have," she said. "Once this issue was brought to our attention, we provided immediate training for our employees to help ensure that all customers received the best price."
Best Buy is in the "process of making changes to eliminate future confusion," she said. "Further details about this matter must be saved for [the] courtroom, however I can tell you that we intend to vigorously defend ourselves."
http://www.bristolpress.com/ (http://www.bristolpress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18386522&BRD=1643&PAG=461&dept_id=571108&rfi=6)
State officials are suing Best Buy, claiming the electronics chain cheated customers out of money using a bait-and-switch scheme involving its Web site.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and state Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. announced the lawsuit, filed in Hartford Superior Court on Thursday
The alleged scheme, he said, revolves around an internal Best Buy Web site that looks nearly identical to BestBuy.com, but is accessible only at in-store kiosks.
Salespeople, according to Blumenthal, told consumers who wanted to confirm the lower online prices that the kiosk connected them directly to BestBuy.com. But the kiosk actually connected them to a page that displays products' in-store prices. When the site displayed the higher in-store price, salespeople suggested that consumers, who thought they were viewing BestBuy.com, had previously misread the lower online price or that the online price had expired, according to Blumenthal.
"The company commonly kept two sets of prices, one on its Internet site and an often higher set on its in-store look-alike available on kiosks," he said.
Busch denies those claims, saying the sole purpose of the kiosks is to help customers access product information while they shop.
"Unfortunately, for all the benefits that the kiosks provided to most of our customers, there was a small percentage who did not receive the best price when they should have," she said. "Once this issue was brought to our attention, we provided immediate training for our employees to help ensure that all customers received the best price."
Best Buy is in the "process of making changes to eliminate future confusion," she said. "Further details about this matter must be saved for [the] courtroom, however I can tell you that we intend to vigorously defend ourselves."