I had it out with both a BB local store and also with their Corporate Office. I don't want to make this a 2-page post, so I'll try to keep things short. Today during lunch I went into my local BB (6th Avenue & 23, NYC) and spoke to a young lady regarding the price match issue. She stuck to her guns and said that they would not honor the price match and that if the phone was being purchased off contract that the pricing would be $599. I told her that I had read their Price Guarantee policy online for retail stores and that NOWHERE did it speak of any exclusionary period due to a product launch, etc. I also stated that, according to their website nowhere did it state that mobile phones were excluded. As my interest was purely to gauge where the employee's head was at, after about 10 minutes I thanked her and left.
When I got home that evening, I called the corporate office and spoke to a gentleman who represents Best Buy mobile. I explained that I had physical documentation from their competitor (Sprint Retail Store) of a listed lower price for the EVO and I was interested in finding out whether they would match the price or not because there's been a lot of 'yes and no' answers flying and stated that no one should know better than corporate. This is where the man attempted to play semantics.
He suggested that I take my ad to the local BB and ask for the store manager and "SEE" if they would honor the price match. I challenged that response and inquired why should I have to "SEE"? I stated that BB is not a franchise where each store has the option to set it's own policies and again restated that since all stores are under the same corporate umbrella, coupled with the fact that I had the Price Match Guarantee right in front of me, that he should be able to answer my question outright. After I continued to press him and he could see that I had him cornered, he actually asked for my zip code and called a store within my vicinity for me to speak to a store manager. The store manager then also tried to give me reasons as to why they would not. I asked him that if this is their policy in regards to mobile phones or any product in general (he tried to also state that it was at the store's discretion), why isn't the exclusion stated in their Price Match Promise. Eventually he broke down as I also stated to him that he does not work for a franchise and told me that yes as long as I bring in the ad and provided the competitor has the phone in stock, they will price match. I was sure to get his name and the store that he works at.
Listen...in all honestly, I know BB will lose money for selling me the phone at Sprint's cost, but that's not my business....I could frankly care less. They use that price match guarantee as a marketing lure and in most cases it works to attract and build customer confidence, but it just so happens that every now and then you're own policy will bite you in the butt...and in this case it will. I will be getting my pre-ordered EVO 4g from BB this Friday for $449.99. They will have to just settle with making money off the accessories that I buy for it...CASE CLOSED.
P.S. Know your rights and stand by them...and if they won't budge, don't hesitate to call the Better Business Bureau!
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