Best Buy has been forced to admit that it runs a secret in-store version of its website which denies customers the prices advertised at BestBuy.com.
Best Buy spokesman Justin Barner, who earlier claimed the employee-only site did not exist, now says the company is "cooperating fully" with the investigation that pressured them into owning up. From Courant.com's George Gombossy:
Blumethal seems far from happy, however, as Best Buy still won't tell him what the site's purpose is — "Their answers are less than crystal clear" — as if it wasn't bloody obvious: it lets Best Buy salespeople trick customers into paying higher prices than they would at BestBuy.com, using an near-identical clone of the public site.
Best Buy is in similar trouble in New Jersey and Ohio, having been accused of similar offenses, such as repackaging used merchandise and selling them as new, and for refusing to fulfill rebates. It'd be easy to to rant about how Best Buy plays a careful game of legal brinkmanship, screwing its market (you) exactly as ruthlessly as it thinks it can get away with, but the real solution comes in one word: Newegg.
Best Buy Confirms It Has Secret Website [Courant.com]
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