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I was at the Cambie Best Buy location to purchase the Alice in Wonderland Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack selling for $34.99. I brought in a Zellers flyer, which advertised the same product at $29.99. Since Best Buy has a Lowest Price Guarantee policy that includes price matching as well as an additional 10% off the difference, I knew I would get the best deal here, as they were also offering 400 bonus Reward Zone points (worth $5!). This would have made the price of the combo $29.49. Disney also offers a $10 off coupon for the combo pack, making it $19.49. I went pay but the cashier said I could only choose one or the other. I then spoke with Alison, a new manager who insisted I could only get the coupon discount. However, I have been shopping at Best Buy ever since it opened in the Lower Mainland and have price matched and used coupons on the same product many times before (as my readers can attest to, since I blog about my deals all the time), on the old computer system as well as the new system! I usually shop at several other Best Buy locations, but have price matched and used a coupon at all those stores, as well as Futureshop locations, which is the sister company so should have the same policy anyway. I know price matching and using a coupon is two separate things – one is the store’s policy, and one is a manufacture’s coupon. Also the coupon is not even a Best Buy issued coupon, but a Disney issued one, so the price on the product would have to be manually adjusted anyway. I sent a complaint via the Best Buy website and was contacted by Tricia, the manager, who effectively told me no.
The next day I was passing by Metrotown, so I thought I’d drop by and get the movie there, since that is the usual location I go to and have had no problems price matching and using coupons here. However, the manager from the previous store I dealt with notified all the other Best Buy locations I mentioned to her (I know because I asked the manager at this location) not to give me the Lowest Price Guarantee. I think it is in very poor taste that the manager at the initial location did this, when price matching is a store policy!
I spoke to my friend’s brother who previously used to work for Best Buy (Metrotown location) and he agreed that I should have been able to use a coupon when price matching. I also spoke to people outside of British Columbia, and many people across Canada were able to use the coupon when price matching at their respective Best Buy locations. It's one thing if all stores in BC and across Canada have the same rule to not take coupons when price matching, but when one store does one thing and another store does another, it's very upsetting and frustrating.
I’m really upset that Best Buy is not honoring their Lowest Price Guarantee policy – it’s not really much of a guarantee if they don’t do the price match. I ended up purchasing the product at Zellers. I can’t trust Best Buy to honour their own policies so I don’t think I will be shopping at Best Buy or Future shop stores in the foreseeable future. Best Buy needs to get their policy straight between all the stores, because it is very frustrating when one store says one thing while another store says another.
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Anyway, after going to Metrotown, I was still upset so I sent off another email to BestBuy. I received a reply from the people at the call centre that dealt with customer complaints, who said it was being forwarded to the district manager. Well I never got a call back. So a few days later, I sent off a letter to the President of Best Buy. I was actually going to send it to the Senior Vice President of Retail Operations because from his job description, he deals with the customer aspect of the chain. But friends told me to send it to the President if I wanted more attention, so I did. I didn't hear anything back for almost a month, but today, I received a call from who I assume is the secretary looking for me. I never left any contact information besides my address, but she said the President wanted to contact me. My complaint was going to be forwarded to the district manager because he is the one in charge of the stores in the Lower Mainland. I'm having doubts though because the call centre said my email was going to be forwarded to the district manager as well, and I never heard back. I should have mentioned this when the lady called, but I wasn't thinking because I got all annoyed at Best Buy again. Ugh. Well we'll see what happens, and I'll update you on what they say (if they even contact me).
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