I am reporting my disappointment with Best Buy ‘s new Laptop bait & switch practices. I came to the Dadeland Best Buy store (557) in Miami to buy an advertised laptop for $599.00 and, although they had several of them in stock, they would only sell them at $679.00. They said they only had the computer with added services (antivirus, etc…) pre-installed. Well, who told them to alter the factory product and add services before the customer requested them? I see several infringements in this practice. First of all I think customers should have the right to opt-in on additional services. Second, the original factory product was altered by them when they opened and messed around with it, so even if I wanted those additional products I would no longer buy the clearly and visibly opened and taped closed box from them not knowing who messed with the product and if they properly installed the additional products and packaged everything back properly. So I decided I would pick a different laptop model that hadn’t been altered, and to my surprise I found out that all 22 laptop models on sale were not available at the advertised price. They only had the “Set Up” versions of each of the models on display, at the much higher price. It was clearly a bait and switch practice so I decided to leave the store after speaking to the manager, who basically told me they only had those models at the higher price and even if they received more of the basic advertised models the following day they would be altered and “Set Up” because Best Buy doesn’t make enough money selling the basic versions. I thought it was a bad decision by the store manager to adopt this dishonest strategy so I went to another store in Miami (Store # 553) then to another one (Store # 1665) and found out it was actually a corporate strategy, or at least for the South Florida Stores.
I had been a loyal customer of Best Buy for several years and had always considered the company a model of honest company to be followed within the industry, however, the new in store sales strategies have completely driven me away as a customer. I understand that the profit margins in the laptop segment must be very small, however, the companies integrity should never be compromised by adopting these dishonest practices. After speaking to friends, employees and family members about this bad experience, I was surprised to learn that many people had already had the same problem at Best Buy, so I predict that this is probably going to generate more losses than gains to the company on the long run. I had been buying several appliances a year for several rental residences I manage and computer equipment for my business, but will no longer buy from Best Buy.
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