Best Buy Sued in Connecticut for Allegedly Deceiving Customers

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has filed a lawsuit against Best Buy Co. Inc., for allegedly overcharging customers through an in-store computer kiosk and a lookalike BestBuy.com Web site, The Associated Press reports.

According to the suit, the retailer has an internal site that looks very similar to BestBuy.com, and when customers came into the store to take advantage of low prices found on the external Web site, the kiosk and internal site (with higher prices for the same items) was used to deceive customers and ultimately deny them the online deal.

Blumenthal, who calls the action, "the worst deal - a bait-and-switch-plus scheme," has given Best Buy until June 13 to respond to the claim in court, and is seeking civil penalties and refunds for customers.

Best Buy says the allegations are without merit, and argues that it uses a similar format and layout to BestBuy.com on the in-store kiosks to, "ensure that customers familiar with the national Web site could easily navigate the in-store kiosk." Additionally, the company acknowledged that a small percentage of customers did not receive the best prices but that the store's policies have since changed and they are working to eliminate future confusion.

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Comments

[Willis]

It seems they also have the ability to spoof common sites like wal-marts. I bought 2 simpsons series dvds for $39.99 each. Then 4 days later I found them at wal-mart for 19.99 each. No big deal I just went to wal-mart & got a "printout" recipt from the CS desk. Best buy agreed of do a price match.
After several trips to the store best buy refused to honor wal-mart's $19.99 price & instead pulled up some site that showed it at $37.88 & not 19.99. It looked like wal-marts site but I'm not sure if it was. Anyway they never honored my pricematch gaurantee. I demandad that they do so or they'd loose a customer. Then I cut up my Best Buy credit card right on the customer service desk in front of all the other customers. To make matters worse I missed a payment on the card & ended up being charged $55 in fees on a $109 purchase. This has done it for me! I refuse to set foot in Best Buy Again!