Best Buy Plots Against Price Match Guarantee - BITTER

Jacqui Cheng at ars technica reported yesterday that a class action suit has been filed in the state of New York against Best Buy "alleging false advertising and deceptive practices" relating to its fullfillment policy on the "price match guarantee". This guarantee reads as follows from the Best Buy website:

BestBuy.com Price Matching/Price Guarantee

If you've made a BestBuy.com purchase and discover a lower price offered on our Web site or at a Best Buy store on the same available brand and model, let us know and we'll match that price on the spot, tax included.

Exclusions:
The BestBuy.com Price Guarantee does not apply to competitors' offers; third-party offers; online auction sites; shipping charges; clearance, Outlet Center and open-box items (when price matching with a Best Buy store); items for sale November 27th through 29th, 2008; special offers or promotions such as mail-in incentives, gift-with-purchase and financing offers; services such as installation; or typographical errors. Best Buy stores in Puerto Rico have their own price match policy.

Apparently, an internal Best Buy e-mail was used in the court filing detailing examples of how employees should try to not honor the policy. You can read exerpts on the ars technica site.

Anyway, I am not surprised by this lawsuit in the slightest. I have tried to price match at Best Buy in the past and indeed been met by these excuses and walked away without the policy being enforced. Of course, when the policy was first enacted, I price matched many times successfully. I think a lot of people were doing it and management likely decided to start trying the tactics described in the lawsuit.

The mistake that Best Buy makes on a daily basis is that they use their customer service policy as a marketing campaign with no plan to follow through. Not good, especially when their biggest competitor just went out of business. And that doesn't mean Best Buy can get comfortable because stores like Walmart are jumping right into the ring in home electronics.

Best Buy, for my own personal experiences that seem to jive with the allegations in this lawsuit, you earn a BITTER.

Zappos.com - BETTER

My wife has ordered shoes from Zappos.com in the past and I never heard of any problems, but I'd never actually ordered anything myself.

So this past week I had a big professional event to attend in New York. The one thing I realized with just a few days to go was that I really needed to get a new pair of shoes. I was literally getting ready to go out and hit Macy's when my wife said I should just go on to Zappos' website. She told me they always give overnight shipping and I would have the shoes on time.

I went to the website and it is pretty easy to use. They have great filters by size, color, style, and others that really narrow down the options for you. They also make it very clear that they have a "free returns" policy to break down that barrier of fear most people would have buying shoes they have not tried on. I was a bit nervouse myself since my shoes are a 10 1/2 but my sneakers are 11 1/2.

I actually found 2 pairs of shoes I liked and ordered them both. The shipping said it could be 5 days or so, but again my wife reassured me. I figured I would get both, see which one I liked once I had them, and I'd send the 2nd pair back.

Sure enough, I did get the shoes the next day. I picked a pair, which I actually think I owned once before, and everything worked out.

Zappos.com, for having the foresight to break down barriers for customers and allowing them to essentially mimic the in-store experience in their living rooms, you get a BETTER.