My wife and I stopped by our local Best Buy (Sherwood Mall in Stockton, CA) earlier today around 7PM local time. We stopped by because Target has a sale on their Ipad mini 16 gig. Target is selling their Ipad mini for $199. Being a Best Buy rewards member, my wife opted to shop at Best Buy so she can earned some points in the process.
After the store associate (don't have her name) gathered the Ipad, case, and screen protector, we proceeded to the check out. My wife gave her the Target ad to show that the sale is legit. However, that was not enough because the associate has to verify if Target has the Ipad mini "in stock" in order to match Target's price. She called the two local Target stores. The first one was on Trinity Parkway. After about 5 minutes of talking to a Target associate and waiting for him/her to check to see if they have it in stock, the Target associate informed her that "there's none in stock". Then the Best Buy associate called the second store on Pacific Avenue and she also got the same reponse after about 5 minutes of waiting. She said it's a Best Buy policy to call and check before price match can proceed.
I let the Best Buy associate know that I understand it's Best Buy policy that requires her to call the competitors and verify things before she can process the price match so I don't blame her for doing her job and following the policy but it's a pretty stupid policy. Just imagine if the store is full of customers waiting to be checked out but the associates are too busy calling the competitors to see if they have the product in stock or not. I've done low price guarantee with Autozone, Cyclegear, Fry's Electronics, and other stores in the past, and none of those stores call the competitors to see if they have the product was in stock or not. The legit newspaper ad was sufficient enough in most cases.
I just think it's very inefficient doing it Best Buy's way especially when it's busy and the associates are loosing that 10-15 minutes verifying with the competitors whether they have the product in stock or not.
Anyways, we left Best Buy empty handed after spending a total of 30 minutes in there. Out of curiousity, my wife used her Iphone to see if she can order the Ipad mini online through Target, and as it turned out, the Target store on Trinity Parkway actually has 4 in stock so we drove there, and bought one along with a case and screen protector.
Best Buy should really change their low price guarantee policy if they want to be the "Best" buy because it's inefficient as well as time wasting for the customers (Rewards member or not) by not just matching the price on the ad but instead calling around to see if the competitors have the product in stock or not. As I've said, I've done several price match in the past with other stores and none of them required their competitors to have the product in stock before honoring it. Perhaps it's a new thing? I don't know as this is the first time I've encountered this type of policy. As a result, Best Buy lost some of our business, and one of their competitors received it. If the sale is legit and there's proof, just honor it, period!
Anyways, just want to share with others of how stupid and inefficient the 'calling the competitors to see if they have the product in stock first' before honoring the low price guarantee policy is.