Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.
Company spokesman Justin Barber, who in early February denied the existence of the internal website that could be accessed only by employees, says his company is "cooperating fully" with the state attorney general's investigation.
Barber insists that the company never intended to mislead customers.
The State Attorney General, Blumenthal, ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after the news column disclosed the website and showed how employees at 2 Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com. The Attorney General said that Best Buy has confirmed to his office the existence of the intranet site, and so far failed to give clear answers about its purpose and use.
The Attorney General said that Their answers are less then crystal clear. And their responses raise more questions.
Based on what his office learned, Blumenthal said, it appears the consumer has the burden of telling Best Buy sales people about the cheaper price on its Internet site, which he said "is troubling."
But even when you tell a salesperson of the Internet price, customers have been shown the intranet site, which looks identical to the Internet site, but does not always show the lowest price.
They are trying to figure out the real motivation behind the intranet site and whether sales people are encouraged to use it to cheat customers.
So, who else thinks Best Buy is evil. So much has come to light about their business practices lately, that I think they are going to be in real trouble soon unless they clean up their act.
