Is Best Buy just using good business sense or are they being mean?Yesterday their web site listed a 52-inch Samsung HDTV for only $9.99. That's three dollars off of the regular $12.99 price! Well, no, it's actually $1600.00 off of the regular price. It was a typo, obviously, but several people did order the TV at that price (some even ordered two) before it was taken down. But Best Buy says it's not going to let those orders stand.
So, are they doing the right thing? Sure, they would have lost a ton of money (especially bad in this economy), but should they honor the price at least for the people who did order it before the offer was stopped, as a show of good will? Maybe customers would appreciate it and shop there again.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-13-2009 @ 2:37PM
kef said...
Is this a joke? Of course they do not have to honor it. Good will? Thats crazy. You make it sound like they promised a $1,000 donation to a charity then gave them $1. All they did was make a typo on their site and people, who obviously knew it was a typo, tried to take advantage.
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8-13-2009 @ 2:40PM
ReddBaron said...
Amazon did a similar thing last fall. They offered a 50-inch TV for $32 plus shipping, and then reneged when it came time to fill the orders.
8-13-2009 @ 2:42PM
CParis said...
They should honor the $9.99 price for those who placed orders (and have the online receipt) before BestBuy caught the mistake.
Then, BestBuy should demote or fire the team responsible for the copy error - sorry folks, Spellcheck is not a substitute for a professional proofreader.
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8-13-2009 @ 2:56PM
Jack said...
That's not reasonable given how fast word on the internet travels. There was a person over at SlickDeals saying that they ordered 999 of them.
Best Buy stands to lose 1.5 million dollars just on this one guy's order alone.
8-13-2009 @ 3:00PM
Greg said...
How'd you like your job to depend on whether or not you make a single typo? I agree with Kef 100%. People know it's a typo when they order it, and they're just taking advantage. Companies could go out of business if they had to honor obvious typo's like that.
8-13-2009 @ 2:47PM
Fuzzyfreaker said...
It is a difficult situation, but I do think that Best Buy should hold up their offer. These consumers were obviously taking advantage of an unfortunate situation, but still, this situation was solely the responsibility of Best Buy. It is never the consumer's fault if a company screws up, no matter how well aware of the situation when the consumer purchases it.
Best Buy shouldn't honor the deal because of goodwill, but because they listed a product, people purchased it, and they must fulfill their orders to their consumers.
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8-13-2009 @ 2:54PM
JPN said...
I'm sorry but if you're buying a TV at $9.99 you know it's a mistake. They also have language on their site that they can cancel an order after you've paid.
Let's be reasonable, people...use common sense...so if they accidentally billed everyone $99,999.99 for the TVs, you should have to pay it? Somehow people thinks it only works in one direction...
8-13-2009 @ 3:05PM
Fuzzyfreaker said...
And I fully understand this. Everybody knows that nearly all the people who purchased this product were well aware that it was a glitch. Still, Best Buy offered a product at a price, mistake or not, and the company should honor the price that they listed, no matter whether the people knew it was a mistake or not.
And I agree, if some nutjob decided to buy a TV that was mis-listed for $90,000, he should have to honor that too. I fully understand where you are coming from, and I completely get the reasons behind your opinion, but I still believe that purchasing an item enters you into a contract with the company, and that the company should honor the price that was quoted to you. It's one of the dangers of purchasing items on the internet, and it affects both retailers, and consumers.
8-13-2009 @ 3:13PM
Gill said...
Your argument holds no weight, that same contract you want them to stick to includes provisions for just this instance. Best Buy is invoking their contractual right to negate the sales.
8-13-2009 @ 2:54PM
Fallenone23 said...
I don't think that they are required to honer that price. If anyone really thought that was a special deal, I've got some land to sell ya on the moon. CHEAP. It was an obvious oversite and error and instead of someone reporting it or trying to confirm the price, people decide to try and order 1 or 2 TV for 9.99 and then want to call foul cause they can't get it at that price.
They place disclaimers on the website that say they can void any order for any reason, they do this because mistakes happens and they need to be able to correct them to sell products at the right price to make money and operate. I don't think anyone would want to write off the TV's that run 1600 for 9.99 just to call it customer satisfaction.
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8-13-2009 @ 3:00PM
amazo said...
they should just give everyone that ordered a chance to buy the tv at a low, but more reasonable price when it comes to 50" flat screen tv's.
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8-13-2009 @ 3:02PM
Greg said...
I don't think Best Buy owes anything at all to the people that ordered @ $9.99. Those people knew very well they were trying to snow Best Buy, so why should they be rewarded for it?
8-14-2009 @ 10:57AM
wulfn1 said...
I was thinking the same thing initially (coupon or special price) but the more I read, the more I realize that the whole thing should not be an issue. although some states do require a store to sell for whatever price is posted if a customer manages to find a mistake on their shelves (thats an in store thing) in which case the one customer is allowed one item at that incorrect price and must pay full price for any subsequent product they purchase , and the correct price is immediately posted for the item to prevent it happening again.
That rule DOES NOT apply to advertising . In fact many stores print retractions in store for items that were incorrectly advertised in their ads. Thus not having to "honor" an incorrect price or item displayed in an ad that was printed off site by a company other than the corporation that is advertising the item. Basically, the store cannot be held responsible for the advertisers mistake.
but I do agree a nice "good will" style coupon would go far to bring more people into their store when paychecks are slim and prices are fat.
8-13-2009 @ 3:00PM
Ed Venture said...
It's happened before, it'll happen again. The deal never gets honored.
Nothing to see here, move along.
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8-13-2009 @ 3:03PM
Craig said...
Best Buy is a giant company that could easily absorb the loss on these TVs. Should they? No. They made a mistake and the people that are trying to take advantage of it are no better than someone who walks into a Best Buy warehouse and takes a TV because an employee made a mistake and left the door ajar. I might have some more sympathy for these people if they had traveled to the store on word of the deal, but the only thing they are out is a couple of clicks of the mouse.
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8-13-2009 @ 3:03PM
Vince said...
I ordered one, never expected it to be delivered but it was cool to see the receipt in my Inbox.
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8-13-2009 @ 3:10PM
Gill said...
Yes, the are right.
They are legally right.
They are morally right.
Anyone that thinks otherwise is merely justifying selfish opportunism because its a big name corporation and they have delusions of sticking it to 'the man'.
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8-13-2009 @ 3:13PM
Butters said...
This happens nearly every day at various online stores. If you visit slickdeals or fatwallet then you will know that if it is a legitimate typographical error then the store will not honor the price.
This is a non-story.
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8-13-2009 @ 3:32PM
Hank Shiffman said...
I can't believe anyone thinks a company is obligated in any way to pay for an obvious mistake, especially one that would be so costly to fulfill. I hope to get what I pay for; heck, I insist on it. But if a deal isn't equitable to both sides, it's no deal.
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8-13-2009 @ 3:27PM
j 2 the b said...
Best Buy should cancel the orders, no questions asked. A typo on a website is
I'm sure if you look at the T&C's of the site there is some legal mumbo jumbo that says something like "if we screw up on a price, we don;t have to honor the order".
And if you ordered one, and thought you were getting one over on BB, then shame on you.
If you are following someone down the street and you see $20 fall out of their pocket, do you pick it up and pretend it never happened, or do you get their attention and give them their money back. How you handle a situation like that says alot about your character.
Not a fan of BB at all, but I agree with the majority of the other commenters, this is a non story.
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