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Is Best Buy 'Murfing' Its Customers?

by Warren Riddle on March 18, 2009 at 05:44 PM


As Office Depot and Best Buy attempt to one-up each other in their ongoing war against the American consumer, one brave shopper recently infiltrated enemy lines and performed a little undercover espionage of the latter big box store. The honorable HD Guru (disguised as an average citizen looking for a new Panasonic HDTV) recently went to Best Buy with high hopes of uncovering the truth about the retail giant's price-matching policy.

Not to be outdone by Office Depot's myriad misleading of customers (including lying about stock availability and changing computer price tags), Best Buy allegedly encourages its employees to refuse to match competitors' prices with a tactic known as "murfing." To perform his reconnaissance, Mr. Guru cased three Best Buy locations in the New York area and asked employees at each store to match a competitor's price for the TV, listed at $700 less than the Best Buy price. Salespeople at each location refused, citing nonexistent policy exemptions. At the final location, the incognito blogger asked to look at the store policy sheet, which they are legally obligated to display. After not finding proof of any such exemption clauses, the Guru challenged the store manager who relented and begrudgingly agreed to match the price.

In these situations, HD Guru suggests that shoppers always demand to see a manager, as well as the store's policy sheet. To further aid potential Best Buy patrons, he also provides some helpful do's and don't's for comparison shoppers, as well as some tips about how to protect oneself against murfing. Study his strategy here so you can join the crusade and help him stick it to scammy salesfolks everywhere. [From: HD Guru]

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Tags: best buy, BestBuy, business, comparison shopping, ComparisonShopping, customer service, CustomerService, murfing, office depot, OfficeDepot, price matching, PriceMatching, recession, retail, sales, shopping

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