Best Buy Sued for Price Match Denial Policy

Internal Best Buy documents point to shady anti-price matching policies.

Ever been to Best Buy armed with a competitor’s ad in hopes of getting a better price, only to be shot down by a barrage of seemingly inexplicable excuses? If so, you’re not alone.

The U.S. District Court has granted a motion to allow plaintiff Thomas Jermyn and any similarly situated NY State residents to enter into a class action lawsuit against Best Buy for violating its price match policy, according to HD Guru.

The suit alleges that Best Buy knowingly deceives customers. As noted by the plaintiff, Best Buy uses its “price match guarantee policy as a ploy, to lure unsuspecting consumers into its stores and to induce them to purchase its merchandise, while allegedly having an undisclosed ‘Anti-Price Matching Policy,’ pursuant to which employees aggressively deny customers’ legitimate price match requests.”

According to the report, the decision to grant the suit class action status was based on Best Buy internal documents, depositions of current employees and declarations by two former employees.

Some of the evidence supposedly included an “Anti-Price Match Policy” which was distributed to regional managers, store managers, assistant managers, and necessary store personnel. Perhaps most striking of all was the point that alleged that Best Buy provided financial bonuses on denying proper price match requests.

A Best Buy representative responded to questions regarding its policies, saying, “We encourage customers to become familiar with our price-matching policy and use it to their advantage, especially in these tough economic times.” The representative also added that customers who believe they’ve met the applicable criteria and are unable to price match at their local Best Buy store should contact the Customer Care Center.