I went to 2 Best Buy stores nearby listed on the website as having it in stock– neither one did and the sales staff tried to ‘upsell’ me to another model. But I needed the specific model so I left in each case.

 Finally, at a third store, I was also told that they were out of stock. But while browsing around, I found a laundry crate filled models of the calculator I wanted left outside a stockroom door. I happily picked one out of the crate and brought it to the register.

At the register, it rang up at retail price. So I argued that it was advertised online on sale. We got a manager involved who took me to a computer terminal and showed me what was allegedly the bestbuy website listing the calculator at the full price. He told me that I must be mistaken. Grudgingly, I bought the calculator because I was out of time.

When I got home this evening, I went to bestbuy.com. And guess what: the website listed it at the sale price! Surfing the web I found that they pulled this same bait and switch trick in connecticut. Tomorrow I’m going back with my receipt and a copy of the web page and demanding my discount. If they don’t give it I’m filing a complaint with my state attorney general’s office.

James S.: this isn’t just caveat emptor, it fraud.

But I directly witnessed a genuine (and grossly illegal) act of bait & switch at my local BestBuy store a few months back.

I was hidden from view trying to do a price comparison of items near the digital camera. A customer arrived at the counter with a BestBuy circular in her hand and asked to see a certain camera advertised on sale. The sales girl (who had a trainee with her) directed her to the display model of the camera. The display model was in terrible shape– the lcd screen was broken off, it was dented and dinged and wasn’t plugged in to the power supply. The customer asked if it could be plugged in so she could check it out, but the sales girl told her that it was broken. She went on to say that it wasn’t a reliable product– that many customers returned it. She then directed the customer over to another (much higher priced model) and told her that most customers bought the higher priced one instead and were very satisfied.

Undeterred, the customer said that the advertised camera had been highly recommended by someone she trusted, and she wanted to buy it anyway. The sales girl went down into the glass display case, and after poking around a bit, announced that they had no more of the on-sale camera in stock. She then reiterated that the customer should consider the other, higher-priced model. The customer left.

The trainee stood there quietly during the exchange, but after the customer left, confronted the sales girl. On the store manager’s instructions, before the store opened, the trainee moved 6 boxes of the on-sale camera out of the glass display case and locked them away in an opaque storage bin. The sales girl told her that she wasn’t allowed to sell the on-sale camera– and that it happens all the time.