Best Buy price matching scam

So, I am in the market for a new 5D mkiii and have been shopping around for quite a while now looking for that perfect deal. I saw that Best Buy offers price matching on certain web based businesses one of which is Rakuten,com. I see that Rakuten has the camera on sale for 2899.99 and decided that if Best Buy would match as they say they would that I would pull the trigger. I go to the store with all the printed webpages showing the price and they begin to ring up the deal....until a manager needs to sign off on it. He says that the item is actually coming from some other business that is linking to Rakuten and therefore they will not honor the price match. So, I say, show me ANYTHING that is listed on the Rakuten website that is coming from Rakuten.....he proceeds to search for 1/2 hour and can't find a single item that fits the criteria he says needs to be eligible for their price match guarantee. So I say you need to match the price because you list Rakuten as an eligible site and everything on that site is listed in the same manner as the camera I am interested in. He says sorry and walks away.
I leave the store PISSED OFF for wasting my time and head home to call the corporate office to find out why they won't do what they say they will. I get the same lame excuse from the broad I talked to on the phone, after she says that she can help me get the price match. She does the same deal trying to find something that is sold by Rakuten and not some other dealer advertising through their website....no luck for her either! I finish my 2 hour total ordeal with nothing to show for my time spent arguing with the store manager and the witch on the phone......I am done shopping at this store!

Get it digital lists it for $2800, but I'd imagine their a typical "bait and switch" N.Y. scammer.

You're definitely best off going with a trusted retailer and using a credit card. There's a reason that every legitimate retailer charges the same price, it's because the only way to make money selling it for less is to be less-than-legitimate.

Is Rakuten grey market? If not, why not just buy it from them if they have the price you like?

Best Buy's written price match guarantee clearly states that their policy does not apply to "the online prices of products shipped from or sold by third party vendors (Marketplace vendors) on designated major online retailers websites."

http://www.bestbuy.com …0.c?id=pcmcat29​7300050000

The error in your ways began with " I go to the store with all the printed webpages". Stay away from their stores. I haven't been in one in over 8 years, when I tried to return something (unopened) and they hassled me. They did the return, I walked out and never went back.

JasonMK wrote in post #16776921
Is Rakuten grey market? If not, why not just buy it from them if they have the price you like?

That is the ultimate question...I figured I might be rolling the dice going through Rakuten and I knew Best Buy would be american, so I figured paying the tax would be worth it to know what I would be getting.

rick_reno wrote in post #16777205
The error in your ways began with " I go to the store with all the printed webpages". Stay away from their stores. I haven't been in one in over 8 years, when I tried to return something (unopened) and they hassled me. They did the return, I walked out and never went back.

About 10 years ago, I worked at a Best Buy for a couple of months and that was a horrible idea. I've never shopped there since. Most of the sales people know nothing, the management was horrible and they constantly try to get over on the customers with their returns process and up-sell tactics.

I tried their price match once and it worked out well for me. But it was only for a $20 I believe. It was for the Canon 40MM which was on sale on Amazon Prime which they guy asked if it was prime and he looked it up and priced match it without any issues.

But there have been some messed up stories from them so I do not shop there much unless that is the only place that has it. I remember a story similar where it was for the exact same product but different item #, I believe every number was the same but BB put like an extra letter at the end and they wouldn't price match.

I really do want to support brick and motor store but BB ruins its. I do go to gamestop for gaming stuff, local photography store for photography needs and target for everything else.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #16776770
Get it digital lists it for $2800, but I'd imagine their a typical "bait and switch" N.Y. scammer.

GetItDigital is actually one of the more reputable unauthorized dealers out there (at least if bought through their eBay portal).

They're also quite upfront about stating whether or not their item is USA Model or Grey Market, which is more than I can say about many other unauthorized dealers...

But because they are not an authorized dealer it will be difficult to find any store to match their price.

Sorry, I side with the Best Buy manager. Says right on the page it is sold by Sunset Electronics, which is not a major retailer, legitimate Best Buy competitor, or an authorized dealer:

Sorry for your trouble, I to do not buy from BB anymore either with the only exception being a 75" TV I bought this past Jan. Fry's Electronics Advertised the set for $1999. They are 50 miles from me so I trotted into the local BB to see if they had the same TV. They did so I asked for a price match. The young gal looked at my phone I had ready with the Ad. She went to a computer and logged into Fry's site to find the TV, Oh dear she said, its sold out - Can't Match. I asked her nicely to check another location that was 92 miles away, they had the set available. Like you, here comes the Manager. He logged on to another computer and spent 20 minutes looking for a reason not to do the match. In the end he gave up and I got the TV for $900 less than BB's current sale price of $2899. In my case it worked out, but I am sure that was the exception not the rule.

Intriguing to see how much time and effort tge op went to in a attempting to spend his money at a specific store. I'm not sure I would put that much effort attempting to force a store to take my money.
When enough customers walk their money right past a store.....well, we can all figure out the moral of this story......
Best of luck

I believe the only high priced item I have bought from BB was my TV and camera because I was able to finance it there with their CC with no interest so I didnt have to take a big hit at once. But I ended up paying it off in like 2 months so it was pointless anyways. But it sounded good at that time.

And the only other thing I have bought from them in the past 3-4 months was just a 40mm since it was local on saturday and they priced matched.

As I remember it the price matching thing is a preferred call in only. The people at the store will do everything they can NOT to give it to you. I've been down that road. Call them on the phone and push the issue... but you must play by the rules. They will match B&H and Adorama.