Best Buy Holding Wii's

[rajputwarrior]

If you?re looking for a Nintendo Wii, Best Buy has them but refuses to sell them. Being a previous employee of Best Buy, I know how their inventory system works. I know Best Buy likes to hold new systems to make sure they?re able to sell them with the proper accessories and warranties. We all heard the stories of Best Buy forcing customers to buy bundles of the Xbox 360 last year. They were sued and many employees were fired. Best Buy has come out and said they have changed. THEY HAVE NOT. Let me tell you why!

I went into my local Best Buy today. It is Best Buy store #153 which can be reached at phone number (513)671-4305 They are located in Springdale, Ohio. I went to inquire about their next shipment of Wii?s. I approached the employee in Media and asked him if they knew when they were getting or if they already had Wii?s on order. He proceeded to tell me that they had no idea when they were getting them in, they were not able to check that kind of information. I informed him that I used to work with Best Buy and have an understanding of how their inventory system. He consistently assured me that he could not check and they had no idea of when they were getting them in. I informed him again of how I know Best Buy works and I guaranteed him that they were holding them for ?Black Friday? on purpose. I told him Best Buy was more concerned about accessory and warranty sales because that is where they make their money. He just started laughing and assured me he knew nothing about the Wii?s coming in (Best Buy is now telling employees to purposely lie to customers). I asked him to look up on the computer and physically show me that there were none on order. I told him I wanted to see for myself that they had none. He started to stutter and acted like he did not know what on order was. He told me the system was not capable of checking that kind of information. He told me again he did not know and asked if I would like to speak to a Manager. I informed him I would.

While he was trying to find me one I talked to an old friend who is a current employee of Best Buy. He graciously and honestly told me that he just pulled 30 Wii?s off the truck, but Best Buy was intentionally holding them for the add and for ?Black Friday.? He said there was no way that he could get me one. I understood and was glad he was able to tell the truth. We continued to talk about Best Buy until the General Manager and Ops Manager came up to me.

I asked the GM why they were holding they were intentionally holding the Wii?s. He first started to tell me that he is not holding anything and that they do not have any. I nicely informed him that I used to work for Best Buy and understood how Best Buy worked. He told me ?We are not the old Best Buy anymore?. He then went on to tell me that he did have them in and he is holding them till Sunday with a minimum qty of 12. So, they?re not the same company anymore but yet he lied and just went back on his statement of not having any in. He told me that they only have 12 and will not be selling them till Sunday. He just lied again because they have 30, so where are the extra 18 going? I assume they?re going to be selling them on Friday and heavily pushing Wii accessory and prp?s for the systems. Best Buy has not changed and still believes in deceiving the customer. I understand this system is a hot commodity but to intentionally lie to me 3 times in one conversation is unacceptable. This was coming from a General Manger who I guess believes in deceiving customers. So what I have I learned from this Experience today:

1) Best Buy?s have already received their second shipments of Wii?s, but refuse to sell.

2. Employees are being told to lie to customers about any Wii related shipments.

3. Best Buy has not changed their practices and still believes in deceiving paying customers.

4. Best Buy will have a minimum of 18 Wii?s for ?Black Friday? and 12 for Sunday.

5. Upper Management will lie right to your face about any information regarding the Wii?s, but they will then go back on that statement but then lie again about actual qty.

Best Buy has not changed their practices and will not until their practices are brought out into the open. I understand a company needs to make money, but it does not need to lie to get there.

http://toddcox.com/wordpress/nfblog/

it's true, i work for futureshop and it's the same thing up here

Edited November 22, 2006 by bangbang023

[Astra.Xtreme]

um... so you think they would arrive the second they go on sale? no...

and if he did say yes, what difference does it make? yes or no, you wont get one. big deal

[Simon Veteran]

I want my caps lock back!

Interesting topic nonetheless.

EDIT: After reading the comments, it makes business sense for sure. This guy is making a bigger deal of it than it really is.

Edited November 22, 2006 by simon360

[lukeangel]

That's strange. Our store doesn't have that problem. We are not getting any Wii's and we have no wii accessories. lol. so if we were holding them it woldn't matter. We don't even have a Wii section at this time. We have a PS3, but it has 2 games on it! LoL! So its not true all over Best Buy. Some stores just honestly don't have them.

[Bawx]

Is it against the law to hold items until you want to sell them?

[deck]

Having worked at Best Buy (Canada), this concept is not foreign to me. It's called Quarantine, and is common practice among all retailers to hold stock for an event. It's legal and makes smart business sense. Officially, products on Quarantine aren't in stock. Staff can either tell the customer 'we have them, but they are on quarantine' which the customer (and the former BB employee) won't understand. Or staff can tell them the 'lie' of not having the product.

Unfortunately, products on Quarantine can't be sold. They do not exist, for all intent and purposes, much like a secret agent doesn't exist if he gets caught. Many times these consignments of product are special from the manufacturer, with the specific intent and instruction to sell on a particular day. In the case of the US, it's 'Black Friday' which comes before christmas. In Canada it's 'Boxing Day' which comes the day after christmas. The concepts of both days are the same. Stores want to clear their stock. And virtually every advertised sale item, which is advertised with a minimum or maximum quantity, is Quarantined for the event. Sadly, a high demand product like the Wii, or even a computer that will drop to 400$ will sell very quickly - so its difficult to maintain stock for these items and further drive sales.

Not everyone understands the concept of supply and demand, nor do they understand the concept of driving sales - but this practice is legit and normal.

Furthermore, stores are not obliged to sell the products they have in stock. They have the right to restrict sale as much as a customer has the right to go somewhere else. By keeping stock off the floor, they are not enticing people to come in and then turn them away or pull a bait and switch. They are simply holding the stock for a specified moment.

Consider this; stores were receiving the PS3 and Wii up to several days before launch. When I worked at BB we got our Xbox 360s almost a week before they were to go on sale. We could not sell them. Obviously, in that case it's because the product had not officially launched - but the concept is the same. The same rules apply, often time, like I said before, with the blessing or even order of the manufacturer.

[Shof]

In a way, i agree with best buy waiting til friday

[Marshalus Veteran]

Yeah, I used to work for Target but I don't go into Target and demand to know how many Wii they have in stock. What a cry baby.

[Nashy]

Whinging console nerds **** me off. Best Buy doesn't have to sell stock if they don't want to.

[giantpotato]

I was at Best Buy when the PS3 launched, basically, after a bunch of people got their PS3's then there were two people in front of me and two 20GB PS3's left. The clerk tells me he's sorry, but there's no more PS3's left. So then I see the two guys go into a back room with the 2 remaining PS3's, so I ask the clerk what's going on and he says they want to exchange the 20GB versions for the 60GB versions. I asked him to explain what the hell he was talking about since I understood that there were only two 20GB models remaining and he replied "It's complicated, I can't explain it now". I guess it all make sense now, those bastards were holding out and had some 60GB models in the back, but wouldn't sell them.

[strotee]

If your life is so empty that not having a Wii is the most dramatic event in your life, then you live a pretty slack life. This isn't like insulin being denied to diabetics, it's a game system. You can wait a little longer.

[oldaccount1]

Lol definitely not Best Buy's fault...if they don't want to give out info, they don't have to.

[Krux]

I work for Best Buy as a DA, if he had a complaint about the store and he did actually work there then he would have known to report the store to corp. He would have also known that even though BBY gets product in it doesn?t mean it?s available for purchase. More than likely they would have said it?s our right to hold these products tell we decide to sell it.

I mean after all BESTBUY did have to buy the product they are there?s if they choose to sell it they can if they choose to keep it and take a hit on it they can.

In any case this noob needs a black eye and to shut up.

[badazzEVO8]

this guy sounds like a disgruntled ex-employee to me lmao. some cheese with that whine man?

waaa waaaa i cant play with my wiiiiiiiii wiiiiiii :pacifier:

[CY:G]

So when does canada get more???

[Neo003]

Welcome to life, I guess. Best Buy is not the only place they use this practice, all business are there to screw the customer. Once you become a manager or owner you will know what it takes to make money. They are there to make profit anyway they can. They are being paid for that, your salary comes out from that money.

[Ironman273]

Here, let me turn it around for you. As a corporation, Black Friday is of very high importance. They have planned ads months in advance. Those ads have specials that they legally need to have in the store. They cannot advertise something they don't have. So if they now they have an ad coming out for Black Friday, they have to put how many at least they will have available (check the Black Friday ads on the internet, you'll see quantities). In other words, and as many people have already pointed out, they have to hold the units so they can legally comply with their ads. It would cause a lot more commotion if they told every Joe Customer that they have them but can't sell them.

[Slimy]

I agree they have the right to keep the products and sell them whenever the hell they want, but lying to the customer? :no:

WOW, it's been over an hour and the thread title still hasn't been edited!

[Lexcyn]

The Wal-Mart in our local area was forcing people to purchase 4 games with the Wii and they were never told before entering after waiting for 12 hours outside in the cold ... that my friends is extortion. :(

[Cole]

I've never liked Best Buy, especially after they broke my iPod and refused to refund me for breaking it.

On saturday, I asked them how many PS3's they would be getting in in the next weeks to months. They said and I quote "We'll be getting some in almost daily". I went on the corresponding monday (yesterday) to try to get more info, possibly to pick one up. I asked them and they said "We're not sure, we think we'll be getting in another shipment around mid-March."

[Hankyone]

So when does canada get more???

Friday

[rmorris003]

i used to work for future shop till january and i too can verify this, this any many more corruption is why i left

[Toology]

I could understand anger over being forced into buying a bundled system but not this. It's clear that they didn't want to disclose information about when they would be selling the new shipment. They could've said that they didn't know (and lie) or say that they knew but couldn't tell you (and p*ss you off). Either way the fact that you're not going to be getting a Wii for at least a few days isn't going to change. Even if you just live in America you know to watch out for sick deals and new shipments come the Friday after Thanksgiving.

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

I don't see a problem with holding the Wii's until Friday. I don't see a problem with lying to the customer either.

The fact is, if they told them "Yes, we have Wii's in stock, but we can't sell them until Friday", some customers would bitch endlessly until they gave them a Wii.

Though I think it would have been smarter just to say "We'll be receiving a shipment on Friday", or something to that extent.

[deck]

The Wal-Mart in our local area was forcing people to purchase 4 games with the Wii and they were never told before entering after waiting for 12 hours outside in the cold ... that my friends is extortion. :(

That is illegal. yes.

I've never liked Best Buy, especially after they broke my iPod and refused to refund me for breaking it.

On saturday, I asked them how many PS3's they would be getting in in the next weeks to months. They said and I quote "We'll be getting some in almost daily". I went on the corresponding monday (yesterday) to try to get more info, possibly to pick one up. I asked them and they said "We're not sure, we think we'll be getting in another shipment around mid-March."

Don't hold it against the associate for not knowing. Sony is being deliberately mis informative about the actual numbers of PS3 available. Anyone who reads the web news knows that there will be AT MOST 1 million PS3s in the US/Canada by christmas. That includes the 400,000 that have already been sold. Fact of the matter is, nobody knows when they'll get more. When I worked at BB we knew we were getting it because it arrived on the truck that night. Sometimes we knew earlier in the day when the inventory would say 'in transit'. For the Xbox 360 we had our 10... sold them... got another 5 in a week later... sold them... and that was it for a while.

I don't understand why everyone is complaining about inventory and stores not having the product or being uncertain of their quantities. The people who buy the console at launch, especially with how launches go now, are the dumbest of the gaming crowd - no matter how hard core they are. It's just stupid. And it gets more stupid when people complain because it's not around.

I'm buying the Wii. I'm buying it in January or February. If there aren't any in stock, I'll wait. Check back a week later. If not then, I'll wait longer. Oooh, woe is me.