Finally found & purchased an 18-200 VR

Hi,

I was walking through Best Buy the other day and just for the heck of it decide to ask one of the sales associates/burger flipers if they had an 18-200VR. He went over to the glass case where they had a tag for one, showing their ridiculous $899.00 price, but there was no lens to be seen. The associate looked at me and said proudly "Nope we ain't got one". "Well is it possible there is one in the cabinet below that has not been put on display yet?" "Nope everything we got is right here", "So if I wanted to buy that Canon lens I buy the one out of the case?" "Nope I get one from under there.", "So it is possible there could be an 18-200 in there?", "Uh I guess."

He opened the cabinet and there it was in all its glory! I asked him to put a hold on it for a few minutes while I ran to the bank. I was so mad at the egregious price gouging I went out to my car in the parking lot and called my salesman at the local camera shop where I always buy from. He knows I've had one on order for 8 months and feels really badly that they could not get one for me so he went along with my plan. I explained my situation and told him how much they were asking and he got angry too. He knew without asking what I needed him to do and he even offerd me a substantial "discount". Now he did not sel it to me below cost but it was a very good deal! I went back into Best Buy and told the guy I'd take the lens but that I had just called my local camera shop and their price was significantly less and I wanted a price match. I purposely did not tell him how much they quoted me I figured I'd let their competitor do that for me. In a very condecending tone he said "Well I'll have to call them to confirm but nobody beats Best Buy!", "Sure no problem their number is in the phone book", I stood a few feet away pretending to look at Play Stations & when he got a funny look on his face I knew I had succeded!! Price gougers like Best Buy get what they deserve! Their own policy thrown in their face!

way to go!

I was just at my local BB and couldn't find an 18-200 in stock...but I wouldnt' buy, I like my Sigma.
--

Nikon D50
Nikkor 80-200mm 2.8 ED-D
Nikkor 50mm 1.8
Sigma 18-200 DC
Tokina 100-300 AT-X

How exactly are places like BB and CC price gouging?
--
If you like what I can do with cards, wait til you see what I do with the limes.

I'm glad you paid the right price.

I'm only recently begun waiting for a 18-200mm VR too, but I'm fine with my current lenses until that lens become more available and affordable.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elijahdesign/
http://www.elijahbrandon.blogspot.com

This is one of the most disgusting examples of abusive FRAUDULENT behavior I have seen.

Your salesman "buddy" allegedly being surprised at what BB charges means he is clueless and probably was selling dishwashers 6 months ago. BB has that lens in stock at that price pretty regularly. The markup relative to places like B&H is pretty standard for them across their entire line-up of Nikkor lenses. I don't see you or anyone else complaining about BB charging $2200 for the 70-200 VR or $1300 for the D80, when they can be had for 30% less elsewhere.

Charging what the market will bear for a non-essential item is not price gouging - it is a perfectly valid business practice that works well most of the time. You are supplying product in short demand to customers who really want it.

One queston: do you like to pay $200 over MSRP for your lenses?

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elijahdesign/
http://www.elijahbrandon.blogspot.com

ElijahDesign said:

One queston: do you like to pay $200 over MSRP for your lenses?

Click to expand...

This is not the point. Nobody who works for a living likes to pay more than they absolutely have to for a product. But the price is what the price is. You vote with your wallet. If you don't like the price, don't buy the product. A high price is no excuse for unethical behavior.

First off I did NOTHING wrong! Second it's Best Buy policy to have the BEST price and they did not. Do you think it's ok for a large company with the muscle power of a Wal*Mart or Best Buy to use their purchasing power to take product from mom and pop stores? This is something they have been doing for a long time with lots of products not just lenses. How did BB have 18-200's when even B&H did not? Do you think it's ok that Best Buy plasters their walls with signs proclaiming the guaranteed best price and then charges $150.00 more than the suggested list price! Using your own quote here, is this not an example of, "one of the most disgusting examples of abusive FRAUDULENT behavior". Best Buy KNOWS they don't have the lowest price yet they plaster it all over the store misleading customers every day tricking them into thinking they don't need to actually check prices elsewhere!

There are four mom and pop photo shops in my city and none of them has been getting more than one or two 18-200's a month, if that, yet Best Buy seems to have them? I am currently #3 on the list at my local shop and when Best Buy called them they did have an 18-200VR in stock it just did not have my name on it. The BB guy specifically asked "do you have it in stock?". The guy at my camera shop did NOT lie Best Buy just did not ask the right question if "I" could buy it or not. That's not my problem! I did not actually ask my salesman to mislead Best Buy he just knew their policy after all it's plastered wall to wall in the BB store's. The lens I ordered could be in "any day" if it comes in in the next 30 days would in make you feel better if I return it utilizing yet another on of their policies?

The main reason I purchased the lens at Best Buy was because they stiffed me on one of their warranty scams 4 years ago on a computer so they owe me. To make a long story short I had to involve a lawyer & we eventually won. For most folks who don't have family members who are lawyers Best Buy gets away with misleading and ripping off customers every day. If I actually had to pay for the legal services it would have cost four times the price of the computer. Best Buy knows this and uses it to their advantage. Best Buy is a dishonest company and I feel no regret for making them honor their own policy!

Good on ya dude, I would have done exaclty the same. Best buy were obviously selling the 18-200 at a ridiculous markup to start with. They wouldnt have made a loss on the lens would they, just ignore the trolls in here.

I had a friend who was employed in electronics sales for a short time with Best Buy. They advertise sale items, then purposely short stock them... when you come in to ask about them, they try to bait and switch you to a different, pricier item-- a corporate stratagem/policy.

Wal-mart, among other "big box" retailers. also plays games with pricing. Studies have shown that if you identify a market basket of 100 common consumer purchases and send a shopper into Target and Wal-Mart, the total will be the same-- BUT THE PUBLIC DOES NOT REALIZE THIS. A former Wal-Mart manager explained the electronics strastagem-- they feature some off-brand TV in a stack at the front of the area to get you to look, BUT the typical price of ALL TV's etc. is no great deal really.

Wal-Mart also confuses with bundled prices-- they sell someone 88 rolls of toilet paper, knowing that the unsuspecting party probably cannot claculate that the underlying price per roll is no deal at all.

Note this clever line: Wal-Mart-- Always The Low Price. They do NOT SAY the LOWEST PRICE. They MEAN that they do not put items on advertised sale prices, but you can routinely beat their "low price" on many items if you are attentive.

In most countries, dickering about price is common practice... Best Buy will not be harmed by the example above-- a retailer makes a profit at $650 for the 18-200. The OP simply beat BB at their own shell game. And yes, such chains DO effectively gouge because their bulk buying power assures that they will have some hard-to-get items which they happily and willfully charge what the market will bear.
--
Craig in Ga. (USA)
As you go thru life, don't forget to stop along the way to smell the roses.

You were simply playing their game and this time you won. I don't think Best Buy lost anything on the transaction, their profit margin was a little lower.

My best buy here in Florida doesn't carry many lenses, (unless they are hiding them in a cabinet). I'd love to get a look at a 70-200mmVR. Is there some secret password I have to give the salesperson to see the better lenses?

PC writes:

Yes, tricking for lower price is not my cup of tea but I see nothing is wrong with getting BB to honor their ads "Best price guaranteed" that never is "best price". If store sells over the MSRP, they are gouging.

BB does nothing illegal by over price the products but it is unthetical to have a store policy garantees lowest price that isn't true.

I won't use trick but I just won't buy them at BB.

Paul

YOu summed it up well saying that you won't use tricks but won't buy it at BB.

Best Buy has for years been upgrading their stores in certain markets. The new BB's have Magnolia Hifi's in them, and nearly all new-built BB's will be this way.

My local BB was "upgraded" a couple of years ago. The difference was night and day. Suddenly the sales force became motivated, knowledgeable and helpful. And not at all "hard sell". The quality of their stock improved to.

My buying experiences there have since been nothing but sterling. Most recently I was in there and noticed they had D80's. This was a few weeks ago when NOBODY had them. But... they only had them with the kit lens, which I did not need.

So... standing there... the manager of the photo dept. offers me to remove the kit lens from the box and sell me the body for $999. He then offered to order me the 18-200 for $750 if I took the deal... which I did.

Best Buy is not perfect. They, along with other big boxes, have price protection guarantees for customer loyalty. They are there to be competitive, and it's up to one's personal integrity if they choose to take advantage of these policies, or to exploit and abuse them.

If the OP chooses to exploit, then fine. If many others do it, then you can kiss price protection good bye, along with liberal return policies that are also routinely abused.

And sorry, don't give me the "poor mom and pop" sob story. There are plenty that are well managed and profitable, and don't have to go crying and whining to customers, the media or local governments just because they can't hack it with larger retailers. Maybe they should look into any book on economics. It's call CAPITALISM. If you can swim, get out of the water.

One more thing... BB is NOT Wal-Mart. Don't even go there. Just because Wal-Mart is a pariah doesn't mean that any large retailer is the same.

Your tactics sound a bit unscrupulous to me. I'm all for getting a good price, but not at the expense of moral integrity.
--
Steve

Moral integrity? Uscrupulous? Best Buy is no Wal*Mart no they are worse? Best Buy is the one being dishonest here not me. How come BB can offer to sell you a 18-200VR for $749.00 the going rate at every other legit dealer but they are trying to **** me at $899.00? Right and I'm being unscrupulous because I had them do a price match with a real retailer who will sell me an 18-200 at the price I paid BB?

Perhaps you guys either work for BB or need a dose of reality like the link below. Spend some time reading the customer complaints listed by the month and year and I think you'll have a far better understanding of Best Buys "unscrupulous" behaviour. This stories on BestBuySux.org is why I don't feel bad, unscrupulous or like my moral integrity has been diminished. Get a life and go back to up-selling customers into your "scam" BB warranties so you can get you .50 cent per sale Best Buy bonus.

http://bestbuysux.org/cust.html

You're just justifying your behavior. There is nothing unscrupulous about BB setting a price point for an item. It isn't gouging though...I think that you have a misunderstanding of what 'gouging' actually means.

As far as their policy goes, you didn't pull one over on them at all. They didn't try to cheat you out of the sale either. As far as I'm concernced, BB upheld it's policy and you come on this board and bash their name and reputation. What is it? Are you upset that they sold you the lens? The delivered a product that you went there lookign for. Why drag their name down?

kaibar said:

Moral integrity? Uscrupulous? Best Buy is no Wal*Mart no they are
worse? Best Buy is the one being dishonest here not me. How come BB
can offer to sell you a 18-200VR for $749.00 the going rate at
every other legit dealer but they are trying to **** me at $899.00?
Right and I'm being unscrupulous because I had them do a price
match with a real retailer who will sell me an 18-200 at the price
I paid BB?

Perhaps you guys either work for BB or need a dose of reality like
the link below. Spend some time reading the customer complaints
listed by the month and year and I think you'll have a far better
understanding of Best Buys "unscrupulous" behaviour. This stories
on BestBuySux.org is why I don't feel bad, unscrupulous or like my
moral integrity has been diminished. Get a life and go back to
up-selling customers into your "scam" BB warranties so you can get
you .50 cent per sale Best Buy bonus.

http://bestbuysux.org/cust.html

Click to expand...

--
If you like what I can do with cards, wait til you see what I do with the limes.

kaibar said:

Moral integrity? Uscrupulous? Best Buy is no Wal*Mart no they are
worse? Best Buy is the one being dishonest here not me. How come BB
can offer to sell you a 18-200VR for $749.00 the going rate at
every other legit dealer but they are trying to **** me at $899.00?
Right and I'm being unscrupulous because I had them do a price
match with a real retailer who will sell me an 18-200 at the price
I paid BB?

Perhaps you guys either work for BB or need a dose of reality like
the link below. Spend some time reading the customer complaints
listed by the month and year and I think you'll have a far better
understanding of Best Buys "unscrupulous" behaviour. This stories
on BestBuySux.org is why I don't feel bad, unscrupulous or like my
moral integrity has been diminished. Get a life and go back to
up-selling customers into your "scam" BB warranties so you can get
you .50 cent per sale Best Buy bonus.

http://bestbuysux.org/cust.html

Click to expand...

Dude, it's called bargaining. Ever hear of it? And gee, wasn't that EXACTLY what you did when you pulled your little sly maneuver?

Let's examine the results, shall we? You walked into a store and found a VERY hard to find lens, and then you walk out with it a discount. Good for you, right? But... why the then do you slam the store that gave you what you wanted? Is it really BB's fault that they had it in stock?

...or is it Nikon's. That's it! Nikon is in cahoots with BB, trying to screw the little consumer and small stores by ONLY shipping to large retailers, and then forcing a high price down everybody's throat. Give me a break. Maybe if your friends at the local mom-and-pop had done a better job at selling Nikon gear.... perhaps they could get more stock in to supply their customers.

But... tell you what... let's screw the big guys, big time, since they are such an easy target. They had the lens, and you bent the policy to not only nab the lens, but at a discounted price. And I just loved the way you repay them.

Dance around it all you want, give links to a gripe-and-whine website and hope that the end justifies your mean. Hey, whatever lets you sleep at night....
....

I don't think anyone minds that you got a deal, or even how you went about getting it. But then slamming BB over it was WAY over the line.

BTW, I don't work for BB or have any interest in it's operation.

Nice try, though.

Perhaps you guys missed the point in one of my posts about geting ripped off by Best Buy a few years ago? Before it crosses your mind no I don't feel vindicated for buying a lens for suggested retail! I might feel better when someone else gets one at cost because of reading my post though. If gas was in short supply and the last gas station in town was charging $20.00 per gallon you'd be the first ones screaming of gouging. What is the difference when a lens is in short supply and the only ones that have it gouge you after plastering "we guarantee the best price" in your face?

Back to my gripe with best Buy. Instead of them honoring their own written policies and scam of a warranty they fought it tooth and nail until a court told them they were WRONG. Even retaining a lawyer did not phase Best Buy. They actually thought we'd settle for a used replacement computer, that was a few grades below the one I purchased, so this would never wind up in court. Wrong! It seems there is a very small item in all their warranties that says "at the managers discretion" so read their warranties very, very carefully.

They tried to claim in court that "at the managers discretion" actually over rides everything in the warranty I paid $300.00 for. The judge did not see it that way and ordered Best Buy not just to fix my computer but to replace it with a model equal in price to what I paid for mine just like the warranty read. All I initially wanted was for them to fix it and not replace it but they would not. The manager decided on his own he did not want to fix my computer, because he claimed replacement motherboards were not available for my computer. HP had plenty in stock on their online parts ordering web site! Now I ask you who is more dishonest?

They are wrong to advertise the BEST price when they KNOW darn well they don't have it. They are wrong to charge $300.00 for a warranty and then try and get out of it by claiming "at the managers discretion" voids the other five pages of the written warranty. Call it what you want but Best Buy is far more unscrupulous than the average consumer, including myself, and buying a lens for suggested retail is not dishonest.

I'm a capitalist & a small business owner and make a nice margin without screwing my customers when items are hard to get by raising the prices.