Best Buy Won't Be Delivering On Some Christmas Gifts
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A delivery dilemma is affecting some Best Buy customers who bought online. It turns out, many won't get the gifts they ordered on Black Friday in time for Christmas, if at all.
Customers have been shocked to hear the big box electronics store is playing Scrooge this holiday season.
Brad Wilson from bradsdeals.com says his users are echoing complaints like those on Best Buy's own website that Best Buy ruined Christmas by waiting until just days before before the holiday to inform customers it would be cancelling many of the Black Friday purchases they were counting on.
"You know, every once in a while that happens for legitimate reasons, but a PlayStation 3 is not hard to find right now so it's not as if Best Buy is out of PlayStation 3s," Wilson said.
He says it's about the bottom line. He thinks the retailer sold too many items at deep discounts and is trying to recoup its losses.
In a statement, Best Buy said: "Due to overwhelming demand of hot product offerings, we have encountered a situation that has affected redemption of some of our customers' online orders."
The Minneapolis company declined Thursday to specify how many orders are affected or which products are out of stock.
It was just last year when several online retailers over-sold limited Black Friday deals. They blamed a computer glitch. But those companies eventually made good on their deliveries because, according to experts, legally they had to.
"They broke deals with the consumer that they are obligated by law to honor," former U.S. attorney Anthony Brass said. "They advertised the deal, they told consumers they could count on that deal."
Brass says under California law they are obligated to honor those deals, especially when it comes to Black Friday.
"What the consumers lost was opportunity," he said. "They lost the opportunity to seek similar Black Friday deals elsewhere, and when they lost that, they gained the right to seek redress."
Best Buy points to a disclaimer on its website that allows the company to cancel any order, but legal experts say that does not supersede California law and that consumers have the right to sue for the difference between the sale price and the current price.
