Not all Buzz is good, and you'd think that Best Buy would have known better than to have a secret website, an intranet which is used to lookup sale prices in store, different (but identical looking) than the public internet site (which usually has lower prices).

Take a look at prices for a budget laptop on sale at Best Buy, according to investigative work done by the The Hartford Courant:

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So the price of the same exact laptop on the Best Buy Internet Site on January 11th  was $729.00 but when you arrive at the store to buy the laptop it turns out to be $879.00; the  Best Buy employee will bring up the exact site you found the info on - except it's not the site - it's a private site whose prices are actually 8.29% more, in this case. Being in the store already - your probably decided you want the laptop so you buy it anyway.  

But the prices were not always consistent - because, on February 5th, a laptop priced at 879.00 on the Internet Best Buy site was actually $649.00 in the store….go figure! 

However, the inconsistent prices are considered "deceptive" practices, even if, in the second case, the price are cut to the consumer's advantage, and Best Buy is being investigated by the State of Connecticut.

"…State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website and showed how employees at two Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com."

And Best Buy got away with it for a while - but eventually, it was figured out …just like a lot of other scams.  Things have changed - you can't engage in deceptive practices and get away with it that easily anymore - the internet has changed the playing field.  It would be much better, at this point, for Best Buy to own up to what it did and offer a public apology, but apparently, that's not how Best Buy is playing it:

"….Blumenthal said Wednesday that Best Buy has also confirmed to his office the existence of the intranet site, but has so far failed to give clear answers about its purpose and use.

"Their responses seem to raise as many questions as they answer," Blumenthal said in an interview. "Their answers are less than crystal clear."

Based on what his office has learned, Blumenthal said, it appears the consumer has the burden of informing Best Buy sales people of the cheaper price listed on its Internet site, which he said "is troubling."

So the message Best Buy is telling people ….. don't expect us to look out for you.