The Consumerist is always an interesting read, and occasionally it covers something videogame-related. A story they posted on Monday was fairly intriguing, and just added to the mounting evidence that there are more Wiis other than retailers would have you believe. Or at least Best Buy.
A reader wrote into The Consumerist with the following story (edited for brevity):
I witnessed some amazing sleaziness over at the Princeton,NJ Best Buy. I was standing near the back of the store when one of their salespeople came strolling from a back door holding a Nintendo Wii over his head, and started walking the aisles announcing that it was their last unit. … It took a few minutes for a couple to come rushing up to claim it … About 30 minutes later, I heard this announcement on the store’s PA: “Attention Best Buy customers! Julie is now walking through the store with our last Nintendo Wii! If you’re looking for a Nintendo Wii, please look for Julie!” … The second Wii took just over 15 minutes to sell – I overheard two manager-types (one in a suit, the other a yellow shirt) discussing it, the suit asking “Did Julie sell that Wii, yet? How long?” And then “Wait 40 minutes and send out the next one.”
Who wants to launch a sting with me!?
55 Comments to Best Buy Has a Lot of “The Last Wii”s
by: Mr. Sadistic
On November 14, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Wow, douche baggery at its best.
by: Thomas
On November 15, 2007 at 1:21 am
I call dips on wii at 3rd from bottom, 6 rows away.
by: zeroes
On November 15, 2007 at 11:46 am
For the record I’m a Best Buy employee. First off, the man in yellow was Loss Prevention (very far from management) and the other would probably be the Customer Experience Manager. Secondly, the act of selling units this way has been done on purpose, in that on some days we are only allowed to sell a certain number of units, thus we stretch them out so that they aren’t all taken at once. The concept is basely right on a business standpoint, it’s not sleazy, it’s corporate policy to sell that many per hour/quarter, etc. The point is that when they are doing that usually the GM is choosing to sell the units despite corporate wanting them held for holiday rush.
by: William
On November 15, 2007 at 12:22 pm
it may be somewhat of a good business decision to do these things but it is a deceptive business practice and definitely sleezy.
by: mark
On November 15, 2007 at 1:49 pm
It’s been a year for the Wii release. The hype has to end.
by: Nick
On November 15, 2007 at 5:25 pm
I work at a best buy and we’ve never done something as stupid as that…that would just hurt our sales for the day, might as well put them all out and sell them…who cares if its the last one or not, everyone is looking for them
and the guy in the yellow shirt is not a manager at all…he is the loss prevention guy.
by: JS
On November 15, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Wow, what a deceptive technique
by: Nik
On November 15, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Not only is this deceptive (and really cruel to consumers
), but it’s illegal, too. Saying that a certain Wii console is the last you have in stock when you actually have more in back is LYING in order to get a customer to pay more. However, it would be legal to say “This is the last console that will be sold today,” (as long as that’s true, of course). So if there’s any Best Buy people out there (or any other distributor of Wiis), beware of breaking the law.
by: Ross
On November 15, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Nik: Although it may be an unethical technique in getting a customer to purchase on impulse, they are not making customers pay more, they would pay the same no matter how many are left.
by: erathoniel
On November 15, 2007 at 10:00 pm
That’s evil. What if someone with a limited time-frame came by to see if they had a Wii? They would go home sad unless they came at a lucky time.
by: Ross
On November 15, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Business is business. While that one person is sad, that many more are ecstatic because of their luck of getting the last Wii of the day
by: Dave
On November 15, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Another BBY associate here. I work in an Upstate NY store and we’ve NEVER done this. we usually get our wii’s on the tues truck and hold them for the Sunday ad. we put them out on a table Saturday night(after close) and watch the line Sunday morning when people get the ad in the Sunday paper. as stated, Yellow is LP and a suit?? wtf? even the GM wears BBB’s (best buy blues). so, im having a hard time believing this story personally, yet im sure there are some sleazy GM’s at other stores.
by: Ross
On November 15, 2007 at 11:59 pm
I also am an employee at Best Buy and we do the same thing in our store as Dave. As far as the manager/suit thing, some of our managers do, occasionally, where dress shirts.
by: Rich
On November 16, 2007 at 1:32 am
former best buy employee.
it is sleazy, and unethical. and i can tell the bestbuy “employees” here are management and/or some kind of damage control team. why? because any non-management best buy employee wouldn’t defend bestbuy. simply put, it is sleazy, and it’s even more sleazy to send out the corp. dogs to pose as poor ol’ best buy employees standing up for the truth.
by: JD
On November 16, 2007 at 3:22 am
Rich: I love how you directly attack the credibility of the people claiming to be Best Buy employees while also claiming to be a “former best buy employee” yourself. Your suggestion that the “employees” who already posted are part of a Best Buy damage control team is as laughable as your grammar and punctuation. Do you honestly think Best Buy, a billion dollar corporation, has nothing better to do than read the comments on a mediocre gaming website?
I don’t know whether or not this is true but I feel myself inclined to believe the four previous posters whose statements, for the most part, all match up. In short, learn how to put together a decent sentence you damn conspiracy nut.
by: Fedelta
On November 16, 2007 at 5:58 am
To go off what Zeroes said, I myself am also an employee at BestBuy. The Wiis sell out within 2 days. 4 days was the longest I have seen it in the course of 6 months. Then we have customers asking for 2 more days if any are left.
by: Fedelta
On November 16, 2007 at 6:02 am
oh and @Rich I have worked there for 6 months, part time student.. not a ” Dmg control.” I have a good guess why you are a former employee.
by: Bracey
On November 16, 2007 at 9:03 am
Heh i got one from Argos yesterday…lawl ppl were crying and shit not getting one
I got mine for my son so I now pronounce myself Super Dad 
by: oratio
On November 17, 2007 at 8:47 am
How is lies and deception not sleazy? It seems as honesty and integrity can be excused easily in america just by being “just business”.
by: Ross
On November 17, 2007 at 11:08 am
/applaud @ JD
Damage Control? Seriously? I just happened to “Stumble Upon” this page.
But I will agree that if, in fact, the above story is true, that it is a poor choice in business maneuvers. But here is a fact of life, some people are assholes, some of those assholes happen to make it into management at some Best Buys. That being said, not every Best Buy is full of asshole managers, so don’t take this once incident as being a store policy.
by: saioke
On November 17, 2007 at 7:29 pm
@mark
stop being a fanboy. not everyone wants the same ol giant turd looking console like the ps3.
by: Drew
On November 17, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Gonna call bullshit on this – there were 0 Wiis ANYWHERE last Christmas where I live. We had to get one off Ebay.
by: Mac
On November 18, 2007 at 1:33 am
It’s not the same for PS3s. No one wants them, that’s why the price dropped 2 times already. The Wiis are extremely popular and BB is extremely sleazy for doing something like this. Things like this are why I shop at places like Circuit City or Comp. USA, from what I’ve read/seen they seem to be pretty honest. (I’m not saying they aren’t corporate whores like BB, they are just less whorish.)
by: Anony Moose
On November 19, 2007 at 1:42 am
Circuit City is one of the worst offenders. I know a Circuit City employee who attests to me that they have somewhere around 60 Wiis in stock at all times however Nintendo is to blame for them not selling the built up stock. They have been told that they can only sell X amount per week.
by: Trevor
On November 21, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I used to work for Best Buy here in Canada. I will tell you this story doesn’t surprise me at all. Best Buy’s whole corporate idea or mentality is given to the public as, “Customer first”, “No pressure sales”…blah blah blah, BULLSH1@. While working there as a geek, I was TOLD to make sure that I had a charge on ever machine that went out the door. Make sure I did something that made money, don’t just fix the warrenty issue and release it. Fix the issue but then make sure you hit them with extra charges for the “software” issues that are not covered under warrenty.
I seriously hate this establishment now, and recommend that no one goes near it. No commision sales my butt, it might not be commisioned to the guy selling it to you but all the managers above him get nice juicy “bonuses” if there department does well in there sales. Hence you sell more your manager gets a bonus, therefore it is commision to the manager.
Anyways I could rant all day about this, my old store never did do something like this, however I would never put it past them.
by: Circuit City lol
On November 24, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Lol thats ridiculous,
I work at Circuit City, and speaking at least for my store we only ever get about 5 or 6 WIIs at a time and they are all sold, thats crazy to think that they have that many back there, and act like they have only a few.
by: Danny
On November 24, 2007 at 11:20 pm
LMAO @ Nik. Hardly illegal. They sell for a set price, and they can sell them however/whenever they please. Not to mention that the markup on the actual Wii is minimal (software/accessories are a different story). For them to pay someone an hourly rate to walk around with a Wii is wasteful from a profit standpoint. Why not stack them under the games/accessories and let people go crazy with their open wallets?
by: Rory
On November 25, 2007 at 10:15 am
Hell of a marketing ploy, I applaud them and say go best buy!
by: Doug
On November 25, 2007 at 3:01 pm
It is definitely unethical and probably illegal but the really funny thing is that this method of generating sales seems complete madness, as Nick mentioned earlier, just put ‘em out and people will buy ‘em.
Once the store has sold out of all their stock, potential customers will come back when the store has more stock – no need to employ this approach in a single day.
by: chris hadden
On November 25, 2007 at 6:15 pm
i built the best buy in dover de.i love the store who gives a shit if there having fun with there wi wis!
by: BlueBleeder
On November 25, 2007 at 10:28 pm
As a Best Buy employee myself, I have an obligation to report such underhanded tactics. Unless your ticketing the item there should be no with holding WIIs. This creates bad customer relations. It creates bad public image. In the end it is just a completely WRONG way of doing business.
by: Fedelta
On November 25, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Most of the comments are from employees of retail. Funny really.
by: kaj
On November 26, 2007 at 9:33 am
people are just morons if they fall for stupid shit like that
by: Mona
On November 26, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Lemme tell you a little story about The Best Buy I had to deal with in Upstate NY about six years ago…when bringing in a DVD player (purchased out of the box, with an employee discount, an extended warantee and given as an Xmas gift from my brother in law from an out of state Best Buy), I was given the run-around over repairs. When the time limit was almost out on the repairs being done, the manager told us that there were no equivalent replacements in stock, we said we’d wait for the repair to come back. We got the number for the repair center from the assistant, they told us they only received the DVD player the day before the time limit expired. Back to Best Buy again! The manager told us this time that it was not our option to wait, that we had to accept actual cash paid as a refund. When I accused the guy of ripping us off so they could re-sell our DVD player for more than it had been purchased for, he got extremely nasty and swore at my husband, who nearly jumped the counter for some up-close negotiations. Lucky for him (the manager) my Jedi training allowed me to hold back a 6’6″ 450lb angry bear of a man and re-direct him out of the store. We had to complain to corporate to get the damn thing back, with zero compensation for our trouble, aside from an apology from higher up after we filed a complaint. Have not shopped there since, what a bunch of wankers!
by: James
On November 27, 2007 at 12:47 am
I work at Best buy in sales. We basicaly sell under the guise of not selling. Don’t blame best buy, blame the manager or supervisor advising this techinque. We have a guy transfered from another store. Hes a jerk who no one can stand and the store he came from, on boxing day. get this. Made two lines, a service plan line and a no service plan line. And customers willing to pay for the service to protect their purchases of the bat got served first. THAT is sleazy. And it all depends on he manager. Speaking of sleaze, the closet bets buy to us, used to send all their returns to us. So, instead of their store taking a loss, ours was. THATS sleazy.
by: James
On November 27, 2007 at 12:54 am
Also, in our store, we always sell out wii’s like crazy. no need to play cat and mouse.
The only time we say we ruptured stock is when certain individuals who are only interested in re-sale buy lets say SIXTEEN laptops without service plan. Especially since marges on laptops range from 2 to -15 % we take a pretty big loss. So we say we have like two… Hence we keep our numbers in check.
by: Hank
On November 27, 2007 at 2:27 am
I have ‘em in my e-store.
by: jack
On November 27, 2007 at 8:07 am
Zeroes-
You are jsut as sleazy as the rest of the best buy employees. You say you have a “policy” to sell a certain amount of a day… Do you honestly expect me to believe that best buy TRIES TO SELL LESS A DAY?! Best buy isnt the only place that does with video game consoles though. Since the first xbox came out, every single console ive bought has been “the last one in the store”. Give me a break.
by: Heru-Ur
On November 27, 2007 at 9:47 am
This is sleazy, lame, and bordering on illegal no matter how it is justified or rationalized.
by: Ross
On November 27, 2007 at 11:12 am
ok A) It is NOT corporate policy to sell a certain amount per day. The only corporate policy is to sell whatever we possibly can. The only merchandise we dont keep on the floor is overstock and product that hasnt been received yet. Its not like we have a huge vault in the back of the store for storing product we dont want to give to customers. For instance, consoles are stored in a cage(for security reasons) in the middle of the store in plain sight for everyone.
.
and B) Jack you are a hypocrite. You are more sleazy for lying to us about having bought the ‘last one one the store’ every time than the rest of are for having a job.
by: Abstract
On November 27, 2007 at 6:41 pm
“Rich: I love how you directly attack the credibility of the people claiming to be Best Buy employees while also claiming to be a “former best buy employee” yourself.”
I love how you confuse Rich with Ross. It’s not the same person, asshole. Try reading next time.
by: I work elsewhere
On November 27, 2007 at 11:42 pm
i love how some people are claiming its corporate policy or nintendo policy to sell less consoles. i work for target and i can tell you that we got 60 in for one sunday advertisement and they were all gone in 2 hours. if ninteno wanted to limit the amount sold, they would just sell less. and the stores themselves are out to turn a profit. if people feel they dont have to fight for their wii they are more likely to buy accessories and games for it as opposed to buying and running like hell.
by: Glomb
On November 29, 2007 at 12:43 pm
best buy is full of shit, i work in the game headquarters in basingstoke wher we hav just got almost 10,000 wii’s in for christmas, bestbuy dus certainly not hav the “last of the wii’s”
by: Horstradamus
On December 1, 2007 at 12:33 am
Really, who cares how best buy sells its merchandise. You’re all acting like the people snapping up the Wiis are complete morons. They came looking to buy somnething and walked away with something at the regular price. And to those of you who are saying this is illegal; get real.
by: Michael Mc
On December 1, 2007 at 4:39 am
Get over it! They are not inflating the price. They are getting people into the store! This has been going on in the retail business for decades!!
by: I work somewhere else, too!
On December 1, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I have to agree with my fellow Target team member…stores aren’t required to hold merchandise and only sell so much per day by Nintendo. Nintendo sends out the amount they want to sell by the week; they don’t give us a shipment and forbid us from selling x amount. The one thing that stores will do, however, will be storing product they get in if the item is advertised in their sale ad in the next week. For example, we got Wiis in on a Wednesday night truck, but we did not sell them until Sunday when they were advertised in the sale ad. If we weren’t to of done that, we would have angry guests who lined up Sunday morning be irate because we had already sold our quantity the week before when it wasn’t on ad.
by: topher
On December 1, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Nope. This would be “big box” suicide. They are to worried about losing all there customers to walmart.
by: MuBamHam
On December 16, 2007 at 9:36 pm
That’s what you get for living in America. Happy Holidays!
by: Thomas Wayne
On December 17, 2007 at 12:35 am
One potentially good side-effect of Best Buy slowing down sales (if they do) is that it keeps the eBay resellers from buying them all and trying to sell them at a large profit. There are plenty of Wiis available on eBay yet none in the store.
I realize most stores have a limit of one per family, but some people don’t honor that. I know of someone who bought one, and while in line he pretended to be calling his brother. After checking out, he went to his car, changed clothes, and went in and bought another one. And he’s putting all he gets on eBay to make money. That’s part of the reason there are none in the stores right now.
by: kaklong
On February 8, 2008 at 8:46 am
Well, i hope since it’s already 2008, the Wii should not be in a serious shortage anymore.. i waited a long time for my wii – luckily i’ve gotten it and it’s worth the wait too =)
by: Required Name
On February 21, 2008 at 2:08 pm
See, THIS is why I won’t work in retail anymore!
by: marine
On April 9, 2008 at 9:31 pm
forget the wii get a computer
by: Michael
On May 8, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Wii is definitely the way to go.
by: Zera
On May 25, 2008 at 10:14 am
As another former best buy employee in Las Vegas NV I have to agree that the other people claiming to be employees might be the average joe employee (you just haven’t realized how sick and twisted the company you work for is). Best by uses the exact same techniques the Nazis used to recruit and convince those recruits to stay and not only that defend their “Good Name”. Sorry guys you need to get out as soon as possible because Best Buy is flat out evil, I had countless experiences of my managers doing stuff like this to make the sales. It doesn’t matter though because there’s a reason most people don’t stay very long with Best Buy because eventually they always see something like this and leave to find work elsewhere. The few who make it high in Management are thus insured to be as sleazy as the manager they saw doing things like this as they have no conscience. For the other side of this story albeit just as bias as a pro Best Buy sit see http://www.ihatebestbuy.com/
This is par for the course for BB.
by: Yahoo is fast
On November 24, 2010 at 9:06 am
Yahoo is faster than google 10x times.