Asshole of the Week: Best Buy

So, it’s Halloween day, and I felt the need to touch on a couple things that make big companies look like assholes. Sure, I could easily put Netflix here, and I’ve spoken several times about Warner, but this week it’s Best Buy, who I love and hate. While it seems like their in-store selection continues to dwindle, they do compete aggressively with Amazon and Target to offer the lowest movie prices and exclusives. So, what’s Big Blue done this time?

Not but a day after their Upgrade and Save promotion ended, they offer some of the same titles at $3 less than they were during the promotion, and with no trade-in needed. While these titles were $9.99 after the upgrade coupon, they are now just $6.99, and include Good Will Hunting and Trainspotting on Blu Ray. Sure, it’s only three bucks, but times are hard, and since several people picked these up with the prior promotion (and also had to give up a DVD), it makes it an asshole move. And, during that promotion, there were several titles that went up in price as the last week came to a close, which included all three Friday the 13th Blu Rays.

So, while this discounting giant does offer some great deals, my gripes are 1) keep the Upgrade and Save prices the same throughout the entire promotion, because trying to squeak another $5 out of certain titles (probably the faster moving ones) during the last week, is not only assholish, but quite greedy, and 2) don’t offer titles at lower prices a mere day (or even a few weeks) after the promotion ends. Sadly, this happens with new releases too, where the price drops a couple bucks cheaper than the first week’s sale price, yet it's still within the first three weeks of release.

So, while I’d really like to support new titles, I have to ask, why buy a new movie on street date/week, when it’s just going to be cheaper less than a month later? It’s like paying full price for clothes (who does that?), when a sale is sure to be right around the corner. And, while it’s great for the consumer who waits, it’s stunts like this that cause entertainment to be extremely devalued when reselling it (how often do you see under $5 DVDs or under $10 Blu Rays?), and may be a contributor to why Hollywood and the film industry are in the shitter. So, our Asshole of the Week goes to Best Buy.