Mark Humphrey/Associated Press
This year’s Black Friday was so overwhelming that even Best Buy couldn’t handle its own sales.
A number of online shoppers this week complained that some of their BestBuy.com orders placed in November or December were being canceled, just days before Christmas.
The electronics retail giant has apologized for the cancellations. Best Buy cited overwhelming demand of hot product offerings, which led to some orders’ being canceled.
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and we have notified the affected customers,” Best Buy said in a statement to Fox 9 in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Customers expressed their frustration in Best Buy’s online forums, with some parents asserting that the retailer had ruined Christmas for their children.
Some customers in the forum accused Best Buy of committing fraud, as the retailer’s cancellations could be seen as a deliberate bait-and-switch tactic designed to lure customers into its store with false promises of hot sales, depriving them of the ability to buy the items from a rival store.
Such an action would constitute fraud, for example, under Section 17200 of the California business and professions code, which states, “unfair competition shall mean and include any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising.”
However, it’s unlikely consumers would have much of a fraud case against Best Buy, said Andra Greene, a class-action defense lawyer with Irell Manella L.L.P.
Ms. Greene explained that it would be difficult to prove that Best Buy deliberately put items up for sale that it did not intend to sell. She added that it was unclear how Best Buy would benefit from canceling Black Friday items retroactively, because it could instead hurt itself by losing customers.
“Based on just the facts as I know them, this would be a tough row to hoe,” Ms. Greene said.
Best Buy’s public relations team did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8a95c4c7cd387661b2e2d96e7ebc643b
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