Best Buy makes good on price match guarantee, gives customer $202

Best Buy, in an online chat with Donaghey, promised it would quickly process a $202 credit. But guess what? It didn’t. Donaghey went back online and an agent said something to the effect of, Whoops, the credit hadn’t been properly handled. But the agent said the best he could do for Donaghey was a $100 credit.
In September, Tim Donaghey paid about $1,700 for a Samsung TV at Best Buy, including $50 for a price match guarantee. Two weeks later, the same TV went on sale for $202 less on Amazon and elsewhere.
Note: The Fine Print is introducing a new, shorter format to feature more readers who ask for help in their consumer battles. Please continue to share your experiences with me using my email at the bottom. Also, send any consumer questions and topics for me to address in this column.
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Donaghey insisted on $202. And he had the evidence: screenshots of Amazon’s advertised lower price and Best Buy’s price match guarantee. Go to a store and they’ll take care of it, the agent finally told him.
At the Best Buy in Burlington, Donaghey, who lives in a nearby town, worked his way up to the store manager. No one argued he wasn’t actually owed $202, just that the Best Buy computer system wouldn’t allow it.
Not to be denied, Donaghey went back online. An agent told him a $202 credit was being processed. But when the credit showed up, it was for $100.
In an email to me, Donaghey wrote: “I know it’s a small amount. But it’s the principle. I feel like Sisyphus at this point.”
Resolution: I wrote to Best Buy and included the email Donaghey sent to me. As a result, Best Buy quickly gave him not only the full credit but also an extra $47 “as a small gesture of additional compensation for what occurred.” (Why that amount, I don’t know, and Best Buy didn’t respond when I asked.)
The takeaway: Document everything. And persist. Donaghey’s email to me contained a precise and detailed (but not overly long) chronology of events, complete with case numbers and screenshots.
Do your research upfront
Chris Morana ran into trouble after he went online and found one of those websites that promises to help you sort through a wide array of health care insurance plans. Jenny Kane/Associated Press
Chris Morana recently needed health care insurance. So he went online and found one of those websites that promises to help you sort through a wide array of plans. He typed in his phone number, as required, and almost immediately began getting calls from salespeople, some of whom were “pretty pushy,” he said.
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Morana, with minimal research, decided to buy a plan from a purported insurer called SocioBuenos. He used his bank debit card to pay $736.99 for the first month.
Morana then discovered the Better Business Bureau gave SocioBuenos its worst rating and various blogs were replete with warnings to stay away.
Resolution: Morana immediately called back and, after considerable effort, canceled his plan. But the promise of a $736.99 refund never materialized. To block any possible new charges, he canceled his debit card. I called SocioBuenos on Morana’s behalf but got hung up on — twice. No reply to my email either. (Sorry I couldn’t get your money back, Chris.)
The takeaway: Do your research before you spend money on anything, but especially on health care insurance. In 2023, I wrote about a woman who bought a plan online that turned out to not cover her later hospitalization.
Two good resources on health plans are the Health Connector, the state’s well-regarded online insurance marketplace, and Health Care for All, a patient advocacy organization. Beware of websites that look like government-sponsored insurance marketplaces, but aren’t. (Look for websites that end in “.org,” not “.com,” for one thing.)
Look-alike websites try to cash in on sales commissions by peddling stripped-down, inexpensive plans that look attractive but, in the fine print, disclose limitations.
Are you a life insurance beneficiary but don’t know it?
Every year, tens of millions of dollars in life insurance benefits go unclaimed because beneficiaries can’t find the deceased policyholder’s policy or may not even know they are named in a policy. Could you be one of them?
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Jane Logan, a self-styled insurance activist, brought this to my attention and pointed out there’s a way to check if you are a lost beneficiary. It’s Life Insurance Policy Locator, operated by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, an organization made up of the chief insurance regulators from the states.
To use the locator, you need the deceased person’s name, last address, date of birth, date of death, and Social Security number.
I put in the information for two deceased relatives, but nothing came back. (I really didn’t expect anything.) But the locator is not fail-safe. It searches only “participating” insurance companies. (A NAIC spokeswoman did not respond to my request for the names of participating insurers.)
A bill that would mandate more aggressive searches for beneficiaries by life insurance companies has languished in the Legislature for years.
The takeaway: If you have a life insurance policy, be sure your beneficiaries know it and have a copy of the policy.
Avoid scams when buying performance tickets