Best Buy apologizes for flap over Xbox

A national retailer has posted an open letter to consumers on its Web site, apologizing for a practice some Spokane residents said they experienced here on the day of the Xbox 360 launch.

The letter by Brian Dunn, Best Buy’s president of retail for North America, said it appears some stores required customers to buy the coveted gaming system packaged with additional games and accessories, after the company advertised the console for sale on its own. That forced some customers to pay more than the $299.99 charged for the basic gaming system.

“I want to be very clear that Best Buy does not condone pressuring customers to purchase items they may not want,” Dunn wrote in the letter. “These behaviors are in direct conflict with our desire to serve customers’ needs better than anyone else, and our values of honesty and integrity.”

Several customers outside the Spokane Valley Best Buy on the morning of the Nov. 22 launch said they were dismayed to learn they’d have to pay a minimum of $569.93 for their Xbox systems, which were packaged with games and other accessories.

Many waited overnight for an opportunity to buy the gaming system and held the Sunday newspaper ads in their hands, which displayed the console alone for sale at $299.99. Upon their arrival, they found notices posted outside the store saying the game systems would be sold only as a packaged promotion. Store managers referred all questions to the corporate office. Other Best Buy stores in the region also sold at least some of the game systems at package prices.

Dunn’s letter said the company is investigating “all leads about promotional practices that may have violated the company’s guidelines” and will take appropriate disciplinary action. It says any consumers who felt they were forced to buy something they didn’t want are entitled to full refunds at any Best Buy store.

Customers whose “purchasing experience” did not meet with their expectations are asked to e-mail the company at xbox360@bestbuy.com. And employees with information pertinent to the investigation are urged to call the company’s “Ethics Hot Line.” A Best Buy corporate spokeswoman declined to release that number to the media, but said all company employees should be aware of it.