Best Buy accused of Xbox 360 baiting tactic

WE'VE ALREADY said it's not worth splurging to get an early Xbox 360, but now there are allegations that Best Buy has been doing its Best to make consumers Buy a more expensive package than they had intended.

KSDK in Saint Louis reports a customer named Ray, who saw advertisements for the Xbox 360 at $399. But once Ray got to the store, that offer wasn't available and he feels that he was coerced into buying a more expensive package deal. Sure, it sucks that they lured him out to the store, but he didn't HAVE to buy. There will be more Xboxes, and they're only going to get cheaper.

The manager at said Best Buy, Ed Stald, claimed that the situation wasn't deliberate. It was a "miscommunication." Poor Ed. He may honestly believe this. I'll even bet he does. Whether the miscommunication was engineered by Best Buy's advertising department is another matter.

TMCnet news reports similar events in Spokane, WA. Best Buy's Sunday ad offered the Xbox 360 for $299 dollars, but a sign was posted at the store on Tuesday as a "correction notice" to inform customers that they could only buy package deals starting at $569.93.

Here's the kicker though. KOIN in Portland says they have a real live Best Buy deep throat, pseudonymed "Chris," who said his higher-ups told him not to sell ANY Xbox 360s that weren't bundled with at least a couple hundred dollars of peripherals. Chris also said his local management admitted that what they were doing was wrong. Wrong, but gainful, I'd say. One leads to the other.

Microsoft probably didn't conspire to create a Xbox 360 shortage, but that doesn't stop retailers and Ebay skulks from turning a profit. µ