If a fake blog is a 'flog' what is a fake website called?

Best Buy might be looking at a whole lotta trouble. Best Buy might be Bad Guy. The facts aren't all in but, according to the Hartford Courant's Consumer Watchdog Gombossy:

"Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com...

Based on what his office has learned, State Attorney General Blumenthal said, 'it appears the consumer has the burden of informing Best Buy sales people of the cheaper price listed on its Internet site', which he said 'is troubling.'

What is more troubling to me, and to some Best Buy customers, is that even when one informs a salesperson of the Internet price, customers have been shown the intranet site, which looks identical to the Internet site, but does not always show the lowest price.

Blumenthal said that because of the fuzzy responses from Best Buy, he has yet to figure out the real motivation behind the intranet site and whether sales people are encouraged to use it to cheat customers."

The full story (or the story so far) is here. We might be hearing a lot more about this. Or not. Has anyone seen anymore on this or seen any word from Best Buy? Oh, and what will we be calling fake websites? I can't think of a conjunction as cute as 'flog'...

Comments

[mchale]

If Blog ~ Flog...

How about: Website ~ Spreadtripe?

Now for that first cup of coffee...

[vaspers the grate]

This is morally reprehensible, a new low for corporate web usage, a defiling of the Trust Web. I will buy no more computers, printers, or peripherals from Best Buy.

Boycott Best Buy!

[CK]

Vaspers: I am hoping to find more on this as I was so struck by it. I'm not sure how many stores were involved, and to what extent, as the investigation is still underway--so we need to find out more. It just seems to risky to even try. If you see anymore on this, let me know.

[Lewis Green]

"Barber [company spokesperson] insists that the company never intended to mislead customers."

As a former member of several PR departments, this guy just managed to make a bad situation worse. Denying the obvious destroys credibility both internally and externally. As a customer, I can only believe that Barber believes me an idiot.

[Mark Goren]

CK: Fake website? How about weBSite, with emphasis on the BS? (Picture it graphically.)

[Fritz]

That is amazingly slimy. Wow. Ditto on Lewis' comment about further undermining any trust that might remain.

[John]

Great blog....My friend gifted a Apple- iPod nano 4GB* MP3 player to me on my birthday....He bought it at only $142.49 from Best Buy store through Couponalbum.com and he received free shipping....!