Best Buy Settles Complaint Filed By Riverside County Over Pricing

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Electronics retailer Best Buy has agreed to settle a consumer protection complaint filed by Riverside and other California counties, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

The complaint alleges that Minnesota-based Best Buy Stores misrepresented product pricing, both in stores and in advertisements, failed to accurately disclose material aspects of its return policy, and violated an injunction Best Buy entered in to in 2013.

Without admitting liability, Best Buy agreed to pay $558,570 in civil costs and penalties and $75,000 in restitution in the current case. The civil penalties will be used for the enforcement of consumer protection laws, according to John Hall, spokesperson for the Riverside County DA's Office.

The judgment requires Best Buy to institute changes in its business practices to ensure that the problems identified in the complaint do not recur. These include a renewed pricing accuracy program and enhanced disclosures of return policies, according to Hall.

The violation of the 2013 injunction was a failure to include signage at every check-out stand in every California store as was required and agreed to by Best Buy. The signs, in English and Spanish, were to offer $3 off for every pricing error or to give the item for free if it was advertised at $3 or less, Hall explained.

Alamada, Riverside, San Diego and Santa Barbara counties filed the complaint. The final judgment was filed in Riverside County Superior Court and signed by Judge Irma Asberry.

A response from Best Buy was not immediately available.