Best Buy issues statement regarding online order cancellations

Minneapolis -- After a slew of online orders were cancelled in November and December when Best Buy couldn’t keep up with demand, the company issued the following statement on Tuesday:



“What was wrong is that there was an unacceptable delay between order confirmations and cancellations, and for that we are very sorry,” said Susan Busch, senior director of Best Buy’s public relations. “It’s important to note that this was a rare situation based on a high volume of orders over a short period of time.”



Busch said that Best Buy was giving electronic gift cards to affected customers as a goodwill gesture.



Best Buy cited overwhelming demand of hot product offerings, which led to less than 1% of orders’ being canceled, according to Busch. Customers expressed their frustration in Best Buy’s online forums, with some parents commenting that the retailer had ruined Christmas for their children.



Some customers in the forum accused Best Buy of committing fraud, as the retailer’s cancellations could be seen as a deliberate bait-and-switch tactic designed to lure customers into its store with false promises of hot sales, depriving them of the ability to buy the items from a rival store.