Best Buy has a huge catch for customers who view its 2014 Black Friday ad. The flyer shows the 16 GB iPhone 6 on sale for $99, but the accompanying small print states you must trade in your old smartphone to get the deal.
Everybody loves a great Black Friday deal, especially on a hot new device like the in-demand iPhone 6. Customers who take a look at Best Buy's Black Friday ad are disappointed, though, when the small print makes it clear their iPhone 6 deal is not what it initially seems.
As we've been reporting, Best Buy has some great deals for Black Friday, including a rock bottom $199.99 price on a Panasonic 50-inch LED 1080p HDTV, and Beats Solo headphones priced at $79.99, $90 off the retail price.
Unfortunately, what initially appears to be another knockout deal from Best Buy has a huge catch, which is causing confusion among both consumers and websites posting the latest deals for Black Friday.
The ad pictures a big image of the iPhone 6 and in large print touts that the 16 GB version is on sale for only $99. However, the small print underneath states that in addition to signing a two-year contract, which is standard, customers must also use a "trade-in gift card." The small print then refers you to footnote number "2", which is supposed to be at the bottom of the page and explain exactly what this means, but is not printed anywhere on the flyer. Although a printed image appears below the pricing stating that you can "get a minimum $100 Best Buy gift card when you trade in any working iPhone", footnote number "2" does not lead anywhere and explain the details on the bottom of the page, as do all the other footnotes for other sale items throughout the flyer.
As a result, many consumers are not aware of or don't understand the catch, and are under the impression that Best Buy has the 16 GB iPhone 6 on sale for $99. This is compounded by the fact that understandably befuddled writers for numerous websites have also been reporting the deal as a straight-up $99 sale price.
Since many retailers and carriers regularly give credit for trade-in of an old smartphone, often for values above the $100 maximum Best Buy credit, the deal isn't really much of a deal at all, unlike the recent Sam's Club deal that actually did offer a $99 price on the 16 GB iPhone 6 with a two-year contract.
After we reported this in our recent iPhone 6 Black Friday deal roundup, a reader named Cris Chapman commented "Thanks for getting the Best Buy offer correct. Lost track of all the articles I read and sent letters to the editor or author correcting them." Despite his efforts, some popular websites are still reporting the deal incorrectly.
Reader Shounteal Steward also warned "Beware the additional misleading Best Buy ad -- the phone you trade in, depending on where you are located, must have been purchased from Best Buy only." While this is unconfirmed, it is certainly possible, since Best Buy has neglected to post the details.
The good news is that you can still get a great deal on an iPhone 6 this Black Friday at both Target and Wal-Mart, and neither store requires a trade-in. As always, we'll continue to bring you the best Black Friday deals as the holiday shopping season continues.
