Richfield-based Best Buy is apologizing after being accused of price gouging Harvey victims. A photo of one of its Texas stores selling a case of water for nearly $43 went went viral Tuesday.
One Houston resident sent me a pic of water he saw being sold for *$42* at a nearby Best Buy. They were kind enough to offer $29 bottles too pic.twitter.com/8dKz3sJJM1
— ken klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) August 29, 2017
A Best Buy spokesperson told the Star Tribune it was all due to a “big mistake on the part of a few employees at one store on Friday.” He explained that Best Buy doesn’t typically sell cases of water and that the mistake occurred when employees priced the case using a single-bottle price for each bottle in the case.
“As a company we are focused on helping, not hurting affected people. We’re sorry and it won’t happen again,” the spokesperson said.
There have already been more than 500 complaints about price gouging during Hurricane Harvey, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told CNBC.
(h/t Julia Schrenkler and Tom Weber)