I agree. Often it is store credit though.
Never had that happen, I’ve always been reimbursed the differences on my credit card. This past winter when I bought my A/V receiver Best Buy played teeter-totter with the pricing. I paid $1000 for it, they raised it $100, then lowered it $200 a few weeks later, making it $900. I went back, they credited me the $100. A week later it went back up to $1000, and then dropped to $850. I went back and got another $50 credit. Then near the end of their extended Christmas return policy it dropped another $50 and was being sold for $800, I went back and got another $50 off. Eventually it went back up to $1000. I was kind of surprised at this considering Sony products are usually sold at MSRP and retailers really don’t tinker with the prices too often on their stuff. MSRP on this particular receiver was $1200, so in the end I did end up saving $400+tax.
And for whatever reason if they won’t give you the price protection, or they offer instore credit and you don’t want it, just return and rebuy it. That’s what I just did with my laptop. HP recently put on a coupon code for 30% an entire purchase. I called up, they wouldn’t credit me the difference. So I requested an RMA and set the thing back and reordered a few minutes later. I saved well over $600 and ordered this machine maxed out at 16GB of RAM, instead of 12GB. Whenever I make a purchase of any significant cost, I always keep an eye out for that item and look at the pricing, until the return policy expires.