~~~~ Brag & Moan ~~~~

[DurocShark]

WalMart Still Blows

Last week my Aopen burner died. (groan)

Needing an immediate replacement for a photo project I was working on, I zipped to WalMart to see what they had. A Philips 24-10-40x RW for $60 looked like a good deal. (Not as good as some, but I was in a crunch.)

Got it home, yanked the Aopen, and hooked up the Philips. XP detected it with no problems, so I installed the Roxio software.

The *(^&(*&^% drive couldn't even read a retail CD, let alone write anything. Coaster after coaster. The drive would even hang the computer while it was trying to find a directory on the CD.

Ok, drives are occasionally bad. No problem. Just return it to WalMart.

I pull the drive back out (thank god for toolless cases...lol) and when I'm putting it back into its anti-stat bag, I realize the bag had been opened previously and re-sealed with a piece of tape with "Philips" printed on it. (The antistat notice sticker was torn - and not by me.)

The box had the same tape sealing it.

I take it to WalMart and told the customer service people that they were selling refurb drives as new. Blank stare.

I go back to electronics, and ALL the boxes were sealed with the same tape. I get the clerk to let me open one. Same issue with the antistat sticker. Obviously refurb. I tell her to get a manager. The manager said "so?"

So? SOOO! WalMart doesn't care that they're selling refurbished drives as new!

Sigh. At least they gave me my $$ back.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Since no one's going to read this, I'll just take a little delight in the fact that BUYERSASSURANCE.com has been paying me about $30 a month for the last 4 months.

They are running a promotion where they give you $10.00 back from every internet invoice you forwarded to them (when you sign up). Actually it was supposed to be a total of $20.00, but they were a little slow responding to the first two I sent in, so I thought maybe they rejected them or something. I ended up sending 2 more, and to my suprise recieved 4 $10.00 checks in the following 3 weeks. Just for kicks, I sent two more reciepts that were just forwarded emails (valid reciepts though) with "this is for the $10.00 promotion" in the body of the email. Boom. 3 weeks later, 2 more $10.00 checks. Anyway, I figure this service was prob setup to rip people off and it's their own fault if they're understaffed and don't bother to keep records of what they're sending out. Last week I got my 12th $10 check.

This will prob work for anyone who signs up, but it's obviously not going to last forever (at some point I assume they'll go out of business, at least if they treat the rest of their customers like this).

 

[isaacmacdonald]

On the crap note...

I decided to grab an olympus 3020 at officemax.com by pricematching to allhomeelectronics.com (which none of the other vendors would PM to). The PM was fine and I had a $50.00 off 250 for officemax, so I was happy. Order went through and PM was supposed to be credited to my account within 7 days.

7 Days later I still didn't have the camera. I called up officemax and they claimed it shipped on the 21st. After several calls they gave me a ups tracking number... that was invalid. *sigh*. The next day I called and they gave me the wrong tracking number again. The package arrived the day after that, their (officemax.com's) tracking number was missing the last digit.

3 days after that, (14 days since my order) the PM still wasn't credited to my account. I called up officemax and they claimed it was already processed. I called up my CC company and they said absolutely not. I called officemax and the next CSR said the case had been closed accidentally and it would be resubmitted. Wait another 7-10 days she says. 6 days later, still no credit.

Moral: Don't EVER try to pricematch on officemax.com. It's total crap. Their CSRs are very unreliable.

 

[cchen]

today i got a letter from memorex rejecting my rebate for cdrs. I purchased them from bestbuy.com, printed out the rebate form from their rebate center, but memorex said that i need the original rebate form for it to be valid. what can i do? call best buy?

 

[Lanyap]

Originally posted by: cchen
today i got a letter from memorex rejecting my rebate for cdrs. I purchased them from bestbuy.com, printed out the rebate form from their rebate center, but memorex said that i need the original rebate form for it to be valid. what can i do? call best buy?

Memorex, or the rebate center, is yanking your chain. Bestbuy NEVER provides "original" printed rebate forms. If you puchase the product online you download the Bestbuy rebate form. If you purchase from the B&M it prints on the register. Call the rebate center back and give them a hard time. Make them explain why they will not honor the rebate for Bestbuy. Ask for a supervisor or manager. Tell them you are going to file a complaint with the BBB, FTC and Bestbuy. If all else fails call BB customer service listed in the main rebate thread.

GL

 

[Vegito]

Man I try to use the dell 10% off the axim but it wont let me because it excludes handhelds.. but the catalog clearly states 349 - 34 (10% off) - 50(rebate) = 265.. im gonna have to call and harass them

 

[Pliablemoose]

Since it includes an MSN $ deal & it's sort of pricey, here's a deal for the Nikon 5700:

Office Max $1,199

(free shipping)

-15% off $1,019 (I used OD's 15% off coupon & faxed it to OM @ 1-800-706-9286)

=Tax $1,101

-MSN dollars $1001

-AmEx BVG $751 (not bad for a $1294 after tax MSRP)



CostCo would work out to: $999.99

Tax $1080.00

Shipping $1098.00

AmEx BVG $848.00 (about $100 more)

I included CostCo because they have a seriously liberal return policy

 

[nj]

I am sick and tired of Amazon consistently overcharging me! They confirm a price in the final total, you get the same total in the email sent to you and even show's up right online, but when you go to check your statement, it's ALWAYS too much. I've had 4 orders in the last 2 months and every last one of them has been over by at least $5. Today, my $95.12 order was charged $115.83 after they divided things out and played around with their screwy math!

They don't apologize when they screw up, if you try to request a refund too quick, they tell you to wait. Their email customer service is located in India and I think because they are so far away, they have no trouble being rude and denying requests. I've been denied my refund twice and had to ask them to step it up to a tier 2 csr (tier 2 CSR's are in Virginia I believe, and usually are more helpful). Has anybody else had this much trouble? Do you guys check your CC statements? I'd be out almost $40 if I just "trusted" them to charge me right.

 

[MrPhelps]

I recieved my $30.00 rebate from I/O magic for the mp3 player today WOW I am happy.

 

[omar888]

MOAN:

Ordered the Antec SLK1600 w/ 300W power supply for $19.99 from SVC compucycle (recent hot deal)
Also ordered a video card with that.

SVC issued the same UPS tracking number for both items. I checked in every day to see where the shipment was.
Finally, the package arrives. No case. Called SVC and the case was never shipped.
Now they are out of stock, and SVC will refund purchase price plus shipping. No replacement offered. Sheesh.

Sounds like a problem with the shipping department, and one with inventory. SVC has been a fine vendor in the past, but I would warn people about "hot deals" there. Doesn't sound like they are set up to deal with the Anand-effect.

 

[Boogak]

I'm getting too many damn free magazines from this forum, I throw about half of them away now because I signed up for the hell of it. WTF is POST and CRM magazine doing in my mailbox???

 

[Noirish]

stupid amazon hasn't gave me a $15 off coupon...
someone wants to give me unwanted coupon, i'll take it

 

[Chilled&Refined]

I won a Wireless Keyboard and Mouse.
Hope it comes

 

[Noner]

I won 6 Logitech wireless deals on the 20th!!! WOOoo HOOOooo!!!

 

[airmax]

Fed ex drive me crazy, here is the story, and the mail i send to Fed Ex

I think your company are totally disregard what others send to you thru. my package was on delivery truck on three straight day. 12/19, 12/20 and 12/23. Not even 1 time I saw the Delivery in my office. I don't know what you guy are planning to do with my package, drive around the package without deliver to the customer on the three straight day, and it is late for a week already. It suppose toarrive on the 18th, and then on the 20th, your company check the estimate date to 23th. and it is 23th 10:45PM PST, and still nothing in sight. and that is a X'mas Gift, Thanks to your company and your never arrive driver, i have nothing to give to my wife. I think in the future, I will reconsider to ship anything thru your company, which has the worst ontime performance in my mind. Keep this fact since this package ship from Sacramento, ca to San Leandro, ca (105 miles in between). it took more than 6 business day and still haven't get to the customer hand. which is totally unacceptable. And your company totoally failed on this.

and this is the 2nd email I send to them

And When I call them, their CSR tell me the driver says they need to verify the address, which is totally BS, the address I use is my office address, and my office get package from all three major shipper (FedEx, UPS and Airborne), how can that driver can't find the place

and addition information, here is what they post remember it is from Sacramento, CA, to San Leandro( between Oakland and Hayward)

Scan Activity Date/Time
On FedEx vehicle for delivery/OAKLAND CA 12/23/2002 02:18
On FedEx vehicle for delivery/OAKLAND CA 12/20/2002 03:18
On FedEx vehicle for delivery/OAKLAND CA 12/19/2002 02:17
Arrived at FedEx sort facility/OAKLAND CA 12/17/2002 23:49
Departed FedEx sort facility/SACRAMENTO CA 12/17/2002 21:05
Scanned at FedEx sort facility/SACRAMENTO CA 12/17/2002 05:12
Package information transmitted to FedEx 12/16/2002 21:58
Customer-Loaded Trailer Picked Up/SACRAMENTO-LOCAL CA 12/16/2002 00:00  

 

[BHeemsoth]

Last night when i got home from work my $55 rebate from BB was waiting for me. I definitley didnt expect it to come this quickly. BTW this is the rebate from the GF4 ti4200 from black friday

 

[Mallow]

Ok here is the best deal I've ever gotten in on... it is totally individualistic to me so don't anyone try it... this is just a brag

12/22: I decide I want a DVD+R/W drive and I notice the OfficeMax deal and here we go.

299.99 Verbatim DVD+R/W
89.99 Cendyne 48x12x48 CD-RW (not sure what this drive is. It is actually a 48x16x48, not a 48x12x50 Aopen some have recieved. Serial #AGE150F212B0XXXXX X=Random #'s Drive Model: CW 4802. Anyone identify this drive?)
+ 20 Tax
- 60 IR on Verbatim
- 40 IR on Cendyne
- 50 Coupon
- 40 MIR Verbatim
- 30 MIR Cendyne (Total Cost of the drive = $19.99)
- 30 - Sold the Cendyne for $50 - $19.99 = Net of $30
- 40 For selling my now useless Sony DVD-Player in my computer
- 20 For selling my now useless MPEG-2 Decoder Card
- 20 For selling my now useless SCSI Yamaha CD-RW
- Another Free Cendyne 48x12x48 CD-RW Drive (for simplistic reasons I'm counting my $50 in MSN dollars as a free Cendyne burner b/c that is exactly what I'm gonna use it for, so...)
- 30 MIR from the "Free" Cendyne burner (Total cost of the drive now = $19.99 once again)
- 30 - Selling the "Free" Cendyne burner for $50 - $19.99 = Net of $30 again
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total = 19.98 for a freakin' DVD Burner - lol!!! I love deals!

If anyone sees any error in logic or math let me know l8rz all.

 

[BHeemsoth]

Originally posted by: Mallow
Ok here is the best deal I've ever gotten in on... it is totally individualistic to me so don't anyone try it... this is just a brag

12/22: I decide I want a DVD+R/W drive and I notice the OfficeMax deal and here we go.

299.99 Verbatim DVD+R/W
89.99 Cendyne 48x12x48 CD-RW (not sure what this drive is. It is actually a 48x16x48, not a 48x12x50 Aopen some have recieved. Serial #AGE150F212B0XXXXX X=Random #'s Drive Model: CW 4802. Anyone identify this drive?)
+ 20 Tax
- 60 IR on Verbatim
- 40 IR on Cendyne
- 50 Coupon
- 40 MIR Verbatim
- 30 MIR Cendyne (Total Cost of the drive = $19.99)
- 30 - Sold the Cendyne for $50 - $19.99 = Net of $30
- 40 For selling my now useless Sony DVD-Player in my computer
- 20 For selling my now useless MPEG-2 Decoder Card
- 20 For selling my now useless SCSI Yamaha CD-RW
- Another Free Cendyne 48x12x48 CD-RW Drive (for simplistic reasons I'm counting my $50 in MSN dollars as a free Cendyne burner b/c that is exactly what I'm gonna use it for, so...)
- 30 MIR from the "Free" Cendyne burner (Total cost of the drive now = $19.99 once again)
- 30 - Selling the "Free" Cendyne burner for $50 - $19.99 = Net of $30 again
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total = 19.98 for a freakin' DVD Burner - lol!!! I love deals!

If anyone sees any error in logic or math let me know l8rz all.

I hate you

 

[isaacmacdonald]

HAHA... yes FEDEX holiday performance was f*cking horrible.

1. I priority overnighted a proof for an $8900 job last thursday, and friday the thing doesn't get delivered until 4pm. At 4pm it was delivered to a non-existent address, and signed for by some unknown person at the non-existent address which should have existed about 5 miles from the location it was sent to. status: package lost-

2. I had two other packages from CA overnighted on thursday, and when they didn't show up, I tracked them. It read, CA, NJ, NY - for delivery, then back to NJ. I was like wtf!. I called 1-800-go-fedex about 15 times, and fed ex kept disconnecting me everytime I tried to speak to a representative. Finally, I drove to the fedex center (about 10 miles away) and managed to track down my two packages which were nearly lost.

*sigh*. These fed-ex guys need to get their act together. There might have been high volume, but come on... it's the holidays, of course there will be high volume.-

 

[defuse]

I went to Staples today to do a pricematch,and I got in a big argument with the manager about their policy. I was going to purchase aWireless network Access Point for $99.98.

I was pricematching it to Techsavings a online retailer for $74.00 with $5.95 s/h.
linky

We were arguing about the shipping and handling that had to be added to the pricematch. Well she said that since I was getting the product today, she calculated the most expensive shipping "overnight" and I said yeah right it doesnt say that anywhere in the pricematch guarantee, which I brought with me. I asked her to point it out in the policy and she refuse and said it was "common sence that since im getting it today she has to get the fastest shipping". I kinda understood that ,but It didnt say it anywhere in the policy.
pricematch
So what do you guys think? Whos at fault?

 

[Mallow]

I personally think it is Staples going back on their PM policy. You should check and see if that product will ship in 24hrs. If it won't you can't possibly get it over night and then revert back to the old shipping charges It has worked for some but YMMV.

 

[MrCoyote]

BEST BUY needs to start honoring their 110% pricematch policy. Many times have I found a lower priced item at another store, then when I go to BB, they match the price, but won't do a 110%. Also they advertise products that they have ZERO inventory of, even on the first day and first hour of the sale. Many falsely advertised sale products which they never get, and won't offer a raincheck on them.

 

[BigSmooth]

~MOAN~

Man, Amazon has been giving me some bad service lately.

First, I place an order in their new apparel store when they had the "spend $50, get a $30 Amazon g.c." promotion going on. The order was placed 10/31 and shipped the same day. I received shipment confirmation on 11/02.
The promotion says you should get the g.c. in 4-6 weeks after the item ships. 7 weeks go by, so I e-mail customer service. All the guy tells me is "yep, looks like it was completed on 10/31, you should get that $30 g.c. soon". Gee, thanks! Very helpful! That was almost two weeks ago now, so it's now been 8+ weeks and still no sign of any g.c. :|

Secondly, I placed an order for some cookware - the deal is detailed in this thread. I placed the order on 11/15 during the Friday Sale.
The set I ordered came with two free additional pans. One shipped immediately. However, Amazon charged me for shipping even though I qualified for free super saver shipping. :| I e-mailed them and they said "Oops!" and reversed the charges.
The second free pan had said in big letters on the product ordering page "2 LEFT IN STOCK!" when I ordered it, and "1 LEFT IN STOCK" after I ordered it. Well, of course, there weren't really any in stock, because I got a 1-week delay notification on that pan. :| But I did receive it about two weeks ago.

Here's the kicker, though. The cookware set itself said "usually ships in 1 to 2 weeks" on the ordering page. No big deal, I thought. WRONG. I've received three "delay notifications", and the item STILL has not shipped out, 6+ weeks later (estimated ship date is Jan 6. - Jan. 13 - nearly a 2 MONTH backorder when they claimed 1-2 weeks :frown. After the second delay notice, I sent a pretty scathing e-mail (which I normally would never bother to do) ripping into their misleading inventory status and poor service, and they apologized and gave me a $5 gift certificate. Oh, yay!

They didn't even upgrade my shipping speed, so if and when they do bother to ship it out, it will be at least another week or more before I actually receive the damn things.

Anyhoo, just wanted to rant. I'm sure glad the cookware wasn't for a Christmas gift, or I would have been even more furious.
I had always had good experiences with Amazon before, but this is just bad service.

 

[Ben88]

Can you guys stop posting deals with mail in rebates for ONE DAY. Mail in rebates are cold deals. By the time you get you "rebate" the manufacturer has already invested your money in R&D for new products.

 

[Kanalua]

I got a CompUSA g$50 gift card for CHristmas...so off I went to CompUSA. Saw a friends of mine working there, he got me a Special edition Western Digital 80GB 8MB cache drive for $120 using his discount, add that to the $50 and a few extra buck my friend threw in...

a 80GB 8MB cache drive for $60!!