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Weekly Roundup 4/30 (1 Viewer)

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I pricematched friends at outpost.com through DDD, thanks to someone's recommendation earlier in the thread. $39.96 shipped. Not too bad, as I don't have to watch it ASAP, and it is a hell of a price.

Lenny
 

Paul Chi

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I was wondering if there is anything wrong with Outpost.com? I noticed that some of you have ordered the FRIENDS set from Deep Discount DVD and asked for Outpost's pricematch. Does DDD ship their products faster than Outpost or something like that? I am curious to know because why bother asking DDD for a pricematch than directly ordering it from Outpost. Thanks!
 

Malcolm R

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Does DDD ship their products faster than Outpost or something like that?
From what I've read about Outpost, they seldom seem to ship anything.
They'll take your order, then place it on permanent backorder. Even with discs that are readily available in any store.
So if you can get Outpost prices from a reputable retailer who will actually fulfill your order, you get the best of both worlds (not to mention your actual DVD's in your mailbox). :)
 

EricK

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Local Best Buy here did NOT give me a hassle about taking the 10% off the Friends collector set season 1. The clerk checked the price to make sure it rang up correctly and then applied the 10%.

I think the Friends set really doesn't apply for the 10% because it is already discounted from the original price. I think Best Buy intended to discount "regularly priced" sets only and not sets on sale.

Eric.
 

Brian E

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I think Best Buy intended to discount "regularly priced" sets only and not sets on sale.
You may very well be right, but the ad says ALL sets the only limitations listed are "Sale limited to in-stock items, Selection varies by store, No Rainchecks" no where does it say regularly prices items only. Any other time they've done a sale like this it's been on everything and was programed into the registers, IIRC. If they intended it to be on regularly priced sets they would have posted a disclaimer appoligizing for the mistake like they do other times the ad is screwed up.
 

David Lambert

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Brain E took the words right out of my mouth! Since no exclusion was posted, they cannot exclude the duo-discount. I suspect BB set it up this way on purpose, so they can look good and give the discount to those who ask, but not be automatically giving it to everyone per register programming.
In the past BB has implied deals in their weekly ad flyers that weren't spelled out for sure, and weren't programmed in the registers. Their central office would send memos to the stores instructing cashiers to give the deal to customers who ask for it on a no-quibble basis. But then stores fail to inform all cashiers, so some of them hassle you. :frowning:
 

David Lambert

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Oh, and I've been meaning to answer Tony's question for a couple of days now! Blood Simple is part of NEXT WEEK's markdowns, along with many MANY other titles. Some stores have already lowered prices, though, so look for it. But I'll definately include it in next Sunday's Roundup.
 

EricK

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Well, all told, you guys are right. They advertised the deal and have to give the customer the discount. So either way we all win on this one. Hopefully for those who had to hassle, it wasn't much of a hassle....

Eric.
 

Carlo_M

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I went to my second BB yesterday and the STILL weren't going to give me the discount! I got ANOTHER green cashier who had to call a manager over to ask. The manager looked at the sticker price of $59.99, and since it rung up on the register as $49.99 he said "it's already more than 10% off" - but here's where the story goes differently than my first experience... ;)
I simply said, in a very nice manner, no bitterness or anything, "Oh that's okay then, I can get it online cheaper." The manager then asked "how much can you get it online for?" I told him "$40, but it costs $6 to ship, (this is true, North American DVD has it for that price and that shipping) - so it would cost me $46 on the net and I figured I'd pay $45 + tax here for instant gratification. But for the $8 difference ($49.99 + tax) I'll just order it on the net."
So he looked at the cashier and said "use my ID and give him $5"
I said, "wow, thanks! I'm definitely coming back here again" just to let him know that he'd done a customer right. :)
So now I'm going to return my old one (unopened of course) to the BB across from my work. :D
 

Mike Frezon

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THAT'S the way it should be.

I've had some horror stories at B&Ms lately--especially one of the big office supply stores (on a non-home theater purchase)--and am in that frame of mind that corporate America has really forgotten how to do business and deal with customers.

Way to handle the situation Carlo! Well done!
 

David Lambert

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Mike, I agree that the B&M's - both of a video and non-video nature - have much to be desired lately.

The thing is, the economy sucks, and so sales are down. They get all worried and stuff, and they take it out on the wrong people. The people who come into their stores to spend the money and help them keep their jobs are the wrongest people to take this out on. They should be happy we're there at all! Driving us away won't help.

They forget that. I know it's hard to remember it; I was a retail mgr. for over a decade, and was there. But it's not bad to remind them if they're hassling you: "I know you're upset that I'm asking you to take a couple of bucks off and that it impacts your sales totals for today. Just remember that I'm willing to buy this if you honor your advertised deal; otherwise you won't get any of my money...today OR tomorrow. And I'll call your boss to explain why."
 

Carlo_M

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And talking about what a champ the BB near my house is...
I bought Jerry Maguire SE on tuesday and yesterday I wanted to pick up Not Another Teen Movie. Since I had my receipt for JM:SE on me, they just took it (without the actual DVD), scanned a refund on my card for $17.99, then "sold" me JM:SE and NATM for $15.49 each. Basically they gave me the $5 despite buying them several days apart.
I asked if I could move into the store shortly thereafter... :D
 

Mike Frezon

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The thing is, the economy sucks, and so sales are down. They get all worried and stuff, and they take it out on the wrong people. The people who come into their stores to spend the money and help them keep their jobs are the wrongest people to take this out on. They should be happy we're there at all! Driving us away won't help.
Another part of it, Dave, (and I think we're running a big risk of taking this way off-topic from the Weekly Round-Up) is that companies can't get quality people in these stores for the wages they are paying. So...you are left with ill-mannered, immature kids who wouldn't know a politeness if it reached up and bit 'em on their ---! :angry:
Okay, I'm better now! :D
You are correct. Managers of stores need to make sure their customers are treated right.
 

David Lambert

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Mike, you make a good point about the quality of workers. When I was a store manager, I often hired younger guys (since we sold videogames and computer games as our primary merchandise, they were the ones who knew the product, really). Some of them were immature and fairly arrogant.
Some of those guys lasted despite themselves, but I always stressed that they had to treat the customer right. They could mouth off to ME any way they wanted to, but they could NEVER be caught treating the customer badly.
I had one situation where a regular Macintosh customer was hanging out -as was his wont - for a couple of hours after payday, deciding what games to buy. A teen who worked for me who was irritated that the guy thought Mac was better than IBM and Amiga (this dates the story, right?) started emphasizing loudly to every other customer in our relatively small store how much bigger the game selection was on IBMs and Amigas than on Mac. Reaction? Complain from our regular customer direct to me, the manager, with an assurance that he felt his money was no longer welcome in my store. Result? As this was the last straw for an employee who already had proven he had some trouble getting along with customers, he was no longer employable at my store.
You see, I DON'T feel that this is off-topic from the Weekly Roundup. We are all here in this thread to save a buck or two, right? But some of us don't mind paying a bit extra to shop at our favorite store, as long as we know the difference isn't too vast. Why pay extra at all? In some cases it is convenience, but more often when we do that it is because we get service levels we want to support.
After supply meets demand, then it is service and selection vs. decent price as the equation by which all buyers and sellers must operate. When store management forgets this, they lose sales and loyal, repeat business.
Big chains like Best Buy, etc. - with large amounts of floorspace - break themselves into departments and put supervisors in charge of each one, to make it more manageable. But my local BB has a new mgr of the media dept who seems hell-bent on pissing everyone off. 6 months ago I wrote to BB's HQ in praise of three specific staff members. The local store General Mgr. at the time - who moved to the bigger store across town since then - told me that copies of the letter, and their HQ's subsequent praise, was put into each person's file. But the new supervisor of the media dept. has already let one of those excellent employees quit due to low hours - he only gave her 8 hours a week when she was promised 24-32. A 2nd one has put in her notice; she's decided to quit this job and move out-of-town within six weeks. The final one is supposed to be full-time; 32-40 hours per week, but the supervisor is only assigning no more than 24 hours of schedule!
Meanwhile, in the note I *complained* about a 4th employee, who told me that "there's no such thing as a widescreen television", while we both stood about 20 feet from their bigscreen tv area! SHE has been promoted to the customer service counter!!! :eek:
I have spent over $6000 on over 400 DVD's from this store, plus spent additional money on my 2 DVD players, CD's, videogames, PC equipment/software/supplies, a steam cleaner, a mini-steam-cleaner, an electric razor, and I forget what else!
How do these staffing actions take care of me, their loyal repeat customer?
smiley_shrug.gif
 

Mike Frezon

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Reaction? Complain from our regular customer direct to me, the manager, with an assurance that he felt his money was no longer welcome in my store. Result? As this was the last straw for an employee who already had proven he had some trouble getting along with customers, he was no longer employable at my store.
Exactly. Its that simple.
If there is an employee who doesn't treat a customer with respect -- after a few warnings (depending upon the seriousness of the treatment), he should be shown the door. Good job, David!
The episode I just had at Staples involved a young guy (I'm an old man of 43! :D ) who actually spoke to me rudely and didn't even understand why I was questioning the way I was being treated. I ended up leaving the store without spending my $80 on computer ink, paper and a new keyboard wristrest. After I returned home (cooling off during the drive and organizing my thoughts), I called his manager who told me she witnessed the whole thing and had spoken to him already. She also admitted this was not the first time she ever had to speak with him about this sort of thing. She didn't approach me then because she was speaking with somebody on the phone at the time of the incident. (BTW, it was my guy who called the manager over to the phone after he had answered it, saying "I've got some nut here you need to talk to.")
Bottom line of my most-recent episode is that although she agreed it should have been handled differently, she made no real apologies and never even invited me back to the store. That surprised me. I thought she even might offer me some kind of deal if I returned to complete the purchase. But...that's the crux of the matter, the employees and lower management just don't care if you buy anything at their store or not--so they just don't see why its important to treat people with the respect and dignity they deserve. Even though this particular store is extremely close to my home, I won't be back. :D
 

David Lambert

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:eek: This lady hasn't been trained to run her store correctly.
She SHOULD have said "I hope you'll excuse us, and give us a second chance", for certain.
It would have been best if she asked "Do you still need the supplies you came in for? If so, I can try to make up for your inconvenience by..." (fill in the blank; whatever made sense for her to do, depending on the severity of the incident).
Finally, she DEFINATELY should have told you, whether or not she intended to follow through, that the next time the employee does something like that "he's out of here". Even if she only says it to you, and not to him...even if she has no intention of carrying out the threat (and she OUGHT to, but sometimes ya' just say what the offended party wants to hear, right?)...it should have been said. Period.
Apologies are a great thing, but most of us don't want to get all worked up over what happened yesterday. We're more worried about how we are gonna be treated tomorrow. And if we aren't told it will be different next time, then why in the world would we go back and subject ourselves to all of that AGAIN?
THAT is the most important lesson I've learned about unpleaseantness that I generated or am otherwise responsible for: convincing the offended party that it will never, EVER happen again!! If there isn't trust on that, then we can't do business.
And that works both ways. And it's not just true in the business world, but in our personal lives as well!
 

Mike Frezon

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It would have been best if she asked "Do you still need the supplies you came in for? If so, I can try to make up for your inconvenience by..." (fill in the blank; whatever made sense for her to do, depending on the severity of the incident).
Exactly! As it is, I still need my computer ink! My machine keeps giving me those annoying low ink messages! :rolleyes: The thing is, though, I gotta go over to the next town to get it now. :angry:
And its not like I'm just looking now to save some $$$ on the situation. After all, I didn't create the problem!
 

Carlos V III

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I've looked for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at all my local B&M's (BB, CC, even Suncoast)with no success. Has anyone actually seen this on the shelf?

Villa

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David Lambert

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Carlos, funny you should ask! I went on a mission today to look for it.
Best Buy says they have 2 copies coming between Monday and Wednesday, on their "G.O." (General Order; i.e. slowboat ships and backstock replenishment).
Circuit City: Nope...told me they saw copies at Suncoast
Suncoast: Nope; not in the system! (What was the CC guy on?). Same at sister store Sam Goody.
FYE: In the system, but no concept of when it will arrive
Babbages (hey; I took a shot!): nothing
Borders: Special Order only
K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Target: Don't make me laugh! :)
CompUSA: Nah.
Sam's Club & Costco: Nada
Conclusion: If BB doesn't have it when I go to pick up ST:TNG S2 (I could have had that by now, actually, from a street date breaker, but decided not to blow the $25-$30 extra it would cost me!), then I'll Amazon it for $26.99. They act like they have stock and all, and I really don't want to wait for this one!
Oh, but I *did* find Hardware Wars at Suncoast for $14.99...a couple bucks more than I'd like to have paid for it, but well worth it to me anyway!! :D
 

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