Weekly RoundUp 8-28-2012 (1 Viewer)

[Craig S]

Originally Posted by TravisR /t/323266/weekly-roundup-8-28-2012#post_3966755
A clerk at Barnes And Noble told me yesterday that the sale was going to be 40% off of nearly all Blu-rays (not just Criterion) in two weeks. Maybe the guy is severely misinformed but that's what he told me. Honestly, his description sounds too good to be true so I'd say to take the information worth a grain of salt until there's some kind of confirmation.

It's been reported that B&N is going to shut down all of its media (CD, DVD, Blu) departments in their B&M stores by the end of the year. Perhaps this is the first step in clearing that inventory??

 

[Keith I]

Those ABCTVonDVDcoupon.com coupons are great. Will Best Buy honor them? (I recall in the past where people had some trouble with some Best Buys and these coupons; a friend told me that BB takes the savings off of MSRP, not the advertised price.) Wal-Mart seems to have less TV on Blu-ray titles, but maybe OUAT will be a popular seller there. How can you use these coupons at Amazon, like TonyD mentioned? Amazon already has a $10-off coupon if you buy (for example) Revenge and OUAT together.

 

[TonyD]

Amazon will not take any coupon. They already added a $15 coupon to Once months ago anyway so that was their coupon for Once.

 

[David Norman]

Those ABCTVonDVDcoupon.com coupons are great. Will Best Buy honor them? (I recall in the past where people had some trouble with some Best Buys and these coupons; a friend told me that BB takes the savings off of MSRP, not the advertised price.) Wal-Mart seems to have less TV on Blu-ray titles, but maybe OUAT will be a popular seller there. How can you use these coupons at Amazon, like TonyD mentioned? Amazon already has a $10-off coupon if you buy (for example) Revenge and OUAT together.

As far as BBY, I don't have any trouble with a clerk who has been there for a while and virtually never have had a manager question a legitimate MQ.
The issue is that some of the new/less experienced clerks try to scan the coupon and virtually never works. Recently I was shocked when one guy actually scanned
one and it rang up as a MQ, but it didn't deduct anything and had to have the manager manually correct it.
At BBY, the clerks have to hit the F7 key, they are supposed to check the coupon expiration and your item to make sure you bought the correct product, then enter the amount.
Occasionally I'll prompt someone who looks confused and help them out of suggest they call for help. One advantage of not looking like a college kid is they sort of
trust the "Mature" safe guy.

 

[Jason_V]

Originally Posted by David Norman /t/323266/weekly-roundup-8-28-2012#post_3966926
As far as BBY, I don't have any trouble with a clerk who has been there for a while and virtually never have had a manager question a legitimate MQ.
The issue is that some of the new/less experienced clerks try to scan the coupon and virtually never works. Recently I was shocked when one guy actually scanned
one and it rang up as a MQ, but it didn't deduct anything and had to have the manager manually correct it.
At BBY, the clerks have to hit the F7 key, they are supposed to check the coupon expiration and your item to make sure you bought the correct product, then enter the amount.
Occasionally I'll prompt someone who looks confused and help them out of suggest they call for help. One advantage of not looking like a college kid is they sort of
trust the "Mature" safe guy.

I had the same problem with their Upgrade and Save program in July. The cashier told me he had never seen the program before.

Stifling a laugh, I walked him through how to do it. I mean, really...he didn't know what to do with the coupon I handed him?

 

[Malcolm R]

I had to train a cashier at Home Depot today how to process a gift card. I think the skill and training of retail cashiers is getting even worse.
I was in a supermarket not too long ago, trying to redeem a gift certificate sent to me from their own corporate office. The instructions for redeeming were clearly printed on the certificate. It said, "Tender as CASH." When I handed him the certificate, he was totally confused. When I pointed out the instructions on the back for redeeming, he still didn't dare follow them. He first tried to call over a supervisor. After this turned into a several minute wait, I again tried to helpfully point out the directions that said "Tender as CASH" printed right on the certificate. He was still flustered and, when it became apparent a supervisor still wasn't coming soon, he proceeded to tender...as a CHECK. Made no difference to me, other than the wait, as I still got my credit, but when the instructions on the certificate clearly say "Tender as CASH," why would you then do something different? Why not, oh...I don't know, tender as CASH! I thought about reporting this event to the Corporate office, but I was afraid they'd send me another gift certificate and I'd find myself stuck in some repeating time loop.
I think if the customer has to help the cashier process the transaction, the customer should receive some other discount/credit as a "consulting fee."

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R /t/323266/weekly-roundup-8-28-2012#post_3966972
I think if the customer has to help the cashier process the transaction, the customer should receive some other discount/credit as a "consulting fee."

Think of the money we'd save!

OTOH, most retailers would be soon out of business.

 

[Keith I]

I headed to Best Buy after my post. I tried to get Revenge: S1. It was $39.99, sale price $34.99. I was expecting them to tell me it would be $10 off the regular price. The cashier never saw this coupon before so he spent a little time reading it, then trying to process it on the register. It took him several tries to do something, then the register finally said to call a manager. The manager quickly approved it (no questions asked) and I got the $10 off the $34.99 sale price. Then the register said I would get a $10 gift card! Whoa! So I actually got a $20 deal!
So I'll be headed there on Tuesday to get OUAT on BD using the $15 coupon and the gift card. Hope I don't have any trouble with that coupon.
And it's sly that Amazon.com raised their price of Revenge:S1 (to "match" other retailers' sale prices of $34.99; it was $27.99 for a few weeks prior to today) while lowering OUAT's price. So if you try to use their $10-off deal, you won't get the "best" price ($27.99 for R and $39.99 for OUAT at the same time). I was waiting for that to happen, but the ABC coupons trashed that idea.
And as always ... Awesome job, Mike!

 

[David Norman]

I headed to Best Buy after my post. I tried to get Revenge: S1. It was $39.99, sale price $34.99. I was expecting them to tell me it would be $10 off the regular price. The cashier never saw this coupon before so he spent a little time reading it, then trying to process it on the register. It took him several tries to do something, then the register finally said to call a manager. The manager quickly approved it (no questions asked) and I got the $10 off the $34.99 sale price. Then the register said I would get a $10 gift card! Whoa! So I actually got a $20 deal!
!

Did you buy something else with Revenge?

 

[Keith I]

David: I bought The Closer: S7 with it. Could the gift card have been part of a WB promotion? Nothing popped up on the register about a promotion. Maybe it thought the $10 coupon was a "gift card"???

 

[Mike Frezon]

 

[Adam Gregorich]

You think in this economy that retailers could find more competent people?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Wow.

Just took a look at what's ahead for the WRU in September.

After Labor Day week...look out!

It's gonna be another crazy end-of-the-year!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Had one of my best days for Blu-Ray bargains in a long, long time. First, I went to Barnes & Noble and found the new Harvey Blu-Ray in the 40 percent off bin. List price: $26.99; after 40% off promotion, $16.19; after 10% member discount, $14.57; after $3 manufacturer coupon from a previous Universal 100th anniversary title, $11.57. With tax, I walked out of the store paying $12.50.
From there I went to Best Buy for Homeland: Season 1 on Blu-Ray. It was advertised both in their TV shows display and the TV subsection of the Bluray racks, but both slots were empty. They had plenty of copies of the DVD. We all hear and share a lot of bad stories about untrained and unmotivated retail clerks, so I have to really give a shout out to the blue shirt who helped me. He checked the inventory on the computer for me, and saw that the store was still listed as having one copy. He checked the back for me, he went methodically though all of the racks to see if it might have been mis-shelved or just dropped by a customer and when all of that came up dry he checked the returns bin to see if it was there. He spent a good twenty minutes of time helping me for a relatively small buck item.
Fortunately, when I got home I found that Amazon was matching Best Buy's $24.99 price for it, so I ordered it there along with a few odds and ends I'd been meaning to pick up in order to get the super saver shipping. The combined list price for the two items was $96.97. I ended up spending $39.49, a mere 40.7 percent of the list price.
Thanks to Mike, as always, for all of the prices. And thanks to David Norman for reminding me about the $3 Universal coupon.

 

[David Norman]

Adam, I don;t know if there is a reason for this, but I have been hearing a lot of stories about BBY employees recently. Maybe
something from corporate has come down that has led to a more helpful employee base.
As a rule I've rarely had a problem with my local stores which always made these national stories seem a bit odd, though by sheer
volume they had to be true, but the last 2-3 months I hearing a really different set of stories.
On top of that the great deals BBY has offered lately -- between the last 2 Upgrade and Save programs and the $10 and 25 TV gift card programs
the last 3 weeks, I have spent a far larger amount at BBY than Amazon for the first time in years.

 

[DavidJ]

Adam, I was going to post about Harvey at Barnes & Noble, but you beat me to it. Great deal.
I'm trying to decide if I'll pick up Once Upon a Time. It'd be a blind buy for me, but I've heard good things from some friends.
Mike, thanks as always for the RoundUp.

 

[Keith I]

Keith...my man  Youse gots to read the entire RoundUp! 

Heh heh ... is there a "foot-in-mouth" smiley? This one will do for now:
It's called "selective reading."
And yes, you "da man!"

 

[Jake Lipson]

Anyone interested in picking up Once Upon a Time might be interested in what happened at my Target yesterday. By midafternoon when I went to get it, I found only three copies of the Blu-ray on the shelf, as vs. several copies of the other new releases this week, so I assume they must be selling rather well. I had no problem using the Best Buy ad to price match on the Target exclusive and applied the $15 coupon on top of that, so $24.99+tax out the door. When I got it home and opened it, however, it turned out the case was broken and the swinging trays holding discs 1-4 were not held in place, and the case wouldn't shut. So I had to go back and exchange it. When I got back to the store later that night, they only had two copies out; presumably no more had been put out since I was there the first time. The second copy I got was totally fine, so the packaging issue was a random fluke, but just in case this happens to you, you might want to open it before leaving the store so as to avoid a second trip if you do have to exchange it.
Incidentally, when I bought the Once Upon a Time soundtrack from Amazon back in May I had a similar issue with the jewel case of that falling apart upon opening and had to exchange it, too. I guess I'm just cursed to find defective copies of discs associated with that show.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by JakeLip /t/323266/weekly-roundup-8-28-2012/30#post_3968092
Anyone interested in picking up Once Upon a Time might be interested in what happened at my Target yesterday. By midafternoon when I went to get it, I found only three copies of the Blu-ray on the shelf, as vs. several copies of the other new releases this week, so I assume they must be selling rather well. I had no problem using the Best Buy ad to price match on the Target exclusive and applied the $15 coupon on top of that, so $24.99+tax out the door. When I got it home and opened it, however, it turned out the case was broken and the swinging trays holding discs 1-4 were not held in place, and the case wouldn't shut. So I had to go back and exchange it. When I got back to the store later that night, they only had two copies out; presumably no more had been put out since I was there the first time. The second copy I got was totally fine, so the packaging issue was a random fluke, but just in case this happens to you, you might want to open it before leaving the store so as to avoid a second trip if you do have to exchange it.
Incidentally, when I bought the Once Upon a Time soundtrack from Amazon back in May I had a similar issue with the jewel case of that falling apart upon opening and had to exchange it, too. I guess I'm just cursed to find defective copies of discs associated with that show.

Obviously Regina has been up to her old tricks....

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Adam, I don;t know if there is a reason for this, but I have been hearing a lot of stories about BBY employees recently. Maybe
something from corporate has come down that has led to a more helpful employee base.
As a rule I've rarely had a problem with my local stores which always made these national stories seem a bit odd, though by sheer
volume they had to be true, but the last 2-3 months I hearing a really different set of stories.
On top of that the great deals BBY has offered lately -- between the last 2 Upgrade and Save programs and the $10 and 25 TV gift card programs
the last 3 weeks, I have spent a far larger amount at BBY than Amazon for the first time in years.

Yep, I've been reading *and* experiencing likewise at my local BBs of late. Not exactly perfect customer service, but definitely noticeably better in general. Their phone CS (for online purchases) and online forum help also seem better than before. I had to call up about a missing GC-by-email for their $10-for-50 online, in-store pickup deal, and that was as pleasant a CS-by-phone experience as such things can possibly be me thinks -- easily matches-or-betters any call I've ever made to Amazon.
If BB keeps this (along w/ the sales/promos) up, I'll definitely continue to spend much more w/ them than Amazon.
Heck, I even just bought a $400 Toshiba laptop from them mainly for my teenage daughter who's starting high school. Had originally thought to get another Dell or maybe something from NewEgg, but BB's weekly laptop deals have been quite good and very competitive. Never thought I'd be getting a computer from them until now.
Anyway, I ended up picking up Boardwalk Empire S1 & S2 plus Homeland and Breaking Bad S1 for BB's $25 GC. I'm debating going back for OUAT (w/ coupon) and either Breaking Bad S2, if that's enough for a $10 GC, or maybe finally picking up Dexter S1, which I never did buy.
_Man_