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My personal odyssey to get on the list for BestBuy Preferred Customer coupons. (1 Viewer)

Derek Miner

Screenwriter
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Feb 22, 1999
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1,662
I always use my Visa check card when making purchases at BB, as well. But can they go and get our information from the credit card company and make a database of customers?
 

David Lambert

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Aug 3, 2001
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I always use my Visa check card when making purchases at BB, as well. But can they go and get our information from the credit card company and make a database of customers?
No, they shouldn't be able to do this without violating some privacy laws. I am sure it has nothing to do with that.
I've said it before elsewhere, but it bears repeating here: When my wife and I bought this house, we started getting the coupons from BB - addressed to her. But with a funny mispelling in a particular area. One document out of the jillions we signed to buy the house had THAT particular mispelling on it...we recall it vividly because we asked the lawyers "does that one need to be redone", etc., and were told not to worry about it. I don't recall the exact form, but it makes sense to me that we got entered onto a list of new homeowners in the area and that BB bought that list and sent us the coupons to lure us into the store, since we're almost right around the corner from them. They just happened to use the form with the mispelling on it. My wife was first listed on the mortgage on all paperwork, so her name got the hit.
If BB did indeed buy such a marketing list, they probably bought others as well. Including a list of credit card owners from your banks, perhaps? :)
 

Christopher D

Second Unit
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Oct 16, 2000
Messages
283
I think that, among other things, it *can* be a Visa card, and they can and do get your address information from Visa.

I have been getting the BB coupons for a while, and I also frequently get mailers and offers from other very specific places that I have shopped (at factory stores and large department stores, for example) that I know for a fact I have never given my address. I suspect they choose who to mail these to based on some sort of income/credit/whatever criteria, and/or how often you shop there.

I shop there a lot and also get a lot of offers from various peddlers in the mail that appear to be ginned up from credit data, so I strongly suspect that is your answer. (The home buying story above -- which paperwork would be sent to and databased at a credit bureau -- seems to reinforce this.)
 

Ken Custodio

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 5, 2001
Messages
316
I have been on their prefered customer mailing list for some time but after I moved I stopped getting them (Of course :) ) I just called Best Buy customer service, to ask them to change my mailing address. The representative said I will just re-add me to the list instead of changing my old address. He took my information and said you will be getting coupons in a few months. The funny thing is, he didn't seem to be typing anything as I gave him my information. I guess he was just humoring me :) But I hope he isn't. Some of those coupons were really good deals.
 

Mike Frezon

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Well, here is the latest installment. I screwed up and mis-read the prior post from Craig at BestBuy. I though he asked me to confirm my e-mail address, but it was my "mailing address" that he wasnted. :b :b :b

This is the latest post from Craig at bestBuy:

Dear Mike Frezon,

Thank you for writing back to Best Buy. I will need your mailing address

before I can submit a request to have your name added to our Preferred

Customer Mailing List.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Craig Fornell

CR Contact Center Representative

Best Buy Enterprise Customer Care
So, off goes my response and I will report back any future correspondence and/or success.
 

Lenny Truett

Agent
Joined
Jan 27, 1999
Messages
41
My wife has always got the coupons, and they even followed us to our new address. One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is getting the product protection plans. My wife usually gets them, and darn it if everything doesn't break before they go out of effect. She has got her computer repaired numerous times and even got a new machine after almost a year, a new monitor and other replacements I can't even remember. Usually I am not a fan, but she has got her money out of them so....

If you want to try it, you can always return the service contract for a period of time (up to 30 days???). Maybe that will get you on.

Good luck,

Lenny
 

TimG

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 5, 1999
Messages
361
I have shopped at Best Buy for numerous things over the years and never received any of the coupons. Recently applied for the credit card and received the coupons last week. Coincidence?

Tim
 

Phil Tomaskovic

Supporting Actor
Joined
May 8, 1999
Messages
754
When you check your game piece online for the Sheryl Crow concert contest, it asks if you want to be put on a list for futureoffers. That may be the best way. I thinkyou have to go to a store for a game piece first.
 

DaveHo

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Messages
605
Here's another interesting twist to the coupon plot. Both my wife and I get them, sometimes. She always gets them, I usually do too, but not always. I have a BB card she does not. After BB moved into our area, ~4 years ago, she began to get them immediately. Funny thing is they come in her maiden name. I know for a fact she has never given Best Buy her info. We were not married when we bought our house about 8 years ago. They must have gotten their info from the mortgage company or from the records at the court house. I began receiving the coupons sometime after she did, but before I ever got the BB card, strange. Here is the real kicker. The coupons we get are NOT the same. The past promo she got the 10% of one, 15% off 2, 20% off 3 deal. Mine were for a straight 10% off up to 3.

-Dave
 

David Lambert

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This last post is proof of what I said earlier: BB is buying marketing lists, and some of those lists are targeted to get the coupons.

That and the BB Credit Card seem to be the common denominators, folks.

So if they buy the list from your mortgage company, you get coupons. If they buy the list from the bank that issued your Visa, you get coupons. If they buy the list from the spa you signed up to win a free membership from, you get coupons. It's very simple, really.
 

Mike Frezon

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Rexford, NY
Dear Mike Frezon,
Thank you for writing back to Best Buy and providing me with your current
mailing address. I have submitted a request on your behalf to have your
name added to our Preferred Customer Mailing List. Please allow one to two
mailings before the name addition takes effect. Thank you in advance for
your patience.
Thank you.
Respectfully,
Craig Fornell
CR Contact Center Representative
Best Buy Enterprise Customer Care
Since I have never gotten the coupons or their mailings, its hard for me to say how long it might take to get past "one or two mailings".
I will certainly post here when I receive any further correspondence from BestBuy--either by cyber-post or snail mail.
 

Lou Grasek

Grip
Joined
May 17, 2002
Messages
15
I went to the best buy web site and checked the receive offers by e mail box. Filled in the info and am waiting to see what I get.

Lou
 

Joseph S

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Dec 23, 1999
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The coupons we get are NOT the same. The past promo she got the 10% of one, 15% off 2, 20% off 3 deal. Mine were for a straight 10% off up to 3.
Well, I don't have their credit card but I'm on the list 3 times at 2 different addresses. Old home(parents) and my current home.
Here's what I received this time:
A)Envelope with separated coupons and a brochure of some sort:
1 coupon for 10% off music and movies(limit 5),
1 coupon for 25% off computer peripheral installation(limit 1), and
1 coupon telling me to get the credit card and receive January 2003 financing on purchases $299 and up
B)Fold over "thingie" with a seal and strip of coupons:
1 coupon for $5 off video game software and accessories(limit 3),
1 coupon for $2 off music and movies(limit 3),
1 coupon for 10% off big items
C)Fold over "thingie" with seal and strip of coupons:
1 coupon for 15% off digital media (limit 2),
1 coupon for 10% off music and movie titles(limit 5, and
1 coupon for 10% off big items
I have ordered from their website and shopped fairly regularly at 4 stores in 3 different states over the past 5 years. I'm not sure how to get on the list or why my selection varies so much. Essentially only the 10% off coupons on box sets or $2 off on under $20 titles are what will draw me in.(as if I needed the nudge to pick up the weekly DVD crack stash ;) ) I would like more of those 20% off offers from last summer if a Best Buy rep is listening.
The other thing I don't understand is the proper use of these coupons. Some stores ring up a disc and it says not valid(new release on sale), while others have no such system and you get 10% off anything.
 

David Lambert

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Joined
Aug 3, 2001
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If only we could figure this darn thing out! :rolleyes

Facts:
  1. We cannot find a pattern
  2. BB isn't real forthcoming with info on how to get on a list
  3. They state that to get the coupons you should get a BB Credit Card
  4. Folks without BB Credit Cards get coupons
  5. Folks *with* BB Credit Cards *don't* get coupons
  6. People who complain about not getting coupons may or may not get them
  7. There are multiple TYPES of coupons, all good on the same weekend
  8. Some folks who used to get coupons don't anymore
  9. Those that were "dropped" may have been using them every time like clockwork
  10. Some folks, however, got them for a looong time while never using them, and kept getting them anyway[/list=1]



    Conclusion: BB farms this out to at least 2, maybe 3 marketing firms to handle for them, and tells them when a "coupon weekend" will be (based on when it fits their corporate marketing plan and revenue needs), and then lets the subcontracters administer it any way they see fit. The subcontracters are probably indifferent to communication outside the "normal channels" and that is why special requests to get onto lists can fall through the cracks. At least one of the subcontracters uses some form of computer tracking of responsiveness, and at least one of them does not. At least one of the firms is using multiple methods of collecting names. One or more of the firms bases their style of processing on geographic sectioning. None of the subcontracter firms will cooperate with the others. BB corporate is not interested in using an iron hand to make things uniform, as long as they generate the revenue they expect.
 

Mike Frezon

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Rexford, NY
Well now, Dave. You have seemed to put all our eggs in one basket -- as it were.
But it still doesn't make me any happier! :angry:
:D
Quite a few of us in New York's capital district.
Jeff, do you know if anyone has ever broached the subject of a Capital District HTF get-together? I've seen quite a few local addresses here myself.
 

Mike Frezon

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Based on this thread (Best Buy Preferred Customer Weekend 8/9-11) I have written again to my friends at Best Buy:
Dear Craig Fornell:
It has come to my attention that BestBuy has declared August 9 - 11 as a
Preferred Customer Weekend and has sent through the mail coupons to
"preferred customers".
I have not received any such coupons despite your earlier e-mails (see
below) saying I would be placed on your list.
Can you please respond with an explanation?
Thank you.
Mike Frezon
I'll report back any further communiques.
 

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