Weekly Roundup 11/12 (May The Force Be With You!) (1 Viewer)

[John Berggren]

Okay, I waffled and waffled and waffled on the FotR set. I finally decided that I really liked the bookends enough that the money shouldn't matter. Now every Best Buy in my area is sold out of EVERY copy of the EE, Gift set and Standard.

I'm crossing my fingers that a price match Odyssey will yeild results.

Does anyone know if the Best Buy Website takes Best Buy merchandise cards? Return credits and gift cards that is.

 

[David Lambert]

John, they probably do. On the other hand, you might consider that you can use those cards in the future on something else, and just grab the gift set for $49.99 whileyou can!
Also, don't forget that you can take an ad to Wal-Mart and have them pricematch.
Funny thought occurred to me about Target's new "no pricematch" policy. It is VERY coincidental that they instituted it just ahead of the AotC $9.99 deal at TRU, eh? Does anyone think they had some forewarning, and someone up top said "oooooh, no ya' don't!"?

 

[Chris S]

Does anyone think they had some forewarning

I had been hearing rumors about the TRU deal roughly 1.5-2 weeks prior to release, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they might have rushed the new policy into their stores in order to stop a potential huge revenue loss.

Chris S.

 

[Malcolm R]

they might have rushed the new policy into their stores in order to stop a potential huge revenue loss.

And if this keeps up, I'd look for the other chains to "finesse," if not outright delete, their price match policies, at least on DVD's and other software items.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Considering Target has all of 10 copies (or less) of new releases for DVDs at each store (it seems), I doubt their "no price-matching" policy had anything to do with TRU's massive advertised loss leader for AOTC.

 

[David Lambert]

Patrick, my local Target (not a Super-Target by any stretch of the imagination!) gets more than 10 copies of each new release...except for the box sets, of course. At least 3 dozen, often more than 50. Never at Best Buy quantities, of course, where it's in the hundreds. But enough to get what you want opening day. And to the retail mindset (which I was a part of for 13 years), quantity of your inventory matters little when deciding whether or not to price-match!
Well guys, this thread's view count stands at almost 9000! At "the other forum" where I post the Roundup, it was really divided into two threads (one AotC-specific), and those combined stand at almost 2500 views. Any way you slice it, this is the most successful Roundup I've ever had. AND I've already been working on the next one since Thursday! :wink:
Thank you for coming. Y'all come back now, Y'hear?

 

[Mike Frezon]

this thread's view count stands at almost 9000!

I gotta get my last-minute story in here quick before Dave gets onto the next Roundup!
Went to BestBuy last night to FINALLY(!) get my FOTR 4-disc set. Took a good look at the Gift set but ddecided the $ just wasn't worth the difference.
Walked into my local store, went to the DVD section and couldn't find any! A blue shirt asked me if I was finding everything okay. I said I was looking for the 4-disc FOTR and he said they were all sold out. I asked if I would be able to get a raincheck--not knowing if I would get a chance to try and price match at a Wal-Mart today (the last day of the sale). He said, NO! Something about an in-store sale only. Didn't make any sense. So, I decided to go to customer service to ask them and practically fell over a flat bed cart with a zillion copies of AOTC DVDs and about a dozen FOTR 4-disc sets!
After grabbing my copy, I went back to show the guy who looked at me like I was a ring wraith and walked away!
Its all about the customer service, my man! Maybe that's the treatment you get if you're not a "preferred customer"! Oh. That's another thread.

 

[David Lambert]

I have OFTEN noticed that sale-priced items "sold out" at my local Best Buy mysteriously are in-stock the Sunday right after a sale is over. Doo-doo-DOO-doo

 

[Bill Balcziak]

If I still don't get a raincheck, I swing in on Sunday and, if I find the item on the shelf then, I confront the manager

That's a lot of confronting. Is saving $1 on a DVD actually worth it?

 

[David Lambert]

Bill, it's often much more than a dollar, and not just on DVDs. I recall how this whole thing first clicked with me about a year or so ago, when it was a music box set I was getting for my wife. It was almost a $20 difference. Raincheck was refused on Saturday for some BS reason. I foolishly gave up. The next day we were back in to pick up some vacuum cleaner bags. The music set was now sitting on a very prominent shelf, visible from anywhere along the main aisle in front of the registers (a space which had been empty the night before, though marked with the tags featuring the item's sale price). There musta been 2 dozen copies in stock all of a sudden.
I - yep! - confronted the manager, and he matched the now-expired sale price.
Since then I've noticed this happen many a time since. Mostly on DVDs, yes, but also on other things.
But, really, you're right...that's a lot of confronting. And I haven't really done all of that...nope. I just take their fuckin' ad about a block away to Wal-Mart, who cheerfully matches the sale price. Hassle-free.

 

[Mike Frezon]

9016+ and counting....but winding down.

I just take their fuckin' ad about a block away to Wal-Mart, who cheerfully matches the sale price. Hassle-free.

And that policy combined with that big shit grin (on the customer's face) is just one of the reasons (for better or for worse) Wal-Mart has become the behemoth it has! Its a "We really want you to spend your money here rather than at some other store" attitude.

 

[jeff peterson]

I shop at the same BB as Mike Frezon. I've seen so many examples of bad customer service there.

For example, I was in line at customer service once, picking up a couple of DVD's that I ordered via the website for in store pickup. The guy in front of me had ordered a 13" TV from the web (also for in store pickup). They couldn't find the TV in their in store pickup section behind the counter. So, rather than walking to the TV section and grabbing one for the guy, they let him stand there for 20 minutes while they argued with the backroom over where his TV was. He walked out without them noticing. When they finally came back to the counter, I told them he got tired of waiting and left.

For my copy of the 4 disc LOTR, I just price matched at Wal-mart with my TRU ad rather than deal with BB's customer service desk. Took about 1 minute at wally world.

 

[Matt Birchall]

Any way you slice it, this is the most successful Roundup I've ever had.

Told ya!
In regards to Best Buy stores being low or totally out of both Rings versions, at my store, we were running really low on the 4-disc today, and we sold out of the 5-disc on Tuesday. Today, we received an entire pallet of replenishment Rings product--maybe 200 more copies of the 4-disc, and probably another 150 5-disc box sets. So, you might check your local stores today if they were out before.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Any way you slice it, this is the most successful Roundup I've ever had.

And, frankly, Dave I'd enjoy it, because I don't see anything to challenge it in the immediate future. Sure, there are some excellent releases due out--but nothing with the type of appeal of the releases this past week.

Congrats, again! 9061+ and continuing to count, albeit slowly!

 

[Andrew Grall]

*Wondering if the record set by this thread will ever be broken*
Thanks for another wonderful roundup!

 

[David Lambert]

And, frankly, Dave I'd enjoy it, because I don't see anything to challenge it in the immediate future.

Amen. The 11/19 Roundup, which I'm working on the wrap-up to right now, is gonna be a major letdown compared to 11/12. When your top titles are Spirit, Reign of Fire, and Juwanna Mann ( ), somehow I don't think the excitement will be as high. On a positive note, I've decided that I WILL be including a certain TV series that LOOKS probable to be in-stores this Tuesday. One that is NOT sci-fi or anything...although it *has* taken many of us on a bad journey to "another universe".
Off to take care of it. Expect a post within a couple of hours; I'm doing this and something else (domestic stuff) at the same time.
Thanks again for the participation this past week. As comicbook guy would say on The Simpsons: BIGGEST. ROUNDUP. EVER!

 

[David Lambert]

Okay, it's been less than an hour...but I'm done. Go get 'em, boys and girls!

 

[Rob Tomlin]

I noticed that Toys R Us is doing another major title for $9.99. This time it is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Maybe this time they will actually have these in stock (unlike my unpleasant experience with Episode II).