drmad7

I need(want) three tvs. A 42" for Family Room, 32" for master bedroom, and maybe a 15-20" for son's bedroom. My wife and I have done BF forseveral years but I will be in Afghanistan this time. I will be in the States during October (Ohio and Texas) and I'm hoping to score some deals during that two week window. I would order a tv now, but I need to be home to put it up etc... My fingers are crossed. I'm willing to spend about $800-$900 on the 42" and another $700 on the other two combined. If I don't catch a deal during that time at home, I'll just wait to January 2010 and check things out then.

Walmart at Easton in Columbus was awful. I "stopped by" at 2am to do recon on the location of stuff I wanted. It was obvious to me that more people than usual were hanging out in the store than past years. Thank God I didn't want the 42" or 50" TVs! There were already about 20 people sitting around waiting for those! When I came back to the store at 4:30am, people were digging thru the kids pajamas, knocking them on the ground, and I saw people people walking around with doorbuster items in their baskets. The Walmart employees were on the the intercom telling folks that the items were not available until til 5am and it made no difference! They had some 46" TVs in the main aisle, and suddenly a guy grabbed one of them. As soon as he did that, EVERYBODY started grabbing them! The Walmart managers had to go the each person and take the TVs back (they had to get the store security AND the Columbus police to stand there at 5am as they handed the TVs out)! The crowd was at least twice as large as last year's. I decided that this is probably my last year getting up for this (at least at Walmart). I'll stick with the websites for next year. It was not as fun as it usually is.

And Walmart calls it (or used to call it) Blitz. At the 24 hr Walmart, the majority of the Doorbusters are sitting on pallets and wrapped in Black Shrinkwrap or heaving shipping paper. Most people have scoped the contents out and will tell you what is in each container. Last time we went, someof the toys were in the frozed food section and TVs were in the clothing. It is like a scavenger hunt for adults.

Internet returns! I just picked up a print "Indian Summer" by Tadashi Asoma for $12.48! Its still available online for $99.00! Gotta love Target.

They are stupid! I just sent the link out to people to convice them that HhGregg has good deals and worth trying and the ad is gone! That will hurt them for sure. They won't be on my list for pre-planning, UNLESS they have the Nintendo DS Lite really cheap. Stupid move.

If it is indeed a Dual Screen & inch monitor AND it has a rechargeable battery, it is a great price. The lowest price for one of these in the last few months was about $124.00 and I don't know if it had a battery or not. If it doesn't have the battery, then it is an OKAY deal.

Reading the discription, I think this is supposed to be the 17 or 10 inch MONITOR. It has a slot-in dvd (not in the picture) and a TV tuner (not found in most portable dual dvd players). But it may be worth taking a chance on. Also, the price of shipping HAS got to be for a larger box than what dual dvd players come boxed in.

I saw a last week at the Whitehall Target. And also at the Easton location. But they had no more than 5 at each store. Goodluck!

If you have a Goodwill near you, check for the Disney Mix and Mix*Max Video players there! They went to salvage this week and were sent to some of my local Goodwill stores. I purposefully checked twice this week at Goodwill and tonight I found them! They had about 4 of the Purple Tinkerbells and 20+ of the High School Musical Editions. I bought one of each for my kids at $25.99! When I got home I checked the prices on Ebay and decided to get a couple more to sell. When I went back within 30-45 minutes, they had sold two of the Tinkerbells and a couple of the others. I bought the last purple and three more High School musical. My wife decided that she liked them and kept the purple mixmax for herself. I'm putting the remaining three on Ebay! Good Luck GDr's.

Leaving the U. S Border adds at least $60 in additional fees. I wanted Nassau but ot was .04 for the flights but $180.00 in total fees. So I chose Domestic and got Vegas for the $40.00 for two.

BTW! THANKS Gr8girls!!!!!!!

Excellent! I may just look for a cheap return flight to take later in the week and it would still be a big savings! I LOVE Gottadeal!

Returns flights ARE .01! Just booked Detroit to Vegas for my wife's birthday in September. Total with fees was just over $40.00! Not bad for an overnight!

Those Vegas prices are a little steep! I was considering Ebay, but don't know if that will work for a profit.

I bought two in Columbus (Whitehall). The one with the door unlock feature was $19.98 and the basic starter w/o door unlock was $14.98. I'm not sure if I am keeping either of them. Have not found out if either is compatible with an 04 Expedition with Keyless entry. Let me know if you want either of them. I will be returning one of them for sure.

Guess what!? I checked status for this yesterday and it says (just like the Microcenter rebate) invalid UPC or not attached to space provided. I emailed them (their only form of communication) and stated that various forums stated that they would try to cheat me and that the UPC was attached and I had made copies. Since the monitor was defective, it was returned to MicroCenter and since they saw that the UPC was removed, they could not refund that part of the purchase price. So they responded today with this crap: In response to your recent email to rebatesystems.com: Good Evening and Thank You for contacting Rebatesystems.com, We have reviewed the rebate submission and found that this rebate was processed by Rebate Systems, Inc. (www.rebatesystems.com). Rebate Systems follows a careful step-by-step analysis of each rebate submission that they receive. These steps mandate that each required element of the rebate submission form is met - from the inclusion of the UPC code to the signature of the rebate applicant. According to their records, the application did not meet all of the requirements. In particular 3A. Incorrect UPC Barcode or No Barcode Found in Space Provided. Your box should have two UPCs on opposite sides of the box. The UPC has an icon of a monitor on the left of it and a "yin yang" of arrows to the right. Should one of the UPCs be damaged please provide the original on the primary rebate and a copy of it on the bonus. In some cases pictures do not accompany the barcode. Do not use the model number barcode (identified by the word “model”). Do not use the serial number barcode (identified by the letters “s/n”). Use the code that is generally 12 numbers long such as (8 80602 64196 8). One reason that we require rebate applicants to sign their rebate submission form is so that they are very careful to read and comply with every requirement stated. We are very sorry that your rebate submission did not comply with those terms. If you have information that your rebate was properly submitted and you believe that Rebate Systems made a mistake, we ask that you visit the rebate systems website at http://www.rebatesystems.com/ and locate your rebate using your email address and password. From the specific page relating to your rebate application, you can submit copies of your rebate materials and comments that Rebate Systems will consider in reviewing your case. Again, we are very sorry that your rebate request was denied. Thank You for using Rebatesystems.com

My Inspiron E1405 is great. No problems at all. And BUY THE WARRANTY! I got the one year with Accidental damage coverage. Will definitely extend it before it runs out. I bought a Toshiba from Best Buy years ago and because of the 4 year warranty from them, I ended up replacing it with another Toshiba, and when it had problems, it was replaced with a Sony Vaio. And no charge to me! The Vaio never had problems and I still have it. But with all the coupons and the Duo Core package, the Dell has been excellent for me.

We just had Costco open in the Columbus, Ohio area. I have used Sam's Club for several years and have had no issues (Walmart is a different story). Anyway, The local newspaper did a comparison shop last week (Columbus Dispatch) anout of about 25 items, Sam's Club was cheaper on about 18+. I was surprised. I have never been to Costco here because the 700+ parking spaces are almost ALWAYS full. But I suggest doing what another member suggested. Get a one-day pass and if you like what you see, test drive their service by buying a gift card and trying it out.

That is EXACTLY what happened when I called the Rebate Center for Micro Center today.($20.00 for a monitor during their After-Christmas sale) They sent me a postcard saying my UPC was invalid. I had copies of everything and mentioned the fact that I had been warned on forums that they would give me trouble on the rebate. She looked up my address and asked for my name. She then said she saw the records and that she was sorry for the mistake and would process my check today. It is definitely a weeding out process. You sell a hundred products with a rebate. A few people forget to send for the rebates. Then when you get the rebate submissions, you AUTOMATICALLY deny them (with a limited time period to respond). And then you only pay the people who actually CALL you up for their money. And maybe some of the people who resubmit the paperwork you originally denied. It all adds up to easy profit for the rebate center! I am completely done with rebates. I'm still waiting for the additional $50.00 rebate from the manufacturer for the LCD monitor that was returned defective to MicroCenter. Stay away from X2Gen monitors=crap.

This may not apply to anyone, but I just ordered Focus Dailies from Sam's Club on Monday, February 5th. A 90-lens box was only $19.xx! I was ordering them on Sunday and the people know me pretty well. They suggested I wait another day to order the lenses. They received a memo from corporate letting them know that the next day, the price was gonna drop from the regular $37.xx a box. Because of some issues with Cibavision and they don't know how long the price will last. I ordered 4 boxes and may order some more when those boxes come in! The price of Focus Torics and other Cibavision lenses may be lower also. It wouldn't hurt to ask, even at Costco.

I have no idea! It was mentioned in today's Columbus Dispatch as opening along with the Walmart in Whitehall this week too!

I stayed all night for the after Christmas sale and bought the 19" LCD monitor. I mailed the rebates for $20 and $50 during my lunch yesterday (you only have 14 and 15 days after purchase to do so). Guess what?! LAST NIGHT the monitor went out on me. The power button and screen just "click, click, click". No picture. After unplugging it, it keeps doing the same thing. I called the store and asked if they had anymore in stock. The guy said no and I told him what happened. I explained to him that I had mailed off the UPC code and what could they do about this defective product. He said since a rebate is involved, he could only refer me to the manufacturer. I called their customer service rep and he said that the store should have NO PROBLEM accepting a defective return. I suggested that they deduct the $70 that I SHOULD, MAYBE, HOPEFULLY receive and give me the difference. He said that that part is up to the store, but a refund is definitely due. Wish me luck! I'll be at the store with that monitor tomorrow!

I guess its a consequence that comes with buying up all the competiton (Federated Co.). Since the company bought out and closed Kaufmann's, they are leaving big empty stores all around different malls. I went to Tuttle Mall in Columbus a couple of days ago and did not realize that they had TWO Macy's stores(one had been a Kaufman's). Thay has got to be dumb AND expensive!

I just called Staples and they are open today! I'm on my way!

Columbus, Ohio Best Buys don't do the Personal Shopper thing. That would be great if they did.