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yogiyb

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Posts posted by yogiyb

  1. That's the whole purpose of the door busters. Have you ever heard of "loss leaders"? That's when you sell some items so cheap it causes you to lose money on them, but you use them as a lure to get people into the store to sell other things that you make a profit on. That's not "bait and switch". Bait and switch is when you advertise one thing, then when people get there you say you don't have that, but have something similar but more expensive.

     

    If they came out at midnight and said, "we only have 3 of these", then most people would leave, and they would never get them into the door. That wouldn't be smart business, and whether you like it or not captialism is about making money. To make money you have to be smart.

     

    As for the person who said most people leave when they find out the items they came for are gone, I would venture to say statistics would show otherwise. If not then stores would not employ these loss leader sales. I do agree if people find out early that the items they want won't be there, then they will leave. That only makes sense, if you find out at midnight that you can't get the item you want, of course you're not going to stand there for 5 more hours. But if you find out at 4 AM that you're not going to get the item you want, then most people will stay to go into the store because they have already invested several hours (all night?) in line, so they would feel like they just wasted a night if they don't at least go inside the store. Once inside many will feel the need to buy something just because they invested all that time in line. Why spend several hours in line, go into the store, and walk away with nothing? See how it works? And yes, it does work.

    That is so right. In 04, I got to BB around 3:30 and knew the likelihood of getting the desktop was slim. I didn't get it but even then, by the time the store opened, I was still glad to be in the first group of people to get in. Of course in just a few years, the crowds have exploded. In 04, I was about 50th in line around 3am. Last year I had to camp out starting around 5pm on Thursday and was 25th in line. By 3am, I had strangers walking up offering me $$$ to buy items for them b/c the wait to get in the store was going to be about an hour based on how long the line was.

     

    In the end, you have to remember it's called Black Friday for a reason and try not to get emotional about how these stores are conducting business.

  2. You're best bet is an outlet. Try www.outletbound.com for a complete list of outlet stores. With Ebay, use a power seller and be sure to check the comments left by purchasers. Also with Ebay there's the common sense factor, for a new bag with tags, the price shouldn't be heavily discounted or it's a fake. If you can get to an outlet store, (I've made the trip and my closest outlet is 4 hours) the price savings are definitely worth the drive. My DH got my the $400 briefcase for $250 a couple of years ago.
  3. The people at my Best Buy did the same thing!! I ended that by yelling out WTF :gdcensored: !!! They all stopped the "auction" style way of handing out the tickets and got it together.

    Yeah I almost missed the camcorder as that girl was going down one side of the line while everyone else was on another.

  4. I would call the corprate office and complain. You waited as the require and got a voucher. It states you have toll 12 noon to get the stuff. Bet someone who works there snagged the laptops

    I had a similar experience the Toshiba laptop where I had a voucher but the Toshibas were sold out by the time I got to checkout (only an hour later as I had to go through TV checkout first). I got a Compaq for $249 although at first they tried to sell it to me for $599 but I wasn't having that after 12 hours outside in the cold. The whole point of the voucher system is to ensure the first people at the store get the items. I held on to that voucher until I got some relief as I knew once I gave up, BB was not going to go out of their way to help me.

  5. I think next year is going to be the Online Year. It's started with this year with the extra web-only advertisements and I think in the near future there are going to be more web only offers than store only. This way inventory can be managed better.

     

    BB had some great deals this year and I was lucky to get a lot of them so BB has me in its corner for next year. I just hope to able to get the stuff online instead of another 12 hour overnighter.

  6. I have to share my ticket experience. DH got there at 5:30pm after doing a drive-by and seeing about 17 people in line. I quickly hurried and we camped with a pretty good crowd, although some punk drove by and tried to spray everyone with a water gun (Plus, a fight broke out at CC and the police cleared their lot!!). Anyway, got tickets for the 42" & 32 WH HDTV, 5 MxPl Kodax, Samsung Camcorder, and surprising the Toshiba $250 laptop. The only miss was the HP laptop but I really didn't plan on getting it.(Probably was just caught in the moment :blush: ) Anyway, they let people purchasing 42" or larger TVs in about 4:30am to go to basically make sure they pushed the service plan and other accessories.

     

    Anyway to make a long story short, DH and I split to complete purchases. An hour later I get to customer service to pay and pick up the Toshiba. The clerk comes over and says they're out and were offering a $599 Compaq as a comparable item. I just cut him off and told him to get the manager. Then some little punk (you'll see why in a minute) comes over and says "This was a limited quantity item and weren't guaranteed." I explained to him that we had waited over 12 hours to ensure we would get this limited quantity item. Now the ticket I had was a paper copy, not the glossy sheet like the others. The punkish customer service manager then said "Well ma'am this is a photocopy of the actual ticket". That is when I breathed deeply and told him "Surely you are not suggesting that somehow I got a hold of the ticket, ran to Kinko's and made a copy!!! I then flipped the ticket over and showed him the yellow SKU labels attached to the back. I told him to get the store manager who had politely escorted me into the store at 4:30 this morning. By this time I am HOT!!! :mad: :mad:

     

    After the punk left, the cashier told me that they did not get glossy tickets for the Toshiba and just made those copies in the store. Apparently they printed 25 WITHOUT verifying the actual number in the store. By the time the store mgr came over to me, this same scenario was occuring all around the customer service counter. In conclusion, of course, they gave everyone the Compaq for the Toshiba $249 price. But it still took me about 15 minutes to completely settle down (sleep deprivation I guess).

     

    Overall, this was the perfect storm, in that BB had the best prices on the things I needed/wanted and we had a good position in line. Probably my last time camping out though (;) ;) ;)

     

    Happy Black Friday!!!!!

  7. I was thinking 10pm, buuut now I don't know. There is a thread about people lining up since yesterday!! I am fully prepared to do what I have to do to get my laptop. I have blankets, body warmers, toe warmers, hand warmers, snacks, batteries, tv (cheap one), and a tent (just in case!). I am thinking Hoover also, That way I can be close to Brunos (bathroom!), if they are 24 hours it will be perfect. I just came from there and no one is in line (whew!). Happy Thanksgiving!

    Good news that no one's there yet. Talked the husband into coming so we're be there with blankets, warmers, iPod and laptop. Fingers crossed and ready to roll. Sent you a PM too.

  8. I just had to say something, no one was representin'!! The folks from the "Durty" know what I am talking bout'!:g_dance:

     

     

    Besides, I need something to do to keep my mind from wondering. I am trying to go to BB now and skip dinner! I am also trying to stay awake so I won't miss the X-Box on Amazon.

    B'ham in the house!!!! Dee, I'm getting more anxious by the moment. What time are you heading to BB??? I'm going to try my luck at the Hoover store tonight.

  9. Line location, line location line location......Ultimate goal is to get the $250 Toshiba, $50 XM Radio, $479 Westinghouse, and $1000 Panasonic Plasma. That's the "everybody got food poisoning and I'm #3 in line" plan. :) The website only guarantees 3(come on :mad: ) of the Samsung radios so my expectations with that are pretty low. Getting all my DVDs price-matched here also (double reward points!!).
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