Worst Black Friday experience at a store?

[rjncmj]

My worst was when I went to Gymboree on BF to pick up at least one coat for the Angel Tree. They had them for $14 or $15 with coupon. I was so excited to be able to get my angel tree child a quality winter coat for a great price.

 

I went to Gymboree when they opened and they only had two coats! (wrong size, 1 TOO BIG, 1 TOO SMALL) All the coats they had gotten had been put on hold by their customers on Wednesday. I was so frustrated! As I searched for a coat, (I was hoping someone put one back in the wrong place) I kept seeing customers come in and employees going in the back and bringing out these massive bags FILLED with clothes and coats. Ugh!

This is upsetting. I have been on both ends of services like this, giving and receiving. To think someone would make a special trip on BF to find a nice quality item for a person in need, only to get screwed because the store caters to regulars. The store should of just had a mailing list sale on another day; instead of trying to draw a bunch of new customers in for a phantom BF sale, only to piss them off.

[1josh]

Walmart. A few years back I went to get a foosball table for my nephews. We all went in and the lanes were so packed I decided to move my pocketbook to my front side. It was then that I realized that it had been opened and my coin purse, where I happen to have the money for what I was to buy at Walmart, was gone. I did notify the security and they wrote down the description of the coin purse in case that they found it somewhere but I never got the call. Luckily not all my Blackfriday money was in there.

[IrishWife]

Last year by far took the cake.

 

FINALLY we thought, they have a system down! They labeled the food aisles for each "big" ticket item. We inquired to which was for the boys bike. We were led by 4 managers to another person to another person, and FINALLY the person showed us the "right" aisle. We stood there for 3 hours under the impression that we were in the right place.

 

1 hour before the sale to begin, were told that we are in the wrong aisle. We are told its in lawn and garden. So we head over there. Only to be told that they ONLY have one boys and the lady standing there gets it. My husband pitched a fit. (and this man is VERY calm and collected as a rule of thumb.) so we went to the checkout to wait. Suddenly a pallet goes by. FULL of the bikes. hubby takes off after it. 5 min later, ANOTHER pallet of the same bikes goes by. I was like wow....

[cutexianchick]

Walmart. A few years back I went to get a foosball table for my nephews. We all went in and the lanes were so packed I decided to move my pocketbook to my front side. It was then that I realized that it had been opened and my coin purse, where I happen to have the money for what I was to buy at Walmart, was gone. I did notify the security and they wrote down the description of the coin purse in case that they found it somewhere but I never got the call. Luckily not all my Blackfriday money was in there.

ohh thats crappy!

[daysangel]

My aunt and I were shopping on Black Friday 2006. She was recently divorced, and Black Friday was how she would be Christmas shopping for her two kids. When we got to the mall, she went into her purse to get out her money--only to find the envelope gone--all $600+. It had been in an envelope, in a zippered part of her purse, so there was no way it had fallen out. To this day, she believes it was a coworker (with whom other "stories" had been told about). She contacted the police, but there was nothing they could do without proof. Not a good Black Friday!

[lot-narth]

Watch out for Kohl's online. On BF their site went out, you couldn't check ou and it was way way way too slow. I did email them about the problem and they let me get some items at Black Friday prices the next day...however many were sold out. I should have gone to the store!

THIS I tried doing Khol's last year and have fast internet but it would never get everything to checkout or would freeze. I went out 2 hours later in a blizzard and was about 50th in line in Portage MI but mom and I scoped the store on wednesday to see where things were placed and got them within 5 mins and was out the door in 10 mins, second person in cashier line.

 

I also had bad experiences with Staples online and Compusa - they both would check you out and you got a confirmation and they took money out but then a week later said they couldn't honor it because they over sold their stock. So I didn't get the major items I needed for that year, but could of if it just didn't go through, then I would have go them at the stores.

[marathonshopper]

I would have to say my worst Black Friday experience was at Wal-Mart last year. It's not that it was a really horrible experience, just a COLD one!!! I was after a couple of the Blu-Ray players that were on sale, and since the TRU experience was a bust for the one item there my mom wanted we decided to go across the street to Wal-Mart since it was open and wandering around inside a warm store seemed better than sitting in a cold car. We wandered around for a while, checking out where everything was located that we were also interested in. When we saw that a line was already forming for the players we decided to go ahead and get in it. A couple of employees came out after a while and took our names and gave out numbers with how many players you wanted on it. Ok, in my opinion this system seemed to work really well, at least at this store. The problem was, the line was at the back of the store through the frozen food cases and the open cold dairy cases...of course, being close to the front of the line we were by the open cases. Even with a light jacket on, we were so cold by the time they handed out the players (after about 4 hrs in line) I didn't think my toes and fingers would ever warm back up!! The really bad thing was, even though you got your name on a list with your place in line and a number, you couldn't leave the line to do anything else (like warm up!!!). The only way you could leave the line and come back was if you had to go to the bathroom, then you got a "Hall Pass" and had like 10 minutes to be back in line or forfeit your place, so we were kinda afraid to try to go outside to the car to get our heavy jackets and be able to make it back inside in that length of time. I'm thinking they should put something in the cold parts of the store that lines don't really form for...not something people stand there for several hours for...just my opinion!! I expect the cold when I'm waiting outside for a store to open, but not inside it. I guess if that's my worst Black Friday experience in all the years I've been going out on that day I'm doing pretty good!!!!

[ilgetumipretty]

THIS I tried doing Khol's last year and have fast internet but it would never get everything to checkout or would freeze. I went out 2 hours later in a blizzard and was about 50th in line in Portage MI but mom and I scoped the store on wednesday to see where things were placed and got them within 5 mins and was out the door in 10 mins, second person in cashier line.

 

I also had bad experiences with Staples online and Compusa - they both would check you out and you got a confirmation and they took money out but then a week later said they couldn't honor it because they over sold their stock. So I didn't get the major items I needed for that year, but could of if it just didn't go through, then I would have go them at the stores.

Lot-Narth I'm in Portage too!!

[zim05]

Okay so I thought of another bad BF experience, it is not so much horrendous but just downright annoying.

 

Last year my sister and I were hoping to be first again at Target, so we got there around 1:30 or 2am (what can I say…it’s a small town…and it’s cold here ). When we pulled into the parking lot we realized that four other people beat us, we were a bit disappointed but thought at least we have people to talk to and make the time go quicker. So we set up our lawn chairs and began the wait until it opened at 5am.

 

Not only did the group before us (two couples who were college students from the local college) NOT talk to us but they were beyond annoying. The guys talked constantly, very loudly mind you, about the video consoles they were going to get. The two girls, on the other hand, keep whining about how cold they were. If that was not enough they kept making out, I don’t mind a little PDA but I don’t want to see the heavy petting and kissing - go back to your dorms. This went on for three hours and left my sister and me cursing these college students…

 

Having only been a year or two older (first year graduate student straight out of college while my sister is a year and a half older than I am), the maturity level was nowhere near the same. I understand the excitement about BF and waiting outside but be respectful of the people by you. At least attempt to chat with others and think twice before hooting and hollering obnoxiously.

 

Throughout the wait the people behind us even found them annoying, I saw many eyes rolling over the group’s actions. Luckily, we chatted with the people behind us who had arrived about a half an hour after us. This experience has prompted my sister and I to leave even earlier this year in order to be first.

[bpr]

Toys R Us was BY FAR the worst last year. They opened at midnight, and let in way too many people. You could not walk anywhere in the store. Then the lines were around the entire perimeter of the store, so by the time you finally found what you were looking for (which was a chore because the aisles were all full) you had to try to navigate to the entrance of the store and get back in line; the lines of which really never moved. So after an hour of this, I dumped my stuff in an aisle and followed a guy and a cart who said he was getting the h*ll out of there and left. Went home and ordered all their early bird specials online. Much better experience.

We went last yr, 2009, to Toys R Us in VA and it was just like you said... to add, my poor, inexperienced brother-in-law ventured out with us. He was so overwhelmed with the rudeness of fellow shoppers and an unorganized store. I don't think he will BF shop this year .