mjfrog88 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 I don't know if anyone else has posted about this, but in my area, the Best Buy is one of the "test market" stores that is not having doorbusters. Instead, they are giving $15 gift cards for every $100 you spend. I am furious. I had a whole list of things I was going to buy. Guess I won't now... Is anyone else in a "test market" area that they know of?
erh12275 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 I don't know if anyone else has posted about this, but in my area, the Best Buy is one of the "test market" stores that is not having doorbusters. Instead, they are giving $15 gift cards for every $100 you spend. I am furious. I had a whole list of things I was going to buy. Guess I won't now... Is anyone else in a "test market" area that they know of?Where are you from?
mjfrog88 Posted November 24, 2005 Author Posted November 24, 2005 I'm in Southeastern Missouri. I went to look at the computers advertised, and the store manager and computer guy both told me that that is how it is going to be. They are trying to decide whether or not to do this nationwide next year. I am going to be sure to get them plenty of negative feedback from friends/family, etc., so that this does not happen again. It WAS my favorite BF store to shop at. Their district office is out of St. Louis, and they handed down the orders regarding the "no doorbusters" this year. The St. Louis stores, of course, are having the doorbusters. But, it is a 2 hour drive for me to go to St. Louis, so I can't do that, either......
erh12275 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 I'm in Southeastern Missouri. I went to look at the computers advertised, and the store manager and computer guy both told me that that is how it is going to be. They are trying to decide whether or not to do this nationwide next year. I am going to be sure to get them plenty of negative feedback from friends/family, etc., so that this does not happen again. It WAS my favorite BF store to shop at. Their district office is out of St. Louis, and they handed down the orders regarding the "no doorbusters" this year. The St. Louis stores, of course, are having the doorbusters. But, it is a 2 hour drive for me to go to St. Louis, so I can't do that, either......Guess it's spreading.. first OH now MO. Hey Mark does this mean you will get doorbusters?
MarkRaby Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 Well, this is not sounding good for us Columbus, OH residents, who have had the same thing for the past 2 years....although maybe they are going to just test it exclusively in new markets like Missouri this year and re-instate doorbusters here this year. Hey, I can hope, can't I? -Mark-
andreadawn45 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 Oh no...I'm in Southwest Missouri, and often have products, and such, test marketed here. I'm going to be so disappointed tomorrow if Springfield is included! It was going to be my first BF at BB!
mjfrog88 Posted November 24, 2005 Author Posted November 24, 2005 Mark- Did they have any of the sales listed for the rest of the country??? Or is that "the" sale, the $15 gift card?
erh12275 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 Mark- Did they have any of the sales listed for the rest of the country??? Or is that "the" sale, the $15 gift card?I am not Mark but I was here last year and I belive that the deal was there was NO doorbusters...just the GC...I may be wrong.
MarkRaby Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 This has got to be one of the most idiotic things Best Buy has ever done. The whole idea is to get people into your store first, so that people will spend the most time and the most money at your store. Getting a $15 gift card for spending $100 does not rival any other store out there (heck, Sears is offering a free $10 gift card for absolutely nothing!!). Best Buy's other sales this BF are really quite pathetic. If they are truly thinking of making this a nationwide policy next year, they are going to be really hurting next year. I am now not very hopeful at all that my Best Buys will have the doorbusters (I will know for sure in about 5 hours when the ad goes on their site). It's okay, because I planned my BF without even looking at Best Buy's doorbusters this year, but it still makes me mad. -Mark-
erh12275 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 This has got to be one of the most idiotic things Best Buy has ever done. The whole idea is to get people into your store first, so that people will spend the most time and the most money at your store. Getting a $15 gift card for spending $100 does not rival any other store out there (heck, Sears is offering a free $10 gift card for absolutely nothing!!). Best Buy's other sales this BF are really quite pathetic. If they are truly thinking of making this a nationwide policy next year, they are going to be really hurting next year. I am now not very hopeful at all that my Best Buys will have the doorbusters (I will know for sure in about 5 hours when the ad goes on their site). It's okay, because I planned my BF without even looking at Best Buy's doorbusters this year, but it still makes me mad. -Mark-If by some chance you do get the doorbusters there....would you change your plan? Or have they messed w/ you enough that you wouldn't bother?
MarkRaby Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 Mark- Did they have any of the sales listed for the rest of the country??? Or is that "the" sale, the $15 gift card?Yeah; it was exactly what you are describing -- $15 gift card per $100 spent, in place of the doorbusters. In 2003, it was $20 per $100, but you actually had to send in mail-in rebate forms to get them (what a joke that was! ). Also, it is calculated on your total after mail-in rebates are taken into effect. So if you spend $500 and have a total of $305 in mail-in rebates, you will only get a $30 gift card based on $295 (instead of $75 based on $500). It's just an awful promotion and the Best Buy execs should torture themselves just for thinking of it -Mark-
andreadawn45 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 mjfrog88- Do you guys have a CC nearby or anything? Our CC is next door to the BB and I just can't imagine them handing CC all the business if there is one in the area.
MarkRaby Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 If by some chance you do get the doorbusters there....would you change your plan? Or have they messed w/ you enough that you wouldn't bother? You know, it would be tempting to just avoid them altogether this year on BF and not spend a cent there regardless, because of their shenanigans the past couple years. But since I do have $300 in BB Bucks to spend, which will kind of be messing with them (aka: payback) for what they've done to me. If they do have the doorbusters, by some miraculous force of God, I will be spending all my money on those (including cash past my $300 in BB Bucks). If they don't, I will spend significantly less, and I hope the rest of my area, and all other areas that get stuck with this, will follow suit. -Mark-
Gporter34 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 Gosh, guys that's awful. You would think that a company like BB would love the sales they get on the doorbusters since they seem to have the best. I think that is a stupid mistake.
MarkRaby Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 mjfrog88- Do you guys have a CC nearby or anything? Our CC is next door to the BB and I just can't imagine them handing CC all the business if there is one in the area.We've got 3 Best Buys and 2 Circuit City's very close to each other and our Best Buy did the exact same promotion last year. I heard that Circuit City did remarkably well in our area for BF (could not find a comparison to Best Buy, though). -Mark-
mjfrog88 Posted November 24, 2005 Author Posted November 24, 2005 Our Circuit City closed down in 2003 because the Best Buy came to town & ran their business out. So, they realize that there is not much competition... I have just about decided that I won't go to Best Buy at all now.
erh12275 Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 Yeah; it was exactly what you are describing -- $15 gift card per $100 spent, in place of the doorbusters. In 2003, it was $20 per $100, but you actually had to send in mail-in rebate forms to get them (what a joke that was! ). Also, it is calculated on your total after mail-in rebates are taken into effect. So if you spend $500 and have a total of $305 in mail-in rebates, you will only get a $30 gift card based on $295 (instead of $75 based on $500). It's just an awful promotion and the Best Buy execs should torture themselves just for thinking of it -Mark-I just don't see how BB could think that people would go for this. I mean as an example the Care Bears I am getting for DD are 2/3 off regular price and I will be saving $10....that is $10 on one item...how could they think that a GC for $15 off 100 would do it? Shoot Kohls does GC's w/ purchase off and on through out the year.
MarkRaby Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 I think that any other day of the year, a $15 gift card for every $100 you spend would be a fantastic sale. But when you've got that vs. a $370 instant savings on a $750 laptop, $60 instant savings on a $100 MP3 player, etc, it's just plain wrong! What's worse is that Best Buy knows that the ads w/ the doorbusters get leaked early. They have to know that they are really, really upsetting people by not having those doorbusters. It would be different if you had no prior knowledge or conceptions of what the ad was going to be like, but when you mess with people like that, I don't think very many people like that... -Mark-
MarkRaby Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 I just don't see how BB could think that people would go for this. I mean as an example the Care Bears I am getting for DD are 2/3 off regular price and I will be saving $10....that is $10 on one item...how could they think that a GC for $15 off 100 would do it? Shoot Kohls does GC's w/ purchase off and on through out the year. What really annoys me is that, driving to the mall at around 4 AM last year, I could already see a huge line for Best Buy (was not going there first because of the lack of the doorbusters). I was like, "What could they possibly want from Best Buy without the doorbuster sales that would make them wait outside for hours upon hours?" Of course, would that line have been longer if they had the doorbusters? Probably. Would the "per capita" spending have been greater if they had the doorbusters? Most likely. Hopefully Best Buy will realize that, no matter how well they did on BF last year, they probably could have done so much better if they gave the people what they wanted (aka: the doorbusters). I am now waiting on pins and needles for the official BB ad to be released here. -Mark-
mjfrog88 Posted November 24, 2005 Author Posted November 24, 2005 All of the Best Buys that I pulled up in the St. Louis area, Carbondale IL, Paducah KY and Cape Girardeau MO seemed to have the $15 off gift cards instead of the doorbusters...
Winterhawk Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 St Louis BBs DO have doorbusters. Their print ads say so, and the stores had them laid out in the aisles last night.
missyjane Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 I don't have any Best Buy bucks so I will be skipping Best Buy all together. I hope their sales suck and that no other stores follow. Gosh what would happen to Black Friday if everyone followed Best Buy's shoes?
DB_Cooper Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 Doorbusters or not, I would look around at Best Buy's reputation for rebate honoring & customer service. Try resellerratings com and compare their ratings to CC, Fry's, Sears, anywhere. BestBuy is at the bottom of the heap and for a good reason. All their "deals" are usually tied in with rebates, which they do everything possible to weasel out of. They burned me last year, and even after I sent in the copies of all the (correct) documentation, they still wouldn't honor it. Standing in line for a deal that may or may not materialize is not my idea of a fun lottery. I will shop tomorrow, but not at BB. (but good luck if you do)
Nautical Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 DB_Cooper...you should have b****ed a lot more to corporate and everything. Cause enough trouble and they'll do something. Go stand outside of there store with a giant sign, or stand in the store discouraging customers to buy from BB and then show them cheaper prices from newegg. Believe me, youll have fun :) Otherwise, just make sure we all complain to BB about how terrible their sales were this year (for no doorbusters) and this caused you to not shop at BB and the same with all your friends. Let them know that this idea is not welcomed.
DB_Cooper Posted November 24, 2005 Posted November 24, 2005 After sending in the full documentation package (including notes & times on all calls to "customer service") multiple times I threw in the towel. Was spending more time than the rebate was worth (and don't think they don't know that) plus doesn't help blood pressure dealing with rude people at the rebate center. My posting today is just a little "thank you" to the company that welshed on its promise. They could offer gold plate Maseratis filled with hookers & gin for FREE* (*after rebate) and I wouldn't take em up on it. Just a big caveat emptor to all my fellow Black Friday fans (plenty of other deals out there anyway) Actually, if I was selfish about it, I would encourage everyone to go to BB, leaving the other stores empty for me to get in & get out of early Good hunting! :)
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