A suggestion for next year - Only one ticket per person

[lorie]

I have a suggestion for BB. Only let each person have a ticket for one block buster special. This would cut down on the people camping out to get all of the block buster specials then turn around and put them on ebay. This would also allow more people to have a chance to purchase a block buster item. Just a thought.

[H_Hancock]

While I do understand your sentiment, I disagree. Why should I be restricted from purchasing as many of the doorbusters as I am able to afford?

 

I was willing to spend the time in line to assure I would have a crack at all of those I wanted and I got those I went to get......the HP laptop (will be my new "big" PDA and DVD player), the Toshiba laptop (a Christmas present for my wife's father), and the 32" West LCD TV, which is already set up and being used in the bedroom where it was intended to go.

 

As far as ebaying items, well, such is the nature of some people, I suppose. But, from what we were able to assertain from talking to the others in line during the evening and night, the 10 HP laptops ended up in people's hands who had no intention of reselling them. The Toshiba lappies, while I cannot speak for all that were sold, ended up in hands of people who intended to either use them or give them as gifts.

 

Some kids were spouting crap all night that they were going to take one of every ticket that came their way, but in the end only took what they really wanted.

 

Some people took tickets for an item, like the Toshiba laptop, but when the staff member appeared in front of them asking if they wanted the HP laptop, actually turned the Toshiba ticket BACK to the staff member. We saw this happen more than a few times, as various staff members suddenly appeared at the front of the line with a ticket for an item that supposedly had already disappeared, offering it yet again to anyone who wanted it, starting at the front of the line and working back until someone took the proffered ticket.

 

The reason given this happened over and over was that the person took the first ticket for an item that was close to what he or she wanted, just in case the actually wanted item ran out before it got back to them. When the item did make it back to him or her, that person took the more valued ticket, to him or her, and actually handed the "insurance" item's ticket back to the staff member to be given out to someone else in line.

 

Don't know about anyone else's experience or lines, but while we could have taken one of everything that was being offered, and being first I did indeed have that opportunity (and I do ebay quite a bit, as a matter of fact), almost without exception people only took what items they wanted and could afford, no more. I only saw two people in line, other than my wife and I who had three tickets between the two of us, with more than 3 tickets for items.....most had two.

 

Restricting people to only one doorbuster item in total sort of defeats the reason to stand in line. The ability of the ones who are willing to sacrifice Thanksgiving Day for standing in line towards the front are rewarded for thier sacrifice and tenacity by being able to select as many items as they can buy......but only one of each item of per household. That's probably the fairest way to accomplish a more even distribution.

[J_Man]

I think if nothing else, they should have more stock. They should be able to determine the demand based on how things have been getting worse and worse with each year. A 2 day sale shouldn't have such a low amount of stock that it only lasts 10 to 15 minutes.

 

I know there's those who think hanging out in front of the store for the full year before the sale is the way to go, but I think they should set a time that forming a line is allowed. Basically anyone that wants to hang out has to stay a certain distance from the door until, I'd say 12 that night.

 

This year was just too crazy. It doesn't make me look forward to next year. It makes me want to rethink how I will shop the next Black Friday. I didn't have much fun, and it was the fun that used to make it worth doing.

[1eviltwin]

Well it was a crazy time they really should of kept people from cutting in line and meeting friends and family that was already camped out..i didint get the door buster labtop but did pay a little more money to get what i really wanted the Gateway laptop and free 4 in1 printer..all in all not a bad night/morning (was out there since 12am)...i hated to see people paying the first 20 inline 100 to 200 for all the ticket items they got first person inline got one of everything and didnt even go in just packed up and went home!! Gotta love it hope they start doing better online sales for black friday next year

[smiller713]

Our Best Buy had tents and lines at 9pm last night. I got my computer online this week for a great deal - so thankfully avoided Best Buy. They really need more items for each door buster and more than 3 registers in my store. The line to check out is 1-2 hrs!!!

 

I do agree that some limits should apply and one per customer is pretty fair. If you stand in line for 12 hrs and someone stands in line for 1-2 hrs; well that the 12 hrs person should reap.

[purdywis]

ok get this crap:

i was there with my friend from about 330 pm on turkey day for this

we got each the cheap desktop, the 250 laptop and the 380 laptop vouchers

me and him walked through the line untill where they split it to go to each cashier for hte computers and he had to go to work so he left, and i went and got the things

they messed up and didnt have enough 190 desktops so htey gave me a p4 3.06 with a gig of ram and a dvd burner, not quite a 700$ computer for 189 after they adjusted it. but the damn thing is only looking to be worth 300 on ebay. anyways i went through the line again, and they were all like, uve been in the line already havent u, i said i was with a friend and we both got a set of vouchers and i just used his with him. and that i was now on my way to use mine that i had stayed up all night to claim. well the next punk looked at the slips, said to go to the counter, they ahve the laptops there. im like what about the desktop? he claims they were not going to honor the deal anymore. so i said thats cool and preceeded to get my two laptops. THEY WERE SOLD OUT! i was so pissed they were like, well we cant do anything

what do you guys think i need to do. this basically means that their vouchers here arent worth the paper they are printed on! i wanna go back to the store mgr tomorrow and bust some ass, but i dont know what i can demand, any ideas?

thanks so much, im kinda really pissed right now so im not spellchecking, sorry lol

[scarface]

Our bestbuy did this. But umm people would just put the ticket in their backpocket and get another. THis plan doesn't work very well.

[gdulaney]

I think one item per household on each door buster item .... unless they have alot, then one item per customer, which is what they did this year (at least at my Best Buy), is certainly fair.

 

If I stand (sit/sleep) for 12 hrs in front of the store -- then I would think I should be able to have the opportunity to get one of each...not just ONE ticket period. I mean we ended up with the $189 eMachine (my Christmas present from my hubby), the HP doorbuster laptop (my parents asked us to get it -- my dad is recovering from a broken hip and fractured pelvis, so camping out would be impossible for him), and my brother asked us to get the $249 Toshiba laptop for him (his stepdaughter is in the hospital with pneumonia --- so he wasn't about to be hanging out any place other than the hospital). If we had to choose, what would we have done? Been selfish and got me a computer? How to choose between mom & dad and brother? I'm so happy we were able to do all three.

 

Anyway -- this is just my opinion. Happy Shopping!

Ginny

[jdmcvc99]

that is the stupidest idea ever. I shop for ALL of my xmas presents that day. I needed a laptop for school and my father travels a lot and it was a great x mas present for him. I also wanted a tv for my room so i picked up the 32'' westinghouse. There should be nothing wrong with that. I waited in line, I needed the stuff, and I am using the stuff.

[Josher5513]

The CC near me was only allowing one ticketed-item per person this and last year.

 

I think it's rediculous that people would be able to get a bunch of the doorbusters for themselves... "I had to take out a loan with the bank so I can buy all the doorbusters they have and resell them on eBay, but it's okay because I can afford it. Screw everyone else in the world".

[Just Me]

No WAY. I camped out 11 hours to be in front of the line and be sure I got all the items I wanted. To the die hard campers go the deals. I say if you want something get there early

[Diesel0312]

In a way those who get there first are paying more for the items than those who get there later. Unless your time is worthless, time spent sitting in front of a store is worth something. Let's say someone sits in front of a store for 10 hours to buy an item and resell on ebay. They only make $50 profit on the sale of the item, so they really were only making $5 an hour. Though sitting in front of a store is easy work, that's still a low wage. I had the opportunity to get vouchers for each of the 3 big ticket items, but only took one for the TV since that is what I wanted. Most people aren't there to make money off their purchases, they're there to get something at a discounted price.

 

In the end, if you want to be sure you will get a voucher for an item, get there earlier. If you're not willing to do that and beat out others, you didn't want to the product enough in the first place.

[Just Me]

ok get this crap:

i was there with my friend from about 330 pm on turkey day for this

we got each the cheap desktop, the 250 laptop and the 380 laptop vouchers

me and him walked through the line untill where they split it to go to each cashier for hte computers and he had to go to work so he left, and i went and got the things

they messed up and didnt have enough 190 desktops so htey gave me a p4 3.06 with a gig of ram and a dvd burner, not quite a 700$ computer for 189 after they adjusted it. but the damn thing is only looking to be worth 300 on ebay. anyways i went through the line again, and they were all like, uve been in the line already havent u, i said i was with a friend and we both got a set of vouchers and i just used his with him. and that i was now on my way to use mine that i had stayed up all night to claim. well the next punk looked at the slips, said to go to the counter, they ahve the laptops there. im like what about the desktop? he claims they were not going to honor the deal anymore. so i said thats cool and preceeded to get my two laptops. THEY WERE SOLD OUT! i was so pissed they were like, well we cant do anything

what do you guys think i need to do. this basically means that their vouchers here arent worth the paper they are printed on! i wanna go back to the store mgr tomorrow and bust some ass, but i dont know what i can demand, any ideas?

thanks so much, im kinda really pissed right now so im not spellchecking, sorry lol

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

[Catrinaf25]

I think they should have a rule that if you show up after everyone elese and bitch and yell and throw a fit when the items are not left you should be asked to leave

[ghort]

I gotta say, the voucher system works wonders! I had my best BF Experience this year at Best Buy, we got in line about 6pm last night. We got everything we wanted. We ended up with 4 of the Emachine computers and not one is going on EBay, they are all getting used. We also got the 22" monitor and a bunch of other stuff. The 1 per household is just dumb, all you had to do was say it's your sibling if they really questioned anything.

 

I say, if you wait in line, you can get what you want. Why should we be limited to 1 item from their blockbuster list because you were not willing to wait as long as I was?

[JackMcKay]

I'm sick over this... I had everything planned out and got there at 6 pm. I was 7th in line.

 

I wanted to get nearly all the doorbuster ticketed items. Some items I would keep, some items I would sell and make a profit, and some I might just sell the ticket to somebody farther in line (I had good offers for tickets of several items).

 

Then... the Best Buy staff starts handing tickets... One per customer, period. That's it. Each person was allowed to get only ONE good deal. That means that the first person in line can get one good deal, and the 500th person in line can get one good deal (keep in mind at only 1 ticket/person, the tickets last a long time). I talked to one guy who arrived at 4 am who still got a ticket for the 32'' Westy.

 

The problem here is this directly contradicts the information on the Best Buy flyer. The flyer says: "tickets are limited to one ticket per customer per each item." Obviously, since I was seventh in line, this means I should be offered the chance to buy each item. I spent a night in the cold for one good deal - thanks Best Buy.

 

To the person who recommended this system: I don't think it's a bad system - in fact, apparently the store I went to used it. The problem is when Best Buy issues false advertising that affects people's decisions on when to line up.

[AaronOnline]

It has to be a store-specific screw up. My store handed out 1 ticket per item to people around me. Many got 2, 3, or 4 tickets with no problems.

 

Honestly, from all I have seen here and the general layout of the store, Best Buy was just not 100% prepared for Black Friday

[FuNkY CaPrIcOrN]

some items I would sell and make a profit

 

While the other Guy behind you was there to Buy one of them Items for Himself or Somebody else that would use them.

[skairx90]

I also disagree with the idea to limit each person to one doorbuster, it does eliminate the incentive to camp out but then it also forces a person to choose, and a lot of people are there for xmas to buy presents. Not to offend anyone but I used to work at BB and the cheap cheap laptops of BF aren't really the greatest deals I mean their cheap but ur getting what u pay for. And as far as reselling, people will take part in anything that's lucrative, and economics states that goods go to those who value them the most, maybe u wanted that laptop for 199, but if u weren't willing to buy that ticket for another 20-however much it sold for u didn't value it as much as someone else did. I myself only took/used one doorbuster ticket because that's all I had use for, yea I could have takin everysingle ticket and basically had the other BF'rs pay for my item. What goes around comes around..that same person that sold u a ticket might be buying one from u or someone else next yr

[udubdawg75]

aren't doorbusters intended to get you into the store to buy other things? So I can't imagine it is in their best interest to let people load up on doorbusters and check out without buying much of anything else. They didn't let people camped out for PS3s get more than 1 did they?

Don't get me wrong, if I'd have been in line I'd have taken multiple tickets. (There were about 100 in line by the time I checked it at 5:00pm on Turkey Day, so we didn't bother.) So while I would like the deals as much as anyone, I can certainly understand why they would consider limiting to 1 ticket total per customer. Best Buy wants to make money; nothing wrong with that.

[skairx90]

lining for the ps3 was suppose to be limited to 24 hours but our local best buy let people camp out for 3 days in advance, at most BB's they dont own the parking lot so they cant tell people they cant wait there

[yogiyb]

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.