30% off "virtually everything" at Virgin Megastores B&M with Amex Blue Nov. 22 thru 12/26

[laxplayer39]

EDIT - YHPM

 

[Noirish]

all i see here is that some people have been way too greedy or demanding on a good deal.
where else can you get whatever you are getting at such low prices.
a couple bucks aren't going to kill you.
geez...

 

[Kingofcomputer]

This is not the issue of greedy on couple bucks. First, this should be a 30% off of total purchase, how could it be legal to charge more tax than the price we're going to pay? Second, the coupon book is a free gift, how could they charge 1 cent for that?

And the price of some games at Virgin is unreasonable, some list price $30 games are selling at $50.
Controller and memory card are selling at list price $35 while Compusa is selling them for $30.
So we're not getting huge advantage on this 30% off deal.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tonight I went to return the stuff back to the Orange store. They wanted to cheat again.
The cashier was lazy so just wanted to refund me the price of the game and controller minus AE discount, so the total'd be 1 cent less than the original amount I paid. I disagreed the refund amount, the cashier wanted to let me have the coupon book instead of re-doing the refund. I rejected and insisted to have exact amount of refund. So he re-did the refund process and he could scan the barcode label on the POS machine for the 1 cent coupon book. The cashier was so stupid that everytime to use a calculator to calculate the AE discount. Since I was returning everything including the coupon book, how come he can't just look at my original receipt to see how much is the AE discount. Finally I could get back the exact amount I paid before.

I saw many people were refunding game stuff with AE Blue.
A guy before me refunded 5-6 copies of xbox's game Halo.

One good thing about Virigin is they don't ask the reason for return.

So guys, please don't buy at this store, if you're happy with the way they charge, that's ok. If you're not, just go to get refund, don't complain or argue. If it's really their policy to charge that way, the other stores may be noticed to correct it.

 

[durracell]

I thought the folks at the Orange store were nice. They were helpful when I bought a bunch of Game Boy Colors that were marked 75% off. Then I got the extra 33% off on top of the remaining amount! I suppose I could have haggled them to give them to me for free, though...

 

[dnacard]

you're talking about the one at the block right? (and not anaheim)

 

[Kingofcomputer]

I'm talking about the store at "the block at orange" which is the Anaheim store according to Virgin. It's located in Orange, not Anaheim, so I just call it the orange store.

 

[EDiT]

Well...I just thought to look through all of my receipts, and sure enough, one of the people there also computed the discount before tax. I hadn't even looked before. Luckily is was only a few items, but it was still probably $15 I'm out. Oh well...Glad it wasn't my bigger purchase.

Oh yeah...that was at the Arizona Mills store.

 

[tigerbait]

Finally got a chance to visit the Virgin store here in New Orleans. They had X-box, but only in bundles. I already have one, but I bought another anyway. For $380, I got xbox, two games, xbox controller, dvd kit, and memory unit (which i really didnt want but they wouldnt sub), which is much better than the $327 I already paid for the system only from walmart. So I just have to go and return an xbox to walmrt and I'm all set.

 

[suicideKing]

Actually I believe they should be taxing you on the full amount...

If the price was reduced or "on sale" for everyone, I can see them only taxing you on the discounted amount. However, customers who buy items (say a PS2) pay $299. The 30% off is a promotion, not a price reduction.

By law it should be $299 + tax - $299 * 30% off, not ($299 + tax) * 30% off.

Get an economics major in here to correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[Kingofcomputer]

<< If the price was reduced or "on sale" for everyone, I can see them only taxing you on the discounted amount. However, customers who buy items (say a PS2) pay $299. The 30% off is a promotion, not a price reduction. >>


This is like buying stuff at supermarkets with coupons.
price * tax - coupon
instead of
(price - coupon) * tax.

However, when you use department store % off coupon from sat/sun newspaper, they charge it as
(price - % off) * tax. Not every customer uses the % off coupon. This is similar to not every customer has AE Blue to get 30% off at Virgin. So does price reduction differ from promotion? Why can't we treat the AE 30% off as price reduction too?

Moreover, the AE 30% off promotion fine print doesn't state how should the tax be calculated. 4 of 5 Virgin stores in LA charge it as price * tax - (price * tax * 30%), only 1 charges it as price * tax - (price * 30%). If that's their policy on AE 30% off promotion, how could 4 out of 5 stores messed up on this? The chance of 1 out of 5 stores messed up seems to be more reasonable.

Since it's a % off reduction promotion, I don't feel ok to be taxed on the price before % off.
If it's a coupon to get something free, that's really a promotion, not price reduction, I feel ok to pay tax on the full price.

and EDiT said earlier: "Or did they add the full tax amount on? If that is the case, that is not legal. They are charging a higher percentage tax than the law states. If you talk to a manager and explain it to them, they should understand. They have to charge tax based on the total sale, not the value of the item." This is what I've in mind too.

 

[suicideKing]

yeah tax rules are funny.

i guess my confusion came from the many years of working at a used video game store. if someone traded in $30 worth of games at bought a $60 game, it was ($60 * tax) - $30 (trade in). however now that I think about it, the $30 trade in was actually a separate transcation (buy then sell).

oh well, I'm going to the columbus OH store friday...we shall see what happens.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

<< i guess my confusion came from the many years of working at a used video game store. if someone traded in $30 worth of games at bought a $60 game, it was ($60 * tax) - $30 (trade in). however now that I think about it, the $30 trade in was actually a separate transcation (buy then sell). >>

Shouldn't it be taxed like buying a new car with trading in an old car? You only pay the tax on the new car price minus your old car price since you've already paid the tax on full price of your previous car. So shouldn't it be (60 - 30 trade in) * tax.

 

[Bang4DaBuc]

I just got back from Virgin Union Square and they just got Final Fantasy X tonight. I asked the rep a few days ago and they said the order was for 250 copies. I was told by someone had been there earlier that the shelves were stocked at around 6PM so there should be plenty of copies tomorrow.

 

[angrymaxx]

I got back from the VM at Triangle Square in Newport. They have about 15 copies of FFX on the shelves left... better run quick...

 

[DongTran]

i went to union square to pickup my $210 ps2. there was a shelf packed with $49.99 FFX so i got one of those too - it was $. Also, the lady said she had about 100 PS2s in the back, this was about 5:30pm PST

EDIT: should mention x-box and gamecube were out of stock when i was there...

EDIT AGAIN: when my girlfriend saw the ps2, she gave me a long face cuz i still have my n64 and dreamcast. so as of tomorrow, I'm returning it, unless someone wants to buy it or something...

 

[Brian Mc]

Xbox bundles are in stock at the Orlando VMS as of ~7:30 tonight. $469.99 for Xbox, Controller, Mem Card, and 2 games of choice.

PS2 is also in stock.

 

[tigerbait]

I was hoping they would let me swap out the memory unit for something else for the Xbox bundle. The memory unit is pretty worthless for the xbox when you can use the hard drive to save games. I guess I'll try to bring the mem. unit to walmart or something after xmas and try to exchange it for something worthwhile like DVD kit.

 

[mothra0]

I bought the bundle and then just returned the XBOX memory unit at Virgin.

 

[wesbc]

Just back from Union Square and Time Square and no console! Picked up a copy of Final Fantasy X. I was surprise as that last time I heard was that this was coming out in 2002. Just found out that it was release 2 days ago. Good deal, now I got 2 coupon book. I just hope that I can use it in conjunction with 30% off on the 26 for some big shopping.

From talking to a Time Square staff, he states that they have 1000s of X-box ordered, just depends on shipment. Usually they get stock by 9am and by noon they are all sold. So you have to be there early.

 

[Murphyrulez]

Just picked up 9 Playstation 2's at the VM in Columbus OH. The guy said they had 100 of them in the back.

Paul

 

[FrankRizzo]

Picked up an XBOX combo at the Chicago store tonight - they had plenty although not in plain sight. They even had a small sign in the window proclaiming their stock of XBOXs. I was pretty shocked when I called and instead of the usual NO was told that they had some available. PS2s were available also.

I made 3 purchases in different areas of the store and in each case they deducted the 30% in my favor: (price + tax) - 30%
It did strike me as odd that the discount was calculated with a handheld calculator... you'd think with the dedicated Amex readers at each register they'd automate the discount - especially since it seems the way it's applied varies...

I bought the bundle and then just returned the XBOX memory unit at Virgin.
Great idea Mothra0! The items do ring up seperately! I'll try returning the memory unit and one of the games (unopened of course)

Better yet you could return everything but the console and come back on 12/26 to take advantage of the coupons they were so kind to give out.
Let's see...

2 games = $99.98
Use the $25 off $100 coupon to bring it down to $75 (yeah you might have to add a trinket)
Add in tax (8.75% here in Chicago) for a total of $81.56
Apply the Amex Blue 30% discount for a final price of $57.09 for two XBOX games, or $28.55 per game!!! That would be great if it works!

 

[kevin80]

My apologies to kingofcomputer I didn't fully understand your receipt or the way you explained it.
Just to clarify for anyone who feels cheated by their cashier, there are three ways that the discount can be applied.

First one:

price of the item + tax - 30% = final price

$300 + 8.25% (ny sales tax) = $324.75

$324.75 - 30% = $227.35


or


price of the item - 30% discount + tax = final price

$300 - 30% = $210

$210 + 8.25% (ny sales tax) = $227.35


or

price of the item + tax - discount on price before tax + tax on full price = final price (overcharge)

$300 - 30% = $210
$210 + (8.25% * 300) = $234.75


So if they subtracted the discount and then added tax, the result would still be the same as if they had taken the discount after they added the tax. It's when they add the tax from the full price of the item that you are getting overcharged.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

kevin, nevermind, it's their stupidity not programming the POS machine to calculate the discount automatically.

It comes out same amount by either the first 2 ways, that's logical, reasonable since they're the same math equation just in different order:
price*(1+tax)*0.7 = price*.07*(1+tax)

However, 1 of the 5 LA stores used the 3rd way to calculate:
price
+ price*tax
- price*30%
= higher total


for fun:
here is my receipt again:
game 49.99
controller 34.99
coupon book 0.01
subtotal 84.99
7.5% sales tax 6.37
total 91.36
amex discount 25.50
charge 65.86

here is the refund receipt:
game 49.99-
controller 34.99-
coupon book 0.01-
subtotal 84.99-
tax 6.37-
total 91.36-
amex discount 25.50-
charge 65.86-
refund due 91.36-

May be AE just reimburse them the discount amount before tax, so they've to calculate the discount by hand and put it separately on the receipt, so they can report to irs that they've sold the things at full price with full tax. So who'll earn the tax difference in this game? irs, virgin, ae, or us?

 

[kevin80]

<< kevin, nevermind, it's their stupidity not programming the POS machine to calculate the discount automatically. >>



Yeah, any time you have to trust the cashier to know how to use a calculator you're in trouble.



<< So who'll earn the tax difference in this game? irs, virgin, ae, or us? >>



I guess it depends on how they report the sale to the Board of Equalization.

This is taken from the BOE Sales and Use Tax FAQ:

7. What if I collect too much sales taxes reimbursement from my customers?

If you collect more than the amount of tax due, you must either return the excess amount to the customer or pay it to the state.


So, if they automatically pay whatever was collected as sales tax by the cashiers, then the state gets the money.

However, if they throw away the figure taken from the register and calculate the sales tax the right way, then they'll have money left over that was originally designated as sales tax. This way would be more logical if they want to catch mistakes made by the cashiers, but then Virgin could keep the difference.

If AMEX was only going to give them back the amount discounted before the tax I think the other Virgin stores would make sure that the discount was handled the same way. Otherwise, Virgin is out a lot of money.

Since there was no cash involved, I think it's entirely up to AMEX. If they're smart, they won't trust the cashiers to figure out how much Virgin is owed, they'll do it themselves. Which would ensure that Virgin doesn't get anything extra and I don't think the state would either. But, if AMEX automatically gives Virgin back whatever the receipt says, then Virgin still wins out.

I guess the customer is probably the only one that loses, but since so many people probably got ripped off like this, and since it looks like the management wanted it handled this way - it might be worth contacting the BOE and AMEX about.

 

[TimidOCer]

I live in oregon and want one of these xbox bundles or just a xbox bad for christmas .. We dont have any Virgin Megastores here.. I was wondering if someone could Find it in their heart to pick one up for me? I could probably pay you a bit for your trouble too..

Please someone I dont really want anything else but an XBOX for christmas

Come on someone help me out you can pm me or email me at MY EMAIL or AIM me at TimidOCer