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episodic

episodic

Lifer
Feb 7, 2004
11,088
2
81
I missed it I suppose - why did you give them your laptop? Why did YOU feel guilty? I certainly would not.

Guess I'm a little cold.
 
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bootymac

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2001
9,597
0
76
Originally posted by: episodic
I missed it I suppose - why did you give them your laptop? Why did YOU feel guilty? I certainly would not.

Guess I'm a little cold.
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Sorry but I'm going to have to agree :confused:
 
T

thirtythree

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2001
8,680
3
0
Originally posted by: bootymac
Originally posted by: episodic
I missed it I suppose - why did you give them your laptop? Why did YOU feel guilty? I certainly would not.

Guess I'm a little cold.
Click to expand...

Sorry but I'm going to have to agree :confused:
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Hey, me too. I never said it made sense.
 
G

GoingUp

Lifer
Jul 31, 2002
16,720
1
71
I met a nice 63 year old lady in line last night waiting at CompUSA. We alternated sitting in our cars for 10 min. Then when we went in to the store, I knew that she and I both wanted the same of some items, so I grabbed a couple extra for her. I managed to get the last 2 external hard drives, one for her and one for me :) She was happy and I was happy that I could help her out. :)
 
T

thirtythree

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2001
8,680
3
0
Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
I met a nice 63 year old lady in line last night waiting at CompUSA. We alternated sitting in our cars for 10 min. Then when we went in to the store, I knew that she and I both wanted the same of some items, so I grabbed a couple extra for her. I managed to get the last 2 external hard drives, one for her and one for me :) She was happy and I was happy that I could help her out. :)
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Aww, Black Friday brings out the best in all of us! Well, aside from most people.
 
N

Nick5324

Diamond Member
Aug 19, 2001
3,267
0
0
Originally posted by: shilala
That was damn fine of you to give those people your voucher. :)

It only took me one trip to Circuit City to hate them.
I wanted to see a laptop they had in their sale ad but they didn't have any on display. It was around $2000 and I wanted to get a look at it before I bought it.
It was carefully explained to me that if I wanted to see it out of the box, I'd have to purchase it and return it if I did not like it.
I was smiling when the salesdork told me that and said "You're shitting me, right?"
The response was "No, sorry. That's the way we do it."
I delivered a thinly veiled "Thanks and go fvck yourself" and walked out of the store never to return.
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This situation would frustrate me also, but I wouldn't tell the employee to go fvck himself. He didn't make the choice to not have the laptop on display, he's just telling you what CC told him to tell you.

As for the OP, I would def. follow up on this one. I hate BestBuy, and therefore, by default, shop at CC. As much as I like their store, I think you should give them hell for this one. Minimum 15 per store does not mean " 10 of them as advertised, and 5 with preinstalled software for an additional cost". Depends how pissed you are.... if it's worth the time to you, a letter and phone call to corporate would be in order, after you contact your local "consumer fraud department" (as sixone calls it, :) ), so you can let CC know what they had to say about it.

Edit: Utah AG office - Fraud Dept.
 
K

KrillBee

Golden Member
Nov 17, 2005
1,433
0
0
Originally posted by: thirtythree
So, I began waiting in front of my local Circuit City at 10 or 10:30 last night. I was 13th in line for the $199 + $180 AOL signup laptop (of which there are guaranteed to be at least 15 per store?or, presumably, exactly 15 per store). It was quite cold and not as much fun as one might think, though the other people in line were pretty decent. One of them lent me a blanket and jacket (though I was already wearing two). At any rate, the couple behind me?number 14?was a "cute" middle-aged oriental couple who I don't think spoke much English. I didn't really interact with them, but they seemed like nice people.

So, around comes 4:30 and the employees start to hand out vouchers for the laptops (pretty much all the first 30 people or so that I knew of were in the market for one). They did a good job of keeping people from cutting to the front of the line and such, but here's the kicker?they actually only had 10 laptops for the advertised price and 5 that had been specially pre-installed (i.e., they had virus and spyware protection on them). This would only add a mere $100 to the price of the laptop (after a $20 MIR?a "special deal for the holiday season"). Obviously, being 13th, this is what I was offered and, obviously, I didn't want it. I asked if there was any way to get one without this and, of course, there wasn't. Luckily, someone up front got talked into the pre-installation scam, so I requested their non-pre-installation voucher and got it. Yay! Happy ending! But no, then I was standing right next to the couple behind me as the employees were trying to explain that they were getting the screwjob. I'm not sure they quite understood, and the woman looked like she was about to cry. So, the poor sap that I am, I gave them my voucher, told them I didn't need it, and went off to my car.

Now, maybe I should feel good about this, but mostly I'm just pissed off that I didn't end up with a laptop. I know the employees weren't to blame as they seemed to dislike it as much as me, and I certainly wouldn't want to be in their shoes, but the fact of the matter is, this seems like a pretty shady thing to do. Perhaps most stores do it, but as this is my first such experience, I've decided to boycott Circuit City for the rest of my life?not that they'll notice, but, y'know.

On a side note, it's disgusting what people will do to try to weasel their way in front of the people who have been waiting in line for 8+ hours.

That's all. The end.
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I had a similar experience, check out my thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=38&threadid=1742990&enterthread=y
 
AznAnarchy99

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,695
117
106
Originally posted by: thirtythree
Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
I met a nice 63 year old lady in line last night waiting at CompUSA. We alternated sitting in our cars for 10 min. Then when we went in to the store, I knew that she and I both wanted the same of some items, so I grabbed a couple extra for her. I managed to get the last 2 external hard drives, one for her and one for me :) She was happy and I was happy that I could help her out. :)
Click to expand...
Aww, Black Friday brings out the best in all of us! Well, aside from most people.
Click to expand...

lol like that one video on CNN of people fighting in Walmart
 
mugs

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
Originally posted by: tfinch2
Originally posted by: sixone
Originally posted by: thirtythree
Well, I'm sure I missed my chance to shine, but I sent an e-mail to Circuit City just for kicks. I'll let ya know if I hear anything.
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Good luck. I hope it works out for you. If they don't come thru, or even if they do, you should consider contacting your city's consumer fraud department. What they did was illegal, and they can pay heavy fines for it. Sounds like that's what it will take to put a stop to this kind of BS.
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If there were ZERO $199 laptops then there would be bait and switch.
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Uh... right. :roll: The ad said there would be 15, there were not 15. What happened here is the dictionary definition of a bait and switch!

I'm very disappointed to hear that Circuit Citys are doing this. I've always thought of them as being better than Best Buy, but now they're pulling the same crap.
 
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