~~~~ Brag & Moan ~~~~

[AnandTech Moderator]

Continued from the previous thread

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This thread is for posting your off topic raves and rants, such as "X-company did this to me", and "Did you get?, I got mine".

Requests for deals on specific items should be posted in the ~~~~IWANNA~~~~ thread,

How-To questions in the ~~~~ How-Do-I? ~~~~ thread.

Thank you. Please enjoy yourselves here while lending a hand to your fellow forum members.

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~~~~ Brag & Moan ~~~~ continued here.

 

[badbob001]

Has anyone gotten their $100 rebate for ordering the DELL 4400 P4-1.6 system yet?

 

[kerokeroppi82]

Nope, but the web site says that they're processing it. I got the dell 120GB HDD for only $125! I'm glad I stayed up late yesterday

 

[MrPhelps]

A buck a GIG rocks

 

[dvdapex]

JCPenny's new evil return policy for catalog/web orders
For over 27 years (that's as long as I've been alive and I know my parents have ordered from them for at least this long) JCPenny's policy for catalog orders was if you returned the whole order, you got a complete refund (including a refund on the shipping charges). Apparently this policy changed in January 2002. The funny thing is, there is NOTHING on their website that mentions this during the ordering process.

Here's my story:
I ordered 4 ottoman footstools for $80 each. Shipping (from Milwaukee to Madison) was $30 total. I got them home and opened one of the boxes and noticed that the footstools were literally a black cardboard box with some vinyl covering and a stuffed top. So, I returned them to the store. They refused to refund my shipping. I talked to the store manager and was told that that was their policy. I told them that 1) there was no mention of the new policy on the website during the ordering process and that if a policy has been in effect for over 20 years, any changes to that policy should be put somewhere other than burried in a link somewhere deep on the site, 2) if the description of the ottoman on the website mentioned that the $80 ottoman was a black cardboard box with vinyl on it, I wouldn't have purchased it, 3) there are many items that are not available in the store to inspect/try on and if this is going to be there policy, no one in their right minds are going to purchase anything via their catalog if they run the risk of having to pay for shipping on something that doesn't fit or whatever. He wouldn't budge.
The corporate office left me a nice letter saying that "to maintain high quality customer service [they] can no longer absorb the costs of shipping on items returned to them." I'm thinking of selling the letter on Ebay.
I told them that if they wouldn't refund my $31.60 (they charged me tax on the shipping charge) that they would lose a customer who since 1997 has spent close to $1500 with them and my parents as customers who have easily spent $20,000 with them in the last 25 years. They didn't seem to care.

My reply to them was something to the effect of "one of the things I remember telling the KMart manager the last time I shopped at KMart was their lack of customer service would prevent me from shopping with them in the future. But hey, things worked out well for them, right?":|

 

[null]

I HATE DELL. I ordered a Lite-On 40x12x48 CDRW on the 11th. It was supposed to ship today. Aside from the fact that taking two weeks to ship an item listed as in stock is amazingly inept, I just got an email saying that the shipment will be delayed until 5/8/02. That's almost a month after I placed my order!

 

[PicknGrin]

WTF....

I just received this today....in what LOOKED LIKE a rebate check with perforations...

"THank you for participating in the following rebate offer:
VALUE DISC 50PK CD $7 OFFICE MAX

You are receiving this notification because you failed to comply with the terms of the offer,
or you have not provided complete or correct information:
ADDRESS CANNOT BE VALIDATED.


If you would like to send corrected information for your submission, please mail this notification within 7 days of receiving this notice to..." the firm in Walled Lake, MI.


Uhhh...what's wrong with this picture? Is this a rebate-house scam? They cannot validate my address...hmmm.amazing they found a way to get this letter to me!
Seriously...am I missing something? Do I just mail this form back with ..um...the same (home) address they mailed this form to??

thanks

 

[HiveMaster]

MARKETPRO COMPUTER SHOW CUSTOMERS BEWARE: PARAMOUNT 2000 SCAM.

I went to the show in Ft Laughterdale Florida yesterday, and found a nice Compaq printer there for a decent price. I knew the printer was no longer being sold in retail outlets but did not really care because it is a Lexmark clone and Lexmarks are everywhere. Anyway, it was an IJ600, and it was being sold for 29.99.

Not a great price, but hey I needed a printer with a real printer port. One of the things that I liked about this printer as well was that it had both the color and Black ink cartridges included. Normally at this price, you would only get one or the other. I buy the unit, take it home and prepare to install it on a machine that I built for a couple of orphan kids. Imagine my suprise when I found NO CARTRIDGES in the printer!

I grab my reciept and drive 23 miles back to the show, pay my 5 bucks for a 15 minute pass...and go in to return the printer. The woman who I flag down at the PARAMOUNT 2000 counter comes over and I explain my problem. She says "Why, NONE of our printers are sold with cartridges, that is how we can sell them so cheap!" I reply, "Cheap? These printers are no longer in production! This is a reasonable price, not cheap! Besides, it says right here on the box, 'One color and one black cartridge INCLUDED."

This does not faze her. She just shrugs and says "well, I must not have taken care of you, because if I did, I would have told you that these have no cartridges." I ask for my money back, and they refuse, saying that they stamped my reciept ALL SALES FINAL.

So, PARAMOUNT 2000 policy is: DON'T tell them you are not getting what you pay for, and DON'T tell them you cannot get your money back until AFTER you get the reciept.

SCAM!!!

Now, I have to wait for ink carts to be shipped to me--and the 30 dollar printer suddenly costs me 70 bucks.

Remember to steer clear of these scam artists the next time you go to the Computer show.

 

[Ben88]

Just wondering why people love fry's so much? They don't accept AMEX, which is a preferred card to many people, and they sell OPEN, USED products for FULL RETAIL price. I'd rather pay 20 bucks more and get decent service and a guaranteed new product.

 

[olds]

thenerds.net

I bought a Gigabyte GA7DXR from them around October 2001. It died last month and I emailed them for an RMA. They only had a 30 day guarantee so they declined. I RMA'd it to Gigabyte and they sent me a dead one. When I tried to exchange that one Gigabyte ignored me and wouldn't honor the guarantee. I emailed the nerds.net and told them what was going on. They emailed me an RMA number even thought their warranty period had expired. What a great thing to do. I wish all vendors were this easy to deal with.
I thought they would send me another mobo and I would have to sell it here for a loss. Instead they gave me a $155 store credit.
I love these guys even more now.
Thanks to thenerds.net

 

[BurningRome]

The 800.com / Circuit City Gift Check Madness

Instigated from a AT-HD posting about an amazing deal on a Fuji Finepix 2600 camera, and to sweeten it there was a $50 GiftCheck from 800.com as part of the deal. Got the GC, then 2 months later I hear 800.com is dead, on FC.com etc. So I madly try to redeem the GC and it initially seems like it works but then a few days pass and a email comes from 800.com saying no go, we're out of bizness and your order won't ship. THEN I hear that CircuitCity bought them and MIGHT honour the GCs so I call them and register my GC and email. Then I get a few emails from CC.com saying that according to their records the GC is marked as redeemed so I get zip. Explained the story, no go. So bag it, I quit - this is too much aggravation for a potential $50 GC.
Then last friday, a $50 check comes from CircuitCity! Not a gift cert, just a check for 50 bones! Insane. But I'm happy.

 

[KLineD]

<< WTF....

I just received this today....in what LOOKED LIKE a rebate check with perforations...

"THank you for participating in the following rebate offer:
VALUE DISC 50PK CD $7 OFFICE MAX

You are receiving this notification because you failed to comply with the terms of the offer,
or you have not provided complete or correct information:
ADDRESS CANNOT BE VALIDATED.


If you would like to send corrected information for your submission, please mail this notification within 7 days of receiving this notice to..." the firm in Walled Lake, MI.


Uhhh...what's wrong with this picture? Is this a rebate-house scam? They cannot validate my address...hmmm.amazing they found a way to get this letter to me!
Seriously...am I missing something? Do I just mail this form back with ..um...the same (home) address they mailed this form to??

thanks >>



I got one like this on a maxtor HD i bought at OD... i sent them a letter saying that its my right email address, and as proof attached a copy of my utility bill. Got the rebate soon thereafter. hope this helps. If not, call them and b*tch

 

[Xidus]

Holy crap I just ordered a refurb ATI radeon 8500 64mb from newegg for $99!. It's NOT an LE either, or "powered by ATI", it's made by ATI. I double checked the item # and it's exactly the same as the $160 retail box they have except they added an R at the end (for refurb). Damn, that's almost half price and all I'm missing are some cables I would never have used anyway. Unless it's like the last refurb I got from them where they included the box and cables even though they said refurbs don't. It's good I checked the refurb page because I was about to get the OEM LE that's clocked much slower and costs a bit more.

The only interesting thing is that right below it was another 8500 refurb listed, but marked as OEM/white box and costing $40 more. Strange because it wasn't described as DV or all in wonder or anything like that, just a plain 8500. Model# 8500 just like the $99 one, with no DV or anything at the end. What was even stranger is that I couldn't find a matching newegg item# for the non refurb version of it. What is even more strange is the description of it states it as 250/240 but the chipset info link says 275/275. With those clock speeds you would think it was an LE, but it costs more as refurb then the LE's nonrefurb and of course is missing the LE suffix.

Come to think of it the description of the $99 one was missing clock speeds. Hmmm, naaa. Nothing to worry about, with the item# being the same as the retail one it has to be the same.

 

[Johnnie]

Dell screwed up my second order for a WD1200B...
I just got off the phone with a CS guy and they made it good... $150.10 shipped!!

 

[SKORPI0]

Brag....

Ordered a refurb Antec SX1030B case for $69 + $ 9 shipping from Newegg. Instead, I was shipped a Antec SX1040B case ($ 118 new), with all parts included, casebadge, screws, keys and manual. So I saved about $49.


Moan.... :frown:

Had to drive 40 miles round trip to the FEDEX center to pick it up. Package could not be left on my front door, I was at work and nobody was at home.

 

[RU482]

<< I HATE DELL. I ordered a Lite-On 40x12x48 CDRW on the 11th. It was supposed to ship today. Aside from the fact that taking two weeks to ship an item listed as in stock is amazingly inept, I just got an email saying that the shipment will be delayed until 5/8/02. That's almost a month after I placed my order! >>



Similar situation...Dude, I'm NEVER getting a dell. From what I have experienced on their website and...oh god, have you tried calling them, I don't know how many times I got transfered, only to wind up getting a busy signal...a fvcking busy signal,it's the 21'st century, and it's a computer company, c'mon, that's just fvcking pathetic...anyway, did I mention they suck balls? All I wanted to do was cancel my order because they could not ship by the time I needed the parts..did I mention they suck balls?

 

[nj]

After 9 months of fighting with newegg they have finally refunded me my $130 back. The short story is that it was totally their fault (lost my RMA), but they jacked me around for almost a year and never even apologized. I've spent over a grand there and I'm pretty mad at all the hassle over something that was their fault. Incidentally my tcwo.com RMA was slow (three weeks total), but went without a hitch. No restocking fee. I might just stick with them from now on.

HSN.com shipped my forever flashlight! I had it stuck in my shopping cart and used the $20 off $20.01 coupon. Even though it was sold out, and at a higher price, I got the order through at $10 shipped. Sweet. I can put it next to my forever radio and my OTHER wind-up forever flashlight

Semsons.com is a pretty good outfit. They shipped within 2 days, and I got the package within the week. My battery charger for the Maestro works perfectly and 4 maha's AA's charge it up 2 times easily. I also got the Audiovox replacement stylus off their site for $15 shipped (2 of them). They are much heavier then the originals, have real steel around then and has a pen inside. Took two weeks to get to me and I love them. Worth every penny.

 

[frankqfrank]

BRAG

I called staples after finding my receipt so I will end up getting the $15 HI-Tech CD-R rebate from the day after thanksgiving and also will get a $10 rebate that had the wrong address, so that's $25 I didn't expect.

Also got my Z-560's today, they sound awesome. I got them for $112 shipped in the deal that lasted 15 minutes over at 2buystore.com.

La Vita E Bella

 

[SpongeBobPalmBay]

Ok... I think this is important to everyone who received a buy.com $65 gift certificate after the Sony notebook rip off. THEY DO NOT WORK! And, costomer service will not return emails.

Does anyone have a 1800 buy.com number?!?

 

[foot]

BRAG

Not as earth shattering as the rest of these posts - but check this out - I got my free Guiness Keychain/bottleopener today in the mail. Im not going to use it though because its HUGE and HEAVY. Check it out:

http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~foot/guiness.jpg

 

[karbon]

Has anyone else been stiffed on The Scientist CD-ROM rebate from Tinker's Guild? I bought it at Fry's before Christmas. Well, their website says the company is bankrupt and unable to fulfill the rebates.

I'm also curious to know what pressure I can bring on Fry's to pay it -- I've faxed information to customer service at their local store here in Austin but not heard back. Seems to me that when they advertise it in their weekly newspaper spread to bring people into the store, they are morally (and perhaps legally) obligated to pay up.

 

[Massimo]

Very Cool....

I used the $25 off any order from HSN to buy a $35 car washing kit. It was missing one little piece so I called them and told them about it. They said no problem and sent me another one. On the phone they said something about retuning the first one, but when I got the replacement kit there was no return shipping label, nothing that asked me to return it and the invoice just looked like an order with $0.00 charge on it. I think I just got a free kit!

Not too bad.

 

[Johnnie]

got my free sleeve of golf balls from dunlop

 

[netwire88]

I submitted my Viking rebate back in November 2001. They said they received it, but still haven't send me the rebate. I've called many times and the rebate fulfillment company keeps blaming Viking.
What do I do?

 

[Anami]

Prowling the "dead computer store", as I call RePC here in Seattle area, I found a bin of old tape drives. One looked pretty good, and was a Seagate !STT28000N model, with a SCSI 50-pin interface. So, for $5 on the counter, I took it home. I looked it up online, and it turns out it was a Travan TR4 tape drive, and shown as "Compatible with W2K, may be compatible with WinXP". About two days later, a new tech support guy that just signed on to support a doctor's office near me gave me a call. I had built their server and client PCs and had installed all their little network and software. He told me he had upgraded them to Win2K and needed to ask about the older tape drive there, an Aiwa TD8000. It showed as incompatible with Win2K.

Well, I told him I had a drive I had bought awhile back for myself, but I could let him install it. He called back and said it installed just great, recognized all the old backup sessions on the TR4 tapes, and how much did I want? I told him that they are going for about $250 new, but that with good contacts in the industry (PriceWatch!), I can find them for about $200. Bingo! $200 profit. I love it!