(Dead) Western Digital 120GB Hard Drive for $29.99 ARs & coupon at Officemax

[Northland]

Hoocheroo: I knew better than to post the code. Must have just had a brain fart. Thanks for the reminder . . .

Does anybody think that OM will really require a physical coupon when they make a deliver to my house (see post 3 items above)?

Northland

 

[Hipd]

Here's my experience. The good news. I went to the B&M and they had the HD in stock. The bad news. The manager absolutely refused to honor the on-line ad, stating that was for online and this was separate. It's my fault for not printing out anything, but I mentioned everything about the instant rebate and whatnot and she still refused. I was kinda annoyed but it seems like you actually need to print all that stuff out (yes i know it says so on the site).

 

[rayyyyy]

i just got home from gettin a WD 120 gig HD from CC. total: $144.15. =). how?...

i went to CC. it was on sale for $179.99. i showed them a printout of the OM circular with the drive @ $159.99, with a $20 IR. at first, the girl said that CC didn't take any rebates into account, but after talkin to another person she said she would also factor in the $20 IR with the PM. additionally, i got another 10%-of-the-difference-in-prices off...sooo...

179.00
- 20.00 (PM)
- 20.00 (PM after IR of OM)
- 4.00 (10% of difference between OM and CC prices: 179.99-139.99..then * .1)
______________________________________________________
= 135.99 + 6% sales tax = $144.15


i also recieved two mail-in rebates for the drive; one for $20, and one for $80. soo...

144.15
- 80.00 (MIR 1)
- 20.00 (MIR 2)
__________________
= 44.15 includ. tax

i dun care wut anyone says...that is a sweet deal, especially if you couldn't get into the OM deal yesterday

now...all i need is a nice external enclosure, and a PCMCIA firewire card....

 

I stopped by my local OM and they had the drive labled $168!! Now I look online and for some reason there is no flier for MA! I think its a conspiracy...

OK, now I'm confused, why can I get to the flier from the link on the first post but not from OM's website?

 

[Salvador]

i just got home from gettin a WD 120 gig HD from CC. total: $144.15. =). how?...

Was I correct? $35.99 AR + tax. BTW.. The deal at OM will turn out to be $39.09 after rebate and tax. I have to send in one additional rebate and I did get 100 free cd-r's, but I'd say that the deals are comparable.

Sal

 

[Questi4110]

where do i find the $30 off $150 coupon code for Staples In-Store Purchases?
Everytime i find one it links me back to staples.com so i am guessing those are for online only?


THANKS

 

[superfob99]

Originally posted by: Questi4110
where do i find the $30 off $150 coupon code for Staples In-Store Purchases?
Everytime i find one it links me back to staples.com so i am guessing those are for online only?


THANKS

Turn on PM.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: JAGedlion
I stopped by my local OM and they had the drive labled $168!! Now I look online and for some reason there is no flier for MA! I think its a conspiracy...

OK, now I'm confused, why can I get to the flier from the link on the first post but not from OM's website?

it's another conspiracy.

 

[attmci]

Got the deal yesterday.

However, can't get any order info from their website using the order no. and the zip.

Strange.

 

[rayyyyy]

Originally posted by: Salvador

i just got home from gettin a WD 120 gig HD from CC. total: $144.15. =). how?...

Was I correct? $35.99 AR + tax. BTW.. The deal at OM will turn out to be $39.09 after rebate and tax. I have to send in one additional rebate and I did get 100 free cd-r's, but I'd say that the deals are comparable.

Sal

hehe, many thanks for the help. to others reading this: i encourage those that couldn't take advantage of the OM deal to take this route, and write about it here.

 

[Jerky15010]

Here's how it went down for me:

Called the 877 # (my B&M are no go on the 30 off 150 on-line coupon)
got the 120 8m jb (back order)
added Khypomedia cdr's FAR $20

order now over $150

give him a phone coupon code from "large billfold"
dude says that's cool- give coupon to the driver (whatever...)

good to go, cept for the backorder thingy....


BUT...

I found a printable 30 off 150 coupon on the web (search google)

SHOULD I....

1. just wait and give my coupon to the driver

2. use the printable coupon and go to OMax and do the deed at the B&M, cancel my phone order?

coupon says "Minimum purchase requirement of $150 must be met with purchases to which no other coupon or instant savings offer applies." does that kill the $20 IR in store?


my .02 is that phone orders are the way to go...

Jerky


"a george divided against itself can not stand!"

 

[Questi4110]

yeah i agree with jerky...i have the similar situation

you guys can phone order the stuff in today...i just did about 5 minutes ago (1:30 EST). I didn't have to wait on the phone too long (around 5 minutes) to get a rep either and he said they have the stuff in stock (i ordered 100 pack cd-r disks, cd-rw, and WD HD). I also gave him the coupon code so that he took 30 off 150. He said it would be at my house in 2 days on wedneday and that i should present the coupon to him. My problem is that i dont have it...i know a lot of people got away with it but does anybody know where i can get a scan of the coupon just in case the guy doesn't drop it off and leave? Anybody here in southeastern PA know if they ship it in a UPS or Fed Ex truck instead of an officemax truck so that the guy doesn't have to check the coupon?

BTW Jerky: Can you post the site that you found the printable coupon on?


THANKS
Good Luck

 

[JanitorialMan]

is there a chance of being banned from OM for making too good of a deal off of them?

 

[JanitorialMan]

i.e. $320 worht of stuff for $20?

 

[k000]

Originally posted by: JanitorialMan
i.e. $320 worht of stuff for $20?

I do forsee that sometime in near future... I say that looking at
1. The way they were refusing to accept coupon codes on phone yesterday.
2. The way they remove the greatest deals (like DVD-RWs and HDs from their websites)
3. The way they have stopped accepting the competitors coupons now

I think very soon, they WOULD start looking closely at the people who have been making killing deals at the cost of their bottom line.

I also think that they are eventually making profit from people flocking their stores, web-sites and phone orders, but with the spread of so many deal sites (I think half of my colleagues at work goto one deal site or another now-a-days), the effect becomes too big to ignore, and then the management gets a wind of thye schemes and acts on them.

It's just my .02 cents, total prediction

 

[AkumaX]

can you tell us what string to search to get the 30 off 150 printable? or enable your PM's

 

[thortyboy]

I think a big problem is that office max Corp. (along with many other of these companies) are looking on anandtech's website (and FW, etc...)to see what kind of deals people can cook up. MANY of the times that i've tried to price match stuff, the stores say that.. "i got an email from corporate and they said not to honor it". It's kinda lame. I think there should be a master list (located somewhere) of IP's that should be blocked from "deals" sites. Maybe not IP's, but some way to verify that you're not a part of retail stores.

Think about this: What if there was some protected site that all employees of some site went to, and that site gave them a cookie. Maybe we can pick up on that cookie, and cause a page fault whenever they tried reaching a deals forum. But then they would catch on, learn to not use cookies( or clear them), and bam, and easy fix.

I know it's a long shot, or maybe even impossible, but there has to be some other way of protecting deals from certain users... maybe.

 

[HoosierDadE]

Originally posted by: JanitorialMan
is there a chance of being banned from OM for making too good of a deal off of them?

Yes; Staples does that, so OM certainly could too. I posted a warning over a year ago but nobody believed me Now you can find other posts on deal sites about people who have been secretly banned. Basically, they flag your account/name/address/etc. and all orders from that point on go into limbo. Before I found a way around it, Staples even ignored my orders with NO coupons or price-match! LOL. My concern when it first happened was that retailers would share blacklists.

 

[WyteWatt]

Originally posted by: WraithAkaMrak

Originally posted by: imtim83
I made sure it was a two 60 gig platter version, which it was!

How do you tell? I assume it's something on the label on the back of the drive...

Well i didn't really check how good the source was but i found it out at www.newegg.com in the comments part of the WD1200JB HD that i was reading before i bought it for a really cheap price!

The way you can find out if it is the three 40 gig platter WD1200JB Hard drive or two 60 gig platter WD1200JB Hard drive is by the LBA number!


LBA # 234375000 is the three 40 gig platter WD1200JB Hard drive

LBA # 234441648 is the two 60 gig platter WD1200JB Hard drive


I made sure i got the two 60 gig platter one. I was checking all of the WD1200JBs just to make sure. They all had the two 60 gig platter one but i only had to check three.

 

[JanitorialMan]

Originally posted by: HoosierDadE

Originally posted by: JanitorialMan
is there a chance of being banned from OM for making too good of a deal off of them?

Yes; Staples does that, so OM certainly could too. I posted a warning over a year ago but nobody believed me Now you can find other posts on deal sites about people who have been secretly banned. Basically, they flag your account/name/address/etc. and all orders from that point on go into limbo. Before I found a way around it, Staples even ignored my orders with NO coupons or price-match! LOL. My concern when it first happened was that retailers would share blacklists.

so, what do you think the odds of me getting banned for ordering $320 worth of stuff for ~$200 after IRs and a $50 off $250... and then getting it all for $20 + tax AR?

 

[HarryManback]

Originally posted by: imtim83

The way you can find out if it is the three 40 gig platter WD1200JB Hard drive or two 60 gig platter WD1200JB Hard drive is by the LBA number!


LBA # 234375000 is the three 40 gig platter WD1200JB Hard drive

LBA # 234441648 is the two 60 gig platter WD1200JB Hard drive


I made sure i got the two 60 gig platter one. I was checking all of the WD1200JBs just to make sure. They all had the two 60 gig platter one but i only had to check three.

Cool, I was wondering about that. Looks like I snagged the 2 60gig platter version as well

I think you can also tell by the date the drive was built. According to the WD website, it looks like all drives made after 4/14/03 have the 2 60GB platters

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=704&p_created=1037222945

 

[Salvador]

Could you tell me what the difference is between the different platters? Why is the 2 60 gb platters so much better?

BTW.. Are these drives sold out all over?

Sal

 

[HarryManback]

Originally posted by: Salvador
Could you tell me what the difference is between the different platters? Why is the 2 60 gb platters so much better?

I believe having 2 60gb platters will make the drive perform faster than 3 40gb platters. I'm not positive though so maybe someone else will confirm.

This may help explain
http://www.storagereview.com/welcome.pl/http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/mediaSize.html

 

[Questi4110]

Anybody know where i can get a printout of the $30 off $150 OM Phone Order Coupon?



THANKS

 

[HoosierDadE]

Originally posted by: JanitorialManso, what do you think the odds of me getting banned for ordering $320 worth of stuff for ~$200 after IRs and a $50 off $250... and then getting it all for $20 + tax AR?

Almost non-existent. So far I haven't heard of OM doing that, just Staples. And even they don't seem to do it in any automated way. It happened to me because a CR took the job too seriously and didn't like how good of a deal I got. I doubt even Staples does any kind of computer analysis to blacklist people. In Store or web-site orders w/o human dialog should be 100% safe. Your deal isn't anything special or unusual, if they blacklisted people just for that, most of us would be. ;-)

Relax. Even if you did get blacklisted, there are ways around it. And as hard as they try to keep the fact they do it a secret (you'd think they would want to scare away deal hounds), it must be either illegal or a PR problem.