I haven't shopped at Best Buy in a long time... but dammit I have no choice!

[rudder]

So I got my kids a Wii for Christmas and got my daughter a digital camera. A couple days after Christmas I decide I need to get some SD cards for said devices. Circuit City's website showed they had a 2 pack of 1 gb cards for $24.99 (PNY brand). Decent price... and I needed them and they were cheaper than Compusa's going out of business sale.

I did not order them online with store pickup cause I wasn't sure I was going... but I ended up at circuit city and saw they had some on the shelf. The PNY 2 X 1 GB pack had a sticker which showed $99. The 2 X 2GB pack next to it said $59. So its the after Christmas rush and I finally find a sales person. I inquire about the price difference between the shelf pack and the one listed on circuitcity.com. He says they will honor the web price. So I grab the pack off the shelf and walk over to a laptop showing the online price. He then looks at the model numbers and sees they are different and says sorry no can do.

He walks off so I place an order on the laptop for the 2 X 1 pack of PNY SD cards for $24.99 and walk over to customer service to pick them up. Of course all the registers are empty but the customer service has 5000 people returning gifts. I finally get my 2 pack of SD cards and its the same model number as the ones on the shelf.

circuit city can DIAF... they deserve to go out of business and let some one else have a go at it.

So now with Compusa gone if I need something in a pinch it is now either Best Buy or Walmart.

 

[Modeps]

I wish I could walk into a dealership and buy a Mustang for the price of an Escort.

 

[BigJ]

Did you actually look to see if the model #s were different?

Shit happens, sometimes people read things incorrectly.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Modeps
I wish I could walk into a dealership and buy a Mustang for the price of an Escort.

That should be the standard post anytime someone comes in here and cries about prices.

I know the OP didnt ask for advice, but he needs it so he's going to get it.
You can go to online places like Meritline.com and always get a good price on flash memory. Not just a once-a-year price like the regular stores.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Modeps
I wish I could walk into a dealership and buy a Mustang for the price of an Escort.

That should be the standard post anytime someone comes in here and cries about prices.

I know the OP didnt ask for advice, but he needs it so he's going to get it.
You can go to online places like Meritline.com and always get a good price on flash memory. Not just a once-a-year price like the regular stores.

And I can spend $20 to ship it overnight.. which would really be 3 days if it were a Friday afternoon. Or I can stop by a B&M store and have the product in hand when I need it for not a whole lot more.

But the point of the rant was it was the EXACT same item on the shelf for $99 versus the website for $24. The fact that circuit city tries to sell two plain 1GB SD cards for $99 is crazy in itself. Granted the SKU number was slightly different... but the specs were the same.

And I apologize to Modeps since I did not realize that the price difference between a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards and a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards was equivalent to the price difference between a Mustang and an Escort.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: rudder
But the point of the rant was it was the EXACT same item on the shelf for $99 versus the website for $24. The fact that circuit city tries to sell two plain 1GB SD cards for $99 is crazy in itself. Granted the SKU number was slightly different... but the specs were the same.

So what you're saying is that even though the SKUs were different, they were the same model number and exactly the same cards?

I just want to clarify this.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: rudder
And I apologize to Modeps since I did not realize that the price difference between a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards and a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards was equivalent to the price difference between a Mustang and an Escort.

Same manufacturer, different models.

Perhaps you'd like the analogy of comparing a Sharp Aquos LC42D64U vs a Sharp Aquos LC42D62U instead? With your logic, they are both 42" Sharp Aquos TVs so they should cost the same.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Modeps
I wish I could walk into a dealership and buy a Mustang for the price of an Escort.

That should be the standard post anytime someone comes in here and cries about prices.

I know the OP didnt ask for advice, but he needs it so he's going to get it.
You can go to online places like Meritline.com and always get a good price on flash memory. Not just a once-a-year price like the regular stores.

And I can spend $20 to ship it overnight.. which would really be 3 days if it were a Friday afternoon. Or I can stop by a B&M store and have the product in hand when I need it for not a whole lot more.

But the point of the rant was it was the EXACT same item on the shelf for $99 versus the website for $24. The fact that circuit city tries to sell two plain 1GB SD cards for $99 is crazy in itself. Granted the SKU number was slightly different... but the specs were the same.

And I apologize to Modeps since I did not realize that the price difference between a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards and a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards was equivalent to the price difference between a Mustang and an Escort.

If you really NEED it in hand than price is obviously the lesser item of importance to you.

This will make me sound like an ass but I should think a parent would know about assigning priorities. If you didnt order it online well in advance and pay nothing or very little for shipping, it seems to me that it wasnt a big deal for you.
Why do you HAVE to have it in your hands right now? Is someone going to die or will you lose your house over it?
If it wasnt a big deal to begin with, what should it matter if you have to wait a little while?
If it is a big deal, why the heck didnt you just buy exactly what you wanted at the store and then go home?
Its not like either price was going to put you in the poor house, I hope.

 

[Excelsior]

I went into my local CC a couple of weeks ago. It was unpleasant.

 

[Epic Fail]

Order online and have your kids wait.

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Modeps
I wish I could walk into a dealership and buy a Mustang for the price of an Escort.

That should be the standard post anytime someone comes in here and cries about prices.

I know the OP didnt ask for advice, but he needs it so he's going to get it.
You can go to online places like Meritline.com and always get a good price on flash memory. Not just a once-a-year price like the regular stores.

And I can spend $20 to ship it overnight.. which would really be 3 days if it were a Friday afternoon. Or I can stop by a B&M store and have the product in hand when I need it for not a whole lot more.

But the point of the rant was it was the EXACT same item on the shelf for $99 versus the website for $24. The fact that circuit city tries to sell two plain 1GB SD cards for $99 is crazy in itself. Granted the SKU number was slightly different... but the specs were the same.

And I apologize to Modeps since I did not realize that the price difference between a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards and a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards was equivalent to the price difference between a Mustang and an Escort.

Obviously, thats why the skus were different. :roll: I don't know if you've ever worked for a B&M store but diff SKUs = diff price. This will be the same at CC, at BB at a Ford dealership

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Exterous

Obviously, thats why the skus were different. :roll: I don't know if you've ever worked for a B&M store but diff SKUs = diff price. This will be the same at CC, at BB at a Ford dealership

Retail is interesting. I've had circumstances where the same SKU resulted in different model #s and UPCs, and different SKUs pointing to the same model #/UPC. People make mistakes and sometimes the information doesn't get purged from the system properly or entered into the system properly.

Not saying it did happen in this case, just that it can.

 

[KK]

I don't get whats the problem with what the OP did? That said, I'd rather deal with CC than BB.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: Modeps
I wish I could walk into a dealership and buy a Mustang for the price of an Escort.

That should be the standard post anytime someone comes in here and cries about prices.

I know the OP didnt ask for advice, but he needs it so he's going to get it.
You can go to online places like Meritline.com and always get a good price on flash memory. Not just a once-a-year price like the regular stores.

And I can spend $20 to ship it overnight.. which would really be 3 days if it were a Friday afternoon. Or I can stop by a B&M store and have the product in hand when I need it for not a whole lot more.

But the point of the rant was it was the EXACT same item on the shelf for $99 versus the website for $24. The fact that circuit city tries to sell two plain 1GB SD cards for $99 is crazy in itself. Granted the SKU number was slightly different... but the specs were the same.

And I apologize to Modeps since I did not realize that the price difference between a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards and a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards was equivalent to the price difference between a Mustang and an Escort.

If you really NEED it in hand than price is obviously the lesser item of importance to you.

This will make me sound like an ass but I should think a parent would know about assigning priorities. If you didnt order it online well in advance and pay nothing or very little for shipping, it seems to me that it wasnt a big deal for you.
Why do you HAVE to have it in your hands right now? Is someone going to die or will you lose your house over it?
If it wasnt a big deal to begin with, what should it matter if you have to wait a little while?
If it is a big deal, why the heck didnt you just buy exactly what you wanted at the store and then go home?
Its not like either price was going to put you in the poor house, I hope.

Yes it does make you sound like an ass. So my daughter misplaced her SD card she had for another device and filled the internal memory of the camera... I am a bad parent. :roll:

Is it so evil to actually walk into an actual store or get out of the house? It wasn't a big deal.. but to have a company advertise of their website you can get 2 SD cards for $24.99 with instore pickup... and then only offer the same 2 pack for $99 on the shelf seems like crappy business practice to me and in my opionion circuit city can fade away.

I guess on principal I should have just spent $99 on something that even Radio shack sells for probably no more than $40.

 

[Xavier434]

Sucks you had to go through that hassle only to be let down, but I really don't see why shopping at another store for something like SD cards is an issue. Also, like another poster mentioned, you need get your priorities straight and realize you cannot have your cake and eat it to. Getting something at the lowest price and in the shortest amount of time rarely go hand in hand.

***Edited to remove info that I realized was false***

Different SKU numbers for a product justify a different cost in today's technology market and that is just the way it is. There is nothing we can do about that.

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: rudder
So I got my kids a Wii for Christmas and got my daughter a digital camera. A couple days after Christmas I decide I need to get some SD cards for said devices. Circuit City's website showed they had a 2 pack of 1 gb cards for $24.99 (PNY brand). Decent price... and I needed them and they were cheaper than Compusa's going out of business sale.

I did not order them online with store pickup cause I wasn't sure I was going... but I ended up at circuit city and saw they had some on the shelf. The PNY 2 X 1 GB pack had a sticker which showed $99. The 2 X 2GB pack next to it said $59. So its the after Christmas rush and I finally find a sales person. I inquire about the price difference between the shelf pack and the one listed on circuitcity.com. He says they will honor the web price. So I grab the pack off the shelf and walk over to a laptop showing the online price. He then looks at the model numbers and sees they are different and says sorry no can do.

He walks off so I place an order on the laptop for the 2 X 1 pack of PNY SD cards for $24.99 and walk over to customer service to pick them up. Of course all the registers are empty but the customer service has 5000 people returning gifts. I finally get my 2 pack of SD cards and its the same model number as the ones on the shelf.
circuit city can DIAF... they deserve to go out of business and let some one else have a go at it.

So now with Compusa gone if I need something in a pinch it is now either Best Buy or Walmart.

What probably happened is that someone in the warehouse was too dense to realize that they had diff model numbers or didn't care (using the 'close enough' theroy of pulling stock) checked it as pulled. The CSA then got it from the back and gave it too you without comparing model numbers. In an ideal situation you should not have been given those SD cards for that price, rather the ones you ordered from the web. ALthough, given how busy places are after Christmas it probably fell into the 'we don't have time to worry about this' file

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: rudder
And I apologize to Modeps since I did not realize that the price difference between a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards and a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards was equivalent to the price difference between a Mustang and an Escort.

Same manufacturer, different models.

Perhaps you'd like the analogy of comparing a Sharp Aquos LC42D64U vs a Sharp Aquos LC42D62U instead? With your logic, they are both 42" Sharp Aquos TVs so they should cost the same.

If the specifications are exactly the same... why would the price be different? I suspect in your example, they are not the same. Basic SD cards are not that complicated.

Maybe the ones on the shelf for $99 were made of titanium.

When I put the order through circuitcity's website and picked up the SD cards it was the same number as the ones on the shelf which differed from the websites number. Why again did I have to go order them through the website while standing in the store?

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: rudder
And I apologize to Modeps since I did not realize that the price difference between a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards and a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards was equivalent to the price difference between a Mustang and an Escort.

Same manufacturer, different models.

Perhaps you'd like the analogy of comparing a Sharp Aquos LC42D64U vs a Sharp Aquos LC42D62U instead? With your logic, they are both 42" Sharp Aquos TVs so they should cost the same.

If the specifications are exactly the same... why would the price be different? I suspect in your example, they are not the same. Basic SD cards are not that complicated.

Maybe the ones on the shelf for $99 were made of titanium.

When I put the order through circuitcity's website and picked up the SD cards it was the same number as the ones on the shelf which differed from the websites number. Why again did I have to go order them through the website while standing in the store?

Like I said earlier you probably shouldn't have been given those SD cards, rather you should have been given the ones you ordered

 

[shortylickens]

If it really is a pain then I suggest Target or Walmart. They have a good selection of memory sticks these days and almost always have a lower regular price.
Actually, I've seen a variety of media at Walgreens too. They now carry floppies and CD's and DVD's and each type of flash memory.
But they dont normally have a wide selection. They might only have one type of Sony MS, one Compact Flash, one SD, and one thumb drive.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
Sucks you had to go through that hassle only to be let down, but I really don't see why shopping at another store for something like SD cards is an issue. Also, like another poster mentioned, you need get your priorities straight and realize you cannot have your cake and eat it to. Getting something at the lowest price and in the shortest amount of time rarely go hand in hand.

***Edited to remove info that I realized was false***

Different SKU numbers for a product justify a different cost in today's technology market and that is just the way it is. There is nothing we can do about that.

I can understand that. But the product i received when I ordered off the website from inside the store was the same one that was sitting on the shelf for $99. The number on the website was apparently outdated. The specifications were exaclty the same.

The $99 price is outrageous in itself as most of the stores in the area sell 1 GB SD cards for around $15. Other than time constraints shopping at another store would not have been a problem.

It should have been as simple as ringing up the cards at the register for $24.99 but it wasn't.

 

[Cabages]

Give the guys a break, so he didnt read the model numbers correctly. He was probably helping someone else at the same time, something that happens a lot in the holiday rush. It sucks you had to wait in line, but im betting it didnt even take you that long.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Exterous

Like I said earlier you probably shouldn't have been given those SD cards, rather you should have been given the ones you ordered

Maybe so. But they were the exact same product. Same specs, same manufacturer. Apparently a different batch. I don't think the person that pulled the order made a mistake. The one's gathering the order did not know I interacted with the saleman or even knew I placed the order inside the store. My guess is the part number displayed on the website is not updated to the current inventory. I just think circuit city is whacked and that is the reason they continue to lose ground versus Best Buy. If I did not place the order online I would not have bought the product for $99 and would have eventually made it to Walmart instead.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: Xavier434
Sucks you had to go through that hassle only to be let down, but I really don't see why shopping at another store for something like SD cards is an issue. Also, like another poster mentioned, you need get your priorities straight and realize you cannot have your cake and eat it to. Getting something at the lowest price and in the shortest amount of time rarely go hand in hand.

***Edited to remove info that I realized was false***

Different SKU numbers for a product justify a different cost in today's technology market and that is just the way it is. There is nothing we can do about that.

I can understand that. But the product i received when I ordered off the website from inside the store was the same one that was sitting on the shelf for $99. The number on the website was apparently outdated. The specifications were exaclty the same.

The $99 price is outrageous in itself as most of the stores in the area sell 1 GB SD cards for around $15. Other than time constraints shopping at another store would not have been a problem.

It should have been as simple as ringing up the cards at the register for $24.99 but it wasn't.

Just so everyone knows, outdated SKUs can be relatively common (at my retail chain location anyway). More than they should be, but associates simply don't have the time to go around and check each SKU. I often fix them by accident when I go to print a new tag and notice the difference, or when a customer points it out (I am happy they do) so I can fix it.

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: Xavier434
Sucks you had to go through that hassle only to be let down, but I really don't see why shopping at another store for something like SD cards is an issue. Also, like another poster mentioned, you need get your priorities straight and realize you cannot have your cake and eat it to. Getting something at the lowest price and in the shortest amount of time rarely go hand in hand.

***Edited to remove info that I realized was false***

Different SKU numbers for a product justify a different cost in today's technology market and that is just the way it is. There is nothing we can do about that.

I can understand that. But the product i received when I ordered off the website from inside the store was the same one that was sitting on the shelf for $99. The number on the website was apparently outdated. The specifications were exaclty the same.

The $99 price is outrageous in itself as most of the stores in the area sell 1 GB SD cards for around $15. Other than time constraints shopping at another store would not have been a problem.

It should have been as simple as ringing up the cards at the register for $24.99 but it wasn't.

As someone who worked for CC for over 4 years I will go into more detail. If the model numbers are different the sales person was correct in saying that the sale price could not be honored - the fine print in the 'Lowest Price Guarantee' states such. However, since you could place an order on-line for pickup that means that the store inventory had >1 of that item. (When orders are placed on line the warehouse gets a pull ticket WITH THE EXACT MODEL NUMBER/SKU that you see online. Also the web has real time stock information about all the stores - all tied to the model number on the website). One of the following then occurred:
1) The warehouse associate tasked with finding the item pulled the wrong item and the CSA did not double check
2) The warehouse associate could not find the item even though inventory said they were in stock (and the decision was made to substitute the item in question)

Item 2 could have happened even if you had waited till someone looked for you in the store - but I have seen what CC has done to their labor hours and it is not pretty. I do not blame you for not wanting to wait in their long lines.

And I agree that $99 is ridiculous

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: rudder
And I apologize to Modeps since I did not realize that the price difference between a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards and a 2 pack of PNY 1 GB SD cards was equivalent to the price difference between a Mustang and an Escort.

Same manufacturer, different models.

Perhaps you'd like the analogy of comparing a Sharp Aquos LC42D64U vs a Sharp Aquos LC42D62U instead? With your logic, they are both 42" Sharp Aquos TVs so they should cost the same.

If the specifications are exactly the same... why would the price be different? I suspect in your example, they are not the same. Basic SD cards are not that complicated.

Maybe the ones on the shelf for $99 were made of titanium.

When I put the order through circuitcity's website and picked up the SD cards it was the same number as the ones on the shelf which differed from the websites number. Why again did I have to go order them through the website while standing in the store?

The biggest difference is that the D64U supports HDMI 1.3 instead of HDMI 1.2. Kind of a small difference in the grand scheme of things but still a difference.

Anyways, I think you may be confused. What was ACTUALLY different? The SKU? or the Model number? (they are different things)