40GB 7,200 rpm WD 40GB HDD for $16---MAYBE

[PitViper]

This must be an in-store only deal. BestBuy Has the aforementioned HD for $99.99 up-front with a $40 rebate. I did the 110% price match to Circuit City’s price of $59.99 for a final up-front price of $55.99. However the service rep. refused to give me the rebate form and rebate receipt.

I told the rep. that the price match and the rebate were separate issues and asked to see the manager. He told me BB will only honor both the price match and rebate when it’s a manufacture’s rebate. This is a BestBuy rebate. I asked to see the policy in writing but he said that it wasn’t a written policy.

Link to BestBuy's In-Store Price Guarantee

Excerpt: “For complete price guarantee details, please see a customer service representative. We reserve the right to limit quantities. See store for complete details.”

Isn’t that what I did? I’ve heard of others who had no problem getting both. And still others would pay the full price (to get rebate forms) and do the price match at a later date. I guess the policy is arbitrary at best, or that the store managers are poorly trained as to what the real policy is, or corporate is clueless since it doesn’t appear to have a written policy.

So if you’re lucky: $55.99 (110% price match) - $40 MIR = $15.99 final cost

[Cubsfan]

Here's my idea for getting both...

Go and buy the drive, and don't say anything about the pricematch.
You'll get:
1) Receipt (no mention of rebate)
2) Rebate Receipt
3) Rebate form
- Go back in with just the Receipt and have it pricematched.
Chances are they won't even blink

I'm not saying this is ethical or honest, just possible

[blueribb]

This won't work in my area. I've tried it at both Staples and Best Buy. They both are wise to deals like this.

I'm sure it will work in some areas.

[mcs328]

What a gip then if they make a policy they can't even follow just b/c they'll lose money on it. That's what you get when you want to attract and retain customers. Someone should file with the BBB one day.

[bachviet]

It seems to be good deal but I am not shopping @ BB anymore due to unpleasant experience with CSR and manager.

[Kevster]

I tried this with Office Max and Best Buy yesterday (they're next to eachother in Torrance). They both wouldn't give me the rebate and the OM guy got really pissed when I started arguing with him about OM's price match guarantee and how slow their rebates were. Best Buy just wouldn't do it. So for all my trouble, I just bought it at another BB store on my way home and I'm PM'ing it today and sending in my rebate.

I'm with Chosenfool on this - I don't have any ethical problems with this at all. I'm trying to save money by using their store policies and it's not my fault if they are too slow to realize what their competition is doing. It's also not my fault that these "managers" suffer from cranial rectosis, but then again it might just be a personal problem with the OM and BB managers in Torrance.

[Johnnymac]

I just purchased the drive from BB. I am going to another BB with the CC advertisement for the pricematch. Won't BB know that they already pricematched the item and refuse the rebate? Seeing as it is a BB rebate I would think they can track all of this.

Would it have been better to pay in cash as well?

Thanks in advance and thanks for the heads up on all the deals.

--C

[famewolf]

Check their website for the rebate form..print it out...have someone else who has the rebate form photocopy it for you...you have the upc and receipt....mail it in.

[Gary Rients]

I tried this today, but it didn't work. I bought the drive at Best Buy and then walked over to Customer Service to get the price match. Everything seemed to be going well until the CS person decided that she should check with her manager before doing the price match, since the guy she talked to at Circuit City for the price check told her that it was a clearance item. The manager took a firm stance that they won't match a "clearance" price, so I returned the drive. Funny, I didn't see anything in the big price matching policy on the wall about not applying to "clearance" prices. It's not like they're refurb or open box. I actually still have the rebate receipt and form from BB, but of course now CC is out of stock.

[bachviet]

Originally posted by Gary Rients
I tried this today, but it didn't work. I bought the drive at Best Buy and then walked over to Customer Service to get the price match. Everything seemed to be going well until the CS person decided that she should check with her manager before doing the price match, since the guy she talked to at Circuit City for the price check told her that it was a clearance item. The manager took a firm stance that they won't match a "clearance" price, so I returned the drive. Funny, I didn't see anything in the big price matching policy on the wall about not applying to "clearance" prices. It's not like they're refurb or open box. I actually still have the rebate receipt and form from BB, but of course now CC is out of stock.

That sucks man! What is the deal with not PMing clearance items? BB customer service sucks big time!

[Gary Rients]

Yeah, it really blows. This is the second hard drive deal that's fallen through on me in the past week. Last week I went to CompUSA's website at 5 minutes til 4pm and got a popup offering a 100 gig hard drive for $59.99, but only until 4 pm. Of course I jumped on it, but by the time I got my payment info entered they'd raised the price, even though I was already checking out. I called right away and they still wouldn't give it to me, even though I kept a manager on the phone for about a half hour. What a bunch of BS.

Today I did pick up the 80 gig WD SE drive at a CompUSA store, along with a Radeon 8500LE 128MB. I'm going to go ahead and install this as my main drive, but I'm not sure if I should keep the vid card (currently have a basic Radeon 32MB SDR). I was going to wait for the Radeon 9500 Pro, but when I saw the 128MB 8500LE card sitting on the shelf for under $100 it was just too tempting. Think I should return it and wait? I managed to get the Soyo KT333 Dragon Lite with Athlon XP 1900+ for $149 at Fry's a couple of weeks ago, so no RAID on my MB, or I'd go for a RAID setup with the WD SE drives.

[AR]

Originally posted by cracker
I just purchased the drive from BB. I am going to another BB with the CC advertisement for the pricematch. Won't BB know that they already pricematched the item and refuse the rebate? Seeing as it is a BB rebate I would think they can track all of this.

Would it have been better to pay in cash as well?

Thanks in advance and thanks for the heads up on all the deals.

--C

Didn't you do it in the wrong order? Get the rebate form when you buy it for full price, and then within 14 days, come back in and do the pricematch. Wow.

I also suggest you photocopy your receipt (some rebates allow this) before you pricematch, because the people who handle rebates might not send yours back if they see it was pricematched AND rebated.

[bachviet]

Local CompUSA didn't have the R8500LE anymore so I PMed @ Circuit City @ lower price ($95). I'm tempting too but I probably sell the card to my friend or return it! No more spending $$$ on computer parts!

[Gary Rients]

Originally posted by bachviet
Local CompUSA didn't have the R8500LE anymore so I PMed @ Circuit City @ lower price ($95). I'm tempting too but I probably sell the card to my friend or return it! No more spending $$$ on computer parts!

I would have done the same thing, but I was at CompUSA already anyway to pick up the hard drive, and it would have been out of my way to go to Circuit City. At least I used up the last of my store credit at CompUSA. I think that I'll go ahead and keep the 8500LE since it's a pretty big boost over my 32MB SDR (which I can pass on to my son, replacing the PowerVR2 card he's using now). I should probably hold off since I'm not playing any games right now anyway, but the 8500LE will probably handle Neverwinter Nights okay whenever I manage to pick it up, and City of Heroes when it comes out. Maybe in a year I'll replace it with a 9700 Pro for $100.

[vinny09]

I forget which company stated this in their policy, but whomever it was, here's the gist of it: They will price match to any competitor. However, if their store offers the product with a rebate, the rebate will be taken into account, then should it still be higher, they will price match it from that dollar amount. ie they sell it for $100, competitor sells it for $75, if there is a $30 rebate on the item at their store, they will not match the price because after rebate, their price is less than their competitor. The one thing I really want to know is, but haven't gotten a chance to test, if they sell it for $100, their competitor sells it for $75, but their competitor offers a $30 rebate, will they price match to $45? This policy also went for coupons as well. ie if you want to use a $20 off $75 coupon, the $100 item will actually be $80.

[PitViper]

I forget which company stated this in their policy, but whomever it was, here's the gist of it...

I don’t know whose policy that is either. Obviously NOT BestBuy’s because you were able to put it in writing.

I don’t have a problem with ANY policy as long as:

1) The policy is readily available in writing. - I should be able to find out the rules BEFORE making the purchase… it saves both parties time and a lot of hard feelings. Post it in the store and in the sales flyers.

2) The exceptions are easily identifiable. – In this case BestBuy should advertise both in print and in store, which items have manufacturer’s rebates and which have BestBuy rebates. They could cleverly call them “Manufacturer’s Rebate” and “BestBuy Rebate”. Too complicated I guess.

3) The policy is uniformly applied. – If it’s “manager’s discretion”, it becomes a whim… not a policy.

All I ask is for a store to be “up-front” so I can make an informed decision. That way I won’t feel I’m being scammed, and the merchant won’t feel that they are being cheated. After all, it’s the LACK of a real policy that’s causing all the problems… which translates into a loss of business.