Share Your BF Stories - OPEN FORUM

[Master-Rebater]

I would like to start a thread of BF experiences- Share your stories- good or bad . What kind of deals did you get. How did the employees treat you? Did the stores have enough product advertised or did they just bait you to get you in the door. Funny stories are a bonus if you have any.
Share your shopping strategies- what do you think worked and why? Did you gain any insight from WhatsYourDeal.com ? Were people polite- rude- or what? Whatever you experienced - good, bad or indifferent- All is welcome with this topic. (Or at least most. LOL)
I dont expect a large turnout on this thread - but I do suspect it could definitely get interesting and hopefully informative.
OPEN FORUM HIGHLY ENCOURAGED.

[DealGuy]

I stayed in my warm room and ordered a ton of stuff online. I used to do the BF sales all the time. But the more I shopped online, the more I realized that I could get the same stuff for the same price, or darn near close to it. That and with the cost of gas, it would cost me $30-$40 in gas to get to all the stores I would need to go to.

I saw the news with people getting trampled to rush in to find out they weren't enough to go around anyway. No thanks, I'll pass

For those who got in and got what they wanted..congrats!

I'm looking forward to this weekend's online sales.. and then for CYBER MONDAY!!

If you don't know what that is, see our Cyber Monday Forum. Basically it is Black Friday .. but online! It is Monday November 28th.

CYBER MONDAY FORUM LINK


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[Master-Rebater]

Let me first say that there is no wrong or right involved here- just different ways to find the deals. The common ground is the search for a good deal. I had a good time getting out there in "the mix". And I do enjoy it in the end - because I am good at getting the deals I want. First I got the most important thing on list out of the way. The LAPTOP I got from DELL ( I also checked the cancellation policy before I bought since the official flyers were not out yet) If I happened to find a better deal - I still had the chance to withdraw my order without a penalty. After order is shipped that all changes- and there is a restocking fee. I was pretty psyched about the DELL - and it was nice to have that in the bag before I left for my shopping spree. After looking at the fliers I decided I liked my choice and would go after the other deals I wanted. I started at 11pm - CompUSA is a HONESTLY a 2 minute drive. ( There are actually no red lights ) I got a basket full of goodies there - and got EVERYTHING I was looking for. (Excluding one pair of speakers that were on bottom of my list) There was a long line at checkout- but we had fun shooting the bull and hangin out. I brought home the goods and headed on for FRY's. Lucky for me - Fry's is only a 10 minute drive at most - 5 miles down the freewayI ended up getting a SONY DIGITAL CAMCORDER - DVD-R, DVD-RW for under $400 - a Casio 5.1 Megapixiel still camera for $137, and a 3 Megapixel for $37- along with a free Epson Printer for Camera purchase. ( I have a DIGITAL CANON SLR but wanted some picket sized point and shoot cameras too) Got an Internal Hard Drive 80 GB Hitachi for free- and a 160 GB EXTERNAL for $39.99- Lots more stuf too numerous to mention but ALL GREAT DEALS for sure. My next post will follow in just a minute - a song I just wrote called the REBATERS BLUES. Hope you will check it out.

[Master-Rebater]

Here is a little tune I made up on the fly about my rebate "habit" Nothing much- just having a little fun. You have to add the music - Imagine a Rockin blues band creating the mood. REBATER'S BLUESThey call me Master-Rebater - That's my name. Goin after rebates - That's my game. Down at the stores - Thats where I'll be Bringin home armoloads of stuff for free. I run around like crazy- that's how I have my funBut the job is never finished till the paperwork is done. It takes lots of work - so I do the best I can I'm never satisfied till the check is in my hand. At the night deposit slot - I drop the checks right in. Pick up the morning paper, and I start it all again.

[Thunder]

I had a good day on friday. I was able to get the Walmart laptop. I got to walmart about 4:30 and was not even close to the front, but I lucked upon where they had the small pallet of 20-25 laptops and got one, there were many folk that went to electronic to look, but they were near the jewelery counter instead. I feel bad for those that camped out a long time, not bad enough to give up my laptop mind you, but they should have handed out vouchers in the oerder people were lined up. At staples I was a bit pissed off, they had decided to start their sale at 5 am instead of the 6 am listed in the ad, well once i got there after my Walmart fun, they were out of the 200 GB hard drive (though i have a funny feeling from the stock clerk about this item),

[nyyleeroy]

I got the Circuit City laptop, but of course, paid the price...I was planning to head to the store around 2:30 or 3:00, but couldn't sleep and ended up getting there around 1. Much to my surprise, there were already 15 people ahead of me. With the minimum 15 per store, I was nervous but optimistic. At around 4:00, one of the managers told the woman at the front of the line that they had "more than 20" (we'd later find out that meant 21). I got my voucher and was thrilled, but spent the next 5 hours in hell trying to pay. I signed up for the AOL bring your own access plan (net savings of $80) but after an hour spent on line number 2 (the "real" checkout - after the AOL signup), I got to the front only to find that the "instant gift card" didn't work as my code had allegedly been used already. I waited another 2.5 hours while the manager was on hold with the help desk trying to figure out the problem - turns out there were "issues" printing the bar code on the cards which was causing errors in processing. In the end, I got my laptop, the Targus essentials package ($20 after rebate), a Lexmark multifunction printer (free after rebate) and some DVDs. While the manager was on hold, I went across the parking lot (with my purchases locked away by the staff) and picked up 2 comforters for my wife and a few toys for my dogs at Linens N Things. The only real negative was that I didn't get out of CC until after 10 and my wife and I weren't able to get to the mall before the end of the pre-noon sales. She found a coat at Banana Republic for about half the original price though, so all was well. I have yet to find anything compelling online but am still hopeful...could use a bluetooth headset for my cell.

[Master-Rebater]

I have seen Blue Tooth Headsets on Sale a couple of times in the FRY's ELECTRONICS sale ad- I think they were running around $50 but not really sure.
If you have no FRY;s near you -try www.outpost.com
I pretty sure have seen them also at COMPUSA CompUSA.com
Sorry I dont have more details- but my phone doesnt have bluetooth- but I am considering for the future so I did at least notice them going on sale.


If I see any more I will try to post here now that I know you are looking.
Thanks for your post by the way-

[mad_ham]

My friend wanted a tv from Ciruit City so I went along to keep him company, thinking I would pick up some $10 512mb flash cards for my digital camera. We got there at 4am and there was already a line of 100 ppl! As I stood shivering in the cold, losing feeling in my hands and toes, and dabbing at my runny nose before it froze, i was amazed at the "BF Pros"... they came prepared.. lawn chairs and blankets, gloves, scarves, hot choc/coffee coolers (not the small individual drinks mind you.. they came for war!).. one gue even had a walkie-talkie and a map of the place!? (too bad he was behind us.. didnt get up early enough now did ya Mr. Walkie-Talkie!!! mwa ha ha.. ehem.. sorry.. back to the story)... so as the clock struck 5am and the vouchers were passed out (my friend got his TV).. the mass of grumpy cold ppl entered the Circuit City store and mayhem broke lose.. in the push-or-be-pushed frenzy of grab anything and consider whether or not you want to buy it later.. i was finally able to duck, dodge, crawl, and slip my way 15 ft to the digital flash card media section and grab one card voucher! thinking i was set, i made for the checkout line (530am) and stood there for the next 2 hrs to just pay for it..i realized i had to enter another line (which was even longer) to actually pick the flash card.. my friend and i left, thinking we would go eat some breakfast and come back later to pick up our battle-earned treasure.. a few pancakes and waffles later, we come back at 9am and realize that the line had not grown smaller but bigger?! so we waited from 9am-1pm, with grumpy ppl who have trouble staying in their own space and the mysterious flatulent-shopper who loved to share before we FINALLY got to the front of the line. My friend got his tv.. and me.. well the store had "accidentily" given away all of the flash cards, including the one i had paid for and should have been on hold for me. So they informed me that they would order more and call me when it came in... i got home at 2pm.. too tired for words.. and realized.. 512mb flash card = $10 ($30 in savings)pushy grumpy (and smelly) ppl = 4hrssleeping in next BF while other ppl fight for stuff = priceless!!no more BF for me

[Kimberly]

Originally Posted by mad_ham

they came for war!).. one gue even had a walkie-talkie and a map of the place!? (too bad he was behind us.. didnt get up early enough now did ya Mr. Walkie-Talkie!!! mwa ha ha.. ehem.. sorry.. back to the story)...

HAHAHA!!! I laughed so hard when I read that!! ROFL!!!

Thanks for sharing your BF Experience!!! You brightened my day!

Kimberly

[Kimberly]

LOVE THE SONG!!

Thats great!!!!

I would love to hear it in a .wav format.

Kimberly

PS: you can add at the end

Thats right! You Da Man! Thats right! You Da Man!

Originally Posted by Master-Rebater

Here is a little tune I made up on the fly about my rebate "habit"
Nothing much- just having a little fun.

You have to add the music - Imagine a Rockin blues band creating the mood.

REBATER'S BLUES

They call me Master-Rebater - That's my name.
Goin after rebates - That's my game.

Down at the stores - Thats where I'll be
Bringin home armoloads of stuff for free.

I run around like crazy- that's how I have my fun
But the job is never finished till the paperwork is done.

It takes lots of work - so I do the best I can
I'm never satisfied till the check is in my hand.

At the night deposit slot - I drop the checks right in.
Pick up the morning paper, and I start it all again.

[Master-Rebater]

Thanks for the recent replies - the action is starting to pick up here and get quite interesting.
I loved MadHam's part about the "mysterious flatulent-shopper who loved to share" - good story telling- Great sense of timing on the ad lib- There is definitely a strategy to a good story that makes it even better - and you are definitely hip to this factor.
Thanks Kim for the kind words on the song. Just a quick ditty - but glad you enjoyed and thanks for the feedback.
Maybe we should have a spot to downoload pics and audio clips so others can see or listen. WIll think more and present idea later.

If you have an interesting story about BF or want to tell us about your good deals - terrible experiences or whatever - PLEASE POST HERE.

Thanks again to all.

Master-REbater

[mad_ham]

Great song Master-Rebater.. i couldn't stop laughing when i read it.. so true.. soo true!! you should def put it to music and upload it (if possible)..

thanks for the comments on my story Kimberly and Master-Rebater!! Looking back i can laugh at the experience.. but yeah i agree with DealGuy..online shopping is the way to go!

[Master-Rebater]

Bluetooth deals available - See post on BLACK FRIDAY FORUM.


[quote=Master-Rebater]I have seen Blue Tooth Headsets on Sale a couple of times in the FRY's ELECTRONICS sale ad- I think they were running around $50 but not really sure.
If you have no FRY;s near you -try www.outpost.com
I pretty sure have seen them also at COMPUSA CompUSA.com