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Score another one for The Consumerist!
This morning I contacted Sears' Executive Customer Service Department. They attempted to contact the store manager on my behalf. I stress "attempted" because they were hung up on too.
fraud
hype
step away from the credit card
bait and switch
There are several types of people out there, but I'm the kind of person who believes people should stick with what they say. Circuit City offered a Sharp 46" Aquos on Black Friday this year, but they weren't about to let me have it easily. Now, having done Black Friday in the past I knew I would be in for a fight to get my TV, but what I had to go through was just ridiculous.More »
corrections
customer service
crime
customer service
The deep discounts some retailers offered on Black Friday are biting them in the ass - they were too popular and can't fulfill all the orders. Some are trying to scramble to offer alternative deals, but since they can't compare, they smell like bait and switch... and now that it's been almost a week, bait left over from last Friday sure don't smell too pretty. Here's what reader Ian has to say about Sears failure to sell him a TV at advertised price...
More »
annoying
opinion
We don't necessarily agree that this Circuit City customer should have gotten a purple thumb drive for the same price as the same black one, or gotten a deal after it had expired, but two things are certain: One, he pursued his deal beyond the point of reason, and Two, the complaint's ornate tone and its litany of gripes makes for an entertaining read. [CheapAssGamer]
One of Best Buy's Black Friday deals was a $229 laptop. Each store was supposed to have 15. A complaint letter posted over at Notebooks.com alleges that a New Orleans Best Buy hoarded the most laptops for the employees and passed out only a few vouchers. At one point, an employee's girlfriend in line threw a hissy-fit because she didn't get a voucher and her boyfriend snuck over and palmed her a voucher, skipping over the other customers in line. Shame shame shame, Best Buy. Yet another reason we hate Black Friday, the stores can't even abide by the rules of the in-store promotions that are designed to lure more people inside than will ever get the deal and then offload otherwise unsellable crap.
Best Buy Employees Hoarded Black Friday Laptops? [Notebooks.com]
hype
Good work consumers, you spent $10.3 billion on Black Friday - an 8.3% increase from last year. Degree-holding pessimists forecast that sales would rise only 4 to 5 percent. [AP]
black friday
Fry's employees in Renton, Washington sold Black Friday aspirants the chance to cut to the front of the pre-dawn line for between $108.79 and $200, including tax. Puzzled shoppers were assured that the money went to Fry's, not the employees. A Fry's worker explained the situation with disarming naiveté:
When KING 5 asked about this at the customer service desk, one employee said: "Oh they stopped doing that. They weren't supposed to." The employee said the store manager put a stop to it.Anyone who paid the advancement fee will receive a full refund. The rogue salesmen will be sent to the back of the unemployment line.
Fry's shoppers offered chance to cut in line - for a price [KING 5 News]
(AP Photo/Don Ryan)
A shopper was punched in the face in the 1am scramble outside a Macy's in Central Florida at the Altamonte Mall. Way to shop, indeed. "They couldn't open the doors because there were too many people pushing," Rhonda Wega told the Orlando Sentinel. "It was chaotic." Once again we have a problem with outward-opening mall doors. Guess they need to invent futuristic inward-opening inward AND outward opening mall doors, or better cordon off the area immediately outside the doors.
Early Start to Black Friday [Orlando Sentinel]
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