A couple of weeks ago, several online retailers ran a poorly managed PayPal promotion that offered sizable discounts. For Newegg, the three-day sale instead lasted less than a day, at which point Newegg was yanked from the participating retailers list on PayPal’s promotions page. But Newegg is going back and making good on orders that were in process when the deal was pulled, according to a reader who forwarded us Newegg’s email.
black friday
Toshiba: "Don't Delete Bloatware If You Know What's Good For You"
By 12.11.07
A reader writes in to report that when he bought a new laptop direct from Toshiba in November, he triggered a blue screen of death as he was uninstalling the always-useful bloatware that came pre-loaded. He called a Service Rep, got the usual “reinstall everything” run-around, and then finally got escalated to a level-two tech, which is when things got ridiculous.
Family Tries To Pull Off $7 Million Black Friday Heist
By 12.4.07
A young man, his girlfriend, and his mother were arrested on Saturday for stealing $7.4 million from an armored car company last Monday in Cleveland, Ohio. They timed the robbery to occur after Black Friday and the ensuing weekend because they knew the company would be chock full of retailers’ profits. Then they loaded a newly bought getaway van with the cash and hid away in Pipestem, West Virginia. The FBI tracked them down using old shopping receipts found in the girlfriend’s abandoned pickup truck.
Amazon Cancels Black Friday Orders, CSRs Trick Customer Into Buying $90 Mouse
By 12.4.07
Amazon either ran out of inventory or didn’t catch several pricing errors on their Black Friday sale until after they’d already begun to ship products, but either way a lot of customers just had their orders canceled. One customer even got tricked into re-purchasing a wireless mouse at full price because the CSR promised him Amazon would honor the sale price—then after placing the order received an email from another CSR saying that the promise was no good and he’d be charged the full $89.99. Then the CSRs continued their all-drinking, all-smoking holiday office party over at Amazon Customer Service.
Sears Unable To Fulfill Black Friday Online Orders, How About Something Crappier Instead?
By 11.30.07
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…
Buying A "Black Friday" Guitar From Guitar Center's Website Is Extremely Difficult
By 11.28.07
I have a story to share about an ongoing problem I’m having with Guitar Center’s 20% off Black Friday sale. The sale was last Friday morning from 8am-10am. I woke up a little before 7am Friday, and had NO desire to go out at all. So I looked online and realized I could get the sale price on the Gibson SG I wanted (and free shipping) online. Perfect! Below is a brief rundown of what has happened so far (they still have not let me buy the guitar at the sale price):
"Black Friday Is Obscene And Needs To Die"
By 11.28.07
SF Gate columnist Mark Morford hates Black Friday, and he’s written an over-the-top Network-style screed against it, backing it up with some cringe-inducing YouTube clips of giddy, running Americans swarming into retail outlets last Friday morning.
By 11.28.07
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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]
Best Buy Hoards Black Friday Doorbuster Laptops For Employees And Their Girlfriends?
By 11.26.07
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.
Black Friday: More Shoppers Spent Less Money
By 11.26.07
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that traffic was up in stores around the country, but that shoppers were spending about 3.5% less per person than last year, or about $347.44.
By 11.25.07
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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]
Fry's Employees Sell Opportunity To Cut Black Friday Line
By 11.25.07
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.
Florida Shopper Punched In Face In Black Friday Scrum
By 11.23.07
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.
Black Friday Fisticuffs Erupt Over Box Of Shoes
By 11.23.07
Shortly after doors opened at midnight, two men got into a fight in a Long Island outlet mall store over a pair of Timberland shoes. According to a witness, an older man, who came with his wife and daughter, grappled with a younger man over the box as 300 people surged to watch. Responding Police threw out the older man and erected barricades to help channel the crowd into a more orderly flow. “There was neither a clear beginning nor end to the line,” reports Newsday.
Patient Shoppers Screwed When Staples Opens Early For Some
By 11.23.07
Scott is pissed because he had his hopes geared up for a $99 Navigon 2100 portable GPS unit from Staples. All the advertising said the sale started at 6am. After dutifully waiting until 6am, he ordered the item Then he found out that some people had been calling in to the 1800 Staples # since 4 that morning, placing orders, and it was now out of stock. No GPS for Scott, who is now mad. If you advertise the heck out of a 6am starting time, you better make sure everyone abides by it. At least, unlike other shoppers across the nation, Scott was able to miss out on the doorbuster deal from the comfort, convenience, and warmth of his own home.
Thousands Mash Through Boise Mall Doors
By 11.23.07
Doors were broken, and shoppers were scraped and bruised as thousands surged through the Boise Towne Square Mall in Boise, Idaho at 1am this morning. Raw video shot by KTVB shows rampage hordes trying to squeeze themselves through just two doors at one mall entrance. It appears that some of the doors swung outward and it was impossible to open them with the crush of consumers pushed up against the glass.
Add Your Black Friday Photos To The Consumerist Flickr Pool
By 11.23.07
Flickr member oldmanmusings has already added some nifty “black friday” photos to the Consumerist.com Flickr Pool! You can too! Please send us lots of awesome holiday shopping photos and help make Consumerist a better blog.
No Black Friday Violence Reported So Far
By 11.23.07
A preliminary scouring of morning news turned up no reports of Black Friday violence. Very disappointing. Perhaps several stores being open on Thanksgiving helped to draw off some of the crowds. Maybe more people are shopping online. Perhaps a weak dollar has also weakened consumer’s shopping ferocity. Decreased consumer confidence could translate to shoppers being too timid to throw a punch. Maybe it’s too early to tell and we’ll see some trampling and wig-loss yet… or maybe, just maybe, the deals just suck this year.
