45 GB Western Digital 5400rpm for $133 and Rio500 for $160 from staples.com

[avhokie]

Well, I bought the 30.7GB drive from Staples.com for $163.49+tax minus the $40 coupon. Came out to about $131 or so. Then I was going to send in the $30 rebate. However, I found out that it is an OEM drive when I got my package. I was about to call up and complain when I found something even better. Buy.com has the same drive for $135 here: http://www.us.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10225293&loc=101! So I called up and told them about it. The guy put me on hold and checked it out. He said it looked legit and asked me if I knew how much overnight shipping from Buy.com was (because I got my shipment overnight and they match the final price, including tax and shipping). I told them I didn't know and he said he couldn't find it. So he put me on hold to talk to his manager. A couple of minutes later he returned and told me that he was going to credit me $28.49 ($163.49-$135)!!! This is even better than the rebate, because I get it for almost the same price (only $1.50 more) and I don't have to fill out forms or wait or play games with Western Digital. Woohoo!

Thanks again for the great find, Girdogg!

 

[pX]

anhokie> Now what? How'd you get that done, a pricematch after you bought it? any tips on how I might be able to pull off the same trick? post or email me, thanks!


pX

 

[jinglingxl]

the site is showing rio500 for $451 for me !!

 

[Sydekar]

According to Staples PM policy you have 14 days after the purchase to pricematch an item.

 

[DaVerminator]

Just wanted to say that I just placed 5 separate orders tonight with Staples. All pricematched items and every order with at least one coupon code. They took all of them, no sweat at all.

'DV

 

[pX]

DaVerminator> did you pricematch with buy.com? or pcstop?

 

[avhokie]

pX, you have 14 days after your purchase to pricematch. Just call up and try. If it doesn't work, wait a bit and try again with a different CSR. I'm not sure if you all can get the deal I got (if they catch on and decide that I can't use the $40 coupon when my pricematched total is $135 instead of the $150 minimum) but at least you'll be able to get it for $135 minus a $25 coupon or something like that.

 

[DaVerminator]

Actually, I pricematched with a few sites... None of my purchases were for the WD HD. I was just posting since someone noted that their Staples CSR told them they don't take coupons on pricematched items.

'DV

 

[sworshs]

Staples sux. They just randomly charge shipping prices. My roommate requested a pricematch with buy.com, they charged my roommate $5.00 for shipping. When I called, they charged me $10.83 for shipping (buy.com's 2nd Day Air)!

 

[Sydekar]

Got my 45gb drive today. OEM. Has anyone gotten a successful exchange or remedy to this? The Staples site didn't state OEM and they were sure charging retail type price.

 

[Girdogg]

WHOOHOO!! I got the correct drive today. WD450AARTL RETAIL PACKAGE with the manual, cables and most importantly UPC symbol. Just got the puppy installed and everything works perfect. I'm sending the rebate out tomorrow. The OEM drive was also picked up today as well. An interesting side note: Staples handled the exchange as me returning the OEM drive, and another purchase of the retail kit. When I check my credit card statement, I found a credit for $207, which was the cost of the drive pricematched w/o the $40 coupon, and a charge for $163, the cost of the retail kit w/ the $40 coupon! On top of it, when Staples receives the drive from UPS, I'm supposed to be credited $163! Hopefully this will stand and I need to check my CC statement at the end of the month to be sure. They cannot charge my card for their mistake w/o telling me right?

Girdogg

 

[Sydekar]

Okay, I called Staples and explained to the CSR that I was sent an OEM drive and the site didn't indicate the drive was OEM, etc. I told her the problem was that the OEM was not eligible for rebate and that I assumed I was getting a Retail Consumer drive. She facilitated the return by crediting my Visa $207.00 Not sure why $207.00 since the drive (even OEM) on their site is listed as $216.00 but who cares since I originally only paid $168.00 for it. But as the CSR tried to get a replacement order for the retail version (she gave me item # but I did a search on Staples site and the retail version does -not- come up) the local stores in my area and the warehouse it would ship from show it's out of stock. So she was unable to put through that order...she told me to just try back in a few days to order the retail one. Ppppshaaaw, right. They just gave me $40 credit for returning their drive. I can order the retail one from buy.com for $186.00 - $30.00 rebate = $156.00 - $40.00 gift from Staples = $116.00

Good enough for me.