~~~~ Brag & Moan ~~~~

[jasonja]

<MOAN> I hate people who sell deal information on Ebay... selling people's hard work deal posts for $10-20 on Ebay.... People like this really suck. His auction history is a who's who of the Hot deal forums which could be summarized as "how to get <insert item you want> for $50 off with free shipping" which translates into use this coupon code at Gatway accessories store. Agghh

<MOAN_OFF>

 

[Toowanbee]

GATEWAY SUCKS


Thank you for placing your recent order with the Gateway Accessory Store. We regret that our supply of the XTASY GEFORCE4 TI4600 has been depleted, and we are unable to replenish our stock at this time. Consequently, this item has been removed from our inventory list and cancelled from your order #*******. This item is no longer available from the manufacturer and will not be listed on our site in the future.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to serving you again. Our site has a full compliment of products. Return to our site to find a suitable substitute.

Sincerely,
Client Relations
Gateway Accessory Store

 

[tigerbait]

<< GATEWAY SUCKS >>



no doubt
:|

 

[QSW]

MOAN!!!! Be Careful when buying computer peripherals at Bestbuy in Westwood, CA. Store #367

I got in on the Bestbuy Radeon 8500 deal. I picked it up on Sunday and finally found the time to install it today. I took off the shrink wrap and I was shocked to find a used generic Geforce2 MX card inside, the DVI-VGA adapter was missing also. Naturally I went back to Bestbuy to exchange for another one. They refused to exchange it or take it back. The manager just told me to return it to ATI and insists that it is ATI's fault.

This is not a Bestbuy-bashing post, I understand that BB cannot just exchange or credit to whoever who walks in and claims that he did not get the corresponding item in the box. I just want to warn fellow AT'ers that there may this paticular branch may not check their returns properly before putting them back on the shelf or there may be some unscrupulous employee switching the items in the box. When I asked the operations manager if Bestbuy employees open return items that are shrink-wrapped, he says they do. But when I spoke to another employee there he says NOT ALL employees do it.

I looked at the shrinkwrap carefully and compared it to brand new Radeon 8500 and discovered that there is a difference in the thickness of the shrinkwrap. The culprit who switched the card probably has access to a shrinkwrap machine. On carefull examination, the seam that is sealed by heat looks different too, it is seems more melted, not professionally done but a casual glance will not detect it easily.

Update 3/26/02 : I received a reply from Corporate HQ and they said there is nothing they can do and asked me to go back to the store manager if I wanna pursue the matter further

Check your stuff immediately when you purchase stuff there, especially the popular and expensive items.

 

[badluck]

BRAG:

Just got a cable modem to replace the modem that I am currently renting for $10 a month. I only paid $40 for it. Sweet deal....

 

[Boogak]

~~~~ Brag ~~~~

W00T! Scored a PNY Verto GeForce4 Ti 4400 for $150 out the door. Here's a case where buying an extended warranty paid off. I bought a Sprint PCS Samsung 8500 phone about 2 years ago and the salesman convinced me to get the extended warranty (even though I know they're for suckers) since he said they'd give me full value if it ever "broke", hinting to me I could drop it in a pool or something if I wanted a new phone. I ended up paying $280 ($199 for the phone, $80 for the warranty) but - $50 free Circuit City gift card and -$30 free Sprint PCS service credit so $200 net.

So last month the ear speaker on the phone crapped out and I went to go replace it. They didn't stock my 8500 phone anymore so they gave me $260 worth of store credit instead (pro-rated the extended warranty and returned the difference). I ended up getting the cheapest Sprint phone they had (don't need any special features, as long as it's small and sounds decent, so I got a Motorola one) for $80 and still had $180 worth of credit left.

Went to check Circuit City's website 2 days ago and found that they were shipping GeForce4 Ti 4400s! Went to check it again yesterday and all the local stores near me had them in stock! So I rushed out during lunch and picked one up with my credit. Woohoo!!

 

[patr]

Watch out for Hostonce.com. They charge you $60 per year for web hosting and domain registration... Not a bad price, however, they say they will register your domain name through hostonce but within two weeks it will be registered in your name. It's been three months now and my domain is still registered to them. They will not respond to my inquiries about this. They also say FrontPage extensions are supported. What they don't tell you is they will not configure their server side so the extensions will work. Certain configuration changes have to be made in order to specify an SMTP server so a forms contents can be sent via email - they refused to do this. They also do not tell you that their URL security not will work with FrontPage. I'm sure there are other "got ya's" I haven't found out. If you use Hostonce... don't use FrontPage and don't expect your domain to follow you if you leave their service.

 

[Johnnie]

Got my $75 MCI settlement check

 

[jamautosound]

<Brags>

Fuji 2400 Camera 2.3 mp after PM & Coupon = $94.00 w/free 128 mb pc/133

Bought Visioneer 5400 $100 - $20 Coupon - $50 rebate = $30, sold for $70
Upgraded to Visioneer 8100 = $100 - $20 Coupon - $70 Rebate - $40 profit = Made $30

Compaq monitor $80 - $100 Rebate = made $20 (gave to sister)

Bought 17" monitor for $88, sold it for $100
Upgraded to 19" for $169 - $20 GC - $30 Coupon - $50 Rebate - $12 profit = $58

SB Audigy $100 - $20 Coupon - $30 P/M = $50

Enermax 450w PSU = $45 pricing error at Fry's

Antec SX830 $100 - $40 (sold power supply) - $20 rebate = $60

Epson 880 $129 - $30 IR - $20 Coupon - $30 Rebate = $50

Misc.
40 Gb HD = $80
60 Gb HD = $110
ATI 8500 = $200
Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 = $35
KT7-Raid & 950 Mhz Duron = $210 (My first purchase, {tear})
Pioneer 16x DVD = $80 (2nd purchase)
Plextor 16x10x40 = $150

Sorry this is so long, I just never sat down and added up all the "Hot Deals" I've gotten here at Anandtech.
'Bout $1200 including printer, scanner, monitor and Digital camera. OK, I feel justified.

Now about upgrading that Mobo and Proc.

Oh and thanks to all those AT'ers who helped me get these "deals"!!

 

[greg]

Dell kills 17" LCD dream. All orders made over the weekend with 17" LCD cancelled.

Although I am dissapointed, Dell has come thru on numerous other occasions, my only grip e is that my system went into "production and was reportedly shipped when I got the phone call....

 

[mrbentley]

zmoan >>> Onebox will begin charging a nominal fee beginning April 15, 2002. If you have an account with Onebox, you will need to register for a paid subscription prior to this date.
That sucks :|

 

[jbloggs]

<BRAG>

Dell is the greatest. My deal on the Dell 4400,from 3 weeks ago, just got better. The following is what I originally got for $559 + tax.

Order Detail

Qty Part # Abbreviated Description
--- -------- ---------------------------------------------
1 461-4382 Dimension 4400,Pentium 4 Processor at 1.6GHz
1 461-4045 512MB DDR SDRAM at 200MHz
1 310-2753 Dell Enhanced Quiet Key Keyboard
1 320-3000 Video ready option w/o monitor
1 320-0164 64MB NVIDIA GeForce2 MX Graphics Card with TV-Out
1 340-3588 40GB ATA-100 7200 RPM
1 340-1927 3.5in Floppy Drive
1 420-3079 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition,English
1 313-7222 Dell Application Back-up CD, Factory Install
1 310-2757 Mouse W/Wheel,1.3A, Microsoft,Dimension,MG, Factory Install
1 430-0591 No Network Card Requested, Dell Dimension
1 313-3607 No modem requested for Dell Dimension
1 461-4340 8X/4X/32X CD-RW Drive
1 313-0847 Integrated ADI 1885 Audio
1 313-4514 No Speaker Requested
1 412-5623 Symantec Norton Antivirus 2002OEM Package, English
1 412-3809 Music Match 6.0 for Windows XP
1 412-3807 Dell Picture Studio for Windows XP, Dell Edition
1 412-3806 Microsoft, DellNet, V2, Windows XP, Splash Screen
1 412-0124 Dell Business Web Tools for Website Creation, XP version
1 412-0133 MS Worksuite 2002,CD with Documentation,OEM,US,English Dimension
1 950-1230 1 Year Parts & Onsite Labor with 1 Year Telephone based Technical Support
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Years 2 and 3
1 461-3187 Dell information sku
1 461-0859 Discount(s) and or coupon(s) have been included in the prices displayed in this order

I then called them just over a week ago and asked for a $75 coupon to be applied to my order. I didn't expect anything of it since the coupon was valid for dates after my original purchase. The CSR said that she will put in a request for one of the managers to review it. Well today I get a letter from dell saying that they credited me the $75 (+tax). WOO HOO. Also I check my Ebates account and there is credit of $12 for the dell purchase. So the Dell 4400 deal I got is :-

$559 - $75 (coupon) - $12(Ebates) = $472 +tax

Thats a great deal for the Dell 4400 as configured above.

</BRAG>

 

[MrNutz]

SWEET !

Just got my rebate check today! I checked HP's site a couple of weeks ago and I wasn't even found to have sent in my info....so I called and the CSR told me to refax everything to her and she would check to see what happened....but she also told me that I may have been rejected because of the $75 off instore discount...I played dumb of course...and figured that after they saw 3 separate discounts on my receipt then that would be the end of it....but I got the rebate today plus a coupon for a free HP imaging Kit!

• 
  Final Costs:
• HP 318 Digital Camera...$199
• HP 1115 Printer..............$199
• 64mb FlashCard.............Free
  subtotal[w/ tax]: $428
• 20% off Coupon............-$80
• $75 off Coupon.............-$75
• $10 off InstoreCoupon.-$10
• $100 off MIR.................-$100
  TOTAL: $163

 

[djvaller]

I posted this in the digital dremel thread, but I just got a juicman jr from this service merchandise that's going out of business. This thing retails for 79.99, and you can buy on tv and on a few websites for 89.99. Today I got it for $35. I'm so excited about it. It really works well. I made the mistake of buying juice today (before I found this deal) and compared "Minute Maid Premium Orange Juice" to the juice I made from some crappy sale oranges and the juicer wins hands down. You can see what I got here.

 

[Justus]

Microsoft is NOT my friend. My six month old intellimouse is kaput and MS says tough luck to me because it is OEM; take it back to where I bought it. I don't know who that is anymore, but I know who made this piece of cr@p!

What I can't understand is why a company that makes so much money: 1) can't even make a reliable mouse, and 2) sticks it to the customer when their mistake can be so cheaply corrected. If I have a choice, MS will not get any more of my money. Anybody know where I can get an open-source mouse?

 

[dp004i]

Just got my refurbed Enermax FS-710 (Antec SX1030 with Enermax 330W PS) from Newegg. There was a tiny dent on the right panel; called newegg and they credited back $20. The total came out to $60 shipped. Not too shabby IMHO, since they have a new one for $115 shipped

 

[AzNmAnJLH]

Anyone had the fedex guy just leave a door knob missed deliver notification and had only one knock?

this morning the fedex guy just knock once really loudly so i went to open the door all i see is the notification... the guy only knocked once and i know it is once because i was 10 feet from the door when it happened
when i opened the door he had gotten in his truck and already left. i was like wth.

what kind of deliver service is that? knock and run?

 

[bannstr]

Typical for lowly paid student workers. As in "I am just going through the motions until I graduate and get a real job with a real paycheck and real benefits".

Was it fedex or ups (or both) that went through driver strikes around 1996? Of course both the unions and the corporation screwed the drivers, preventing the drivers from obtaining full-time (40 hrs/wk) employment status.

So not only was your driver not making a living wage (just enough to supplement a live-at-home student), but your driver also had no health benefits (or any benefits for that matter). That does not excuse him for his behavior, but does explain it. Complaining to the corporation may make you feel better, but that will only give the corporation's legal department more paperwork with which to hide behind when they hire a replacement illegal H1-B for a salaried $12K per year, and then make that indentured servant drive for 80+ hrs/wk or risk the Corporation carrying through with its threat to deport him.

 

[Zorn]

I was in a pinch today at work and had to get my hands on an IDE cable immediately. The only local place that carries such cables is CompUSA. Guess how much CompUSA charges for a standard, 18' ATA66 cable? Go ahead, guess?

$31 freakin dollars!!!! What a ripoff! These poor, poor people who mindlessly shop there for all of their computer needs. I truly pitty them and their wallets.

 

[rk0]

.

 

[ronniejay]

BRAG. (sorry, I posted by mistake also to Iwanna thread) I got the Nikon 995 as my 1st deal on anandtech back in Dec. of last year. After getting Amex Blue, like it said here, and using MSN holiday rebate ($100), Amex price match ($250), Nikon rebate ($100), and Ebates, I got it for about $350. It is GREAT!. Since Epson offered $100 rebate off their Stylus Photo 785EPX if you bought certain digital cameras, Nikon included, I kept looking for the best deal before it expired 4/30/2002, after extension. I found the printer at Office Depot in Houston, TX. It was marked as clearence and was the last one which ws the display. The asst. mgr checked the box and found it was missing the driver and software CD and the adapter which allows you to print from a compact flash, without connecting to a computer. He already offered additional 10% off the clearence price since it was display. He spent a week looking online for replacements and found none. He said wait another week when Epson rep comes by and she couild help. In the meantime, I got the serial, sent e-mail and called customer support saying I had bought it, and they are sending the missing parts free of charge to me! When I went back to OD, he didn't know when the rep would actually come. So, I slowly said I guess I'll give up that feature and just use it on my computer, how much because of that? He offers how about $100?, and he will throw in new black and color ink cartridges ($50?) !!!! I said I guess so, and he clears it with the mgr and boom, I get a free excellent printer just for photos! My Canon BJC 4300 is my text printer. The drivers were download and the "old" cartridges still have 63% black and 80% color left usable per the test print. CHECK YOUR OD, MABYE YOU CAN SCORE TOO. I found Anandtech because my friend at work told me about the AMD XP1800 giveaway stop in Houston, and I won one (he did not). I built this computer from that. Next, I will win the lottery! Text

 

[AMDSoldier]

ATT sometimes pissing me off. In fact actually most ISP's do, the only ones I can trust are local ones, but there all 56k..

Anyways I ordered their cable modem a while back and was supposed to get 3 free months afterwards, well 2 months later I get billed..

They all act as if it was never 3 months, I know for a fact they had 3 months, it was on their website and it was confirmed by the rep. I was talking to when I first called to get service. Now they will 'investigate' the matter, they don't even know where the recorded phone calls are stored, wtf is that!??!


On the brighter side of things, I just bought an Lexmark X83 for $130, retail price is $200. Picked one up from bestbuy, the clerk couldn't read the correct price on it I guess, lol.

 

[ROXXY]

<BRAG>

Remember the 17"Envision monitor @ Staples for $160.00 Black Friday?
It had the $100.00 rebate from Staples.
Someone posted a $65.00 rebate from Envision(not sure if it would work)

IT DID!!!!!!!

So $160.00
- 30.00 coupon
-----------------
$ 130.00
- 100.00 rebate
-------------------------
30.00+tax
-65.00 rebate
-----------------
$35.00 PROFIT!!!!!!

 

[isasir]

I got my Planet Hollywood shot glass from bestcollectors.com (I think that's who it was from) from filling out a survey like 6 months ago.

 

[bizmark]

Brag and Moan Simultaneously:

Was at Office Depot today and saw the deal for the Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical for $24.99, with a $10.00 rebate sticker on the box and a coupon showing a deal for a $9.99 Belkin surge protector free with purchase. So I thought, cool, 15 bucks for an optimouse and a surge protector. Then when I got to the register and she rang up the mouse, I saw it on the register for $19.99! I thought, AWESOME! I'm getting this for $10.00! Essentially a free mouse if I wanted a surge protector. So then I go home and look at the Rebate sticker: it expired the 28th of February!

So I lucked out with the $5 price mistake on the mouse but got screwed with the $10 rebate. Oh well.