~~~~ Brag & Moan ~~~~

[AnandTech Moderator]

Continued from the previous thread

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This thread is for posting your off topic raves and rants, such as "X-company did this to me", and "Did you get?, I got mine".

Requests for deals on specific items should be posted in the ~~~~IWANNA~~~~ thread,

How-To questions in the ~~~~ How-Do-I? ~~~~ thread.

Thank you. Please enjoy yourselves here while lending a hand to your fellow forum members.

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~~~~ Brag & Moan ~~~~ continued here.

 

[SnoopCat]

..

 

[DanFungus]

my neighbor gave me a pentium 166 with 128MB SIMMS! for free!
thought everyone should know

 

[SCTrojan]

I assume this is the corrrct place to talk aboot 800.com closing. If anyone here has a gift certificate left (xmas digicam deal) I STRONGLY suggest you order something NOW. I noticed their stock was dwindling, but when I went there today it was really picked over. There's pretty much nothing in the electronics part, or the music part. There are a few DVDs, but they're so difficult to find. I just ordered Payback (Mel Gibson) Speed (Keanu Reeves) and Total Recall (Arnold). Besides these I saw they had Proof of Life (Russel Crowe) and Exorcist 3. Don't hesitate, order something now if you got money to burn

 

[mclori]

I wound up ordering a bunch of batteries. I couldn't find a single dvd in stock. Oh well, I at least used up that last $25 gc from 800.com. I guess I can always use batteries.

Lori

 

[Dea]

Directron.com sucks. Ordered 2 of the Burbies with CPUs and an AMD 700CPU plus fan. Paid extra to have the motherboard installed and sys tested. Whole thing came badly packaged in plastic with a piece of cardboard as cushioning between the computers and the box. Motherboards not installed. No CPUs. The Burbies are dented, one mouse is crushed and one keyboard is missing quite a few keys. Contacted them and filled out a discrepancy report. I received an e-mail saying to call them. I did and was told that they have nothing to do with the condition of the package when it gets delivered. Jeez, is it too much to ask that they pack it responsibly. Use some styrofoam for pete's sake! On top of that, after a 30 minute hold on a toll call, I was told they would check into it and call me back. It is 4 days later. I have left several messages and nothing. Nada. Zip. They SUCK!!!!!! And I think they are rip off artists.

 

[targg]

Anyone recently order cable modem service from AT&T?

I did last month based on a deal on their web site that was a free month and $35.95 a month thereafter.

Today I got a bill for $39.95 (my first), and thats what their web site says now. I called and they acted like they'd never heard of the 35.95 price. This was ok at first because I got to ask my favorite question: "does that mean you're calling me an idiot or a liar? While you decide which, I'm thinking about which day I want this service disconnected...".

Now i'm ticked. Problem is I like this a lot better than dial up and its still cheaper than satellite or dsl.

Still...I feel like i've been had. Anyone else see this or is it just me?

 

[jh0sken612]

<< Directron.com sucks. Ordered 2 of the Burbies with CPUs and an AMD 700CPU plus fan. Paid extra to have the motherboard installed and sys tested. Whole thing came badly packaged in plastic with a piece of cardboard as cushioning between the computers and the box. Motherboards not installed. No CPUs. The Burbies are dented, one mouse is crushed and one keyboard is missing quite a few keys. Contacted them and filled out a discrepancy report. I received an e-mail saying to call them. I did and was told that they have nothing to do with the condition of the package when it gets delivered. Jeez, is it too much to ask that they pack it responsibly. Use some styrofoam for pete's sake! On top of that, after a 30 minute hold on a toll call, I was told they would check into it and call me back. It is 4 days later. I have left several messages and nothing. Nada. Zip. They SUCK!!!!!! And I think they are rip off artists. >>



I have ordered quite a few things from these guys (Mainly the hydrualic cases) and they have had excellent customer service, great packing, prompt delivery, and good prices. IDK wtf this guy dealed with

 

[Omagh]

A good brag here.
Did the deal for the Envision LCD Monitor this weekend (am using it to type this right now).
Net cost after rebate about $170.00. I am quite pleased with this.

Another coup today. I had three packs of Staples photo paper that I got on Black Friday as a substitute siince they did not have the advertised paper on hand. I paid about 3-6 dollars for all three. Today I was able to return them w/o a receipt for the full amount of $30.00. I then purchased the Imation CD's and the 10 pack Maxell RW CD's for a total of about $35.00. I will now
get $25.00 in rebates from this deal.

Altogether then including Black Friday (same transaction) I got 20 gig hd, 128 meg memory, 100 Imation CD's 0 pack CDRW for about $10.00 net. Not a bad deal at all.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Well(not confirmed yet by others so far just one person has encountered the following..might be item specific..who knows ) here it is a PM to me...

<< 8100 Scanner. Although I agree with your post, Staples sent mee-mail again saying they were taking my coupon off because it invalidated the rebate and when I spoke to the online CSR -- they said "This is from the corporate offices -- any coupon invalidates the rebate on the 8100 scanner" >>

my responding PM

<< So they have changed their(Staples) policies again...any loophole they seem to be trying to close up to the detriment of us and them. For if they keep changing their(Staples,BB,etc.) policies to suit which way the wind blows it is not going to be good for retailers or us as they will have flighty pricing structures and we,as consumers, will be very leery about buying anything from any of them as who knows what the pricing policy will be in the next two minutes. >>

... so what does everyone think any others? <edit> Update Confirmed ...it applies to this Visioneer 8100 as the say

<< "corporate office has done this on this particular item as the rebate is so large and with the use of a $20 off $100 coupon it would make the item free" ... >>

I was also told that this is item specific change as far as totally applied to all Staples items with rebates that has not been decided yet. <--keyword yet

 

[Athena]

«Staples sent m ee-mail again saying they were taking my coupon off because it invalidated the rebate and when I spoke to the online CSR -- they said "This is from the corporate offices -- »

There may indeed be some misguided corporate weenie who sent out some sort of memo but I don't think Staples can change the conditions of an offer after the offer has been accepted. This is not a pricing error, it is a clearly stated rebate policy that has been in effect for quite some time. We see "free after rebate" offers all the time and the discount coupon Staples mailed me last week doesn't say that it invalidates any or all rebates.

So..although I believe the person whose discount coupon was reversed, I think Staples will lose if it tries to deny any rebate submissions that have a discount applied before posting the policy change.

 

[LennyZ]

i ordered a soltek drv4 motherboard and today i received a DRV2 motherboard.
lately every online order i receive has a problem.paid for 2 day shipping also so
i could get it quickly,now it will be another 2 or 3 days before i receive a replacement
i had to pay for while waiting for a refund on the one they screwed up on.

 

[katka]

Check your email closely I got this



We are the organization that is administering the Microsoft® Windows® XP Instant Win Game, which you have recently entered.

It is our pleasure to inform you that your entry HAS BEEN SELECTED AS A WINNER in the Second Chance Drawing for this promotion. Therefore, we have been authorized by our client, Microsoft Corporation, to request your information in order to ship your prize to you.

Please e-mail the following information by x to x.com:

Once we receive the above information from you, we will ship your prize to you via UPS or other shipping service. Please note that the awarding of your prize is based upon the receipt of your proper information by the date stated above and verification of information submitted against our records. Failure to properly claim your prize by these instructions will result in your disqualification and you will lose all rights to any prize.

Please be assured that your information will not be used in any other way except to issue the prize to you. Your information will not be sold or bartered, or used in any other way.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me or phone me toll-free at x. Thank you very much. We look forward to receiving your name and address information by return e-mail.

Sincerely,
X

I checked out the company and it is legit


UPDATE

I got my prize today. It was Family Lawyer 2002 Deluxe

, not to be ungrateful but I wanted a "good" prize. Well guess it's better than not winning at all.

 

[SLEEPER5555]

<< Anyone recently order cable modem service from AT&T?

I did last month based on a deal on their web site that was a free month and $35.95 a month thereafter.

Today I got a bill for $39.95 (my first), and thats what their web site says now. I called and they acted like they'd never heard of the 35.95 price. This was ok at first because I got to ask my favorite question: "does that mean you're calling me an idiot or a liar? While you decide which, I'm thinking about which day I want this service disconnected...".

Now i'm ticked. Problem is I like this a lot better than dial up and its still cheaper than satellite or dsl.

Still...I feel like i've been had. Anyone else see this or is it just me? >>



The $35.95 price is if you have cable tv through them and your own cable modem!then it is $39.95 if you have a modem but not cable tv!
If you are renting a modem on either of these plans that is a add $10 a month charge so it is cheaper to but a modem for $70.00 and save the $10 a month! hope that helps!

 

[iamme]

Intel rocks

Their wireless department, at least

I bought a USB and PC Card adaptor (HomeRF - 1.6Mbps) from Walmart for $60 total. I thought, this is a cool and cheap way to surf the net around my home. Then I started having problems w/ the PC Card not being recognized. I called Tech support and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. They sent me a brand new PC Card in a retail box (they didn't even want the old one back). It still had the same problem. They escalated my case a few notches (I must add, that they set appointments via email as to when they'd call me to diagnose the problem....very punctual....none of that 3 hour window crap), and someone told me that my particular brand laptop (an older one) has having known compatability issues w/ the 1.6Mbps stuff. They offer to send me out their higher line of wireless stuff: 802.11b! I play dumb and ask if they can send me out a gateway too, but no dice. They send my out a USB and PC Card adaptor, which can be networked ad hoc, or peer-to-peer. I asked them if they wanted to old stuff back, and they were like, "nah, it's ok". Combined w/ Walmart's awesome 90 day return policy , I got me a WiFi setup for free!

I had some problems hooking up the WiFi stuff initially (i'm a wireless newbie), but their support website is very thorough and complete w/ screenshots Now I can surf Anandtech while sitting on the throne.......ahhh, life is good

Just don't tell 'em that I have an AMD chip in my desktop

 

[Pliablemoose]

Just made my personal PM record, $454 pricematch @ Sears for a KP-61-V90 Sony 61" bigscreen, yeah I know it's not HD, but it's frigging huge

 

[Wiser007]

BRAG!!!!!!
woohoo! scored!
went to staples on saturday night the 16th to get in on the 40gb maxtor 7200rpm hardrive for $80 after coupon. Staples was closed. So i stopped by Office depot, to try to get the order. They had an ata133 drive instead of the ata100 on that staples had. The CSM(customer service manager) said she could do a PM if i had the ad...which i didn't. She was gonna call staples to verify, but i told her they were closed. She asked if i could get it another time, but i told her that if i would, i woulda get it at staples. So she goes "Well, I'm not suppose to do this, but just this one time, ill PM for ya." So PM at $99.99.

Then i got bought so other items to make the total over $150. Used my $30 off 150 coupon from staples. She took it no questions asked. Out the door i go.

NOW HERES THE GOOD PART!
Went back to Office Depot and saw that they had a $30 coupon valid form the 17th-23rd. So i gave the cashier my receipt and told her i wanted to get a rebate. She did a return/rebuy for me and gave me the rebate no problems!!!!! SCORES!!!!!! woohooo...out the door i go with a 40gb 7200rpm ata133 maxtor for

$129- $30 PM - $30 Coupon - $30 rebate = $40 total including tax!!!!

 

[FreemoreJohnson]

Amazon sob's...

We are sorry to report that we will not be able to obtain the following
item from your order:

"Mens' Black Zip Leather Coat (Large)"

Though we had expected to be able to send this item to you, we've
since found that it is not available from any of our sources at this
time. We realize this is disappointing news to hear, and we apologize
for any inconvenience we have caused you.

We have cancelled this item from your order.

Please note that if you took advantage of a promotional offer when
placing this order, this cancellation may affect your order's
eligibility for that offer.

 

[Eugaet]

Just got a $40 GC to Amazon.com for taking a website evaluation. If you're not registered with www.Vividence.com, you might want to check them out...I've received between $100-$150 in Amazon.com GCs from them in the last year...

 

[neovan]

Microsoft is awesome!!!

<brag>I called in telling them my intellimouse explorer v.2.0 didn't work (it really didn't) because the cord to the housing was loose. They just asked me a couple of questions and ouila! They send me a brand new intellimouse explorer v.3.0. I don't even have to send the old one back. YAY!

I'm happy </brag>

 

[stoner87]

<moan>
Getting tired of all the threadcrapping associated with the religious forums, and people abusing the lift on the ban to post whatever they feel like.
</moan>

 

[FPSguy]

I ordered a keyboard and mouse from Best Buy online. Today they e-mailed me and said it was not available for in-store pickup at the store I selected, even though the online system said it was available. I happened to be near that store at lunch today, so I stopped in. Guess what? There are plenty on the shelf. I like Best Buy but they could get their act together a little better.

 

[Devistater]

neovan: I have a similar experiance. I had a microsoft optical explorer mouse (with 5 buttons, etc). I think mine was the original though. Anyway, the scroll wheel button was sticking down, kinda annoying to have that 3rd button stuck pressed. You have no idea how many things dont work until you have that experiance. For instance, regular internet browsing works fine, but clicking on stuff in the start menu to delete or move doesn't Anyway, I called up MS, and they asked me a few questions and sent me out a new one, no return of old nessasary just like you. I LIKE that lifetime warranty with those. Kewl thing is, the old one still works except for that scroll button so I have something for a cheap box if/when I get to it.

stoner87: Same here, but I think once the mods go and give a few (alright more than a few) an extended (perhaps indefinate) vacation, it will slow down.

FPSguy: BB doesn't know thier head from thier behind sometimes... I have a similar experiance... I went into BB to check on that crucial deal a couple months back, they claimed they didn't have any. I got online and ordered a couple sticks, and picked it up at that same store the next day. Either someone was lying, or they didn't know or something I dunno.

 

[Ardeeell]

I guess bragging... Got following deal by watching similar threads (HOT DEALS, Techbargains, Dealuniversity, etc.):

-Intel QX3 microscope...$30.00

_Newegg case... side fan.. no PS.. 2 Front USB...$37.00 shipped

_Staples Visionair 8100 scanner... about $15.00 +tax ...works with WinXP

_Antec 300 watt ps from directon ..2 for $14.99 Each + ship (<$8.00)

_Lego Mindstorms 1.5 $99.00 @ compusa...Software upgraade to 2.0 for $20.00

etc.

 

[Nova13]

moaning :/

The camera in the article was a hp 315 for 193 or something and the memory card was a sandisk 64 meg for 40 bucks. I used a 40 off 200 cupon taking me down to 190 with tax and then there was a 50 dollar rebate on the camera and a 20 dollar on the memory card taking me down to 110 or aroudn there when i was finished. This was all through staples :/

I ordered a camera and a memory card. And when i got home memory card was here and a note said the camera was out of stock. Well i watned the camera cause it had rebates on it and it looked like they didn't charge me for the memory card cause of a cupon i used (said .06cr) . So i called them and then the guy saw the mistake and was like were charging your account for the memory card. Did that. so now i have to return the memory card too cause i only wanted it for the camera. Which is really realyl dumb.