This one is tough. First BestBuy I went to, everything was going well, I paid for one drive, the guy printed the receipt and rebate forms. 2nd drive, he screwed up printing the receipt and had to have the manager come over, he didn't like the deal I was getting, so he voided everything out even though I already had paid... and refunded everything. Technically, I owned the drive at that point, I could have left, but he was quick in snatching everything up.
2nd store, took my rebate buddy with me, they did not want to pricematch Circuit City's price because I printed the price off their website and they won't pricematch Internet sites. I told them this was their advertised price this week for in their store, so the guy calls Circuit City, dumb sales guy at Circuit City says it's $79.99 with $20 rebate for $59.99, so Bestbuy manager tells me he can only pricematch to $79.99. I tell him no, this was not a rebate price at Circuit City (it's not), so I had him call them back AGAIN. He's then told the $59.99 is the weekly ad price (like I told him the first time). So, then I tried to get the 10% difference as well, but he wouldn't do it. He said I'd have to buy the product first at full price, then bring it back with the Circuit City ad because that's their 10% difference policy.
So, here's what you need to do to get the lowest price with the least amount of pain:
1. Get a copy of the instore Circuity City ad from your Sunday paper or at your local Circuit City store.
2. Buy the drive at $99.99 (Bestbuy's sale price) at BestBuy.
3. Come back later, without the rebate portion of the sales slip to avoid any hassles, and get the pricematch + 10% difference.
That's what my rebate buddy did, I settled for the $59.99 price so I could get out of there quickly, but you'll get $4 more dollars off plus a chunk of sales tax refunded as well if you are willing to come back later. It's also a lot easier than having to haggle with them unless you are lucky enough to get a sales clerk who either doesn't care or doesn't know. This deal is not illegal or anything like that, they just often won't like to honor their policies when they know you are getting a heck of a deal, and they'll try to put up a pretty good front to keep you from buying it. Even if they won't refund the difference at that point, you can just return the drive for a full refund if you haven't opened it within 14 days... rebate form does not say this cannot be combined with any other offers. So there should be no risk here.
And for all you whiners out there, you can go pay full price if you want to!
If you've got the time and willingness to make them stick to their advertised policies, then you can land yourself a 40GB drive for $18.20 after rebate (that was the price with tax after rebate in my area so it may vary a few dollars in your area).
Get yourself a rebate buddy so you can send one rebate to him and one to you if you are looking to get 2 drives so you can mirror them like I plan on doing. 1 rebate per household.
Circuity City price is good through 10/5/02, so you have to move on this one soon!
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REBATE FORM
OFFER: 29605
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
Daytime Phone:
BRAND: Western Digital
MODEL: WD400BBRTL
SKU: 4002199
REBATE: $40.00
OFFER DATE: 09/29/2002 TO 10/05/2002
POSTMARK DATE: 11/05/02
PROOF OF PURCHASE REQUIREMENTS:
This Rebate Form
Copy of Receipt
Original UPC barcode cut from box
(UPC #718037103495)
MAIL ALL THE ABOVE TO:
Best Buy Rebate #29605
PO BOX 7200
Calais, ME 04619-7211
TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Limit of one rebate per household or
address. Make a photocopy of all
materials submitted for your records.
Receipts may not be duplicated in an
attempt to obtain additional rebates.
Any attempt to do so is considered a
fraudulent claim. All eligible
products purchased must be identified
on one receipt. Mutiple receipts are
not acceptable as proof of purchase.
Gift Receipts are not accepted as proof
of purchase. Requests from P.O. Boxes,
Best Buy employees, groups, or
organizations, will not be honored or
acknowledged. Offer void where
prohibited by law. Rebates are paid in
U.S. funds. Best Buy and their
fulfillment companies are not
responsible for late, lost, mutilated,
misdirected or postage-due requests.
Use of fictitious names or addresses
could result in federal prosecution for
U.S. Mail Fraud. Best Buy reserves the
right to deny rebate claims if deemed
to be fraudulent. Fraudulent claims
will not be honored or acknowledged. By
submitting this form, you consent to
our collection, use and disclosure of
the information contained in it,
together with any information you may
subsequently provide to us, to any
person or entity for the purposes of
processing this form, responding to
your requests and Best Buy promotional
activities. BB29605
YOU SHOULD RECEIVE YOUR REBATE WITHIN
8 WEEKS
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WISH TO CHECK
ON THE STATUS OF YOUR REBATE, PLEASE CALL
1-800-849-0444
OR CALL THE BEST BUY REBATE CENTER AT
1-800-849-0444
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Seems rather silly, same phone number for both!