Rio Volt for $106.95 plus Tax at Staples Online ($112.90 after 6/6/01)

[aperry]

This deal was buried in another B&M deal from a while back. Buy.com is offering Free Shipping today, so you can get a nice deal on a Rio Volt portable CD/MP3/WMA player.

Steps:

1. Call Staples to order special order item IM1262106.
2. Price match with Buy.com (item number 10273635). Linky
3. Don't let Staples try to charge you for shipping...
3. Apply one of the $25 off $100 coupons (you should know by now where to look).

Total shipped cost = $131.95 - $25.00 = $106.95 plus applicable sales tax.

I ordered this last week but had to pay shipping... Oh well, still a great deal for a great player!

Update: Buy.com free shipping good through 6/6/01. This deal will cost $112.90 plus tax (figuring $5.95 ground shipping) after the free shipping promo is over.

Like many other offers involving PM'ing with Staples, some folks are having problems finding a CSR that will let them do this deal. If the CSR will not do it for you, simply thank them, hang up, and redial to get a different person. I have heard of some folks having to go through as many as 5 CSR's before they could get the deal to go through.

Also, so that you don't have to look below, once you get your player, you should definitely download the 2.00 firmware upgrade from HERE. Full instructions as to how to load it and new/fixed features are contained in the readme.txt file.

 

[Hgabriel]

Nice deal. I held this device over the weekend at CompUSA. It felt solid in my hand. It didn't have that flimsy feel of past Portable CD players.

BTW, for this price, you can purchase MP3/CD/VCD portable players.
Check this one out for $104.95
Review of the NAV 310
I've read that these are pretty nice. I'm seriously considering owning one.

 

[aperry]

I was able to get Staples to credit me back for the shipping charge, just called them with the lower price, and they took off $6.36 (apparently for Colorado, they charge tax on S&H also).

For more info on the Rio Volt player (and other players), you can look HERE. It is MP3.com's message board for portables.

 

[adhesive]

The Napa VCD/MP3/CD players are good, but not great.

The sound quality is decent and the video is decent.

It's a fun toy, but if you're not going to use the VCD part, it's really not worth getting it.

 

[CvCXL]

I *think* Staples will still charge you for next day shipping because buy.com is only offering ground. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[aperry]

This is listed in Staples' system as being a "special order" item and thus ships from their distributor (in this case, Ingram Micro). Mine was shipped ground from there, so they matched the ground rate (which is free for Buy.com today).

 

[android]

just did the deal, no problem at all, $115 or so with CA tax. No shipping was added, and they had no problem matching the price. Thank you thank you, I've been waiting for one of these, now that I sold my Genica on fleabay for like $79!!

 

[aperry]

You're very welcome. I also went through a few players before finding this wonderful piece of technology. I bought a Classic portable MP3 player and then a Audiovox boombox player. Thankfully, I got rid of them on fleabay. I am EXTREMELY impressed with this player.

FYI, once you receive it, you will want to go and download version 2.0 of the Rio Volt Firmware and load it into your player.

To load the firmware, just burn a CD-R with ONLY the file Imp-100.hex on it. I think you could actually put both that file and the readme.txt file on the disc, but I did it with just the firmware on the disc. Plop the CD-R into your Volt player, power up and watch it do the upgrade. It will automatically power off when done. Takes about a minute or so. Details are in the readme.txt file.

The readme file has some highly detailed information about changes and new menus and such you can access.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have so far!

 

[ChemistryDoc]

Another Thank You for the deal information

I just arrived home, and was pleased to find the deal was still available. My biggest surprise was the csr didn't bother me with the pm or the $25 off coupon.

 

[ViperrX]

I just wanted to add my thanks for the info on this. I have been wating to get this for a while.

I tried to order it in store first, cause I want it now, but they wanted to charge me $17.95 for what would be overnight shipping along with the pricematch. So I went home and called to order. I told the CSR what I wanted and then she basically told me about the buy.com pricematch even though i had planned to use it anyway. Also had no problem with coupon.

So I ended up getting it for $106.95 shipped. No New Hampshire Sales tax YAY! Every dollar counts.

Viper

 

[taserT]

Does anyone know if this unit has a digital audio out....so i can transfer digitally to a home minidisc player/recorder? I want to put mp3 files on cdrw discs (so i can reuse the discs) play them in this unit and transfer digitally to minidisc. thanks

 

[Microman]

My son wanted to get one of these, and when I called him to tell him about this deal, his wife, said that he had tried, but they were out. I wasnt able to determine if Staples was out or Buy.com for the price match. But will look into it. Will be a nice birthday present for 107 bucks... to give him in New York... Wonder if I can have it shipped to N.Y., when I live in Ca....... Let me call Staples... and find out...

Thanks, for a great forum.

Still dont think I will keep that D Link mp3 player, and try for the free $100..... Prime Peripherals, and their $45 denial for lack of email address (none stated), gets me a little scared to wait for $100.

 

[BlockSender]

Wow, I had to call 3 different CSR's before they would let me do it. (As of about 2pm CDT when I called.) I think they might catch on when 10,000 people call in to their call center HQ asking for a $210 unit, at $106..They might think somethin is up. However, what happened next surprized me.

The first one seemed like she would have gone through with the order but gave me some grief about other people finding the deal on a BB so I said something indignant and hung up.

#2 dude said "We are not selling this item online anymore you must get it from the store." Then he told me I couldnt buy it from him and asked what else I wanted. When I said I want the Rio he laughed at me. I hung up. I guess I got it back from #1

#3 nice lady said "Wow! You found yourself quite a deal!"

I don't think that I can get away with calling any company just ONCE to get what I want. Oh well you can't be mad when you get what you deserve..and a $60 break you don't deserve... Thank you to the finder of the deal. Thank you to the Mods (sucking noises). Thank you to buy.com and thank you to staples.
Now lets hope I actually get it. I was reading on another tech site that they were cancelling some of the promotional deals like this on active orders. Lets hope the "another tech site" was full of crap

 

[BlockSender]

TaserT I have oe of these units already. It has a little dongle on it that controls FF RW Play Stop EQ HOLD and VOL on that dongle is where you actually plug the earphones in.
I looked through the manual for you but it makes no mention of it being a digital out. There is an out for Speakers or car adapter port (ie non-powered output)
The weird thing that I noticed but maybe im crazy; when I plugged the earphones directly in (vs plugging them into the dongle and having the dongle plugged into the earphone jack) the sound was better. So perhaps there is some digital feature there (obviously to transfer the controls from the dongle but there might be more)

ANYWAY

to answer your question, no i dont know for sure, but it certainly doesnt make a mention of it on the box or the manual. Good luck



<< Does anyone know if this unit has a digital audio out....so i can transfer digitally to a home minidisc player/recorder? I want to put mp3 files on cdrw discs (so i can reuse the discs) play them in this unit and transfer digitally to minidisc. thanks >>

 

[LouCipher]

I just tried to take advantage of this deal. The first time I called, the lady flat-out said &quot;We don't pricematch Buy.com&quot;. Second time I called, everything started out well. Then I gave her the item number. She says &quot;Where did you get this?&quot;. I told her &quot;Some website&quot; then she says &quot;I'm sorry, we can't pricematch this item because it is not listed on our website.&quot; So, I think the Staples reps are getting wise to this plan. But still, $131.95 is not a bad price.

 

[taserT]

BlockSender....thanks for the info. I'm thinking it probably doesn't have digital audio out. I guess i'm limited to a home dvd/mp3/cdr/cdrw deck (like the Apex) to do this. I can't seem to find a portable unit that playes cdr/cdrw/mp3 that has a digital audio out. I know you can do this with a compatable home deck. I wonder why there isn't some brand of portable that has a digital audio out???

 

[aperry]

Ah, yes, Anandtech strikes again! I really get a kick out of the myriad of excuses some of the Staples CSR's come up with as to why they cannot do the pricematch... I got lucky with mine, both the original order (which included shipping) and the call to reverse the shipping charges this morning went off without a hitch.

Guess I got lucky this time.

 

[BlockSender]

TaserT No prob

To the rest of us
Well..I dunno what I'm allowed to say here since im just a lowly returning junior member, but this is what I know. If they ask you where you got the promo code, DONT tell them you got it on a website. If you tell them you got it in an e-mail (which you probably did so dust off those spam accounts) You have to give them the 7 digit number at the bottom of the e-mail. When I ordered w/ the 3rd lady I just said Here is the promo code, here is my 7 digit # at the end of the e-mail I got. They accepted no questions asked. If you dont have the deal on your e-mail, fret not, I think they just want to make sure you subscribe to Staples Spam!(c) I would suggest using a recent e-mail though and do try to find it if you can.

Other ways, sometime in stores the managers hand out cards w/ promo codes on them for such things. However these events are sometimes localized and you may get a lame excuse from that one too.

Last, when I worked at my last job, we got flyers from staples sent to us all the time and they had promo codes on them (with no other ID numbers)

So the moral is, if your gonna do them in, atleast follow their rules, they complain a lot less! If you've ever ordered from staples before, they probably send you the spam mail w/ good deals. They even SENT me the deal in an Ad fashon to tell me how cheap their Palm Visors were, and that I should take advantage of the MIR's and other promotional codes. so hey! I'm just doing what they asked. Thank you staples!

Just some other info relating to it. Get the firmware like aperry said. Its worth it. It gave me a ton of new features and better options. Its one of the coolest audio devices i've ever owned and is a pretty cool conversation piece to boot. There is one thing that sucks though...There are these stupid little dancing guys down at the bottom of the player..wtf?!

 

[aperry]

Yeah, those dancing guys are weird! Too bad they are hard-coded into the display and not generated using pixels... Otherwise, we might be able to get rid of them someday.

Perhaps there will be an option in the future to disable them.

 

[nikko]

Didn't someone post earlier this weekend that all Staples coupon codes had been voided?

 

[magikman]

Hi there,

Someone please help me!!!!!!!

Im coming to the US on holiday and want to buy the Rio volt as cheaply as possible. Im going to California: LA, Las Vegas and later San Fransisco. Now I am intending to buy the rio volt from a staples RETAIL store in one of those cities using a price match and coupon system.

Can someone please explain how I should do everything, cos im from UK, and in the UK we dont have none of these price match/rebates/coupon things so Im clueless!!

I intend to pay via credit card. Why have people been asking for copies of other peoples sales receipts?? And what does B &amp; M stand for?

Also how much is sales tax in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Fransisco??

Sorry for all the questions, but its te first time im comin to the states so I dont know half the terms!

Someone help.

Thanx in advance.

 

[BlockSender]

magikman

You cant do the cupon thing ($25 off $100 purchase)unless you have a friend who will give you one. So you will have to do the buy.com pricematch.

Price match with Buy.com (item number 10273635).
http://www.us.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10273635 <-- the buy.com price is $136 or something which is a good price in and of itself. You must give them the SKU (item number) to match it.



<< Why have people been asking for copies of other peoples sales receipts?? >>


For a price match. some stores here offer you the price of the unit at whatever you bought it from another store at..and sometimes places like Office depot will beat that price by 10% or whatever.



<< And what does B &amp; M stand for? >>


Brick &amp; Mortar. It just means you must go to the actual retail store where you can walk in, pick up the item, and pay for it. Not an internet store or a phone-order store.



<< Also how much is sales tax in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Fransisco?? >>


Thats a good question, but the tax rates differ very little. Los Angeles and San Francisco will probably have (VERY) nearly the same tax rate. Las Vegas, however, is in a different state and may have a higher or lower tax rate. Either way you go, it will only make a difference of 2-3 bux (1-2British Pounds)

Make an attempt to use the cupon code in person though. I've talked to a VERY nice manager before who let me use the cupon code. I told him I had forgotten it at home (which I did actually) but I had the code memorized. Or you could tell him/her you got an e-mail from staples (which you hopefully have (or a friend who has)) and recite that cupon code to them. However like I said in the message before, on the bottom of those e-mails you may need the 7 digit security code as well. Good luck man!

Oh, and by the way, Buy.com has free shipping so that may help some..even though your buying it onsite.

AND if your going to be in SFO or LA or LV for more than a couple days, staples delivers NEXT DAY if they have it in stock. So you may consider following the above posted steps for a phone order.

 

[magikman]

Thanx for all the help BlockSender!

Few more questions tho..

Im sure I read people sayin they just gave out coupon codes over the counter, ie the number but no coupon and get the discount??

Is there anyway I can obtain these coupons when I get into the US? Eg how does every1 get the coupons, via staples catalogue or something??

How likely is that the stores will have a Rio volt in stock?

I would love to order online but the main problems are Im staying in a hotel in the different cities and my credit card billing address is UK so not sure if this will work? Im guessin the online stores wont deliver to hotel? plus its risky as the hotel desk clerk might jsut sign and take it?


Thanx again for your time.

 

[ViperrX]

<< Wow, I had to call 3 different CSR's before they would let me do it. (As of about 2pm CDT when I called.) I think they might catch on when 10,000 people call in to their call center HQ asking for a $210 unit, at $106..They might think somethin is up. However, what happened next surprized me.
>>



Wow I can't believe people had a hard time with this, I guess I was just lucky but the CSR asked me if I wanted to do the pricematch with buy.com as well as the free shipping before I even mentioned it. She was extremely nice and helpful about everything else as well.

Viper

 

[aperry]

<< Im sure I read people sayin they just gave out coupon codes over the counter, ie the number but no coupon and get the discount?? >>



Yes, I seem to remember reading this also. Perhaps someone could email you a code from a promotion they got that way.



<< Is there anyway I can obtain these coupons when I get into the US? Eg how does every1 get the coupons, via staples catalogue or something?? >>



There are usually coupons in the catalogs, but I am not sure if the ones they have in the store would have one or not.



<< How likely is that the stores will have a Rio volt in stock? >>



I think this is hit or miss. The best thing might be to go to one of the stores in your first city, and if they do not have it, have them check stores for the other cities. If one of those stores has it in stock, call them and have them hold it with your credit card. Then, when you arrive, go pick it up (doing the PM with buy.com of course).



<< I would love to order online but the main problems are Im staying in a hotel in the different cities and my credit card billing address is UK so not sure if this will work? Im guessin the online stores wont deliver to hotel? plus its risky as the hotel desk clerk might jsut sign and take it? >>



You can usually have stuff delivered to a hotel, it just depends on the company. Not sure what Staples would do. The best option might be to call them before you leave (or right after you arrive) and see. Generally, if you are staying in fairly nice hotels, you will not have to worry about not getting it if it is delivered to the hotel. By signing for it, they are liable for getting it to you.

There was another thread that dealt more with B&amp;M purchases HERE.