I feel sorry for the people who stood inline for the Staples deals this BF. Unlike many of you, I had to work on Friday (yeah, sucks) but it was really slow (expected) so I had the chance to go online and take advantage of the Staples deals online (at around 8am Pacific). At that time, I could pretty much get whatever items I wanted on that Earlybird sale but I opted for just 1 DVD burner (I have too many HDs). Got in on that. Told a friend about it, 15 minutes later, he called back saying that they were out of IOMagic drives and are substituting HPs for $40 out the door! So, I called back and ordered an HP drive for $40. So now I have 2 dual layer 16X DVD burners coming. Then the same friend called back and said that they were out of the 256MB USB key...and are substituting a Sandisk Cruzer Mini for $10 w/o rebates! I had to call back and order it. Tried to add another HP drive but by that time all HP drives were gone and the CSR said the window for EarlyBird sale has lapsed so they can no longer substitute or sell the drive at the sale price.
So, while sitting in my comfy chair at work, I got these:
1 IOMagic DVD burner for $40 after $30 rebate.
1 HP burner for $40 with no rebates
1 256MB Sandisk Cruzer Mini for $10 w/o rebates
Then, I found a $30 rebate for the HP drive! So that makes it $10!
WOW! I love Staples. They were getting hammered (both online and on the phones) but they struggled to fulfill all orders (unlike Worstbuy, CrapUSA, and Dell). The three or so CSRs I spoke to on the phone were extremely nice despite all the chaos that was going on at their call center (I'm sure). Staples should be nominated for some kind of best-BlackFriday-store award.
I opened a Staples Business account with them a while back and have been receiving nothing but great service as well as a plethora of incentives (coupons, gift certs, etc.). Needless to say 1-800-3-Staples has become a speed dial on my cellphone.
Also, does anybody know why so many people lined up at Fry's on Friday? I saw their BF ad and it wasn't that great.