Now I know CC hides sale items. COD4 story

[jedi0077]

I went in this morning to the store in Mansfield OH. THe locked case was empty, the shelf was empty. And I KNEW the night before the locked case was full and there were 6 copies of COD4 in cases on the shelf. I got there about an hour after they opened up so after I asked the 15 year-old working for the game, I wasn't surprised when he told me they were out. Anyhow, my friend and I were about to leave when I found a copy in the way wrong spot. And the kicker, when I checked out, the guy asked me where I found it. lol Awesome-o

[fuss]

ya same thing for the online store- what a bunch of fucktards that place is.

[cdrober]

Man....I'm glad I don't have these issues at the CC near me...

I think somehow corporate CC should clean up the act and have all their stores behave the same (Yeah, probably impossible....)

Today at mine about 15-20 copies in plain view....

[outlawmoogle]

I went in this morning to the store in Mansfield OH. THe locked case was empty, the shelf was empty. And I KNEW the night before the locked case was full and there were 6 copies of COD4 in cases on the shelf. I got there about an hour after they opened up so after I asked the 15 year-old working for the game, I wasn't surprised when he told me they were out. Anyhow, my friend and I were about to leave when I found a copy in the way wrong spot. And the kicker, when I checked out, the guy asked me where I found it. lol Awesome-o
Because there's no chance that people that were in the store before you bought five of the copies, and the sixth copy was abandoned by a customer in the wrong spot right?

Seriously, some of you with the vendetta you've taken out on Circuit City after the Speedy incident have gone too far.

[Immortal fWd]

Great deal OP. In for 7.

[phreak5k]

Because there's no chance that people that were in the store before you bought five of the copies, and the sixth copy was abandoned by a customer in the wrong spot right?

Seriously, some of you with the vendetta you've taken out on Circuit City after the Speedy incident have gone too far. ditto.

[themidnighter23]

I hate the CC near to me simply because it's obvious they don't care about their customers. The dvds/games are in no particular order and you can never find anyone to help you.

[Derrick1979]

Because there's no chance that people that were in the store before you bought five of the copies, and the sixth copy was abandoned by a customer in the wrong spot right?

Seriously, some of you with the vendetta you've taken out on Circuit City after the Speedy incident have gone too far.


Amen brother....

Im getting sick of all the CC,GS/EB threads lately... stop shopping at these stores then it is almost as though you people hang around these stores more than normal(which in turn your giving them buisness) just for something not to go the way you want it to so you can jump online and rant about it to get some internet sympathy..

It is retail it will never be perfect...............

[orochi]

Seriously, some of you with the vendetta you've taken out on Circuit City after the Speedy incident have gone too far.

Agreed. I mean. OBVIOUSLY as a store, we want to hide all our products from customers cause you know... they might want to buy it. :roll:

[Furashu]

hows this a deal? lol move this to deal discussion !

[GaveUpTomorrow]

Because there's no chance that people that were in the store before you bought five of the copies, and the sixth copy was abandoned by a customer in the wrong spot right?

Seriously, some of you with the vendetta you've taken out on Circuit City after the Speedy incident have gone too far.

I seriously doubt most people have put down Circuit City because of the Speedy incident...but more because Circuit City is just a really bad chain. They never mark prices during sales and most game prices aren't even marked right at my Circuit City. Last Black Friday (not this previous one, the one before), I had the most horrible shopping experience of my life of any store I've been to...Circuit City was so chaotic, and the workers actually made things worse. They really need to kick up their game, or they'll eventually cease to exist.

[AlphakirA]

People actually went to Circuit for this? Why bother risking them most likely either 'pulling a Circuit' or simply being sold out? I didn't even think twice, I went straight to my local WalMart. If they had been sold out it was off to Target then Best Buy 8-)

[icarusmight]

Most CC i visit never had things in order, but after doing a clean sweep of the store I find what im looking for. Most workers I find working at these stores are fairly nice but not knowledgable. But CC as a whole is pretty bad since they obviously dont keep their stores in good shape or their employees happy. If their employees liked their jobs maybe everyone that shopped there would have a better experience, and you could probably find things w/o the headaches

[fuss]

lol, I knew CC did this at my local store AND online since before I knew WTF this site was :)

[syndicate701]

Yeah.. went to BB and they matched the price and I got some reward points too. All good.

s701

[mietha]

I'm not happy over the Speedy deal, but I hate CC because all of their employees are fucking morons.

[kevlar51]

Because there's no chance that people that were in the store before you bought five of the copies, and the sixth copy was abandoned by a customer in the wrong spot right?

Seriously, some of you with the vendetta you've taken out on Circuit City after the Speedy incident have gone too far.

This "vendetta" is based on experience with the store, not Speedy.

[AlphakirA]

I'm not happy over the Speedy deal, but I hate CC because all of their employees are fucking morons.

Basically the same reason why I stay away. It's a sad day when WAL MART employee's do their job better than the shittastic CC one's...(no offense to aynone that works there, but everyone else that works with you blows :D)

[wouldyoukindly]

Maybe all who get screwed by a CC Bait and Switch should spam the Better Business Bureau about it.

[bostonfrontier]

That's why you should buy the game the week before and then do a price match later

[benjamouth]

I'm not sure why CC would bother hiding games, they obviously have a lot of copies to shift and they put that deal on the front page of the ad !!

My store had about 30-40 copies, they must know come next year they'll be knocking them out sub-$30.

[DesertEagleXIX]

OP, get the UPC of the game online and make CC check their inventory. If it's over "1", they have the game in stock, somewhere in the store.

[V-G]

Somebody please enlighten a n00b on the Speedy incident if possible. :D

[$hady]

Great deal now please put more sand in your vagina.

[thakingrocka]

i've had pretty good luck with cc in manhattan, both the 86th and 43rd st ones. when they didn't have cod3 to go with cod4, they offered cod2, but they itemized at 29.99 and told me i could return it later if i wanted cod3 instead. i returned it later, for ghost squad instead.

[TrueBlueLS]

People actually went to Circuit for this? Why bother risking them most likely either 'pulling a Circuit' or simply being sold out? I didn't even think twice, I went straight to my local WalMart. If they had been sold out it was off to Target then Best Buy 8-)

I didn't think Target price matched?

[smoger]

someone already said it but i'll reiterate.. if you think your CC doesn't want to sell you sale items, then buy it the week before. you come to this site so you know a week ahead of time when it's gonna be on sale. then just go back and price match.

heck,, thats actually what i did with my copy of COD4(pc). not because my tinfoil hat told me they wouldn't sell it to me on sale, but mainly because i wanted it sooner

[Wet Ninja]

Somebody please enlighten a n00b on the Speedy incident if possible. :D

I may not have the details exactly right, but here's an overview of what happened:


speedy1961 (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/member.php?u=52586) regularly posted the deals from the upcoming ads for Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, etc.
When PS3 price drop was leaked in the ads before Sony wanted the announcement to come out, Circuit City (believed to be pressured by Sony), sued CAG to obtain speedy's information (name, address).
CheapyD hired a lawyer to defend himself (read: to prevent speedy's information from being revealed to Circuit City) and has stalled the lawsuit for now.


Here are some links from the time when the news of the lawsuit broke:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/not-cheap/circuit-city-subpoenas-cheapassgamer-288081.php
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/10/cheap-ass-gamer-subpoenaed-by-circuit-city/

A lot of users were angry at Circuit City for bullying CAG, and threatened to boycott CC (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148301), but things seem to have settled down. You can find out more information about the incident by listening to the CAGcasts from the few weeks after the lawsuit was announced.

[heyheyhey11]

I personally hide all sale item(s) and others below the low metal display case.

Theres a low metal cases that opens if you lift the top part.

In there goes in all sale item I hide before the promotion week or will stay there until it reaches bargain price.

One example is, I hid ff3 for ds last yr, and now its 20bucks.

I save 20 dollars there.

I hid cod4 last week so I can buy it anytime thisnweek.

[zman73]

I seriously doubt most people have put down Circuit City because of the Speedy incident...but more because Circuit City is just a really bad chain. They never mark prices during sales and most game prices aren't even marked right at my Circuit City. Last Black Friday (not this previous one, the one before), I had the most horrible shopping experience of my life of any store I've been to...Circuit City was so chaotic, and the workers actually made things worse. They really need to kick up their game, or they'll eventually cease to exist.

... CC not marking down sale or clearance prices on games has been a blessing in disguise for my in the past, particularly when they had all those games priced anywhere from .96 and up a few years back, no regular customer will buy a game marked 49.99, but since I knew the game was .96, I got it...

[Indiana]

I'm not happy over the Speedy deal, but I hate CC because all of their employees are fucking morons.

Well, didn't they fire a majority of their employees a year or 2 ago because corporate decided they were over paid. Then replacing the long time experieced workers with new barely over minimum wage workers.

If you don't value your workers you get a shitty corporation.

[Dunvane]

Im a little confused by the initial post... do mean that they are hiding the games so that you were drawn into the store for that particular sale, but since they dont have it must buy something else (at full price); or, do you mean that the employees stashed them for themselves and then told they didnt have any?

If the first one... well thats just dumb, no one at any of those stores actually cares that much Im sure it happens, but... jeez. Ive never seen it at least. The second one, yeah, that does happen. Ive worked many-a-retail job, and we have always done that. Hell, I work at Best Buy, and I have a Serenity special edition (8.99 this week) stashed in the back to buy tomorrow. Thats just tough luck on your part, we retail workers have to find a perk for the jobs we work somewhere because the pay just doesnt justify some of the shit we deal with. Sometimes if you want something in particular, you need to stop calling us morons and assholes and makes friends with us, and then the majority of the time we will hook you up.

I will say, however, that my month and a half working at Circuit was the worst job experience of my life thus far. So... yeah, whatever thats worth.

[mitch079]

People are ecstatic when CC's glitches or failure to mark down prices go in their favor and piss vinegar when they can't find a game or the prices don't go in their favor. Meh, the company will be in bankruptcy soon enough.

[rmb]

Im a little confused by the initial post... do mean that they are hiding the games so that you were drawn into the store for that particular sale, but since they dont have it must buy something else (at full price); or, do you mean that the employees stashed them for themselves and then told they didnt have any?

If the first one... well thats just dumb, no one at any of those stores actually cares that much Im sure it happens, but... jeez. Ive never seen it at least. The second one, yeah, that does happen. Ive worked many-a-retail job, and we have always done that. Hell, I work at Best Buy, and I have a Serenity special edition (8.99 this week) stashed in the back to buy tomorrow. Thats just tough luck on your part, we retail workers have to find a perk for the jobs we work somewhere because the pay just doesnt justify some of the shit we deal with. Sometimes if you want something in particular, you need to stop calling us morons and assholes and makes friends with us, and then the majority of the time we will hook you up.

I will say, however, that my month and a half working at Circuit was the worst job experience of my life thus far. So... yeah, whatever thats worth.


The OP is pretty much implying that there is a conspiracy. CC puts out ad and then pulls product before the sale. This is not true. Yes I do believe their employees have a lack of knowledge but who goes to CC or BB for an electronics purchase without having researched ahead of time. And most of the people bitching here know the layout of the store better than the employees. I prefer to not be bothered by them. CC not updating prices benefits you as a CAG when they are on clearance and I think they have had some of the better more attainable clearance deals. Though lately they have been a little thin.

[magiic]

regardless of this Circuit City has gone up over $1 per share since about a week and a half ago. Which is significant seeing as how it was worth only $5.18 I think to begin with. Somehow despite being retarded they still turn a profit I guess

[ITDEFX]

I may not have the details exactly right, but here's an overview of what happened:


speedy1961 (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/member.php?u=52586) regularly posted the deals from the upcoming ads for Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, etc.
When PS3 price drop was leaked in the ads before Sony wanted the announcement to come out, Circuit City (believed to be pressured by Sony), sued CAG to obtain speedy's information (name, address).
CheapyD hired a lawyer to defend himself (read: to prevent speedy's information from being revealed to Circuit City) and has stalled the lawsuit for now.


Here are some links from the time when the news of the lawsuit broke:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/not-cheap/circuit-city-subpoenas-cheapassgamer-288081.php
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/10/cheap-ass-gamer-subpoenaed-by-circuit-city/

A lot of users were angry at Circuit City for bullying CAG, and threatened to boycott CC (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148301), but things seem to have settled down. You can find out more information about the incident by listening to the CAGcasts from the few weeks after the lawsuit was announced.


yep that about covers it.....CAG and Speedy was able to stay under the radar until this spoiled jackass who thinks he deserve better from CC (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161025) sold us out... so it's all a matter of time before this starts up again :(

[Pck21]

It's a funny thing when I visit a thread like this because you can always tell the average age of the poster. No offense to anyone but CC has been LONG known as a company to use bait and switch tactics. The company was investigated in the early 90's because of this, and if memory serves correctly, they were found to be guilty (not in court I don't believe) of using these sleezy tactics. People who post things like, "I'm sick and tired of these CC bashing threads," obviously do not know about CC's past or even present for that matter.

CC as a company is completely horrible. Just last year they fired all of their "higher waged" workers to "bring in other workers" at a lower cost. In reality what they did was fire the employees making more money and then "asked the employees" to come back at a lower wage. When the employees refused, they hired other people at even lower wage. The company is, and has always been, shady to say the least.

So I understand the OP's problem as MANY people, even including myself at a younger age, are subjected to CC's terrible business practices. I have only stepped foot into one CC in the last 15 years and that was because my gf bought GHIII online for in store pick up and she wanted me to come with her, even though I told her I would make a scene if even one those scum bag employees looked at me.

However, my personal philosophy regarding CC is to never shop there again. I haven't sinced the day they ripped me off and I refuse to until they are either bought out and business practices change, or go out of business and have an "everything must go" sale.

So when I saw their ad in the Sunday paper yesterday with the COD4 $39.99 sale price, I just smiled and turned the page. I already have the game as it is, but in my head I wondered how many angry customers they would be losing by today when they heard, "We're out of them."

Someone asked, "Why would CC do this? Don't they want to sell something to someone?" Of course they do mate, but they don't want to sell you that particular product that was advertised. They want to get you in the store and when you see that they are "out of stock" they figure that since you're already there that maybe, just maybe, you'll do some Xmas shopping or pick up a TV, PS3, DVD, etc. It's the classic technique of bait-n-switch and it has been used for years and years until it was ruled illegal a long, long time ago.

Articles on CC firing employee incident:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2007-03-28-circuit-city-layoffs_N.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17837882/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802185.html

Article on a former CC employee-very interesting read!:

http://www.bspcn.com/2007/06/12/27-confessions-of-a-former-circuit-city-worker/

I also worked at Best Buy for 2 weeks until I could no longer take their BS. The article above can also go hand-in-hand with BB's practices as I have seen first hand. Always check your receipts people!

[camoor]

It's a funny thing when I visit a thread like this because you can always tell the average age of the poster. No offense to anyone but CC has been LONG known as a company to use bait and switch tactics. The company was investigated in the early 90's because of this, and if memory serves correctly, they were found to be guilty (not in court I don't believe) of using these sleezy tactics. People who post things like, "I'm sick and tired of these CC bashing threads," obviously do not know about CC's past or even present for that matter.

CC as a company is completely horrible. Just last year they fired all of their "higher waged" workers to "bring in other workers" at a lower cost. In reality what they did was fire the employees making more money and then "asked the employees" to come back at a lower wage. When the employees refused, they hired other people at even lower wage. The company is, and has always been, shady to say the least.

So I understand the OP's problem as MANY people, even including myself at a younger age, are subjected to CC's terrible business practices. I have only stepped foot into one CC in the last 15 years and that was because my gf bought GHIII online for in store pick up and she wanted me to come with her, even though I told her I would make a scene if even one those scum bag employees looked at me.

However, my personal philosophy regarding CC is to never shop there again. I haven't sinced the day they ripped me off and I refuse to until they are either bought out and business practices change, or go out of business and have an "everything must go" sale.

So when I saw their ad in the Sunday paper yesterday with the COD4 $39.99 sale price, I just smiled and turned the page. I already have the game as it is, but in my head I wondered how many angry customers they would be losing by today when they heard, "We're out of them."

Someone asked, "Why would CC do this? Don't they want to sell something to someone?" Of course they do mate, but they don't want to sell you that particular product that was advertised. They want to get you in the store and when you see that they are "out of stock" they figure that since you're already there that maybe, just maybe, you'll do some Xmas shopping or pick up a TV, PS3, DVD, etc. It's the classic technique of bait-n-switch and it has been used for years and years until it was ruled illegal a long, long time ago.

Precisely, excellently stated.

10 years ago I used to buy CDs there all the time. Then they pulled this with me - I went in to buy a slick miniature alarm clock on sale for 10 dollars (first day of the sale, in the morning) and all they had left were these junky 30 dollar CD/Radio alarm clocks. My folks were with me and they knew what buttons to push, CC wouldn't sell me the floor model but after about 7 min of escalations a "recent return" of the model I wanted suddenly showed up.

Bought the clock, and since then I seek to avoid them whenever possible esp for high priced items. Best Buy sucks too but that's a whole nother can of beans.

If you have a Microcenter around you I highly recommend it - best electronics shopping experience I've ever had.

[Derrick1979]

yep that about covers it.....CAG and Speedy was able to stay under the radar until this spoiled jackass who thinks he deserve better from CC (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161025) sold us out... so it's all a matter of time before this starts up again :(


Kind of funny that you mention this will be the post that stirs up that mess again, well complain to Cheapy himself then because this thread was front page news in the left hand side of the page....

[Pck21]

Precisely, excellently stated.

10 years ago I used to buy CDs there all the time. Then they pulled this with me - I went in to buy a slick miniature alarm clock on sale for 10 dollars (first day of the sale, in the morning) and all they had left were these junky 30 dollar CD/Radio alarm clocks. My folks were with me and they knew what buttons to push, CC wouldn't sell me the floor model but after about 7 min of escalations a "recent return" of the model I wanted suddenly showed up.

Bought the clock, and since then I seek to avoid them whenever possible esp for high priced items. Best Buy sucks too but that's a whole nother can of beans.

If you have a Microcenter around you I highly recommend it - best electronics shopping experience I've ever had.

Actually I had the SAME exact thing happen to me. To make a long story short, my product was one of those mini TV's that were all the rage way back when. I also went with my parents, as I was really young at the time, and the guy told us that it was sold out. Now before we went to the store, my parents sat me down and explained what a bait-n-switch tactic was and told me that they may not have it. When they didn't have it in, I was really bummed out cause I had saved all of my allowance for around 7-months to buy something like this and when it went on sale (or so I thought) I was the most excited kid on the block. My parents later bought me one for Xmas that was far better but I definitely learned a lesson about business practices and ethics of certain companies and I'm glad my parents brought me down there to see first hand how this works.

Unfortunately, I don't think we have Microcenters here (I live in AZ) but I will certainly keep my eye out as we have been getting a lot of East Coast stores being built all around us, namely Dick's Sporting Goods and such.

Thanks for the kudos and sharing your thougts!

[Blitz]

It's a funny thing when I visit a thread like this because you can always tell the average age of the poster. No offense to anyone but CC has been LONG known as a company to use bait and switch tactics. The company was investigated in the early 90's because of this, and if memory serves correctly, they were found to be guilty (not in court I don't believe) of using these sleezy tactics. People who post things like, "I'm sick and tired of these CC bashing threads," obviously do not know about CC's past or even present for that matter.

CC as a company is completely horrible. Just last year they fired all of their "higher waged" workers to "bring in other workers" at a lower cost. In reality what they did was fire the employees making more money and then "asked the employees" to come back at a lower wage. When the employees refused, they hired other people at even lower wage. The company is, and has always been, shady to say the least.

So I understand the OP's problem as MANY people, even including myself at a younger age, are subjected to CC's terrible business practices. I have only stepped foot into one CC in the last 15 years and that was because my gf bought GHIII online for in store pick up and she wanted me to come with her, even though I told her I would make a scene if even one those scum bag employees looked at me.

However, my personal philosophy regarding CC is to never shop there again. I haven't sinced the day they ripped me off and I refuse to until they are either bought out and business practices change, or go out of business and have an "everything must go" sale.

So when I saw their ad in the Sunday paper yesterday with the COD4 $39.99 sale price, I just smiled and turned the page. I already have the game as it is, but in my head I wondered how many angry customers they would be losing by today when they heard, "We're out of them."

Someone asked, "Why would CC do this? Don't they want to sell something to someone?" Of course they do mate, but they don't want to sell you that particular product that was advertised. They want to get you in the store and when you see that they are "out of stock" they figure that since you're already there that maybe, just maybe, you'll do some Xmas shopping or pick up a TV, PS3, DVD, etc. It's the classic technique of bait-n-switch and it has been used for years and years until it was ruled illegal a long, long time ago.

Articles on CC firing employee incident:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2007-03-28-circuit-city-layoffs_N.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17837882/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802185.html

Article on a former CC employee-very interesting read!:

http://www.bspcn.com/2007/06/12/27-confessions-of-a-former-circuit-city-worker/

I also worked at Best Buy for 2 weeks until I could no longer take their BS. The article above can also go hand-in-hand with BB's practices as I have seen first hand. Always check your receipts people!

I couldn't agree more. Great post.

[Kayden]

I hide stuff in the broilers of ovens on the display floor. :lol:

I personally hide all sale item(s) and others below the low metal display case.

Theres a low metal cases that opens if you lift the top part.

In there goes in all sale item I hide before the promotion week or will stay there until it reaches bargain price.

One example is, I hid ff3 for ds last yr, and now its 20bucks.

I save 20 dollars there.

I hid cod4 last week so I can buy it anytime thisnweek.

[Pck21]

I couldn't agree more. Great post.

Thank you very much! Cheers!

[Pck21]

I hide stuff in the broilers of ovens on the display floor. :lol:

Haha! You know what's really funny? When I worked my brief stint at BB, we ALWAYS had people hide things in the appliance section. They didn't do it so they could "save" it for later, but to steal it, so be careful if you really are hiding stuff. We had a guy dragged out in handcuffs one time because he was hiding things all over the store. An employee caught him, called the cops, and they found a ton of stuff on him that was hidden in his jacket, pants, etc. He told the cops where he hid most of the other stuff and when they checked his car, or so legend has it, he had a ton of other stuff from other stores that he used the same trick on.

Also, just as an FYI, NEVER buy the product replacement and/or warranties that they offer. It's where they make the most money and usually (our store anyway) they will find any excuse not to honor it. Also check your receipt before you sign away or give them cash. Some of our employees would add on the warranty without telling people or even add things to people's carts when they weren't looking. This was a BIG reason why I quit, among other things. Management knew about it but looked away when this practice was brought to their attention. So just be very careful!

[sasukekun]

Article on a former CC employee-very interesting read!:

http://www.bspcn.com/2007/06/12/27-confessions-of-a-former-circuit-city-worker/
That article was actually really good. Enjoyed reading it. I can totally see why they push all the accessories on you now.

Always check your receipts people!
The other day I went to Weinerschutzul (sp?) and I had a coupon for a $3.33 deal (chili cheese dog/hamburger/fries). Bought 2 for lunch for the family and was looking at my receipt while I was waiting for them to prepare my food. And I noticed that the sub-total didnt match up with what it charged me and it was kind of hard to read since it showed all normal prices and then subtracted promo discounts. I added it all up on my cell phone calculator and it turns out that I was getting charged 25 cents extra on each deal. I know 50 cents isnt a big deal but make sure you know what you get charged for.

[Pck21]

That article was actually really good. Enjoyed reading it. I can totally see why they push all the accessories on you now.

Oh the stories I could tell you! In actuality the biggest mark ups are always on the the little things like cables, wires, other small accessories, etc. I know for a fact that at BB, a 100ft CAT5e cable was on the floor stickered at around $115-$120 (I can't remember the exact price for the life of me). With my employee discount, I could get the thing for...$12. Yes that's right, twelve (12) dollars. Mice and things like that went for around $50 and I could get them for around $20, sometimes less depending on the manager that rang me up. Big ticket items such as computers, TV's, game consoles, etc, are marked barely above cost so the reason they hammer you for all those extended warranties is to make a better profit on it. Remember, a warranty is not a physical thing; there's no parts, no labor, no anything. It's almost a figment of someone's imagination and they can charge whatever they want to charge you. The kicker in warranties is they are ALL profit. Nothing more, nothing less.

The best warranty I have found in any retail business is Costco's. They have a lifetime warranty on anything that you buy in the store. So if your Xbox 360 breaks, all you do is take it back to Costco and they give you a new one, no questions asked. Let's say that the product you want receives an upgrade (think 360 core, pro, elite, etc) and therefore is a little bit more money. If you find the one you want all you do is take yours back to the customer service area, tell them you want to upgrade, they will take your original product back and then all you do is pay the difference between the two items. It's fantastic.

[IAmTheCheapestGamer]

Oh the stories I could tell you! In actuality the biggest mark ups are always on the the little things like cables, wires, other small accessories, etc. I know for a fact that at BB, a 100ft CAT5e cable was on the floor stickered at around $115-$120 (I can't remember the exact price for the life of me). With my employee discount, I could get the thing for...$12. Yes that's right, twelve (12) dollars. Mice and things like that went for around $50 and I could get them for around $20, sometimes less depending on the manager that rang me up. Big ticket items such as computers, TV's, game consoles, etc, are marked barely above cost so the reason they hammer you for all those extended warranties is to make a better profit on it. Remember, a warranty is not a physical thing; there's no parts, no labor, no anything. It's almost a figment of someone's imagination and they can charge whatever they want to charge you. The kicker in warranties is they are ALL profit. Nothing more, nothing less.

The best warranty I have found in any retail business is Costco's. They have a lifetime warranty on anything that you buy in the store. So if your Xbox 360 breaks, all you do is take it back to Costco and they give you a new one, no questions asked. Let's say that the product you want receives an upgrade (think 360 core, pro, elite, etc) and therefore is a little bit more money. If you find the one you want all you do is take yours back to the customer service area, tell them you want to upgrade, they will take your original product back and then all you do is pay the difference between the two items. It's fantastic.

How much you wanna bet some return fraud idiots will ruin this policy for everyone and Costco will change their policy at some point in time. Having such a policy in todays market is a great thing for customer service, but you will have the inevitable bad apples who will ruin it. You wait and see.

As for the hiding stuff, I've never really gone so far as to stash stuff in appliances or anything, but I will say that I have hidden items behind other items and found them still there once they reached my price I wanted to pay.

Only item I think I've ever screwed up and stashed someplace where it was near impossible to get it back out of, was a copy of the WOW Atlas(with bookmarks I believe) at a local BB. I put it BEHIND one of those lowest shelves in the PC game section(the ones that're almost always empty) and when I went to adjust it, it went PLOP and fell flat on the floor behind the shelf.

I hope I'm there if they ever decide to move those shelves, since that'd be quite a laugh to find such an old guide and have it ring up .01 in their registers, much like the copy of Sonic & The Secret Rings I found, which was pennied about 4-6 months earlier.

[Pck21]

How much you wanna bet some return fraud idiots will ruin this policy for everyone and Costco will change their policy at some point in time. Having such a policy in todays market is a great thing for customer service, but you will have the inevitable bad apples who will ruin it. You wait and see.

As for the hiding stuff, I've never really gone so far as to stash stuff in appliances or anything, but I will say that I have hidden items behind other items and found them still there once they reached my price I wanted to pay.

Only item I think I've ever screwed up and stashed someplace where it was near impossible to get it back out of, was a copy of the WOW Atlas(with bookmarks I believe) at a local BB. I put it BEHIND one of those lowest shelves in the PC game section(the ones that're almost always empty) and when I went to adjust it, it went PLOP and fell flat on the floor behind the shelf.

I hope I'm there if they ever decide to move those shelves, since that'd be quite a laugh to find such an old guide and have it ring up .01 in their registers, much like the copy of Sonic & The Secret Rings I found, which was pennied about 4-6 months earlier.

I hear ya about the Costco program. If I am correct, they check things like serial numbers and other in-store labels to make sure they aren't getting a gutted system or anything along those lines. The only reason I know, and could just be the store near me, is a friend of mine tried to pull this on Costco. He bought something (not a game console) and then tried the old "switch-a-roo" with another similiar product. The CS rep wised up and started asking questions. He played dumb with them and finally left empty handed. However he did pop over to the nearest Wal-Mart and returned it without a receipt or anything. Figures as much.

But Costco tells every customer about the return policy because it's one of the main selling points of the membership, so in reality it's not a secret by any means. The rep that I signed up with told me that even if the product is out of print or isn't manufactured anymore, they will still take it back and give you a store credit if they don't have it in stock. It's a really great policy that I have yet to use because I buy my consoles and things like that when I can find them. I'll tell you what though, my next TV and game consoles will all be purchased through Costco from now on.

Haha I think we all have stashed away little treasures in stores. I used to do it as a kid in Target but everytime I went back, it was never there. I will never forget what that guy pulled at BB though. It was the strangest work related experience I have ever had.

[Redeema]

What some of you need to understand is that sometimes things happen and not everything in the ad is in stock. I used to work at CC, but this isn't limited to them. If something goes on sale on Sunday they try to have things in stock, sometimes they'll pull the product from the floor. This may have been one case and the employee who stored them didn't notify anyone, so when you found one the CSR who rang you up was surprised because he thought they were out. That's a likely scenario, or maybe everyone wanted to have a LIVE party and bought it the night before? I don't know.

I don't think it's necessarily bait and switch, in general they try to provide an alternative to those sorts of products. In a situation like this, it's not really an option though. Sometimes they don't receive a shipment, sometimes things that are plentiful during the middle of the week get sold later in the week and therefore are not replenished.

What sort of bonus do they get for hiding something from you? Also showing up an HOUR after they opened during the holiday season? Come on, you do know people line up an hour or two before the store opens, right?

[bil4ltool]

What some of you need to understand is that sometimes things happen and not everything in the ad is in stock. I used to work at CC, but this isn't limited to them. If something goes on sale on Sunday they try to have things in stock, sometimes they'll pull the product from the floor. This may have been one case and the employee who stored them didn't notify anyone, so when you found one the CSR who rang you up was surprised because he thought they were out. That's a likely scenario, or maybe everyone wanted to have a LIVE party and bought it the night before? I don't know.

I don't think it's necessarily bait and switch, in general they try to provide an alternative to those sorts of products. In a situation like this, it's not really an option though. Sometimes they don't receive a shipment, sometimes things that are plentiful during the middle of the week get sold later in the week and therefore are not replenished.

What sort of bonus do they get for hiding something from you? Also showing up an HOUR after they opened during the holiday season? Come on, you do know people line up an hour or two before the store opens, right?
When CC knows they're going to have a big sale (like this or the free COD3) they should get a good amount in (It's not like the Wii, there are millions of copies of these games), but they don't. The reason they don't? They know that they'll get tons of people in the store and many of them will buy a different to console themselves.

Also I wouldn't be surprised if CC took a bit of a loss on a few copies to know that people will be hitting BB and Wal Mart PM'ing and causing them to take a loss on the game. I wouldn't put anything past CC and their dirty tactics. They actually make BB look reasonable by comparison..


On another note Costco stopped that warranty on products a while back because people were abusing it. http://consumerist.com/consumer/costco/costco-leak-electronic-returns-limited-to-90days-starting-today-239610.php

[SaraAB]

A good place to hide items like games and dvd's is in the 3 ring binders in the stationary. Just remember where you put it. A rack of towels or clothing isn't as good because eventually someone will have to straighten it or go through it. This works for most stores that carry them, the employees will NEVER find the items there because no one buys them and no one straightens these aisles, if your into hiding items in the store that is.

[IAmTheCheapestGamer]

LOL I know of someone who used to lift up the lower shelves(like they put Guitar Hero and Beatmania game bundles on) and stash stuff UNDER those shelves. I think they still do, but to me, that's just going TOO FAR for a deal.

[tcrash247]

I know for a fact that my CC never puts out the new game relases. I guess they assume people won't want to ask and just buy something else. Everytime I've gone there to buy a new game release, I've had to ask someone and they say "Let me check the back." 10 minutes later they come out with one and only one copy, for me and leave the rest back there.

One time I went in to buy Marvel Ultimate Alliance when it came out. I asked for it, he went in the back and brought one copy out for me. As he was in the back, someone else came to the game section and waited for the guy to come back. He asked for MUA as well and the guy went in the back and brought out one copy for the customer. Same thing happened for the release of Call of Duty 4, and they had no Call of Duty 3's, or so they say. They obviously don't want to put them on the shelves, those rat bastards.

[M3wThr33]

I've seen it happen when my mom used to buy Barbies. At our local supermarket, they were beginning to stock some new Barbie and my mom went to look for it. No dice, at first. Eventually she found it stashed away in a rack on the floor hidden in the back.
When she went to go ring it up, the checker asked where she found that and my mom said where. The checker got pissed off and stormed out of the store.

[WeLoveDaisuke]

The best hiding place we had at Target was duct taping something to the bottom of the returns table.

CC is where I bought my first CD player and CD's. I remember that they wouldn't take no for an answer when I said I didn't want a replacement plan. My parents came back over when I was about to pay and flipped on the guy for forcing the plan. I still consider this to be among the better shopping experiences I've had there.

[Pck21]

The best hiding place we had at Target was duct taping something to the bottom of the returns table.

CC is where I bought my first CD player and CD's. I remember that they wouldn't take no for an answer when I said I didn't want a replacement plan. My parents came back over when I was about to pay and flipped on the guy for forcing the plan. I still consider this to be among the better shopping experiences I've had there.

LOL! Sorry I started just busting up here at work after reading that! It's funny cause it's true.

[ighosty]

I worked at CC a couple of years ago. It was common place to hide sale items so that employees could buy them. But it was usually only like two or three copys of an item not the whole stock. And on that note those bonus deals you always see in the CC ads, buy cod 4 get cod3 etc, the stores usually get very few copys of the free item, since they don't actually make any money from it. I remember all the customers I had to talk to about free shirts that came with cds, when the store would only get 1 or 2 shirts.

[SaraAB]

That is funny, the barbie story was funny too. During the pound puppies craze in the 80s I had an aunt who worked at kmart so when the pound puppies came in she would hide some in the back for me before the stampede of people to get them started so that I would be able to get them.

Am I the only one who actually USED the replacement plans though, they were a pretty good deal back when walkmans and cd's ruled. Nowadays there are so many loopholes and they just seem scammy, I would never buy a replacement plan today unless it was from a store that I really trusted, and most if not all chain stores are untrustworthy now with these plans!

I would go through walkmans like crazy in high school so I just bought one at sears with a replacement plan and when it broke I would exchange it for another one, plus they renewed the replacement plan for another 2 years, it was a good deal because I got many walkmans for the price of one.

I also remember using the target return anything even if its broken return policy in 90 days (this was also back in the day) as long as you have the reciept for walkmans and portable CD players a couple times, of course it was used just before the 90 days was up!

[ElwoodCuse]

Costco already did change their return policy, electronics stuff is only covered for 90 days now.

[IAmTheCheapestGamer]

That is funny, the barbie story was funny too. During the pound puppies craze in the 80s I had an aunt who worked at kmart so when the pound puppies came in she would hide some in the back for me before the stampede of people to get them started so that I would be able to get them.

Am I the only one who actually USED the replacement plans though, they were a pretty good deal back when walkmans and cd's ruled. Nowadays there are so many loopholes and they just seem scammy, I would never buy a replacement plan today unless it was from a store that I really trusted, and most if not all chain stores are untrustworthy now with these plans!

I would go through walkmans like crazy in high school so I just bought one at sears with a replacement plan and when it broke I would exchange it for another one, plus they renewed the replacement plan for another 2 years, it was a good deal because I got many walkmans for the price of one.

I also remember using the target return anything even if its broken return policy in 90 days (this was also back in the day) as long as you have the reciept for walkmans and portable CD players a couple times, of course it was used just before the 90 days was up!

I just used my PRP @ Best Buy late last month for my Xbox I got there 2 years ago. I didn't need to use it really, but I have another Xbox that I got from another CAG, so I took mine in and said the controller was acting up. They didn't even test it, just took it in and said 'well, we can't give you another one because they don't make them anymore', so I got my $158.99 back on a store credit gift card, which I ended up using on Black Friday to buy a slim PStwo and a 2 year PRP on that, which I'll probably cash in just prior to the 2 years being up.

The current PRP's are great, since it's like renting a system for $20-50 for 2 years and then getting a replacement just before those 2 years are up.

Maybe it's wrong to cash them in if you don't NEED to, but that's a loophole that came out in MY favor I'd say.

[TimPV3]

You're an idiot. If CC wanted to hide an item,

WHY WOULD THEY HIDE IT WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT?

You ever think maybe a customer put it there? Or even an employee waiting until his shift was over? Shit, during those $10 clearance sales, you'd find shit hidden behind And1 Basketball and Cabela's games all the time.

[bickle]

And because they are expert hiders, they hid them on the store floor, where customers could find them, rather than putting them in the storeroom. That's way more likely than another customer hiding them on Saturday. :P