CAG, DVDTalk, CC & Speedy's Ads

SAVE SPEEDY!

This is absurd. I have spent hundreds of dollars at Circuit City I normally wouldn't have if it weren't for Speedy taking the time to post the weekly ads a little early. Circuit City undoubtedly profited from Speedy's ad awareness, unlike Speedy who gained nothing except the thanks and respect from the gaming and DVD bargain hunting communities. Good luck Speedy.



save_speedy.jpg
 
this would be a good question to ask as well ... but what are the chances of the EFF becoming involved on Speedy's behalf, if any??
 
I decided to just write a polite letter, and de-activated my on-line Circuit City account. I'm realistic enough to know it won't matter in the grand scheme of things, but I do feel better about no longer being a patron of Circuit City :)
 
[quote name='hhhdx4']Lets be honest here though, posting the PS3 and 360 (or any other) price drops weeks beforehand doesnt help Circuit City in the slightest, the more people know about the pricedrops the more people will hold off on buying them at their original price and CC loses money, Thats just business.
.[/QUOTE]

I disagree. Because CC has a 30-day price guarantee policy, there is no reason whatsoever for people to wait, because they can get the pricematch. And i'd venture to say that anyone who is on this site or any site where these ads get posted, know that these price match policies exist. Of course, this also hurts if they give you that extra 10 percent off, but thats another argument, isn't it?

The fact is, ads are supposed to get customers in the door, to buy stuff that is not only in the ad, but anything else in the store. Whether the ad gets you in the door now or in a week, CC is still going to make money off you.
 
Circuit City loses money on every transaction I make there, so I'm going to shop there more often. Seriously, how many CAGers picked up $410 PS3 there last month?
 
[quote name='sman113']I disagree. Because CC has a 30-day price guarantee policy, there is no reason whatsoever for people to wait, because they can get the pricematch. And i'd venture to say that anyone who is on this site or any site where these ads get posted, know that these price match policies exist. Of course, this also hurts if they give you that extra 10 percent off, but thats another argument, isn't it?

The fact is, ads are supposed to get customers in the door, to buy stuff that is not only in the ad, but anything else in the store. Whether the ad gets you in the door now or in a week, CC is still going to make money off you.[/quote]


And not everyone either knows about their pricematching policy or cares enough to pricematch after purchase. Point is if they are a business, if 10 people buy a ps3 at 600 dollars and 5 of them get it pricematched CC makes more money than if all 10 people waited 2 weeks. If you had a business too you would be pissed/take legal action if someone was advertising your sales before you got a chance too. Make no msitake Im eternally grateful to Speedy for everything he has done, but to say CC doesnt have a case or is bullying someone for no reason is ludicrous.
 
[quote name='hhhdx4']And not everyone either knows about their pricematching policy or cares enough to pricematch after purchase. Point is if they are a business, if 10 people buy a ps3 at 600 dollars and 5 of them get it pricematched CC makes more money than if all 10 people waited 2 weeks. If you had a business too you would be pissed/take legal action if someone was advertising your sales before you got a chance too. Make no msitake Im eternally grateful to Speedy for everything he has done, but to say CC doesnt have a case or is bullying someone for no reason is ludicrous.[/quote]I think his point was that if people are on a site where they can see speedy's ads (i.e. this one) they are quite aware of the price matching policies of the stores. If people don't care enough to know about the price match policy of a store, odds are they aren't on bargain sites.
 
You what would be nice? Is CC used all the resources it has going into putting a stop to Speedy and put those into making their stores even 1/2 way decent. Most people in my family refer to it was "Sleazy City" anyway. This just punctuates that.

I have to wonder, is the CC heat sorta coming from Sony or was this just the straw that broke the camels back for CC in general?
 
So, from what I'm reading, CC is basically pissed about the ads being posted early?

fuck them!

If those ads weren't posted here I would never see them. They're only in the Sunday paper and I don't read newspapers anyway. I don't know why they would be mad other than a product company being pissed that people know somethng is going t be on sale a week ahead of time. The only time I ever go inthere is when I find out about price drops and good deals here and both are far and few between.

Didn't they fire like 10,000 employees because they were getting paid too much and if they wanted to keep theirjobs they had to re apply and take a lower pay rate. fuck them.
 
If I didn't know about these deals, I wouldn't even shop at these stores. That's all I can say. If Speedy gets in trouble, I will take my money elsewhere.
 
So this huge corporation is going after one person? If this actually goes anywhere, CC will never get another dollar from me.
 
[quote name='Apossum']so they're mad that people can know in advance what they want to buy at their store...gg cc.[/quote]

pretty much. What a bunch of fucktards. Bunch of douches. Somebody digg this thread and have the CAG armada and might bringing it to the front page.
 
[quote name='emceelokey']So, from what I'm reading, CC is basically pissed about the ads being posted early?

fuck them!

If those ads weren't posted here I would never see them. They're only in the Sunday paper and I don't read newspapers anyway. I don't know why they would be mad other than a product company being pissed that people know somethng is going t be on sale a week ahead of time. The only time I ever go inthere is when I find out about price drops and good deals here and both are far and few between.

Didn't they fire like 10,000 employees because they were getting paid too much and if they wanted to keep theirjobs they had to re apply and take a lower pay rate. fuck them.[/quote]

I'm totally with you on this one. And the nice thing is that we have three great places to PM here: Fry's, Walmart, and BB. Fry's beats out BB and CC any day of the week and BB has really turned itself around in the past couple of years here since I put the fuck BB in my sig.
 
Posting this here as well so that people don't feel that a boycott does nothing

[quote name='Tsukento']
To be completely I honest, I think this will hardly have any effect on CC.[/quote]
I agree with your other sentiments in this post that this is probably Sony's doing, but CC is just as guilty as a coconspirator. I don't buy Sony anymore - no matter what it is - and will not be shopping at CC in the interum (sp) until either CAG, DVDTalk, and Speedy are exonerated of any charges or it just blows over.

To address your post that this will not have any effect on CC, I would beg to differ. CC's stock has been in the toilet for sometime now. They simply cannot compete against the onslaught that BB and Walmart have on them and when a Fry's moves into their area you can practically stick a fork in them as they're pretty much finished.

Circuit City's stock is valued at 11.35

Best Buy's stock is valued at 45.09

Pretty HUGE difference in stock evaluation there. If you get the internet's might - a few bloggers, some myspaces/facebookers, the bargain sites - then you've got quite an onslaught there. 100,000 CAGs not reading their ads and going elsewhere will be a huge dent to their overall bottom line and you'll see their stock drop even more.

Let's spread the word and send this out to all the mags and get kotaku on board. They have a pretty large readership (much of which consists of CAGs) there.
 
I have always hated CC anyways, and I refuse to shop their now after many horrible shopping experiences.

Did the XBOX LIVE Points deal break CC or something?
 
[quote name='doubledown']Did the XBOX LIVE Points deal break CC or something?[/quote]They've been broken well before that.

Good luck, speedy. Thanks for your contributions, it was always greatly appreciated.
 
Even if Speedy had the inside scoop of upcoming deals, there is no reason for CC to make a big stink about it. These places are full of politics, and info is easily leaked out to insiders, others and then to the public. Not to say that Speedy knows someone from CC or that he is an insider. I just think that CC should have used a better approach of figuring this stuff out rather than trying to get a CAG member's personal information. CC was probably getting a lot more business out of this and I wouldn't doubt that many people will stop shopping there.
 
This does not shock me. I say last thanksgiving we were told at the newspaper if anyone LEAKED any info about the Sunday or thanksgiving ads before they came out would be FIRED ON THE SPOT.

Leaking the ads before they come out is concidered stealing (dont ask me why)

I was told my management from a CC store when i tried to price adjust games that they had the right to call the police on me cause i stold their info early and had info that the public should not have had.

if you want to post the ads DO so on the sunday they come out simple as that

speedy and CAG have no chance to win a lawsuit if they wanted these ads posted early CC would give them to the public before sunday

Sad to say but CAG Is #$#$#$#$#.. i would just say i wouldnt post ads anymore and say i didnt know it was breaking any laws and hopefully CC will let it pass. BUT If CC wanted to pushed this issue i say the site is #$#$# big time

im shocked CC didnt do this last JULY 4 sale. The info was leaked early and when that day came 99% of all the good games were already gone
 
Maybe it's because all of the Sunday ads are being posted early. Lemme put it this way, if CircuitCity's ad was the only posted early, I doubt they would have a problem with it. If you see Bestbuy's latest game sale a week early, you won't shop at circuitcity to buy games that week, and they will be loosing money.

That's my dad's theory
 
[quote name='linkpwns']Maybe it's because all of the Sunday ads are being posted early. Lemme put it this way, if CircuitCity's ad was the only posted early, I doubt they would have a problem with it. If you see Bestbuy's latest game sale a week early, you won't shop at circuitcity to buy games that week, and they will be loosing money.

That's my dad's theory[/quote]It works the other way, too. I might go into BB to buy a game, but then see that CC will have it on sale the next week, so I'll hold off and pick it up there. Whatever. fuck you CC.
 
I think conspiring to ruin a company(whether they deserve it or not) might be borderline illegal, I could be wrong, but it might not be the best idea to turn this thread in that direction. Even if I am wrong and it isn't, it's still not the best idea because itll put somewhat of a black mark on CAG as a whole.
 
[quote name='Surestrike']I think conspiring to ruin a company(whether they deserve it or not) might be borderline illegal, I could be wrong, but it might not be the best idea to turn this thread in that direction. Even if I am wrong and it isn't, it's still not the best idea because itll put somewhat of a black mark on CAG as a whole.[/QUOTE]

It's not illegal to try and put someone out of business. Nothing whatsoever, because no one has advocated torching the place.
 
People, it is Circuit City's right to have control over their ads.

Personally, if I were in CC's shoes, I'd just ask for the early release of ad info to stop instead of going to this extent because getting lawyers involved can only make things messy. Frankly, I don't think their action is necessary as a first step. If you really think boycotting is going to help then go for it, but realize they don't want people waiting for bottom dollar games all the time anyway. So all you are doing is giving them what they want.
 
[quote name='Surestrike']I think conspiring to ruin a company(whether they deserve it or not) might be borderline illegal, I could be wrong, but it might not be the best idea to turn this thread in that direction. Even if I am wrong and it isn't, it's still not the best idea because itll put somewhat of a black mark on CAG as a whole.[/QUOTE]

It's illegal to conspire to "sabotage" a business. It's everyday free economy capitalism that allows the public at large to decide whether or not to shop at a store.
 
Speedy, you have made this an expensive summer for me because I normally do not check ads, but your early ads kept me ready on Sunday mornings to go buy the good stuff.

Thank you and good luck with all the legal mumbo jumbo. You'll beat it.
 
Speedy rocks. N'uff said.

Here's the deal...Circuit City can try to go after Speedy, but it's kind of inconsequential; they're missing the point. When you have info like this out somewhere in the world, it's going to get out. They're fighting a fight they cannot win, wasting money on something that they will never be able to stop. Instead of fighting it, why not try to come up with some way to capitalize on it?

RD
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']People, it is Circuit City's right to have control over their ads.

Personally, if I were in CC's shoes, I'd just ask for the early release of ad info to stop instead of going to this extent because getting lawyers involved can only make things messy. Frankly, I don't think their action is necessary as a first step. If you really think boycotting is going to help then go for it, but realize they don't want people waiting for bottom dollar games all the time anyway. So all you are doing is giving them what they want.[/quote]Anyone halfway intelligent understands CC's issue here (at least I hope so), and that we aren't their favorite customers is pretty obvious. However, loss-leaders work just as well for us two weeks in advance than anyone else on the first day of the sale - we go into the store for that item. Random soccer mom doesn't say "I want that movie on sale. And maybe I'll buy something full price while I'm there!" she just happens to buy something else, or not. Same with us.

If it was only CC's ad being posted, I could see them having some issue with the loss of trade secrets allowing other companies to react to their sales in advance, but they have the same advantage since Best Buy and Target are posted right along with them.

I think we all agree that they could have gone about this much better. Hell, they could have made a deal to allow a small portion of the ad to be posted early, similar to how NPD made a deal with NeoGAF to provide them with a subset of their monthly data - in return, members were forbidden from leaking the full data they may have been privy to. NPD could have gone suit-crazy, asking for IP logs and the like (as CC is doing), but they were smart and tried to find an agreeable solution for everyone.
 
I have to admit, I can see why CC would be angered over the leaks. Lost of people are saying that it doesn't matter that the ads are being leaked, because it not like people can jump on it early. Well, like others said, with the knowledge of a price drop/sale, CC will take a hit on sales of that particular item.
I can also see how price matching can cause a headache as well. When there is influx of sales of people intending to pricematch, CC most likely would not/can not take into consideration that those sales will later be issued some money back. It doesn't look good for sales figures when large amounts of money are given back to the consumer.

On the other hand though, I do agree that the actions CC has taken have been a bit extreme. I am in no way familiar with the laws regarding this but if it is worth it for CC to issue a subpoena to two different websites, both asking for information on the same person, isn't there a more efficient way of obtaining the information? Such as through the government?
Unless CC has had discussions in private beforehand about the early ads, comming out of the gates swinging like this just doesn't seem like the right course of action.

Still, I would like to say thanks to speedy, because you have saved me a decent amount of money, which I am sure retailers aren't too happy about when many others have saved as well.
 
I can see why CC would be angry over this. One Word: Sony

I agree with what botticus said, and on top of that I think it's fair to say that no soccer mom is going "jeez, my son wants _______ for his birthday, I better check the next 3 weeks of ads on CAG to see if its on sale or I'm not picking it up." For goodness sake, you have to be a member to even view the deals forum (Time to add a clause in our membership agreement about lawyers for companies Cheapy?) That essentially means that CAG is a private club since everything is hidden (sans the front page links which say you have to register).

Either way, us devil customers are going to only buy loss leaders one way or another. Guess what CC, if we get the ad on Sunday, we're just going to go then and buy the loss leaders. It isn't going to change a thing.
 
another thing that they could have had a problem with is hoarders, I know it isnt as big a problem here, but stuff that posted ehre finds its way to SD and FW, who have no shame about raping promo's. When I went to pick up COD2 for 16 bucks at CC I saw two guys (they were together) buy 3 copies of COD3 at $40 each, and then the whole points fiasco are two more recent events that ive witnessed and it does hurt them as a business.
 
I'm sorry... but Speedy isn't the only one to lead ads on the net, and he never will be. Look at the bfads20xx site every year... I don't think that Speedy owns the domain. He's literally being scapegoated for an internet trend. I've gotta agree with some of you guys, I think that Sony may be the one pressuring CC legal to do something about this. Why? Because leaking ads only ads to the chain's overall marketing and promotions efforts.

Now I've seen the argument within this and other threads that "CC is mad because they are losing money due to selling something at a lower price than the week before." Look at it from this perspective.. which is better, selling a digital camera $20 cheaper than retail the following week, or losing that potential sale to the primary competitor (Best Buy)? Any marketing director worth his grain of salt would know that you can't buy free promotion the likes of an ad spreading across the interwebs in advance.. why do you think they are even put in newspapers in the first place (because said chain is trying to reach you, the potential customer, and draw you in with promotional material).

So.. why would the want bad press, in a time that they are trying to regain ground lost to Best Buy? Why would they retain such customer-friendly policies as 110% price match, 30 day lower price refunds, etc.. if they feared the educated consumer as much as Best Buy does?? Thirdly, why would the chain have enough awareness of a gaming deals site such as CAG.. when so many other product categories are much more profitable than their game sales (let's face it.. they maybe make $5 on new games.. and they only sell within the first two to three weeks of release.. and a year later, a mediocre game that was once full MSRP is now slashed down to $14.99 and still hogs valuable inventory space).

They wouldn't. They wouldn't give a shit, because quite frankly.. almost every retailer takes a loss on game sales, due to the nature of manufacturers ruling hardware and software price floors with an iron fist.

Now, consider this.. CAG has ended up on almost every major press outlet lately for the console price drops. Who would pay attention to the gaming press more.. the manufacturer/distributor (Sony)... or the retailer who makes 0 profit from the good, and depends on software/accessory sales of the console to make their profit? The retailer will only benefit from the hardware price cut in free space for inventory, and sales of other goods affiliated with the system.

I'd hate to sound like a geek Perry Mason here, but do the math.. look at the behavioral patterns in Sony marketing and distribution (including the whole PSP/import fiasco), and compare that with the fact that a large electronics manufacturer is not achieving the sales that they are used to achieving for their previous versions of hardware (they believe in their brand value is high enough to create early adopters of anything they manufacture now).. and there you have it, damage control.

Basically, when you were younger and played Street Fighter II on your SNES.. and there was that fat kid down the block who could kick everybody else's ass in the neighborhood with Ken.. well, one day, you go over to his house.. and kick his ass with Cammy. Suddenly, the fat kid becomes unraveled at the seams.. throws a fit, starts blaming the controller, begins pointing fingers at every factor on the planet each time you pummel his ass. Sony is the fat kid, and Speedy is the proverbial "sticky D-pad" causing them to lose.

All said.. it's bullshit, I hate the fact that one simple ad poster is becoming the martyr for all deal-site informants.. and the bad press alone is going to be more expensive than the free marketing they received from his efforts. I know the company has made some really stupid decisions lately, but this move sounds forced.. as if a certain hardware distributor threatened to yank their products if weekly ads didn't stop stealing the thunder of said distributor's own spin-zone press releases...
 
CheapyD, favor to ask - add in Circuit City to the "competitive ad filter" on Google Adsense. I know they're making you money, but it's a kick in the face to the community to see them advertised on every page when we're all pissed with them.
 
A related thought for Cheapy, if you're reading. Any chance we can get CC stuff banned from the Deals forum? I'd really like to see the CAG community really take a stand against this idiotic company until they right their ways.
 
[quote name='daroga']A related thought for Cheapy, if you're reading. Any chance we can get CC stuff banned from the Deals forum? I'd really like to see the CAG community really take a stand against this idiotic company until they right their ways.[/QUOTE]

Like I said in the other thread, what about the people who don't support this little "boycott"? Should we have to suffer not getting in on their great deals because a few people have their panties in a bunch about this whole thing?

BTW, Cheapy's loving this thing right now. From the beginning when CAG "broke the news" all the way up to now all this extra traffic to CAG means extra money in Cheapy's pocket. Does that mean you're going to stop coming here too because Cheapy is profitting off of Speedy's plight?
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Like I said in the other thread, what about the people who don't support this little "boycott"? Should we have to suffer not getting in on their great deals because a few people have their panties in a bunch about this whole thing?

BTW, Cheapy's loving this thing right now. From the beginning when CAG "broke the news" all the way up to now all this extra traffic to CAG means extra money in Cheapy's pocket. Does that mean you're going to stop coming here too because Cheapy is profitting off of Speedy's plight?[/quote]Alrighty, so, a new subform for the scabs? ;)

No, seriosuly, it's a good point. It's just a thought I was throwing out there. As far as Cheapy profting from the fiasco, I don't have a real big issue with it given Cheapy's attitude in all of this. If he was selling out Speedy then I would reconsider coming here again, but that's not the case at all.
 
[quote name='daroga']Alrighty, so, a new subform for the scabs? ;)

No, seriosuly, it's a good point. It's just a thought I was throwing out there. As far as Cheapy profting from the fiasco, I don't have a real big issue with it given Cheapy's attitude in all of this. If he was selling out Speedy then I would reconsider coming here again, but that's not the case at all.[/QUOTE]

See, my opinion on this whole deal is that the parties involved are Circuit City, Cheapy, and Speedy. I'm gonna let them and their lawyers figure this whole mess out because none of it involves me. I continue to support all 3 parties and no matter the outcome, it won't affect my opinion of any of them.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']See, my opinion on this whole deal is that the parties involved are Circuit City, Cheapy, and Speedy. I'm gonna let them and their lawyers figure this whole mess out because none of it involves me. I continue to support all 3 parties and no matter the outcome, it won't affect my opinion of any of them.[/quote]I can totally understand that as well. My suggestion was an attempt to stab you (and others with your opinion) in the back. Just throwing out ideas. :)
 
Like I said in the other thread, what about the people who don't support this little "boycott"? Should we have to suffer not getting in on their great deals because a few people have their panties in a bunch about this whole thing?
Click to expand...
You do realize that the outcome of this fiasco will determine your ability to locate those "great deals" you love so much, right? Or did I miss something in reading this thread?

Given what I've read so far, I do agree on the following things:

1. God Bless CheapyD for jumping to Speedy's defense.

2. Circuit City may not exactly be the culprit in this, only the pawn, so I hereby temporary cease-fire my protest of CC (and the launching of mortar rounds) until this is resolved.

3. The CAG community doesn't need to rally around the overthrowing of CC/Sony (not yet anyway), given that there are valid arguments on both sides that our business either hurts or helps them.

4. The only important issue at hand, currently, is jumping to Speedy's defense. Who, as a fellow CAG, deserves that much, regardless of how you feel about his posting of the ads each week (It's not like he was ripping off a fellow CAG, which is the total opposite of a large corporation (or two) coming down on a single man).

~HotShotX
 
since the other thread got closed i guess i will repost this here

051201tiananmensquareexmu9.jpg



also i wonder if speedy decided to just unplug the net right now cause i am curious how hes doing
 
[quote name='Gamerguy']CheapyD, favor to ask - add in Circuit City to the "competitive ad filter" on Google Adsense. I know they're making you money, but it's a kick in the face to the community to see them advertised on every page when we're all pissed with them.[/quote] I can understand the frustration, but hopefully you can take take joy in the irony that they are helping to pay our legal bills.

[quote name='daroga']A related thought for Cheapy, if you're reading. Any chance we can get CC stuff banned from the Deals forum? I'd really like to see the CAG community really take a stand against this idiotic company until they right their ways.[/quote] I don't think its fair that I (we) make shopping decisions for all CAGs. As always, it should be up to the individual who gets their business. A banning of CC will cost us credibility as a comprehensive game shopping site.

[quote name='RedvsBlue']BTW, Cheapy's loving this thing right now. From the beginning when CAG "broke the news" all the way up to now all this extra traffic to CAG means extra money in Cheapy's pocket. Does that mean you're going to stop coming here too because Cheapy is profitting off of Speedy's plight?[/quote] I can assure you that I am not "loving this thing". I would much rather not be involved. Am I losing sleep over it? No, not yet. However, I bet Speedy is and that really fucking sucks. Hopefully, everything turns out alright for Speedy and the biggest side-effect of this ordeal is extra traffic to CAG and some extra cash in my pocket. Knowing what legal fees can run...that last part seems unlikely.
 
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