Tell us about your Black Friday Experience: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly...

[justjohn]

Honestly, I think a good shopper can get deals almost as good with a little searching on the internet. Coheteboy found his BR player for only $20 more and didn't have to wait in the cold overnight and still not get it for sure. My time is worth more than that.

[awaflyboy]

Originally Posted by knittingknerd

I'd complain AwayFlyBoy. Go to Sears.com and tell them what happened and how they can't advertise something and only have 1 in stock. Complain!

Oh I've already been on SearsFeedback.com and have complained about it.

The sears.com website has been crashing all day. LOL Wonder if they are getting too many complaints....

[Disney Wrassler]

awaflyboy

At 455am they opened up (5 min early - woot) and I made a bee line to the dvd players to get the Sony Blu Ray player they had on door buster sale for $179 - I ended up being the 3rd person in line for them. And it turns out they only had ONE, yes just ONE in stock! WTF!!! How incompetent is that? To only think that one person might want a $400 dvd player for $179? Talk about calling shenanigans!!

I don't think it's incompitent. I mean, they probably sold a lot before that even and couldn't get any last minute orders in.

But lets be honest. There's never enough .

Thankfully the dvd player wasn't the only reason why I picked Sears for the doorbuster shopping - I was able to get over $500 in jewelry for just $150! And the girl that served me was wonderful, she fought so hard to get the $10 off coupon that was in the circular applied, sadly the manager said no but I was so impressed with how hard the sales girl fought. Instead she ended up finding a 20% off deal that could be applied which saved me even more than the coupon! So that kinda made up for the dvd player.

I give credit to that girl. It's really hard keeping a smile on during the busy days and it's really hard to keep a happy attitude also. But that's awsome of her !

Disneyland Daddy

So far, Black Friday is Pumpkin Pie Friday for me. I got up and had my typical 'day after' breakfast - yeah, Pumpkin Pie. I know - terribly nutritious

Hey, pumpkin does come from the ground. So it must be a vegatable to some degree .

Knittingnerd

I'd complain AwayFlyBoy. Go to Sears.com and tell them what happened and how they can't advertise something and only have 1 in stock. Complain!

Question, were they advertising for that store in specific, or all stores in the district? Because I know for the store I work for, they send out ads for products carried in stores in the district. But that doesn't mean each store will have the product shipped to them. But also take into consideration what I said before, they could have simply sold out of them and could get anymore back in stock in time.

JustJohn

a walmart employee was trampled to death this morning when the shoppers stormed the store.

Sick bastards.

That's horrible! But I'm not surprised. People are selfish and careless during this season it seems. Last night I watched Dumbest Criminals: Black Friday Edition on TruTV and they showed people fighting in store lobbies and what not. How stupid.

elly

with the economy as bad as it is, and people as desperate as they are to get the "best" deals, i didnt' feel it was worth it to get up and fight the crowds this year..i just had a feeling they'd be more aggresive than usual and to me its just not worth it

so my Black Friday included talking to justjohn about various electronic equipment for a living room entertainment center, playing WoW until 5am, then watching the last episode of Heroes we had left on our DVR, sleeping..and just now getting up

Did you see the credit card vultures circling the skies over these stores, getting ready for a big, tasty treat this morning by any chance? I think I saw some over at Wal-Mart.

[awaflyboy]

Originally Posted by Disney Wrassler

awaflyboy



I don't think it's incompitent. I mean, they probably sold a lot before that even and couldn't get any last minute orders in.

But lets be honest. There's never enough .



I give credit to that girl. It's really hard keeping a smile on during the busy days and it's really hard to keep a happy attitude also. But that's awsome of her !

It was part of the nationwide sale advertised in the circular that came out the previous day. I honestly don't think there was a sudden run of $400 dvd players before black friday.

All the other store ads posted that there would be guaranteed minimums, usually 10. I was the 3rd person in line to inquire about the player, the sales clerk goes into the back to get the players (they didn't have any out on the shelves - claimed it was a "high ticket item") when he came back he said sorry, we just have the one.

[NeverNeverland]

Ooops missed this thread My experience was sweet.

I ended up getting up s 9 a.m. and going to Toys R Us... quick and easy, no checkout lines, took about 15 mins total! then to Kohl's which was busier but not bad. The checkout line was LONG but quick... all lanes were open and they had people directing traffic. I don't think i spent more than 5 mins in line. I got everything I wanted too Yay!

The worst part of the day was Dunkin Donuts almost being all out of donuts! I saved quite a few calories though

[Disney Wrassler]

Originally Posted by awaflyboy

It was part of the nationwide sale advertised in the circular that came out the previous day. I honestly don't think there was a sudden run of $400 dvd players before black friday.

All the other store ads posted that there would be guaranteed minimums, usually 10. I was the 3rd person in line to inquire about the player, the sales clerk goes into the back to get the players (they didn't have any out on the shelves - claimed it was a "high ticket item") when he came back he said sorry, we just have the one.

Well, who knows if there was a sudden rush. But even if there wasn't, they still could have sold out of the players they had available in their inventory. I wouldn't be surprised if they got those DVD players weeks, if not months, in advance and began to sell them once they were delivered. Plus, sometimes when orders are made, the people who are suppost to send us the right stuff have a tendancy to either A) Not send us what we need, B) send us the wrong stuff, C) send us a limited amount of the product, D) send us mislabeled products, or E) who knows, they might do their job right on the rare occassion and send us exactly what we order.

I'm not trying to take any side or anything, but there can be many reasons in regards to why their might have just been one DVD player available. Sure, it could have been incompetance, but their are other possibilities to rule out as well. The issue might have been caused by something outside of the store managers control. Backorders could have possibly been the culprit here. Who knows.

But atleast you wound up getting a raincheck on it over at K-Mart. I wish that stores would set up compliment services rather than just complaint services though. People like myself and that girl really go out of our way to make customers happy. But all we get is a stinkin complaint section on a stores website.

But Bravo to that girl who got you that 20% off deal .

[penguinsoda]

Originally Posted by justjohn

a walmart employee was trampled to death this morning when the shoppers stormed the store.

Sick bastards.

Holy cow JJ I thought you were kidding....

Worker dies in Black Friday store rush - 11/28/08 - New York News and Tri-State News - 7online.com


That is freaking nuts.... now a family will be without their loved one this holiday season because people wanted THINGS. It was so much more important to them to get into that store no matter what so they could buy even more crap that they didn't even CARE that they killed someone??

Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages.... When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been on line since yesterday morning. They kept shopping."

That is beyond sick.... and a very sad statement to what we have become has a society that we value a deal on some piece of THING over the value of another human being....

How proud they must be to be able to tell people, "Yeah, we trampled some guy to death but by god we saved $10 on that *insert name of whatever the hell item here*."

[NeverNeverland]

OMG! What the heck is WRONG with people???

[nbodyhome]

This morning I am sick, I got up at 10am or so, had breakfast, and did go out eventually to BJ's and the small Wal Mart for groceries. I don't do Black Friday. The only time I really remember doing it at all was when Wal-Mart (6 or 7 years ago) had a really great deal on DVD players. I didn't even show up early, but 3 or 4 in the afternoon. BJ's wasn't busy at all, and the Wal Mart is just a grocery store for the most part - a neighborhood one, so thank goodness I can shop there and not worry about crowds.

I do my Christmas shopping all year round, and am 2/3 or so done. Many in my family are getting magazines I ordered for free (I get so many freebie magazines like TV Guide, Forbes, Newsweek, Business Week, etc.) and anytime I see a new magazine come out, I order it for them. Like between my stepsister and her husband, they are getting the Smithsonian Magazine, Prevention, Working Mother, Robb Report, Forbes and Motor Trend - and it's not costing me anything.

No need for Black Friday for me!

[sunnygirl]

I just got back from Target. It wasn't anywhere near as crazy as I'd expected! I didn't even have to wait in line to pay, which rocked my socks. I didn't find any amazing deals, but I wasn't really on the hunt for any, so it all worked out well.

[awaflyboy]

Is it me or did it just seem that the deals just were not as good as they have been in past years?

I mean last year there were at least 4 items that were door busters that I had wanted, this year just two and even then I thought the discounts just weren't as good as past times.

[IzzyInWonderland]

Today I woke up at 10am and enjoyed my breakfast all the while wondering how crazy it was at the malls and stores in our area. I was thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't amidst the chaos this morning.

[sir clinksalot]

Honestly, mine was a breeze.

Belle and her Mom and our daughter went out at 3:00am and did some shopping. Me and the boy slept.

Then I ran up to Staples to get a new 4.0gb memory card for the Wii and to Game Stop to pre-order Rock Band 2 for the Wii and picked up that samba game. And that's it.

The only presents we have yet to buy are DS Lites for the kids and they are DONE other than socks/underwear/Christmas Eve PJ's.

It's nice that our shopping season is about done.

[TacAlert]

Originally Posted by awaflyboy

...and then a store security guard came over and informed up that the door we were at would not be opened until 530 am and that there would only be one door that would be opened at 5am

You know that sign above all the doors that says "Door shall remain open during business hours"? What you should have done is tell the security guard that the Fire Department would be called and the store would be shut down. I guarantee you would have made it through that entrance in a flash. They cannot leave that door locked.

Works everytime at stores with multiple entrances.

[TacAlert]

Originally Posted by awaflyboy

Way to go Kmart! Who would have thought they would have better service than Sears?

The funny thing is they are the same company.