Staples had a couple of pretty good deals for Black Friday, so I decided to get up early to get in one them...
I should have just stayed in bed.
The day started with things not going too well, and deteriorated from there...
When I got out of bed at 5:15 am, Cali also got up and wanted to go out. No problem so far, I let her out, left the door from the bedroom to the patio open, and when Cali was done, she came back in. After I left the bedroom and was walking through the living room, I heard Cali scratching on the bedroom door to get out. I didn't want Cali to wake Jeanie, so I let her out, figuring she wanted a treat. Cali made a bee-line to the guest bedroom where Jeanie's parents were sleeping. I didn't realize that they would have slept with their bedroom door open. Cali jumped on their bed and awakened them both. Oh well, I can't put the spilled milk back in the bottle, so to avoid further embarrassment, I just slipped out of the house and got in the car.
The drive to the local Staples was fine, but I was surprised when I pulled in the parking lot to see how many cars were in the lot and how many people were already in line. I mean, come on, this is a sleepy little backwater town - I'm supposed to be the only geek for miles! Oh well, the line wasn't too long, so I figured things would be fine. About ten minutes before six, a store employee appeared at the store doors and came out. At first we thought that they were going to open a little early. We then realized that he was rolling a cart outside. It turned out that he had pick slips for all of the items on the front page of the sale flyer, and was going through the line asking people what they wanted and giving them the appropriate pick slips. "How nice," I thought - that should make the process of actually getting the items much easier. Yeah, right... The guy only made it about 1/2 way through the line before the doors to the store were opened at 6:00. At first, the people who hadn't gotten to the guy stayed in line, but after a few minutes, there was a mass movement of the entire line to the store. So, I figured that it was now normal "every man for himself." I went into the store and headed for where I figured my number one priority - a 200 GB hard drive for $29 would be. I was still hunting in vain for the particular item when an announcement came over the store loudspeaker that all of the items on the front page of the sale flyer were not on the sales floor, but instead were "at the double door at the back of the store behind isle 5." So, I headed for the back of the store, where I saw the double door and the line of people waiting to get their items. So, I got in line. And waited. And noticed that many of the people in the line had those pick slips that had been handed out before the store opened. No problem, I figured, those people just have a guarantee that they will get their desired items. Then the guy behind me, who also didn't have any pick slips, asked if we had to have the pick slips in order to get stuff. "I hope not," I said. The guy behind him offered to save our place in line if one of us wanted to check. I volunteered, and went to the front of the store to ask. As I was walking, I noticed that the guy who had been outside the store was now standing in isle 5 with his cart and slips. I asked another store employee who was standing next to him if we had to have the slips in order to get stuff, and she told me "yes." Well, the line to get the slips was by now quite long, and I was at least a bit perturbed, so I just decided to leave. As I was walking out, one of the clerks wished me a good day, and I decided to offer the suggestion that they might want to do a slightly better job of letting their customers know what the process was. She called a manager, who said that I didn't need a slip, so I followed him to the back, where the guy with the cart informed that manager that yes indeed, no slip, no stuff. The manager gave me a sheepish look and apologized. Well now, I was really pissed, but I decided to not take it out on any of the employees, and just walked out.
At least when I got home, I found the house was quiet and dark - everyone had gone back to bed.
Since I was already dressed, I decided to just stay up and come compute. For whatever reason, I decided to go online to Staples. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the drive was also available online for the same $29 price! I went ahead and ordered one, and while I was at it, picked up a "free" laminator and power strip. Since I have learned from past experience that sometimes between the time that you add an item to the cart and you actually get done with the checkout, the item could have gone out of stock, I hurried through the checkout process, and was pleased to see when I hit than final button to place the order that the order was accepted.
Okay, not quite as smooth as I had hoped, but, I did end up getting the drive at the price I wanted, and everyone is still asleep. All's well that ends well.
Um, not quite...
Since I had raced through the ordering process, I decided it would be prudent to review the order for accuracy. After reviewing the order, I realized that the price I paid for the hard drive, less the rebate was more than the $29 I had expected. After doing some more digging, I discovered that I was supposed to have entered a coupon code to get a $40 instant savings at checkout. After doing a little more digging, I found the telephone number for customer service and called the Customer Service Center, and after a fairly lengthly wait, was connected to Jennifer, a very nice CSR, who applied the appropriate $40 coupon code to the existing order.
Okay, now, all's well that ends well, right?
Not quite.
Right after I hung up, it occurred to me that there might have been coupon codes for the other two items I had ordered. So, I checked the rest of the order. Sure enough, the power strip was not a "free after rebate," but a "free after instant savings." Guess what? Yes, that's right - another coupon code that I should have entered at checkout.
Well, at least this time I didn't have to look up the phone number - it was right there on redial.
After another lengthly hold, I was connected to Nikki or Micki, another nice CSR, who applied the $5 coupon for the power strip.
So, now, all's well that ends well, right?
Well, we'll see; when I went to check the status of my order, the status page indicated that "We're sorry, but problems with your order may prevent us from delivering it on time." Often, when there is a really good deal, the online ordering systems can't keep up with the volume, and will accept an order even after stock has been depleted. A few days later, you get a nice little email regretfully informing you that there was a problem with your order and it was automatically cancelled for your convenience.
So, what's the morale to this little saga? Next year - I am boycotting Black Friday!
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Posted by David at November 25, 2005 08:17 AM