Buy.com Black Friday Bait and Switch

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blade52x

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Originally:
This was just another run of accepting hundreds if not over a thousand orders without "knowing" the actual stock beforehand (else why were the orders allowed to go through). For me this is the second time this has happened with Buy.com. The first time I was involved in an identical scenario with Buy.com was with GTX 280s back in January 2009. Looking at it from a computer programming point of view, I really do not see how this can even happen... especially since these deals were going on/off through the night as if they were coming in and out of stock.

Buy.com has lost my money for good. I let it slide the first time with those GTX 280s... but again? I almost feel insulted.
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Update: I take that all back. Buy.com has gone above and beyond and is shipping out everyone's order of the 42'' 1080P plasma for $298 (some have already received their TVs, and mine shipped with a scheduled delivery of 12/08). I have never seen an an online retailer do this... I'll be sure the next few electronics I buy for myself and for family members come from them.
 
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I hate when companies do this. They love to hide behind "we are not responsible for misprints" when faced with any legal action.

Well, we (the customers) are not responsible for doing business with them, either. The more they pull these stunts, the more they look less like "accidents" and more like "policy".
 
I read about this crazy event at other places. They actually did sell those tvs, but apparently the price was not adjust on the sites main item page but only dropped to the discounted price when you added it to checkout.
 
I did get an order in for the $300 price. However, mine was canceled today but I got a $50 gift certificate out of it.
 
Buy.com is such a sleazy company. I don't order from them at all. They seem to make these "mistakes" a lot.
 
osrk said:
Buy.com is such a sleazy company. I don't order from them at all. They seem to make these "mistakes" a lot.
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Except unlike most other companies buy.com will give you a gift card. The poster above you got a $50 gift card, I got a $10 gift card because a blu-ray drive was priced at $25 it was an obvious mistake but I ordered to see if it would ship. They are basically giving you free stuff when they make a mistake.
 
Well, interesting development. New email from 5 mins. ago said $50 gift card canceled and that they acquired more inventory and will try to fulfill my order. We'll see.
 
With the amount of interest Black Friday deals have, I run on the assumption that any deal that looks remotely nice will have hundred if not thousands of other people trying to buy it at the same second it shows up. Amazon's kindle definitely sold out in a single second and people were claiming that they were running a bait-and-switch, though not a single person took into account the fact that the "deal" was highly publicized so there were definitely a LOT of people waiting for it.

That being said, it still sucks when you're looking forward to a deal and it sells out before you can even click buy.
 
That being said, it still sucks when you're looking forward to a deal and it sells out before you can even click buy.
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That's fine. What's not fine is being tricked into thinking you have something when in reality you really don't. Ie people who thought they had this deal may have skipped out on going to Target, or elsewhere.

But there's more to this from what I've looked at recently. It's late so I'll probably give an update tomorrow.
 
This is like the 3rd time I've seen this happen on the site in the past year. But at least they attempt to make it right.
 
Buy.com has always seemed second rate compared to amazon to me. I read that it was sold to a big Japanese ecommerce company back in July this year. Maybe they can make it better.
 
I went through the hassle of having to return something I bought from Buy.com once. After going through that experience (which was so slow and frustrating, several emails sent inquiring when my refund would be processed because it had been weeks since they received the item back) and further knowing how simple, quick and easy returns were through Amazon and NewEgg, I decided to never deal with Buy again. They''re a second-rate drop shipper if you ask me and now I just totally ignore their ads and prices.
 
Buy.com is such a sleaze fest.

First and last time I did business with them was when they advertized a 256MB graphics card on the website, but sent me a 128MB. I called and told them of the error, they said they would send a new one, so I flipped the bill to have it overnighted (4 days later) and I received the same erraneous 128MB card.

It took 5 months of contacting their customer support (INDIA) on a weekly basis before my credit card was refunded the amount, and I was STILL out the shipping costs.

In the end it turned out they didn't even carry the 256MB version of the card (though the website had it in HUGE SALE FONT).

False advertising much?!?
 
blade52x said:
Buy.com has lost my money for good. I let it slide the first time with those GTX 280s... but again? I almost feel insulted. :eek:
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I actually have one of those 280 GTXs running in my computer from that sale. Never heard a final count on how many were shipped out but i'm still happy I happened to get on slick deals when I did that morning.
 
I run on the mindset that items that are priced "too good to be true" will not ship. You guys just expect way too much. If I find something that's priced like that, I'll just submit and order and leave it alone; if it ships cool, if it doesn't cool.
 
lowteckh said:
I run on the mindset that items that are priced "too good to be true" will not ship. You guys just expect way too much. If I find something that's priced like that, I'll just submit and order and leave it alone; if it ships cool, if it doesn't cool.
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I started to leave those sales alone, you get your money back but you usually have to wait a couple days for them to give you a refund, usually not worth the hassle unless its something you really want.
 
lowteckh said:
I run on the mindset that items that are priced "too good to be true" will not ship. You guys just expect way too much. If I find something that's priced like that, I'll just submit and order and leave it alone; if it ships cool, if it doesn't cool.
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+1. the only thing worse than companies having extremely low stock is people who feel entitled to get an item at an obviously mistaken price because it was advertised as such. If you listed a graphics card in FS/FT at $15 instead of $150, would you sell it for $15 on principle? No, you'd say it was a mistake and edit your post.

Companies make mistakes, get over it.
 
ryken said:
+1. the only thing worse than companies having extremely low stock is people who feel entitled to get an item at an obviously mistaken price because it was advertised as such. If you listed a graphics card in FS/FT at $15 instead of $150, would you sell it for $15 on principle? No, you'd say it was a mistake and edit your post.

Companies make mistakes, get over it.
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This is true and exactly why I left retail sales. People trying to get over other people. In the end it just raises prices on everything else.
 
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