Best Buy giving back $50 in GC if you purchased HD-DVD player!!!

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An Important Message from
Best Buy for HD DVD Player Owners
For months, there has been much debate surrounding the two competing high-definition video formats: Toshiba's HD DVD and Sony's Blu-ray Disc. Recently, Toshiba announced that they will no longer produce HD DVD players, and movie studios have decided not to release new titles in the HD DVD format.

Exciting news if you bought your HD DVD player from Best Buy
As the owner of an HD DVD player, you may have concerns about these developments. At Best Buy, we are dedicated to making sure you always have the right technology for you. That's why we're offering you a complimentary $50 Best Buy gift card for each HD DVD player you purchased from Best Buy before February 23, 2008. (See details and qualifying models.) Use the gift card to treat yourself to anything you want in our stores or online. Most qualifying customers will automatically receive their complimentary gift card by mail in the coming weeks. If you qualify and haven't received yours by May 1, 2008, please call us at 1-888-BEST-BUY to verify your eligibility (have your receipt handy, if possible).

Good news (even if you didn't buy from us)
Be assured that your HD DVD player will continue to play existing HD DVD titles (and upconvert standard DVDs to near-HD quality) as it always has. If you purchased a Best Buy service plan with your HD DVD player, we will continue to honor it for the life of the plan. If, however, you wish to trade in your HD DVD player and HD DVDs, we offer a convenient way to do so via our Best Buy Trade-In Center. Beginning March 21, visit BestBuyTradeIn.com to get an instant estimate of the value of your HD DVD player and movies. See below for further information, along with additional resources that we hope you'll find helpful as you examine your options.

More info please.

i got mine on the best buy for business deal... will they be sending out a GC for those too?

well I got a Toshiba A2 from BB when we got 'em for $99.00. This would be awesome to get an additional $50.00 GC!

I bought mine from WalMart, I hope they do the same thing.

benson8708 said: HD lost the battle they are going to give them away soon. Get one at the flee market in a couple months.

What's a flee market? Do they have people chase me around the place while I'm trying to buy things?

Here's a Business Week article on it too.

Sony is giving out $50 dollar GC's for anyone who bought a Betamax. Must still have your receipt. thanks...

lawwdogg said: Best Buy Customer Service (over the phone and for online purchases, including Best Buy for Business) said they are mailing out the cards automatically to purchasers of the qualifying HD-DVD players, and will be sending them out in alphabetical order. You should have yours by May 1, otherwise should call to verify and claim your GC.

well if this is true I just scored $150. I sold 2 players on eBay then I sold all 30 movies which i received for free! This is TGTBT!

Sweet!

Sdiver2489 said: HELPDESKGUY said: winsor said: i got mine on the best buy for business deal... will they be sending out a GC for those too?

I'm in the same boat. Not sure what the answer is to that yet.

I called about it, she initially said she thought it would. I was put on hold a while. Then I was told that no it didn't qualify.

How can they deny when they are the same company? I don't believe you called.

Well if that's the case, we need to deluge them with emails and let them know that it isn't right. These players were severely discounted by the cutoff date of Feb. 23rd, so those people that payed $179 and those that payed $99 are getting the same gift card so why would BBFB be excluded? Hardly fair. Best Buy is Best Buy.

Wow. This really is the deal that keeps on giving...

Xbox 360 HD drive
2 Ultimate Matrix HD Boxsets
Heroes HD boxset
$35 BB Giftcard
5 free HD-DVDs
--------------------------
$197.xx

Sold the HD drive on eBay for $120.
Returned Heroes to BB after Christmas for $107.xx credit.
Kept everything else.

Now, I get another $50 back? Hahaha... <--- Me, laughing all the way to the bank!

damn. bought 2 xbox 360 players back in november, but don't think i have the receipts anymore.

Hopefully the GC will come in time for Guitar Hero Aerosmith!

mykolJay said: I would believe it. BestBuy stores don't even accept returns from Bestbuyforbusiness. I feel like they are seperate entities. Hopefully we can bug them until they change their mind.

Whether they are separate entities might be a matter of semantics. All of the copyrights are owned by the same corporation (see this from the BBY for Business site);

BEST BUY, BESTBUY.COM, REWARD ZONE, the Best Buy logo and the tag design, BEST BUY FOR BUSINESS and the Best Buy For Business logo are all trademarks of Best Buy Enterprise Services, Inc.

And then there is the info from the BBY for Business "About Us" page that states:

Best Buy For Business
The Best Buy brand is synonymous with great selection, knowledgeable staff and the belief that technology can be fun. With Best Buy For Business, we're carrying that over to the small and medium business market, as well as the government and education markets. By combining the bricks-and-mortars Best Buy stores with our direct reseller channels, Best Buy For Business is poised to capture a large share of a lucrative and underserved market.

Locations
Best Buy for Business is headquartered at the Best Buy corporate campus in Richfield, MN.
Best Buy For Business
Best Buy Co., Inc. Corporate Headquarters
P.O. Box 9312
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9312

Best Buy Co., Inc.
Best Buy Co., Inc is North America's number-one specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and appliances.

Contact Us
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact us at 1-877-393-1038.

I would argue that clearly says they are the same company, with the same headquarters. And since the original Best Buy statement did not and still does not explicitly preclude Best Buy for Business purchases, than they *should* be covered as well. Doesn't mean it won't take a fight with BBY to get them to honor it, but it seems clear to me that they should.

Ouch I got player from FYE. BB and CC offered GC.

I think FYE and WalMart should also offer similar deal.

fatwalletfreakazoid said: Well if that's the case, we need to deluge them with emails and let them know that it isn't right. These players were severely discounted by the cutoff date of Feb. 23rd, so those people that payed $179 and those that payed $99 are getting the same gift card so why would BBFB be excluded? Hardly fair. Best Buy is Best Buy.

They could offer everyone squat you know. They don't owe you anything. You bought a player at what was a good price at the time. Turns out the format lost. That's not Best Buy's fault. They're going above and beyond by offering anyone ANYTHING at this point.

I swear, Best Buy could have a "Free $10,000 to the first 500 people through the door" promotion and someone would start whining about how Best Buy sucks because they were number 501, or that the money should have been paid in rupees.

I would never have expected Best Buy to offer anything to those of us who purchased HD DVD Players from them. They certainly didn't owe us anything. But now they have offered a $50 gift card for people who purchased a HD DVD Player from Best Buy.

So those of us who purchased from BEST BUY for Business have the right to expect the Gift Card as well. It is the same company, with the same headquarters. And we only know about them because they are in fact part of Best Buy and use that brand recognition to build the business. Telling those of us who purchased from BBfB to effectively STFU because Best Buy doesn't owe us anything is bull. And while we may not get anywhere, we certainly have a legitimate complaint if they don't offer us the GC as well.

What if they said people who purchased with Mastercard, AMEX or Discover get the GC, but Visa purchasers don't? Would you think that was legitimate? By your argument, they should be able to limit it however they want since they don't owe us anything in the first place.

But here's the thing... purchasing through BBfB is no different than choosing a different credit card to pay with. Its just a different payment method for the SAME PRODUCT to the SAME COMPANY. Period. Some went into a B&M store, some went to BestBuy.com, and some went to BestBuyforBusiness.com. All money went to BestBuy, all orders were shipped by BestBuy. The differences are nothing more than semantics.

I haven't heard back from BBfB yet, and I do expect they will honor the deal. It might take a day or two, but in the end they probably will. If they don't, those of us who purchased from them should e-mail, argue and complain if necessary to get them to send us the GC too.

UPDATE: At least one person at SD is claiming that the CSR they spoke with at BBfB confirmed they would get a GC. So there are conflicting reports at best.

I just got confirmation from BBFB that it is elgible. She even noted my order of the call!!

I called Bestbuy first and they said it should be fine, but he wanted he wanted me to speak with BBFB directly to confirm they had my order (since he is unable to confirm BBFB Order numbers). A few minutes later, I spoke to Sharon at BBFB and she said no problem, we would be receiving emails (or calls) and the gc no later than May 1st.

mykolJay said: I just got confirmation from BBFB that it is elgible. She even noted my order of the call!!

I called Bestbuy first and they said it should be fine, but he wanted he wanted me to speak with BBFB directly to confirm they had my order (since he is unable to confirm BBFB Order numbers). A few minutes later, I spoke to Sharon at BBFB and she said no problem, we would be receiving emails (or calls) and the gc no later than May 1st.

Me too! However Sharon also stated orders with multiple purchases would only receive one $50 GC.

I haven't received mine either, but I'm overseas now with an APO address so it probably wasn't forwarded. Guessing I'll be calling 1-888-Best-Buy to see if they can still mail it to me.