(Price in Title originally came from Panny 42" started at $1099 on 1/27/08. Now reflects a generic $1000 TV price.)
ALERT 3/2/08: This deal was, until page 130 or so, a $700 off a $1000+ TV deal. It is NOW a $400 off a $1000 TV deal, and BB is offering to pay $30/month for DirecTV for you (a $360 value). While the totality of the deal has changed, many of the ideas and processes remain the same. See recent posts and contribute to the summary below to continue to help the community get the most out of this offer.
ATTN: DO NOT PURCHASE INSTALL WITH INTENT TO RETURN. Results are increasingly YMMV. If your receipt doesn't reflect a decreased price on the TV only, back out of it before completing your purchase. Do not open any merchandise until returns are completed. Many users are opting not to even bother with the install. This is the OP's recommendatiion as well.
Combination Page Select New/Yes for everything. Good for up to $400 savings. (and/or up to $360 in cable bills, for a total of $760 in savings/payments if you purchase a $999+ TV).
Purchase the following: 1) DirecTV HD reciever 99$ (Some posters report this as free or not needed.) 2) Quality television closest to $999 without going under. (Panasonic 42" 720p here for ~$1199! Or Insignia (BB brand) 1080p 42" LCD for ~$1000. Prices vary by week. 3) Blu-Ray Disc Player Example Player $399 5) Installation $200 (may vary) Ask for "Single Component" or "TV only" install, it's cheaper. AVOID INSTALL IF YOU INTEND TO "RETURN" IT. 6) Home audio (any for $500+) 7) PlayStation3 Console $399
(Calculated from $999 Generic TV price Total price: $2600. Instant savings: $400. Price at Checkout: $2200
Then you proceed to return each of the items other than the TV.
(Tip: Returning can be done in any order. If returning install, return this FIRST, as posters indicate problems with doing it later. Again, OP recommends leaving this out entirely.)
Return the Blu-Ray player. Posters have suggested that attempting these returns separately proves most successful and that going in with the item and credit card in hand, but not the receipt, has brought about easier returns. Alternatively, you can exchange these items for others (ideally placing the new item on a different credit card) to make even the most challenging returns possible.
New price: $1800
Return the home audio equipment.
New price: $1300
Return the DirecTV set top box and cancel your contract with them. (OR, alternately keep the service and take them up on their $360 of savings.) Cancelling the contract is easy and by phone (within the first 30 days, prior to installation!). You may have to sell the box for ~$85 on eBay, Craigslist, or whatever you prefer. FWers have done this cancellation without difficulty for months (including OP). Many report not having to buy the box at BB anyway.
New price: $1200
Cancel installation. (MANY will not get this discount!) Do NOT try to return this at the same time as all your phyisical purchases. This is a YMMV. FWers have posted success with cancelling at night, due to different (and possibly less attentive) staff. New price: $1000
Return PS3. Possibly exchange for an Xbox 360 or other model, placing the charge on another card, then returning the "exchanged" item.
New price: $600
Get 2% back as a reward zone member (~$15), or 4% back with a BB credit card (~$30). With a new BB credit card, you also get a 0% interest for x time offer (see optional savings at bottom) Limited Time Link, 18mos 0%. There is also an offer for purchases up to triple points, allowing you to get an extra $20-40 off. Link
New price: $585
Complete YMMV price with all returns: ~$585
If you use the DirecTV offer, and were planning to get the service anyway, you will save an additional $360, taking your effective price to ~$225 on that $999 TV.
Optional for extra savings:
Option 1) Use a 10% coupon * to bring the initial (pre-DTV) price of an $1149 or $1200 TV very close to $1000, and your final price under $600. This HAS been done successfully by some FWers, but is very YMMV.
Option 2) Instead of paying upfront $585, put ~$520 in a high yield savings account and pay your new BB card from this account, gaining the remaining balance as earned interest. Remember, two years at 0%! UPDATE: LTO for Panny TVs only, 3 years at 0%
Option 3) Using the 12 month $30 credit from Best Buy towards a DirecTV bill to save $360 more.
-------------------------------------
FWLurker said: Original Offer (end of September, now dead)
-Included Xbox 360, no longer part of the deal.
Early November Offer (dead as of 11/7) HD-A3 player was $199, came with 10 free HD-DVDs, was even better with the TV discount, basically only adding $99 to your total cost. This has since been removed.
End of January Offer Includes a PS3 giving 100$ off TV price! Also returnable. Still valid on 3/2/08!
EXPIRED Panasonic Rebate: Panasonic has a $200 rebate on installation that expired on January 31st, link still available here.
Just to explain the excitement over this post, the ACTUAL price that this deal brought some very nice $1000+ televisions down to was $199 with a free Blu-ray offer at one point, and around $299 with the above panasonic rebate.
To enter a coupon code in your post please enter the following info:
Coupon Code:
Coupon Offer:
Merchant:
Expires (optional):
Restrictions (optional):
saving...
OVERVIEW FOR MOST INTERESTED USERS:
NOTE: DEAL Changed Saturday March 1, 2008. After that $360 is given as a $30 monthly DirecTV bill discount only. HD-DVD Player also removed from the deal. Typical deal now going to top out at $300 off, since installation is not returnable (YMMV) and DTV is now a monthly discount instead of instant.
Full discount of $760 ($1,000 if the DirecTV discount from Best Buy (BB) can be combined with the DirecTV national offer) is only available if you are signing up for DirecTV with HD service and having Best Buy install your TV. The full discount may not jive with the DirecTV national offer of $20 month for 12 months with HD service activation. Please post your experience. If it is not, the best you will receive is $400 off the TV and $360 off DirecTV service
****You might be able to use a 10 or 12% coupon on the TV now that the discount is on DirecTV service and not off the TV****
1) Purchase any HDTV $999 and up - could be plasma, LCD, Rear Projection... (Multiple BB stores have demonstrated a willingness to increase TVs priced at $989 to $999 in order to make them eligible for the discounts) 2) Purchase a DirecTV HD reciever for $99 (may not be necessary as DirecTV will provide it as part of service signup, or DTV will provide a free DVR upgrade). 3) Have Best Buy install the TV. Get a $100 discount on TV. Don't choose installation unless you desire an installation, returning is VERY YMMV and could spoil the party. 4) Purchase a Home Theater System for $499 and up and get $100 off the TV. Return the Home Theater System. 5) Purchase a Blu-Ray player - get $100 off the TV. Return the Blu-Ray player. 6) Purchase a PS3 - get $100 off the TV . Return the PS3.
-------- "How-to" tips: Rule #1, Don't get greedy! The $360 off via new DirecTV service is a GIVEN. You may be able to combine with the DirecTV national offer ($20 off per month for 12 months).
Rule #2, $100 Off via Blu-Ray or PS3 or surround sound, pick one and one only, refer to Rule #1, don't be greedy. Come on, $460 OFF the total, is not enough?? You may raise suspicions by buying a standalone Blu-Ray player and a PS3 since the PS3 has a Blu-Ray drive.
Trip #1. Buy your TV of choice, sign up for DirecTV and pick up a Blu-Ray, PS3 or surround sound (3rd item, for short)
Trip #2. Bring back the 3rd item to the same store and exchange it for a similar item of equal or lesser value. During the exchange, explain to the CSR you would like to charge the NEW item to a different credit card. By doing so, the CSR will have returned and closed original transaction, crediting you back for the full price of the 3rd item. Yet, you are still within the guidelines of the HDTV discount because you are still picking up a 3rd item, simply breaking the payment into another credit card. The new receipt will have absolutely NO links to the original transaction. It is simply a purchase receipt for a new item.
Trip #3. Take your new receipt and new item to a different store or even the same store and return it for the full value. Deal complete, $460 off and all items returned. ---------------------------
Message edited by: MountainMike on 2008-04-26 00:54:14 CDT
Interesting. I'm about to buy a premium anyway, hmmm .... Is it confirmed you can cancel the Directv contract that easy? And you say we can return the box but we might have to sell it instead? I thought Directv owns the boxes now and you can't resale but return, has this changed?
Thanks for the heads up though, this is very very tempting.
deeznuts said:Interesting. I'm about to buy a premium anyway, hmmm .... Is it confirmed you can cancel the Directv contract that easy? And you say we can return the box but we might have to sell it instead? I thought Directv owns the boxes now and you can't resale but return, has this changed?
Thanks for the heads up though, this is very very tempting.
I wasn't able to return the box to BB last year, but sold it without problem on the apparently forbidden eBay.
All I did was make one call to DirecTV, took under 5 minutes, and cancelled installation. There was a 20$ charge to my Discover, which was refunded within a week of cancellation.
If you resale and dont return your HD DTV reciever you will be charged the non return fee of I think $349...so you may think twice here as pretty much all equipment from best buy is leased dtv equipment.
Hotdogah said:If you resale and dont return your HD DTV reciever you will be charged the non return fee of I think $349...so you may think twice here as pretty much all equipment from best buy is leased dtv equipment.
This is absolutely not true. If it was leased from Best Buy, BB would offer used ones for lease. On systems with a lease, the lease is from DirecTV and is attached to the unit at installation. Thus, you can sell an unused set-top box to anyone.
If you couldn't avoid a $300+ fee (and I have personally done this without such a fee), why would anyone sell these for $50-150 on fleabay?
Additionally, FWposters anormie and err had the exact same experience as I and many others had last year (from thread linked at top)
anomie: I did this deal and they took my information for DirecTV. I called up DirecTV the next day, explained I had just purchased a tv, that I was persuaded to buy DirecTV, but have since found out I can't have it installed at the place I'm staying. I told them I wanted to cancel the installation. There was no early termination fee. In fact, they refunded me some 21 dollars I was charged for I'm not sure what.
Date Posted: Nov/26/2006 11:09 PM Posted By: err Rank: Member Returned the DTV receiver no question asked at Seattle, WA.
Also cancelled the DTV installation appointment, took about 6 minutes to process.
Since the OP's post is only one combo - here is the generic savings amounts so you can choose anything.
1) Purchase any HDTV $999 and up - could be plasma, LCD, Rear Projection... 2) Purchase a Direct TV HD reciever for $99 - Get a $300 discount on TV, cancel service a day later and return/sell HD receiver. 3) Have Best Buy install the tv (if Panasonic) for $200. - Get a $100 discount on TV. You only save if you are buying a Panasonic which has an additional $200 rebate for having it installed, otherwise don't choose installation. 4) Purchase a Home Theater System for $499 and up and get $100 off the tv - (This probably won't save you anything so I wouldn't do it) 5) Purchase blu-ray or HD-DVD player - get $100 of the tv. (Again - this depends on whether you want one or not. 6) Purchase a PS3 or Xbox 360 and get $100 off.
Who the heck includes lines like this in a Hot Deals post?
"Instead of paying upfront, put ~$890 in a high yield savings account and pay the bill from this account, gaining the remaining balance as earned interest."
Many thanks OP. How do you get $100 off the Xbox 360-Core? Is it B&M discount?
BTW, if you want to push it to the limit, beg the sale person to throw in this one...a Sony - 800W 5.1-Channel Home Theater System HT-DDW790, which should be, yes....FREE (w/ a $999 & up TV purchase) !!!
That is a genius way of balancing the home budget. Bmr4life said:Who the heck includes lines like this in a Hot Deals post?
"Instead of paying upfront, put ~$890 in a high yield savings account and pay the bill from this account, gaining the remaining balance as earned interest."
Funny thing is I can actually get away with this deal pretty easily. I've tried to have Direct TV installed before, but can't because they have no way to install a dish without it being blocked.
CheapCheap1 said:That is a genius way of balancing the home budget. Bmr4life said:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Who the heck includes lines like this in a Hot Deals post?
"Instead of paying upfront, put ~$890 in a high yield savings account and pay the bill from this account, gaining the remaining balance as earned interest."
Is it a sin to use all the myriad facets of the fatwallet universe to save people as much money as possible? For those of Finance experience, it's basically an AOR with a single card with a 2 year 0% purchase rate, which I assure you is difficult to find under normal circumstances.
CheapCheap1 said:Many thanks OP. BTW, if you want to push it to the limit, beg the sale person to throw in this one...a Sony - 800W 5.1-Channel Home Theater System HT-DDW790, which should be, yes....FREE (w/ a $999 & up TV purchase) !!!
Unfortunately, the ideal TV brand for this deal (Panasonic, due to rebate on install) doesn't have any good versions that are "qualifying tvs."
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