I was at the Staples on Kenny Rd. They had two of the Sony internal dvd burners. I picked up one. They are for 11.50 --not in the clearance aisle but with a clearance tag on the shelf. The box says SATA. It comes with Nero 8 Express.
One of my local stores (Bensalem PA) had 4 SATA's in stock but would only sell me one. They claimed the others were already sold. When I got to the next store, I had them call the Bensalem store to see if the story was true. They were told they had the other 3 but one was being sold to an employee and the other 2 were damaged. Yeah right....
I'm finding out that most stores (at least in my area) will hide their popular clearance items and let the employees feed off them. Even if you call 1 800 3 Staples and find out that there is stock in your local store/s, your chance of actually buying one is slim. They will tell you the items are damaged or have been sold even if they haven't. I'm getting sick of it.
vietshadow
New Member
posted: May. 23, 2009 @ 3:25p
called the 18003staples #, local store has 2 in stock. i went to the store one employee went in the back and got them out. during the process of checking out, another employee came by and said it damaged. i looked at the box and there is no damage and the box still sealed. would not sell it even if i wanted to buy. pissed off, told a friend of mine to come in and ask for it. now they say they have 2 but holding for a customer.
Mgamer20o0
Senior Member
posted: May. 23, 2009 @ 4:09p
i wouldnt have gave it up. did you talk to a manager? i would have thrown a fit lol
The same "damaged" story in my store. But the employee explained that "damaged" is also their code when something goes back to the manufacturer. In any case, he said they could sell it to me.
we came back to the store and requested to talk to the manager. we got both of the drive and they going to have special meeting according to the manager. we also got 20% discount on top of that and total come out to under $20. thnx OP!!!
vietshadow said: we came back to the store and requested to talk to the manager. we got both of the drive and they going to have special meeting according to the manager. we also got 20% discount on top of that and total come out to under $20. thnx OP!!!
Your post inspired me to call the store this evening and I asked to speak with the manager in charge. We had a long chat and he decided to let me have another drive but insisted the 2 remaining drives were customer returns. Note: I was first told they were not in stock and then that they were damaged. Now I'm being told they are customer returns. Wow, that's strange
I also found out the general manager of this store (who's on vacation until Tues) is also the gen. mgr. of the other stores I do business with and I know him from previous visits. I will be having a pow-wow with him next week.
blueribb said: vietshadow said: we came back to the store and requested to talk to the manager. we got both of the drive and they going to have special meeting according to the manager. we also got 20% discount on top of that and total come out to under $20. thnx OP!!!
Your post inspired me to call the store this evening and I asked to speak with the manager in charge. We had a long chat and he decided to let me have another drive but insisted the 2 remaining drives were customer returns. Note: I was first told they were not in stock and then that they were damaged. Now I'm being told they are customer returns. Wow, that's strange
I also found out the general manager of this store (who's on vacation until Tues) is also the gen. mgr. of the other stores I do business with and I know him from previous visits. I will be having a pow-wow with him next week.
I would imagine you'll generally get better results not tlaking to an emploee of a store itself but rather someone offloc. While it helps employees to hide/hold clearance items for themselves until prices get lower, it hurts corporate because they're not getting the same income for the sale. If thye get enough calls about employees doing it in a particular store I'd imagine corporate would intervene.
delgadobb
Happy Member
posted: May. 23, 2009 @ 8:39p
Sounds familiar - the two I was picking up in Las Vegas (Henderson, NV actually) magically became one when they went to pull the stock from the back. Hmm, I guess someone magically 'bought' one that wasn't on display ... at any rate, confirmed deal & picked up the one remaining around here.
I'm thinking about checking to see if they have one. My current pioneer drive in this new computer doesn't record properly and although it can read stuff that it recorded fine, none of my other drives can fully read things it records for some reason.
Zixin said: There is no such an item or even a product tag on the shelf in the Staples at Foster City, CA
You can call 1 800 3 Staples and tell them you'd like to check stock in your locals stores. Give them the item number and your zip code. Even if they tell you there's stock, the store may have pulled the drives and shelf tag and hidden them in lockup.
Picked up the DRU-865S in Parsippany, NJ this afternoon for $11.50. There was still one left, but the clerk who rang me up said she was going to buy the last one.
blackbrutha
Senior Member
posted: May. 25, 2009 @ 10:14p
Office Depot stores hide clearance items too. I've called different stores and despite what the online site says for their store they will lie sometimes. I'm not surprised that every single time I pass by the parking lot it's damn near empty and when I go in the store there are only 5 people tops. They will go out of business soon enough.
Well, I usually get late to the party in these clearance deals, but yesterday I amazingly scored one of the DRU-V204A. The store had only one, and the employee who helped me locate it was amazed at the price... I am fairly sure this drive survived as maybe they read "$45.00" instead of "$4.50".... This is also at a store that is in general FWer friendly, so these deals usually fly...
By the way, the SATA drive is a clone of the liteOn iHas 422, while the IDE drive is a clone of the NEC / Optiarc 7200A. The 7200A is regarded as one of the very best burners.
None left in 60089...the rep started by asking the stupid questions (Do you need dual format???), tried to look it up on the website and couldn't find it. He didn't have a clue.
Ostentaneous
New Member
posted: May. 27, 2009 @ 6:16p
I used to work at an OfficeMax and we definately kept the good clearance stuff in back. Even before stuff gets marked down I see it get set aside so that 2 months later it will be 75% off. I think this happens at most any smaller retail store. To hard to do something like that at a larger store like WalMart or best buy. Usually the managers were just fine with it too, as long as district didn't find out.
BTW, what is the protocol for posting Staples clearance items? The other day, I posted this thread and got a bunch of red. I just want to know how to do things best in the future: The thread in question.
BTW, what is the protocol for posting Staples clearance items? The other day, I posted this thread and got a bunch of red. I just want to know how to do things best in the future: The thread in question.
i think the reason has something to do with the way clearance prices work, i.e. .90 is just starting, and .50 is final? someone else would know better.
Ostentaneous said: I used to work at an OfficeMax and we definately kept the good clearance stuff in back. Even before stuff gets marked down I see it get set aside so that 2 months later it will be 75% off.
.........
Usually the managers were just fine with it too, as long as district didn't find out.
You know that's BS. A manager is going to get bonuses bases on sales, so why would he be "just fine with it" when selling an item for $10 (instead of $40) will hurt his store (and him)?
JIWC said: I agree with superstaronebay. I've been shopping at Staples ever since the dot com boom when they had stackable $20 off $50 coupons that could be stacked for free items. I've always seen prices with xx.50 reduced multiple times. And as an example, the IDE drive mentioned at the start of this thread has been $25.50, then $23.50, then $15.50, and now $4.50...
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