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Best Buy Memo

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A Best Buy memo published by AppleInsider fills in some details about the Mac rollout. The memo notes that while Macs began a limited rollout at select stores on August 3rd, BestBuy.com Online will be carrying Apple computers nationwide.

Indeed, Apple laptops (along with Apple accessories) have returned to BestBuy.com, however, the $150 Mail-in Rebate now specifically excludes Apple laptops from the promotion.

The memo also reports that Macs will be featured significantly in advertisements starting on August 10th (Sunday).
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2003/08/09/best-buy-memo/
PowerPC G4 processor 867MHz with Velocity Engine
256MB PC133 SDRAM for multitasking power, expandable to 1.0GB
Slot-loading DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive

In Stock - Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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seems odd they would stock best buy stores with the old style 15" pbook if there's anew one on the way immenently... maybe we still have a wait to go 🙁

Otherwise, the products coming back is good news
 
I was a bit surprised to see that they had their technicians at Cupertino for less than a couple of weeks and now they are qualified repair centers. Is that how it works normally?
 
"Prominent"? I don't call this "prominent"!!!

Just saw the ad in the new circular in today's paper- occupying a third of page six. The ad is for the 17" iMac and 30GB iPod. Great. Shouldn't a new product-line launch carry at least SOMETHING on the first page? You know, like "NEW!!!! Apple products now at Best Buy!!!!"
 
Re: "Prominent"? I don't call this "prominent"!!!

Originally posted by joedangerous
Just saw the ad in the new circular in today's paper- occupying a third of page six.
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Today's the 9th. 😉

arn
 
Originally posted by Mudbug
seems odd they would stock best buy stores with the old style 15" pbook if there's anew one on the way immenently... maybe we still have a wait to go 🙁
Click to expand...

Contrary to popular opinion, resellers have no knowledge of future products releases.

arn
 
Excluded from promotions?!

Not fair! The inclusion in the promotions was a big selling point for me for macs at Best Buy. The financing plans are still one reason to go to Best Buy over another reseller, but considering that you'll have to pay sales tax at the best buy store (unless you live somewhere without sales tax), you may still be better off looking elsewhere. I was praising Best Buy last week when the laptops showed up with the $150 off, but now... *sigh*. Just *sigh*.
 
i dont know if i would want my mac in the hands to the big yellow tag. it takes a little more than two weeks to train someone.

iJon
 
Third of a Page?!?

Granted, I look forward to a nice "ROLL-OUT" type ad (front page would be nice). HOWEVER, we still need to remember that the Apple Products are going from "not carried at all" status to "available" status. There will still be no doubt that the Windows Computers will highly outsell the Macs and will, therefore, still dominate the Best Buy Ads.

I'm not trying to be negative -- just a realist. We shouldn't all start getting upset at the quantity of ad space that Apple products get in the Best Buy circulars without remembering that Best Buy will advertise PROPORTIONATE to what will make them money.

For the moment, rejoice at a third of a page (as it is probably still more than Apple warrants with relation to TOTAL Best Buy sales) but hope this new relationship will bring Apple to the Front Page on occassion because the sales WARRANT IT. Best Buy KNOWS that the iPod has went from non-existent to #1 extremely quickly. They know that Apple Successes are not unheard of now. Let's hope and PAY ($$$) for future Apple Successes!!!

If Best Buy thinks that a bunch of people will run out and buy G5 Powerbooks from Best Buy when they come out (for example), then they will, inevitably, end up on the "Front Page."

edit:

<Parts of this started sounding like a Bob Uecker commercial!>
 
since apple probably wont let them use those rebates and things like that best buy wont be advertising them that much. the whole purpose of the circulars is to see what deals are going on that week. last time i saw an ipod in the best buy circular was when they were giving a free firewire card with it.

iJon
 
Anybody know how I could become the Apple Employee when Apple brings products, eventually to the Best Buy in Waterloo, Iowa?
 
Originally posted by Billicus
Anybody know how I could become the Apple Employee when Apple brings products, eventually to the Best Buy in Waterloo, Iowa?
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i would talk to some of the best buy employees here on the site, they will probably know the process or who to contact, look for job listings on best buy and apples page.

iJon
 
I used to work for Best Buy until I had to go back to school, and I can tell you that it would be one of the best places to get a new powerbook. Wait a few weeks and you'll be able to get 18 or 24 month financing using the Best Buy mastercard.

There's another way you can beat the system to get it cheaper..... Depending on whether Best Buy will carry Apple Care or the Best Buy Performance Service Plan (both 3 year) some managers will be willing to knock the price down to what actual cost for the unit if you get the service plan depending on how desparate the store is to get a higher PSP number (the percentage of product that goes out of the store with their protection plan attached)

Before I worked there, I went into get a new Sony Vaio laptop, and since I had past experiences with batteries dying in my laptops, I decided to get the PSP just for the battery (it's not covered under manufacture's warrenty) and after talking to the manager, I ended up getting $150 off the laptop, so I only paid $100 for 3 years of protection on the laptop.
 
Cool, now this confirms I won't have to pay shipping on macs I get, i can just drive a half hour 🙂
 
sorry to bust your bubble, but when you talked about nocking down the price of the product so the service plan could be purchased for the original price or lower than the original price of the product. THis is no longer done at best buy. It was never suppose to be done. My manager just informed me that 9 managers in the pheonix area were just fired for the exact season you explained. Just staiting the facts!
 
Couple points I'd like to add... you get free shipping from www.apple.com...

And I worked at Best Buy before... The PSPs are the the biggest rip-offs. We were trained that after we sell a PSP and a customer needs help, tell them to call an 800 number. The reason we throw it down a customer's throat is they make more money from the PSP than they do from the sale of the PC.
 
Educational Discount

One thing you can do though, is print out the Apple.com price with the educational discount and Best Buy will match it, whether you're a student or not. My dad did it with the 30gb iPod, no questions asked
 
It all depends on your regional manager..."TECHNICALLY" it's not imboarding unless the manager says "If you buy the service plan, i'll knock money off"

It's definately a grey area, and sure some managers have been fired for it, but I've seen more managers close a big sale with service because they knocked off $50 or $100

I worked for a year in Digital Imaging, and I never once took money off to get better PSP numbers even when I was Department senior or supervisior. It was always nice to see yourself as #1 in the district in PSP and accessories, but if I wasn't, I didn't really care because I knew that I couldn't get service on every sale, and I knew that the imboarding was wrong...it's awesome when you're the customer and you get to save some money though...even if it only seems like you're saving money.

75% of all customers who buy the service plans will never use them, but if you know how to use them and what they cover, you can get your money's worth out of them. I bought my parents a digital video camera for christmas, and got the PSP on it...I take it in every 3 or 4 months for them and have it sent out for a tape path realignment and cleaning (normally $60 each time, but for $150, I got 4 years of free realignments and cleanings)

Honestly...it's a matter of knowing how to exploit the service plan.

I'll admit that 90% of all the service plans offered at best buy are total crap, but the "better" deal is definately the laptop PSP.
 
Originally posted by ZildjianKX
Couple points I'd like to add... you get free shipping from www.apple.com...

And I worked at Best Buy before... The PSPs are the the biggest rip-offs. We were trained that after we sell a PSP and a customer needs help, tell them to call an 800 number. The reason we throw it down a customer's throat is they make more money from the PSP than they do from the sale of the PC.
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former best buy employees, unite!!
seriously, zildjiankx is right on...psp is used for the numbers games...so while best buy might be offering one that is good for your needs (which is great for you) they arent choosing a plan/service provider/etc based on customer needs. so if you've only had great experiences with apple, and dont want best buy to get any serious cash from buying an apple computer, you just want to get your computer, get your computer only from best buy, and go buy accessories from the apple store/your favorite reseller. (i know this advice is probably bad for best buy and the apple/best buy deal...but best buy sees their employees as pawns and their customers as walking dollar bills.)
and if you really want to f*ck with the employee who wont leave you alone about the psp, ask them how low their computer dept is ranked, and whether they are being offered a gift card/free cd/etc if they sell enough psp. remember: no commission does not mean no extra rewards.
--carly
 
Back when I used to work in Home Theatre, my manager once said on a Wednesday night that if we sold any PSP over $29.99, he'd give us a free DVD upto $19.99...I think I walked home with the Die Hard box set that night....heheheh

When I was just a Prod, that was awesome, but when you're a dept. supervisior, you get ripped a new ****** if you're numbers suck.

We once got called in at 5:30am before a 7am store meeting to get yelled at by the district LP guy because we lost $10,000 worth of computer stuff and Media in a week. I was on vacation that week, but SOMEHOW i still got yelled at for it even though I was in Hawaii....hmmm...how does a manager expect me to check up on my people every day if i'm 4,000 miles away?
 
"extended warranty I can't lose!" Homer Simpson, I've never been big into the PSP and I kind of hate when people offer it to me. When we went computer shopping for the family PC (they all wanted a PC except for me) it was so tempting to make a little badge that said "Don't ask me about a service plan" because honestly for desktop computer they seem next to worthless for anyone whos quasi competant.

as for the whole race to sell the product plans, I can see that makes alot of sense. the question i'm left with is what about the people who went to a bestbuy like mine in the last week before that memo and saw the sign right on the tag that said 150 off all laptops...do the people from this week still get the discount because bestbuy was late to preclude it.
 
Re: Educational Discount

Originally posted by barhoptheworld
One thing you can do though, is print out the Apple.com price with the educational discount and Best Buy will match it, whether you're a student or not. My dad did it with the 30gb iPod, no questions asked
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and people wonder why we call best buy employees morons 🙄

iJon
 
re: price matching edu discount, best buy may just feel obligated to do that on a case by case basis because they need the business...just because they are doing well in this economy doesnt mean they dont need to work at their "success".
plus, its a matter of being ripped a new one either way...customer gets pissed their online price match isnt accepted, manager yells at sales person.
customer gets price match, manager still yells at sales person for not noticing the edu discount.
so really, the choices for an employee are not good per se....sadly.
--carly
 
I had a guy come in trying to get the full version of Photoshop 7 for $299 like the EDU price is. I was a supervisor at the time, and I had someone else's nametag on because I'd left mine in my car and it was too crowded to go get it...but anyway, the guy thought I was some prod, so I looked at the printout he had from JourneyEd, and it had the EDU price, and right above it it had the "Commerical Retail Price" which was like $2.00 less than what we had it listed for, so I was like "Sure we can price match that for you." and I went to ring him out and I said
"$634.93" and he was like "no...it was $299" and I said "no.....that's the EDUCATIONAL price...we don't sell the academic version, but we do sell the commerical version, which is listed for $620 there.....nice try though"

He threw a hissy fit and wanted to see a manager, so the manager came over and said "the version that's listed there is the academic verison for $299, and the commerical one that we sell is $620"

He left the store all pissed off, and he screamed on his way out "I'M CALLING THE BBB ON YOU!" too bad the BBB couldn't do a damn thing about it. 🙂
 
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