Buying open-box at Best Buy

[Bear]

...

Does anyone have an idea of when Apple will start listing those Haswell 13" rMBPs?

It could be any time in the next couple of months.

 

[Irishman]

Is the "fraud" accusation a chain-wide thing? I once bought a video game from Best Buy and requested in-store pickup, but listed only the first letter of my last name. The clerk there accused me of fraud when I tried to pick up the order, even though I had the order number and credit card on me. After that, I kept buying from Best Buy but haven't gone back to that particular store.

About in-store pickup at Best Buy where there is some question that the person picking up the device is actually the same person who is authorized by the purchaser to pick up the order - each store's leadership has the latitude to override that at the point of pickup, if they deem it worth it to do so. It sounds like the person handling your pickup either didn't know that, couldn't be bothered, or thought they were executing their job properly.

They're not trained, however, to accuse customers of fraud,

Having an order come in with a first initial for the last name on a quite pricey device like a MBP would be a tough call to make. What should have been recommended was for you to call BBY.com and have your last name changed on the order so that you could take it home (as only the person creating the order would have permissions to do so).

Hope that helps.

 

[ab2013]

It could be any time in the next couple of months.

Hmmm ... I'm starting to get impatient. I did notice that they started listing Haswell iMac refurbs so I still have hope!

Having an order come in with a first initial for the last name on a quite pricey device like a MBP would be a tough call

The problem is that the item was a $8 video game.

 

[Braniff747SP]

I got my first-generation iPad as a BB open-box. 32GB ended up costing the same as the 16GB new with tax. Wasn't a bad deal, and I've never had a problem with it.

 

[ab2013]

I don't think you'll be able to bargain on the price since it is already labeled as clearance. I'm not sure about the student discount though.

Update: Best Buy dropped the price on the clearance model (MD103LL/A) down to $1,299, and I noticed that they were running out of stock in the area, so I traveled down to my local store and asked. They had 1 left (so I didn't haggle on price), but I DID manage to get them to apply the student discount, even though there was a clearance item exception in the fine print.

I also applied a $10 Reward Zone cert, so even after tax, the laptop was $200+ cheaper than the same exact model being sold as clearance on MacMall. They were also offering a Yellow Tag special, which meant that I not only walked out as an Elite member but also with a $15 bonus gift card (in addition to the standard Reward Zone points).

I think this was one awesome steal. 😀

 

[Adonys]

Update: Best Buy dropped the price on the clearance model (MD103LL/A) down to $1,299, and I noticed that they were running out of stock in the area, so I traveled down to my local store and asked. They had 1 left (so I didn't haggle on price), but I DID manage to get them to apply the student discount, even though there was a clearance item exception in the fine print.

I also applied a $10 Reward Zone cert, so even after tax, the laptop was $200+ cheaper than the same exact model being sold as clearance on MacMall. They were also offering a Yellow Tag special, which meant that I not only walked out as an Elite member but also with a $15 bonus gift card (in addition to the standard Reward Zone points).

I think this was one awesome steal. 😀

awesome deal you got

 

[iDuel]

Update: Best Buy dropped the price on the clearance model (MD103LL/A) down to $1,299, and I noticed that they were running out of stock in the area, so I traveled down to my local store and asked. They had 1 left (so I didn't haggle on price), but I DID manage to get them to apply the student discount, even though there was a clearance item exception in the fine print.

I also applied a $10 Reward Zone cert, so even after tax, the laptop was $200+ cheaper than the same exact model being sold as clearance on MacMall. They were also offering a Yellow Tag special, which meant that I not only walked out as an Elite member but also with a $15 bonus gift card (in addition to the standard Reward Zone points).

I think this was one awesome steal. 😀

Nice, congrats!

 

[ab2013]

Deal actually got better. A week later, I managed to catch another Best Buy store in the area selling it for $1,174 and got the original store to issue a price match. Final price: $1,114.99 before tax 😱