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Strange Best Buy iPad 2 experience

J

joshs2000ss

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 20, 2010
78
0
I told my wife I would get her an iPad for Christmas. When I found out that the 2 would be coming early this year I convinced her to wait.

Fast forward to Friday. I was on my way home from work, so she went to Best Buy to get in line. There were about 40-50 people in front of her. She wanted the 32g wifi in white. When she got to the point when she was to get her ticket, the employee told her they had already given out all of the tickets for that version in white. So she settled for the black.

When I got there I took her place in line so she could get some other thIngs done that she needed to do.

When I got to the counter to make the purchase I asked if there was a chance they might have some white 32g that they might have overlooked. I was told that the ones they had were ticketed already (why someone in front of me would have ended up behind me in line, I don't know) but I should call in a couple of hours and see if they had any then. ???

So later I call back and the guy won't tell me over the phone what they have because he said it was still first come first serve. So I drive back to the store with my purchase and go to make an exchange in case they have one. They check the stock, pull out a white 32g and make the exchange and I'm done, no line, no waiting.

Maybe they were being conservative with the tickets, I don't know.

A friend of mine in front of me in line said the guy in front of him had a ticket for a 32g 3G and when he got to the counter, THEY SAID THEY WERE OUT!!! He calmly explained how he was assured that a ticket was as good as an iPad and it was their mistake. He left with a 64g 3G for the same price.
 
joshs2000ss said:
a friend of mine in front of me in line said the guy in front of him had a ticket for a 32g 3g and when he got to the counter, they said they were out!!! He calmly explained how he was assured that a ticket was as good as an ipad and it was their mistake. He left with a 64g 3g for the same price.
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wow lucky!!!!
 
I don't think that's too surprising for Best Buy. Sometimes you get someone who really knows their stuff and what's going on, other times they can be clueless. I'm glad you got what you wanted.
 
The ticket reserves the iPad. That's how they wound up in line behind you. They stood in line until they got a ticket, left to do whatever, came back and got in back of the line. They ultimately had to wait longer to get hold of the actual iPad, but so long as they had a ticket valid for that day they'd get an iPad. Or so I'm sure it was supposed to work. There were likely some slips, like the guy with a 32GB 3G ticket who talked himself up to a 64GB 3G for the same price because they over-ticketed stock for the model he wanted. But, generally, I think that's how it was supposed to work.
 
simonandrews said:
Pointlessly long post... If you want to tell everyone about your new ipad then just write it quickly in the correct area.
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These are posts I don't get. This is a forum...are people not supposed to talk and discuss things? I must have a disrupted interpretation of the word "forum."
 
You wouldn't have thought it was rocket science, you have a shipment of 300 iPad's split up into various models, so you print the correct amount of tickets for each one, sort them into several stacks, stand at the front of the queue and start handing them out according to what the customer asks for, and then once they go on sale, a separate queue can form and people can start redeeming their iPad's based on what's printed on the ticket. Still first come first served, but at least everyone in the second queue knows that they will receive the iPad that's on their ticket by the end of the day, so can choose to go off and join the back or just stick around to be one of the first. Simple, no?
 
I would love to be that guy that got a 64GB model for the price of the 32GB one, props to Best Buy for fixing their mistake.
 
simonandrews said:
Pointlessly long post... If you want to tell everyone about your new ipad then just write it quickly in the correct area.
Click to expand...

a) You didn't have to read it.
b) Is there a limit to the number of words we're allowed to write?
c) Perhaps we should all email a draft of our intended posts to you for editing and comments in future.
d) Give the guy a break. His post was at least as interesting as the one showing an iPad being taken out of a cardboard box.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
I don't think that's too surprising for Best Buy. Sometimes you get someone who really knows their stuff and what's going on, other times they can be clueless. I'm glad you got what you wanted.
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BB I ahte them they sold me the worng laptop glad I caught it before I had opened the box I had ask for a total diffrent model color etc. Idotes thatw as not first time. They know squad and when I ask about something they have never heard of it ??? I am a STHM and have more tech wiz then anyone there
 
my best buy scenario was kinda weird too. I was about 80th in line and they only had about 15 total. once i realized i wasnt getting one i high tailed down the street to target and was 9 out of 10 for 16gb wifi white...all of their units were that. So, the wife wanted the black one but i bought the white anyway and left. I went right back to best buy where people were waiting to pay and asked if anyone wanted to trade white for black. Some guy was happy to do it. Went to target and did a return/rebuy and then back to best buy for the black one. it was perfect.
 
langis.elbasunu said:
my best buy scenario was kinda weird too. I was about 80th in line and they only had about 15 total. once i realized i wasnt getting one i high tailed down the street to target and was 9 out of 10 for 16gb wifi white...all of their units were that. So, the wife wanted the black one but i bought the white anyway and left. I went right back to best buy where people were waiting to pay and asked if anyone wanted to trade white for black. Some guy was happy to do it. Went to target and did a return/rebuy and then back to best buy for the black one. it was perfect.
Click to expand...
I'm a tad confused - I understand you up to the part where you start talking about a return/rebuy. What's that? Couldn't you just swap it hand in hand with the other guy?
 
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