Testimonial #106: No TV for you

Our newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, had a cover story in the business section today showing a picture of an estimated 1,100 people waiting in line Friday morning before one of the BB store openings. Apparantly, BB had promised a $900 50" Panasonic plasma to the "early bird" customers. I don't know if any of these poor shoppers actually got their hands on one, because when I went into the Rogers (MN) store Friday evening (I planned on walking out with a 42" Panasonic plasma, if the price was right). A young saleswoman immediately came up to me asking if I needed help. I said, "yes, I want that TV (the price was right)". She said that they were out-of-stock, but that she could order one, which would take about a week. I asked her why they were out-of-stock. She said that the distribution center underestimated the demand (yeah, right). I said, "Oh, I guess I should have gotten in line at the opening this morning..." She said that that wouldn't have done any good because they were all sold out of Panasonic Flat Panels by call-ins before store opening (!). I told her that if I wanted to wait for a TV, I would have ordered one on line and paid a lower price. How does BB expect to sell anything when they play these games with their customers? I think Amazon got it right - make it easy for the customers to buy!


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