Shady Deals
28 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Stupid does not descriminate
I love Black Friday shopping. I’ve gone every year for the last four years now. I usually map out a plan with whoever agrees to be my shopping buddy, grab some Starbucks, and set my sights on the store with the most deals. Something about the anticipation of nabbing a great deal is super exciting, isn’t it? It doesn’t really even matter what the deal is as long as it’s a deal. “Guess what I paid for these toe socks?! FIVE CENTS!!! Everybody’s getting a pair!” Yes! Toesocks! Awesome. Just what everybody wants for Christmas…two layers of cotton shoved between each individual toe. That should be considered a form of torture.
To date, I’ve never made it home on Black Friday with an advertised “doorbuster.” You know what I mean by doorbuster: those tempting ads they put out weeks ahead of time that make people insane enough to camp out in front of the store for hours, or even days. Those people are nuts! Or maybe I just value my time too much. An hour of my time that could be spent playing with my kids, or better yet, sleeping, has got to be worth at least $200. And that price goes up the older I get. There was one year we made it home with a TV on supersale. But as soon as we plugged it in it almost caught on fire. Returned and lesson learned.
So really, I’m not a slow learner, I continue to go for the fun of it more so than the objective to grab a great steal-of-a-deal. I was really disappointed that this year stores were opening at midnight and even 9pm on Thanksgiving! That ruins it for me. That takes away all the excitement of waiting, of getting up super early and coming home to crash after a long morning, of getting to enjoy the holiday separately from the shopping day…bleh! It just ruins it! No more Black Friday Thursday, whatever, for me.
However, I’m not stupid! If I was planning on buying something anyway, I may as well try to get it when it’s on sale. Enter: online shopping. Hello? Killer deals for great prices with free shipping and I never have to change out of my PJ’s or get off my couch? Sign me up! Or…so you think…
Online Shopping: Take One
The item in mind: A step2 Push buggy, pink of course, to push my little K around at the park. Awwww. The steering wheel even has a horn. Super cute! Regular price: $60. Black Friday in-store deal: $25. Dang! Maybe I should go stand in line. Wait! Online price: $30. Cool! I’d spend the extra $5 bucks in gas to get there, have to wait in line four days, and they may be gone before I can even grab one. Online it is!
I put it in my virtual cart and go to checkout. Price: $60.
What?!
Reload.
Price: $60.
Okay, it’s only 11:00pm. Not officially Black Friday, nevermind the store opened at 9pm, but I can wait. So I set my alarm for 12:01am.
At 12:01am I get back online only to realize the server is so busy that it takes 15 minutes for each page to load, and that’s if it loads at all. By 1am I have made it to checkout.
Error: can’t fetch price!
What?!?! What the heck does that mean.
Reload. Checkout. Error. Repeat.
I do this multiple times.
Okay, keep in mind I’m doing this from the mobile site on my phone. So I chose to visit the full site just to see if there is a glitch. There is! Thank goodness! I really want the buggy now. I can picture it under the tree. The server is still painfully busy but by 2am I’m ready to check out.
Price: $30. Yes! Total: $72. What?!?!?!
Shipping. Yes, shipping!!! Are you kidding me? Shipping cost more than the toy?! No way! So I go back to the main site…*Free Shipping on orders of $49 or greater. Great! Well, I don’t want two buggies, but I really want the one, so let me see if they have anything else I can get for the girls…they got me!
After another hour of shopping online with dial-up page loading speed, I finally am satisfied with my selections.
Checkout. Finally! $30 toy I cane to buy, $20 worth of junk I have to buy, Grand total: $82.
Wait just a cotton-pickin’-minute!
I read the fine print: *Free shipping on orders $49 or greater up to $20 off total shipping
Are you serious? It’s 4am. And I still don’t have a buggy. I got online at ELEVEN o’clock! I could have been to the store, run somebody down with a shopping cart, been arrested, gotten bailed out, grabbed a milkshake, and been home by now. This is ridiculous! Online shopping is supposed to be easier, right?
Now I understand why people are so crazy. I will not be wasting my time again to save a few bucks. I DID not order the buggy and I’m threw with my Christmas shopping. Thank you Toys R Us for trying to con me out of $80 for a toy you are running on Black Friday sale for $25.
Again. Lesson learned.
