The Joys of Store Credit...

Right now, I'm in the market for a Playstation 3. For the last month I've read rumors about a new, cheaper40GB model coming out for the holidays. Those rumors proved true, and the new model arrives on November 2.

I own an Xbox 360 (mostly for the Media Center capabilities, but I'll get into that some other time), but I want the PS3 for the gaming and the Blu-Ray (I'll also be posting on the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray "war" too). Now back when I was buying components for my home theater, I bought an open box Sony DG1000 receiver from Circuit City for $450 - not a bad deal. I bought the thing in May, but didn't get around to actually setting it up until my theater was ready (in August). It turned out that they included the wrong remote with my receiver - I got the one that goes with the DG600 model. It worked, but I couldn't access the advanced on-screen menu of the DG1000, which is a must when setting up your theater.

I complained, but of course CC wouldn't do anything about it. Their advice was to tell me to buy the right remote from Sony for $75 - but never offered to help me out with that cost (or at least give me a little store credit - some sort of compensation anyway). What they would do was give me store credit if I returned the DG1000 - although how they plan to resell that without the right remote at the same price, I'm not sure. I started looking at the DG910 as a comparison, and I decided to go with that instead (even though it's a step down, the price was a lot nicer, and it still packs a punch). I bought the DG910 from Amazon, since it was about $150 cheaper than what CC had it for (and they don't price match internet dealers).

So I now have $450 in store credit at CC. My idea was to buy the new PS3 when it arrives next week. Of course, I'm now seeing all sorts of good deals from other places - Amazon had a good free Blu-Ray movie promotion, the 20GB model is selling for less than $400, and Wal-Mart online has a fantastic-looking deal: the 60GB PS3 with Blu-Ray remote (which I want anyway) and a free game (including Resistance or Heavenly Sword) for $499. But since I want to use my store credit, I'm stuck.

CC's price match policy is this: the price has to be from a local store that has the product in-stock. The "in-stock" thing is what annoys me; I tried buying two hard drives from them doing a price match from Best Buy (who was actually cheaper for a change). Since the local stores only had 1 in-stock, CC would only match the price for one drive. How stupid is that? I realize there are instances where if a product's stock runs out the sale is over (Black Friday sales, for instance), but a majority of the time you can either get a rain check or find it on their website.

Now I understand not price matching internet sites; overhead and other expenses can't allow them to do this. But it'd be nice if they could be a little more lenient when the site is walmart.com or bestbuy.com; CC does want my business, don't they? I've heard many stories of how Best Buy is pretty good when it comes to dealing with you...is it just my CC that's bad, or are they all like that?

Yes, I could use my store credit for other things. But it's hard - prices on the internet are usually so much better than what CC or Best Buy can offer - I figured a video game console would be pretty standard. I didn't account for the nice packaged deals though. I can only hope for a fantastic sale next week from a local store (and that they have thing in-stock!).

Posted on 10/26/2007 at 9:46 AM