Please pass the Kleenex... BF has me in tears!

[pbharris4]

Have no fear.....there are more, even better deals as Christmas nears!!!


I have found in the last few years that the deals get better closer to Christmas. Depending how BF goes they will discount more. Keep your eyes peeled for laptops in all the sales circulars and websites...I bet something comes up in the next few weeks.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

I went to our Walmart during the night. I went for a PS3 game that DD has been wanting for a while and ended up leaving with a laptop!

At my store we were allowed in but we couldn't take anything out of the pallets until 5am.

The line for the laptop was at the automotive counter and it was easily 100 people--they only had 20. About 10 minutes before 5 they came out and handed the first 20 people a ticket. At 5am they started passing them out but you had to pay for it right there and then in automotive before you could continue shopping.

I also managed to get DD her game so it was a good BF.

 

[ilovefh]

There were some angry people at our local WM this morning. When we got there around 4:15 there were already people coming out with tv's and such so they definitely started selling them before 5:00. We could have cared less because I just wanted the $18 microwave for DH's work van!

 

[maslex]

Just got back from my friends house. He was telling us about his ordeal at Walmart's BF. LOL He got there at 11:40 LAST NIGHT and stood in line next to the laptops. Apparently Walmart ONLY HAD 35 of the laptops. They ended up giving out tickets WAY before they were supposed to. The line was so long that they decided to pass out the tickets early. And at that time of night he was 13th in line. He also said that you had to stand in line until 5am (when the sale started, you couldn't leave) Also had to get a "pass" to even use the bathroom and they gave you a 5 min time limit. LOL Can you just imagine. I mean I've been doing BF's for quite a few years and nothing has ever been this crazy. I think it's been getting worse each year. I didn't even step foot in a store today and I'm debating whether to go out again in the future. It's just too much nowadays.

 

[n2mm]

Same here, I did everything online this year except the wii which I got at Target on Sunday. Many stores have had their Black Friday specials on sale since late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning and like you said, Amazon has had deals all week!

to the OP, keep checking the Budget Board. Mnay of us post deals as soon as we learn of them and also check out the black friday message boards (gottadeal, blackfriday, etc). They continuously post deals that are coming up along with direct links to the items. This is what kept me informed of all the BF deals online. Good luck. Don't give up yet!

Yep, I seem to be following you too! I also got all of my list filled by catching the BF deals starting on Wednesday. Sears had all of their stuff on Wednesday (at least the stuff on my list). Then yesterday I got everything on my Lowes list and my BonTon list. This morning I did have to wait while Staples got their act together 30 minutes late online, but I got everything I wanted there too! 2 printers, 2 mouse(s) and the set of phones/AT&T 4, and with a $30 coupon on the purchase, it's great, plus I got my confirmations too. Most of my stuff will arrive this week. I'm sorry the OP didn't get her item, but she should've just stayed home and shopped in her PJ. Hopefully, she'll get what she looking for. We just returned home from picking up our Sears orders and Lowes orders. It was easy and painless.

 

[pearlieq]

While it's bad you didn't get a deal it has been common knowledge for a long time that Walmart was letting people stay inside because of the man who got trampled to death last year. You have nobody to blame but yourself.

Sheesh! So much for tea and sympathy around here.

WalMart was supposed to be open all night, but wasn't supposed to be honoring BF deals until 5am--at least that's what our paper said. The OP should have been there in plenty of time.

 

[smkiya]

While it's bad you didn't get a deal it has been common knowledge for a long time that Walmart was letting people stay inside because of the man who got trampled to death last year. You have nobody to blame but yourself.

I was expressing my disappointment in not getting the laptop I wanted. I said that I actually had one ordered and confirmed but didn't get it, because I forgot to transfer $$$. Sounds like I was blaming myself....

To everyone else, thanks for the great ideas. I'll keep looking. If I have to wait until after Christmas, so be it...

Next year, I will definately be in my pj's!

 

[3boymthr]

I have been to Walmart ONCE on BF never, never, never again. I didn't even go to get one of "the" deals and got what I wanted but it was ridiculous just the same. It wook me 1/2 hour to find a spot to park, the rest of the store was soo soo picked over I really didn't feel it worth even browsing, after I got it I had to wait 20 minutes to pay for it and then I had to wait another 15 minutes to get out of the parking lot. I could have saved all that time by spending an extra $5 at TRU or Target or...

 

[elgerber]

Sheesh! So much for tea and sympathy around here.

WalMart was supposed to be open all night, but wasn't supposed to be honoring BF deals until 5am--at least that's what our paper said. The OP should have been there in plenty of time.

While I agree that post was rather rude, unfortunately 4 am is not early enough for a doorbuster laptop at any store. They stock so few and these people are nuts with how early they shop! I got there at 4:25, not wanting anything big, but found the line for the $78 Blu Ray so short, that I got one of those. Some of the lines though were wrapped down at least 2 grocery aisles!

Keep your eyes open, I am finding stores are offering killer deals at any time right now. Target had the Netbook I needed for my dd last week for $199 which saved me from stressing this morning.

 

[ceecee]

We went to Best Buy for the Samsung Steam washer and dryer set. Got there right at 5:00 am second in line in the appliances, guy in front of us bought the floor models so they substituted the LG steam instead. I wanted the Samsung so we are hoping we will like the LG. The only color it came in was white. At 3:00 pm we went to Home Depot and they had the EXACT same set in silver for $100 more each piece. They were price matching HH Gregg....no line no getting up early! It happens every year, we wait in line get up early, then walk in somewhere else and find the same deal with no wait. Keep your eyes open, you'll find another deal.

 

[smkiya]

We went to Best Buy for the Samsung Steam washer and dryer set. Got there right at 5:00 am second in line in the appliances, guy in front of us bought the floor models so they substituted the LG steam instead. I wanted the Samsung so we are hoping we will like the LG. The only color it came in was white. At 3:00 pm we went to Home Depot and they had the EXACT same set in silver for $100 more each piece. They were price matching HH Gregg....no line no getting up early! It happens every year, we wait in line get up early, then walk in somewhere else and find the same deal with no wait. Keep your eyes open, you'll find another deal.

Last year when you couldn't get a Wii or Wii Fit, I walked into the supermarket at 2pm on black friday and they had like 10 of each. Also had the Garmin gps there that Walmart sold out of that morning for the same price. They had like 10 of those too, I got one.

 

[eliza61]

I was up at 3am this morning. Headed over to Walmart at 4am, and there were cars leaving. There was no line in front of the store. I got out of my car and walked to the entrance... the store was packed! The manager said the store was open all night! Needless to say, I didn't get the laptop I wanted... the sole reason for my early morning excursion.

I got home and perused the ads, Staples was due to open at 6am and they had a laptop (more expensive) but I went. People were leaving there too, I was there at 5am. They had already handed out tickets for everything on the front page of their ad, including my laptop.

I went home and waited until 6am to order from Staples online. Well the site was super slow, but after about 30 minutes, my order went through. At 7:30am still no order confirmation. I checked my account and my checkcard wasn't debited, I forgot to transfer more money, to this account! The order was cancelled.

Now all of the deals are gone! No laptop for dd!

Girl, are you kidding me! The deals have just begun. I did Black friday one year and every thing I got on black friday, I ended up taking back for price adjustments because the darn things went lower the week before Christmas.

IMO unless you are getting Toys, don't even bother with black friday. I guarantee you in 2 weeks you will find a dozen laptops at great prices.

I see you're in SJ, are you near Deptford mall or any Best buys? How about Sams club? They have unbelievable sales.

 

[C.Ann]

I read an article about BF in the New York Times yesterday. It said that retailers are expected to discount even MORE deeply as the holidays near. Don't despair, you'll probably get at least as good of a price! Still, I can imagine how annoyed and disappointed you were.

The best deals are yet to come - and you won't have to go out in the wee hours of the morning or the middle of the night to get them.. Just need to have a little patience..

 

[charles.headlee]

The deals should continue. Black Friday was more of a disaster last year for several reasons: Economy. People realized it's not worth risking your life to shop. The retail industry is frightened that Black Friday might affect economic recovery similar to the way cash for clunkers and other stimulus programs affected the economy - when the program is over, people put their wallets away and sales suffered for a while.

People are also starting to get the hint: Black Friday means one or two items in each category go on sale at a deep discount. Remaining items in that category might go on sale for a shallow discount. Someone who stays up all night, goes into a store, fights crowds, then finds the TV that was marked down 50% is out is still likely to buy the next TV that's only marked down 10% or 20%. Black Friday is, and always has been a marketing tactic to induce shoppers to physically and mentally wear themselves out at a time they are already prepared to spend.

The deals will continue. Imagine how many people are experiencing the same feelings as you. The Black Friday experience is crafted so that you would be relieved if you had to pay full price now just to get the item. If brick and mortar stores don't offer more deals, Amazon will be happy to take their business.

 

[smkiya]

I took a pp advice and bought a refurbished computer. I hope I'm not disappointed with it, but it is for a 5 year old, soooo.... It actually came to a little less than the Staples deal I missed, and was comparable so overall I'm happy with what I got. I figure the difference in what I'll get in a couple weeks won't be anymore than a $50 savings at best, for virtually the same thing, and with the aggravation I went through today it's worth it to me to be done.

 

[Miz Diz]

Sorry about your experience. I went to Wal Mart. My sister got the $198 laptop and I got the $298 laptop. The store we went to had 45 of the emachine laptops and 31 of the HPs. They started giving out tickets at 3am. The line I was in still had available tickets at 4:30. Guess it just depends on how many they get and how crowded the store is.

It varies on how much of each item the store gets. One of the employees told me they only got 3 of the ipod touches and people were mad about that.

 

[delmar411]

Sorry you missed out OP. At my walmart they handed out the computer/tv tickets at 1:30 because they had more people in line than computers. The people with tickets were able to get a 15min bathroom pass but after that they lost their spot, and they did have to wait there in line until 5am. Only heard of it happening to one person there and they were po'd big time. But 15mins is more than sufficient when the bathrooms were really close by.

I did get a lot of amusement watching the people stroll in at 3:30-4:30am expecting to be able to battle their way to a laptop. Pretty unwelcome news for them to hear Walmart went to a line up/ticket system for the major door buster items. I think it is a good system but prefer BB's way of lining up and you can get tickets for all the doorbuster items if you are close enough in line and want the item. DH and I had to split up and decide what I would go for while he waited for the camera.

 

[chell]

Sorry you didn't get one but hopefully you can find just as good of a deal, if not better. There was no way I was going to fight the crowd but I really, really need a new computer so I decided to buy one online. And I was afraid to send my husband because I was afraid there would be too many people and not enough computers.

After reading many of the comments here I'm afraid I may need to keep my eyes open for a better deal and possibly take mine back.

 

[WaltD4Me]

What's funny about that is that Best Buy's website had their deals available all day yesterday. I got my doorbuster TV online yesterday from the comfort of my own home. I got my camera the day before from amazon for $0.99 cheaper than the doorbuster price at Best Buy. One of the movies I wanted was sold out already, but that's it.

So true, I've gotten many things on my list from Amazon already and few are in transit and most with better prices than I saw in the Black Friday ads. I adore Amazon. I start putting gifts in my cart months before Christmas and just keep watching my cart for them to go on sale. Maybe that would work for your laptop? Also, definitely check the manufacturer's website, alot of times you find the best deals direct from the maker.

 

[koopa]

I read the title to the thread and thought BF meant boyfriend.... Just keep checking online. I think there will be more computer deals.