Wal-Mart Black Friday Vent

[richmond282]

ITA. With people already lined up, it doesn't matter when they hand out the tickets. They did this at Best Buy tonight just before they opened but it wouldn't have mattered if they'd done it hours before. When they ran out of tickets they ran out and at least at Wal-Mart the people in line knew in plenty of time whether they could get a certain item or not.

This is how it worked at our store too. I arrived at a little before 8 pm for the xbox deal. I got a ticket and stood in line for 2+ hours. The tickets were gone by 8:30 or so. At least people weren't standing in line waiting for something they weren't gonna get. ya snooze, ya lose.

 

[dbrn]

I'd rather find out when I arrived at 9:30 that all the tickets had already been passed out and that I wouldn't be able to get a TV then stand in line for 2 1/2 hrs only to find out at midnight that I had been standing there for nothing.

 

[HelenePA]

As someone else pointed out, this is not particular to Black Friday.

This is how concert tickets work (they often do the bracelets in addition to the line) and have for decades, how iphone releases work, how hot movie releases work (remember the new Star Wars films?), software and game releases work, etc.

The line/ticket/bracelet/whatever system should hardly be news to anyone living in the Western Hemisphere.

I believe Garth Brooks started the wrist band thing back in the mid 90's... I remember having to stand in line to get my number to come back and stand in line... Guess it was early prep for Black Friday for me

 

[Maridw]

My DH & I don't usually do BF. When we were there at 4:30, yes we saw the balloons, but they were low prices without items listed on them (prices like 1.99, 12.99 etc). When we got back that evening, we were searching for the tv and asked three people before we found what we wanted. The first two people did not say "look for the balloon in such and such area", no it was "it is over in the food section". The last person we asked actually pointed to the balloon.

Yes we are BF amateurs and did not know how this worked. As I said before, I have seen things about Best Buy, Target and such, and YES, I did see the story about the people that got trampled, that is one reason DH & I don't do BF. I still feel it was wrong that the tickets were given out more than 6 hours prior to the sale time. And obviously we weren't the only ones that felt it was wrong, because when we asked to talk to the manager, the way the employee referred to our situation, it sounded like someone else had also complained.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this matter, I have stated mine and everyone else has stated theirs. We all agree to disagree on this.

I haven't been on all day because DH & I had to go to a funeral and then went shopping. We did get a couple good buys on items he wanted for the door prizes.

Also we don't live in a big city, but it is not a small city either. We have 3 Wal-Marts between Panama City and Panama City Beach.

DH & I probably will not do this again - hopefully. But then we do have a granddaughter and who knows what will happen when DH sees something he likes that he feels she has to have!

 

[hopemax]

As someone else pointed out, this is not particular to Black Friday.

This is how concert tickets work (they often do the bracelets in addition to the line) and have for decades, how iphone releases work, how hot movie releases work (remember the new Star Wars films?), software and game releases work, etc.

The line/ticket/bracelet/whatever system should hardly be news to anyone living in the Western Hemisphere.

Not to mention Disney's Fastpass is a very similar concept. Especially, for things like World of Color at DCA or the autograph lines during Star Wars Weekends. And to invoke another "Disney routine when dealing with extremely limited capacity" at least you don't have to sign up for a spot 180 days in advance.

 

[Maridw]

And to invoke another "Disney routine when dealing with extremely limited capacity" at least you don't have to sign up for a spot 180 days in advance.

Too True!!!

 

[goofy!]

My DH & I don't usually do BF. When we were there at 4:30, yes we saw the balloons, but they were low prices without items listed on them (prices like 1.99, 12.99 etc). When we got back that evening, we were searching for the tv and asked three people before we found what we wanted. The first two people did not say "look for the balloon in such and such area", no it was "it is over in the food section". The last person we asked actually pointed to the balloon.

Yes we are BF amateurs and did not know how this worked. As I said before, I have seen things about Best Buy, Target and such, and YES, I did see the story about the people that got trampled, that is one reason DH & I don't do BF. I still feel it was wrong that the tickets were given out more than 6 hours prior to the sale time. And obviously we weren't the only ones that felt it was wrong, because when we asked to talk to the manager, the way the employee referred to our situation, it sounded like someone else had also complained.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this matter, I have stated mine and everyone else has stated theirs. We all agree to disagree on this.

I haven't been on all day because DH & I had to go to a funeral and then went shopping. We did get a couple good buys on items he wanted for the door prizes.

Also we don't live in a big city, but it is not a small city either. We have 3 Wal-Marts between Panama City and Panama City Beach.

DH & I probably will not do this again - hopefully. But then we do have a granddaughter and who knows what will happen when DH sees something he likes that he feels she has to have!

So, just to clarify...

You would have been perfectly ok with arriving at 11pm - only one hour before the doorbuster went on sale, to find yourself about 100th in line for 20 tvs, as long as they didn't hand those first 20 people the tickets until midnight? You would have been comfortable not getting the tv as long as those people stood there for 4 hours?

Or do you have some naive idea that you still might have snagged a tv by showing up only an hour before a doorbuster if they had made people stand in the line for the entire 4 hours?

No matter what, you still would not have gotten the tv, since the line obviously had more people in it than Wal-Mart had tvs at 8:00. I am willing to bet that since they were dedicated enough to show up 4 hours early to get in line for a midnight sale, they were already prepared to stick it out inline till midnight to get the tv. Getting;00 the ticket early was just a bonus.

The first people in line at 8:00 would have snagged the tvs whether they had a ticket or they stood there for 4 hours since they were FIRST in line.

Our Best Buy started a new thing this year. They had people camping out for a couple of days. Even though they said the store opened at midnight, they were only letting a certain amount of people in the store at one time. When the first people came out, the next ones could enter the store.

Our college son went with his friends over to Best Buy to check out a non doorbuster several hours after the store opened and there were still people wrapped around the building. Needless to say, they left.

Bring on Cyber Monday!

 

[cornflake]

I'm still fascinated by the need to change clothes aspect.

 

[elainesj]

she was dressed for dinner...not necessarily comfy clothes for spending hours waiting in line.

 

[Maridw]

I'm still fascinated by the need to change clothes aspect.

We had dressed up to go out for Thanksgiving dinner, so I had heels on and dress pants, not something I would have wanted to stand around in for hours. My DH also had on dress pants. If we had waited, I would have wanted to have jeans or comfy pants and sneakers on.

I guess if we had seen the balloons with the items listed on them, we would have asked about it and then we would have known to be there earlier. As I said, DH & I have never done BF before and he didn't know we should have been there earlier. We actually started to leave earlier, but got held up with our cats & dog at the last minute.

I still do not agree with the tickets being given out 6 hours prior. 2 maybe 3 hours prior I could maybe see. But 6, I am sorry that was not right. For them to be gone by 8pm, they were given out sometime between 5 and 8. This item wasn't to go on sale until midnight. If they had said they were given out between 9 and 10, then maybe I would not have been so mad.

Sorry I don't agree with everyone on this thread, but I have my opinion, and you have yours. Sorry you have a problem with my opinion. You can't please everyone.

 

[cornflake]

Not to speak for other posters but I don't think it's that we disagree - I mean that's fine, no big deal. It's that we, ok at least I and from reading the other posts I'll venture to guess some others, don't understand your perspective exactly. Not that we have to have the same perspective, it's just confusing.

Because... if the people showed up for the midnight sale two days ago, prepared to wait until midnight yesterday, and they gave out the tickets a day before, and the people had to stay to get the item, what's the difference?

The people who got the tickets before 8 were there, ready to wait in line until 12. They presumably did stay until 12 so what's the difference?

If they gave out the tickets exactly at 12:00, it'd be the same people who got the tickets before 8, because they were there lined up to wait for 12.

I could see your point if it was to go on sale at 12 and at 11am, before there were lines or anything, managers wandered the store asking random people if they wanted a cheap TV and handing out tickets. That'd be unfair.

However, you saw them setting up the stuff for the lines for the items (though I understand you didn't realize that's what they were doing), so you know they did do the lines for items sometime between 5-11.

You know there were enough people who had lined up to wait for the sale that, by 8, there were more people than items available. Hence they gave out tickets to the people in the front. Those people, who had queued to wait for the sale items, were the ones that got them. If, while on line, they decided they didn't want a TV, line etiquette dictates they offer the ticket to the person next in line who didn't have one (and people usually hang about in case that happens).

I've been in plenty of ticket lines for various sold-out things and someone in line in front will find they don't need a ticket, or score one and everyone just moves up a place - if someone on line has a ticket bracelet or has one but needs two together and gets two together, they turn and offer their single to the people next in the line.

It's not understanding what difference you feel it'd have made or how it'd have been more fair to hand out the tickets at 12 that's perplexing people I think.

 

[goofy!]

We had dressed up to go out for Thanksgiving dinner, so I had heels on and dress pants, not something I would have wanted to stand around in for hours. My DH also had on dress pants. If we had waited, I would have wanted to have jeans or comfy pants and sneakers on.

I guess if we had seen the balloons with the items listed on them, we would have asked about it and then we would have known to be there earlier. As I said, DH & I have never done BF before and he didn't know we should have been there earlier. We actually started to leave earlier, but got held up with our cats & dog at the last minute.

I still do not agree with the tickets being given out 6 hours prior. 2 maybe 3 hours prior I could maybe see. 6, I am sorry that was not right. For them to be gone by 8pm, they were given out sometime between 5 and 8. This item wasn't to go on sale until midnight. If they had said they were given out between 9 and 10, then maybe I would not have been so mad.

Sorry I don't agree with everyone on this thread, but I have my opinion, and you have yours. Sorry you have a problem with my opinion. You can't please everyone.

But do you not understand that there was already a line for the items 4-6 hours early? These people would have been the first in line at 8pm or at midnight.

It really does not matter when the tickets were given out. The people there between 5:00 and 8:00 would have been the first in line no matter what.

Your naivete of how Black Friday works is not the fault of Wal-Mart.

It sounds like you made a bunch of assumptions that hurt your chances. You saw balloons, but did not see prices so assumed they did not have anything to do with the door busters. You did not see a line, so you assumed there wouldn't be a line till one hour before the door busters went on sale. Did you go to the customer service desk at all to ask how the door busters were going to be handled? Did you ask if they were expecting a line?

 

[Maridw]

So we can stop beating a dead horse:

1. Yes, we were naive about BF. I said that.

2. Yes, we would not have gotten a tv because we did not get there early enough. I understand that.

3. No, we did not ask about the balloons or how they were going to handle the door busters. See #1

4. We all have our own opinions and mine is that it wasn't advertised properly. I have stated repeatedly that I knew Best Buy did tickets, but have never heard of Wal-Mart doing them - at least not in our area.

So before I get anymore snarky, as this has been a long day I am going to post this last post. My DH had to bury a good friend today. And when the bugler played taps, it was one of the most haunting sounds. I have heard it played at funerals before, but today it echoed off the buildings near where we were and it made it even more so.

You all can argue amongst yourselves.

Good night!

 

[Victoria3]

I'm still confused. Why do you not like Walmart giving out tickets?

You do realize that even if they didn't give out tickets you still wouldn't have gotten a tv.

 

[duffy]

I guarantee that if at 4:30, instead of going home and changing clothes you had started a line, and then got what you wanted, you would have been posting how happy you are.

You would have had no problem with the system, IF you had gotten your item.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Not really much to add to the OP's original comment, but I would like to vent about Walmart on BF just the same...

The people there last night were CRAZY!!!



Is it really necessary to throw an item on the floor when you are pawing through a bin of PJ's just because it isn't the size you need?

Stuff was tossed everywhere...it looked like a war zone.

Went to Best Buy after and I applaud them...the store was much more organized.

Hey, that's unfair! Best Buy doesn't sell soft goods (and anyone throwing a tv or iPad on the floor intentionally because it's the wrong model would - ideally - have to reimburse the store ).

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I dare say that if someone called 1-800-WAL-MART that the store management would be in major

The person who said their store opened at 4am must live in MA. All the WM stores here opened at 4, it was on the news all week that Target was 1, WM was 4, Macy's was 12:30, etc because of our old Blue Laws.

Locally I have a bunch of new Super WM's near me, I went to an old smaller store an hour after opening that is 15 min from a nice new Super one. The store was dead! They still had an entire rack of $99 Wii's, the cheap DVD's were still stocked and organized. Got everything I wanted (no tv door busters for me) and waked right up to a register, no wait. For me it is old small dumpy Walmarts on Black Friday... No more Super Walmarts!

 

[kaytieeldr]

I still do not agree with the tickets being given out 6 hours prior. 2 maybe 3 hours prior I could maybe see. But 6, I am sorry that was not right. For them to be gone by 8pm, they were given out sometime between 5 and 8. This item wasn't to go on sale until midnight. If they had said they were given out between 9 and 10, then maybe I would not have been so mad.

Sorry I don't agree with everyone on this thread, but I have my opinion, and you have yours. Sorry you have a problem with my opinion. You can't please everyone.

I guess I'm confused because the OP continues to blame WalMart for her lack of knowledge . It appears the store gave out tickets at a point when the line for the item became longer than the number of units available. It shouldn't matter if that was 4:30, or 6:00, or 8:00, or 9:00, or 11:57, or never (again, she should see the post about some WalMarts not opening until 4:00 AM, and that was a corporate decision!).

Frankly, this OP sounds like someone who would purchase something Consumer Reports rated 'not recommended' or 'not acceptable', then when she had whatever problem they highlighted complain she wasn't familiar with Consumer Reports.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I wish Old Navy handed out the wristbands more than 15 minutes before store opening for the free camera. Would have saved me over an hour of standing in a freezing cold line surrounded by cigarette and pot smoke! It was a real interesting crowd!!

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I guess I'm confused because the OP continues to blame WalMart for her lack of knowledge . It appears the store gave out tickets at a point when the line for the item became longer than the number of units available. It shouldn't matter if that was 4:30, or 6:00, or 8:00, or 9:00, or 11:57, or never (again, she should see the post about some WalMarts not opening until 4:00 AM, and that was a corporate decision!).

Frankly, this OP sounds like someone who would purchase something Consumer Reports rated 'not recommended' or 'not acceptable', then when she had whatever problem they highlighted complain she wasn't familiar with Consumer Reports.

WM even puts on their website a map of each store and where the BF deals are located. I think they have done a good job in making it fair and safe!