It's Here!

After dealing with Wal-Mart's Site To Store, I'm pleased to report that Amazon came through- and quickly! Even though I only ordered it Monday evening, and chose super saver shipping, the Philips 3575 arrived today. I even had some time to hook it up. It's too early to form a final opinion, but it did work right out of the box. The interface is clunky, and I needed to read the manual to figure out how to record something. However, the playback was smooth, and the hard drive was just about silent. Stay tuned as I put this baby through the paces, and we share if it is worth three Franklin's of our cash.

--Jonas

This Is Suspicious...

I've been chronicling my attempt to buy a Philips 3575 hard drive TV recorder. After my failed Site To Store saga, my plan was to find a store in stock, and drive to the next county to get it. If I needed to take a trip, I supposed it would be worth it. Anyway, my order was canceled so I needed a plan "B," and this seemed the best way to get it.

I went on the Wal-Mart website to plan the attack. They have a feature that lets you see which stores have the item in stock, somewhat like Circuit City has had for years. Anyhow, the original store I was planning to go to is now out of it, but one even further away does apparently have stock. No biggie, I'll just use my GPS even though I have no idea where any of these stores are.

Getting to the point of this piece, I see that the price of the recorder has risen from $298 to $318. I know this is America, home of capitalism and the "all mighty dollar." Wal-Mart can charge whatever they want for this device as they are the only one selling it, so there's not exactly competition working here.

What's annoying me is this nagging feeling that my order was canceled last week, so they could raise the price this week. No one likes to feel like they are being shaken down for extra cash on the same item. The timing of this is just a little bit too close for my taste. Will the $20 be a deal breaker for me? Probably not, but as they say, it's not the amount, it's the principle.

--Jonas

Addendum: When I first researched this product, it was only available at Wal-Mart. Now, it turns out that Wally Mart does not have an exclusive on it. It can be purchased also from Amazon, J&R, and even directly from Philips. Wal-Mart is definitely price gouging and taking advantage of the situation as Amazon has it for $289, and the others $299 which sounds a lot more reasonable to me. Why was I driving to the next county again?

Site To Store To Nowhere

Here We Go Again!

I've been trying to get a new hard drive based recorder. I say trying because not only is my local Wal-Mart out of it, but only one store out of the twenty closest has "limited supplies." I found out that Wal-Mart has this new Site To Store plan. It works kind of like the old Sears catalog pickup. I order it online, they ship it to the store, and they send me an email when it is ready to be picked up. By sending it through the Wal-Mart distribution channel, they don't charge me shipping. They also claimed on the site to not charge my credit card until I pick up the item. Reportedly, if I don't pick it up, I don't get charged.

With the above in mind, I decided to give it a try. My order went through. Because it was shipped through the Wal-Mart distribution channel, there is no way to track the package like with UPS or FedEx. After a week of looking up my order, and it only saying "shipped," and never receiving the email to pick it up, I started to get curious. Make that impatient. After all, the Fall TV season is starting in two weeks. I wondered if maybe I had missed the email, or it hadn't gotten past the spam filter.

I copied down my order number, and headed to the store that the device was to be shipped to. At the desk was a pleasant woman, who offered to get some help. She called on a handheld radio, and I heard several of the associates say that they were doing something, and couldn't respond. On the 3rd request, an assistant manager did respond to the desk.

I explained the situation to the at least partially disgruntled woman. She took my order number, entered it into the system, and told me it was "returned." Huh?! I never received it, so how could I return it? She then told me that the item must have arrived at the store damaged, and it was returned for credit.

I then asked if they were getting me another one. I was told "No, there's a shortage of these." She then suggested that I put the order through again.

Then, this was the final shocker. She asked me for my credit card for the refund. Huh?? I thought I wasn't being charged for this? I was told that I had been charged when I placed the order, but they would take it off now.

I left wondering, empty handed mind you, that if I hadn't gone to the store, that the charge would have been on my credit card bill for an item never received!

Overall, I am completely dissatisfied with my Site to Store experience. Last night, I received a survey from them. I started to fill it out, but after 10 minutes of filling in dots of how the experience went, I gave up. I was hoping for a text box that I could explain it to the higher ups, but I decided to simply post it here instead. Maybe they'll get the message- then again, maybe not. Next time, I'll use Amazon.

If you've used Site to Store, feel free to share below.

--Jonas

NudgeCast 9/3/07

This week's episode looks at a networking company that stands behind their gear, some thoughts about the upcomng iPod line, an incoming consumer electronics product, and a podcast service.

Click To Play

--Jonas

Site To Store

The purpose of this post is twofold. The first is to share that I'm purchasing a video hardware recorder. The second is to share how I'm planning on getting it.

There has not exactly been an overwhelming array of choices in the set top TV recorder arena if you don't want the Tivo logo, and the associated monthly fee. In fact, only Wal-Mart sells two of these devices. Of the two, the cheaper one is a Polaroid, and is widely regarded as a piece of junk. After my experience last year, I can confirm this. The other is a Phillips model which goes for $300. Not exactly cheap, but when compared to building a PC based home theater, it starts to look affordable.

The companies that previously made these devices claim there isn't much of a market for them. I'd have to disagree.

With the Fall television season starting next month, I decided that it was time to take the plunge. I noticed last time I was in Wal-Mart that they didn't have any on the shelf. With gas still skirting $3 a gallon, I decided to let my fingers do the walking, and figured out online that many of the Wal-Marts in my area are completely out of this thing! No market, hey? I think the other companies, like Panasonic, bailed too soon on this category of device.

What to do? Now I'm getting to the second part of the post. One option is to drive to the next state as it is listed as having "limited supplies" of the item of interest. I'm thinking that when I get there, there may only be one or two, and what if they are in a broken box, or returned. Nah!

This is where the "Site To Store" logo comes in. Back before the internet, we used to buy stuff at Sears and their lengthy catalog. In order to save money, we would ship it to the store to save on the shipping costs. For those that remember, Sears was the original Amazon, and they stupidly eliminated their catalog at a time when they should have been putting it online.

Anyway, when I went to order this at the Wal-Mart site, they gave me the option of shipping the item to the store. In the process, we save around $7 in shipping costs. No big deal, but if I'm heading over there anyway, I might as well save the dough for something else. Also, I can return it right to the store, and not have the hassle of shipping it back if things don't work out as expected. Reportedly, the item is picked up in customer service. To safeguard my purchase, I have to bring a photo ID, and the email letting me know its arrived. So far, this appears to be one of the better ideas a B&M retailer has come up with, and I'm wondering why more retailers haven't embraced a similar system (although Circuit City is one of the few others that has), rather than just whining that they can't compete with online offerings constantly.

Stay tuned, we'll let you know how this turns out. BTW, I'm getting this Phillips recorder.

--Jonas