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?
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?
Labels: Digital Television, shopping, television recording, Walmart
posted by digitaldoc at 6:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home