Before I begin telling you my recent shopping experience with Circuit City I want to say one thing: for any retail or consumer product/service company, I believe, at a minimum, Sr. Management (CEO, VP, COO, etc.) should be *required* to purchase their own products. This way, they experience what their customers deal with and can resolve them.
April 16, 2007 • 6:39 pm 0
Use your Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupons at Linens ‘N Things
For those of you who may not know, you can use Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupons at Linens ‘N Things. It’s extremely simple to do: all you have to do is go to the customer service counter to checkout and present the Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupon. The customer service person will apply the coupon to your purchase with no questions asked. Sweet, eh?
I was a bit skeptical when my girlfriend told me about this but, this past Saturday, I used a 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath, & Beyond to buy a Dyson Root 6 handheld vacuum from Linens ‘N Things. It saved me a cool $30 beans. 
Btw, I originally bought a Dyson Root 6 (and wrote a review) from Best Buy on March 23rd but returned the one I bought from Linens ‘N Things to Best Buy because they don’t accept competitor coupons.
February 27, 2007 • 7:42 pm 0
Costco Changes Return Policy
Today, Costco announced a change to their return policy (which is a bummer) so make sure you’re aware of this before your next big ticket purchase. Basically, they changed their return policy to 90 days for consumer electronics, which goes into effect this week in California and on April 1 for the rest of the U.S. Here’s the new return policy on Costco’s website:
“Merchandise: We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell, with a full refund. Exceptions: Televisions, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPOD / MP3 players and cellular phones must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund.”
The good news? All consumer electronics purchased before January 1, 2007 is grandfathered with the old return policy. In addition, for all TVs, Costco will extend the manufacturer’s warranty to 2 years. This BusinessWeek article has some more details.
For those of you who don’t know, prior to today, Costco’s return policy was unlimited. Meaning, you could buy a HDTV from them and if it crapped out on you 2 years later, you could return it for a full refund. Yeah, it was an awesome policy for *honest* buyers who wanted that extra piece of mind but A LOT of people were abusing it. According to their CFO, a lot of plasma TVs were returned last year (and, presumably, re-purchased for the cheaper price) and it killed their earnings.
Update (4/14/2007): For clarity, all non-consumer electronics products can still be returned indefinitely.
February 13, 2007 • 10:02 pm 0
Apple Store Coming to Boston (Back Bay)
Looks like Massachusetts will be getting a sixth Apple Store – this time, right in the heart of Boston. It’s slated to replace the Copy Cop building on Boylston St., which is right across the street from the Hynes Convention Center. Apple is buying the Copy Cop building, will knock it down, and replace it with a glass-covered building (similar to the one in Manhattan).
I remember about a year ago there were discussions about Apple erecting a glass-covered building and some people affiliated with the city (I think it was the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay) objected to such a ‘modern design’ given Boston’s historical buildings. This time around, it seems like people are more open to the ‘modern design.’
Personally, I think Boston needs some more modern looking buildings and having an Apple Store lead the way would be great.
Filed under: Apple, Apple Store, Boston, Retail, Shopping
