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Registered: Feb 2002
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Posts: 15 |
 Re: GPS
quote:
Originally posted by gdypiang
Could you post the sku or item number for the Magellan GPS?
It would be easier to call different Office Depot locations with that number in hand. Thanks!
short version: the office depot "number" is 105-006. that's the 6 digit number that all office depot stock has assigned to it. is that the SKU? on my receipt, it displays the number 076335710293 which is probably the UPC.
long version: i have learned more than i originally cared to know about how office depot works. the better you know the system, the better you can work it. people say "experience is the best teacher", but i would like to qualify that: "SOMEBODY ELSE'S experience is the best teacher." read on to hear my experience.
i originally read about the gps unit on sale for cheap (what, two posts back or so) and got excited because when i originally found this thread (a month or so back) office depot was only liquidating the low cost stuff (<$100): flash, backup, tiger woods, stowaway keyboard, etc. in my quest i had found an omnisky unit, but it wasn't on clearance, supporting my low-cost-only theory.
i live in a major metropolitan area with probably 15 (if not more) office depots in a 1-hour (drive time) radius. i hit only 4 of those yesterday and finally got me a gps unit for $85 (after tax, before rebate).
we were going to be out doing some other shopping, so i used smartpages/mapquest to see what office depots we would be by. i found two of them, and then i know there are two right by me, so i could hit 4 in one day. i didn't call ahead of time because i didn't have an numbers, heck, i didn't even know the specific gps unit's name/manufacturer, and getting good, knowledgable service over the phone is nearly impossible. i would be close enough to just drop in and it wouldn't take long.
the first store had the little hangers (with the product's picture, description, and price on it and a "take me to the front desk" card to actually get your hands on a physical product) on an aisle's end, but from the lack of cards, it appeared they were all out of Magellan GPS Companions (105-006). the hanger did mention a $50 mail-in rebate. so i went to the front and asked if they had any. the customer service "manager" told me to get the six-digit number off the hanger and he would look it up in the computer. i did so, said the computer listed the product as being on clearance and out-of-stock, but if they had any they would be on the clearance table. they had two clearance tables (though he only mentioned one), and i checked both, and didn't see it (or any modules at all) at either. i dug through the piles of stuff and didn't see anything good. i had given up on this first store and was on my way out when i saw one in a glass case. i grabbed the closest sales "associate" and he went off and someone else returned who had the key to the glass cabinet. he got out the gps unit and we went to the front desk. the computer said it was $104.99. i asked if the rebate (mentioned on the hanging tag) was still any good. he said he didn't know anything about it so we made a trip to the hanging tag. in really fine print the hanging tag said the rebate was good through june (or was it july) of this year, 2002. at the point he said, "heck, if i knew this was only $55, then i would buy it." i asked if he even had a visor and he pulled out what appeared to be a silver-cased (with a mis-matched black cover; do they all come this way) deluxe (or it could have been a prism as i think they both have the same casing). uh-oh, i though, i'm going to have to fight over it with an employee, and he has the upper-hand. i wasn't willing to pay $55 + tax for it (yeah, i know it originally cost $200 or something for it, but it ain't worth but $25 to me; and that's what i heard somebody else had bought it for, so i was going to make sure i got it for that price too  ), and i knew from prior experience (buying a stowaway keyboard) that a clearance/"non-replenishable" item can be sold for whatever price the (associate?) store manager says, so i asked if they would sell it for less. stupid me, i forgot i was only talking to a sales/stocking guy. he said he didn't know, but quickly disregarded what i said on quest to insure that the rebate would still apply if i got it for the clearance price. (i never asked him to check, and assumed it still would apply and print out at the time of purchase as i had heard that here on this forum, but none-the-less, we spent the next 15 minutes trying to get ahold of a manager communicate the concern, and research everything possibly involved through the computer.) finally, a manager (though, i don't think he was a store manager as his name tag said "customer service manager", he's buddy next to him had the same title, and they both looked only 18 to 23 years old) who had been helping with the rebate research tried to ring me up. he rang it up at $104.99, i asked if he would sell it any lower, he said it was already reduced from the $125 sticker price (shown on the box), and i told him "no thank you, i was just interested in the price, and that's too much." i'm sure he thought i was crazy asking for a lower price, after he helped research the rebate question, learning that the item was already heavily marked down AND had a $50 rebate. i didn't care, i knew i had 3 more stores left, and that even if this was the only store with one, that i had tried my best.
lessons learned:
1. it's a Magellan GPS Companion (105-006).
2. don't trust the lack of "take me" slips or even the computer to mean a product is out.
2. keep quiet about the product's price/rebate, because they'll never give you a lower price if they know how good of a deal it already is.
3. the clearance products can be in several places, not just on the one "clearance table" the underage "customer service manager" directs you to.
at the next store, i went in, found the visor product hangers (again at the end of an isle at the front of the store with all the other pdas and cellphones), found the gps hanger, saw no slips, and decided to next check out the clearance tables before going to the customer service desk. nothing on the clearance tables, both of them (one in the front, and again, one in the back; i see a pattern developing here ), though a few prism and edge cradles (seen those at every office depot for like $10, but never seen a deluxe cradle there) and lots of various leather pda cases.
i went to the customer service desk, asked if they had the product, and gave her the six-digit number (i assume it's a SKU). she queried the computer and saw that they had one for, again, $104.99. I told her i didn't see any "take me" slips in the product's hanger or the product on the clearance table. she said it may be in the "store room" pointing to a door right there beside the counter. she got an assisant manager (i only know because his picture, name, and title were on the wall at the front of the store with all the other senior employees; btw, he looked to be about mid-thirties), he got the product out of the closet, and gave it to me. i told him that i knew it was "non-replenishable" (that's the word i've heard used at almost every office depot), that he was allowed to set any price on "non-replenishable" items in order to clear them out, and asked if he would sell it for lower than $105. he went to the computer, read over the product's info, came back to me, said "it costs me $113 so i'm already selling it below cost", gave it to me, and started talking to someone else. i held it for a minute or two until he finished talking to whoever it was, gave it back, and said "thanks, but $104 is too high."
lessons learned:
1. real managers are not late teens to early twenties. 
2. it's true, a non-replenishable product can be sold by any "real" manager for any price.
3. it's listed "in the computers" for $104.99.
4. the product's at-cost value is $113.
later in the day i went to one of the two nearby (5 to 10 minutes away) office depots. i went here when i first heard about the visor-related liquidation, so i already knew the store layout, somewhat. there were no hangers for any visor-related products (only palm, compaq, and hp handhelds, and the ipaq displays are bigger than they were a month ago and with more products/accessories). there was no visor stuff on any clearance table. there was an omnisky unit in a glass case besides some palm stuff and cd-rom/r/rws, but i don't think it was marked down. i had lost the sku, and didn't figure this store had the gps unit as it didn't seem to have any visor stuff at all (besides the useless-to-me omnisky unit), so i went home without making my usual visit to the customer service desk.
lessons learned:
1. pocket pcs (microsoft's os) seems to be the next big thing, or at least office depot thinks so.
2. some stores appear to have gotten rid of all their visor stuff.
once home, i called the second close store (where i got my stowaway keyboard). i called, pressed zero to by-pass the recording, and asked the answering person to see if they had any "Magellan GPS Companions for a Handspring Visor handheld computer". while on hold, some guy answers the phone as if i just called and he is the first to help me. i told him someone was already helping me and he asked me what about. i told him i asked her to see if they had any "Magellan GPS Companions for a Handspring Visor handheld computer". he said that they didn't carry visor stuff anymore. i then asked him if he could at least give me the sku for the product as it would be helpful when i called other office depot stores in the area. he sternly and somewhat irritatedly (he seemed this way the entire conversation, but more so know; probably just having a bad day, though if that's the case then management should keep him in the back [un]stocking stuff and away from the customers) said that since they don't carry it anymore, then it won't be in the computers at all. i matter-of-factly and sternly told him that i had talked to two other stores earlier and that they both had it in stock, but i was looking for a store closer to me. he somewhat embarrassedly (but still sounding upset, possibly even more so now that i made him look like an idiot) put me back on hold. a short while later the original lady answered the phone, said they had one, that it was $104.99, and that since it was on clearance it was an additional 25% off. JACKPOT! i found my gps unit! final price: $105 - %25 + tax - rebate = $34.91. not the ~$30 i had seen the original poster mention, but good enough, and probably the best i was going to find. i asked her to hold it for me as i was on my way over. i went to the store and bought it. the receipt printed out and she gave it to me. then a small piece of paper printed out and she stuffed that in the cash register drawer. my heart skipped a beat as i thought, "oh no, she's not letting me have the rebate since they were selling it really cheap already". then she quietly exclaimed "oh" as something else printed out. IT WAS MY REBATE! she said, "oh, you get a rebate too." i said, "i was waiting for that," with this big grin on my face as if i had just pulled off a skam and gotten away with it. she asked, "you knew?" i said, "i try to keep well informed."
lessons learned:
1. each store has the freedom to set whatever price they want on clearance/"non-replenshiable" items, and some do it by way of a percentage discount.
2. almost all office depot employees don't keep track of what are unbelievable deals even within their own store.
so i brought home my gps unit. the batteries were already in the actual unit, which was odd because at the first store i had seen that the batteries came wrapped in a small plastic bag inside the box, but not already installed in the unit. i didn't think anything of it until i couldn't get the unit to work. it was detecting the gps satellites, and was displaying the signal strength on a bar graph (with "clear" bars), but it was never giving me a "fix"/position. i read that being in a building or even near a tall building can render the unit ineffective, but i even went outside away from my home and still couldn't get a fix. i figured the unit was defective, having been previously returned and accidentally resold to me. i worried of having to return the gps unit to one of the far-away office depots, and them thinking i was trying to scam them by buying a really cheap defective product "as-is" from the clearance table (as some of the items there probably are as they are sold without any boxing or documentation) and trying to trade it at another store for a working model.
anyways, i called the other close store just in case (though i had already checked them out in person and saw that they had nothing). i told them the situation about needing to exchange a defective product though the original store were out. i gave them the sku and they came back after putting me on hold for a while saying they had one. i asked them to hold it, drove up there, and got it.
lesson learned:
1. though a store doesn't appear to have any visor-related merchandise AT ALL (no products, no hangers, no displays, etc), doesn't mean they don't have any. YOU HAVE TO SPECIFICALLY ASK! (and it's best to know product names/skus.)
so, i brought my new unit home, tried it out the same as before, and still had the same problem. i had to go somewhere, so i decided i would see if it worked in the car. i carefully took my visor with me (with the gps unit install, you can't use the original cover, and it's ackward to hold, though you really can't hold it at all with both hands on the steering wheel ) in my lap. it wasn't doing any better in my lap, so i picked it up and held it almost against the window while driving. within a few seconds it came to life telling me where i was, where i was headed, and at what speed. so, it does work, and maybe the last one wasn't "defective".
lesson learned:
1. the Magellan GPS Companion is VERY sensitive to ANY obstacle/obstraction. (are they all this way, or just the springboard models because they can't hold an antenna of any decent length?)
hopefully someone can learn something and get themselves a really great deal from all that i've said. if you feel appreciative and happen to find a total recall recorder for $10 or $15, then don't hesitate to send me a private message and offer it to me.
btw, i'm very appreciate of this thread, and to share my thankfulness with the community, i share my experience, as i have done here previously. again, i hope this helps someone as much as this thread has helped me.
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02-16-2002 08:30 PM
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