Big doings for the Saturday of a holiday weekend. For starters, U.S. shoppers responded sharply to my anti-gift diatribe by spending all sorts of money on Black Friday. Bloomberg says:
U.S. consumers spent $10.3 billion on holiday purchases yesterday, an 8.3 percent increase from last year, after retailers promoted electronics and toys to woo shoppers.
They don’t mention me in the lede, but the implication is there. I like how they attribute the increased sales to wooing. As if retailers never promoted things for Black Fridays past. “Those crafty devils — who knew promoting would work?” Or is it the specific things they’re promoting that are seemingly the cause? “Toys and electronics, that’s what the people want.” Either way, good work team. I’m happy to report I bought nothing but a coffee yesterday, but not out of protest or anything like that. I just didn’t want to go anywhere.
We bought Rock Band today. Played Guitar Hero? Played Karaoke Revolution? This is the marriage, with a drum set thrown in. Neighbors, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry.
The CompUSA story has a happy ending. But not because CompUSA is a decent company. Digg got hold of the original Lost Remote post, and you can guess what happened after that. Viva la revolution, y’all!
Hey, 10 years ago CompUSA wouldn’t have refunded the guy his money. But it turns out there is such a thing as bad publicity, and it works! Occasionally. Take the news yesterday that CBS is likely going to renew Jericho, a show that was basically dead in the water coming out of upfronts last month. The fans weren’t having that. They sent the network lots of nuts — thousands of pounds by many accounts — which on the surface seems completely idiotic, but there is a story behind the significance. I’m not going to tell that story, just trust me.
Anyway, you can imagine CBS’s nut storage facilities filled rather quickly, and the squirrels were getting to be a problem (CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler is allergic to squirrels). This last part may or may not be true.
The point is, the network caved, or is caving, sources say, and CompUSA righted one of its wrongs, all thanks to the online community. And maybe squirrels.
From Lost Remote comes word of awesome customer service by waste-of-space retailer CompUSA, which sold an empty box to an unfortunate customer and then told him it was on him for not inspecting the package before the purchase. Even after going up the chain of command, sending a note to CompUSA’s president and CEO, the customer got this response from one of the head guy’s underlings:
The return policy for all merchandise, as printed on your receipt and posted throughout the store, clearly stated ALL SALES FINAL…. if the camera you purchased was a clearance item, you should have inspected its content prior to purchase.
It was a liquidation sale, so there are no rules!
Robert was sold an empty box by some podunk online retailer, and that company sent him a new camera. Sure, it was a hassle for him, but not nearly as bad as being sold a $269 box and then having the company blame him for it. I’d give that company a shout-out if I could remember what it was. Maybe he’ll remind us in the comments section.
CompUSA is in trouble, not surprisingly, and awful customer service won’t help — especially if people start talking about it more. So here’s a little more publicity. After all, who needs companies like them?
Two posts in one day! A 2007 record [SFX: champagne corks popping]. To fit with the theme of this post, I should have written [SFX: Ballatore champagne corks popping]. Because it’s about product placement! And humor! Just watch:
Can someone please explain American Apparel to me … What!? Really? No … Really!? I mean … they’re cotton T-shirts, right? I didn’t miss something here? Why are they $20.00? What is this, the Pentagon? Do they sell $600.00 hammers, too? Man, those must be some really nice sheep.
Okay, I’m at the Buffalo Exchange the other day. And I pick out four plain T-shirts of a good color and fit, one of which happens to be an American Apparel shirt. So I get to the counter and the American Apparel shirt happens to be half off. The girl at the register acted like I’d just won a fucking Humvee in Vegas. “This is half off. A great price, especially for American Apparel,” she beamed.
And I say, “Listen honey. American Apparel … Hanes … I don’t really give a shit. If by great price you mean that used and half off it costs what it should new, then yeah … great price. Now give me my fucking ‘no bag’ token so I can help fight feline leukemia.”
I don’t understand how plain T-shirts became so hip, but the marketers of this stuff must be some kind of geniuses, not to mention having balls of Kevlar. The only thing stupider than paying $20.00 for a T-shirt that has some name brand printed across it is paying $20.00 dollars for a T-shirt that doesn’t have a name brand printed across it.
Can someone please explain American Apparel to me … What!? Really? No … Really!? I mean … they’re cotton T-shirts, right? I didn’t miss something here? Why are they $20.00? What is this, the Pentagon? Do they sell $600.00 hammers, too? Man, those must be some really nice sheep.
