Lowest Price Guaranteed
While at home during Christmas vacation my girlfriend got a web camera. I had not though much about web cameras before but being able to see her while talking to her was very nice and it made me think briefly about getting one myself. She had all these special effects for it that allowed her to look like she had a crown or eye patch on. It tracked her head and overlayed the effect and I though this was quite cool.
Fast forward 10 days, I had just got back from Ontario and I wanted to get a Nintendo Wii. Two things where conspiring against me at this point. First I was not the only person to get money for Christmas and second I wanted to wait until I flew back to Vancouver to purchase one. There are non left in the city for sale but while I was at Futureshop getting DDR Supernova (my #2 alternative to the Wii), I also picked up a web cam. I was not thinking, It must have been the jet lag because I never buy computer hardware without researching it first and I never buy it from Futureshop because in general it is expensive and low quality. Both of these things came back to bite me in the ass.
After installing my web cam I noticed the quality was not what I expected from seeing Geneva’s. Also I could not find the cool effects she had used. I knew she had a Logitech and so did I but I just put it off to ask her in the morning. I played some WOW that night and talked a bit with a guild mate about the Logitech G15 gaming keyboard I saw at Futureshop. I have wanted to upgrade my keyboard for a while as it is very very old and dirty but at $129 I just can’t justify it. Don’t worry this will all make sense soon.
Talking to Geneva the next day revealed the source of my annoyance. Apparently the cool video effects are not compatible with all web cams just the high end ones with good enough picture quality to make out your head. I bought the Communicate STX for $78 and thought that would be good enough but no the cheapest model that supports the effects is the pro 5000 which is $135, it has glass optics and I guess some other bonuses. Geneva has the Fusion which is one designed for a laptop and it’s good enough but mine is not. I thought damn that is expensive for a webcam and it brought me back to the G15 conversation I had in WOW, you see it’s cheaper at best buy when ordered online so I checked out Best Buy and found my new web cam on sale for $29, a $49 dollar savings. Well I had a few choice words I will not put down incase my mom reads this but let’s say I was annoyed...........Until I noticed a little hyperlink on the web page, “Lowest Price Guarantee.” Best buy will beat any advertised price by 10%, I turns out Futureshop has that same guarantee and will refund the difference in prices to me. Yaaaa!
But wait there is more. I normally buy my computer equipment at NCIX, they generally have to lowest prices, so I checked them out. The Communicator STX was normally $55 there, god damn futureshop and it’s retarded markups. But even better the Logitech Pro 5000, the next level up, the one with the video effects and nice lenses was only $85 at NCIX. Think about that, 135 at futureshop 85 at ncix, $50 difference for a web cam, WTF. With the extra 10% savings I could basically upgrade for free just by taking a copy of their price into Futureshop. Now back to the G15 gaming keyboard, remember the $130 price tag at Futureshop well it’s $87 at NCIX so guess what else I bought. I returned my web cam, bought the new one and the G15. If I had purchased these at normal price they would have cost me $263.98 at Futureshop and $172.07 at NCIX. I was able to get them for $154.86 + tax with the lowest price guarantee. Learn from my mistakes. Always research what you are going to buy and Always abuse low price guarantee from stupid stores.
Say Cheese!!!
Fast forward 10 days, I had just got back from Ontario and I wanted to get a Nintendo Wii. Two things where conspiring against me at this point. First I was not the only person to get money for Christmas and second I wanted to wait until I flew back to Vancouver to purchase one. There are non left in the city for sale but while I was at Futureshop getting DDR Supernova (my #2 alternative to the Wii), I also picked up a web cam. I was not thinking, It must have been the jet lag because I never buy computer hardware without researching it first and I never buy it from Futureshop because in general it is expensive and low quality. Both of these things came back to bite me in the ass.
After installing my web cam I noticed the quality was not what I expected from seeing Geneva’s. Also I could not find the cool effects she had used. I knew she had a Logitech and so did I but I just put it off to ask her in the morning. I played some WOW that night and talked a bit with a guild mate about the Logitech G15 gaming keyboard I saw at Futureshop. I have wanted to upgrade my keyboard for a while as it is very very old and dirty but at $129 I just can’t justify it. Don’t worry this will all make sense soon.
Talking to Geneva the next day revealed the source of my annoyance. Apparently the cool video effects are not compatible with all web cams just the high end ones with good enough picture quality to make out your head. I bought the Communicate STX for $78 and thought that would be good enough but no the cheapest model that supports the effects is the pro 5000 which is $135, it has glass optics and I guess some other bonuses. Geneva has the Fusion which is one designed for a laptop and it’s good enough but mine is not. I thought damn that is expensive for a webcam and it brought me back to the G15 conversation I had in WOW, you see it’s cheaper at best buy when ordered online so I checked out Best Buy and found my new web cam on sale for $29, a $49 dollar savings. Well I had a few choice words I will not put down incase my mom reads this but let’s say I was annoyed...........Until I noticed a little hyperlink on the web page, “Lowest Price Guarantee.” Best buy will beat any advertised price by 10%, I turns out Futureshop has that same guarantee and will refund the difference in prices to me. Yaaaa!
But wait there is more. I normally buy my computer equipment at NCIX, they generally have to lowest prices, so I checked them out. The Communicator STX was normally $55 there, god damn futureshop and it’s retarded markups. But even better the Logitech Pro 5000, the next level up, the one with the video effects and nice lenses was only $85 at NCIX. Think about that, 135 at futureshop 85 at ncix, $50 difference for a web cam, WTF. With the extra 10% savings I could basically upgrade for free just by taking a copy of their price into Futureshop. Now back to the G15 gaming keyboard, remember the $130 price tag at Futureshop well it’s $87 at NCIX so guess what else I bought. I returned my web cam, bought the new one and the G15. If I had purchased these at normal price they would have cost me $263.98 at Futureshop and $172.07 at NCIX. I was able to get them for $154.86 + tax with the lowest price guarantee. Learn from my mistakes. Always research what you are going to buy and Always abuse low price guarantee from stupid stores.
Say Cheese!!!
posted by Shawn Penson at
6:31 p.m.
4 Comments:
You need to put more shots up so everyone can see how cool this thing is.
By
Anonymous, at 10:09 a.m.
Nice pic from the webcam. Way to gage that Future Shop. The G15 rocks eh :D
By
frank, at 9:06 p.m.
If I may add my two cents (and I always do), I am of the opinion that you should almost never get the 'product insurance' thingy that futureshop, best buy etc offer. In addition to the use of fear in trying to sell it to you (a common tactic for insurers, I'm afraid), it's a huge rip off. My rule of thumb is, if you can theoretically replace it, don't get the store warranty.
By
Derek, at 2:58 p.m.
if insurance were not a rip off how could insurance companies exist and make money?
By
frank, at 7:42 a.m.
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