Radio Shack Xmas Promo

[ironmountain]

Hi all...new guy here. Been an android user forever. Never really considered an ixxx anything. Was always more into the "open sourceness" of the android system as I tend to be a bit of a geek.

Other than the ipods I have picked up for my daughter and wife, I'd never really done much with Apple products.

Like many people, I'm done with the whole android mess. Companies coming out with 43000 devices per month (Samsung is the worst for this, not to mention beyond horrible for updating..inside the U.S.), No structure to updates, malware on apps etc...we've all seen/heard of the issues. Plus, I can't stand the fact that carriers feel the need to put apps on that nobody really cares about (at least on ATT).

Pardon my verbosity, I tend to tangent quite a bit.

To get back to the point, I am eligible for an upgrade. I want an iphone 4s. I've done my research and as far as the hardware etc, this phone is way better than my captivate (plus i'm never buying samsung phones again). And the best thing: updates and releases. When there's an update, you know when it's coming. When a new device is coming, it's announced and bam..released.

So...I see on all of the tech forums this deal that Radio Shack has going on. 199 price, minus the instant 30$ in-store rebate, AppleCare+ and trade-in value for your phone. This was a week long, ended on the 17th. I called my local Radio Shack and inquired about it in the middle of last week. They had no idea, so I had to point them to a few tech blog/forum/news sites.

They are out of them and are waiting for a truck to come. she takes my name/number and works her butt off to get me one. Calling other stores, calling their distribution warehouse and keeping in contact with me daily. She calls me, tells me they have one coming today, which is after the promo but I'm assured the deal can still be done due to the fact that I'd been waiting for almost the entire promo. I'm also told, after she had looked it up, that my Captivate trade-in was 100bucks. I'm all geeked. 100 dollar trade in, 30 bucks off and applecare+ to boot.

She was off this past weekend but she had given another associate my info and what she was trying to do for me. He called the warehouse, double checked that one was on the way. Turns out it went to another store and they were going to bring it over tomorrow, no big deal.

Until I mention the promo. He tells me that you can't use the 30 dollar in-store card for phones. It's for accessories only. So I go to a few sites and read him the ad. I also mentioned the fact that the original associate had looked in their system and told me my Captivate, in the shape it's in (mint..all boxes/documents/even the bags that stuff was put in) is worth 100 bucks. He tells me that their system says it's only worth 41 dollars.

He calls his district supervisor to ask if they can do the instore rebate thing and his manager says no. It's the end of the year and they need to make numbers and they're not doing anymore stuff like that after the fact. Even though they had none in the store and I had been in contact with their store to get one when they did get them in.

So...one associate goes the extra mile and works her butt off, even speaks to her manager and confirms that it can still be done, 30 buck thing is for the phone and Captivate is worth 100 bucks..

The one she passed the info to because she was off works his butt off to make sure it's coming so I can pick it up today..

And now I'm denied. So now it's time to contact corporate, ask them why they put a promo out that most people, including employees know nothing about and why they do that promo when they don't even have phones in any of the stores during the entire promo..

Sorry for the long rant, but it's frustrating.

Has anyone else had this problem with any of these promos? If so, how'd you handle it?

 

[AppleSmart]

Who denied you? Was it at the store level but a different employee?

 

[Laelipoo]

The rebate for the iPhones ends on the 24, and is an instant rebate off the cost of the phone (AT&T only) so yes, something is definitely not right.


Beamed from a galaxy far, far away using Tapatalk!

 

[ironmountain]

AppleSmart, thanks for responding!
The first person I spoke with was at the store level. The second person I spoke with was at the store level (first person wasn't working the past few days). The first employee had relayed all the info and my contact info to the second employee. (kind of a who's on first? thing).

The second emp. called me today and let me know the phone would be here tomorrow. I asked him to reiterate what I had been told and that's when he gave me the bad news. He then called his District Supervisor (out of Gurnee, Ill) to see if they would extend the promo because I had been working with them and waiting for a phone since the middle of the week that the promo was going on. The DM is the one who said they wouldnt extend it for me. According to emp. 2, the DM said they aren't going to be extending promotions anymore. So they had no phones until they ordered one for me.
Which would make the entire promo useless because no phones would be in until this week.

And trying to get ahold of corporate? I dialed the number, Customer Care robot voice came on, connected me...and sent me to the store I had been conversing with. Customer Care is handled at the store level, according to their website and their phone program. i called a random dept. He gave me the number and transferred me. After asking for my order number or phone number from which the order was placed, robot audix thing told me it was an invalid entry and hung up. So I never did actually get to speak to a real person. They do have an email/form thing you can send...Much like my post here, I wrote them a nice novel.

laelipoo-- I saw that promo too. but that's only for the ipad2.
The MacRumors post/news piece is the one I was referring to. (I'd post a link, but my post count is only at 2).

But thank you for looking into this!

 

[anon(4698833)]

TL;DR...can you give some cliffs?

 

[ironmountain]

sorry, I tend to be quite verbose..

went to radioshack for promo: 30$ off ATT iPhone. Trade in for my captivate: 100$. cost of phone: 69.00 with both of those. (I've been eligible for an upgrade for 2 months)

first employee i spoke with establshed that cost and ordered one.

on day it was supposed to come in, another employee called and said it was coming. (later found out that the 2nd employee is actually the store manager)

When I asked him to confirm what employee 1 said, he said the 30$ rebate thing was for accessories only. I then sent him to MacRumors etc..and he still didn't believe me. He then told me that my trade in for Captivate was only 41 dollars.

He then called his District Supervisor and asked if they would extend the deal for me since I'd been working with them to get in for over 1/2 of the promotion time.

His Dis. Super said no. They are not going to extend programs like this past the ending date.

So(in short), they had no phones to even sell during this promotion and they weren't able to get one until the promotion was over anyway.

Tried to contact RadioShack from their website. They kept transferring me to the store I had been dealing with. Finally got ahold of a person and he transferred me to Customer Care. Customer Care robot asked for an order number or phone, i entered the number guy told me to use, it said i had an invalid number and hung up.

Had to dig a bit on their site and found a form to submit for customer service issues etc..

 

[AppleSmart]

It's either:
1) False advertising since they had no phones in which to sell for their advertised promotion.

2) Bait and switch.

3) They need to offer rain checks to make good on their promotion.

It's fraud.

Can you confirm they never had any iPhones at the beginning of the promotion? Did the promotion say, "While supplies last"? What is the fine print?

I would request the DM's phone number.

 

[ironmountain]

AppleSmart,

From what I read on the Radio Shack advertisement, it has the basic stuff about ETF, 2-year contract, possibility of a deposit etc...

When I called and spoke to the first employee she said they haven't had any for a couple of weeks and were waiting for a truck that had 5 phones that they were distributing among the stores in this area and that's why I'd have to wait til either this past friday, or monday.

The other employee (store manager guy) told me on Friday that the truck would be in on monday and they were pulling a white one for me.

He called me monday and that's when it went from sweet to sour.

Neither employee even knew there was a promo like this going on until i brought it their attention.

I found the Dist. Super's #.

Wanted to hit up corporate first and see what their customer service people said first. Since they route all calls for customer service to the store in your area, I filled out the form they have on the website and left my name/email addy/number.

Basically let them know the situation, gave them the District Super's name, and few other sentences that may have referred to their marketing/advertising department and being in failmode..

If nobody from corporate contacts me by tomorrow, I'm just going to email the District Super. Nice to have a record of what is said.

I realize people make mistakes as far as no communication from corporate and not knowing if there is a promo etc. But having it confirmed repeatedly from an employee and then being given the shaft is ridiculous. That's not naivete, it's horrible business practice. Even worse for a DM to cut it off like that after being given the explanation as to why the extension is needed.

 

[ironmountain]

Hopefully some good news.

A person from their escalation dept. Emailed an apology and asked what city the store is in, so he can have the correct district manager contact me.

I'm not looking for a free phone or anything. I want the phone I was told id get, at the price I was given.

I realize employees make mistakes. Between the two, they had six days to call me and let me know if anything about the original price had changed.

They didn't. Even when calling me almost every day to give me the status of delivery.

Will have to see what the dm says today.

 

[Kehjj04]

Good luck!!

 

[ironmountain]

Thanks Kehjj04,

I received an email while out with my wife from the DM. He basically tried to brush me off.

He reiterated that the 30$ promo was for accessories only (even after I had sent multiple links to the promo I was talking about) and that the price of trade-in for phones fluctuates depending on the market...
going from 100 dollars down to 41 in 3days is ignorant. And expecting me to believe that is insulting.

I'm not calling him back. Talking to someone who is trying to just get rid of you is fruitless. Especially if they don't pay attention and actually know the sales/promos their company is running, let alone follow links when someone other than employee guides you to it.

The escalation specialist had emailed me letting me know that she will resolve this and their goal is superior customer service etc.
I wrote her back. Explained the situation in detail and sent her links to this promo so she'd know what I was talking about.

I also let her know I'd like to resolve this, but if not, I'd be taking my personal & professional business elsewhere. As well as my family, friends and the 250+ tech fiend guildies in WoW.
I also stated that I'd hate to have to email Apple and the Distrib. who services Radio Shack to let them know how this company represents their products to potential customers.

I know I'm probably going to end up going to Amazon. I logged into Amazon and they'll pay me 106 for my Captivate. But I'd rather go local and have it b4 xmas.

 

[ironmountain]

All done with this.I'm just going to cl my captivate and then buy one..too much hassle and time wasting..