In a move that will hopefully spread to other retailers, Best Buy quietly announced today via their website that their will no longer be any restocking fees, save for special orders:
Best Buy continually listens to our customers, and they told us they want to give confidently this holiday season and every other day of the year — and with that comes easier returns. Effective Saturday, December 18, Best Buy is improving its return policy by removing restocking fees for all products except special orders.
However, the website Consumerist was able to snag a copy of the email being distributed to Best Buy stores nation wide, detailing the new restocking fee changes as well as touching on refunds for users who were charged restocking fees between November 17th-December17th:
Effective Saturday, Dec. 18, the 15 percent restocking fee will no longer apply to computers (including notebooks, tablets and iPads), projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, radar detectors, GPS navigation, in-car video systems, DJ equipment and lighting, or Pro-Audio equipment. The 10 percent restocking fee will no longer apply to iPhones. Restocking fees shouldn’t be charged for any returns of these products going forward.
This policy change is being made because we want to be the best destination for gifts and technology. To do that we need to make it easy for our customers to return product when they need to, which will give them one more reason to love Best Buy.
….
….
If customers who were charged a restocking fee between Nov. 17 and Dec. 17 come into the store for a refund, process a return transaction for the restocking fee amount.
With online shopping becoming more prevalent year after year, big box retailers are having to take drastic measures to keep people away from the world wide web and walking in their physical doors.
Earlier Monday morning, the CEA (governing body behind CES) issued a press release stating that Nintendo was ending their 16-year CES hiatus and returning to the excitement of nerds everywhere. The only problem — they were wrong. During the few short hours that Nintendo was believed to be returning to CES, the most notable rumor for their return was to unveil their upcoming Nintendo 3DS 3D portable gaming handheld. According to the CEA’s correction, Nintendo will in fact be at CES, but it is only for meetings and other suit-and-tie affairs — not to show of great gadgets.
Meanwhile, Nintendo will be holding their own event during CES to showcase their new hardware, and most likely the 3DS. Disappointed?
Samsung came out hot and heavy recently, denying a growing rumor that they were the upcoming Nexus 2/Nexus S manufacturer. For those new to the Android scene, the reason a Nexus 2/S is important is because it gives Android afionados a place to pick up a non-carrier gimped Android device that will (1) be at the top-end of the market hardware wise as well as (2) receive updates as soon as they’re available — being a “Pure Google Experience phone” and all.
But all of that denying was for nought. The screenshot above was snagged by an eagle-eyed Phandroid reader. The chances of the Nexus 2/S being a legitimate device are looking even better, especially in light of those ever persistant rumors and now a major electronics retailer apparently preparing for an upcoming launch. And let’s not forget, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) is due to be officially announced any day/week now. A new “Pure” Android phone would certainly start things off right, wouldn’t you say?
Update:
Also hearing some info that this could be the Samsung Elite. Android Central Forums. But if that’s the case — Samsung branding the device as it’s own, possibly skinning it with TouchWiz — then it won’t be a “pure google phone”. It may still launch with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Though updates would be delayed.
Update 2:
Oh hey, a Best Buy Mobile ad showing an announced phone. Could it be…?
Leave it to the U.S. Gov’t to come up with one of the worst ideas known to man kind. Much like other places around the world are unfairly subjected to bogus taxes on electronics under the false guise of “saving the music industy, movie industry, journalism, etc”, our own government is now falling in line. Specifically, the FTC and the U.S. Gov’t are releasing some suggestions as to how the country as a whole might be able to “save journalism”.
The forefront of this new plan — a 5% tax on all electronic goods…
Specifically, the tax is suggested to include (but is not limited to): iPads, iPods, iPhones, laptops, desktop PCs, Macs, netbooks, Zunes, Sansas, Creative MP3 players, digital cameras, video cameras, Android smart phones, Nintendo DS’s, PSP Go’s, Xbox 360s, Wiis, and the PS3. And this — all in the name of “saving journalism”…
Being that gadget people constantly are swapping out their old gadget for something newer, faster, and overall better, many don’t take so much as even a second to think about what happens to that old gadget once we give it up. Depending on the age of said gadget and user, sometimes those things end up nothing more than trash. Naturally, all the chemicals and compounds in electronics aren’t exactly earth happy things.
Gadget recycling isn’t a new concept really. But it just isn’t as popular as say paper recycling. Part of it could be just because of the sheer length of lead time paper recycling has on it’s electronic cousin. But I think one other reason is that consumers don’t really see any end results or rewards for recycling gadgets. Nevermore.
The Keyboard Notebook aims to truly “recycle” a gadget so that it isn’t just turned into a pile of plastic but instead something actually usable in the real world, albeit a slightly different job than in it’s previous life.
I don’t know how a rather bulky outer layer of keys would work as a notebook cover day after day, but at $16.99 a pop, I’m willing to gamble a bit. Feelin’ lucky?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the basic problem that knee jerk reactions cause. In the case of Sony and the axing of the other os option for “fat” PS3′s in the recent 3.21 update, Sony simply took the easy route out. Instead of embracing or merely patching the hole that allowed such a hack to be performed, they banned the option to install Linux outright. Now, the debate as to how useful it was given the PS3′s limited resources isn’t…up for debate.
The simple fact is, if Sony releases a product and boasts of a certain feature for years as one of the main reasons to own a PS3 and then removes it suddenly because someone had a little fun with their property…well then, you can see the problem this causes.
But it’s ok. The dev community will always trump backward thinking corporate brute muscle. As such, Geohot is back at it and as promised, claims to have patched the recent PS3 update that blocked the other OS option thereby bringing it back to the masses. All you need to get the other OS juices flowing once again is a custom generated PUP file that is version 3.15 or older. Sounds easy enough. No hardware hacks needed.
One thing for Geohot to look out for are repercussions. With Sony’s incompetent, knee jerk response initially, seeing a patched version re-allowing Linux will no doubt cause some ill feelings, perhaps even a lawyer or two.
It’s sad really. Sony is effectively pushing away a great deal of tinkers who simply like gadgets and like to play with them. Whatever Sony’s stance is from here on out, they’ve already lost me as a customer for life. If they keep at it I’m sure I’ll have a few more people join my club too…
With the onslaught of gadgets the common consumer faces, a subtle and often hidden problem lays in weight, only rearing its ugly head when in times of need. This time of need is of course when plugging into a USB port is needed. Many people use desktop computers day in and day out that feature 2, 4, 8 or more of said ports. But mobile users in particular dont always have such abundant options.
Meet the Infinite USB Plug. The beauty of this plug is that it is small and economical — you only use what you need. A full USB hub on the other hand usually ends up with 2-3 ports used while the remaining ones sit unused.
This design would win over many, I know. Now I just hope somewhere, someone or some manufacturer takes this idea and runs. In the world of gadgets and multi-gadget toting individuals, having “too many” cables is pretty much impossible. Would you buy it?
Looking for the latest display of electronics companies supporting more green and earth friendly practices? For such a display, one only has to look at a new ad that has cropped up in Times Square in New York City. Non other than Best Buy has erected an e-waste recycling ad that is actually constructed of “e-cycled” electronics as they put it.
I’m not a huge tree hugger by any means, but I can certainly appreciate and support not being overly wasteful. Slapping a huge ad in Times Square promoting e-cycling and including old gadgets and electronics in the actual sign is both a clever and functional. I’m certainly impressed. +1 Best Buy.
At the very least, the creative sign will make you stop and think for just a moment about where your precious gadgets go once their usefulness has run it’s course. And of course, it looks pretty damn cool no?
For better or worse, passengers on Turkish Airlines will soon be able to traverse the (literal) air waves of the planet when tens of thousands of feet above the ground and yack away on their phones as long as they please. The new found mile high yackery is being brought to Turkish Airlines passengers compliments of Panasonic Avionics who has won the sole contract to provide the tech.
Out of the 12 Boeing 777-300ERs and 10 Airbus A330-300 aircraft that Turkish Airlines maintain, the first plane to receive the full allotment of upgraded communications will hit the scene sometime in Q4 2010. While I’m generally opposed to having to be stuck next to someone yacking away about god knows what, mobile phone use of any kind in the skies is a big plus — one that the bureaucracies in the US have failed to grasp so far.can’t Believe me, every time I see or hear some stupid message about “mobile electronics never being allowed during takeoff/landing”, I literally want to punch the nearest person. It’s more frustrating than anything. But I digress.
Turkish Airlines passengers, be sure to let us know how it all goes down this winter.
Get online with best value broadband & home phone bundles.
Choose between our Essentials or Plus packages -
both with introductory offers - & benefit from our ground-breaking HomeSafe online protection.
Compare our broadband and phone bundles with our competitors.
We think our Essentials and Plus packages are great value -
see for yourself by checking the breakdown of costs and features versus our biggest competitors.
When it comes to marketing your product it's essential to understand the visitor patterns in your shop. Heatmap software allows you to do just that by producing reports and visualizations that help you make the best decisions for your business.
In a move that will hopefully spread to other retailers, Best Buy quietly announced today via their website that their will no longer be any restocking fees, save for special orders:
