The Juggle Zone: Bargain Blog

As some of you know, I currently operate a P133 (as in 133 MHz, not 1.33 GHz). It is a Toshiba Satellite 220CDS (notebook) that I bought prior to my freshman year of college, in 1997 (6 years old!). After several drops, the top left corner blacked out (about 1/2"W by 4"H). Over the past week, the (10x) CD-ROM drive stopped remaining shut when closed, so it only works if it's held closed by hand. I upgraded the RAM a long time ago (from 16 MB to 80 MB) and the HD (1.34 GB to 10-12 GB). However, that newer HD has been having some problems of late, namely corrupting files. Additionally, my computer has had the tendency to die after being left on for too long.

So I'm well overdue for a new computer.

And today is the day I finally ordered one. It's a Dell 2400, P4 2.2 GHz, 400 MHz FSB, 256 MB RAM (which I'll upgrade myself to at least 512 MB), 80 GB HD (which I may upgrade to 200, see below), 48x CD-RW/DVD combo, 56K modem, speakers, 10/100 NIC, mouse, keyboard, floppy (yes, I included one, as my wife and I still use them).
Software includes: Win XP Home, WordPerfect® Productivity Pack (immediate uninstall: probable) with Quicken New User Edition. Cost: $402.70, including tax ($9.70), after coupon ($25), discounts (free HD upgrade, free memory upgrade, etc.), and MIR ($100). Of course there's also FatCash, for another $14.79 in savings, and CC cash back, for another $5.03 in savings - bottom line: $382.88!

I didn't include a monitor, because Dell charges too much for them. For now, we'll use an old 15" CRT, but I'll probably get a 17" LCD at some point (i.e. when a nice deal comes along).

Posted by dwallach at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today Dell offered the Western Digital 200 GB drive (WD2000JBRTL) for $222.26, 10% off the regular price. They also offered 2 $100 rebates. That brings the cost down to $22.26 - $6.66 FatCash - $.56 CC cash back the cost is $15.04. I should be able to LPG the drive to somewhere around $160, which would provide me with another check of ~$60, for a final cost of around -$45.

UPDATE (9/26/03 12:40 pm): Dell has removed one of the rebate links from their website. LOTS of chatter on FW about the deal and whether it will go through.

Posted by dwallach at 11:22 AM | Permalink

It's that time again! Though the vacuum deal fell through, my sadness would be swept away if this one comes through. Imagine finding a Toshiba Tecra M1 9300 (Pentium M 1.6GHz Centrino, 512 GB RAM, 60 GB HD, CD-RW/DVD, etc), which has a retail price of $2,949.00 for $1! That's right, $1!!! Needless to say, I paid for overnight shipping ($45), and kindly thanked Shaya for spreading the news! We both held our tongues (fingers?) and resisted any urge to post on FW.

It proved relatively unnecessary to post on FW, because by the time we were done ordering, the price had been fixed online. There is, however, that slim chance our orders will make it through....

UPDATE (11:24 am): My credit card shows temporary authorizations for the orders. Website status has changed from "Expedite CC Auth" to "Expedite Address Ver."

UPDATE (11:30 am): Shaya got a call from PC Nation, offering to combine his two orders to save him money on shipping! He declined ("orders must be billed separately"), trying to avoid any risks.

UPDATE (11:32 am): Shaya reports that PC Nation called back (he ignored the call), and they left a message, canceling both of his orders. :(

UPDATE (11:42 am): Online status shows my second order is "Canceled," but the first is still alive.

UPDATE (11:46 am): The phone just rang, and I was told that it was a price mistake. PC Nation offered it to me for $2500, which is substantially lower than the (new) online price, but still a bit much. I don't know which order he was calling about, because my first order still has a status of "Expedite Address Ver."

UPDATE (12:49 pm): Outlook Express just popped up - I've got mail! It was an order confirmation for my first order. A good sign? Website status is still "Expedite Address Ver."

UPDATE (12:59 pm): Website status for my remaining order just changed to "Canceled." :(

UPDATE (3:16 pm): Arnie from PC Nation left a message on my voicemail, informing me of the (second) cancellation, blaming the computers for the price mistake, but again offering the computer at $2500, their cost.

Posted by dwallach at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Don't worry, I haven't disappeared. True, this is the first post in over a week, and is largely due to my unwillingness to allow my blog to go blank. Those of you watching the RebateMeter will notice that the amount outstanding continues to decline, which is good - it means my rebates are being fulfilled, but it's also bad - I haven't been partaking of new deals.

There is a two-fold cause of this mishap. First, there haven't been all that many great deals lately, and second, I've been busy.

But I don't want to leave you high and dry, so I'd like to present a fun (free) Sunday afternoon activity for you. Head to the local mall, and bring along some empty shopping bags (e.g. Gap, Old Navy, etc.). Find a parking spot anywhere, then walk to the building, picking the busiest area. Now the fun begins - with the bags in one hand and your keys in the other, start heading out toward the cars. No need to seek out your own car, you're simply looking to see how long or how far you can get frustrated drivers to follow you. Extra points for looking like you can't find your car, and making loopty-loops. When your victim(s) finally give up, head back to the store and start over.

Posted by dwallach at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the second time in as many weeks, I got in on a hot deal, only to have it turn out to be a price mistake. The first was the Vaio deal, obviously a price mistake. Friday, it was the Amazon.com vacuum. Amazon had the "Dirt Devil 085560 Featherlite Plus Upright Vacuum" for $9 (Amazon's correct price for it is $59.99). Many FWers quickly figured out that if you ordered three, the order total would be $27, above the $25 minimum for free shipping. Others figured out that if you ordered at least 6, you'd qualify for a free $10 GC for spending >$50 in Kitchen & Housewares. I quickly figured out that this was a deal my co-workers would want in on. And did they ever!

As news of this deal spread throughout the office, I had requests for at least one from everyone! Eventually the office had requested around 10, so I ordered a couple myself, and placed an order for a dozen (qualifying for a $20 GC). I wasn't the only one ordering, Amazon's own "Movers & Shakers" page reported that sales of the vacuum were up 94,100% over the prior day's sales.

After placing the order, I was reviewing the list I had made, and realized that one co-worker was listed twice - once for 1, once for 2. Doh! Within minutes, another co-worker who had ordered two was wishing she had ordered 3. "No problem," I assured her, and myself.

However, despite getting an order confirmation email from Amazon, the order disappeared later that day, and over the weekend I got an email confirming that my 200 pounds(!) of vacuums would not be delivered. :(

Posted by dwallach at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, it's the sad ending of what could have been a fairy tale! Best Buy finally sent out the followup email. "As promised, and because you are a valued customer, we would like to provide you with a special one time, one use offer of 10% off* a future order. This offer is limited to one per customer and is non-transferable. " And to make matters worse, it's only good for 2 weeks.

Yay.

Posted by dwallach at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Having finally gotten our acts together, Tzippora & I went through the nearly 500 pictures from our trip to Spain, and picked around half to have printed. The great thing about digicams is you can take as many pictures as you want, for virtually no cost (other than battery usage and initial purchase of digital film). However, this leads to a problem - lots and lots of pictures. Now that the pictures are chosen, it was a matter of finding a place to have the prints made. Target does them for $.25, and some drug stores have sales for around $.20. BonusPrint is the best deal that I've found online $.18 per print, plus a flat shipping charge of $1.99. The total for the prints we're having made is just shy of $50, which seems expensive.

However, if you compare this to traditional film/developing costs, you'd find that the film alone would be ~$25, plus printing costs of ~$75, for a total of ~$100. And that's assuming that one only shot 250 pictures (not the 500 we shot, of which we could select the ones we wanted to print). Traditionalists might argue that with standard developing, double prints are often free (but for digital prints, doubles cost twice as much), but IMHO most doubles get stuck in a box. For the few that you need multiples of (often more than just one extra), it's easier and cheaper overall.

Final verdict: digital is definitely cheaper in the long run. I'll report back later on the quality of the prints. The one drawback I didn't mention is the 2 weeks turnaround time that BonusPrints requires. The advantage is their full money back guarantee (including shipping!).

Anyone have any better/cheaper printing thoughts?

Posted by dwallach at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When it rains, it pours. In addition to yesterday's $2.50 check, CitiBank sent another check, for another program, but this time for $15! While many of you would argue that $2.50 wouldn't buy much lunch, $15 buys a nice meal.

Posted by dwallach at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While free is always timely, the free DVD from the Department of Labor, “Up From Zero” is particularly timely. It's a documentary film that pays tribute to the brave men and women of the New York City building trades who put themselves on the line on September 11, 2001 – and for nine months afterward – to reclaim Ground Zero.

I sent an email around my office with this link, and have gotten very positive feedback. While 9/11 has been largely out of the news, is suddenly back in force as the anniversary approaches. One co-worked commented that she, among many others, found this anniversary much more difficult than the last. My hypothesis is that after 9/11, things never really calmed down much until that first anniversary. In many ways, 9/11 and the aftermath paralleled the Jewish morning ritual rather closely.

In this metaphoric sense, 9/11 was the death/funeral, and the days of chaos (and commercial-free coverage) that followed was shiva. The year that followed was one of mourning, capped off by the anniversary, or yahrtzeit. After that first year was over, people moved on. It was not until the second yahrtzeit rolled around the corner that the memories were revived, and the pain returned.

Posted by dwallach at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's no such thing as a free lunch, but there are some things that come quite close. One of these is a double scam. Various companies (mostly banks, e.g. Citibank) try to scam their customers into signing up for various programs (e.g. PrivacyGuard), by sending out checks for small amounts (e.g. $2.50, $4.00, etc.). By cashing one of these checks, the customer signs up for the program, which comes with a free trial period, usually 30 days or more.

In response to this scam, I cash the checks, and put a little note in my calendar to cancel at a point in time after the check will have cashed, but before the trial period ends.

So while I do have to go to the effort of endorsing the check, cashing it, and then making one phone call to cancel, I do end up getting enough cash for an inexpensive ... Free Lunch!

Posted by dwallach at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As some of you may have noticed, I added a "Rebate Meter" to the sidebar. This, I'm sure, leads you to wonder just how one racks up more than $2,000 in rebates, without going broke. Well, the answer is ... office supply stores. OfficeMax and Staples both have frequent sales that include substantial quantities of FAR (free after rebate) items, as well as other (more valuable/useful) items that are nearly FAR. Combine these FAR items with any number of coupons, and suddenly one is presented with the opportunity to profit from the "purchase" of random items, or obtain items that would otherwise cost something for free. Those of you wondering what I could possibly do with 3 copies of Peachtree Accounting or more than 600 CD-Rs (or where I store all of the stuff) must remember that since a profit is being made, I can throw away anything I don't need (or donate it, give it away, etc.), and still walk away ahead. Where does one get such OM coupons? In my FW thread: OFFICIAL OfficeMax Coupon Thread (viewed more than 228,000 times as of this post!).

Posted by dwallach at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With publicity, comes feedback. Happily, it has thus far been fairly positive. In a gesture of some as yet undetermined type (gratitude?), I have begun a list of BuddyBlogs (blogs of friends with links to The Juggle Zone).

PS: "BuddyBlog," googled, returns 95 hits. "Buddy Blog" returns 1,290. We'll see how long that lasts.

Posted by dwallach at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not that I'm the first to break the story, but it can't hurt to post the (good) news and more news.

Posted by dwallach at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As many of you know, I met my wife on the Yeshiva University Fencing Team (see here for more info). As surprising as it may be, I wasn't the first Palo Altan to join the YU fencing team, Jack was a predecessor. Since I was on the team, two more people with ties to Palo Alto have joined, both this year - David (now hailing from Israel) and Leora (still from Palo Alto).

The reason I bring this all up, is because my college roommate's sister IMed the following story to me (edited):
I'm captain of the foil squad this year, and this girl was talking to me about fencing and that she knows this guy who met his wife on the team. I was like, "I know him." David, you guys are famous. Anyway, it turns out she's from your town, Palo Alto. She's trying out for the team, her name is Leora. She says she knows you.

Posted by dwallach at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I generally don't mind when people come to me for advice, especially in areas where I'm likely to be able to help them, namely computers and bargains. But sometimes it's the way they ask that bugs me. "Hey, David! You know computers, right?" is not a good way to start a conversation. It just rubs me the wrong way. You know I know computers, otherwise you wouldn't be asking me in the first place, so just get to the point.

Posted by dwallach at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mazal Tov to Cousin Rami on his engagement to Deborah Greene!

Posted by dwallach at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I have sad news to report. Over the weekend, I finally received the official cancellation email for my in-store pickup order, and my delivery order is also showing canceled. However, I still have not received any emails regarding that cancellation. Weird. All that's left to do is to wait to see what the "special one time, one use offer" will be.

Posted by dwallach at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Of my two Vaio orders, the in-store pickup has been canceled, while the delivery one still says "Order in process of being fulfilled; Usually ships in 5 - 7 days."

According to my calculations, of the $203.10 spent on books thus far, I should be able to get back $37.73 from Chase via LPG, or nearly 20%!

The question now is for the books I will be ordering online, should I go with the cheapest I can find, or just pick a place with free shipping, and then LPG it?!

Posted by dwallach at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While many FWers have posted that they have received as many as two distinct emails (one informing of the cancellation, and stating that a special one time offer will be sent out shortly, the other stating the order had a problem), I have received no email in either of my accounts. Some FWers have also stated that their orders have since disappeared without a trace, a fate thus fat unknown to me.

Posted by dwallach at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, YU decided to promote me. By promote, they mean change my job title (yay?) and give me a raise (yay!).

Raises are always good, but don't need to be tied to a promotion for any practical reason per se. A change in job title is generally meaningless, especially when the change is from something like "Data Analyst" (I have no idea what data they think I'm analyzing) to "System Administrator" (a title that's vaguely meaningful.

Posted by dwallach at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reader "Initial YUCS FatWalleter" inquires whether there are limits on LPG (BVG has/had a limit of 4 transactions per year - $250 max per transaction for a theoretical max of $1000 total). While the LPG program has a $250/transaction, $1000/year max, there is not stated limit to the number of transactions/year.

Regarding his question about the sufficiency of information on the receipt, it does include UPC numbers, which, if not enough alone, could be combined with photocopies of the back of the book and spine (with title on it).

Posted by dwallach at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, it's the start of the school year again, and that means only one thing to me - time to buy books. True, I'm not in school, but my wife is, and she needs lots of books. While the prices are cheaper online, you have to either pay extra for fast shipping (which largely cancels out any savings) or wait. Both option have problems - I don't like to pay extra (obviously) and my wife doesn't like to wait.

Luckily, this is where LPG comes into play. We buy the books using the Chase credit card at the pop-up bookstore, then pm to lower online prices using LPG! The only drawback is I probably won't be able to include coupons in the PM, but who knows.

Posted by dwallach at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The great thing about buying a digital camera is that you free yourself from film. The drawback is the sudden need for memory cards and batteries. After purchasing my digital camera, I knew I needed more memory (it only comes with a 16 MB CF card, enough for about 15 pictures at the highest resolution). Especially given the then planned trip to Spain (where I wouldn't have a computer handy to upload my pictures.

So, during one of my many visits to FW, I noticed a decent looking Dell CF deal. It was in the SB (Small Business) division (a drawback as they charge tax). There was a $20 rebate available for the 256 MB CF cards (regularly priced at $52.95. The great thing was the rebate had a limit of 5 (instead of a more common 1). The Subtotal for 5 CF cards was $264.75. The next positive issue was the presence of two available (and stackable) coupons - one for 20% off, and another for 10%. I had received a 10% off coupon, but not the more valuable 20% one. Someone at FW posted his 20% off coupon, and off I went to make the purchase. The stacked coupons provided for a savings of $74.13, shipping was $5.50 and tax was $16.67. The total came to $212.79, before rebates, and $112.79 after. As I got to the final confirmation screen to place my order, Dell pops up a notice, that the coupon in my cart was used. Doh!

Well, heavily frustrated, I returned to FW to try to find another 20% off coupon. Eventually I found one, threw it into my cart, checked out ASAP, and was on my merry way.

Or so I thought. While I received my order confirmation on the day of the order (6/25/03), Dell didn't get around to processing the order (and creating an order date) until 7/1/03. This would have been fine by me, except that the rebate was only valid for June purchases. I called Dell to try to resolve the situation, spoke to many, many people, in many different departments. I had to fax the rebate to them, call them some more, email them occasionally, until finally they agreed to credit me.

Not only did they credit me $100 for the rebates, but they credited the tax on $100, too, for a total refund of $108.50.

Having an order date in July was also useful for qualifying for a new $15 rebate (limit one) on the CF cards. So I sent in one rebate, which qualified. So, for those counting beans, the final cost of the 5 CF cards was $212.79 - $108.50 refund - $15 rebate - $5.71 FatCash - $1.04 CC cash back = $82.54, or $16.51 each!

Oh, by the way, we took nearly 500 pictures in Spain, using 4 of the CF cards. Maybe I should E-bay that 5th CF card...

Posted by dwallach at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first time I took advantage of the LPG program was when I purchased my Canon Powershot A70 digicam, which retails for $300. At the time, the stars aligned, and Circuit City was offering a $50 GC for digicam purchases and MSN Wallet was running a 20% back "Dads & Grads" promotion. The price of the camera with tax was $325.49. I found a Yahoo Shop that was offering the A70 for $195, so I got a LPG check for $104.99. Subtract the $50 GC and the $65.10 D&G, and the price comes down to $105.40! Of course, I made the purchase through FatWallet's FatCash program, so I saved another $6.59, plus I get cash back on my Chase credit card ($0.81) for a final cost of $98 even!!!

Posted by dwallach at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A great feature of some credit cards is a program that provides a lowest price guarantee, regardless of where you bought the item. One flavor of credit card that offer such a program is American Express (BVG - Best Value Guarantee). However, Amex recently put an end to the PMing of Internet retailers, presumably because they were losing too much money. Meanwhile, I discovered that Chase offers a similar program on some of their card, under the name LPG (Lowest Price Guarantee, part of the CSS, or Chase Shop Secure, program).

Posted by dwallach at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, I went. To Best Buy that is. With the order number confirmation (but not in-store pick-up confirmation), I strolled into the store, found the pickup counter, and presented my paperwork. The salesgirl headed to the back, where they keep the prepared orders, and returned empty handed. She informed me that they hadn't pulled it yet, that is was a "lock-up item," so it would be a few minutes. That was fine by me.

Several calls, and many minutes, later, a manager finally shows up, looks at the record, and informed me that it's on "Fraud Hold." Interesting. I wonder to myself whether this is BB's way of putting an order on hold, or whether there was some sort of credit card processing problem.

He tells me they have to call BB.com to have it resolved, and assigns one of the salesgirls to that task. She was on hold for another long time, before finally reaching them to find out that supposedly the credit card authorization hasn't gone through yet, and that there is a price mistake. I innocently ask what the proper price is, to which she informs me $2399.99.

There wasn't much else to do, so I gathered my stuff, and left the store, a little sad, but not particularly surprised.

Posted by dwallach at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, the end of the day draws near, and I haven't gotten a cancellation email yet. However, I haven't gotten the final confirmation email either, but I think I'll stop by BB on the way home anyways. It can't hurt...

Posted by dwallach at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Received one rebate check for two items from a recent OM purchase. One item was $10, the other was $7, and the check was for $20. You do the math.

Posted by dwallach at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, at 1:38 p.m., an email shows up from BestBuy.com - Order Confirmation. While I still must wait for Store Pickup Notification, it's a start. There is potential. Only problem is the website lists the same status as before.

Meanwhile, in FWland, the mods locked the original thread, but a new one has been started.

It seems that yet another thread has been started. No change to my status thus far, however, I did finally realize what happened to my order that isn't showing up - I never managed to place it. BB puts a "print" button on their pre-order confirmation screen, which I mistook for being the final confirmation. As an FWer pointed out, the item is back on BB, so I placed another (actual) order. We'll see how this pans out.

Posted by dwallach at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During my morning perusal of FW, I noticed a thread regarding the Sony-VAIO 2.6GHz Notebook-PCG-GRV680. Not that I'm in the market for a notebook per se, though my P133 could do with replacement. So I look into it, and it seems that there was a pricing error on the $2399.99 computer - instead of being on sale for $300 off, it was on sale for $300.

I quickly placed two orders, one for in-store pickup and one for delivery. For each, I created one-time use CC #s, with limits of $350 (to safely cover tax - shipping was free). As of 12:45 p.m., only one order (in-store pickup) is showing, with a status of "1 item(s) - confirming InStore Inventory"

Posted by dwallach at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Welcome! That goes to you, as well as me (my first post!). While Shaya was nice enough to set up this blog about a week ago, I have held off posting, pending an epiphany. Today, while I wondered about the status of my Sony Vaio orders (more on that later), it came to me - a Bargain Blog.

Now, I don't just mean a listing of deals, there are already too many out there, e.g. FatWallet.com. Rather, I'm going to make use of this blog to detail my bargain stories, and successes.

Posted by dwallach at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)