Last weekend was busy at our house...it seemed to go by very quickly. I hate weekend that seem overloaded with anything other than having a day off. So basically, I despise most weekends. Maybe not quite despise, but there is always WAY too much going on, too much planned...just too much.
We started our weekend on Friday and started with taking down Mike's 1/2 working TV he bought in 2007. Long story short, he finally decided we should return it to Costco since it hasn't worked 100% since he bought it. Luckily, we bought it prior to their new return policy for electronics.
After they handed us the original amount he paid back in '07 (about $1400), we walked over and bought the same TV (a 42" Vizio) for $699. We happily walked to the register, paid, loaded it up and headed home. We dropped off the new TV and headed to Best Buy with the remaining funds.
When we had our A/V guy install my (sorry, our) surround sound, my 13+ year old Yamaha receiver had finally given up. She was too tired to power the front speakers any longer. She was great while she lasted. Anywho, so we've been wanting/needing to replace the old receiver with a new one...but were waiting for the right time. The time had come...and so had the extra money.
We walked into Best Buy and went to customer service to return one of the Blu Rays I bought for Mike for Christmas. When I pulled out the receipt, I noticed they charged me for the extra controller ($54.99). It was supposed to be a "bundle" price of $350...so I felt dumb I hadn't caught it when I made the purchase, but I bought so many movies, games, etc...hard to notice an extra $54.99 (sad).
They told me a bunch of BS that I won't go in to, but long story short they said they would take 10% off the price of the game I bought (which was $70) and 10% off the remote control ($54.99). That total doesn't quite add up to the total amount the controller cost me...I failed math, but that math is pretty simple.
The employees were trying to figure how to refund us ANY money, since there were no items there and the purchase was December 17th... I volunteered that we were there to buy a new receiver...so how about they take the 20% off of that?? They seemed to like that idea and so did we. (Even with poor math skills...that adds up to a lot more savings for us...)
After a LONG decision making process, several phone calls to our A/V guy, getting on-line with the Best Buy people, blah blah blah...we finally decided on a receiver. We opted for the Denon brand instead of the Yamaha...price was the same $499 and it's a better brand. Plus when we walked over to pick it up off the shelf, the only one they had in-stock was an "open box". We looked at it and it seemed to never have been out of the box, plus they took another $50 off the price. So we got out of there for under $400 with the extra 20% off.
We high-fived each other (in our heads) as we walked out...We still hadn't spent all $1400 from the original return at Costco. Nice.
SO...on the way home I start thinking about the TV downstairs. I bought it prior to Costco changing their return policy on electronics (in fact, I bought it in March of 2003). We had been having issue with the TV since the bulb went out nearly a year ago & we replaced it...I wondered if they would still return the TV since it was technically "broken"??
It turns out...Costco DID return it!! They handed us (and by us I mean my very prettiest sister that I forced to return it for me because I am chicken) back nearly $1900 in cash!! The prices of TVs has gone down significantly in 5 years and 10 months!!
SO...I walked over to the TV section to pick out our new Samsung, but they were out. *sigh* We drove to the other Costco...and as I was walking in I saw an empty box in the bushes. Kinda strange, but the part that caught my eye was the shape of the box (a large, flat square) and the picture on the front- the EXACT table Richelle and I have been searching HIGH and LOW for- a 54" x 54" counter height with eight chairs...well made & not a fortune.
We have been 100% unsuccessful until that very moment. Everything so far was CHEAP (not the price) and only came with 4 chairs. The typical price tag was $1299...plus $200 for EACH additional chair. Yeah right.
So Sydney and I ran in and located that very table...and the one other still in its box. Turns out the Arizona Costco stores received a TOTAL of 30 tables...it had just been assembled and put on the sales floor that very morning. The only two the Costco Customer service guy could even locate were the two we were looking at!!
It was perfect!! 54" x 54" dark wood, counter height with eight chairs...very well made and only $899!! Holy crap!! We said we'd take both!! Luckily we did because while Richelle and Sydney stood watch over our new tables, several people tried to buy them!! If we wouldn't have walked into THAT Costco and THAT moment...we would never have even known they had our table to begin with!! It was perfect!!
While they beat people off of our tables...I went to locate the TV we originally came for. They didn't have the Samsung either (so I am guessing it was last year's model), so I opted for the 52" Sony Bravia instead. It was my second choice, but a very, very close second choice. They had the 52" on sale for only $100 more than the 46" ($1199).
We loaded up most of my table and Mike's new TV and headed home to make our first drop-off. We then headed back to Costco to pick up the remaining box of mine and Richelle's new table...that load took Mike's truck and Richelle's Suburban.
That ended Saturday...and I was exhausted. We weren't finished yet...ugh.
When we moved in, the family room in the new house has a much smaller TV niche than my Chandler house did. Only the TV stand fit...the matching A/V tower (that held 90% of the equipment) did not fit...and ended up in the workout room/game room holding that TV.
We decided that with our left over money, we should buy a new stand for the family room that can hold all the necessary equipment properly. This was a much more difficult take than first thought. The niche is only 53" wide (minus baseboards...it's only 52" wide). After about 7-8 stores, we finally found ourselves and a third Best Buy. They had exactly what we were looking for...and it was exactly the right price. (We did end up spending about $538 out of pocket for the table...but that is less that half of what we were anticipating.)
Monday night after work (and after the Best Buy purchase) we came home and set it all up. Mike did the table while I did all the A/V crapola. We finished in just enough time to watch most of Transformers on Blu Ray...and high-fived each other several more times before getting very little sleep and the alarm clock going off WAY too early. (It's not the best picture, but you get the idea...)
1 comment:
I LOVE your table! So jealous. That is EXACTLY what I've been looking for too!
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