Being the DVD nerd that I am, I receive the e-mail newsletter distributed by the Criterion Collection people. Last week I received an edition of that newsletter which stated that during the month of August, all Criterion titles were 30% off at both Barnes & Noble stores and their website. If you're unfamiliar with the CC titles they tend to be fairly pricey but they're just about always worth it. They're like film school in a box. They're a series of releases focusing on either classic titles, foreign films or American independent films. The DVD's usually feature multiple commentaries, documentaries, essays, interviews and some titles even come with booklets. Like I said, film school in a box. They also usually range from about thirty to fifty bucks per title and the boxed sets (of John Cassavetes or Francois Truffaut for example) are usually well over a hundred bucks.
Anyway, the point is thirty percent off ain't much but it's enough that it would probably have Criterion fans flocking to B&N's stores to snatch up what they've been holding off on getting (especially since Criterion titles are known to go out of print.) So today, I went down to the B&N at the Harbor and after looking around the DVD section and not seeing any kind of signage regarding this sale I asked the clerk about it. He said he knew nothing about this and did a quick search of...something on his computer and reiterated that they were not marked down.
At first I thought that I'd misread the e-mail so I left, went home, hopped online and Googled "Criterion" "Barnes Noble" and "30%" and found this. So I printed out this exact page and took it to the B&N in Towson. I picked up a copy of the The Last Temptation of Christ (which I only have on VHS). I asked the clerk about the sale AND showed her the page I printed out and she told me that Barnes & Noble's HQ sent a memo out stating that the stores were not to honor this deal and it is an online exlusive only -- which, I now know from the Barnes & Noble website is the case. But since I don't normally visit the website I wouldn't really know this. And since the Criterion website doesn't say anything about a mistake...how am I or any unsuspecting potential customer supposed to know?
I mean it's their perogative if they want to honor the sale or not. I know when I was at their Ann Arbor-based competitor the stores and the website were completely different entities. Nevertheless, why not turn this into a great PR opportunity and just honor the deal? Now they've lost my sale and anyone else's who'd otherwise be inclined to fork over some of their hard earned cash. And since I'm definitely not going to order it from the website, they're missing out on that sale too. Not that my one little lost sale is going to hurt them but, well, there's a reason I'm posting this on the front page.
Besides, I can't be the only one who feels gypped. There have got to be others out there who'd rather have the immediate satisfaction of going to the store and buying Seven Samurai to watch tonight rather than wait until it comes in the mail (don't forget shipping and handling costs.)
So that's it really, Barnes & Noble sucks (I have written the company voicing my displeasure.) I'm not going to go so far as to suggest boycotting them but feel free to let them know how they dropped the ball on this one.
(800) 422-7717
customerservice@bn.com
or heck you can even FAX a complaint (212) 352-3660.
I'm going to sit in the corner and pout now....OR just watch the brand spanking new 2 Disc Collector's Edition of Taxi Driver I picked up today!!!!
josh [email] said at 9:14 PM 08-13-2007: i think that BN.com and Barnes & Noble are by seperate parts of barnes and noble, inc.
deepdiscountdvd.com ($32 for last temptation w/ free shipping) and amazon.com ($30 new w shipping) are your friends. thats like $2-4 more than the bn.com price WITH the sale, but less than BN.com is normally.
oh also both bn.com and amazon.com offer free shipping for orders over $25, which any criterion would qualify for. ddd is always free shipping.
reggie [email] said at 10:24 PM 08-13-2007: Thanks but that's not the point (even though I may end up going there.)
This goes back to that whole instant gratification thing I have against Netflix etc.
Like I said in my post B*rd*rs stores and their website are two completely different wings sharing only the name. So I'm not surprised if B&N is run the same way.
I'm just saying, they'd make themselves look good if they honored the deal.
josh [email] said at 10:56 PM 08-13-2007: i dunno, i think its about equal in terms of convienence... i went to borders to buy something because i had a 30% off coupon, and they didnt have it ... knock off about 1-2 hours of my time for that vs if i had just bought it online in like 5 minutes. yeah i would have had to wait for 3 days to get it, but i didnt even get it at all at the physical store!
also i dont buy the "instant gratification" as much when you are buying a criterion because its not like you dont know you want the definitive edition of a favorite movie in your collection... unlike renting where you want to watch something NOW... i often buy criterions or other deluxe editions and dont end up watching them for awhile, but i know i want them in the library.
josh [email] said at 11:01 PM 08-13-2007: for example i have yet to watch straw dogs criterion but i bought it because they said it was gonna be allowed to go out of print and its a movie i want a good version of.
josh [email] said at 11:26 PM 08-13-2007: yeah but what im saying is - if you know you love a movie, and you know you want the criterion version, why not just order it online for way cheaper than you can get it in a store? you can even pre-order it and it will show up at your house the same day the store put it out on the shelves. amazon preorders are usually 30-40% off.
AND my comments about building a library being different than renting still apply. you dont drop $30-40 on a criterion just because you feel like watching it that one time. you do it because you want it in the library. thats the kind of purchase that can be thought out ahead for maximum savings.
reggie [email] said at 11:42 PM 08-13-2007: if you know you love a movie, and you know you want the criterion version, why not just order it online
Oh, I see what you're saying. Well part of it is that (for the time being at least) I work at a place where I can get 'em for cheaper than what it would cost online. That is on those occasions that one does show up at one of our stores.
For the non-video retail employed, it's a more than valid point. But when you get an employee discount...it does turn out to be actually worth waiting. Ironically enough.
kara [email] said at 2:38 PM 08-14-2007: for the record Reggie I find it to be very charming when dudes are scared of the internet.
If you ask privately I'll give examples.
reggie [email] said at 5:18 PM 08-14-2007: I'm not scared of the internet (I pretty much spend most of my time on it.)
I just think it's stupid to be so dependent on the internet. I LIKE going to stores, I LIKE leaving my house and going to buy the few things I like to buy. Living in a city I'm still largely unfamiliar with it's a good way for me to learn my surroundings.
It's not being scared of the internet but being anti e-commerce two completely different things.
reggie [email] said at 6:45 PM 08-14-2007: Yes except there is one small detail, they don't sell DVDs and music. (Which is why in my post I said that I went to the one at the Harbor and the one in Towson.)
josh [email] said at 12:28 AM 08-14-2007: but it was advertised by CC not BN, right? i mean if kevin smith said "my movies are free at all best buys this week" that doesnt mean best buy has to give you the DVDs for free. some yahoo at CC got confused, it sounds like.
reggie [email] said at 8:03 AM 08-14-2007: Some yahoo like the entire company.
But if I may quote myself: I'm just saying, they'd make themselves look good if they honored the deal. That's really all I'm saying. Because then, instead of me not spending a dime at either their store or their website. They'd have my 22 bucks or whatever AND I'd run out and tell as many people as I know who would be interested about the great deal I just got at B&N. In fact, I know for a fact of two other people who would have gone and now won't.
Try this on: we're having a closing sale and everything in the store is marked down so NOW we're always busy and making all this money when previously we were usually pretty dead.
With everything marked down and the idea that there is a limited amount of time for customers to take advantage of these deals, people have been more inclined to come in and drop a heck of a lot more than they otherwise would.
SO not only am I more likely to buy JUST a Criterion DVD but with that extra 30% I saved a may be more inclined to buy a magazine, a latte (not likely but just an example) or maybe pick up TWO Criterion DVD's.
As I said in my post it's their perogative if they want to honor the sale or not so you're not really saying anything in this entire discussion that I don't already know and acknowledge.
All I'm saying is what I said above, it would make them look good. What store DOESN'T want to make themselves look good?
josh [email] said at 8:36 AM 08-14-2007: regardless, it was STILL a sale advertised by CC not by BN. i doubt they want to set a precedent of allowing companies besides BN to define when their sales are, and i doubt they are that pressed to make sure that the few thousand people on the CC mailing list are stoked.
ed [email] said at 5:02 PM 08-14-2007: I saw that last night, dude.
It actually was good, but it also reminded me that I didn't know until I was in college that "gypped" had any sort of negative connotation. I also thought it was spelled "jipped". So I didn't laugh too hard at that quip because it reminded me of the ignorance of my youth.
reggie [email] said at 5:10 PM 08-14-2007: Yeah I didn't learn until a few years ago (and also thought that it was "jipped.") I'm not sure where I learnt about the negative connotation of the word. I pulled an Imus.
woody [email] said at 6:32 PM 08-14-2007: Weird, I actually learned this post-university too. That is amazingly common I guess, one of those words that nobody thinks about the history.
reggie [email] said at 5:07 PM 08-14-2007: Amen. I mean I really don't care that much. I vented a little steam, I was quite content (and actually a bit stoked that I got Taxi Driver a day early.)
kiche [email] said at 10:02 AM 08-14-2007: you really need to get over this fear of the internet, reggie.
josh is 100% right. i got a gift card for borders over xmas. i went into borders looking for something they didn't have; when they ordered it for me it took several weeks.
i can understand patronizing local specialty stores like kim's video; but bn and borders are just crappy chain stores no different than walmart or mcdonalds.
you can find most stuff online for cheaper, especially if you look for used stuff. and chances are i'm not gonna run home and watch a dvd i just bought. if i'm buying it, that means it's something worth owning over time; not a "i gotta finally see this right now!" i can just rent it in that case.
reggie [email] said at 5:23 PM 08-14-2007: you really need to get over this fear of the internet, reggie.
As I mentioned above. It is not a "fear of the internet" -- which if you think about the forum in which this very discussion is being held is a rather ridiculous claim -- but I'm quite anti e-commerce.
Gee, why would I who have spent a majority of my working life working retail have an aversion to e-commerce? Let's see, why could that be? I only resently came to peace with the idea of ringing myself up at grocery stores.
evan [email] said at 11:50 AM 08-14-2007: "They're a series of releases focusing on either classic titles, foreign films or American independent films."
and armegeddon!
your anger is misdirected. if anything the post should be about how Criterion sucks since they are the ones that made the mistake that caused you so much pain and suffering. it's unreasonable to expect that the stores should recognize a sale that they had nothing to do with.
josh [email] said at 12:09 PM 08-14-2007: exactly! thats all i was sayin'... its not BN's fault that CC said they were having a sale when they weren't.
brandon [email] said at 12:22 PM 08-14-2007: My one and only experience with B&N.com involved ordering Faster! with a gift card. A couple of months later, they denied that it had ever been purchased. Then, they denied that it hadn't been shipped to the right location. Then they wouldn't refund me. So, I refuse to use them, the internets, that is, any of the tubes. I only order books via mail order catalog, now. And I demand that they be delivered via lectica. I've lost a lot of magazines in the Smokies that way. But commerce is hell.
ed [email] said at 2:03 PM 08-14-2007: If, while a man is building a house, a nail proves faulty by bending, does the man then lose faith in all nails and stop building his house?
brandon [email] said at 2:09 PM 08-14-2007: Yeah, for it is easier to smoke a pack of camels through the eye of a needle, than it is for Barnes and Nobles to ship a book of popular science on a timely basis.
ed [email] said at 4:58 PM 08-14-2007: It looked natural to me because of TW. Except we don't actually call them nobles. They're snobs. The act of extricating a village from someone else's possession is still called nobling it.
As an aside, Firefox suggests that instead of "nobling", it should be "nob ling". Go figure.
reggie [email] said at 5:33 PM 08-14-2007: I'm going to sit in the corner and pout now....OR just watch the brand spanking new 2 Disc Collector's Edition of Taxi Driver I picked up today!!!!
I'm sorry but did NOBODY see this part? I'm pretty much calling myself a whining baby and THEN bragging about nabbing the new edition of Taxi Driver a day early. Come on people!
reggie [email] said at 11:56 PM 08-14-2007: What's the "wow" about? That Josh and I can argue so long about this stupid whining post? Or that I bothered to post the stupid whining post in the first place?
Thanks for your email. We have learned that there was a miscommunication and that is why the 30% off across the board was only offered online. But we have since been told that the brick and mortar Barnes & Noble stores will honor the discount if requested by a customer. Our apologies for any confusion or lost time, and please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns!
reggie [email] said at 12:40 AM 08-15-2007: If I'm lucky (which I never am) she looks like A href="http://www.guttermagazine.com/aug07/summaPg2.php">this.
