Know what's going on with Best Buy & Pro?

[maurer171]

I went to Best Buy and tried to buy a Droid Pro for my wife yesterday (they had it advertised for $49.99). No joy. For some reason (they said it was a corporate problem) Best Buy was unable to complete the upgrade/activation and sell me the phone. They tried everything they could think of (starting over, switching phones, etc.). I was there for 4 hours, but they were unable to complete the transaction. They said try back in a few days. I looked today and the Pro is no longer anywhere to be found on BestBuy.com. Anyone know what's going on? This is supposed to be a Christmas present!

 

[ravenhawk]

The rumor is that Verizon pulled the Droid Pro and Droid 2 Global from Best Buy because Best Buy had it discounted so heavily, apparently against their contract with Verizon, that it was cutting into Verizon's own sales too much.

 

[mspm47]

I got my Pro (two now) from Amazon Wireless for 1cent. I heard that they pulled that promotion also but offering other Droid phones (Samsung) for the same deal.

 

[maurer171]

Wow that would stink. I drove over an hour to get to a Best Buy that sold Verizon phones. And thank you for the Amazon suggestion but I really prefer to buy phones in a store. Glad you found such a great price though! Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[akosnitzky]

The rumor is that Verizon pulled the Droid Pro and Droid 2 Global from Best Buy because Best Buy had it discounted so heavily, apparently against their contract with Verizon, that it was cutting into Verizon's own sales too much.

I am reading hearing what you stated. Other buyers may need to be patient

 

[maurer171]

Just found a post on androidcommunity.com titled "Verizon says no recall on Droid 2 Global and Moto Droid Pro" that confirms reports that some Best Buy stores are taking them off the shelves. Spokesperson Brenda Raney of Verizon says "We can't speak for Best Buy ... how they manage their inventory is their business but there are no recalls on those devices."

So whaddaya make of that?

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[MO3iusONE]

Yea that's what I was hearing as well..best buy is selling it for waaay less than than verizon stores and im pretty sure they don't like it.

Im thinking maybe both the Droid pro and the Droid 2 are selling so well that verizon feels they don't need to be selling that phone for such a less price? well I bought mine for 50 bucks. Thanks best buy.

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[MattB85]

I just had the same experience. Went to Best Buy all set to buy a Droid Pro, but was told that they couldn't sell me one. The story from the Best Buy sales rep was that every time they tried to activate one the ESN came up as a pre-paid device and that Verizon hadn't given them a good answer about when the issue would be resolved. Credit has to be given to the Best Buy people for not trying to push me into another device...they understood that I wanted to Pro and recommended that I call during the weekend to see if they could sell me one.

I've read similar things about a pissing contest between Verizon and Best Buy over pricing, but if this is true then why are Amazon and Wirefly still selling the things (at a lower price than Best Buy)? I was really unimpressed with my local VZW store's unwillingness to even consider matching Best Buy's price and won't pay $180 for a phone that's going to require an additional monthly data package. Update: I just confirmed I can still get one for $0.01 on Amazon.com. With that confirmed, the story about a pricing issue w/Best Buy really makes no sense.

 

[maurer171]

Yeah I don't get it. Amazon, Wirefly, and Dell all have the 49.99 deal going. In fact, Dell is essentially "paying" you to take them with a $25 gift card!

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[MattB85]

It's really frustrating. I even tried calling Verizon customer service today (not that I expected any help from them) and they had no clue what was going on. They did helpfully offer me a Droid Pro for $180 though and got defensive when I asked why the rest of the world can sell it for substantially less. The other problem is that all of the online offers (Dell, Amazon, etc.) all seem to trace back to the same sales company, which is not Verizon Wireless, which is somewhat disconcerting. I'd rather buy a cell phone in person.

I guess I'll just be sticking with my Motorola W755 for now...it's really a weird experience when you basically tell a retailer "I'd like to buy a product and sign up for a 2-year, $60+/month contract" and they tell you they won't sell you one.

 

[jgrizz]

Yeah it is frustrating when you want an awesome phone but don't want to pay for it.

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[MattB85]

Yeah it is frustrating when you want an awesome phone but don't want to pay for it.

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I'm not saying I'm not willing to pay for the device (though I'd be happy if it was free); I'm just saying that I don't see $180 of value in it and was frustrated that Best Buy, though willing to sell me the device for $50, was unable to, and that Verizon Wireless was unwilling to match Best Buy's price and that their sales rep was unpleasant when I asked if they would. It is of course their perrogative to sell the thing for whatever they want, but since they want $180 right now I'm happy to wait for prices to come down.

 

[maurer171]

Shh ... I smell troll
...

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[maurer171]

I'm with you Matt. Why pay $180 for something when everybody and their brother is selling it for $50?
Oh well, if they don't resolve it soon I'll just go to Amazon.

Oh wait! I'm supposed to want to spend $130 more for no reason the week before Christmas, right? My bad. I think I have my head on straight now. ; )

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[bwhite757]

Boils down to this. Retailers such as Best Buy, Wirefly, Amazon, etc... all get cutbacks for getting people to sign up for another 2 years. They are purchasing large quantities of these phones in order to reduce price on their end, and are relying solely on the cut backs, and not profit from the phone. They also rely on selling a large enough quantity to justify slashing the prices of these phones, and they can do this because they have little to no overhead.

Best Buy Mobile is simply occupying space in a retail chain that specializes in electronics. Even if the mobile dept wasn't there, Best Buy still would be. So overhead is relatively low.

This is especially true when it comes to online retailers that don't have to even have a physical store location. Even less overhead, a couple of packing/shipping guys, a warehouse, and a webmaster and all of their overhead is covered.

Now let's go to the VZW corporate stores. Those employees, and those buildings, are paid by profits made on their equipment/accessories sales. The overhead in these stores are a lot higher. Not to mention, some of them have a good service dept that can actually either fix/swap phones right there on the spot. Their salaries also come from phone/accessories sales. These stores also setup working units of all of their phones they have for sale, so the customer can physically hold the phone and play with it, and even make test calls on it before deciding to purchase it.

So, if you guys want to continue to go to the big box stores, or internet sales, eventually you can kiss the VZW stores goodbye. I already see a trend of VZW steering customers more and more to their website, and I don't like it (online price cheaper than in-store prices, instant rebates, etc...). Whenever a new device comes out, I love the fact that I can drive right down the road and sit in the store and play with the phone for an hour if I want to, before I decide whether or not I'm going to buy it. A two-year commitment (not that I ever keep one that long) is a lot to be stuck with a device you are not happy with.

I understand VZW's decision to team up with Best Buy, Wirefly, Amazon, etc... They almost have to if they want to compete with the other names out there. Kinda one of those, everybody else is doing it, things. I just think it's the slow decay of local community business. I'm a big internet junkie, but all of my new purchases of goods comes solely through my local economy, so as long as VZW still has a store in my town, continues to pay their taxes into my community, and employs 30-40 people, I will continue to purchase items from that store.