Thursday, November 20, 2014

Black Friday TV for trailer WIN!

OK, so this is not a racing or car related post, though you could put this TV in your trailer for mega ballerness.

So Best Buy has this Panasonic TC-50A400U 50" LED TV on Black Friday 2014.  Not the best of TVs but certainly not the worst.  And for less than $200?  Who are we kidding trying to compare specs.  http://blackfriday.bestbuy.com/

Herein lies the dilemma.  Typically, you'd have to stand in line hours or days ahead of time in the ridiculous cold to snag one of these.  Im sure your time is more valuable than the cost savings of the TV.  So how do you get around this?  Simple!  Many credit cards have Price Protection guarantees.  You'll have to double check your particular card as some exclude "doorbusters" or "special offerings".  I know Capital One doesnt honor it.  Check your cardmember benefits PDF.

So here is what I did today.  I drove to Best Buy, bought the TV full price.  I kindly asked the associate if I could just purchase the Black Friday TV at full price.  They had 17 on hand for people to trample each other over on Black Friday.  I snagged one in a completely empty store at 1130AM on my lunch break.
Next, I called up my credit card benefits line and requested to open and submit a claim.  I double checked to make sure they would honor Black Friday ads and the rep listed off a bunch of exclusions to which she said Black Friday should be ok.  (They dont match things like how WalMart got hosed on those PS4s).  So Ive just submitted my claim form and supporting documents which include the original sales receipt and a scan of the advertisement.  

Now I wait a few weeks and a check should pop in the mail for $300!  


Obviously YMMV, IANAL, etc... but worse case scenario you just don't open the box and return it to Best Buy if you are denied your claim.