128GB Sold Out??

JoeWang4

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I bet the shortages are because they feared they were gonna overship again like with the Surface RT and end up getting half the shipped ones back as unsold. Anyways, at the Best Buy here in Montreal, Canada, they still have a Surface Pro 128GB, 1 or 2 64GBs and a crapton of RTs.
 

Polychrome

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I'm frankly kind of stunned that some people believe Microsoft could ship whatever number of Surface Pros they chose to every Best Buy.

To be fair, a lot of people probably have the initial Xbox 360 and Wii shortages in the back of their heads.

But in those cases, you could tell the shortages were genuine and the stores were not at fault. Both devices were made with heavily customized computer parts, and a shortage of any of those resulted in a shortage of units. I worked multiple retail jobs at the time, there was no feel of embarassment, no reps averting their eyes, doing little nervous dances. This is what feels different about this Surface business. The store workers all looked like they'd been caught with their pants down. There was this look of "Gah! They keep coming!" in their eyes. LOL

Thankfully, I live near two Microsoft Stores. I spent 50 minutes on line in one and came away with a 128 Surface Pro. I was impressed that twice in the period I was in line, the store sent out an employee to count the line as they wanted to make sure they didn't have more people waiting than they had devices. They also had an employee with a Pro walk along the line offering to demonstrate it or answer any questions. It was nicely done. And the retail experience itself was flawless. I was in the store for not more than 10 minutes.

Stuff like this is why I get the general feel that it was a lack of orders rather than a lack of devices. The Microsoft stores, from what I've heard around the 'net, had well enough for everyone who showed up well into the evening, and from what I hear, set up a nice number of temporary mall kiosks as well. This implies they had to also serve folks who were sent away disappointed from their local best buy or staples and had to road-trip it.

Now, I don't blame the retail stores for being cautious. But I think they could have tried to understand why the RT tablets weren't selling, rather than assuming the Pro wouldn't sell. A decent PC-tablet with Wacom support hasn't been available at that price point EVER. As for Microsoft, I'm almost thinking they should have released the Pro first, and the RT second once there was enough Win 8 software to make it worth it. Kinda like how Nintendo made a "lite" version of the Wii when the WiiU came out, a mini version of the Wii stripped of its backwards compatibility.
 

fonzman78

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I finally got mine!! And I love it. I preordered at Best Buy and thought for sure I would get it yesterday. Of course, to my surprise, they claimed not to have it when I called. They said they had gotten only 2 and that if I didn't get emailed then they were already sold. In a panic, I called every BB and Staples in Utah and everyone was sold out. I was mad! And disappointed. I called the BB again where I had reserved it and complained that I thought I was one of the first to pre order, if not the first. They apologized and insisted that they had already given them away.

I was bummed out. Then around 11pm last night, I got an email from BB saying my Surface Pro 128 was ready for pick by Tue. I was surprised and reread it over and over to make sure it wasn't a mistake. At first I thought they said I could pick up Tue. Then I realized it said to pick it up by Tue. Long story short, I went first thing this morning and they had it for me. So, when I called yesterday, they hadn't really given them out. They were just sorting out who was first on preorder list. They were just telling everyone who called that they had already given them out. And luck would have it, I was first in line.

So, I am doing the happy dance!!! I love this device. I have been following this for months and have been posting my expectations and they are all correct. This device is the best tablet available now. So glad I took the time to pre order. Now, back to the Pro. We have many things to try. Be patient for the those who don't have one yet. It is worth the wait.
 

mhammo

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The Best Buys and Staples in north Altanta had no units, of either one, in stock and no one knew when or if they would get them. Called the Microsoft Store and they said they had received less than a dozen units and all were sold out, again, no ETA on new shipments. I would have bought one but with so few available I'll just hang onto my $1,200 and wait for the units with better battery life. A 4 hour or less battery life is not going to cut it for me.
 

Mooshywooshy

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The Best Buy and Staples in my small town in central Oklahoma didnt have any RT or Pro Surfaces. Also there were no lines. Color me surprised!
 

smoledman

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My local best buy got 2 in. One 128 and One 64. I reserved the 128 yesterday and was told to pick it up today only to find out they sold my unit to someone else this morning. Found that interesting. I have to wait a few days for the next shipment now. They gave me 100 bucks off tho. No complaints here. I see that Microsoft wants to be able to say HEY WE SOLD OUT DAY ONE! But that's not impressive if your only giving stores one or two units. I was even iffy about even picking it up, but with 100 bucks off, I'm decided now.

Absolutely ridiculous that a Best Buy would only have 1 of each in stock for launch day. This is bull****. I mean it's one thing to be conservative but this is bordering on psychotic behavior.
 

SevenDead1ySinz

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I am quite sure that BB was at least half culprit in this debacle. MS stores had sufficient stock, and BB/FS are notorious for having low stock of items they don't feel are going to move. The ones here only carry 1 or 2 Lumia 920's at any given time, and no accessories for them at all. Having worked at Future Shop in the past I know that they are very Apple centric, and lately a bit Android. The FS here has an Apple specific employee for all the Apple products.. quite sickening actually.
 

jpw21683

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This is what feels different about this Surface business. The store workers all looked like they'd been caught with their pants down. There was this look of "Gah! They keep coming!" in their eyes. LOL

This pretty much sums up my Best Buy experience. I got there around 10:45am (store opened at 10am), and while there was a nice display set up the shelves were empty.

A salesperson came up to me, quite bewildered that I was interested in the device. They only received 3-4 units (don't know whether 64/128GB), and there were more than that number of people fighting over them right when the store opened.

I probably spent about 30 minutes playing with the display model. I felt like an animal at a zoo, being watched by the Geek Squad'ers, "OMG TEH APPLEE STUFF IS OVER THERE!"

With that said, who knows if it was Best Buy or MS's fault. Just hoping I can actually buy one soon.
 

drbanks

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I will say this:

WTF?

I mean, congrats on selling out. That's a good sign, and mea culpa on me for not jumping on it sooner. I'll take responsibility for that.

But, jeesh, can't you just put a "ship it to me as soon as you get one" option in the microsoft store site? Completely disabling the option in the store just lessens the probability that I'll get one.

I mean, I want one, and I've wanted one since it was announced, but if I have to check the store every day, and if I miss the two hour window of availability again, I may just give up eventually.
 

VagrantWade

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I am quite sure that BB was at least half culprit in this debacle. MS stores had sufficient stock, and BB/FS are notorious for having low stock of items they don't feel are going to move. The ones here only carry 1 or 2 Lumia 920's at any given time, and no accessories for them at all. Having worked at Future Shop in the past I know that they are very Apple centric, and lately a bit Android. The FS here has an Apple specific employee for all the Apple products.. quite sickening actually.

From what I have heard, even Best Buy upper management had no indication of how many they would be receiving at each store.
 

garak0410

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I just checked Best Buy again and got excited...bestBuy.jpg

When you try to order, it says out of stock...what in the world? And yes, this is when I selected the 128GB model.
 

Ekon

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The Best buys in my area also showed available. So I went to my local best buy and asked the lady if they had my reserved 128 in and she checked and told me no. She also checked the availability status online and it showed unavailable. Weird.
 

Mr. Brown

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I just called the MS store in hopes they could place an order for me, but they couldn't. They did add me to a notification list so they will call/email me when the 128GB model is available.
 

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