The 3 Best Buys in my area had 0 128s (went to the Plymouth Meeting, PA store directly, called the King of Prussia and Collegeville stores). Nobody had any idea as to when they'd get an inventory refresh. Sucks.
128GB Sold Out??
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Ekon
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- Feb 8, 2013
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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.
inside man 55
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- Nov 20, 2012
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I don't know how retail ordering works but it seems like either Best Buy / Staples etc. didn't order enough or Microsoft didn't produce enough. If it is the former they can't complain no one shops in stores any more if the experience is this poor when people are trying to buy product. If it is the latter it seems Microsoft should have learned from RT. I have a feeling a lot of the supply went directly to businesses and skipped the retail chain. Good luck everyone finding one. Best Buy in Dallas area sold out. Staples also out online for 128 gb model.
Polychrome
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- May 15, 2011
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I think some of you are giving Best Buy a bit too much credit.
I'd been checking the multiple stores for months trying to find news about Surface Pro preorders. Far from being willing to research it for me, they were all "What's that? What? They're making another Surface? Nobody wanted the last one!"
I didn't manage to get it out of them that they *could* take preorders at the nearby store until literally yesterday. And when I expressed my worry that I wouldn't be able to get one, they're like "We'll probably get two because that's all we'll ever sell and there will never be a line to get them."
Funniest thing. There WAS a line, and only one 64 gig surface to go around. The store reps looked quite embarassed this morning to have their preconceptions so quickly flattened, and were quick to blame UPS for the shortage and say there would be more in a day or so. (Implying that they were quite capable of ordering more, but probably had to order most of them long after UPS stopped taking shipments on Friday.)
And consider this: Their website didn't even have it displayed until about a week before release.
My guess is the following happened, or something similar: There was a general feel at the retail level that the Surface wouldn't sell because the last one didn't sell like they expected to (nor did the Asuses and Acers and Samsungs...), and the individual retail stores simply didn't order many. They figured it was a niche market and would only need to order one or two every once in awhile. They didn't realize people were waiting for the one with full PC capabilities (for what it's worth, there was a Samsung that had the full-PC guts and Wacom support, but didn't have the specs I was looking for...), rather than going for the ARM-based tablets that don't have much software for them yet.
On top of this, they didn't bother putting the Surface up on their website or taking pre-orders until the last minute, and once they did, seemed unaware that they were able to take pre-orders.
I did work at Gamestop in the past, and Best Buy should know by now the only reasons stores bother with pre-orders is to get a general feel for how well something will sell so they know how much to order for each individual store. That and to guarantee a customer's business before they go somewhere else. Once they realized they *could* do pre-orders, the "oh crap" moment began, thus the several-day delay for most of us who ordered one.
I'd been checking the multiple stores for months trying to find news about Surface Pro preorders. Far from being willing to research it for me, they were all "What's that? What? They're making another Surface? Nobody wanted the last one!"
I didn't manage to get it out of them that they *could* take preorders at the nearby store until literally yesterday. And when I expressed my worry that I wouldn't be able to get one, they're like "We'll probably get two because that's all we'll ever sell and there will never be a line to get them."
Funniest thing. There WAS a line, and only one 64 gig surface to go around. The store reps looked quite embarassed this morning to have their preconceptions so quickly flattened, and were quick to blame UPS for the shortage and say there would be more in a day or so. (Implying that they were quite capable of ordering more, but probably had to order most of them long after UPS stopped taking shipments on Friday.)
And consider this: Their website didn't even have it displayed until about a week before release.
My guess is the following happened, or something similar: There was a general feel at the retail level that the Surface wouldn't sell because the last one didn't sell like they expected to (nor did the Asuses and Acers and Samsungs...), and the individual retail stores simply didn't order many. They figured it was a niche market and would only need to order one or two every once in awhile. They didn't realize people were waiting for the one with full PC capabilities (for what it's worth, there was a Samsung that had the full-PC guts and Wacom support, but didn't have the specs I was looking for...), rather than going for the ARM-based tablets that don't have much software for them yet.
On top of this, they didn't bother putting the Surface up on their website or taking pre-orders until the last minute, and once they did, seemed unaware that they were able to take pre-orders.
I did work at Gamestop in the past, and Best Buy should know by now the only reasons stores bother with pre-orders is to get a general feel for how well something will sell so they know how much to order for each individual store. That and to guarantee a customer's business before they go somewhere else. Once they realized they *could* do pre-orders, the "oh crap" moment began, thus the several-day delay for most of us who ordered one.
@Polychrome: MS only provided 1 million total units to all retail outlets for US and Canada (64 & 128 combined), so the shortage is not BB's fault.
Polychrome
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- May 15, 2011
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Yeah, but how could they "provide" something that wasn't ordered in the first place?
The way the store reps were acting, it sounded like Best Buy as a whole had written it off as a niche product that few would bother with and were caught off guard. I tell you, up until today, they seriously thought nobody would want to buy the darn thing, and were quite flippant about it. After all, they had a million and a half varieties of touchscreen laptops, so who would care, right?
And they maintained this despite the small crowds poking around the display model yesterday. The other Best Buy in town never even bothered to carry either model, and people around the city were aware of it.
Now true, I know from my own job that the sentiments of the front line aren't always felt all the way up the ladder, or that they might be different than percieved, but I think I may have nailed 'em this time. They were not prepared. At all.
The way the store reps were acting, it sounded like Best Buy as a whole had written it off as a niche product that few would bother with and were caught off guard. I tell you, up until today, they seriously thought nobody would want to buy the darn thing, and were quite flippant about it. After all, they had a million and a half varieties of touchscreen laptops, so who would care, right?
And they maintained this despite the small crowds poking around the display model yesterday. The other Best Buy in town never even bothered to carry either model, and people around the city were aware of it.
Now true, I know from my own job that the sentiments of the front line aren't always felt all the way up the ladder, or that they might be different than percieved, but I think I may have nailed 'em this time. They were not prepared. At all.
inside man 55
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- Nov 20, 2012
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RT @panos_panay: We're excited for the response to Pro. Some are having trouble getting it. Sorry you're having to wait. We're working hard to get u Pro ASAP... seems from this the surface team is responsible for limited supply, not the store reps or general managers of best buy and staples, congrats pdch lol! And where did you get the 1M figure from?
Martog
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- Nov 28, 2012
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I reserved my 128GB at BB this last Thursday. It was the only 128GB they got in when I picked it up in the evening. I did not ask how many 64GB they got in (they had some in the morning) and the staples near them had only a single 64GB and no 128GB's. Kind of sad really for those looking to score the 128GB.
I played the bestbuy preorder game with the lumia 920...
fool me once...
bestbuy has a wall of ignorance between operations and representatives. I would not believe a word anyone in there said, they are driven by commission and directly or indirectly encouraged to lie to secure a sale.
proceed at your own risk, but don't bother repeating any "special" info you think you have been told, its surely fabricated.
fool me once...
bestbuy has a wall of ignorance between operations and representatives. I would not believe a word anyone in there said, they are driven by commission and directly or indirectly encouraged to lie to secure a sale.
proceed at your own risk, but don't bother repeating any "special" info you think you have been told, its surely fabricated.
The surface pro risks having an extremely short life span because of Intel haswell. They need to leverage the mind share and attractiveness of the surface pro ASAP because it really only has a 4 month head start. Once haswell comes out their device won't be the rave without sufficient brand buildup... Its what keeps Apple st the top without having Tue latest specs. They beat everyone else by enough months.... The iPhone, they beat everyone by two years and because of it the majority still prefers them.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
inside man 55
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- Nov 20, 2012
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Thanks, I will post this on the main thread later, lot of fud, if they were able to move 1 million devices in less than a day then the surface is a huge success.
Polychrome, thanks for the post. Given some of the comments on the WPC articles about the Surface, I came here hoping for a saner discussion. There is so much more to the retail transaction than some folks believe. I'm frankly kind of stunned that some people believe Microsoft could ship whatever number of Surface Pros they chose to every Best Buy. Overlooking the supply issues that result naturally from a new product coming off the line in a new manufacturing facility and overlooking the fact that no sane company ever manufacturers more product than they think they can sell in a given period, I'm not surprised there are shortages. Add to that your take on just how eager Best Buy might have been about this product and that explains why there are so few units.
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.
I would have been disappointed to not get the Surface yesterday, so I understand why some people get upset. But it isn't like February 9, 2013 was the ONLY day it will ever be available. I would have gotten one in a few days if it hadn't worked out.
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.
I would have been disappointed to not get the Surface yesterday, so I understand why some people get upset. But it isn't like February 9, 2013 was the ONLY day it will ever be available. I would have gotten one in a few days if it hadn't worked out.
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