RSSWith Toshiba A2 Gone, Best Buy Sends Buyers A3
By the Betanews Staff | Published November 8, 2007, 10:50 AM
As previously reported, sales of the $99 Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player were brisk last week, with retailers selling over 100,000 units following a price drop that started at Wal-Mart and spread to other other outlets. However, demand was so high that the HD-A2 quickly sold out, and Best Buy is now telling customers it will send them the HD-A3 for no additional cost.
In an e-mail to customers, which explained that Best Buy will not be receiving any further HD-A2 inventory, the company said: "Because we value your business, we will be fulfilling your order with the next generation Toshiba HD DVD Player (model: HD-A3) that is replacing the HD-A2 in Toshiba's lineup of HD DVD Players." The HD-A3 launched with a retail price of $299 last month, but now can be found for $199 at some stores. Those who ordered the HD-A2 after supplies ran out, however, will receive the new unit for just $99.
ACtually the A2 has the upper hand over the A3 version due to the digital optial out. A2 = 1.5mb A3= 640k.
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|@ hackztor -- The A3 will transcode DD+ and TrueHD to DD @ 640, but will transcode DTS-HD/MA to DTS @ 1.5 mbps. The A3 also comes with two free HD DVD titles in thebox -- 300 and The Bourne Identity.
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|Wait for it... wait for it... class action from the previous purchasers who got exactly what they paid for, but are somehow mentally injured by the fact someone else got a better toy than them...
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|Like they weren't mentally injured to begin with...
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|My JVC 7-disc DVD player is dying... I really don't want to buy an HD-DVD without being able to load multiple discs (mainly for DVDs). Guess I'll look for a cheap DVD player until the multiple disc HD-DVD players come out.
Can I sue somebody for something?
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|Not to mention great customer service. Best Buy apparently has their head screwed back on straight and knows what it means to have customers.
One of my biggest peeves these days are companies that have no idea how to service a customer. Almost every business class shows all of the studies that demonstrate how much it costs to get a new customer versus keeping an existing one. (Same goes for keeping vs hiring an employee)
Yet time and again - you see companies chasing the dollar now, versus the *DOLLARS* over time.
It's nice to see that Best Buy has realized that the best way to handle business is to keep the customers happy.
They'll keep my business, that's for sure.
Also - considering that they are selling the A3 for $299 - that's a heck of a bonus to those who were buying the A2. (http://www.bestbuy.com/s...=1&id=1186003898783)
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|What would be really cool is if they still gave you the Best Buy Rewards for a $300 purchase. =p
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|Now that's what I call a good Rain Check.
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