In the Black Friday feeding frenzy this morning, opportunists at Circuit City abused the system and left Jake and Andrea shivering in the cold. Here’s what happened.
Long on the prowl for a notebook computer he could take to classes, Jake was encouraged when the Thanksgiving newspaper advertisements listed a name brand laptop computer for $299. He and Andrea got up at 3 a.m., drove the 30 miles to San Luis Obispo, and got in line in freezing weather.
At the appointed hour, Circuit City employees handed out all the vouchers for computers to a few people at the front of the line. Those people, now armed with multiple vouchers, walked down the line offering to sell the vouchers — at a profit for themselves — to others in line. One of the scalpers was asking $100 just for the voucher. In this manner, if he had three takers, he would be getting a free computer.
Jake and Andrea refused to play that game, but told store managers, pointing out one of the scalpers in line to claim a computer. The Circuit City managers’ response was “there is nothing we can do about it.” What do you think?