Cable was going to take another week until it was installed, so I decided that I wanted to play movies from my computer onto the TV until the cable was hooked up. A sales person from Circuit City directed me to Micro Center to find a adapter for my macbook, after I told him I was new to the area.
When I entered the store, I could not find anything and all the sales people in the main section seemed to busy to assist me. I asked a salesperson who was restocking for help. He told me that I would need two adapters, one from the main accessories section (HDMI to DVI) and one from the mac section (mini-DVI to DVI). He walked with me back to the mac section and they were out of stock of the second adapter. A salesperson warned me that if I had a Samsung that did not have a VGA input.. not to connect my computer because it could cause my TV to EXPLODE!!! Well since they did not have the right adapter in stock I did not buy anything that day. But noticed that you could get $200 off anything over $200, if you sign-up in store for Vonage.
Since I was already planning to use Vonage, after my cable was set up, I returned to Micro Center to get Vonage and hoped to use to discount on a new TV. When I got to the store, I learned that the discount was $250 (bonus!), but they did not have any displayed TVs instock that were $250-$300. I used my new blackberry to search their website, since they claimed to allow you to order online and pick-up in 18 minutes. I saw a TV that would work and asked a salesman about it. He told me that it was not in stock and that I would have ordered it and later received an e-mail telling me that it was no longer in stock. So I went back to looking and since you had to use the discount the day you signed up, was debating leaving (just getting Vonage elsewhere) or buying a more expensive TV. I asked if the more expensive TV was in stock...and the salesman told me that he had made a mistake and the original TV I had asked about was actually in stock.
So while the whole process took longer than I planned, I got a Vonage adapter (79.99), 19"" LCD TV (279.99) which both had rebates (-70 for Vonage and -50 for the TV) and 250 discount for signing up in-store with Vonage. So with rebates, I only pay ~$10 taxes for the equipment purchased in the store. (NOTE: This total does not include the activation fee during the online subscription to Vonage.)
I like that the salesman was honest, he could have just sold me the more expensive TV. When my husband wants to purchase electronics, we will visit Micro Center and I'll look for the same salesperson.
Pros: large selection, competitive prices
Cons: can be overwhelming to find things
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