Panasonic VT50 Deals - Page 34

My store had 3 in stock, so I could have taken possession of it right then and there, but I didn't have the correct vehicle to do so, plus I'd rather save my back and have them deliver it. I guess it all depends how many in stock the store has that you're dealing with.

Well, I have 6 stores nearby the location I am headed in Utah. Hopefully one of them has it.

I just picked my 65vt50 up from BB in Schaumburg, IL today for $2649 . Are there any options out there for an extended warranty other than the high price plans at BB?

Squaretrade will extend your warranty for 3 years for $99 on Costco's site ($104 if you're not a Costco member).

Does anyone know a good calibrator in my area.? Elgin IL?

Even though I bought it a BB?

Great to know that you can purchase it without a membership. I was figuring I would have to plop down the extra $50 or whatever for a membership which would make it not QUITE as good of a deal

I live in Northern Va.

Hey. I wanted to share that I bought the Panny 65VT50 today at Best Buy. I emailed 6 local store general managers, asking if they would price match the BUYTVTODAY.com sites price of $2599.00. http://buytvtoday.com/Panasonic/PanasonicConsumer.aspx

1 responded after a week telling me to speak with an associate in Magnolia. I went to that local store and spoke with the guy the manager directed me to speak with. He said that they COULD NOT match the price, but will do it for $3000. I tried to explain the online pricing match that is being discussed across the web (WSJ and other sites). The manager would not do it. So, I left. I then called another local best buy and spoke with a guy who is working in the online/phone sales in the store. I asked him the same question, directing him to the site. He looked it up while I was on the phone he spoke with the manager on duty. He then told me that he recieved approval and would honor it. I just needed to come in to the store. I took his name and then told him I will be there tomorrow (which is now today).

I went down to the store today and asked for the guy. He was there and remembered our discussion. He looked it up on the site again to verify as a part of the process to verify. He then reminded me that the set does not come with 3D glasses and suggested I also get at least a pair of 3D glasses which he could match to Amazon.com. Excellent customer service bonus for that! Than a different manager came over and approved the entire purchase, no issues or problems. Admittedly, I tried to get them to back out the tax since the site offers with NO TAX, but they were not going for it and I backed off since it is still a mega deal.

So, I ended up with:

65VT50 - $2599
2 pair 3D panny glasses - $62 each
24 month 0% financing
2% bonus "stuff" (not really sure what it is in Reward Zone, but seems to be $$ vouchers based on money spent)
Upgraded to "Premier Silver" status, which gives me some free stuff, including extended return policy (in case I want to return the TV, for example)
Free home delivery (I opted to take it with me)
I have 30 days to buy thier extended warranty...I am going to research that first. If anyone has any comments on thier extended warranty, please post some info.

Out the door with tax for less than $2900.

Thanks for the posts about this deal!

If in the NOVA area, call the Leesburg store and ask for Kevin C. in phone sales. Nice young man. Friendly, helpful, etc... I told him I would post his name and there may be more calls and purchases. He does not work commission but was thrilled to help and since he is somewhat new, the sales help him. He said he would help whoever calls and wants to buy the TV.

I am NOT going to use the BB calibration service based on all I have read. Any suggestions on NOVA for REAL pros for calibration with whom you have had experience and can provide a reference would be greatly appreciated!!


Thanks again to all who posted and hope this helps.

DR
Edited by gmeluk - 11/16/12 at 10:28pm

I just emailed a few of my local BB stores. Really hoping someone will bite, but my experience with the stores around here (Central MD) doesn't make me too optimistic. Fingers crossed!

EDIT: Struck out with two stores; still waiting for replies from one. Sent out the request to 3 more stores in the region to see if I can find a taker.
Edited by punchwalk - 11/17/12 at 11:48am

Just availed ourselves of this opportunity -- $2600 price match...free inside delivery -- to purchase a TC-P65VT50 in southern California (San Diego area), last night, from a non-MHT Best Buy. Delivery is slated for Tuesday

I just walked in, price matched, and had them help me load the tv into a uhaul van I had rented to move a sofa earlier in the day. Price match was $2691. I did call ahead to ensure they had it in stock.

I'm also in Cali, which ad/site did you use?

On Google, search "TC-P65VT50". Ad ad may appear from buytvtoday.com @ $2599

Thanks to this site, I picked up a 65" VT50 from Best Buy for 2599! Dealt directly with the General Manager, she was awesome. Price matched the online price with out hesitation and even tracked one down for me because her store didn't have one in stock.

First post here, cant wait to get to spend more time here.

So I FINALLY pulled the trigger on a 65VT50 today from Best Buy. As previously stated, I emailed several BB in my area and got a response from my local BB (non Magnolia) within hours that said they would match the $2599 price. So I went to BB today to buy and boy did I have a good experience . Let me just say that my deal was

LEGEN...
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.
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wait for it.......
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.
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DARY!!!!


The store was packed and most of the representives in the Home Theater area were busy so I finally just went up to the counter and asked a gentlemen to help me. I told him that I had received an email from their store manager stating that they would price match buytvtoday.com's $2599 price. This gentlemen immediately got his supervisor for the Home Theater department to ok the deal since it was such a large reduction in price from their sticker price. So the supervisor got my info and said that they would match it. Honestly I don't know if they even went to the website to look haha. These two guys were really nice so I thought I would try my luck and see if I could get a couple of pairs of Panasonic 3D glasses thrown in since the tv doesn't come with any. I mentioned that there was no tax on the TV if I purchased it online and asked if I could get a couple pairs of glasses thrown in to offset the tax. He initially said that they couldn't do that because they were already basically selling the TV at cost and that they couldn't help the tax. I told him I completely understood and asked if they could just throw one pair in. He said "sure..I'd hate for one pair of glasses to be the difference in a sale or not" and threw them in. So....I thought I would try my luck just a bit more and asked if they could throw in Avatar 3D (because everyone needs a 3D movie to try out on the TV and I think Avatar is the best in this category). He paused and the two reps looked at each other and asked if they even had it in stock. They checked and sure enough they had it in stock (I already knew they did because I looked at it before walking up to the counter haha) and the supervisor said sure.

So, they started to ring me up and I was about to pay and the CC machine said that I owed $2743 and I was thinking in my head "hmmm that seems cheaper because the TV is $2599 and sales tax in TN is 9.75% (yes it sucks) so I knew it should have been like $2850". I wasn't going to say anything and just figured I would go with it. So I swiped my card and then they realized they hadn't setup delivery so they had to completely cancel the order because I guess it has to be scheduled before you pay. For some reason they had to check someone else out after they cancelled my order and in the mean time I was getting nervous because I was thinking that they had entered something wrong and that's why I got the better price and that next time when they rang everything up that the total would be around $2850 like it should be if they were charging me $2599 in accordance with the price match. So they started to ring me back up and once again the total came to $2743 so I swiped my card and that was it! I checked out my receipt after I left and they ended up charging me $2499 for the TV instead of $2599 like I thought must be the case because of the lower price.

So, I got the 65VT50, one pair of glasses, AND Avatar 3D all delivered for $2500 or $2743 after tax

On top of this, my Chase Freedom card gets 5% off Best Buy this quarter and I will get whatever Best Buy rewards bucks this equates to.

I'd have to say I got really lucky and this is the best deal I have seen anyone get. I don't know if the two reps realized the price they put in or not. Maybe they did or maybe they didn't but I wasn't going to question it lol. The only bad part about my transaction was that they didn't have a TV in stock and had to get it from somewhere else and can't deliver it until Monday the 26th. I was hoping to get it delivered this coming Wednesday because I already had the day off of work. I am going to be busy from Wednesday to Sunday so I was going to start running the break in slides but now I guess we will just have to wait to use the TV for an extra week until after running the slides . I'm not too sure the wife is going to understand or approve of running the slides for 4+ days because she won't be able to use the TV. Since D-Nice never posted his settings for the 65VT50 I'm not sure I should even run the slides but I think it would still be good to get some hours on it to break it in.

Actually I think I will have to go spend a couple extra bucks to go over $2500 to reach premier silver status because I assume you have to spend $2500 before tax. I know good things haven't been said about the BB calibration but if it is free then I figure I will let them give it a shot and I can always just reset the settings if I don't like it. I know some people have said the Geek Squad does the calibration and some people have said that some outside source does it so I asked and the supervisor said it would be Geek Squad. I asked about ISF certification because I saw that on their site and he said they are ISF certified. How can they be that bad if they are ISF certified? I would think there would be certain requirements they would have to meet to be able to get ISF certification. I guess I will have to look into the calibration a little more before I have them come out.

I'm still in disbelief of the deal I got
Edited by Mac13 - 11/17/12 at 8:47pm

Wow that was one hell of a deal!!

I just went into my local best buy with the buytv page on my phone and the best price they would give me was 3000, going to have wait for some more price drops I guess.

I went to two Best Buys in Arizona and no luck. Best price was even higher $3,200. No way that is competitive. I will wait. Not worth it especially with 10% sales tax.

Killdeer- Buffalo Grove area. The only store that had one in stock.

Best Buy manager in Madison, WI emailed me today and said he could do $2449 if I came into the store. Going tomorrow! (no-brainer)

Wow nice. What other store did you ask him to price match, did you just ask him for his best price or if he would match a certain price, or did he just offer this number out of the blue because he was feeling generous? Haha. Let us know how it goes though!

West Towne or East Towne?

I originally tried the East Towne (non-magnolia) Best Buy in Madison and they came down to $2799, so I decided to hold off and try a few other stores. This weekend I was at Mayfair mall in Wauwatosa, WI, so I decided to stop in at the Best Buy (magnolia) there. They immediately price matched buytvtoday.com at $2599 and will be delivering it on the 30th! Also, since this purchase will upgrade my Reward Zone status to Silver, which comes with free calibration. I know there are some mixed feelings about Geek Squad calibration, but I figured I would give it a try.

Good luck on your purchase!

Anyone spot any Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals on the VT50 65 inch model? Please share the link/s if any.

Thanx

For what it's worth. Panasonic does not allow discounted prices to be shown online, in-cart or otherwise, on the VT50 series. If an online retailer is showing a discounted VT50, you can nearly guarantee that they are NOT an authorized dealer.

Best bet is gonna be to watch the online prices at the vendors everyone keeps taking to BB for price matching. Truth is... with the Pany's being the high tier models and in demand - doubt you gonna see any drastic price drops. I will say again - even if you find a great deal on Cyber Monday online... check out the vendor and google their name plus "reviews" to see if there are any horror stories about them. Check them against the BBB also. I have read reviews about a few of the lower priced online dealers that are selling the VT's - and some buyers report receiving refurbished units - not that refurbished is terrible, but if they are not a factory rep - the warranty and extended warranty may become a problem.

Call Chris @ Cleveland Plasma and ask him if he is having any Turkey Deals :>)

That's not entirely accurate. ABT Electronics, an authorized dealer, for example, recently had the 65VT50 on sale for ~ $3100.00. The price did not show online. One had to add the item to the cart. Once you did, then began your checkout, the reduced price did, in fact, appear online. Oftentimes the prices aren't allowed to publicly show on the main site of retailers, but they are allowed to show when added to one's cart.

Just because they recently did this does not mean that it did not violate the policy. The current iteration extends to pricing anywhere on the site. Including the cart.

ABT is a longtime, reputable retailer and authorized Panasonic dealer. They never violated the policy, and they did publish a reduced price viewable in one's cart.

ABT even explained this policy, which is common among many manufacturers. ABT explained, as Amazon and other retailers have explained, that they're not permitted to show the discounted price on the main pages; instead, one has to add the item to a cart in order to see the discounted pricing. So, the fact that numerous retailers do this leads to a conclusion that either (a) all these retailers are in violation of the policy, which is highly doubtful, or (b) your statement isn't entirely accurate insofar as "pricing anywhere on the site" is concerned.

My statement is accurate. There are many different flavors of these types of policies. Said policies are also much more complicated than the explanations that Amazon and ABT have posted on their web site. Dealers do sometimes violate said policies, intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. I did not say that ABT was not authorized, and I acknowledge that they are reputable.

This makes no common sense at all... A authorized dealer, even if all they sell is 100% online, is allowed to discount the price, but they are not allowed to tell you that they are allowed to discount a price. Totally unthinkable.

My personal opinion is that Panasonic may have a policy about publicly advertising a discounted price - that makes sense. I believe from a purely legal definition, just like some sellers say CALL FOR PRICING that gets you into a "private" realm, when you add that product to a cart - you are no longer in the public realm, you are in fact in the sellers private secure realm - which makes it no different than calling the seller. That makes more sense to me.
Edited by Bamadawg_63 - 11/19/12 at 3:55pm