In preparation for my long trip with my little brother two weeks later, I have decided to purchase a GPS navigation device to ease my driving. What is the largest electronics product store in the U.S.? Best Buy! So I went to Best Buy last Sunday. I had never used GPS before, so I first spent 30 minutes playing with those GPS devices on display. Then a salesman approached me. His name was Matt. He was a very nice, friendly young guy and gave me excellent customer service, teaching me how to use GPS and its various functions, and giving me recommendation on which one to buy. I finally purchased a Garmin nuvi 200w ('w' stands for wider 4.5" screen) at a price of $250.00. I also bought a friction mount at a price of $42 (because California does not permit windshield suction) and a battery charger (for home use) at $20. Matt even went to my car with me and showed me how to start and use the GPS device. I really appreciated his service.
After that, I went to Walmart to buy grocery. I passed by the electronics section, and I happened to see the same GPS model, Garmin nuvi 200w, there, sold at a price of $218!!! What a huge price difference! I couldn't move my body for five seconds. I started to feel that I was being cheated by Best Buy (not Matt).
Later I went home and did more research on GPS devices on the Internet. As I found more and more online stores selling the same model, I felt more and more frustrated ... Amazon sold the same model at a price of $198. Circuit City sold an even better model, nuvi 250w, at a price of $190. Furthermore, I often travel to Canada, and my 200w does not include Canada maps, but 250w includes Canada maps! I started to ask myself, why hadn't I done enough price research before I bought a GPS device? I was too careless.
After hours of wandering through the online stores, I have made up my mind of returning my GPS device to Best Buy the following day. I examined the receipt, and you know what? At the back of the receipt there was a little paragraph saying that they would charge me a restocking fee of 15% if I choose to return the GPS device! $250.00 * 15% = $37.50!!!! I can live for 4 days with $37.50! Why had Best Buy not mentioned this policy before I made the purchase? Walmart never has this kind of policy! To make myself feel happier, I kept convincing myself that the restocking fee was to pay for Matt's excellent customer service.
I finally ended up in eBay and I found something interesting. A company, The Digital Oasis, sells various models of refurbished Garmin GPS devices in eBay, and it has got excellent user reviews. Many people say refurbished products are of good quality, and I agree, because refurbished products didn't pass the initial test and so the manufacturer must have tested them over and over again before release. What's approximately the final bid for my Garmin nuvi 200w in eBay? Around $140! My goodness. I hate Best Buy. I love eBay now. Because these refurbished products were much cheaper, I now changed my target to a better model, Garmin nuvi 350. It has a smaller 3.5" screen, but the size really doesn't matter much, and this model includes Canada and Alaska maps as well as an MP3 player! The auction would end at 10:30am the following day (i.e. last Monday). Fine, so on that day I first went to Best Buy to return everything that I had purchased, then I immediately logged on eBay. It's around 10:28am. The highest bid was now $180.00, which was a normal price. I waited until 15 seconds before 10:30am, then placed my bid of $182.5. Haha, I won!!!! I could get a Garmin nuvi 350 for $182.5. And I don't even need to buy extra accessories because it also includes a carrying case, battery charger (for home use), USB cable, etc., and free shipping. What a great deal. I then contacted the company to include a $30 friction mount in the package. My total expense is $182.5 + $30 + $37.5 (restocking fee) = $250 = my original purchase of 200w exlcuding accessories. I am happy.
My Garmin nuvi 350 will be delivered in two days, and I will see whether it's in good shape. My final warning to everybody: DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM BEST BUY! IT'S WORST BUY!!!
