Sat 17 Jun 2006
Not only were there language barriers to shopping and buying electronics in Hungary, but they also generally cost twice as much. As a result we usually purchased electronics over the Internet and waited until someone we knew was willing to bring them to us in their suitcase. Now, living within easy delivery distance of UPS and just a couple miles from Best Buy this process is back to being easy. With the cultural and lanuage barriers gone, too, it’s downright easy.
In fact, my friend, Dave, was giving me some suggestions for where to find good deals on TV’s, and he mentioned Craig’s List, a website for classified ads. Not only do we not need a TV immediately, but it is one of the things our friends loaned us for now. But Dave had sent me a link to all the used TV’s for sale in Orlando on Craig’s List, and I sent emails to a few of them when I got his link. Within an hour I had a reply from one seller and an appointment to go look at his TV. This morning we are still without a washer and dryer and other essential items, but I bought a TV anyway. It was so easy, and I had the job half done without even trying. Furthermore, I spent less money on it than we sold our TV for in Hungary, and it’s a better TV. It was as easy as falling off a log.
When we bought a TV in Hungary three years ago it took us 10 minutes and a phone call just to figure out that before we could take the TV to the cash register we needed to go back outside, get a cart (which required depositing $0.50 into the cart handle), and bring the cart inside to where the salesperson was so he could put it on the cart so we could take it to the cash register.
If the TV deal wasn’t a big enough electronics victory for one day, we followed it up with another win at the phone store. For a net $40 (after rebates, of course) we left the store with 2 really cool phones (Motorola RAZR and V360), a wireless headset, and 2 car chargers.
I love this place!
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:05 pm
Tonight I took two friends to T-Mobile, and they bought the same package we did. Only I got $25 referral fee for each of them, so my net expense on this ended up at -$10. Then I took an online survey about my experience and got a $25 stereo headset for the phone for $5. What a deal.
January 24th, 2010 at 5:45 am
Zune and iPod: Most people compare the Zune to the Touch, but after seeing how slim and surprisingly small and light it is, I consider it to be a rather unique hybrid that combines qualities of both the Touch and the Nano. It’s very colorful and lovely OLED screen is slightly smaller than the touch screen, but the player itself feels quite a bit smaller and lighter. It weighs about 2/3 as much, and is noticeably smaller in width and height, while being just a hair thicker.