Adventures in customer service!!........(or why it always pays to ask)

I've been playing around with the idea of getting a new digital camera for awhile now.  I lost my old camera (and I mean probably bought in 2004/2005 old) when I went to Israel last year, and my phone just isn't going to quite cut it for my upcoming vacation to yellowstone.

 

Wikimedia.com

(I'm not totally crazy for thinking that a lovely little inexpensive point and shoot camera can capture photos like these right???)

However, in true me fashion, I have been stewing over this for weeks.  Poring over reviews, going back and forth, until finally, in the heat of the moment I decide I've had enough and just make my decision.  So at 11:30 last night I ordered a Samsung WB 150 on Best Buy, to be picked up the next day.

I received my confirmation e-mail that I could pick it up around 8:00 this morning.  Then at 9:00 this morning I got a, wait for confirmation for pick up in......Frederick, MD.  I was floored, I wasn't planning on driving an hour for a camera.  And then I got an e-mail that there was a problem with my credit card.  Cue freakout that somebody has hacked into my account. A number of very obnoxious phone calls later, I was told that I hadn't received non-confirmation of picking up my camera at the closer best buy so I should just go get it, and then pay for it there (they had cancelled the first payment).  However, when I got there I was told that the confirmation e-mail had been sent too soon, they didn't have it, and didn't have a "wait, we made a mistake" email.  Le sigh.

At this point I was so frustrated that I decided to get a camera on amazon, even if it was 15 bucks more expensive.  It was just less hassle.  To validate my parking, I decided to stop into Costco and get a hotdog for lunch. 

Which is where I saw it, the newer version of the camera I had chosen, 50 dollar off retail.  SCORE!  Except when I asked about it, they said it was a rebate that ended on 4/21.  (Today being 4/25????) So I went over, had a lovely little chat with customer service, and with the addition of a 65 dollar gift card I had (my mom buys A LOT of dog food at Costco) I got the newer version of the camera I wanted, plus a bag and 16 GB memory card, for a whopping 15 dollars more than my original payment at Best Buy.

Photocredit ME!

So, if you read my entire story, the moral is this......Always smile at customer service and ask for what you want.  The worst they can say is no.

Has anybody else ever gotten a sweet deal from a store because of a miscommunication?