I can't believe I haven't blogged about this already!
Most "interesting" thing to happen to me lately! I scored a FREE
iPod ! (
iPod touch 2G 16GB)
That title "How I got a FREE iPod" (and so can YOU!) sounds like one of those "advertising fulfillment schemes" (like this
article explaining the old "Free X-BOX" stuff, but if you read on here, it's nothing like that, really), but maybe it'll get me a few extra hits!
...
So, keep reading if you want the exhaustively detailed account of the twists and turns leading me to my very first iPod ...
If "cleanliness is next to godliness" then what could possibly be next-door to "i-pod-li-ness" ? (I agree, this statement makes almost no sense contextually, except that this is a pretty long entry for me, so be aware!)
Basically, I finally CASHED OUT of
MyCokeRewards, and ordered an iPod Touch 2G 16GB from Nike, by redeeming almost ALL of my
MCR points (12,200) for
several Nike/NikeID gift cards (totaling $305), and paying the remaining $15 of sales tax from a "$20 Pre-Paid MasterCard" from the
]MyCoke.com UTC IWG.
More (exhaustive) details for the annoyed ...
- Save MCR points for about a year ...
- Theoretically, under the "old" rules (10 codes/day), one could save the necessary 12,000+ points by entering the maximum (per day) ten (10) 10-point 12-pack codes for about four (4) months.
- Most of my codes were collected and entered under this "old" system, most probably within the past year (I rarely had enough codes to get near the limit, maybe several codes per week maximum, with occasional batches of 20-30 from relatives, etc.).
- Under the "new" rules, one can enter only 120 (one-hundred-twenty) POINTS per WEEK! This means that 12,000 points required to even approach iPod-ness would be almost TWO YEARS away, MINIMUM, no matter HOW many codes you can get!
- Get Nike Bucks!
- I (along with many other faithful MCR addicts) had long since realized that there were no more "good" rewards left in the program (after the "new" rules, by which there were no more rewards worth over 2000 points), and that the only way to get anything worth "shooting for" was to redeem MCR points for Nike gift cards.
- These gift cards come in various denominations from $25 to $50, all at an exchange rate of 2.5¢ per point; these are the closest thing to "near-cash" left (no more actual "VISA Cash" gift cards, etc.).
- Also, there were a few "subtleties" among the "fine print" for these cards, usually that the quantity was limited, but it "just happened" to work out that you could get a few hundred dollars worth of "Nike gift cards" by maxing out limits on a couple of denominations at once.
- Get some ridiculously over-priced shoe-or-sports-clothing from Nike ...
- Most addicted Internet-surfers who spend that much time on MyCokeRewards (not to mention, drink that much Coke) probably aren't particularly interested in "sports" as such; certainly not enough to care that they wear "Nike" products at any point in time (even IF Nike might be the "high-end" of the shoe market). I know I had ZERO interest in ANYTHING with a Nike label on it (I don't think I've ever paid more than $75 for ANY pair of shoes, and those were DRESS shoes, not "sports").
- But WAIT! It just so happens, that Nike sells iPods! The "high-end" of MP3 players (or rather, Portable Media Player in this case),to be sure, and therefore, over-priced (no discount at ALL at Nike) for their function (just like Nike shoes IMHO), but at least these were "gadgets" that an Internet-addicted surfer might want. The odd reason why Nike happens to sell some iPod models, is due to a "product convergence" called "Nike+iPod": these certain iPod models (Nano and Touch) can communicate wirelessly with a special sensor (sold separately of course for about $20) which fits in a special "pouch" of a special pair of running shoes, such that they can track your special workouts! Now isn't THAT nifty? (you thought I was going to write "special" like "The Church Lady") ...
- Now on the Nike site, amongst a few others, they sell an iPod Touch 2G 16GB; not "quite" the "best of the best" (there's also a 32GB model and rumors of an inevitable 64GB down the road) but darn close to the zenith of MP3 (er, media) players ... For $299, it's EXACTLY the same price sold directly from the Apple.com store (both sites have "free" shipping also) ... Although recently, you could ALSO get "free" engraving from the Apple Store! Only until May 10; my favorite example so far is "If you can read this, you're too close to my iPod!" or "Thanks in advance for letting me borrow this whenever I want!".
- Last week, I realized that I'd finally passed that "magic" 12,000 point threshold!
- I logged back onto the MCR site to double-check the current situation (points, Nike gift card rewards, limits, etc.) ... Normally, I rarely log into the actual MCR web site, as I use the "Widget" to enter codes.
- I deduced that the most efficient way to get the gift cards was six (6) $50 cards, for a total of $300; since the limit on these was "3 per account per week," I could get three before the end of the week, then on the following Monday, quickly get three more. Then ASAP on Monday, order the iPod and get the ball rolling!
- Unfortunately, it wasn't QUITE that simple; a "dry run" on the NikeStore site demonstrated that they did, in fact, charge sales tax for my state; almost an additional $20! So, after a little MORE thought about gift card combinations, I decided to get five (5) $50 cards and two (2) $35 cards, for a total of $320! Perfect!
- Now to snag some Nike-brand "buckazoids" !
- Of course, I procrastinated until Sunday evening, just before the "end of the week" (Sunday at 12 Midnight EDT, or so I assumed) to decide to take the leap, and at 10:45PM CDT I redeemed for the first three $50 cards, and the two $35 cards.
- Next, I waited a bit until a few minutes after 11PM CDT (Midnight EDT) and tried to redeem for the final three $50 cards; "User cannot reserve any more of this item." What ?! Turns out (upon checking my MCR MyAccount Rewards listing) that the FIRST three cards that I'd redeemed, showed up on Monday, NOT Sunday, so that I would have to wait until NEXT week to get the final cards needed!
- A bit of frenzied research in my favorite SlickDeals forum (where several users had reported successfully completing similar "Nike iPod" deals), it appeared that the $50 "NikeID" gift cards were functionally identical to the "ordinary" $50 cards, but could be redeemed with a separate limit! (also 3 per account per week, while oddly, the lower-denominations, $25 and $35, were both limited to 3 per account). Workaround!
- When I started to redeem for those last two $50 "NikeID" gift cards, I was shocked to realize that I hadn't re-calculated the MCR point requirements to pay the sales taxes! I didn't have enough POINTS! I needed an additional 711 points, which would take at LEAST another six WEEKS! "... best-laid plans of mice and men ..." and all that.
- After agonizing over THAT for most of a day, I finally decided to pay the "extra" amount with one of the Master/Card cash from my MyCoke UTC instant-win-game prizes (3 $20 Master-Cards, the third of which hadn't been used yet!) ... So, having decided how to still get a "free" iPod (the whole notion of getting it only because it's "free" when I'd never buy one for myself anyway even IF I had the money, gets tangled a bit), I proceeded finally, to "cash in" almost ALL of my MCR points to get as much Nike gift card "cash" as possible, for a grand total of $305, leaving $15 paid from a "free" credit-card.
- Off to Actually Order a Nike-Pod ...
- But wait! There's MORE! BeFORE! (of course there is!) Over at SlickDeals where folks had previously discussed the "Nike iPod" deal, I recalled a mention of a rebate of some sort, but upon searching there, could NOT find anything relevant. A broader search turned up a number of "expired" sales, coupons, and other deals, but (again, of course) nothing current (not to mention, "free shipping" promo codes, which could save money, but aren't applicable here since larger orders get free shipping ANYWAY). Finally a couple of kind souls on SD PM'ed me with details about Ebates.com, which handles "online rebates" and who of course, just happen to provide a small percentage rebate from the Nike Store!
- A small "rebate" is better than NOTHING, right? We'll see; these folks basically offer an eventual "rebate," IF you launch into your store-of-choice's website, from with Ebate's "approved" list of online merchants. This allows them to "track" the fact that you actually BOUGHT something from one of their "participating merchants" and subsequently pay YOU the rebate! Rebates are paid quarterly, and the next "payment date" around the middle of August (ANY rebate you get will make you wait, no biggie there) ... We'll see how THAT works out, it didn't seem to HURT anything, even though I accidentally went to and from the Nike Store site several times after visitng Ebates.com which caused several "tracking tickets," only the final of which is actually "valid" (resulted in an actual purchase) ...
- Again, we'll see how this works out; at this point, Ebates hasn't yet "credited" my purchase (may take up to "30 days") at the Nike Store. Ebates (once again of course) gives a $5 "bonus" for referring your friends! So if anyone's interested in this kind of thing, let me know and I'll get you an invitation! (new members ALSO get a $5 credit, but they have to "buy" at least $5.01 for either "bonus" to be paid)
- My actual "purchase" at the Nike Store went fairly smoothly, except that my attempts to "register" (in order that my information could be "saved" for next time) just lead to browser hangs, so I wound up purchasing as a "guest." But what do I care, I really doubt I'll ever buy anything ELSE from Nike anytime soon ...
- Actually, there was one other small issue with ordering at the Nike store, but it was entirely my own fault: I'd cut/pasted the codes for my Nike gift cards, then pasted them into the Nike Shopping Cart's "Gift Cards" form, one at a time. However, I'd copied the SAME code twice, and pasted it into the form more than once (getting a very similar message, which was difficult to distinguish as an "error"); I finally went back to my emails containing the codes, and re-entered from there one at a time, and finally got it right!
- Flipping Shipping ...
- Since ordering on Monday afternoon, the Nike Store "Order Status" page showed "Pending-Delivery" which is NOT included with a description in their "Order Status Key" (In Progress, Partially Shipped, Shipped, Cancelled, OnHold, Awaiting Payment) ...
- After reading through a number of "Help" pages on the Nike Store site, I accidentally discovered that the "free" ground shipping has an "order processing" time of two days (and arrival time of 2-9 days)! Not mentioned explicitly ANY other place, as far as I can tell. Also, does not mention exactly WHICH shipping service might be used and/or preferred.
- Around noon on Wednesday (2nd day), Nike Store "order status" STILL showed "Pending-Delivery". I decided to send a query on their "Contact Page" to complain; required to "Register" in order to submit a query! Could NOT register with the same email address used as "contact" for the order! (didn't actually SAY that, just that the email was "invalid") ... Tried a different email address, which worked; sent a contact form, complained about the undefined "Pending-Delivery" status, and inquired about shipping schedules. (actually, just wanted to GET the darn thing before the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, which would probably entail an additional delay).
- Got back late from errands, finally checked email: Nike Store order had been SHIPPED! Checked the FedEx tracking number to find that the "shipping" had occurred the day before ?! This showed that "shipping information" had been sent to FedEx (no mention of the "origin" location) at 10:30PM on Tuesday, and then "arrived at FedEx location" (just barely) inside my state, at 7:30PM on Wednesday; but I'd received the "shipped" email at 5:30pm on Wednesday ?! Didn't make much sense, but I didn't care! Estimated arrival was Thursday! Yay!
- Early Thursday morning, the FedEx tracking showed that the order had been through a couple more "FedEx locations" and was now "on vehicle for delivery" ! Definitely arriving today!
- This merited its own list item: the much-anticipated iPod Touch arrived via. FedEx at about 4:30pm on Thursday! I take back all my previous nasty thoughts about Nike Store shipping policies! Total time from order to arrival was approximately 70 hours (2 hours short of 3 days) !
- Enter my new toy of the year (my first-ever iPod!) !
- The "shipping manifest" in the Nike.com box (containing the iPod Touch of course) stated that it was shipped from a "Blue Ribbon Direct" in Memphis! I'm assuming that this must have been the nearest Nike dealer which had the requested iPod in stock! (maybe a Memphis Nike site: listed as the destination for all returns on Nike.com) Still seems like GREAT "throughput" end-to-end!
- Stay Tuned for Further Adventures of iPt ("iPod[T]ouch - best abbreviation that I could come up with, "officially" the word "Touch" is NOT capitalized; "iTouch" is already used) !
- Of course, my NEXT blog entry will likely be on the subject of "iPod Touch for Idiotic, Dumb Beginners" or something like that ...
- Ok, this entry's FINALLY done! I'm glad too (the "list-mania" was getting tired)! Thanks for reading!
- Well, maybe I'll come back some time, make another pass through the whole entry text, setting up links where appropriate, but not at the moment ... [Edit: Ok, I did that ANYWAY, before publishing]
Not sure about your exact model of 'touch' but since firmware is 'updated' by Itunes, it's a non-issue.
Only difference will be actual 'capacity' which for your modest musical needs, is likely quite adequate.
On an unrelated node, we need to walk again as soon as it dries up, I want to go somewhere on the thirtieth, we must discuss.
Me. Minstrel, is this the ANTIQUE blog? Post something if you only give a weather report.
Please tell your Mom I sed HIGH. NO tell Dahlong Ant Tee I sed "Love and Kisses, May God grant your Wishes"
This past Saturday night (01/09/2010) was the coldest night so far, this year, right here (under the front steps, east side): 15.8°F !
Close enough?
too bad i still need another 104 points to get to 1,000 and get my first nike gc
Thanks and keep up the good work on this awesome blog!