Black Friday 2018

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Catlady

For anyone who bought a Roku: I'm seeing that there's a special offer of $35 towards Sling TV and a free month of Showtime. Both are for new subscribers to those services who activate a new Roku through January 13 (Showtime) or January 23 (Sling TV).

I had nothing whatsoever in my packaging about these offers and just learned about them, but the terms say you need to redeem the Sling offer during initial setup. Which I didn't do.

UPDATE: I called Roku, and they told me to do a factory reset of my Roku Ultra, then go through the activation process again to get the Sling offer. When I got the activation code and entered it at Roku's Web site, I had to add the Sling channel there, and the $35 offer popped up and sent me to the Sling site to choose a package, etc.

Where I went wrong initially, not being aware of the offer, was that I ignored the "add channels" on the Web page in favor of adding them from the device.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Does the mini really lack an aux in? I'm looking at specs but see only Bluetooth.

Yep, no input or output jacks.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Yep, no input or output jacks.

Thanks. I'm not sure if, for me, it's even worth a buck and the time wasted signing up for Spotify.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Thanks a lot

I now have a Mini headed my way sometime after Christmas. I'd like to thank Spotify for sharing the love with existing members, but question why they never emailed me about this offer.

My guess is they'd have spent more money buying Google Home Minis if they'd actually bothered to inform their customers about the deal, so they "forgot" to inform everyone eligible. Or tucked it away as a footnote in a normal e-mail where most people wouldn't notice it.

Then again, I'm impressed they're allowing the two deals to be combined, so maybe they just screwed up.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Manabi

This may have been posted earlier, but the deal's still available in case anyone missed it. New subscribers can get three months of Spotify premium for $0.99 and get a free Google Home Mini, with free shipping. Existing premium family plan subscribers can also get the free Google Home Mini, just go to step #2 below.

Be sure you do the steps in the listed order. You must sign up for the three months at $0.99 first, otherwise you'll get charged $14.99 for the family plan upgrade.

1. Go here and sign up for three months of premium for $0.99.
2. Next go here and upgrade to the Spotify Premium Family Plan. This will change your three month trial to two months, but not charge you extra as long as they've already charged you the $0.99.
3. Click on the link in the e-mail they send you to redeem your free Google Home Mini. Since the list price is more than $35, Google won't charge you shipping.

I grabbed one overnight without any trouble:

Spoiler:

This is actually a combination of two different offers from Spotify. The $0.99 for three months of Spotify is only available for new subscribers. The free Google Home Mini is good for new and existing family premium subscribers by the primary account holder.

You can cancel your subscription before the two months are up by following these directions.

I take no credit for this, as a friend linked me to a deal site with the instructions. I thought I'd share it with everyone here as well.

I just tried the link to upgrade and it says it will charge me $14.99. Do I have to wait before I do the upgrade? When I look at my account it says that I will automatically renew on 3/8/19 and will be charged $9.99 + tax so it knows I have the 3 months trial.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Manabi

Then again, I'm impressed they're allowing the two deals to be combined, so maybe they just screwed up.

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I just tried the link to upgrade and it says it will charge me $14.99. Do I have to wait before I do the upgrade? When I look at my account it says that I will automatically renew on 3/8/19 and will be charged $9.99 + tax so it knows I have the 3 months trial.

Seems like maybe they changed things so the offers can no longer be combined.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Seems like maybe they changed things so the offers can no longer be combined.

Damn. I don't want Spotify otherwise.

[Purple Lady]

It looks like you have to trust that they won't charge you $14.99.

https://www.androidauthority.com/goo...-trial-930940/

Now, this is where things get a bit scary. The page where you upgrade to Spotify Premium for Family will say that you’ll be charged $14.99 for upgrading. However, you will not be charged. You’ll need to enter your CC information again and all that, but Spotify will not charge you the $14.99. Instead, your three-month Premium trial will be knocked down to a two-month Premium for Family trial.

Edit: I just got my free Google home mini, and wasn't charged the $14.99! 😁

[AnemicOak]

Whoever it was that was looking for an iPad Mini deal, Target will have them for $100 off in next weeks ad in case you're still looking...

iPad Mini 4 -- $299 (save $100)
iPad 9.7" -- $249 (save $80)

http://www.thecouponingcouple.com/ta...ad-12-9-18/16/


Also the Fire HD10 32GB will be $99 again

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

It looks like you have to trust that they won't charge you $14.99.

https://www.androidauthority.com/goo...-trial-930940/


Edit: I just got my free Google home mini, and wasn't charged the $14.99! 😁

I'm glad my guess was wrong, but I'm still going to pass on this offer.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Edit: I just got my free Google home mini, and wasn't charged the $14.99! 😁

Congrats - when will it arrive?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Manabi

My guess is they'd have spent more money buying Google Home Minis if they'd actually bothered to inform their customers about the deal, so they "forgot" to inform everyone eligible. Or tucked it away as a footnote in a normal e-mail where most people wouldn't notice it.

Then again, I'm impressed they're allowing the two deals to be combined, so maybe they just screwed up.

The cynic in me has already suspected that. Still, I have to give them credit for offering this to existing customers.

[GA Russell]

I bought the Roku (my first), but I plan to wait till Christmas to open it up.

But please let me know if there is some deal, like a year's worth of free ball games, if I register it early!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I bought the Roku (my first), but I plan to wait till Christmas to open it up.

But please let me know if there is some deal, like a year's worth of free ball games, if I register it early!

Here are the special offers. I think they are mostly ongoing offers, except the Sling TV and Showtime ones that have January expiration dates.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

It looks like you have to trust that they won't charge you $14.99.

Yeah, that part is a bit annoying. I looked at it this way, worst case I'd be spending $15 for a $50 item, one that only dropped to $25 with Black Friday deals. I'm planning to give this to my mom as a gift (probably a late Christmas one), because she might use it for streaming music. I'm willing to spend up to $15 to find out if she will, but not more, so it was a no-brainer for me. Still kind of annoyed she's yet to try out the Kindle Paperwhite I bought her three years ago, after promising me she'd try it if I got it for her.

There's a theory about what's happening behind the scenes at Spotify, which is this:

Original $1 purchase gives you $30 value
3 months × $10 regular premium price = $30 value

Then, upgrading to family plan redistributes
2 months × $15 family premium price = $30 value

Makes sense to me, and is nice it works whatever the reason behind the scenes is.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The cynic in me has already suspected that. Still, I have to give them credit for offering this to existing customers.

I'm cynical too, but I agree on that. Existing customers nearly always get the shaft on deals. I won't keep my sub after the trial, but the whole thing has made me think more positively of Spotify. If I ever do want a streaming music service, I'll probably go with them.