PRS-300 Best Buy in Arlington, TX have them in stock

After two trips to one of the Best Buys in Arlington, TX to get a 300, I was getting frustrated. No one in the store knew anything about the new Sony readers. The Best Buy website showed them to be in stock at both stores in town. I called the store near me and got some jerk who argued with me over the website "in stock" status stating that it only means they plan to carry them sometime in the future. I called the other Best Buy across town and asked them if they were in stock there. The person said yes. I told her what had happened at the store near my home and what they had said about the "in stock" flag on the website. She told me they were wrong, that the "in stock" flag means they are definately in stock. I explainedthat I was a Premier Silver customer and asked her to check to see if the store near me really had them in stock. She was really nice, checked, said yes they have 10. I returned to the store near me and was again told they did not carry them. I was treated rather rudely. On the way out I ran into the manager of the camera section from whom I have bought several cameras. She noticed I was frustrated and asked if she could help. She looked up the skew (sp?) number and said it showed they had 10 in stock. She was very nice and went into the stock room and finally located them. She said the idiots in the stock room were clueless and apologized. I got my 300.

The moral of this story is that Sony is going to have a tough time selling these if other stores just allow them to collect dust in the store room. I think perhaps Sony needs to pressure these stores to actually display the new readers and their accessories. Iplan to have a discussion with the store manager tomorrow wherein I will complain about the way I was treated. I will also greatly praise the camera dept. manager as she seems to be the only one there who has any customer relation abilities and skills.

[retro]

I picked one up at the SonyStyle store at the Galleria in Dallas over the weekend. They have had them for a few days. What they don't have yet are the covers. Did Best Buy have covers?
I feel your pain. I avoid BB whenever possible.

Originally Posted by retro

I picked one up at the SonyStyle store at the Galleria in Dallas over the weekend. They have had them for a few days. What they don't have yet are the covers. Did Best Buy have covers?
I feel your pain. I avoid BB whenever possible.

They had one red cover for the 300 and I bought it, and one black cover for the 600. Both covers were lying on a shelf next to the calculators, unmarked, no pricing information. It is as though BB is trying to hide the Sony Readers and accessories. Other than these two covers, there were no other accessories. I would love to avoid BB, but with CompUSA and CircuitCity both extinct in my area, I don't have much of a choice. Our Fry's is the most pathetic electronics store as they have stopped stocking almost everything of interest--they have about half the inventory selection of a year ago. I guess the economy makes it hard on these stores to stock much merchandise.

I wish we had a SonyStyle store here in mid-cities. I hate driving to Dallas what with the terrible traffic. Fort Worth is better, but I stil try to avoid it too.