Alpine ILX-F511. Game Changer

It appears to be a regional limitation. Locally if I try to buy one they get to the part of planning the order and it shows there aren’t any available to ship… It was that way for the past two weeks. But down in Chandler/PHX last Friday it wasn’t an issue at all and the thing will be here Monday.

 

I can't believe it. Thank you @red_5ive , if not for your post I wouldn't have checked BB website again. It did indeed say they were in stock again, so I went back to the first BB store I tried and bingo bango! The young employee literally did the cartoon "shakes head then opens eyes wide" move. What a nice plot twist!

 

Nice!

The variations in pricing makes me think as well that the availability is based on location/region like @RainMan_PNW was saying. It came up $351 plus tax for me, others I think they were $375 ish for others, and yours $400. Still a deal regardless, of course. I also have a BB distribution center not too far from me, and it should be hear tomorrow. Which also makes me think this might be a regional thing.

The cool thing is, I also have TotalTrash TotalTech, so the installation was included for me even at the lower price, which I'm going to take advantage of. Otherwise I'd be risking breaking more clips and doing it myself since I'm a cheapskate lol.

 

$50 of that was for the 4 year protection plan they offered. I figured, why not? Otherwise yeah it rang up 350.99 for me too.

 

Doh! I can't read lol. My only excuse is, I'm playing Starfield right now so my attention isn't 100%.

I'd probably have bought that as well for this type of tech, but I'm covered for 2 years under TotalTrash TotalTech. But I did tack on an underseat sub for an additional $120 since they were also discounted from $299 for TotalTrash TotalTech members.

 

So, the move here is to go to your local BB and say, I know you don't have this model in stock, but could you order me one and see what the price is? Is that what I am getting from all this. It's a clearance deal only available through store?

 

Yes, just go there straight to the customer service desk and begin with "I would like you to order something for me to be delivered to me"

 

More or less. The associate might tell you that you can just order yourself from the website as they've said that to me over the years, but just make them aware that you would rather have them do it to get the discounted price.

Optional: Have your camera ready so that you can film their reaction when they see the price.

 

Fwiw all I said was "I was looking at an item over there but you don't have any, can you order it for me? Here, I have the SKU." Make sure they are doing it on their computer, not their phone. They seemed honestly glad to have something to do, the store I went to was dead at the time. You should see the discounted price pop up on the card reader pos thing, and then wait for their surprised face.

 

Yes, not looking on their phone is key…hell,the rep couldn’t find it on one of the computers and he took it upon himself try another computer and it worked…

 

Yeah, this is 100% worth a shot for sure.

 

Some of them do carry the internal mobile device that looks like a phone, but it connects to their intranet. That's actually what the guy had when he initially checked for me. I knew right away it came up at the discounted price by the wide-eyed/jaw-dropped look on his face.

 

Anyone still having luck finding the 9” at the discounted price? I had a Pioneer in my 17 and it was ok, but reading through this thread, sounds like this unit is top notch.

 

First of all... Thank you to whoever discovered this "sale". I hadn't gone back far enough through the thread to determine that when I started seeing the discussion. But Big Thanks!! And thank to those who responded with their experience and pointers. I never land deals like this, I swear!!

But I am happy to report it works in NoCO! And yes, not only was the guy at BB helpful, he saw the price & was like, "Wow, you can't not buy that." HA HA

 

Man, now I have to figure out what I need to install it all right and retain all my factory features. I can even afford to buy a front camera considering this discount! lol. Still can't believe it.

 

we got you….

https://www.tundras.com/threads/the-great-hu-install-of-2023.129229/

 

My man! Thank you.

 

So just to make sure, the story is go into the store, ask customer service to look up the sku to order and it should come up at the discounted price? I’m headed there tomorrow if so. In GA if that matters...

 

Yessir, that is exactly what I did. "Can you check the price on this sku for me? I don't think you have one in stock here, but would like to order it."

 

thanks for the reply man. The sku from the post in this pic? Best Buy is almost an hour away so I’m making sure I have my ducks in a row.

 

Yeah, if you want the 11" model, that is the right SKU. I literally handed him 6501278 scribbled on a post it note. Good Luck!

 

Followed the directions and was able to score one. Thanks to everyone for your help!!!

 

if the 511 is out of stock, you can try the 509. that's what I wound up getting, the 11" was out for me, but I was able to get the 9".

 

I just tried to order it, it rings up with the correct price but they didn’t have any in stock so she couldn’t ring me up.

 

Order it and have them return it as soon as it comes in at the lower price

 

I just ordered one from the store in Johnson City, TN. I got the 11" ALPINE. Now whether i will receive it or not is another story. It has delivery date of 9/18.

 

My 11 inch is Packaging your item. Expect Delivery by 9/18”

 

Come on! Stop saying “Packaging” lol

 

Best Buy's customer service is such a joke. I decided to take advantage of free installation on the head unit, but turns out that the in-store associate who placed the order for me entered the wrong year for my truck, which will likely result in an incompatible faceplate.

I called customer service yesterday 3 times. First person spent 45 min. trying to change the model year. Initially she said it couldn't be changed, then said that she was able to after all and to give it a few minutes to update. I checked back later on my reservation online and it never updated. So I called back 2 more times and none of them were able to help and eventually was told to just go into the store. And then I ask if they could just transfer me to the store, but I was told there is no way to do that. So I used their website chat and asked if there was a way to call the store directly as otherwise calling the store phone # always routes to the general customer service line. The agent says to use extension 2880. I'm like cool, so I try that, and it goes straight to the store voicemail. I left a message as instructed and still haven't gotten a call back.

The only thing Best Buy seems to have learned from covid is to be as stand-offish as possible as I used to be able to just call and get assistance directly until covid hit. Best Buy, a company that sells tech that doesn't want to use tech to work for them and their customers.