The Emerging RadioShack/Netflix Debacle 122
New submitter DigitalParc writes "RadioShack recently launched a promotion for 6 months of free Netflix service with the purchase of a laptop, tablet, or phone. This ended up being a fantastic deal, until the shoddy redemption site they were using for the Netflix code redemption was exploited and many of the codes were stolen. 'Users on slickdeals, a deal-finding and sometimes deal-exploiting website, found that the URL of the redemption website could be changed upon trying to enter a code, resulting in a valid Netflix subscription code being generated. Within hours, many of Netflix codes that were allocated to this promotion were stolen and some were redeemed or put up for sale on eBay.'"
Re:RS is liable (Score:5, Funny)
The preceding was post brought to you by the year 1981.
Re:RS is liable (Score:4, Insightful)
Honest question: 7-11 sells random audio adapters, cheap soldering equipment, and wiring?
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You mean you can actually still buy that at Radio Shack?
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Las Cruces (At least when I was there) had 2. One for RC cars, cell phones, etc. Another one for EE students to buy components that most RS customers would look at and think, "Why would somebody want a metal toothpick? Especially one that flimsy?"
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A few days ago I went to radio shack to buy some capacitors. They also carry things like resistors, LEDs, breadboards, etc. They also have a lot of the MAKE electronics books and kits to learn electronics. I've also bought things like relays, soldering supplies, etc.
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If the larger store I went to recently is an indicator they have started carrying quite a bit more like the old days....
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If the larger store I went to recently is an indicator they have started carrying quite a bit more like the old days....
Rumor has it that they decided that they were getting trounced on the consumer electronics front and have retreated to some of their more traditional offerings. Not much chance that Wal-Mart's going to be stocking 50 mf capacitors.
It's also helping (I think) that there are now ways of doing things with electronics that don't involve ultraspecialized chips that have to be wave-soldered onto a multi-layer circuit board. The Arduino and Raspberry Pi provide a lot of power, but they are good matches for simple
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No. its better the 15 years ago. Nothing compared to 25 years ago.
Re:RS is liable (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm old enough to remember real Radio Shack: discrete ham radio components hanging from the ceiling like bats in a cave. Big tubs of resistors and capacitors you could root around in. Racks of tubes. And...customers! I swear I'm not making this part up RS stores had customers in those days!
Those were the days when ham radio fans had hair, and did not have oxygen tanks.
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Fifteen years ago? I was talking specifically about 1956, in the early Toronto suburbs, when my ham uncle took me to a Real Radio Shack for the first time. Now that was Stuff That Mattered.
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The one near my house as a bunch of arduino boards, as well as electronic components.
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Depends on the location. The one nearest my hometown is basically just cell phones and RC cars. The one near where I live now has a pretty decent selection of electronic components. The former one is in a mall, the latter has its own store in a shopping plaza, so that might be part of the difference.
Re:RS is liable (Score:5, Informative)
Last time I was there I picked up an LM7505 voltage regulator and a 24 V center tapped transformer. I mean yah, I would normally order that from mouser or someone else; or drive 45 minutes to the good hobby electronics store, but for just a couple of basic things, RS is not so bad.
Where does 7-11 keep those? Is it near the slurpees?
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Same here, that's the only reason I got by RS now.
I might pay an inflated price, but it's still only $1 in store compared to $0.25 online; so no big deal.
Their less techinal stuff, like an audio exten cable, are just bullshit though; $20 for a 3' stereo cable, not even a Monster, it was RS's store brand.
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I haven't seen a single Radio Shack in the Portland area that doesn't have a cabinet of components. Not one.
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So you grabbed whatever was in their little geek bins in the back that worked for you and told us the details. Sure ok.
You could open a Pinball themed shop selling pinball machine parts too. But the front 98% of it better be a brew pub with working pinball machines, good food, and hot waitresses.
oops (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm surprised Netflix would agree to a partnership like this and not be in control of how the codes were handed out.
Re:oops (Score:5, Insightful)
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Codes should need tied to the unit serial number. When RS buys there inventory with the NetFlix deal, the website should require the device model/serial number pair to match the devices purchased by RS to be validated.
Re:oops (Score:4, Insightful)
If Netflix sold the time codes to RadioShack up front, I don't think they particularly care what happens to them
they certainly do care about customers being pissed off at netflix because of RS's screw up. i know, it's technically RS's fault, but companies don't want their name associated with any sort of bad experience.
Re:oops (Score:5, Insightful)
this seems to be a big deal for no reason, a large corporation has to eat the cost of a few Netflix subscriptions and get a website patched.
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Well, apparently RadioShack must not be able to afford such a standard response. Or maybe some random manager is just trying to pass the buck in an effort to salvage a quarterly bonus or something. Either way, maybe they shouldn't have blown their wad on a superbowl commercial, and instead focused on just being a quality store where you can get electronics and electronic parts. Not every company needs to exist as a industry behemoth.
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Except, that hasn't been true for a LONG time.
Radio Shack is now just a retailer of low end electronics, cell phones, and only the most basic of electronics parts.
They stopped being what you describe a very long time ago.
about the tim Iaasic Asimov was working for them.. (Score:2)
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This isn't the first time this happened. In late 2012, there was a promo where you by an LG (I think that was the brand) HDTV and get a year of netflix for free. The problem was, you could just go onto the LG website and enter your serial number, and the website would accept any made up number as long as it started with the correct 2 or 3 digit sequence (or something like that). That was all over slickdeals too.
why not tie to phone numbers that RS asks for (Score:2)
why not tie to phone numbers that RS asks for even when you are just buying batteries
Obligatory (Score:2)
Obligatory Seinfeld [youtube.com] clip.
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You know you can say, “No, thanks,” when they ask for your phone number, and they’ll still sell you your batteries, right?
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553-2869. Or 867-5309. It's not like they call and verify before they give you the batteries.
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Refuse to give your number and then I chew out the clerk. I even refuse to give my zipcode. I refuse to participate in data mining myself and they should be ashamed of themselves for asking.
Re:why not tie to phone numbers that RS asks for (Score:5, Insightful)
Thee clerk has a (crappy) job to do. You should be ashamed for yourself for venting about corporate policy decisions to a clerk who has nothing to do with them.
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Holding the wage slaves accountable for what their corporate masters decree is pointless and petty.
It's not slavery when it's voluntary. The worker can walk out at any time. That they choose not to indicates that they accept the abuse and accept the poor policies.
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You know what else you can do to clerks at stores? You can vent about other problems you had before you got to the store, and they usually have to just stand there and take it. You can go in, blame the clerk for potholes, how my boss treated you earlier in the day, getting dumped by a girl, etc., and few a little better. Or if you have nothing to rant about, just call them amusing names for amusement and other stuff you couldn't get away with trying on friends. If you yell at the clerks enough, sometime
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You know what else you can do to clerks at stores? You can vent about other problems you had before you got to the store, and they usually have to just stand there and take it. You can go in, blame the clerk for potholes, how my boss treated you earlier in the day, getting dumped by a girl, etc., and few a little better.
That's what my 7 year old does. Anyone in a uniform or with a name tag, he walks up to and talks to, endlessly, until I drag him away.
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Not you per se. I just mean that if a customer is being that much of an asshole that the employee is going to walk out on his job, he should punch the person in the face because it would make the situation better.
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Yes, it's the clerks fault.
You're an asshole. You could simply say "No".
Of course I haven't been asked for any of the info in over a decades.
". I refuse to participate in data mining myself and they should be ashamed of themselves for asking."
dear lord, they might get information to make there store better fit your needs! oh lordy lordy!
Datamining, sheesh, so what?
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The Rat Shacks in Minnesota stopped asking for phone numbers over a decade ago. Hate on them all you want, but I recommend using current facts, not memories.
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Yep. I haven't been asked for a phone number in a long, long time. I go in there looking for their closeout stuff pretty regularly.
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They haven't asked for phone numbers (or anything else really) for ages. At least at all the stores around here.
Suits them well (Score:2)
Debacle? (Score:2)
We've talked before about commercial web site glitches [slashdot.org] and the ramifications on consumers, but it seems to me that the same thing would apply in this case, with RadioShack being completely culpable. One other thing: TFA doesn't indicate any sort of Netflix legal action at this point, so maybe this supposed "debacle" isn't all that important to them.
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My guess would be Netflix does not care or does not care much. Radio Shack probably paid them something for those promo subscriptions. If anything Radio Shack will now have to buy more from Netflix to ensure they can provide them to their own legitimately entitled customers.
Even if it was a handshake deal where Radio Shack gets to offer a free month of Netflix to entice customers and Netflix gets a shot a retaining some of those subscribers who might not otherwise try the server they probably still don't
its RadioShack btw (Score:2)
yes speaking as one of the Sales Support folks that Corporate decided was "not needed" yes the service is middling to Ghastly.
(hint for the SMs if somebody comes in and tells you they need 3 640-2373 a 640-2184 any Salesmaker on the floor had better come up with a few things in the 27? series to suggestive sell BEFORE you even breath anything about cell phones)
the Name of the Store has been RadioShack for over a decade.
and the guy that greenlit this should be shot out of a cannon at the nearest Unemployment
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My guess would be Netflix does not care or does not care much
well, they should care. companies should care when their product is associated with a negative experience, even if it's indirect. it's the same reason that the coca-cola corporation does not want the news airing video of someone beating their spouse holding a can of coke. advertising (positive and negative) is to a large degree subconscious.
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Slickdeals Dark Side (Score:5, Insightful)
I hate it when people have the impression that they are entitled to steal from others. I use the SlickDeals website and a lot of time they have some great deals, but if you dig deeper into the forums on that site, there is a dark side. This is my opinion, if you took a code and used it for yourself, you are stealing, but maybe the temptation was a bit too great. It is like finding a 20 dollar bill on the floor and keeping it. You know it isn't yours, but the person of irresponsible enough to lose 20 dollars so they kind of deserve it. If, on the other, you generated hundreds of codes and start selling them on Ebay, you are stealing and being a complete dick. That is like watching someone drop their wallet, pretending not to notice, picking it up when the person is out of sight, cleaning out all of the cash, and then tossing the wallet in the dumpster outside.
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There's a fine line between straight up fraud and obviously unethical (but within the rules) behavior by frequenters of deal sites.
Your average SD or FW user will gladly stack unintended coupons, order obvious price errors, price-match to after-rebate prices; they'll cycle and trade online payments to churn giftcards and reward points -- all because the fine print allows them to. Once you've decided that, "Hey, the system lets you, so it's fair game," or "They screw us, so lets screw them," it's not far t
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Yes, and then they'll get mad when the obviously unintended coupon interaction doesn't get honored, the price error order gets canceled, or the store refuses to honor the post rebate price of an item. They try to screw the system and when the system fights back they start whining about it. I've used a few questionable deals, but those NEVER get on the front page of the Slickdeals, you have to dig into the forums to find them. In every case, the company acknowledged the error and didn't honor the deal. I did
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Do the rules allow for the attempted action or not?
That's all that really matters. If you created a bad set of rules that led to unintended consequences you don't like, then you should honor your side of the bargain. The fact that you are an idiot should not make you immune from your own stupidity.
This goes triple for corporations that are supposedly run by professionals and should know better.
"Gaming" the rules is the same as following them.
Re:Slickdeals Dark Side (Score:5, Insightful)
"Gaming" the rules is the same as following them.
To the autistic, with no understanding of (or regard to) ethics or morality, you're 100% correct.
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Contracts are contracts, if you think for one microsecond that a corporation won't do EVERYTHING in its power to screw you over using the fine print you're delusional AND lucky to have never been screwed in that manner. For the rest of us we've learned that the corporations have zero ethics or morals so we feel free to treat them in the same way. It's like people who feel they owe a former employer anything after they have left, why? I might feel an obligation to former coworkers as I've often developed per
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Thank you for illustrating my point.
actually, it's the signifier of our Age (Score:2)
"Gaming" the rules is the same as following them.
To the autistic, with no understanding of (or regard to) ethics or morality, you're 100% correct.
Or Wall street. Or the boardroom. Or Congress.
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Your average SD or FW post is just good deals - people posting things on sale or clearance, your basic YMMV closeout. ...plus the usual kickback from referral sites.
Your average SD or FW power user is busy combining those deals with price-matches to things that are obviously after-rebate or typos on models in competitive ads, etc.
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2 kinds of really bad SD/FW users:
- ones that take advantage of the system to buy one for themselves
- ones that take advantage of the system to be ebay 'flippers', so they can resell, with no interest in the object, itself.
I hate the notion of flippers. the word even sound silly, used in this way, but its become a known meaning for this kind of person.
being a middleman and scimming profit is not something to be proud of! seriously. its not anything to aspire to, yet there is some glory that SD/FW people
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"The company you are ordering from will screw you on obvious errors every chance they get."
no likely. But you keep to your delusions.
" On the rare occasions when they do not, it's called "breach of fiduciary responsibility" and is actionable. "
Stop using term you clearly do not understand.
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You mention FW several times. Might I know what site you're referring to?
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FatWallet. Similar to SlickDeals.
Cashback on purchases, and user-generated deal discussion forums.
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It's not Porsche's fault that my car got stolen when i left the keys on the seat, the top down, windows open, but the doors locked. It's my own damn fault! (Note: I do not, nor have I ever owned a Porsche!)
Well, if you left the keys on the seat with the top down and windows open, it can truly be said you never owned a Porsche, you were just making payments on one you were borrowing for a week.
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Just a question, but have we become so stupid as a society that we need analogies for even simplistic situations to begin with?
another Radio Shack wonder (Score:1)
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What, the technology of the web from a decade before the web was invented?
I'm guessing you're a youngster, maybe don't even remember 1991. That was the year that both HTTP and HTML were first publicly described (though HTTP was version 0.9 and HTML was not yet standardized at all), and it didn't really take off until 93 or 94. The first few years certainly didn't have anything like the concept of HTTPS or dynamic content or "web applications" at all.
Get off my lawn! (I'm not quite 30...)
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So... You don't remember 1991 either, is that what you're saying?
Is there really enough at stake to call this a deb (Score:2)
Is there a shortage of STEM 'people'? (Score:2)
With the high profile issues lately such as the healthcare.gov, radioshack, mtGox... you have to wonder.
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it's a glut if only 4 were needed.
Radio Shack can't pay for good IT people and they (Score:2)
Radio Shack can't pay for good IT people and they lost the tech guys when dropped that stuff they used to sell and became a shitey cell phone store
Lack of QA people (Score:2)
They want to end users to be the testers for free.
Radio Shack (Score:5, Funny)
You've got questions?
We've got stupid looks.
Re:Radio Shack (Score:5, Funny)
You've got questions?
We've got cell phones!
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You've got questions?
Hey, so do we!
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When I enter the store and they ask me "Can I help you find anything?" I reply "Not likely."
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You've got questions?
We've got stupid looks.
Haha, the one I remember best is:
"You've got questions?
We've got blank stares..."
Which pretty much applies to any 'tech' chain store these days...*sigh*
So? (Score:2)
Run some analytics on the web logs ... undo ... (Score:3, Insightful)
the problem.
Seriously, theres enough info in any default apache or IIS log to find the majority of the bullshit codes generated/stolen. Find anything that looks fake and kill it, anyone entering a killed code, have them call in to activate/get a new code, all these people who steal codes over the Internet generally aren't ballsy enough to make the phone call repeatedly, make sure the call comes from a good solid landline, no VoIP crap, sorry if it effects all 8 of you legitimate users of radioshack and netflix.
This is (just) a shitty long day for some sys admin somewhere who has to make up for some shitty developers mistake. This is pretty much the status quo is it not? Most if not all of the bad codes will be found out ... if they want to, it may be well worth it for them to have the accounts active anyway for the books or just for possible retention values.
This is a great example of the no press is bad press mantra. Both RadioShack and Netflix will see increased customer counts for people trying to scam it, slam dunk marketing.