Customer service? What now?

I was SO close to buying my new laptop last weekend.  SO close.
I did my research and looked around all the shops in the area to find the cheapest of the one I wanted the most.  I’ve even looked online.
Generally I don’t mind buying things online.  I have actually bought one of my laptops off ebay in the past, and I probably got a good two years out of it, but Ican see why it’s dodgy buying things like that off ebay, so I’ve decided when it comes to expensive things, I want to be able to see them and buy them brand new at the price I see them at.

Anyway, what happened was I saw a laptop I liked in JB Hifi priced around $1199.  It so happens that when I went to work the previous night, they were having a staff sale at Dick Smith, with a 10% discount for staff.  So you can imagine my surprise when I go back into Dick Smith (after checking it out previously), and seeing the exact same laptop that JB Hifi had, but priced at $967.

I was with my housemate and a few of his friends, as we’d gone to lunch together.  Well, they are kind of my friends too, as I know them well.  So when I told the salesperson that I wanted to buy that laptop, he searched for one and told me (just like happened last time) that the one on display was the only one left.
I spoke with my housemate about it, and he said that i should ask for it for cheaper if I’m really gunna get the display one that probably thousands of people have had their mitts on.  He had a point, so I did.  The salesperson wouldn’t budge, saying it was that price (which was also the price in the catalogue, so it wasn’t a clearance item or anything).  I asked him if I could pay for it now, and get one ordered in to pick up later.  
Reasonable enough request, right?
Nope.  Couldn’t do that.
I wanted a new one dammit!  I asked if he could get one transferred over from another store.
Nope, can’t do that either.
Ummm, what the fuck?  I work in a supermarket where we can get a $5 item transferred over to our store if a customer wants it, yet you can’t transfer over a new computer worth almost a grand?
Reason I know other stores have them is because I asked that also.  He mentioned that Toowong had 2, Stafford had 3, Chermside had however many.  Yet, noooo, can’t transfer any over to the city store.  I asked what time those stores closed, and being Sunday, he looked it up and said at 4pm.  It was currently 3:40pm.
In the end, I ended up walking out empty-handed.  I was not only annoyed that the laptop wasn’t a completely new one, but I was appauled at his complete lack of customer service.
And what makes it MORE frustrating is that we actually had a meeting at work with the store manager the night before about going the extra mile for a customer at work, to the point of even offering them something similar for free if we don’t have the exact item they want.
Fuck I was annoyed.  I just kept thinking to myself, "You lost yourself a thousand dollar sale, mate."
Although really, it would have been more like $800 with my staff discount applied, not that I get THAT anymore since that guy was so unhelpful and all.

So the last few days, I’ve been looking at that laptop elsewhere, trying to see if I can find it cheaper online anywhere, or even in other stores.  So I’m still determined to get my laptop, but right now, I’m without one completely.  My current one used to die on me every half an hour.  NOW it’s decided to not even let me log in under my own profile LOL.  Nor can I log in in safe mode and create a guest profile, or anything.  It’s completely useless to me now, despite trying a few system restores and a disk fragmentation.  Still does it.  So the laptop is just frustrating to me now and sitting there like a paperweight, only useable in safemode (which ironically it lets me log into typing the exact same password), but I can’t DO anything in safemode.  Even system restores are fruitless.
So the time has come to part with a grand and invest in a new lappy.

I also find it quite ironic that each time I seem to bitch about the incompetance of OD, it suddenly allows me to write an entry.  

As usual, there is fuckloads more to write about, but right now I just needed to vent.  GAH…