(Note: I am covering for Jamie this week because he has a very sick child who needed tons of attention this weekend, he does not have to give a charitable donation at this time)
About six weeks ago, my husband was over at our neighbor's house in a Salt Lake suburb, and was introduced to Guitar Hero on the Wii. He called me up and said "We need to get a Wii". I have been debating on whether or not we actually wanted any game console, and my husband previously stated he wanted an X-Box, but I had decided that if we were to get a console, I would prefer the Wii. I was therefore pleased that he also now wanted one.
Since Christmas was over, I figured there would be little problem getting my hands on one. Boy was I naive! They were nearly impossible to find in retail stores either here in Philadelphia or in Utah and most of my favorite online stores were continually out of stock. Some stores had the consoles "bundled" with a bunch of games that I wouldn't want, and for a very high price, and I didn't want to pay $700 for a $250 console with a bunch of games I would never play. I was also wary of going the eBay route with something like this, mostly because I resent people who are buying the limited number of consoles available only to make a profit.
My goal was to find a console at as close to list price as possible, or at least a bundle that contained accessories or games that were useful. The problem was how to find one when it became available. Most people I know who have obtained their Wiis at brick and mortar stores were at the store when a shipment arrived. Sharking at the nearest KMart wasn't a option, so I wanted a safe and reliable way to find out when one of my preferred online stores had some available for purchase.
I don't remember how I discovered the web page Wiialerts.com, but it was exactly what I was looking for. They have some way of determining when certain web vendors have Wiis (or certain games, DS units of specific color combinations, other consoles, etc), and they send you an e-mail, or text or send a voice alert to your cell phone. They recommend the text message, as it is consistently faster than the e-mail (if you are not logged in to that e-mail account, for example). I didn't want to give them my cell phone number, so I only signed up for the e-mail alerts, figuring I would get it in time. I signed up for Circuit City, Sears.com, Costco.com and Amazon.com alerts.
I received my first e-mail a day or so later. I read it about 8 minutes after it was sent, and I missed the opportunity to buy one by about 6 minutes. I realized that they were correct about the text messages, and so I signed up my cell phone number.
Over the next few weeks, I received an occasional text message, but failed to obtain a Wii. The Sears ones tended to show up in the middle of the night when I didn't hear the text alert, one of the Amazon alerts arrived when I was in a meeting and didn't have my phone with me, and the one last Friday was unsuccessful because I didn't have an account set up on Costco.com, even though they recommend you get all of your info and CC information in before hand to make it easier. (To my credit, my husband had already set up a costco.com account, but didn't remember the username/password combo when I needed it). I set up my own account last Friday when the alert came through, but I wasn't fast enough to get the Wii (they sold out in about 3 minutes).
Today was my lucky day! I was just sitting down at my desk to do a calculation, and my cell phone beeped. It was wiialerts! I went to their web page, clicked on the Costco.com link since it was flashing the green In Stock sign, logged in, and bought my Wii bundle! It is a good bundle, containing the Wii console, the Wii Play game set with additional controller/nunchuk, and the game Super Mario Galaxy, both of which I intended to buy anyway (I love the Mario games!), for $350.00.
Wiialerts.com is great. They promised no spam or unsolicited e-mail, and they have been good to their word. I'm not sure how they get the revenue to support themselves but I imagine clicking on their links to the vendors generates some revenue, and they have a voluntary donation program via Google checkout or Paypal. If you are in the market for a Nintendo Wii, I highly recommend them. Notice however, that I did not post this until I had my Wii safely ordered, they do randomize their mailing and cell alert lists so that everyone gets a fair chance, and I didn't want anyone getting my Wii before me ;-).
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