Another bargain price for the Sphero Mini. White linked above.
CR 7.2% cashback if buying in-store.
aren't these guys the group that took over National Geographic stores?
Yep, i believe online orders are the lowest rank in the creditor ladder too. You can maybe request a reversal through cc… but otherwise pretty screwed. I'd steer clear personally, unless you can buy in store.
Yeah you pay by CC obviously, no worries then
does that work with debit cards?
@bargain huntress: No; with credit cards you don't pay until your bill comes in, and if you haven't got the items, you have recourse to not pay the bill. Debit cards are more like cash.
@askvictor: Other posters mention using credit cards because of the chargeback system built into the provider network.
The same chargeback system applies to debit cards that have Visa/MasterCard backing so that you can access the tap and pay features, chip and pin and of course the global network.
Paying with credit and then not paying your bill while possible, is not the primary "feature".
@fatal: I stand corrected
officeworks pricebeat avaliable
But there’s no stock at Officeworks!
Last week the former Australian Geographic stores – now known as Curious Planet after a bitter licensing dispute
Wow ok didn't know that. Rebranding would've cost a pretty penny too
FYI on an eBay listing:
This seller is currently away until 20 Dec, 2019, and isn't processing orders at this time.
I'd be avoiding purchasing online…
Maybe not… they literally put stickers over the signs of the Emporium shop and that's it.
Our local Aus Geo has properly rebranded to curious planet - new signage out the front, in store and staff uniforms.
I see everyone mentioning that they're in "administration", yes they are, this is them liquidating stock, it's cheap because they (the administration) want, money, now.
Like Dick Smith, just don't buy gift cards.
All the Officeworks in my area are showing Out of Stock
They'll probably be back in stock quicker than it takes the Curious Planet website to load!
Also, the price beat guarantee excludes stores put into receivership.
I bought this kit for the kids instore for $49 https://www.curiousplanet.com.au/honeycomb-queen-kit.html but still listed at $199 online.
They also have the raspberry pi3 starter kit at $45 https://www.curiousplanet.com.au/raspberry-pi-3-starter-kit.…
are the stores still open, which store did you go
Joondalup in WA.
Few stores here in Perth are open.
Thanks, will check it out
Raspberry Pi3 kits is out of stock online
Thanks OP, that’s some Christmas shopping all done
I hope they post it beforehand
what is it?
edit: it's some kind of programmable robot for kids, for anyone wondering
Cheers OP. Grabbed a few for presents before the site gets jammed
Awesome, been eyeing these off for a while for the nephews.
Got charged but no confirmation email, there was an error when I checked out on website.
Items still showing up in my cart.. Let's hope I get my money back :'(
Thanks OP. Ordered 2 Spheros for xmas pressies and a Celestron Deluxe Digital Microscope for myself. They were out of the Rasberry Pi kit. Checkout took forever, but I did get a confirmation email with attached invoice. Fingers crossed!
Roll that dice baby!!!
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/coop-booksho…
"“We intend to keep all Co-op Bookshop and Curious Planet stores operating on a business as usual basis while we seek interested parties for the sale of the business on a going concern basis.”
Personnally, I'm not too worried at the moment, but I will feel better once the purchased items have been marked shipped.
Grabbed 2 Spheros and a bunch of other sale items to get free delivery as no click/collect nearby - thanks OP! Had to refresh order and eventually got email conf. twice. Hopefully only charged once - one order number. Paid with VISA, so hopefully if any issues with the company can get money back.
Insider news, they have gone into administration. Similar to Dick Smith. Buying stuff at your own risk
got charged twice because of the website error, only realized after picking up in store. staff can't give refund due to whole administration thing. now i have 2 extra (ordered 2x2 instead of 2). :(
I can buy 2 off you check dm
didnt receive any dm. could you pls send again? ta
Nice price! Website is very very slow but worth having some patience. Thanks OP!
paypal checkout doesn't seem to be working…has it worked for anyone ?
No more paypal payment, even gift card cannot be use anymore
Same. I would have bought this with paypal protection. But no way I am buying this if I have to give them my credit card.
website crashed? was…now working again
Thanks op, grabbed 4 for Xmas presents, should be well received
What age are people buying them for?
My 5yo cat.
7 and 8 girls.
12 year old girl (probably the most appropriate), 37 year old woman, 39 year old woman, 62 year old man, 12 year girl dog, maybe 4 year boy but it will be a bit old for him.
Successfully price matched at Officeworks
Will be doing this tomorrow
I bought 3 from Officeworks with price match.
They are the same price on Catch of the day. I don’t think it’s worth the risk buying online of the order not getting processed and then trying to get a refund from a company in administration…
Thanks, got one
The catch of the day sale is also via curious planet so same likelyhood of getting the stock…
As a follow-up, received it shortly after.
Ended up buying two from o/w after my pickup order at curious fell through (no stock). $25.65ea bargain!
Did they give you a refund? I was worried they wouldn't be able to if they didn't have stock.
The store said they will process the cancellation…will see what happens. The guy in the store was useless btw…
I got my shipping confirmation for my first order. I out one in for my sister as well, but it's looking good.
Had a very unpleasant experience price matching with OW this time. A lady named Rhonda threw every possible reason to deny a price match. She claimed curious planet was in administration so it was liquidation stock. Then also claimed she couldn’t find the product code on the competitor website. Then she said she could add it to her cart. Went away to check with her manager before every attempt. I asked her to try a different competitor and asked her to goto catch. She said she couldn’t even find the product. She claimed she was searching by the description, even after I suggested she look up the item name.
I thought it was bad luck I found an uncooperative agent so I thanked for for her non cooperation and hung up and tried again. As luck would have it I was connected again with Rhonda. Hung up and called for the third time. Rhonda again.
At this point I felt defeated and thought the universe was working against me buying this toy. I guess I saved 54 bucks after all.
My price match in store was a dream.
Just price matched to JB Hi-Fi
Just ordered 3 from curious planet and it has gone through.
I have a confirmation email and all.
Staff member said they're not going out of business, just discontinuing a bunch of lines that don't sell unless discounted (Little bits a big one, apparently). Anyway, grabbed a $350 LittleBits set off the shelf to see what the discount came to, and it scanned for $5.99, which they honoured. Might as well have the Benny Hill theme song playing in-store!
Haha, that's crazy!
My kids love Little Bits. Enjoy!
Which kit?
The microscope I ordered was confirmed shipped via email, but still waiting for the Spheros to be posted. So I'm half-way there, living on a prayer!
I put in 2 orders, one was for my sister. Have received an email saying the first order has been shipped, but I have the Auspost app and have just received notification the other order has shipped too. You should be fine.
No dramas here, ordered yesterday, arrived 11am today. Love the additional Xmas weekend deliveries.
Thanks everyone, just ordered myself the white, green and pink.
Order cancelled. Refund to be processed within 4 days.
Sold out.
Anyone had there spheros shipped? Order confirmed but no shipping email. Charged on my bank statement but no merchant details are available which is also concerning…
Also had this, ordered very early after the deal went live. I’ve sent the customer care team an email asking for an update.
Also not received any shipping information. Quite concerning.
Just got an email advising my order was cancelled because "a number of online forums not controlled by Curious Planet urged customers to purchase this item in bulk due to the low sale price. Our stock levels were sadly unable to update fast enough to match rapidly flooding sales as they came in and the product unfortunately oversold".
Allow 3-5 days for a refund.
Nothing down this way touch wood. I grabbed 3 for the kids for Xmas.
When did you place an order @Penno2?
Around 8:30am Sunday.
Thanks mate.
Still no email as to being shipped or not. No cancellation email either.
I've emailed asking about the progress of my order
Just got an email cancellation (same as @penno2's one). Mine was ordered at 2pm WA time on Friday.
No Sphero Mini's for me this christmas:
"Dear [my name],
I hope you're well!
I'm deeply sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I've been informed that we need to cancel and refund your order for 1 x SPHERO Mini – Blue, 1 x SPHERO Mini – Pink.
As our Weekend Sale went live, a number of online forums not controlled by Curious Planet urged customers to purchase this item in bulk due to the low sale price.
Our stock levels were sadly unable to update fast enough to match rapidly flooding sales as they came in and the product unfortunately oversold.
I've refunded you now - please allow 3-5 business days for the funds to return to your payment account.
I apologise sincerely for the understandable disappointment. I hope you have a lovely day!
Kind Regards,
Curious Planet Morley
Morley Galleria Shopping Cntr, Shop 149 Collier Rd &, Walter Rd W, Morley WA 6062
P. 08 6282 1152 | W. www.curiousplanet.com.au"
Oh well, at least I'm getting a refund. I decided to buy the Sphero 2.0 $99.00 from the Kogan deal for the cat (at least that's what I've told the Missus).
Same.
Nothing here yet, sent them an email the night before last and nothing yet.
FYI Amazon have temporarily dropped the price of the blue minis to $50. Not as much fun at $27 and won't be in time for Xmas (unless you pay for expidited international delivery).
https://www.amazon.com.au/Sphero-M001BRW-Mini-Robot-Blue/dp/…
Thanks mate, threw an order in.
Ok, I have had a terrible experience trying to follow up my order. The phone number on the website says on a recorded voice due to technical issues please email.
If you email you get no response. Many of the individual stores numbers are disconnected. Your online order gets allocated to a store anywhere in Australia and then they refer you to that interstate store who don’t answer their phone.
After 3 days finally got in contact and told I would get a refund in a few days. No money yet. Then told it was because of too many orders, even though I ordered Saturday morning they left it on sale until Monday. So it appears if the store your order gets allocated to doesn’t process your order in time then you will miss out and have to stuff around for a refund… if you get one. There is a reason they are not accepting pay pal or gift cards. This has dick smith written all over it… flash sale to try to get money… not enough to survive and then into liquidation. Nil returns, nil refunds and undelivered goods not refunded.
MY STRONG ADVICE IS TO AVOID ANY ONLINE ORDERS AND ONLY BUY IN STORE WHEN YOU HAVE THE PRODUCT IN YOUR HANDS!!! Good luck!!
I now have three of these emails… I ordered 4 one for each kid…
I'm deeply sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I've been informed that we need to cancel and refund your order for the following:
SPHERO Mini Green
As our Weekend Sale went live, a number of online forums not controlled by Curious Planet urged customers to purchase this item in bulk due to the low sale price.
Our stock levels were sadly unable to update fast enough to match rapidly flooding sales as they came in and the product unfortunately oversold.
I've refunded you now - please allow 3-5 business days for the funds to return to your payment account.
I apologise sincerely for the understandable disappointment.
I ordered 2 on the Friday morning and have also just received the email, should have done click and collect but didn't have time as was working on the weekend ! grr
Has anyone received their refund yet? I got notification on Wednesday, but nothing back yet.
Wondering the same thing. Not me.
Any movement mate? Nothing yet.
Nope. Day 3 of the 3-5 business day window. Guess too early to start freaking out…Getting there though.
@penno2: I'm on business day 5 and no refund to my CC yet. Maybe they are hoping we will forget about the refunds.
@stumo: I misread the date, I'm the same - five business days since the email. I suspect you're right, they wouldn't be disappointed at all if we forget about it. Sent them an email, we'll see what happens.
They can take the money in seconds, seems complete BS it takes more than five days to refund it.
@penno2: I sent them an email to the customer care email address that the cancellation originated from (Parramatta store). Had an instant reply that advised that the email address is no longer monitored or used and to contact my local store.
Currently moving from WA to NSW, so I’ll be lodging an ING chargeback as soon as I have access to a printer.
Pretty sure I just read these guys have just gone into administration.