I've been able to post for over a week now, but I held back for this....
We moved to a new apartment and in the process of moving we decided it was time to let go of our old 34" CRT HDTV. It was nice while it lasted, but we just didn't want to lug that beast around anymore than we had to. So we agreed once we had our deposit back from the old place and a tax return, we'd splurge and get a new one.
I finally settled on the Panasonic ST30. I was eyeballing the 46" as it seemed to hover around the price I was looking to get and it felt like enough of an "upgrade" from the previous TV. Before we had our checks, Best Buy put up their awesome deal on the 50" for around $750, but by the time we could pay for it they were all sold out. I went to a local shop to see if they would price match. They wouldn't go that low, but they would knock it down to $850. I had already looked online and elsewhere and I knew this was still in the neighborhood of the cheapest we would find. We agreed, but we could only give them $700 at that time with the rest to be paid in two weeks when I got my next paycheck. So they held the TV for us with our deposit.
Two weeks pass and I go to pick up the TV. It's gone. One of their delivery crew accidentally took the last "new" TV to some place that was supposed to get an open box item. The TV's discontinued now so they won't be getting any more. He offered the open box to me at a $100 discount. I hesitated and asked if it was refurbed. No, but it has been taken home by somebody and brought back for any number of reasons. I think he saw the concern in my eyes and decided to offer me the 55" for the same price I was set to pay for the 50". SOLD!
So, TL;DR - I thought I was getting an okay deal on the 50" but ended up with an awesome deal on the 55"!
Oh Zelda, even though you're only 480p you still look so nice on that big screen....
Yes it's on a crappy coffee table for the stand right now. That's next on the shopping list for replacement.