Before the TouchPad dove head first into the bargain bin, HP tried a little pricing experiment. Early in August, they dropped the TouchPad’s price by $50, and very shortly after, the discount was bumped up to $100.
It was a sweet deal, but in retrospect, some buyers may not be too happy with pulling the trigger when they did. Woot sold the TouchPad for $379, but they reportedly feel like “scruffy nerf herders” about it and are offering buyers a $100 partial credit and an email laden with Star Wars jokes.
Slashgear was sent a copy of the email, and it states that people who bought Woot TouchPads and like them enough to keep them should have already seen the credit post to their account. Even so, affected users may want to fire up their banking website of choice just to check. If the whole price drop situation just has you seeing red, don’t fret: after a quick email to Woot’s support line, you’ll be able to return the thing for a full refund.
Alternately, at Woot’s suggestion, you could “dress up as a palace guard, sneak into some alien crime lord’s fortress, and put some mystic revenge plan into motion.” Best of luck if you go that route.
Woot is personally one of my favorite online retailers in general, and stuff like this just seals the deal: they didn’t have to do a thing, but they’re reaching out to customers and taking the hit on returns and credits just to make sure those people stick around. I only wish they’d get their Star Wars references straight: those pigfaced trolls on Cloud City were called Ugnaughts, and Lobot wasn’t a droid but a guy with electronic earmuffs.