This lovely little read will inform you of how Toys R Us not only screwed up their PS3 presells beyond the Sony cuts, but also apparently throws integrity to the wind when it comes to selling consumers 'new' items. So as many of you know, Toys R Us did PS3 preorders for which many people camped overnight. Personally, I camped out for 24 hours and was #2 in the preorder line. Come morning, we got our preorder slips, which were numbered, mine specifically saying #2. We were told that they would not open early on launch and that we could come in anytime during the day to pick up our units. So, lets flash forward to today. I show up at Toys R Us around 8:50 am since I was in the area. I see a small line so I park to see whats up. Apparently Toys R Us was only getting 3 60 gig ps3's, and only told customers if they asked. No problem I think, as I am #2 of the preorder line which should ensure my spot, plus I am the 3rd person in this new line to pick up a PS3, a double for sure. So, they open the doors and I head to the electronics where they have 2 registers open. I get in line behind the guy who was #1 in the line, while another register rings people up. Well, the register next to me goes faster, and the next person in that line is the LAST person who was in line for 60 gig PS3s. So what happens? Toys R Us gives HIM the last 60 gig ps3. I point out that I was the second person in the 24 hour line as indicated on my preorder slip they handed me on the day of preordering. Their response? Too bad because this other guy was rung up first. WHAT? HES THE LAST PERSON FROM THE LINE, I WAS HERE 24 HOURS! Well, you can get a 20gig... NO YOU SEE, I WAS HERE BEFORE HE WAS ON PREORDER DAY, AND I WAS HERE BEFORE HIM TODAY, BUT SINCE YOU OPENED 2 REGISTERS FOR NO REASON THE LINE WAS BROKEN UP AND YOU JUST SCREWED ME OVER. Well, you we don't have any 60s cuz sony... IM AWARE OF WHAT SONY DID, BUT YOU GAVE OUT NUMBERED TICKETS, MINE SAYS #2, I SHOULD BE ONE OF THE FIRST 3 TO GET A 60 GIG PS3 Well, if you want we could give you a 20 gig and you could return it for a 60 gig at a later date... BUT I WANT TO PLAY PLAYSTATION 3 'You can return the 20 gig when we call you, just keep it looking nice so we can resell it' (yes, toysrus told me they had absolutely no problem with deceitfully selling USED playstation 3's to unsuspecting customers. NICE SERVICE TOYS R US!) UM ARE YOU SURE THATS OK? Yeah let me just get your number and we'll call you. Go to the refunds desk and they'll swap out your 60gig slip for this 20gig for now. *refund desk* Refund worker: Um, why are you swapping for a 20gig if you were #2 for a 60 gig? Me: Yeah. Good question. So moral of the story? Toys R Us are a bunch of deceitful fagfucks who apparently have no problem deceiving all of their customer base.
Well it looks like you already have a 60gig PS3 from wall-mart on Ebay? If so, are you actually bitching because you couldnt get your second or third PS3?
I'm going with "meh". You decided to wait in line, not the clerks thus you wasted your own time. If you were just going to throw it on eBay for some easy money I have no sympathy for you. I hope ebay takes down every auction that goes above retail to smite them. Sony should've just priced the thing at 3k and made that much more profit, the same idiots would still buy the damn thing. Now as for their practices, yeh #2 should've been #2. Keep in mind this thing has no games really worthwhile IMO and will probably have a failure rate akin to the PSP and PS2 launches, so if you genuinely wanted one for playing games with you at least get one. If anything the pre-order idea has shown to be a farce. Companies want your money and will do anything to get it. Video game pre-orders have worked so far because they can press a million disks 3 months in advance. They can't however produce a million consoles a month in advance and then kick it out the door the same week it's being sold. Most pre-orders ended up being your way to buy your way in line which makes sense in a way. One final note, I would sure hate to be the poor bastard who ends up with a dead ps3 in a week. Good luck with getting an exchange when stores want to throw them out to customers ASAP.
So basically your saying that mass hysteria was involved with the launch of a new video game system and that things did not go as smoothly as planned? Wow, I never would have guessed....
Actually he's saying that mass hysteria was involved with a video game launch, so his plan to re-sell multiple 60 GB units on eBay and make a quick profit ended up with a small kink. For some reason I'm finding it hard to feel sympathy here. -hl718
I don't sympathize, I didn't get a PS3 to eBay either. But what's your beef with good ol' American guerilla capitalism?
actually i was commenting on the fact that toys r us completely ignored the fact that they gave out numberted tickets which they implied would be filled based upon said numbers, plus blatantly stated that they have no qualms repacking used 500$ consoles as new and selling them back to unsuspecting consumers
How is that deceitful? If this console works, it works. I used to work for a large unnamed company that did the same thing. We took returns, charged a restocking fee, and tested said goods. If they worked and were in new condition, we'd put them back on the shelf. If they worked but something was wrong with the packaging, we'd put it on an "opened bargain bin cart". What would you expect Toys R Us to do? Take it back and then throw it away? If anything I'd say they were actually being pretty nice since they are letting you a.) return the system and directly swap it out for 60gb, and if I'm reading correctly, for no charge b.) not charging you a restocking fee on the return c.) pretty much guaranteeing you a new system as soon as they come in. As for the numbering system, yeah that sucks. But see my previous comment.
Actually, in most states repackaging an open returned item and selling it as new is considered fraud and a deceptive practice. Returned items are supposed to go back to the manufacturer (or other third party as stated by distribution contracts) for refurbishing or outlet sales.
If anyone thinks camping out for 24 hours doesn't deserve some kind of compensation, then please PM me. I'd like to use your free services in the future...
My respect for you reaches an all time low. How sad is it that a guy who bitched at people for buying dev units and not deving, then went as far as to express his anger at scalpers becomes one himself mere days later and then expresses his frustration at not being able to scalp even more money. What happened to you?
I don't recall there being any laws in the state that I lived in at the time. It was quite a large national chain of stores and there never seemed to be any problems at our outlet. When people brought back things that were defective under our warranty, or if things ended up being defective on the test bench, then yes, they got shipped back to wherever (where they went I don't really know). But when we got something back that was new or working perfectly and repackagable, it went right back on the shelf. OT: An anecdote I fondly remember was someone brought back a large 10 gallon container of tile grout. The lady at the refunds desk calls the guy from the coresponding department, he quickly eyes it, gives the lady at the returns counter a green light, and she refunds his money. After the customer walks out he inspects it closer and realizes the seal was still in the proper place, but had been broken. So he says outloud, "looks like we'll have to put it on the discount bin". I customer overheard this and offered a dollar for it (we used to sell useless crap all the time like this. I walked away with enough scrap lumber to build myself a bookcase and shelves for about $5). The transaction was rang up and the customer walked out thinking he had himself quite a deal. Minutes after walking to his truck and inspecting the contents, he quickly returned with bucket in hand. "What seems to be the problem?" the return lady said. He opens the bucket up and it turns out to be filled with human excrement (i'm not joking). Everyone in the store was laughing about it for a week. As I soon learned, it turns out that customers did this switch-a-roo (or as we called it, switch-a-poo after that incident) quite often. The company just grined and bared it and kept taking returns with a smile so we could maintain that happy facade that every type of soulless corporation puts up to attract buisness and separate hard working people from there money while putting small local businesses out on the street. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I worked there for close to a year and don't recall any "legal" issues with our return policy. As far as I know, thats how it worked nation-wide. I don't think anybody deserves compensation for camping out 24 hours. I don't think anybody deserves compensation for camping out 240 hours. This is a video game system, not a neccesitative good. Nobody put a gun to his head and said "camp out here until you get a ps3". I did pretty well in biology and I don't recall any parts which stated food, shelter, warmth, and ps3 are essential to survival. Anybody who graduated from the 3rd grade should have been able to put 2 and 2 together and figured out "underestimated supply" plus "peoples natural greed" times "outlet stores ineptitude" divided by "past console launches" equals "something is bound to go wrong somwhere". Even you said yourself in another post that doing stuff like this is a gamble, and you have every bit of a chance in loosing. So he lost his ps3. Once again, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the store is making it up to him by giving him a free upgrade to the 60gb version just for trading in his 20gb for the expense of his troubles. They could of just as easily of said tough s**t and not done anything about it, which was well within there rights (yeah, go ahead and file a lawsuit in the good 'ol US of A. If the idea for tort reform ever needed a case buster, this would be it). Or even worse, they could have gone soup nazi on him and not let him have a console at all.
Just because a national corporation does it, doesn't make it legal (as much as they want it to be). :lol:
But that's because you haven't read the 2007 editions of biology books, where it clearly states humans must obtain a PS3, or they will spontaniously explode without warning.
