Photo TR: Jahan's Failed Attempt to pick up the Alvey's Wii!

[arrowfanman]

Hey everybody!

 

As some of you know, over a month ago Elissa went down to EB Games to preorder her Nintendo Wii. She even made a PTR of it!

 

Well, as it says in that PTR, as luck would have it the Alveys are out of town right now and therefore, asked me to pick up the Wii for them!

 

Now, I know that it may sound sketchy that I would be able to do that--it's for that reason that last Friday, Elissa and I went to this very EB Games, to confirm that I would be able to pick it up for them. We walked in and asked the guy behind the counter very plainly, "Hi, I was just wondering, I will be out of town next week and have a pre-held Nintendo Wii I'm supposed to pick up--is it alright that my friend here picks it up for me?"

 

The guy, without hesitation might I add, complied with "Oh yea, no problem. All he needs is the receipt and reservation slip."

 

We asked again, just to make sure.

 

After a reassurance, Elissa responded, "Oh good. In that case, am I available to pay it off now?"

 

Again, the guy complied with "Yea, that would be great."

 

 

Despite the guy's steadfast and confident responses, we still thought it would be best if I had a letter of consent from Elissa, as well as a photocopy of her drivers licence, for identification purposes.

 

 

 

I felt so confident when I walked into that store today. Sooo entirely confident. I waited in a short line of guys that boost even my self-esteem, walked up to the counter and was immediately shot down with a blank stare and a "I cant give you her Wii." As the confusion was sinking in, I reassured him that I had full consent to take the Wii and he still refused, claiming to be the store manager. At that point, I didn't know what to do! I was so sure that I wouldn't have any problem, thanks to the confident response of the guy who helped us earlier, that I hadn't thought of how to deal with this (I dont shop very much. ).

 

I left the store and struggled to get a hold of Robb and Elissa, but finally was able too. After a good pep talk on strategy from Robb, I took a deep breath and marched back into the store. As luck would have it, I was again, helped by the manager.

 

I explained that I perfectly understood why he wouldn't give me the Wii. That isn't what bothered me. What bothered me is that Elissa and I explicitly went to this store prior to this date, to ensure that there wouldn't be any problems with me picking this up. Not only were we given a "yea, that'll be fine" response, without hesitance, but the man helping us was very confident. Despite this, we still felt it to be in our best interest to type up a letter of consent and obtain a photocopy of her drivers licence. And on top of it, I completely rearranged MY schedule so that I would be able to do this, asking my friend to postpone HIS birthday-trip to Knott's by one week as I wanted to go, but was bound to this engagement.

 

...and after all of that, you're still not going to give it to me and you refuse to speak with Robb or Elissa!?!

 

(In my head I was just steaming up, but I was able to keep my cool.)

 

He responded, "I cant give it to you, but if she's out of town I'll hold it for her."

 

I said, "Can I get any guarantee on that? I understand that these are valued gifts."

 

He cockily said, "I'm the manager...I can promise you that I'll hold it...that's better than any guarantee you can get."

 

 

Now like I said, I'm totally new at this and obviously I made a few mistakes...I didn't get the guys name or a written confirmation that he would hold it. But I suppose that we'll be fine, thanks to Elissa...logically, the very fact that she already paid it off in full, means that it is no longer a "Reserved Item" but in fact a "Purchased Item" and they should be obligated to hold it at that point, regardless.

 

 

Grr...I'm sooo pissed. Anyway, here's some pics...

After two failed attempts to get their Wii...well...I think you get the point.

This was supposed to be my "thoroughly disappointed/very pissed" face.

I had enough information to legally adopt Elissa and her Wii!...but no, not enough for stupid EB!

"The Adventure Begins..."

[Wes]

Dude, that sucks!! I don't know how you could have handled the situation any differently on your end, the manager was probably having a bad morning with all the people coming in for the Wii. He was probably on some insane power trip or something. With all that documentation, there's no way he shouldn't have been able to assist you KINDLY. EB/Gamestop employees are usually dicks as it so. I can count my positive experiences at EB on one finger!

 

You should have gotten his name.

[Vekoma Fan Boy]

About 90% of any one who works at a mall/plaza is usually retarded. One time i was at a mall with my friend, and we needed a quarter to use a phone to call my parents so we wnet to the arcade, asked for a quarter, even offered to trade in a few things i'd won there and what do i get? No. WTF? Luckily i found one of my teachers who gave me a quarter.

[vjgx]

You gotta hate when stores are strict like that... I mean, all they care about is sales... do they really need to be that way?!

[Meteornotes]

Jahan, you did nothing wrong. Gamestop/EB management is the absolute worst. They have an almost impossible time recruiting anyone to work at these places. The only thing they care about is getting you to pre-order new games or ripping you off on the used ones they sell (most of the profit in these stores comes from the used games they buy for pennies on the dollar, and resell for massive profits). You could have magically produced Elissa via the magic of teleportation, and the guy probably would have still found a way to ignore you.

 

dt

[Homer]

^QFT'd, but seriously, its the only place I could think of around here that I could take games I don't play anymore for some credit. It's shameful really...

 

Now, is there a good place where I can sell my GCN and some DS games?

[YoshiFan]

^ Sell them on EBay, you'll get a lot more than what EB and Gamestop will give you. FYE used to give awesome trade in prices but not so much anymore.

 

I agree with what others have said. I despise EB and Gamestop and never buy anything there since they have merged (EB used to have good deals once in a while but I still rarely bought anything from them).

 

I have had so many problems at the EB's it is ridiculous. Not to mention they sell used games as new by re-wrapping them, I bought a "new" game from them once that had a scratched disc and had crumbs in the instruction manual! They also gut a game where you take the empty case and leave it on the sales floor as a display box and keep the disc and manual in a drawer. These are sold as new but employees can take home the games and play them. Hardly what I would call new.

 

What really got me angry was how they lied to me with the PS2 launch-

. I pre-ordered in June, was supposed to get it on launch day. Launch day comes, they tell me the were shorted systems, I'll get the system in the next shipment. I call every few weeks and am told the same thing (that each shipment they get, they are not up to my name yet). Finally in January over 2 months later I call and they tell me they called me to pick up my system weeks ago and I never picked it up so I lost the pre-order spot. They never called because I gave them 2 numbers and never got a call from them and if they had really called, why did they keep telling me I would get in on the next shipment around when I supposedly was called. Corporate was called and 2 days later I get a call from the manager of EB saying they "found" my system.

[Sir Clinksalot]

That's all kinds of suck!!! The guys at the EB games in Camarillo are usually pretty cool. But elsewhere, as has been said, they ware usually dicks.

[gisco]

You should have put on a wig and a dress and said you were Elissa!

[Tömmioh]

That really sucks. You did the right thing Jahan, it's really unfair, and reminds me of when I had to return a concert ticket and had same kind of problems with stupid store managers.

 

On a sidenote, I remember when the first EB games-shop opened in Finland, about 2 years ago, I remember being excited ie. when I looked for a game there, it costed 40$ even if it was 2 years old, in almost any another store you would've got it for less than 15$ and well there are also other things that I could complain about, don't wanna get too much off-topic.

[verticalzero]

The Store Manager should of given you the Wii, you should of phoned Robb in the store and he could of sorted it out with the Mgr.

 

The Wii does not arrive in the UK till 8th Dec, what is it like..?

 

Do you have a PS3..?