Gaming Support

[haiden0919]

First off I really don't want to sound like I am complaining but I feel that I am very loyal to the Best Buy that I frequent on a very regular basis.

I am what you would call a regular customer that shops at the Jefferson City, Mo store #1102 every Tuesday and all the employees of this store know me by my name. I spend way more than I should there but I am a gaming addict and an avid collector of first run video games and limited editions. I preorder often and and try to pick up every game that i put money towards if the store is able to supply the game that was preorder.  

Recently in the past six or seven months I have been having horrible issues when preordering and come to pick up things that I have preordered or things that are released on Tuesdays.

I am a Best Buy Silver rewards member (I could of been a platnium member with how much change I dropped last year J/K) And I am also Reward Zone Gamers Club Unlocked. I watch the deals and am very thankful about the promotions that Best Buy run. I also feel that in the gaming industry their are few retailers that even come close to the promotions BBY runs.

Several games that I have preordered HAVE NOT been avaliable to purchese upon release. This includes Rage, Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, Two Copies of Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition, Gears Of War Epic Edition,  and Saints Row The Third Platnium Edition. There are a few more but I can't remember which ones they were at this point.

Just by preordering these games Best Buy has kept 50 dollars from me that is tied up in preorders that were not fufilled.

I also Preordered The Playstation Vita First Edition Bundle 6 months before Release and on 2-15-12 What do you know the Best Buy in Jefferson City Mo DID NOT RECIEVE ONE SYSTEM and I was told mine would be in on the 22nd of Feb. Thankfully the Gamestop down the road called another store for me that had an extra system in stock. They even held the system for me so no one else could purchese it.

Today I went to the store to pickup Skylanders on the 3ds and Rage/Bulletstorm for 5 each. I grabbed my games and waved off the Direct Tv guy trying to sell me the ULTIMATE PROMOTION for what seems like the 140th time. When I got to the gaming counter, set out were the preorder bonuses for Rayman origins (the cheap inflatable desktop punching bag) and the Lord of the Rings War of the North Snowtroll Figurne. I preordered both of these games in Oct and Nov of 2011 and was told they never recieved them when picking up my games. But there they sat on the counter behind the gaming register for Sale????? I was told by an employee that the Rayman Punching bag Was 5.00 dollars and the Snowtroll figure was 30.00 dollars???

I went to customer service paid for my stuff and walked out the door confused. I really dont understand if the store is holding these preorder bonuses back for a quick buck later on or what is going on but it seems to me that that is the case. At this point I am really questioning my loyalty to Best buy at all and wonder if they even care about the people that shop in their stores. I am sorry for the long rant but the more I think about it the more it makes me mad.

Can someone Please tell me why things like this take place and help me understand.

Thanks, Seth

[zztoluca]

sounds to me like you need to find a better local BBY store or preorder online and select instore pickup

I find it that the store will always hold store pick ups as opposed to instore preorders

[Mariel-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

Hi haiden0919,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your experiences with preordering your games and picking them up. While I'm happy to hear that you enjoy the Jefferson store and like shopping with us, I'm disheartened to hear that your preorder experiences aren't going as well as they should.

A preorder reserves a copy of your game, whether that's an LE or CE version. Sometimes we have limited quantities, but we should never be overselling preorders of those titles. A few of those titles you mentioned I recall that we had some inventory constraints from the manufacturer and probably slowed the process of getting them to the customer on release day. Particularly the Vita was supposed to have enough inventory, but some of our stores didn't receive inventory to fill preorders. It was my understanding that this was resolved as quickly as possible to get everyone their Vita as soon as they could.

In regards to the preorder items you saw on the counter, it sounds like the store didn't receive any of the items until much later. Then, with few other options, decided to keep them out. If I were you, I would've spoken to a manager to see if I could've gotten one with my proof of preorder. But I can understand how seeing those might've added some salt to your already sore wound.

I wish I had an easy solution for you. It seems like some of your recollections are situational, while some affected multiple stores. We are always looking to solidify communication between our business teams here and the local stores so that your experience can be smooth. I truly appreciate your post and I hope that in the future, you will see some positive improvements.

Regards,

[haiden0919]

Mariel,

I understand that there are shipping problems from the manufactures and some of these items are limited editions (hence the name limited editions). I always preorder as soon as the games I am interested in come up for preorder. As for the free items that come as preordering bonuses (I.E.. The lord of the rings statue and the rayman punching bag) regardless if the store received them later or not I feel that since they finally got them they should honor the fact that I preordered so I should receive the item for free. Do you feel it is Okay for the store to sell them for a profit when we (I.E. the customer of said store) paid early to receive said Promotional items. These Items are a Promotion to entice people to preorder games from your company. It is not for resale just because they had received the items later than the games release. This store is selling a "Not for Resale" limited edition statue for thirty dollars of pure profit when my five dollar preorder got them the statue in the first place. On the bottom of the statue it states these words "NOT FOR RESALE". Do you see my side of the coin at all? It's not like the store doesn't know if I had bought the game or not, they know that I bought these games. On the Playstation Vita side of things I don't know for sure if things were worked out at that store or not because I purchased mine somewhere else. I did hear from a friend though that the store did receive them on the 22nd of Feb. (the national street date) and that kind of defeats the purpose of preordering and receiving the system a week earlier.

I went through my receipts last night after posting and I have over 60 dollars in preorders that were not fulfilled and I am out said 60 dollars. The reason I say that I am out this 60 dollars is because even if I were to try to get this money back I would get the same kind of Corporate automated response you just gave to me. Your post back to me explained nothing and I was expecting nothing less. Thanks for blowing off a "Valued Customer" and losing one as loyal as me. I have other options and my money is "Valued" at other establishments.

 Thanks again for your Automated responses, Keep up the good work and I know those Kudos points will grow.

                                                                                              Haiden0919

[Mariel-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

Haiden0919,

I'm sorry if you feel my response was "automated" as it was certainly not. I try to respond to our customers in a way to let them know that I am real person, just like you, to be treated with the utmost respect and professionalism. 

In terms of the "not for resale" information you've provided, I will reach out to the store and see if I can get more information on why they would be doing that. If it specifically states that it is not for resale vs not intended for resale, there may be some issues there and the store may not know it.

Regarding the Vita, there was some confusion about which bundles were to be released early. There were 3 bundles that were available for preorder, and only one of them was to be released early - the First Edition bundle. There was also a Launch bundle, and another bundle but those were not available to be released earlier.

I understand "your side of the coin" and while I made an effort to separate which experiences of yours may have been circumstantial and which had affected many stores and many people, it seems that you misread my previous post to thinking that I am not a real person, or that I didn't understand you. I offer my sincerest apologies for what's happened at your store and as you stated you have preordered several times, I appreciate your patronage. I will look into the promotional items issue and handle it internally as appropriate.

Thank you,