EB games/Gamestop need to be banned/class action lawsuit needs to be addressed

Archaea

Archaea

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 19, 2004
Messages
11,825
EB games has poor business ethics....here's my story.

My plan to buy 5 Xboxes and sell four to pay for my own is thwarted by lies and misrepresentation through EB, while Ebay is selling premium packages for 750 bucks now.

I pre-ordered 5 Xbox's through EB games back in mid summer when I prepayed $250 for five systems PROMISED 1st shipment. They called me last week and told me sorry - we didn't know how many pre-orders we had and MS cut them back more than we thought they might. We can have your pre-orders to you after the first of the year.

PRE-Orders after the first of the year?

heck no.

I told them I wanted it cancelled and my money refunded. You'll have to come into the store to do that sir.

GREAT - since I called about 20 stores that day in June in order to find one that had five first shipment pre-orders remaining here in Kansas City. That store is like 45 minutes away from me. I drove there to pre-order cause they only took pre-orders in person, They had my 250$ for 6 months, and then I have to drive back there this week to claim my money again, since they won't cancel over the phone.

If anyone opens a class action lawsuit about this ------ I'm definately in. What they did is wrong...They shouldn't be able to hold my 250 dollars for six months and then not deliver what they promised....and yes I very specifically was told first shipment pre-orders.


If this happened to you please sign your name to this thread....if we have enough evidence of this perhaps I can contact a lawyer and pursue a class action.

If they hadn't actually charged me the $250 dollars then it wouldn't be such a big deal, but they did and I have the proof on my credit card bills. It wasn't held...it was charged, and because it was charged it means they need to fufill their end of the bargain, since they can't there should be repecussions - even if they are small.
 
Its not EB Game's fault they is will not be getting the amount of XBOXs they were promised by Microsoft. :eek:
 
Life's a bitch aint it? ;) It aint EB or Gamestops fault, its MICROSOFT who decreased the shipment quantity so bitch to the cause, not the middle man.

Seriously, someone coming into MY Gamestop when I worked their years ago wanting 5 xbox 360's would raise some serious eyebrows and probably would be the first to be called for "delayed" shipments.
 
Vildayyan2003 said:
Its not EB Game's fault they is will not be getting the amount of XBOXs they were promised by Microsoft. :eek:
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Irresponsibility is abound everywhere.

I wish I knew what really happened, but I really beleive the new game store high pressure sales and corporate greed are at play."You better get X# of pre-orders or else". You cant go in a gamestore without being hassled to pre-order just about anything.

How can you possibly know when and how mnay reserves to take on a system 6+ months away. My Gamestop receipt actually says "Xbox 2" because they didnt even know the name of it when I pre-ordered.

Microsoft also is at fault I guess for not having gone into production sooner, but taking pre-orders to get peoples money when you have no facts just isnt right.
 
I preordered on May 10,2005 and I got the call last week that I would not be in the first shipment because of the cut supply (You can read my thread about it). My receipt also says XBOX2 since they hadnt given it a name yet.

Anyways, it is both MS and EB's fault. MS for cutting the shipment for whatever reason (hype, short supply, to give bigger retailers more inventory, etc) and EB for taking too many preorders in the first place.

I do feel that the people that did preorder months in advance and had had made more the 25% of the price to be compensated by EB due to the fact that they've had our money. If someone files a lawsuit....I'm all in.
 
I don't think Microsoft is at fault at all.....EB games admitted to me when they called me that they were basically guessing at how many pre-orders they'd have....but did they tell me at that time I pre-ordered? NO....they guarenteed first shipment.


And why the heck does EB CARE how many pre-orders a person gets? They sold them to me - they get the same amount of money from my five as they do from five seperate people...

A coorporate company took money from a TON of people for about six months...invested it, made tons of money off that money, and then basically said - can't help you...you can have your original money back with no interest or no compensation. (oh and by the way, we'll make it diffiicult for you to get it back, you can't cancel over the phone, you must come in to our salesplace....I've even heard of people saying that EB would only offer them giftcards back - NOW THAT IS A RAQUET.
 
[Fate]Doom said:
Irresponsibility is abound everywhere.

I wish I knew what really happened, but I really beleive the new game store high pressure sales and corporate greed are at play."You better get X# of pre-orders or else". You cant go in a gamestore without being hassled to pre-order just about anything.

How can you possibly know when and how mnay reserves to take on a system 6+ months away. My Gamestop receipt actually says "Xbox 2" because they didnt even know the name of it when I pre-ordered.

Microsoft also is at fault I guess for not having gone into production sooner, but taking pre-orders to get peoples money when you have no facts just isnt right.
Click to expand...

Lifes not fair, what else is new.
 
Archaea said:
I've even heard of people saying that EB would only offer them giftcards back - NOW THAT IS A RAQUET.
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No way that is true!
That is illegal!
 
call yout CC company, dispute the charges, and move on
that's about your only option

class action lawsuit?
lol, you'll get a 10$ giftcard and the slimy lawyers will get millions
 
1,

$10 is a little low (I had the same sort of thing happen once with buy.com on a monitor sale. 2000 people ordered a monitor (buy.com took the money) They never released the monitor for said price but increased the price and offered to either apply our money to the additonal purchase price or refund the money that they'd held for two weeks. I think the monitor was sold at $220 and was "mispriced" and should have been selling for a bit over $300. I took the refund, but then later got e-mailed that there was a class action lawsuit against buy.com about this. The lawyers had procurred a list from buy.com of all the customers who had been involved. thus I was e-mailed. A couple years down the road, after I'd all but forgotten about the whole thing I got a check in the mail for about $40 bucks.)

2.

the millions is right for the lawyers ------- yes that's sickening


3.

BUT the best part of a class action suit is that EB games and Gamestop would never pull such a dirty trick again, and that's what it's all about really...punish them for practicing unethical business.
 
Don't blame EB/Gamestop for shortages, it's all on the part of MS.
As far as getting your money back in the form of a Gift Card, yeah, F-that. They made money on your deposit since May or so, and if they give you a gift card they will continue to make money on your initial deposit. That's pretty lame if true.
 
Archaea said:
I don't think Microsoft is at fault at all.....EB games admitted to me when they called me that they were basically guessing at how many pre-orders they'd have....but did they tell me at that time I pre-ordered? NO....they guarenteed first shipment.


And why the heck does EB CARE how many pre-orders a person gets? They sold them to me - they get the same amount of money from my five as they do from five seperate people...

A coorporate company took money from a TON of people for about six months...invested it, made tons of money off that money, and then basically said - can't help you...you can have your original money back with no interest or no compensation. (oh and by the way, we'll make it diffiicult for you to get it back, you can't cancel over the phone, you must come in to our salesplace....I've even heard of people saying that EB would only offer them giftcards back - NOW THAT IS A RAQUET.
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How do you think the rebate business works? This is a legitimate business tactic and you did have the option to wait until the first. Its the same thing hotels and airlines do, overbooking, just with preorders.

Sure, this is wrong (slightly), but no more wrong than buying up a bunch of consoles and jacking up the price when there is a shortage. Thats karma ;)
 
DeathBob,

you are wrong...that isn't a legtimate business tactic.

Promised one thing - delivered nothing - that's called scandal ---- not tactic.


Buying things at low prices and reselling them at high is called anything and everything but "slightly wrong" it's the way businesses/individuals make money. it has nothing to do with karma.

By your definition EVERYSINGLE business is wrong., the stock market is wrong........... :rolleyes:
 
hey man....i just wanted 1 console to play on monday night/tuesday morning....I do have a backup plan but if I don't get one at launch I'm just going to either wait for the price to drop or wait for the PS3....I'll just put the money I saved for the x360 and drop it into a "trade up" with eVGA and get the 7800 GTX 512MB video card.
 
Just get your money back and stop worrying about it. Why bother taking the time and money to go into a lawsuit that would probably be lost? EB is no saint, but they're certainly less at fault than Microsoft is, as it's their supply problem. Whether it's a real supply problem, or a 'hype'-induced intentional shortage like the PS2 is irrelavent.

If you can't wait between 2 and 12 weeks to play your game system (it will more than likely arrive in a month, before the holidays), then you should just cancel your pre-order and never shop at EB again if you're that pissed. Americans and their lawsuits :rolleyes: Alkoholic has the right idea. If you truly want to make 'big money' on Ebay with it, then go lineup at one of the big box stores at midnight, with your wife, and grab 2 and sell.
 
I'm going to go to Wal-mart at about 10:30pm on 21 and try to get in line....hopefully I can make out with 1. My wife is going to...she'll buy one seperately since it's one per customer....It looks like if we can manage to get two I'll still be able to pay for mine with just a single other unit which is what I wanted to do all along. Ebay's got them sellling for 850 now. That's straight crazy.
 
l[]]steviep,

I agree lawsuits are a pain, but they are a necessary evil, they keep companies honest and consumers protected - that's what classaction lawsuits are for. If there were no penalty than any joe-smoe company could take your money on promises of goods delivered and have nothing to fear when they say 'sorry'

Would you like to live in a country like that?

If it was just one store or one person - so be it....but it's nationwide and effecting lots of people...that's inappropriate business behavior and the direct result of EB's /gamestops misbehavior....I really doubt that MS is at fault here...if they were I believe EB/gamestop would be through the roof and publicly stating such....instead of just neutrally saying - we didn't get as many as we expected....i bet if the truth unfolded, just like the other two posts mentioned in here....EB/Gamestop had no clue how many there were getting, heck, they didn't even know the name of what they were selling. I was told point blank by the guy that talked to me that they had based the pre-orders on what MS had said and past systems availablity.....

If they are taking customers money and promising deliver they'd better know exactly how many they have to deliver.
';.
b]
 
Maybe you should think about the fact that some part of the shortage is created by people like you, who preorder 5 but only want one. Sure, it sucks that MS is only supplying so little and not even close to meeting the total demands, but I can't blaim them when there are people who'll preorder 5 times as many xbox's than they want.

You see, I don't get your point. You wanted to make some profit by being able to sell xbox's when there is a shortage you partially created, basically ripping off people. Now you complain because the shortage is so great that your plan fails.

I'm in no way trying to offend you, but I can't help finding the irony of the situation quite humorous.
 
Archaea said:
l[]]steviep,

I agree lawsuits are a pain, but they are a necessary evil, they keep companies honest and consumers protected - that's what classaction lawsuits are for. If there were no penalty than any joe-smoe company could take your money on promises of goods delivered and have nothing to fear when they say 'sorry'

Would you like to live in a country like that?

If it was just one store or one person - so be it....but it's nationwide and effecting lots of people...that's inappropriate business behavior and the direct result of EB's /gamestops misbehavior....I really doubt that MS is at fault here...if they were I believe EB/gamestop would be through the roof and publicly stating such....instead of just neutrally saying - we didn't get as many as we expected....i bet if the truth unfolded, just like the other two posts mentioned in here....EB/Gamestop had no clue how many there were getting, hell, they didn't even know the name of what they were selling. I was told point blank by the guy that talked to me that they had based the pre-orders on what MS had said and past systems availablity.....

If they are taking customers money and promising deliver they'd better know exactly how many they have to deliver.
';.
b]
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As I said, it would be dumb to think that EB has no fault in this fiasco, just as Gamestop, and every single other gaming store in the country that takes pre-orders, which is getting burned in the exact same way. But that should tell you something. MS is severely under-supplying here (rumoured that only 400,000 units are going out), and whether it's a real supply shortage or not (they have the top 3 factories in China pumping these things out), it's a supply shortage on the end of the manufacturer, and as such, if you're going to be pissed, be pissed at EB, and especially MS.

I don't mean to knock on you personally... as you seem like an intelligent person and very reasonable... But don't you think that a better method of "stickin it to 'em" is just not to shop there anymore? If everyone who gets in on a "class action lawsuit" against any company that's not the government, that didn't cause them any "real" damage JUST stopped shopping or buying from the said company, it's a far more effective punishment than a small drop in the bucket that a lawsuit would bring. I'd say if EB pissed you off, just never step foot in there again and you've got their punishment. They say 1 person can't make a difference... but if 1 person (you) stop feeding them money, and others who are just as angry as you do the same, you'd better believe that their profits/stocks/etc will go down. And that, my friend, is much better than a lawsuit worth a measly couple mill.
 
If anywhere in the Pre-Order contract you agreed to it states they may not be able to fulfill this order, you're fvcked.
 
digitalmind said:
Maybe you should think about the fact that some part of the shortage is created by people like you, who preorder 5 but only want one. Sure, it sucks that MS is only supplying so little and not even close to meeting the total demands, but I can't blaim them when there are people who'll preorder 5 times as many xbox's than they want.

You see, I don't get your point. You wanted to make some profit by being able to sell xbox's when there is a shortage you partially created, basically ripping off people. Now you complain because the shortage is so great that your plan fails.

I'm in no way trying to offend you, but I can't help finding the irony of the situation quite humorous.
Click to expand...

the man has a point
 
digitalmind said:
Maybe you should think about the fact that some part of the shortage is created by people like you, who preorder 5 but only want one. Sure, it sucks that MS is only supplying so little and not even close to meeting the total demands, but I can't blaim them when there are people who'll preorder 5 times as many xbox's than they want.

You see, I don't get your point. You wanted to make some profit by being able to sell xbox's when there is a shortage you partially created, basically ripping off people. Now you complain because the shortage is so great that your plan fails.

I'm in no way trying to offend you, but I can't help finding the irony of the situation quite humorous.
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QFT. You tried to order 5 boxes, knowing that people would have a hard time getting there hands on one. Your whole intent was to create a shortage yourself and then charge people more then what they are supposed to pay for a 360. So in essence you tried to screw people, and you got screwed.

/point and laugh
 
digitalmind said:
I can't help finding the irony of the situation quite humorous.
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Agreed. The only thing I'd take issue with is having to come to the store to cancel the order.
 
It's not the same....I didn't create a shortage myself, nor did I help to cause my own predicument. When you hold that argument up to the light it doesn't make sense.

lets think here.

I secured my (five) xboxes in mid summer. I was wrongfully promised that I would have five systems on hand 11/22. I paid $250 dollars for that promise.

MS/Gamestop/EB should have not made that promise if they didn't have the supply. In fact, in reality I should have been paying for systems that were already assigned to that store, not some cloudlike hope that EB/Gamestop thought they could magically produce.

By that same token....MS/EB/Gamestop now has information - we need at least five more xboxes in kansas city than we were going to produce earlier because 'jon' has said he wants five - in fact he's giving us 250 dollars to invest and make money on in the next six months, plus marketing information, plus sales volume information in return that we allocate an additional five units to that store.


Okay - so in what way have I created a shortage by my pre-order actions?


Okay now - on to the consumer - who some of you folk mindlessly think I'm taking advantage of.

Am I forcing them to buy it at outrageous prices that I myself wouldn't dream of paying?
no
Am I creating a shortage by pre-ordering?
no
Am I buying up all available units by pre-ordering?
no


So in fact I have done nothing to create such shortage the irony you claim to be laughable doesn't even exist.
 
ya know, people whine because a company took pre orders and their shipment got cut by microsoft, saying taking pre orders for something you are not positive on is wrong.

Look at it this way, if you were a business and the world was hounding you to reserve and item and the wold was willing to pay in advance for it, you would do the same thing.

Since they are willing to refund, there is nothin illegal about the situation, you made the choice to put the money down, they didn't force you. And if your refund is cash or CC they are not going to mail you cash and your sig is required on CC returns there is no way to do that over the phone.

there will not be a class action lawsuit, save your pennies for a battle worth fighting,
 
Gonna have to agree with the previous six (edit: jesus, popular topic) posters on this one. I would sympathize if you were angry because you really wanted to play Project Gotham 3, or something. But you're angry because you wanted to make a profit off of the honest folks (including kids who save up for stuff like this for months) and it ended up not working out. I'm sure there's plenty of fine print written on your receipt that removes any question of liability from EB for something like this, as it seems availability concerns would have been one of the first things they would have consulted their lawyers about.

Lessons to be learned:
1. You look the fool when your first reaction is to get on the internet and start threatening lawsuits against anything and everything psuedo-business related that you feel should be punishable by law. It probably isn't.
2. Other people on this forum are almost assuredly going to be screwed over by opportunists like you looking to exploit the system on launch day. Not the best place to complain about it.
 
So in fact I have done nothing to create such shortage the irony you claim to be laughable doesn't even exist.
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but you created a shortage for yourself

would you be so upset if you had pre-ordered one xbox 360?
the delay of your pre-orders isn't the real complaint
the plan of getting a free xbox 360 by ebay'ing 4 others being ruined is
 
The issue here,is that even though your money is just as good as 5 seperate pre-orders, and it's the same to the corporation at first glance, there are nuances that are being ignored.

You are trying to profit off a shitty situation so your ethics suck, but that has nothing to do with the facts. In the long run EB/Gamestop or whoever is going to make less money off you, so they would be the first to screw you, as would I, if I owned a small shop.

Heres why:
You are buying 5 boxes, 1 to keep, 4 to sell. Thats pretty transparent, unless you made up some story to tell them. Your box is only going to generate profits on the sale of one system in terms of accessories, games, replacement plans and repeat business. Where they make the real money. The 4 boxes you are going put up for sale on ebay are going to go to 4 different locations where people could buy from god knows where, but probably not EB or their affiliates.

You bitching about your $250 dollar deposit on $2000 worth of Lost Leader hardware to EB isn't going to cause them to shed a single tear, because in the long run you ARE hurting their business.

Should they refund your money? - Yes
Do you have a right to be pissed? - Sure, why not?
Do they have any freaking control over the situation? - NO
Do you have an actionable argument? - Well, who knows in this society, but good luck.

No one in this forum has any pity for you in light of the shortage and the fact that many of us are not going to be getting a box due to resources beyond our control in a situation exacerbated by people like you.

If I were EB, I'd give you your $250 and tell you to have a coke and a smile and not shop there anymore. $250 loaned to a large company over 6 months time is piss money, thats laughable.
 
Archaea said:
EB games has poor business ethics....here's my story.

My plan to buy 5 Xboxes and sell four to pay for my own is thwarted by lies and misrepresentation through EB, while Ebay is selling premium packages for 750 bucks now.

I pre-ordered 5 Xbox's through EB games back in mid summer when I prepayed $250 for five systems PROMISED 1st shipment. They called me last week and told me sorry - we didn't know how many pre-orders we had and MS cut them back more than we thought they might. We can have your pre-orders to you after the first of the year.

PRE-Orders after the first of the year?

heck no.

I told them I wanted it cancelled and my money refunded. You'll have to come into the store to do that sir.

GREAT - since I called about 20 stores that day in June in order to find one that had five first shipment pre-orders remaining here in Kansas City. That store is like 45 minutes away from me. I drove there to pre-order cause they only took pre-orders in person, They had my 250$ for 6 months, and then I have to drive back there this week to claim my money again, since they won't cancel over the phone.

If anyone opens a class action lawsuit about this ------ I'm definately in. What they did is wrong...They shouldn't be able to hold my 250 dollars for six months and then not deliver what they promised....and yes I very specifically was told first shipment pre-orders.


If this happened to you please sign your name to this thread....if we have enough evidence of this perhaps I can contact a lawyer and pursue a class action.

If they hadn't actually charged me the $250 dollars then it wouldn't be such a big deal, but they did and I have the proof on my credit card bills. It wasn't held...it was charged, and because it was charged it means they need to fufill their end of the bargain, since they can't there should be repecussions - even if they are small.
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Let me get this straight, you're upset at EB because Microsoft is having issues meeting the supply needs for the Xbox 360 and EB decided that you've got too many damned pre-orders, and have thwarted your get rich quick by Ebay schemes and won't allow you to take FIVE Xbox 360's for yourself? Did I miss something? You wanted to rape people on Ebay and now you can't. How sad for you. :rolleyes:

They should have granted you ONE Xbox 360 and refunded the rest of the pre-order money. If I were EB/Gamestop, I would only allow one pre-order per customer per-item. They've offered a refund, I don't see a problem with that.

Maybe there wouldn't be such shortages if people like you weren't trying to capitalize on the shortage by buying five to resell.
 
Archaea said:
Am I forcing them to buy it at outrageous prices that I myself wouldn't dream of paying?
no
Am I creating a shortage by pre-ordering?
no
Am I buying up all available units by pre-ordering?
no


So in fact I have done nothing to create such shortage the irony you claim to be laughable doesn't even exist.
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1. In a way, yes, you are. They have no other way to get a xbox360 another way, so you are driving the prices up as high as possible. No, you don't force them to buy, but you are creating an absurd high price when there is no other stock, thereby limiting people to either buying at a premium cost, or not buying at all. If that isn't sketchy dealing then I don't know what is.
2.
Yes, you are. You choose 5 xbox's, 4 other people can't get an xbox because of this. You are creating a shortage for the other 4 people.
3.
No, but you're doing more than you should on getting all the available consoles sold out.

The irony of the situation still remains very funny, and to be honest it only gets better while this thread progresses.

I do agree with you on one point, no company should give out preorders when they cannot guarantee that you'll get your console on time. However, I do believe there should be a limit of 1 per customer, to avoid people like you ripping other people off. If I was a store manager and had to choose who to kick out of getting their preorder on time, somebody with more than 1 would be the first to go.
 
The OP might have been wrong, either way not my point.

The big corps made interest off of peoples money, and THAT is what is wrong here.

They pay millions to forecast and know how many people will pre-order, and they damn well know about how many they will get. They also know to be careful not to oversell but they do it anyway.

Anyone who thinks they didn't know they woulnd't get as many needs a serious wake up.

EB and whoever else needs to be punished, and punished big time. I know not to many will agree with me on this, but a law suit isn't enough.

A few CEO's hanging by their necks is a wake up call. The same should be done to some politicians from both sides.

There are too many big dollar people and politicians that take advantage of the other 99% of people in this country and it is because we let them.

Yes, that is right, the top 1% of wealthy people in America own most of Americas wealth, and you'd better believe the own politicians too.

Wow this got off topic in a hurry, sorry, but sooner or later something will have to be done or this country will be a gonner.
 
clownvomit said:
The OP might have been wrong, either way not my point.

[Blah blah blah...]

They pay millions to forecast and know how many people will pre-order, and they damn well know about how many they will get. They also know to be careful not to oversell but they do it anyway.

Anyone who thinks they didn't know they woulnd't get as many needs a serious wake up.
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Wow. Microsoft cuts supply drastically (from a forecasted 2 mill that they gave retailers assurance to, previous to launch, to approx 400-500,000 North-America wide) and you can tell me with a straight face that EB/Gamestop/etc. knew about this? Sure, all companies/airliners are guilty of overselling sometimes, but even cautious sales estimates couldn't have predicted a 75%+ cut in supply. You, my friend, should definately get into marketing, as you would make quite the career out of it :rolleyes:

I agree with you on the corporate interest/politics/1% points, COMPLETELY, but that's irrelevant to this thread. To summarize: EB sold dude 5 pre-orders, their promised supply got cut drastically, EB told this guy that he'll have to wait for next shipment or get refunds. Hanging CEOs? A LAW SUIT? Start reading the fine print on the receipts/policies...
 
This thread is great. Some real insightful and important information to be read here. This is my first xbox360 thread I've posted on, and will probably be my last. Im posting in regards to the excellent discussion everyone is having about this issue, as it has so many great points to evaluate. If only I had more threads like this to read every night when I get home from work! :p

I agree with the original poster that the way pre-orders are handled by these retailers is something you cannot trust. A pre-order with the promise of stock on a specific date that only falls through due to decisions and actions taken by these companies without the clear notification to the consumer is bullshit. However, a pre-order with the promise of stock that falls through due to a publicly known issue is ok. Issues likes companies merging/dying, labor strikes, natural disasters etc...

Regardless of what the original poster plans on doing with these 5 xbox's isn't the issue. ( its a morality and ethical issue, but in big buisness, who the fuck has ethics and morals...) .. The issue is with the integrity of the pre-order concept. M$ and perhaps EB and similar buisnesses has lead the public to believe its stock cannot meet the demand... Which is obviously a lie... One of the biggest reasons to "pre-order" something is to let companies and the retailers better accomodate the consumer because at least they know that 99% of these "pre-orders" is a guaranteed SALE. Now in the xbox360 issue, the preorders were taken in spring, many in summer, which was months ago... M$ has and had the information on exactly how many guaranteed "sales" they can expect on their XBOX360 product. If anything, those xbox's should have been manufactured first and sent to shipping with the intention of distributing ONLY those to the consumers that have already invested in the product, since they knew of these guaranteed sales before they even released their product. To put it another way, if a local buisness was selling hotdogs on the 4th of July and they had information and money up front from community groups, clubs and church groups, they now know, for sure, that they need to have AT LEAST that many hotdogs on July 4th. There is no speculation at least for the people who let the hotdog seller know in advance ( preorder ). If I showed up with my 4-H club and was told they didn't have enough hotdogs for my members, I would be rightfully upset. EVEN IF I showed up at dusk and the entire community has come through for hotdogs, a smart honest buisness would have reserved the amount of hotdogs needed to fullfill the amounts needed for the people who let them know in advance. People aren't stupid, and its better to tell the 4 person family there isn't anymore hotdogs left and turn them away rather than tell the 30+ member 4-H club that they already sold the hotdogs to the people who came first. Wouldn't that totally contradict the entire reason for getting the preordered hotdog amounts in the first place?? A smart buisness knows that you honor the guaranteed sale over the speculated sale first. It just makes sense... At least I sure as fuck hope I made sense here... Im kinda intoxicated... :D

Now! I also see the other side of the arguement. Limiting pre-orders per person is also a very very intelligent move on a retailers standpoint. Its covering your ass if you will.. I believe EB should not have sold one person 5 xbox pre-orders... especially when they didn't even know the finalized name of the product they are taking peoples money for... Xbox2 ?? Wow, EB fucked up there... If they didn't even know wtf the name would be exactly for the product they are so happily taking pre-orders on, it would be even a bigger risk to assume they will have sufficient stock for this, "Xbox2"... I believe they went on the notion that, Hey, its Microsoft, this is a sure thing... Little did they know that M$ would rather sit on a million xbox's in a factory somewhere then allow for sufficient stock to be sent to the retailers.. Im not going to explain how this makes M$ even more money, since its pretty simple to see how it will...

A class action lawsuit against M$ or even EB ( which I thought was bought out by gamestop? ) would be a pretty big endevour... I think its safe to say there won't be one, and sadly you are at the mercy of the big buisness's... However there has to be a change in the way companies handle preorder situations, like TheNoid mentioned, having a contract you sign where at any time the product does not arrive on the date promised, too bad, so sad..

Just a question to the original poster, Do you know exactly the terms and agreements made between you and EB on this pre-order sale? Yes they had your money for this long, and yes they will return it to you, but if anywhere they covered their asses by warning you on possible changes on the arrival of stock, then you're screwed :(
 
Sir-Fragalot said:
They should have granted you ONE Xbox 360 and refunded the rest of the pre-order money. If I were EB/Gamestop, I would only allow one pre-order per customer per-item. They've offered a refund, I don't see a problem with that.
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Don't get me wrong, I think that guy is a total douche but you obviously don't understand the time value of money. They held his money and got to use that as capital for their company and make money with it for 6 months. He gets nothing in return.
 
Ebay's got them sellling for 850 now. That's straight crazy.
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Not to touch on the OP gripe, but if the only concern is lost money, I don't think he'll suffer much. After the 22nd, I see the price on Ebay dropping as the market is flooded by others trying to make a quick buck. Once M$ further releases more into the market closer to christmas (and you all know they will...shortage my @$$), the ebay price will likely be under $500 per unit if that.

But I'm in a similar boat, pre-ordered June 1st, won't get one first shipment....so I cancelled. Thank god for Mountain Dew :)
 
dissonance said:
Don't get me wrong, I think that guy is a total douche but you obviously don't understand the time value of money. They held his money and got to use that as capital for their company and make money with it for 6 months. He gets nothing in return.
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Yes I do. I work three jobs, believe me I know the dollar value associated with time. How YOU as a consumer spend your time is NOT the fault of another company. They didn't force him to pre-order five Xbox 360's and they didn't force him to fork over $250 or drive 45minutes to do it. That was his decision. Everyone values their time differently. Just as no one can put a price on your personal photos or any data on your hard drive, you can not actually put an actual price on your time, that another company can be made liable for.

He made his choices. EB offered to refund the money and cancel his orders. At the most, I can see them throwing a small gift certificate his way for the trouble. I've seen retailers do that. However, he made his choices, his circumstances and situation is his problem. Not EB's. They don't owe him a damn thing more than what he paid them.
 
Sir-Fragalot said:
At the most, I can see them throwing a small gift certificate his way for the trouble. I've seen retailers do that. However, he made his choices, his circumstances and situation is his problem. Not EB's. They don't owe him a damn thing more than what he paid them.
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Hey, thats all I want...and I'd be happy with it. I preordered in May...7 months ago and I'm not getting it on the first shipment. If EB had called and me and advised me of the situation and said hey, if we still cant get you one by launch we'll give you a $25 gift card or 1/2 off some x360 hardware I woulda been fine with that. But to just say, its not our fault and push all the blame on M$ is BS. They should not have taken all those preorders based on assumptions. The least they could have done was compensate the consumer so that they would shop at their store again. As far as I'm concerned I wont buy a thing from EB ever again. I already made arrangements to wait on a line at launch....something I wanted to avoid when I placed my preorder in May. If I get one, I get one....if not....I'll wait till the price drops or just wait for the PS3....then I'll take my cash and drop it on a video card upgrade....simple as that.
 
steviep said:
Wow. Microsoft cuts supply drastically (from a forecasted 2 mill that they gave retailers assurance to, previous to launch, to approx 400-500,000 North-America wide) and you can tell me with a straight face that EB/Gamestop/etc. knew about this? Sure, all companies/airliners are guilty of overselling sometimes, but even cautious sales estimates couldn't have predicted a 75%+ cut in supply. You, my friend, should definately get into marketing, as you would make quite the career out of it :rolleyes:

I agree with you on the corporate interest/politics/1% points, COMPLETELY, but that's irrelevant to this thread. To summarize: EB sold dude 5 pre-orders, their promised supply got cut drastically, EB told this guy that he'll have to wait for next shipment or get refunds. Hanging CEOs? A LAW SUIT? Start reading the fine print on the receipts/policies...
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If you think for a second a large co. like EB didn't plan for a shortage then you need to put down your crack pipe because you are hitting it hard.

They knew they could pull what they did and get away with it, and they will because people will just bitch about it and do nothing.
 
You won't get anything out of a lawsuit. You'd have to prove you had damages and didn't have an opportunity to recover them indepently (legal term: mitigation). The fact you have a refund available kills the opportunity for damages...so, there you are.

This thread makes me wonder...I wonder how many people will be at flea markets this December trying to sell X-boxes for 100 more than EB or Wal-Mart?
 
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