Halo 2 "Midnight Madness"? How about....

[GunPanther]

Midnight CRAPness?

About a month ago, I reserved and fully paid for my collector's edition copy of Halo 2 at my local EB Games store.

Little did I expect the entire EB Games company and Microsoft to do something like "Midnight Madness" allowing the EB Games stores to open up at midnight to sell copies of Halo 2 so everyone 'can get it before anyone else'.

Finding out about the "Midnight Madness" (which will now be referred to as "MM") through the website, I decided that it would be kind of fun to go and pick up my copy at midnight, chat with the people who I know work there, then be on my merry way home with my brand new copy of Halo 2.

So.....

Did I get my copy?

NOPE. At least not at midnight.

Although, I will be picking it up later today, when the store is actually open for business.


Anyhow, the reason why I didn't pick it up was because the store I reserved it at was CLOSED. That's right..... CLOSED.

Even though the EB Games website had a FULL LIST of stores that WOULD BE PARTICIPATING in the event, only two stores in the San Francisco area were open at midnight.

Talk about false advertising.

Someone at EB Games is going to compensate me for the 1 hour I waited, at night, in a somewhat dangerous neighborhood, in the rain, at a location which was never opened up at midnight even though it was advertised on the EB Games website.

That kind of information is not just incorrect, it's just damned unfair. I wasn't the only one at that particular store who waited. I was one of approximately 20-25 people that waited outside the 23rd/Mission St. store in the early morning hours.

Did this happen to anyone else? Regardless of location? If so, post your story of plight here and feel free to rant.

(Although the information is now gone from the website, I did manage to do a screen capture of the listed stores that would be 'open' for "MM".)



Gee..... what do I demand from EB Games now? I'd say that 50% off my Halo 2 would suffice. What else do you think would be good compensation if this happened to you?






GunPanther

[slip81]

That sucks that you had to wait in those conditions for no reason. Was your particular store mentiond in the list of stores participating, or did the list just say stores in the San Fransisco area? I know the EB near me was open at midnight, but because it was in a mall and the mall closes at 9:30, people had to wait outside from 9:30 till Midnight. And that sucks because it was 20 degrees with 15-21mph winds last night.

[GunPanther]

That sucks that you had to wait in those conditions for no reason. Was your particular store mentiond in the list of stores participating, or did the list just say stores in the San Fransisco area? I know the EB near me was open at midnight, but because it was in a mall and the mall closes at 9:30, people had to wait outside from 9:30 till Midnight. And that sucks because it was 20 degrees with 15-21mph winds last night.

Damn, that's really cold. Where are you from, slip81? Just curious.


As for the list, ALL of the stores in San Francisco were on the "MM" list, including the particular store I reserved my copy at, which meant that they *should* be open at midnight.


I'm still kind of irritated at that and that's why I plan on giving their corporate HQ a phone call voicing my displeasure as well as raise a little hell at the store where I'm going to pick up my copy.

I'm not the only one who stood out in the cold, so I'm expecting that they'll receive a couple of complaints besides mine.






GunPanther

[jerkov]

That sucks, but I can almost gurantee that you don't get any compensation at all. Or, maybe they'll give you 20% off of the guide or something stupid like that.

I can't believe they would advertise this store participating in the MM, but then not do it......was the store listed on the website the day of the event (yesterday)?

[tholly]

most of the people i know that picked it up early either called the store, or received a phone call saying that the store would in fact be open

if neither of those happened for you, id say that 50% off your game is not deserved....

if they called you to tell you it would be open or you called and they said they would be there, then i would say that you deserve maybe a $5 certificate or 10% off your next purchase

[kai123]

most of the people i know that picked it up early either called the store, or received a phone call saying that the store would in fact be open

if neither of those happened for you, id say that 50% off your game is not deserved....

if they called you to tell you it would be open or you called and they said they would be there, then i would say that you deserve maybe a $5 certificate or 10% off your next purchase

My store called me and let me know a few days in advance. They explained everything. They also called everyone else who had a preorder. 400 or so calls is what they said. I would hate to be the guy doing all the calling.

[sirgeoph]

Yet another reason not to shop at EB

[spider-man]

Maybe some eb stores where selling it earlier and got caught. I heard from my manager that when that happens, microsoft tries to get the other stores in the chain (eb in this case)arond the area closed for the midnight opening as punishment..

[Maddrox]

It was funny at blockbuster when I went, because alot of ppl got pissed cause the limited edition sold out even tho they had it reserve. Good thing I got there early and got a limited without a reserve

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm...I myself am a night owl, I'd be happy enough just to be able to take a walk at midnight in the rain :>

No worries here.

[GunPanther]

Hmm...I myself am a night owl, I'd be happy enough just to be able to take a walk at midnight in the rain :>

No worries here.

Coolness. A walk in the rain is nice, but when you have to walk in an area that's not exactly safe, it's a different story.

Additionally, my Air Taser probably wouldn't have worked in that weather. Luckily I brought my impact knuckles just in case.






GunPanther

[GunPanther]

It was funny at blockbuster when I went, because alot of ppl got pissed cause the limited edition sold out even tho they had it reserve. Good thing I got there early and got a limited without a reserve

Those people who pre-ordered had a right to be pissed. I would have been pissed too.

It's cool that you managed to get one w/o the pre-order. It's too bad that somebody at that particular Blockbuster store is going to get reprimanded for not having enough Collector's versions on hand for the pre-orders.





GunPanther

[GunPanther]

most of the people i know that picked it up early either called the store, or received a phone call saying that the store would in fact be open

if neither of those happened for you, id say that 50% off your game is not deserved....

if they called you to tell you it would be open or you called and they said they would be there, then i would say that you deserve maybe a $5 certificate or 10% off your next purchase

Well, it was advertised on the EB Games website that my particular store would be open at midnight. I even have fliers in my possession which state "Midnight Madness, open on midnight November 9th" as well as the saved HTML webpage files and the screen capture I took off of the EB Games website, clearly listing all of the stores which were supposed to open at 12:00am, November 9th.


I suppose a 50% mark down in my case is asking a bit much. I guess I was in my 'pissed' mode when I wrote the original message.

*sighs*

20% off my next purchase would be nice and a $10.00 gift voucher would be nicer.

UPDATE: I called up EB Games' corporate HQ and left a complaint with them. I should be hearing back from a District Manager within the San Francisco area within the next 5 days. I'll bitch and moan to the manager then.

[GunPanther]

That sucks, but I can almost gurantee that you don't get any compensation at all. Or, maybe they'll give you 20% off of the guide or something stupid like that.

I can't believe they would advertise this store participating in the MM, but then not do it......was the store listed on the website the day of the event (yesterday)?

Yes, the store I pre-paid my CD Halo 2 at WAS listed at the EB Games.com website.

I even have a screen capture to prove it.










GunPanther

[fargus]

Man, that sucks, and you know they won't do a damn thing for you.

I had just the opposite experience. I got my special edition at Movie Trading Company for $54.99 last night (no reserve necessary). All of their locations opened at midnight and were selling both versions for $5 off (plus it was clear and about 60 degrees last night :P ).

[slip81]

Damn, that's really cold. Where are you from, slip81? Just curious.

I live in R.I, and the store was ten minutes away in Swansea Mass. It's not normally that cold this time of the year, but those conditions aren't too uncommon in January and Feb.

[Goblin]

I picked mine up at EB in a local strip mall at midnight. It was cold so I arrived about 11:40, and sat in my car until about 11:45 when I got on the line. Evidently they were handing out raffle numbers but only gave out up to #41. I must have been around the 50th person in the line. They then held the raffle, the rest of us were left out, and started letting 2 people at a time in, so it took about an hour to actually get in. Must have been about 100 people total in the line.

I did get the card for a free year of xbn. I'll have to see when my current subscription expires. I think it is sometime in April, so I'll wait as late as I can (12/30) and then sign up with a slightly different name. I'll get double issues for a while, but what do I care.

I was suprised that the manger kept making the announcement that only pre-orders would be sold that night. Anyone looking to show up and buy a copy was told to come back the next day.

The other thing that I couldn't understand was a few people waited in line, got inside and then had to leave because they never paid the game off and didn't bring any money. How dumb can you be?

[SegaAges]

they did the midnight thing at the local gamestore for when spiderman 2 was released

[LiquidX01]

I live in R.I, and the store was ten minutes away in Swansea Mass. It's not normally that cold this time of the year, but those conditions aren't too uncommon in January and Feb.

No shit, Thats the one I went to.

What number were you?