The PSP Shuffle...
Boy, do I have a story. I figured I'd share it with all of you:
I posted some of this stuff a few weeks ago I believe, but I'll start from the beginning. About a month ago, I took the plunge and purchased a PSP value pack from the local Target. I had just purchased a new (used) car the day before, and this is what I drove to get there. The one and only problem with the car is that the windshield wiper motor is shot...hence no windshield wipers.
I arrived at Target, made my purchase, and eagerly sped home to give my new baby a whirl. Just as I entered my complex, it started raining...hard. I made it home luckily, thinking to myself how lucky I was to have beaten the rain.
I go inside, open the unit very carefully, and to my absolute HORROR the screen has a one inch scratch on it. I put everything back in the box quickly, and try to make the attempt to get back to Target. No dice. The rain just made it impossible to get further than 10 feet without the risk of smashing into something!
I go back in the house and car a friend that lives about 4 blocks from me. She says she'll lend me her car, but I have to come up and get it. I trudge through the downpour, get her car, and get back to Target.
When I get there I ask to open another unit, and lo and behold, this one is scratched as well. I ask to open a third unit, this one looks fine. They are in the middle of conducting the exchange, and then the girl claims the battery is not there. I nearly lost it. I explained that I did nothing but open the box, see the scratch, and come right back with it. Then a manager comes over, while the girl is fussing with not only the return, but my new unit! I ask her what she is doing because this is the new one, and she say's "Oops, my bad". Now she goes over the parts with her manager and not only cannot find the battery, but the power supply this time! She tells her manager she had it before and don't know where it is, and the manager just gets completely fed up and tells her to just do the exchange so I can get out of there.
I come home, hook it up, and realize she stuffed the old power supply in my box in all of that fuss! Oh well, now I have a second one for backup. Upon hooking it up, everything looks ok. But, after looking at the unit on a black background (like the title sequence to RR) I notice a white stuck/dead pixel aty the bottom of the screen. Not way at the bottom, but not in the middle. I was so aggravated and did not want to have another Target experience, so I just decided to deal with it and keep it. Also, a few days later, I found a sealed PSP battery on my kitchen floor! Must have slipped out of the box for that first unit, and this is why the woman could not find it when I was there for the exchange. Ok, bonus. I figured that kind of made up for a bad pixel.
Today (well, the 8th...a few hours) is my 30th birthday. My brother told me that he would order me a v1.0 firmware Japanese PSP if I wanted one. THese are the first batch units, that also allow emulation and homebrew goodies to be played on the unit...for now. I said I'd like that, and he tells me just to find one on the net. I try ebay, but prices are rediculous. No way I am paying (or having him pay I should say) $500+ just for a console that can play some emulators, while the USA units will be able to do this soon.
I do end up finding a website that claims it sells v1.0 units for $280. I figure that is a good deal and place the order. To make it sweeter, they email me and say that they have upgraded my shipping to Fedex overnight, for free. It was scheduled to arrive 10am this morning, and to tell you the truth I was pretty excited to give some emu action a go for the first time on a PSP. Then, at 7:22am, I get an email from the company. They say that they made a mistake and sent me a Japanese v1.5 unit. They also say that they have no v1.0 units in their batch. Argh!
They tell me that I can accept the package, and they will refund me $40 and send me a free copy of Wipeout Pure for my trouble. Or, I can refuse the package and they will refund me in full. Now, I read some about this certian company (not going to name names) and I got kind of worried about refusing the package. What if I do and I never get credited? I paid via Paypal debit, and it does not seem like you can dispute charges that are not ebay related. And even if you can, what if they up and take off? There is not even a contact number for this company. I should have known better, but I figured I'd take the chance for the price.
Well, the package comes and I accept it. It is indeed a v1.5 unit, but to my surprice it is perfect. Even better, not a single dead pixel. As a matter of fact, the screen seems clearer and brighter as well. Just a hunch, but I believe that this is one of those Sharp brand screens I hear about in the Japanese units...while USA units are using Samsung screens. This unit also is not plagued with that UMD door sticking out thing that my other PSP had.
The company emailed me again with a Fedex overnight tracking number for Wipeout Pure, and claim that my card will be credited $40 in 2-3 business days...so I guess they really are not all that bad. Let's see. Originally paid $280, minus a $40 game, minus a $40 credit. It's like I got a flawless PSP value pack for $200. I feel abit better now.
I went back to Target tonight to see if I can do another exchange on the USA unit. I was originally thinking of trying to get a flawless unit, and then sticking one up on ebay. They saw how many times I had to exchange, and to my amazement they outright returned the PSP that I purchased and used for a month for cash! I received a full refund, no restocking fee or anything. Awesome!
So, now all I have is a flawless Jap PSP. It's menus are in English of course, and all of the USA games play the same way they do on a USA unit. Only drawback is that it will not play UMD movies, but I don't care. I will be watching my videos and movies through the memory stick via MP4 anyway.
Ahh, I'm done. Now I can drink a beer. Helluva story tho, eh?
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Originally Posted by link1110
