Got a call from Gamerush about my 360 pre-order

[rbudrick]

Inside sources tell me it is a programmed-on-purpose "flaw" in a number of systems released since August to give this story credibility and to make it this years Furby/Cabbage Patch Kid/Beanie Baby/Tickle Me Elmo, as n8littlefield mentioned. MS didn't want to sound like Sony on the PS2 launch (pffft, nobody believed THEM, that's for sure), so they made their story credible. It is fixable through a simple firmware update they don't want you to know about.


Yeah, I'm full of shit AND conspiracy theories.

Note: The above story was not relayed to me by anybody and is intended to be humorous and satirical. Rob Budrick does not take any responsibility for his actions, and neither should you, asswipe. That said, I still say my theory is true, BWA HA HA!

God, please don't sue me, MS.

-Rob

[SoulBlazer]

Sounds like several factors are going on here.....

1) Manfacturing problems in getting the needed ammount of XBox 360's made.
2) Unit recall on pre-release units ment a delay in making new ones to make sure that they were fixed.
3) Trying to go for a world wide launch at once -- STUPID!
4) Hype....Microsoft will make them tough to find until after Christmas.

[Darth Sensei]

Don't be sorry, I'd be pissed as hell about it and bitching about it loudly inside the store.

What good would this do? Every retailer gout their allocations slashed in half about two weeks ago. Gamerush, Gamestop, EB, Best Buy, Target....

This is NOT the RETAILER'S fault. This is MICROSOFT'S fault. Bitching at the store won't accomplish anything other than making yourself look like a complete jerk.

If I had lined up months ago to pre-order a system before that system even had a set price, simply in the hopes of getting one on launch day, you can bet I'd throw a hissy fit about not getting it.

As long as companies pull this shit and you don't react, you will continue to get treated that way. Now, if the multi-million dollar gaming chain, or the multi-billion dollar Microshaft want him to be happy, they'll at the very least give him a free game or something.

However, they won't do it if you roll over and take it up the hershey highway.

Do you work for a game shop or something?

[sisko]

Don't be sorry, I'd be pissed as hell about it and bitching about it loudly inside the store.

What good would this do? Every retailer gout their allocations slashed in half about two weeks ago. Gamerush, Gamestop, EB, Best Buy, Target....

This is NOT the RETAILER'S fault. This is MICROSOFT'S fault. Bitching at the store won't accomplish anything other than making yourself look like a complete jerk.

If I had lined up months ago to pre-order a system before that system even had a set price, simply in the hopes of getting one on launch day, you can bet I'd throw a hissy fit about not getting it.

As long as companies pull this shit and you don't react, you will continue to get treated that way. Now, if the multi-million dollar gaming chain, or the multi-billion dollar Microshaft want him to be happy, they'll at the very least give him a free game or something.

However, they won't do it if you roll over and take it up the hershey highway.

Do you work for a game shop or something?

I do. And you can bet I absolutely LOVED calling all the customers that got stiffed because Microsoft slashed the allocations. Because MICROSOFT slashed the allocations.

[Zing]

Best Buy seems to be getting plenty (~60 per store). I'm sure Wal-Mart is getting equal quantities.

The theory behind the success of holiday scarcity is this:
Parents promise their kids Xbox 360 for christmas. Christmas rolls around and a "shortage" has made it impossible to get the 360. Obviously, parents cannot tell the kids they must wait until January for their gifts, so the parents buy other gifts for christmas day (maybe Xbox 1 games? ). January comes and, yay, the 360 is suddenly available. Parents buy 360.

Yes, this was intentionally done with Furby. I suspect it was also done with Elmo. I'm not so sure about Cabbage Patch Dolls, though, at least initially.

[SlayerX]

Don't be sorry, I'd be pissed as hell about it and bitching about it loudly inside the store.

I'm sorry, but what in the hell is that going to do? Sure, yell at the employees, who have absolutely no control over a situation and make other customers feel uncomfortable. Sounds like a great idea to me.

Hey, you think you could come say that to the customer's at our store in GP, Alberta, Canada? They don't seem to understand that we don't MAKE the products, we only recieve them and ship them.

What's worse, is that 75% of the time they want us to go DIGGING for their items, in boxes, and lets just say we have over $2 million dollars sitting in our stockroom, so yeah, im gonna go searching for a $10 pillow for you (uh-uh!)



If anyone wants, come to the Zellers where I work, we didnt take pre-orders, it's first come first serve, and we NEVER sell out of any hot-item. Last christmas we had over 50 Gamecube/Mario Kart Double-Dash!! bundles, and sold maybe 20. We are always overstocked for electronics... and I remember getting in 2 boxes of 4 360's for sure.

[jdc]

Deja vu. When will people stop preordering systems? Stores routinely take tons of preorders......and have no idea what their allottment will be. A preorder NEVER guarantees you a system. It's nearly a scam.

The original Xbox had faulty launch units due to improperly installed cooling fans. I personally sent back quite a few.