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[twistedsymphony]

moving to the Wii forum.

I'm glad you wrote the BBB... more people should do that sort of thing when they run into problems.

but this has nothing to do with Xbox 360 so I'm moving to the Wii forum.

[bigjimmy]

Wow, those people at toys'r'us need to be fired or something. You just cannot treat someone like that. Giving someone a Wii console, just because they were a football player or something, and then turn around and say you have to purchase a Wii in their 'bundle'. Grrrr people like that really make me angry.

Good on you for writing a letter/email. Lets hope you get your Wii.

[comradpoplin]

i dont know of any laws prohibiting the practice of this in the uk but at the age of 25 i have done a fair bit of consumer purchasing and have hounestly never came across a deal wich specificly states that the purchase of the product is prohibitid unless other goods are purchased they usually just crank up the price of somthing and give u the other goods free.
i assume this is because they cant put the former into practice because of such types of laws but i may be wrong.

and to the young man who tryed to purchase the wii it sounds like you have wread up on your stuff and know were you stand in the matter i suggest you take this as far as you can.
theres nothing  worse than big companys trying to scam consumers because they think they dont have the intelligence and/or inclination to do anything about it.

good luck with your endevour and let us know how you get on.

[Marinos33]

QUOTE(comradpoplin @ Nov 25 2006, 10:27 AM)

and to the young man who tryed to purchase the wii it sounds like you have wread up on your stuff and know were you stand in the matter i suggest you take this as far as you can.
theres nothing  worse than big companys trying to scam consumers because they think they dont have the intelligence and/or inclination to do anything about it.

good luck with your endevour and let us know how you get on.

Cheers mate, raise a glass of live ale (best beer in the universe) and think of me .

I haven't heard back from anybody I sent the letter to, but it's early and a holiday weekend here in the States, so it might be next week before I hear anything at all, though I hope the newspaper thinks its a pretty juicy story.

When I started out on this, I was pretty sure I could just go back to the store and get a Wii, or at least a coupon and maybe a discount to shut me the hell up.  But I just got madder, and madder, and madder, and after considering this in terms of national and international corporate unethical and illegal behavior, I want a lot of attention drawn to this.

I got extra pissed too on some boards when they say, "oh that's just companies, they're just trying to make a profit."  Two things: I understand that, and I was going to buy games, controllers, etc, anyway, but forcing Super Monkey Ball on me when you're sold out of Zelda makes me upset.  I already spent so much time on Black Friday finding the thing, why should I spend extra time returning the bundle stuff too?  Have you ever seen the return line at a retail outlet on Black Friday?

Second, so what?  IT'S ILLEGAL.  And frankly, un-American from an ethical standpoint.  There's no excuse, and telling me to "just shop somewhere else" is just as insulting as how I was treated.  Toys 'R' Us, or any corporation, relies on such attitudes to get away with bending the rules as a matter of corporate policy.  For me, by forcing the warranty in particular, those rules snapped, and they broke federal antitrust law, so I'm snapping too.

Gamekill, I hope there are some good football matches where you're at, and that hopefully you get a Wii soon too.

[lowendfrequency]

I'm definately sorry to hear about your situation, but why are you quoting NYS and PENN laws if you live in Baton Rouge?  That won't get you anywhere.  

I'm sure the entire situation was unnerving but really... relax.  It's a Nintendo Wii.  You'll be able to just walk into any store and pick one up in a matter of weeks.  It's not really worth trying to get the BBB and Attorney General involved.  And honestly, they really aren't going to give two shits. People get scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars every day.  The authorities could really care less about an ex football player being able to buy a game console without a bundle. Not trying to be unsympathetic, just realistic.

Good luck with your Wii hunting.

[liquid-core]

Similiar story (kinda):

A man named Johhny (someone I know) was able to locate a PS3 after launch at a store called Oz (/spelling). He went to the store and stood in line (checkout line) behind one other man who was also there to pick up a PS3. The man infront of him was charged $2,500 for the console (ebay prices). He was then charged $1,000.

This is just a brief summary of the events but I was/am apalled. How can a store do this? There must be some laws preventing it?

O'Malley

[atomiX]

Power to ya. I hope you can accomplish something out of this.

[Marinos33]

For those interested parties following this saga, I just got off the phone with Toys 'R' Us corporate after I was friendly enough to give them a call.  I told my tale, as outlined in the letter, and needless to say the supervising corporate officer at the helm is probably pretty sweaty by now.  She was actually very nice, very sympathetic, and very alarmed about what has occurred.  She confirmed that corporate policy is to forbid bundles entirely, regardless of the difference between games, accessories, and warranties (warranty forced bundles are the most illegal of all bundles).  I also mentioned that I have referred the matter to the Louisiana Attorney General's office, which really got her attention, poor thing.  

So it looks like some heads will roll Monday morning.  That's when they promised they'll get back to me.  I'll update here as things progress.  Thanks for the support, except for Inigo Montoya, who can polish my knob.

America.  F*ck yeah.

[Marinos33]

I also sent this to the three holding companies who own Toys 'R' Us regarding bundling:
 
To the boards of Bain Capital Partners LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and Vornado Realty Trust:
 
I am passing along to you a document which I have brought to the attention of Toys 'R' Us corporate headquarters outlining the experience I had on Black Friday in the local Baton Rouge, LA Toys 'R' Us.  It describes in greater detail than this email how I was denied the ability to purchase a Wii console without the additional purchase of three games and a warranty, a policy that was potentially selectively enforced as well (pending investigation by Toys 'R' Us corporate).  
 
Since you collectively represent the conglomerate which owns Toys 'R' Us, I felt that it was only fair to bring the matter to your attention as well, especially given the potential for class-action litigation on behalf of customers forced to purchase bundles, depending on how widespread this occurence was at retail outlets throughout the United States and abroad.  
 
I also feel it is fair to express my only desired outcome of bringing this to your attention: that a formal, strict set of policies be given to every branch of Toys 'R' Us staff and management regarding the "tying-in" violation of anti-trust law that forced bundles represent to your customer base, and your sincere assurances that such practices will never occur again in any Toys 'R' Us retail outlets, including www.toysrus.com.  
 
I am sure that you will take this matter seriously, and swift action on your part will be the result of this contact.
 
Thank you for your attention.
 
Sincerely,

Marinos33





So we'll see what happens from that.  Probably nothing, but maybe these companies will finally get the hint that they should have just given me my damn Wii...

[FreakSho]

sorry to bring the ps3 into the topic but its a similar story, a friend in hawaii was tellin me that at a local best buy , an employee actually raised the price of a ps3 to 1,000 dollars, just out of nowhere decided to sell it at that price! thats outrageous

[evilkeo]

that's just fucked up. what the hell is the point of that? as an employee, what benefit do you see from raising the price? well, i guess he could get commission off of it, but would his manager give it to him? what's to stop him from changing the prices of everything?

[lowendfrequency]

QUOTE(Marinos33 @ Nov 25 2006, 12:12 PM)

And besides, Inigo Montoya, what's your excuse for apathy?  Busy playing YOUR Wii?  I don't have one, so I'm bored enough to drop the hammer.  

P.S. I'm actually from Troy N.Y., it's my in-laws who live in Baton Rouge.  So respect a fellow upstater, biotch!

     

Inigo is most definately playing his Wii, in upstate NY... big up.      

I absolutly feel you, and I'm not saying that your situation should be any less important.... but it's just the way things are.  The BS goes right up through the legal system.   I got hard conned on a 2004 STi once.  A painful $32,000 con.  I too dropped the hammer all over the place.  Got a lawyer, called the po, petitioned the attorney general and everything.  The answer I got from the po was to call the AG.  The AG office said they were too busy dealing with unfair gas hiking practices after the katrina scare and that they couldn't get to my case for at least 6 months.   So if I got the runaround on $32,000, I can only imagine that they'd scoff at something like a Wii.

I hope for your sake that Marcus Randall hand delivers a Wii to your house and apologizes on behalf of Toy's R Us and overprivelaged sport's personalities everywhere.  

Good luck and keep looking for the Wii's man, they'll be out there soon.

[Vfreitas]

QUOTE(evilkeo @ Nov 26 2006, 02:50 AM)

that's just fucked up. what the hell is the point of that? as an employee, what benefit do you see from raising the price? well, i guess he could get commission off of it, but would his manager give it to him? what's to stop him from changing the prices of everything?

It is very fucked up. I can't see a real point to it, other than the employee being a real dick, being misinformed,  or just wanting to get rid of as much inventory as possible in one sweep. I doubt they'd be making a commission off of anything other than warranty if they're lucky. I work retail, and I do inventory management, so I know what it's like being on the other side of the ordeal. Now I'm not saying the employee situation did the right thing, because I find it completely stupid, but that's beside the point. Shit like this does get out of control, but the worst part is your respect for customers slowly fades away when it becomes your job to sell things, as bad as that sounds.  And it's funny that you mention changing prices, in a store I once worked in, head managment jacked up prices on certain items that were extremely popular in the area. The store made a killing off of the items, and we only paid a few cents for them. The worst part is people just kept buying them. You sort of feel guilty being on that other side and knowing, but when your job is evaluated on sales, you tend to shrug it off.

[evilkeo]

QUOTE

Chicago's NBC 5 reported that over Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the busiest retail day of the year, Toys "R" Us' advertisement made no indication of any extra cost required to obtain Nintendo's hot new console.

In the case of one customer, the take-it-or-leave-it bundle required the purchase of the console, three games and an extended warranty.

A spokesperson for Toys "R" Us told NBC 5 that there wasn't anything wrong with the advertising itself, rather it was a simple misunderstanding. She added that customers should have been able to buy a Wii individually in stores, and a memo will be sent to outlets nationwide regarding the policy.

It's not much, but it's a start!

[Y26tav]

QUOTE(FreakSho @ Nov 26 2006, 07:54 AM)

sorry to bring the ps3 into the topic but its a similar story, a friend in hawaii was tellin me that at a local best buy , an employee actually raised the price of a ps3 to 1,000 dollars, just out of nowhere decided to sell it at that price! thats outrageous

That is price guoging and if you friend or any one he knows was fprced to pay this price and they still have evidence of it you could sue the company for price guogeing... I spelled that wrong