Just suffice it to say that Toys R Us is, { Start Valley Girl mode } like, totally about stoopid. { End Valley Girl mode }
A few weeks ago I did the buy 2 get the third game (equal or lesser price) free deal while they were running it as a big sale. I didn't even think to really look at the receipt for the games, just looked at the total I was signing for (the important part), and signed for same after confirming that I had up to 45 days to bring back any of the games I didn't want as long as they were unopened and as long as I had the receipt. Honestly I probably would have missed the sale completely if not for some friends on the net ranting and raving about it and how it was a great opportunity to stock up on some games (for any system, not just for the Xbox 360).
The friends had planned out buying three games they may or may not have wanted and with the intention being to get some games during the sale and perhaps take some back to exchange for the titles they really wanted later on (when those titles were newly released). Especially important given the fact that at the time of the sale Gears of War, Call of Duty 3, Rainbow Six: Las Vegas and other big titles of the season weren't out yet, but would be soon.
Well, today I took back one of the 3 games, actually one of the 2 that I didn't want to keep - NHL 2K7 - and asked to exchange it for Gears of War. Can't do it sir. Huh?!? Can't do it because NHL 2K7 was the *free* game. I was stunned. They wouldn't take it back because they had choosen to make that game the free game for me. I never asked for or specified which would be free, and they rang them in just any old order. If I had known to choose, I would have picked the one game I wanted to keep (Saints Row) as my free game choice.
The customer service girl, as in young lady between ages of approximately 17 and 24 (by appearances) couldn't help me. I was about to leave the store after demanding her name please so I could chew them (the local Toys R Us store) out via their corporate offices when I opted for one last possible solution -- get the manager please. Manager came, took the game and receipt, went to vid game department, spoke with a minion there that I had seen working at the customer service desk yesterday when I went to make the exchange and found that they didn't have Gears of War in stock yet (delivery problems in my area). Manager came back, said they shouldn’t do the exchange but would do it by changing the price on the "free" item to the original $59.99 price.
From there they credited the credit card that I used for the original purchase (which will still take about a week to really show up) and sent me on my merry way to pick up the copy of Gears of War that I wanted. Never mind that they could have, and should have, just given me an even exchange since the prices were the same. Just total stupidity and hassles to get a simple task accomplished.
On the plus side, the other game that I still have intentions of exchanging (unopened) clearly *wasn't* the free game, so I shouldn't have any hassles with it.
Either way, all of the above reminds me of why I *hate* buying games and such at Toys R Us. It never goes as smoothly as it should.
Props though (somewhat belatedly, and probably only half-heartedly) to the local Gamestop. They didn't get (at least not in the time during my stops by the place) my copy of Call of Duty 3 for the 360 yesterday. They also didn't get, thanks to big shipping snafu's, any copies of Gears of War until very late. They had up a sign offering $5.00 off Gears of War price because of the failed delivery by promised date. No mention of Call of Duty 3 for the 360 though. When I went to pick up COD3 they weren't going to offer the $5.00 off on it but I pressed just a little and the manager told the clerk to gib it up.
While I really wish they'd have had the game on time and saved me the time and trouble (and gas money) of the running around yesterday trying to pick it up, I'm grateful that they did give me the few $$ discount on the game. I put the $$ towards purchase of the game guide. Not that I ever actually think to look at those things after I get 'em, but I can't resist the 20% off at time of purchase of the game deal. With that 20% off, and the $5.00 discount on the sale, the guide was *almost* free.
