Xmas Shopping Round-up: EB Games & TTT
December 30th, 2010 by PotatoNot too much to report from this year’s round of holiday shopping. I managed to do about half of my shopping online, which was fantastic given the amount of snow we had in London, and how sick I was for a week there, both leading to a state of not wanting to leave the house.
A quick hiss at Toys Toys Toys in Fairview Mall (Toronto): they wouldn’t accept a manufacturer’s coupon for a boardgame, and they have a no returns policy. I may be a spoiled, decadent consumer for feeling entitled to a decent return policy, but right before xmas at a toy store? Toys may not be as hard to buy for someone as clothes, but it’s so easy to get the wrong thing for kids (or for a kid to end up with two of something), and have to take it back that a no-returns policy is just mean. On top of that, there was no warning from the cashier, just a sign posted at the check-out. (And to top it off, we do indeed find ourselves with a surplus Scrabble set – anyone know of any toy drives still accepting donations?)
A much longer fuck you goes out to EB games. Wayfare bought me a copy of Fallout New Vegas for the Xbox, which, unbeknownst to her, I played months ago on the PC. So back it goes. While they do have a return policy, the reality was that it failed. We got quite the run-around, which I’ll try to detail below, but the end result is that a full refund was not provided — Wayfare lost $5.50 just for the privilege of shopping at EB Games, and they were skeevy to boot. Fuck ’em.
The longer version starts at purchase: the clerk offered Wayfare some variety of store membership card, which she declined. The clerk said it wouldn’t cost her anything, and she still declined, but the clerk put it on anyway. Then we go to return the game, and the new clerk mumbles and fumbles for a bit about having to manually alter the price — we assume because it’s now boxing week and the current price is lower than the price she paid before. But no, as he processes the credit card for the return, we see that it’s not for the full amount, and not for the new sale price, either. He starts to explain how the card was non-refundable, and we’re confused — what card? He explains the card, and how it was rung up originally so that the end price for buying the game was the same if we kept it, but for the return the game came out cheaper with an added charge for the membership, which is non-refundable. Wayfare explains how she said she didn’t want it, that she never goes for memberships you have to pay for, so there must be a mistake and why can’t we return that too? He’s adamant that there’s nothing he can do about returning the membership, and that we’re out $5.50.
He says one reason why it’s not refundable is that we could have bought it, then run out to another EB games and used it to save 10% on used games, then tried to return it… I’m like wait, the membership gives you 10% off used games? Yes, just used games. So why, I ask, was the discount applied to this purchase, of a new game? “Oh,” he says, “that was a used copy of Fallout New Vegas.”
This is where it goes from being a rip-off story to a major skeeve-out. He’s already put the returned game away behind the counter so we can’t double-check, but no, Wayfare is sure she bought a new game. I swear there was nothing on the packaging to indicate it was used when I opened it — it was even shrink-wrapped (usually the used games have open cases with just a sticker to seal them). Two sets of eyes saw this game and believed it to be new, and EB is saying that it was actually a used game they sold her. Plus, it was at the same price all the other stores were selling the new copy for.
To sum up: rip-off return policy with a bizarre mandatory membership fee, and passing off used merchandise as new. Avoid EB Games.