August 20, 2007
Sometimes words just don't seem like enough...
Ok, normally I wouldn't bother writing about something so ridiculous, but I had an experience at Electronics Boutique last week that totally blew my mind.
Now, I have to admit that I normally love EB, as with the exception of picking up titles from rental stores, like Ballbusters, it's the only reasonably close place to pick up used games, a practice that I've really come to enjoy over the past few years.
There's actually something immensely satisfying about being one console generation behind (well, except in the case of Playstation 2, which still seems to be producing hot and heavy new titles). But in the case of the original Xbox, EB is like a haven of cheap games that I had always wanted try, but never had the budget to invest in.
One good example is Tom Clancy's "Splinter Cell" series, which friends have been telling me to try out for what seems like years and years.
So, the other day I'm poking around in the used Xbox section of EB when I come across the original Splinter Cell for $6.99, as well as the sequels "Chaos Theory" and "Pandora Tomorrow" for $8.99 and $14.99 respectively. They didn't have the Xbox version of the most recent Splinter Cell, "Double Agent", for the original Xbox, but that's ok, I figured that if I liked the series, I could pick up Double Agent for the Wii at some future point.
However, I'm feeling a little cheap and figure it's better to find out if I actually like the series before investing in more than just the original, so I head up to the cash register with a $6.99 "Platinum Hits" copy of Splinter Cell in hand when I notice a sign about a discount sale on Xbox titles.
The lady at the register notes my attention and tells me about the sale: "Two Xbox tiles priced from $9.99 to $14.99 for $20.00 or two Xbox titles priced from $14.99 to $19.99 for $30". "Zowie!" I thought! For $20, I might as well pick up Chaos Theory and Pandora Tomorrow, so I go back and grab the two titles and head up to the cash, giddy with thoughts of tactical espionage action overload dancing in my head!
I plop the games on the counter and tell the clerk that I'd like the Chaos and Pandora as the 2 for $20 special and the $6.99 original at full price, she looks and down and tells me that she can't do that. Slightly puzzled, I enquire as to why, to which she replies that because Chaos Theory is marked at $8.99 it doesn't qualify as part of the discount, which is only for titles that are $9.99 to $14.99.
I rolled my eyes and said "Why don't you just mark it up by a dollar?" to which I received a huge explanation about how the computer sets all the prices like some sort of used video game stock market where the prices fluctuate to set prices for games that must absolutely be adhered to (unless of course you've done your research and have found a title for less at another store).
The really troubling part came when she looked at the titles and told me that "It's alright, the cost of the two titles is still less than 20 dollars." At this point my brain sort of got a little fuzzy (which tends to happen when I'm exposed to such extreme stupidity) all I remember is muttering something about "ummmm, no, $8.99 and $14.99 is actually 24 dollars, well, $23.98 if you want to be precise and either way, that's certainly not ~less~ than 20 dollars and that's fine, I'll just take the $6.99 original…"
I guess what really added insult to injuring was finding a $4.99 copy of the original Splinter Cell at Ballbuster a couple of hours later when I stopped in to find out about their disc resurfacing policy (for my currently chewed up copy of Halo), the non-liability of which is absolutely hilarious. Basically, even if and employee purposefully decides to take your repaired game disc and put it into his or her pocket, Ballbuster assumes no liability other than to return your $3.99 disc repair fee. No wonder they're able to sell a used copy of Splinter Cell at $4.99, it's still a dollar profit for them after they stole it from some unsuspecting kid that only went in to get his disc fixed after his sister used it for a drink coaster by accident!
April 2008