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GameStop To Fill 360 Preorders by February

Posted by Zonk on from the like-hotcakes dept.

Gamespot reports that retailer GameStop expects to fill of of its Xbox 360 preorders by the end of February. From the article: "Gamers who thought they were getting the jump on the Xbox 360 shortage by preordering the system from retailers may have unknowingly stung themselves. Some of those who put down money up front for the next-gen console are still without their systems, as Microsoft continues to struggle to keep enough 360s in the channel to satisfy customers."

40 comments

  1. Sting Back by ivan256 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ask for a refund.

    If you're not going to get your console until the shortage is over, why should they get to keep your money until then. These stores should be punished for selling pre-orders before they knew the final pricing of the console, the release date, or whether they were going to be able to fulfill those pre-orders. Don't let them get away with it, and ask for your money back.

    Also, next time, if they can't tell you exactly what day you're going to get your item when they're selling you the pre-order, don't buy the pre-order! These stores only get away with this shit because we let them.

    1. Re:Sting Back by MBCook · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I agree completely. If they didn't have my console on launch day and that was when they told me they would have it, I would almost certainly ask for my money back. At most, I would give them a week to produce my console. At that point, I would get my money back. They didn't hold up their end of the bargain.

      They are holding your money, making interest on it, not giving you the benefit of that interest, and not giving you your console.

      Take the money, and go look at Costco, Target, Wal*Mart, Toys R Us, EB Games (that haven't become Gamestop's yet), Babbages (owned by GameStop), Radio Shack, ANYWHERE. But the console where you can find it, and keep checking until you find one. If GameStop is the first to get it in and let you buy it, then they can have your money.

      But don't let them hold your money for free.

      I like my local GameStop, but I wouldn't put up with this. I didn't back when Chips & Bits gave me the runaround about the Virtual Boy I ordered, and I would now.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    2. Re:Sting Back by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I found myself in a similar situation at the DS launch. I preordered one at my local EB and, once they came in, I was called and told that, because of the demand for the console, they weren't going to let me have the DS I paid for unless I also paid for their "extended warranty."

      I got a refund instead and bought my DS in Wal-Mart.

    3. Re:Sting Back by The+Eagle+Maint · · Score: 2, Interesting

      As someone who worked for EB Games until recently, I have to say - if you ever have this happen again or anything like it, ask for the customer service number, take down the name of the person telling you that and file a complaint about them. That is strictly against company policy and I can assure you they would be severely reprimanded for that. I say this having left because I was sick of lying to customers to get sales, as this tactic isn't really that rare - but if you say something, you can be sure they will get in trouble for it.

    4. Re:Sting Back by LoRdTAW · · Score: 1

      Screw the big chains. Everyone and there brother will first goto the big chains in search of one. Go check your local mom and pop toy stores. I got my 360 four days before christmas with the games I wanted.

    5. Re:Sting Back by crazed · · Score: 1

      I work at an EBGames when I go back home for breaks and whatnot. Your experience working for or shopping at an EBGames really depends on the Store Manager. There are some which will take the easy road and tell their employees to lie and steal their customers' money. There are others - thankfully I have one like this - which cut you a little more slack as far as numbers go and let you be fair and honest with your customers. Most of my store's customers leave well informed about the different services we offer, and many are repeat customers. I personally tell - I never push, a happy customer is a better customer in my opinion - every customer about extended warranties and gameplay guarantees. Personally, I don't buy them, but that's because I take good care of my stuff, but there some people don't and for them 3 bucks isn't all that much to protect their game discs from their greasy fingers and grimy console drive trays. I don't have some kind of huge ego because I have a crummy job at a videogame store. I don't pretend to know everything about videogames - because I don't - I'm just telling it how it is at my store. Chances are there are others like mine.

      As for 360 preorders...at my store, we make sure every preorder customer knows that their money is refundable, we're not out to 'get' anyone. After we got about 30 preorders we made sure every customer know that there was a big chance they wouldn't get one on release, and after about 50, we told them not to expect theirs until after the holidays. You know what, people kept on buying. I can't give you an exact number - because I don't know - but we're a strip mall store next to a grocery store in suburban NJ, yet we still got 120ish preorders. And last week we had about 60 to go. I don't see how Gamestop seems to think they'll pull this off by the end of February, because as far as I know, M$ controls the shipments.

      Seems like an empty promise to me, but what do I care? I preordered mine in May. When you're supposed to.

    6. Re:Sting Back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not like I can buy one anywhere else right now, which is the ONLY reason I still have a "preorder" at Gamestop. I would have pulled my 50 bucks weeks ago if there were any other alternative. It's literally impossible to pick one up at any other store because the town (Seattle) is completely dry.

    7. Re:Sting Back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is worse than that. They don't only make interest on your money:

      * They make interest
      * They make their fiscal year look better
      * They prevent you giving your money to a competitor
      * They augment their volume of purchase to get a better deal without inverstin any money
      * They wait until microsoft lower their price to distributor before giving you your console

      Pre-order is a rip off. If you don't get your stuff the day they promise, you must get you money back with excuses and some voucher.

    8. Re:Sting Back by Guppy06 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      "if you ever have this happen again or anything like it, ask for the customer service number, take down the name of the person telling you that and file a complaint about them."

      No. It's on them to earn my money, and if the company can't be bothered to see for itself whether or not its policies are being enforced, then why should I do their job for them?

      Customer service is not a substitute for management.

    9. Re:Sting Back by SleepyHappyDoc · · Score: 1

      They are holding your money, making interest on it, not giving you the benefit of that interest, and not giving you your console.

      Interesting point. Can we charge THEM interest, due to their failure to hold up their end of the contract? It's obviously no longer a pre-order (as they stated it would be when we laid down our money), if fulfillment is taking place three months after release.

      --
      Stasis is death. Embrace change.
    10. Re:Sting Back by ivan256 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but if you can't get one from gamestop until the shortage is over anyway, why should they get to keep your $50 in the meantime. You could have your $50, and stick it to them a little bit, and still get your console on practically the same day you would have otherwise.

    11. Re:Sting Back by Generic+Guy · · Score: 1
      next time, if they can't tell you exactly what day you're going to get your item when they're selling you the pre-order, don't buy the pre-order!

      Is this the time to use my Nelson voice and say: Ha ha! ?

      Anyway, I guess I've been around the block enough times to know better than to pre-order anything anymore. But there is always a new generation of high schoolers who they can go take advantage of.

      It *used to be* that pre-orders were a way for the store and manufacturer to guage interest in a product, and make sure there were enough units for everyone who might want it on release day. Nowadays, it seems to simply be a way to have a "hook" into your customer so that they don't want to shop another store. The ATI "includes Half Life 2" fiasco and this Xbox360 'shortage' crap are prime examples, and there are scores of other less-remembered ones. I think two months after release the fact that some folks still don't have their machine (and plenty of other folks who didn't pre-order do have one) should underscore how badly pre-orders have become a scam and should be ringing loudly in everyone's head.

      --
      { - Generic Guy - }
    12. Re:Sting Back by apoc06 · · Score: 1

      you actually "bought" a virtual boy...

      wow... most people dont have the guts to admit it.

    13. Re:Sting Back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      It's on them to earn my money, and if the company can't be bothered to see for itself whether or not its policies are being enforced, then why should I do their job for them?

      Are you done stomping around and shouting? Do you feel better now?

      The reality is that they aren't going to spend the resources on P.I. work for every individual store. Even the fast food industry, generally known for some of the worst service around, only employs a very few secret shoppers. It is hard to justify in low-margin businesses, and GameStop, EB, Etc all get very little from new retail products (hence bundles, extended "warranties", etc). What they have done is set up a national customer service center to take complaints.

      I understand how you feel, you simply take your business elsewhere. But to really stick it to 'em, get the customer service number and file a complaint. Then borrow your relative's phone number and do it again. And again. You still needn't shop there, but you can also twist the blade a bit.

  2. Xbox 360 owners are tards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    How're the overheated power supply, scratched disks, and POS shit games treating you, Xbox 360 owners? Admit it, you regret your purchase don't you?

    1. Re:Xbox 360 owners are tards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      You dumb cocksucker. I purchased my 360 the day they came out and I've had no trouble with it so far...plus I like the games I've been playing on it.

    2. Re:Xbox 360 owners are tards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, I hear Geometry Wars is pretty good.

    3. Re:Xbox 360 owners are tards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is :)

    4. Re:Xbox 360 owners are tards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't regret it. I got my 360 on launch day and have had zero problems.

    5. Re:Xbox 360 owners are tards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bravo!

      You're making the liddle xbots cry...

  3. Cancelations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    People are canceling their orders for 360s en masse.

    The 360 has almost fallen off the face of the Earth in consumer minds. Everyone is interested in PS2, GameCube, DS, and PSP stuff. I haven't seen the holiday PS2 numbers yet, but PS2 systems and games are flying off our shelves at an insane rate. DQ VIII, RE 4, Shadow of the Collossus, and so on. GameCube bundles are also moving at a rapid rate, though nowhere near PS2 numbers.

    Both the shrinking Xbox section and the 360 demo console are like "what's wrong with this picture" things in the console section. You will occasionally see someone playing the CoD demo when they are waiting for someone else - that is if the thing hasn't crashed. And crash the 360 does like no other system I've ever seen. Microsoft must have pretty much passed anything through QA or the 360 hardware is just fundementally fucked.

    The 360 just screams 'cancelation' from Microsoft.

    Just check how low the prices are on eBay for a system that has shipped only 600k units to see first hand the almost complete lack of consumer interest.

    1. Re:Cancelations by Taulin · · Score: -1, Troll

      If I had mod points, I would have voted the parent up. While I only personally knew one person who cared enough about 360 to get one (and sell one on eBay), it seems the general push and excitement was strangled by the same force that made the launch so dramatic. MS knew a lack of stock would make the product exciting, but I don't think they thought about the after shock of people caring less about the system if they can't get to see it or get their hands on it. The major thing for me concerning all next gen consoles is the almost need to have a HD tv to get the benifits of these systems.

    2. Re:Cancelations by natedog44 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Microsoft must have pretty much passed anything through QA or the 360 hardware is just fundementally fucked.

      Okaaaaay.

      Do you even own a 360? I do, and it's a VERY solid system (it hasn't crashed once)

      They've only shipped 600k units because that's all they've been able to make so far. If they'd been able to make more, they'd have sold more.

      I'll in programming terms.... max(sales) <= Supply.total

    3. Re:Cancelations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      "I do, and it's a VERY solid system (it hasn't crashed once) "

      Shut the fuck up idiot.

      The Dreamcast 360 has:

      1) Crashes due to manufacturing defects due to cooling and power supply issues

      2) Game crashes - PGR3 is probably the worst POS of the existing titles, but it isn't the only one

      3) System crashes - there are well known and reproducible crashes in the 360 system software itself

      4) Online crashes - there are well known and reproducible crashes when trying to talk people while playing games

      I'll be generous and leave out the claimed 'backwards compatibility' game crashes.

      The 360 is a COMPLETE PIECE OF SHIT. It has rightfully died in the marketplace.

    4. Re:Cancelations by crazed · · Score: 1

      Who are you to tell him what problems he personally does or does not experience?! And you really get your point across with the foul language! Thanks for contributing to the general crappiness that is the Slashdot Audience, AC!!

    5. Re:Cancelations by Taulin · · Score: 1

      I still stand by those statements despite being marked as a troll. The beauty found in most of the 360 games, like DOA, is lost on standard televisions, making the system moot. This is probably going to be true for the PS3 and Rev also, and this makes me sad. One reason is it is another proof that developers are putting more time into graphics than game, which we all agree with. And I also stand by my statement that lack of inventory will now hurt MS as much as it helped them at the 360 launch.

  4. So ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So ...

    The whole point of a Pre-Order system is to ensure that you recieve a product on the first day that it is released; that is you provide a deposit for (or outright purchase) a system well in advance of its release so that you don't have to wait or deal with shortage.

    Now Gamespot decides to take in far more pre-orders than they have systems to fill those orders and is now saying they will have filled those orders by February; thus they failed to live up to their end of the contract. Why on earth would you pre-order anything from them ever again?

    Does anyone else remember the Seinfeld episode where he reserved a car, and the car rental company didn't have the car he reserved? Yeah, this is kinda like that.

    1. Re:So ?!? by Destoo · · Score: 1

      As a penny arcade reader told Tycho, if you preorder just the console, you'll be bumped by people preordering the console plus extra stuff.

      One way to make sure you get the console on launch: Preorder with a shitload of accessories.
      You generate more revenue for them.

      --
      Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
    2. Re:So ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Now Gamespot decides ...
      What has Gamespot to do with this?
    3. Re:So ?!? by apoc06 · · Score: 1

      er... you mean preorder the console and a bunch of accessories, and then cancel or return the accessories when you go to pick up your console. =)

  5. Yeah, considering... by Hamster+Lover · · Score: 1

    I would get a refund. I live in Calgary and I would guess that all the EB Games locations are sold out. I happened to be in BestBuy maybe a week ago and they had a small supply of 360s available, so why waste your time?

    What is the point of a pre-ordering if you can pick up a console at another store well in advance of your pre-order arriving?

    1. Re:Yeah, considering... by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd also recommend that in the future when one of these companies recommends pre-ordering, you remind them of this fiasco.

      Stop doing the Manager's job (figuring out what to order) for him.

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
  6. GameStop == Satan by smaffei · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is mostly GameStop's fault. I put in a $50 pre-order in at FYE 2 weeks before Christmas and my $600 bundle arrived on Dec 24th.

    GameStop has been giving web orders of their utimate bundles priorty over in-store pre-orders of just the console. Nothing but pure greed on their part is the cause of their backlog.

    Anyway, who's stupid enough to give anyone full payment for something months in advance? I know some people want one bad, but where is the common sense? I guess that's why it's called "bait and switch."

    --
    Sure, Windows PCs dominate the market. But so do cheap toupees.
  7. meanwhile gamestop makes a cool 6% apr on preorder by Hadlock · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do you get 3% off of your Xbox when they finally deliver it to you, since you let them sit on your (collective) 3 Billion dollars in preorders for 6 months? 6% is a pretty low number, I bet they make closer to 18% on new stores that are built in the long run on that money you helped them "invest" with for 6 months...
     
    I never preorder. I'll collect interest on my money, thanks.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  8. By March... by Jim+Hall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    GameStop To Fill 360 Preorders by February

    Actually, they expect to fill the pre-orders by end of February which means the title is a bit mis-leading. Should read:

    GameStop to Fill 360 Preorders by March

    (Sorry for the rant)

  9. Silver lining? by Otis2222222 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The one thing that I hope comes out of this fiasco is that people will start to realize what a crappy deal pre-ordering is. Maybe when the PS3 comes out people that got burned by the 360 pre-order will start to refuse to buy bundles. Forcing people to buy bundles is the scourge of the console industry, in my opinion. I'm hoping companies like GameStop really take it in the shorts the next time a big console launches. They probably would never admit it, but I bet they knew damn well that there wouldn't be enough consoles to meet pre-order demands but they continued to take the orders anyway. Weren't they one of the companies that started taking pre-orders for DNF five years ago?

  10. Confusing/Funny Title... by Not-a-Neg · · Score: 1

    Did anybody else read the title as: "Gamestop to fill 360(three hundred and sixty) preorders by February".

    Their business must really be hurting if it's going to take them that long to fill a few hundred preorders.

    --
    -==- Buy a Mac and leave me alone!
  11. oh B.S. by GmAz · · Score: -1, Troll

    Microsoft is just stupid. They have the means to produce so many more 360's than they have. I know they don't produce them themselves, but come on. Its a freaking computer for crying out loud. They are probably only making so many to wait for hackers to hack the 360 so they can impliment new security or DRM on their games to screw over previous owners that modded their box. I have an XBox now. I am not a fan on the play station. And I don't plan on buying a 360 either.

    --
    Click Click Bloody Click PANCAKES!
  12. M$ by the+computer+guy+nex · · Score: 1

    "Microsoft is just stupid. They have the means to produce so many more 360's than they have."

    They may be stupid, but they haven't made many mistakes with the 360. It is hardly their fault that other manufacturers aren't keeping up with their SLA's.

  13. It could be worse.. by Channard · · Score: 1

    .. some poor sods in the UK who pre-ordered from Special Reserve, a UK online retailer, paid in full for their consoles. And the company then went bust, leaving those who hadn't paid via credit card £270 out of pocket.