BB employee: manager deceived Xbox 360 purchasers

ZeroCorpse, your a tool. I worked in retail once when i lived in tx. Circuitshitty for a couple months(BestBuy for like 10 days but i quit). The managers are always trying to get you to trick the customers into buying the warranty. It's the only way they make profits, tricking the consumer. Most of the employees are tools and go along with it.. trying to outsell the other employee, not realizing they are just putting money in their manager's pockets and get nothing. I remember last black friday, i had to work... haha i just stood around, told ppl we were sold out of things i didn't know or care about. I love it... i tricked the system. I rarely sold the dumbass warranty on computers and cameras.. making my managers pissed, but they couldn't really do anything, i knew my shit, i can answer any question the consumer has...... so anyways your a tool, probably always will be, and there is alot of ppl just like you, getting used by the retailer and then praising the same retailer endlessly.

What i would do is buy the bundle and return the shit you don't want. simple, no?

Same thing here in Butte county(california) the chico best buy did the same thing, had a 600 dollar pack and an 800 dollar one, i was told another one around 1000 or something but i didnt see that one....but hey they sold out...

My sister in-law works at Future Shop(Owned by Best Buy, pretty much same thing) and she heard that all the stores were told by microsoft reps that the ones to sell the most add-ons/accessories would be the first to get replenished.
This explains the managers forcing these bundles, its a big competition between stores to sell the most so they can get additional shipments.

I won't mention the retail chain I work at but it wasn't Best Buy or Circuit City. I will say, however, that we didn't force anyone to buy bundles. They got their system and went home. However, we also didn't do any reserves or holds. First in line were first to get their systems.

Thanks for the warnings, though. When I get my Revolution I'll be sure to watch who I buy from.

The Best Buy in Duluth, MN was actually going the other way. When I got in line I went up and talked with the guy in front who had a few conversations with the store manager.

Apparently, the manager at our store was going to try to put a deal together so he could sell the eight core systems they had with a hard drive and a few other accessories for $399, the same price as the premium units.

I was safely in the middle of the pack, and I forgot to ask the folks in back, so I have no idea if it came to be or what kind of deal they may have gotten.

I and 4 of my friends ( as well as the 200 or so people in line) had the same experiance in my best buy (store #483 in Rego Park Queens). Me and my friend were there at 5:30 pm monday night. There store was opening at 8am for the 360 launch tuesday. At around 9pm the store manager handed out tickets. THe people who were there at 7am that had those tickets were guaranteed a system....BUT HE THAN MENTIONED THAT YOU HAD TO BUY THE SYSTEM IN A BUNDLE. He than said the cheapest bundle for the premium system would be $634 + tax!!! We waited there because target was in the same mall and they said they were NOT doing bundles. Well target totally messed up because they didnt hand out tickets until 8am, and did it at the rooftop garage entrance (and no one announced this was happneing). So basically people who just showed up at 8am got cores at target (they only had 48 systems all cores) while the people who waited all night got nothing. Back to best buy, the manager handed out bundle flyers showing the different bundles...I knew it was shady right than because it was printed out in black and white on regular paper, with no real best buy logos and such. It was total bullshit. I have filed a complaint with the BBB, but I doubt that will get anywhere, I seroiusly thing a Class action lawsuit is in order.

Anyone remember back in the day, when a free game was included w/the new console? You could play Mario Bros, Sonic, Altered Beast, or Hang-on for a few days and then pick up more games when you felt like it - or had the cash. I'm not sure if it's the manufacturers or the retailers pushing for forced bundles, but either way, it's the wrong way to treat consumers.

My Best Buy told everyone who came asking for an Xbox 360 to show up Friday morning, they would be selling 30. Well, people showed up Friday morning, heard rumor that there were only a dozen for sale, and then found out after the store opened that there were NONE for sale. Everyone went home pissed off.

No complaints here about the local Best Buy (#119, Costa Mesa, CA). They had a midnight sale, where they sold part of their alotment (a little over half, if the leaked numbers are to be believed) and the rest Monday morning. I got in line around 10:30 AM, walked out as #43 with a premium unit by 20 past midnight.

There was certainly no talk of bundles. In fact, I had bought accessories and games before that night, so I only picked up King Kong in addition to the unit that night.

Folks further back in the line only got cores, when the rumor was everyone might be getting premiums that had waited all day. After all, if you're that hardcore to wait all day, why would you settle for a core? They were clearly reserving premiums for the next day, but I don't see a problem with that.

I can't say this has tarnished my Best Buy experience at all. I'm going back there tonight actually. Different stores, different managers, different way of doing business I guess.

Same thing here at Best Buy.
Newport News, VA

The small local stores in my area (Des Moines, IA) are selling it as a bundle and when asked about it they responded that they HAD to sell them as bundles because that is how they bought them from microsoft. Also they said that Microsoft TOLD them that they HAD to sell the system in a bundle.

Unfortunately what most people do not know is that Retailers pay exactly what you pay for that xbox 360. My cost is 299 and 399 if i can even get them. My allotment was 0. I had to buy my xboxes by standing in line at a local sams club.

Blame microsoft for selling it with no margins. If the stupid thing costs 400 to make then sell it at 500.

When I was at the Montclair, CA Best Buy during the PSP launch, the goons came out handing out flyers saying that the only PSP available were in bundles.

That got people pissed. I don't think the forced bundling practice is isolated. It's happening all over at different Best Buys.

I work for Circuit City and I ran the Xbox 360 launch event in my store. We did not sell bundled packages at all, and anyone who says that their store did is full of shit unless that store took it upon itself to be douchebags. Hell, my store didn't even get more than like, 3 accessories in until around 2pm that day because they were shipped directly via UPS (how retarded is that?)

Well... I didn't run into anything quite this bad. However, my friend and I spoke with someone at Best Buy 2 or 3 times in the month leading up to the 360's release. 2 of those times we spoke to a manager of some department. Both of these managers told us that they would not allow anybody to start waiting until they closed their doors the night before. So we planned accordingly. On Monday another friend of ours called the store and he was told that people were already waiting outside. By the time we got there around 7:30 or so, there were at least 50 people there already. Needless to say, we were quite upset. Apparently one guy was there at 10 am and more started to come steadily around 4 pm. We complained to customer service and 888-BEST-BUY with no success. They kept telling us that they couldn't make people leave and couldn't control the line. While I guess I can't really blame them for not making people leave, it is not a public building and they are able to. Furthermore, they can definitely control when people start lining up. In the end, we went to the Target in the same shopping plaza and successfully purchased 360s. I'm sorta happy about it, I hate Best Buy with a passion and I didn't want to shop there anyways.

Wow, the same thing happened here in las vegas. I spent 12 hours in line in the cold in front of best buy. Then at around 6AM they came out of the store and gave everyone a sheet of paper with bundle packages on them. On the bottom it clearly stated that you MUST buy a bundle and they will not sell the console by itself. Let me tell you that everyone in line was PISSED! Luckily for us though, there was a FOX 5 news van parked close by doing a story on the xbox. So a couple of us went to the reporter, showing her the paper they were handing out along with the Ad that clearly shows the $399/$299 prices for the console by itself. The reporter stood outside of the store with the camera guy pointing to the ad and the flyer, looking at the manager. After a while the manager sent some lackey to come out and tell everyone that the flyer was wrong and they were going to sell the consoles by themselves all along...Yeah right!

Friggin best buy trying to stick it to the man, they were trying to recover from the threat of bad PR by giving out $10 gift cards to people waiting in line, and they also sent out all thier employees to applaud the people waiting in line, it was the most shameless thing I have ever seen.

Wow, the same thing happened here in las vegas. I spent 12 hours in line in the cold in front of best buy. Then at around 6AM they came out of the store and gave everyone a sheet of paper with bundle packages on them. On the bottom it clearly stated that you MUST buy a bundle and they will not sell the console by itself. Let me tell you that everyone in line was PISSED! Luckily for us though, there was a FOX 5 news van parked close by doing a story on the xbox. So a couple of us went to the reporter, showing her the paper they were handing out along with the Ad that clearly shows the $399/$299 prices for the console by itself. The reporter stood outside of the store with the camera guy pointing to the ad and the flyer, looking at the manager. After a while the manager sent some lackey to come out and tell everyone that the flyer was wrong and they were going to sell the consoles by themselves all along...Yeah right!

Friggin best buy trying to stick it to the man, they were trying to recover from the threat of bad PR by giving out $10 gift cards to people waiting in line, and they also sent out all thier employees to applaud the people waiting in line, it was the most shameless thing I have ever seen.

I got mine through a Walmart (the website actually - I hate actually talking to their old people workforce). And, as advertised, they were selling bundles where you'd have to pick a system, get some stuff and some games. I picked my games - Perfect Dark Zero, Call of Duty 2, and DOA4 - and that was that. This was back in September. Mine arrived in the mail on launch, with minimum damage (the Call of Duty case and Perfect Dark Special Edition's sleeve were a lttle busted up).tte best part? They didn't even change DOA4 to something else when it was delayed; it's on the way Dec.1st.

They didn't change policy at the last minute, but yea - at the end of the day, I spent about $600 for the 360. I also was forced to get a Core System for the bundle I wanted, and the Perfect Dark Limited Edition (I just wanted the normal version) - which blows...but mostly, it's what I wanted

Still paying it off:)

It seems Best Buy's policy has become Bait and Switch. Can't buy a computer at the listed price unless you purchase AOL for a year (even when the ads don't mention it) And calls to corporate usually end withan "oh well, Don't buy from us"

I think someone needs to put this in check. And as much as i hate the idea. Someone needs to sue them. "you are so sued!"

Same here. Chicago. Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit, you name it. They had units, I could see them in the back. Sales associates instructed by their managers to sell Core systems @ $600 and premium systems at @800, neither including a game. I couldn't get one, I'm still my playing old xbox. I'm heated, frustrated, ebay's ridiculous, suckers keep the overpricing going. I have to holiday shop for others soon, don't want to go the selfish route and pop $500+ on myself, that's not what the holidays are about. Any detailed info on the "weekly shipments" of units would be deeply appreiciated.

Never told anyone anything at our best buy! People got what they payed for! 399 or 299 make your pick. No scams at store #327 in lafayette, IN. We just sold out with vouchers at the door. Simple as that.

Hope some faith is restored in Best Buy