A good weekend, with one exception
Despite what I said yesterday, some cleaning did get done, and there was some yummy cooking performed by both of us. We both enjoyed our respective games, though rainbow_slinky has been trying to convince me that getting my own DS would be good so then we could game together. Which is apopealing, but I need to convince myself that getting another game system in addition to the laptop, the PS2, and the Gamecube is a good idea.
The only bad thing from the weekend was dealing with Circuit City. One of Mel's games didn't work on the DS. It kept dying at exactly the same spot each time, so we took it back to get an exchange. Got it home, tried it out and the exact same thing happened. So either the store got a bad batch or there was some odd bug in her DS that kept just didn't like the Sims but did like the other games. So after it happened the second time, we decided to just return it and not deal with the hassle of trying to find one that finally worked. The first exchange was done by Mel when I waited in the car with Tugger (he demanded to go with us), so I wasn't privy to that conversation but when I came in and explained what we wanted, the girl at the counter recognized that this was the same game and issue she saw earlier in the day. Just 4 or so hours earlier. She offered to exchange the game for another copy to try that out and I explained that we had done it twice already and didn't want to dance with it any more. Just wanted to return it. She then proceeded to tell me with a straight face that due to copyright law they couldn't take back games because someone might have copied it. I'm not sure what expression I had on my face at that, but I think I was amused at that idea, since it would also make renting games illegal and yet many places seem to be doing just that. I pointed that out to her and she kept insisting that it was the law. I tried to help her by differentiating copyright law and store policy but she stuck to her guns. Eventually she offered to give me a gift card for the refund amount, but would not just give me the money. I asked to see her manager and he came over with the same story about how that was the law and their hands were tied. I finally got pissed and gave up over the stupidity, took the gift card, and left vowing that the $20 on the card would be the last money I ever spent at Circuit City.
And that is the stupid thing. The day before we spent over $250 on the DS, games, and a few other things. The one game we wanted to return was $20. They were still ahead of the game, and with friendly customer service they would help encourage repeat business. But due to their lies about the law, and miserly clinging to that $20 sale they have ensured that I won't be back there. And I'm the demographic they salivate over- 35, male, geekily inclined, with disposable income. I'm writing their corporate office over it, and contemplating filing a Better Business Bureau complaint. I can understand a store policy of not accepting open software, but this was defective, and repeatedly so. But the thing that really pissed me off was their lies about copyright law preventing them from accepting returns.
In retrospect, if we didn't mind wasting an afternoon, we should have brought the DS in to their return counter and just blown through their entire stock of the Sims right there. Exchanging one, opening it up and trying it out there, see it error out, exchange it, and repeat until they did not have any more. Then when they couldn't exchange it, ask for a refund, and let them deal with the paperwork to fill out and any expenses on their opened inventory. The vindictive bastard in me would find that extremely satisfying.
The only bad thing from the weekend was dealing with Circuit City. One of Mel's games didn't work on the DS. It kept dying at exactly the same spot each time, so we took it back to get an exchange. Got it home, tried it out and the exact same thing happened. So either the store got a bad batch or there was some odd bug in her DS that kept just didn't like the Sims but did like the other games. So after it happened the second time, we decided to just return it and not deal with the hassle of trying to find one that finally worked. The first exchange was done by Mel when I waited in the car with Tugger (he demanded to go with us), so I wasn't privy to that conversation but when I came in and explained what we wanted, the girl at the counter recognized that this was the same game and issue she saw earlier in the day. Just 4 or so hours earlier. She offered to exchange the game for another copy to try that out and I explained that we had done it twice already and didn't want to dance with it any more. Just wanted to return it. She then proceeded to tell me with a straight face that due to copyright law they couldn't take back games because someone might have copied it. I'm not sure what expression I had on my face at that, but I think I was amused at that idea, since it would also make renting games illegal and yet many places seem to be doing just that. I pointed that out to her and she kept insisting that it was the law. I tried to help her by differentiating copyright law and store policy but she stuck to her guns. Eventually she offered to give me a gift card for the refund amount, but would not just give me the money. I asked to see her manager and he came over with the same story about how that was the law and their hands were tied. I finally got pissed and gave up over the stupidity, took the gift card, and left vowing that the $20 on the card would be the last money I ever spent at Circuit City.
And that is the stupid thing. The day before we spent over $250 on the DS, games, and a few other things. The one game we wanted to return was $20. They were still ahead of the game, and with friendly customer service they would help encourage repeat business. But due to their lies about the law, and miserly clinging to that $20 sale they have ensured that I won't be back there. And I'm the demographic they salivate over- 35, male, geekily inclined, with disposable income. I'm writing their corporate office over it, and contemplating filing a Better Business Bureau complaint. I can understand a store policy of not accepting open software, but this was defective, and repeatedly so. But the thing that really pissed me off was their lies about copyright law preventing them from accepting returns.
In retrospect, if we didn't mind wasting an afternoon, we should have brought the DS in to their return counter and just blown through their entire stock of the Sims right there. Exchanging one, opening it up and trying it out there, see it error out, exchange it, and repeat until they did not have any more. Then when they couldn't exchange it, ask for a refund, and let them deal with the paperwork to fill out and any expenses on their opened inventory. The vindictive bastard in me would find that extremely satisfying.