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RitualOfTheTrout - Sep 6, 2005
  RitualOfTheTrout Sep 6, 2005
My friend bought a Nintendo DS at EB games. After getting home and playing it he noticed that it had a dead pixel. It was kinda in the way of gameplay so we took it back to get an exchange.

While there for the exchange the guy said he needed to buy a waranty for it to be covered again should something else like this happen so he did. Back in the car on the way home he fires it up only to find that this one also has a dead pixel right in the center of the screen. So we turn around and go back to the store to return this one aswell.

This time around, the guy says that he cant take it back and exchange it. (EVen though 30 minutes ago he urged him to pay for a waranty to cover this incase it happens again) The guy then goes on to say that Nintendo does not cover the screens, and that chances are after 6 months of playing it the pixel will start working normally.

So my friend says, well can I at least have my old DS back since the dead pixel was not nearly as noticeable. The guy gives him a rough time about it but then decides to do it. We both figure hes going to go into the back to get the original DS. NO! He goes and takes a box off the shelf and hands it to him. It is indeed the original one he brought back only it is all wrapped up and has stickers and what not on it. Its for sale on the rack as NEW! A defective product which was used for about a week or 2 was on the shelf as NEW.

To me that is just wrong, I dont know about you but if im paying the 129 for a new console it better be new. On top of that to my knowledge if a pixel is dead, it stays dead. So the guy was lying about that also.

Probably what is going ot happen is he is just going to get his money back for it and just go purchase it elsewhere.

I know if I ever go to buy a new system it wont be from the ebay games in my area....

 tsumake Sep 6, 2005
Sigh...yes, it is questionable. Of course, if you just bought it and returned, it is stil "new" to some degree, if it isn't scratched. The man is being lazy, like a lot of people are, so all one can say is that this stuff happens. You should try to find a store where the workers are nice and are actually gamers.

 Malakai Sep 6, 2005
Actually, I'm pretty sure this practice is illegal. Returned items, for whatever reason, have to be marked "Refurbished" or "Returned Item" on them. That doesn't mean this kind of stuff doesn't happen often, and one example I remember is this small chain (2-3 stores) video game shop that I used to buy and trade games in often with. Anyway, I was suspicious that he was re-wrapping the games and selling them as new, because the packaging just didn't look professionally done.

So, I asked the guy if he had the equipment to seal the games, and he said "yes," ............ "but I don't do that to new games. it would be wrong"

Probably a few weeks later, I bought one of these so-called new games from him, and guess what.. the instructions and warranty was not in it. This pretty much confirmed to me that most of his games were re-packaged used ones, sold as new, and I suppose that's why most of his games were cheaper than most other places....

If I were you, the minimum I would do is to file a complaint to the better business bureau about this shady practice. It may or may not do any good, but it's worth a shot.

 CrazyGoon Sep 6, 2005
What did you expect? It doesn't really surprise me. Usually, you wouldn't hear about this sort of thing, since software is not refundable, and software purchases far outweight hardware purchases. I agree with you that the practice of selling used items as 'new' is wrong, but apart from boycotting EB, what can you do? It's a business thing. The stupid thing that EB did to bring all this on was take the responsibilty of accepting returns of dead pixel screens.

Stupid.

 Kuta Sep 6, 2005
This also happened to me when I bought 'The Abyss' on DVD from EB Games. When I got it home and tried to play it, it didn't work. So I took it back a couple of weeks later and the guy says he can't give me a refund but I can swap it with another DVD. So I went and chose another one a did the swap but before I left he gave me a bit of a lecture about taking so long to bring it back and that I could've returned it to any EB store rather than the one you actually purchased it from. It was as if he didn't want to see this DVD again.

Anyway, next time I visited the store I noticed a copy of the same DVD on the shelf again and I recognised the same slight dint in the DVD cover the one I returned had!! It WAS the one I returned! Now that is just wrong because the problem with that DVD was more than just a little defect which annoys you, it didn't work at all! I guess the store was just hoping that someone will buy it and return it to another store or just will not be bothered to return it.

I have never bought anything from EB Games since. I would recomend no one else get anything from them either!

 schi0249 Sep 6, 2005
When I worked at Gamestop, we had an employee check out policy and it included "new games". Also, we accepted returns of up to 1 week. The company policy was to re-shrink them and sell it as new/unopened. Hell, we even sold games that were running in demo units as new. Eventually some person sued and the lost. I am told all of those policies have since been changed.