Best Buy using Xbox 360 for a bait and switch?

nah, i didn't yell at them to make myself feel better....i yelled at them on my way home because i knew there would be some losers standing out front..

besides, yelling may have done a favor for those of them that were not aware that there was a shortage of systems.

Here's a suggestion to those who couldn't buy this $400 present for your kid(s): goto one of those trees in the malls with the name tags on it for kids who would be estatic to get ONE present for Christmas. Buy 10 $40 presents and make 10 kids happy. I'm sure many people don't give a crap about this, but put it in perspective at how horrible it is you couldn't spend $400 on an XBOX.

Thank you mroes, very well said. I know our store in Sacramento had no problems either also supplying the customers with coffee and krispy kreme dounuts throughout the morning. But good to hear that other BB stores were pleasing their customers as well. :)

I honestly stood in line for my little brother. He is a huge xbox fan, and being a young teenager that is what he enjoys most. He wasnt old enough to be out there all night alone so it was kinda like a christmas gift for him since he had preordered a 360 but it wasnt going to be coming till way after christmas thanks to the idiots at EB Games. Plus I was home from college and I had already bought him an expensive gift for the 360... So I wanted to make sure he had one. haha. Anyways it was fun, atleast with my experience.

I don't see the point in driving by those people and yelling at them. It just makes you look like a complete ass and makes everyone know that you are just like them because you have nothing better to do then drive out by them in the middle of the night and yell stuff to try make you feel better about yourself.

And the good thing with Best Buy, atleast the ones in California, is for 50 bucks they have a 2 year warrantee on the xbox 360. So even though some people may claim that my 360 is going to be crappy compared to the ones that come later, I can go in at anytime within the next 2 years and simply request for a replacement xbox 360, no questions asked. For which I will also be then getting the "refined hardware with superior quality software".

:)

Meanwhile, thousands of 360s go unsold in Japan where no one gives a shit.

Perhaps this will teach MS and others something about the outdated concept of region-locked hardware/software...Not likely.

All together, these shortages, the overseas surplus and overheating systems show that MS is still an amateur in the consumer electronics business. I wonder if they'll be back for a third round?

Personally, I can't begin to understand the rush for anyone but parents desperate to try and buy happiness/approval from their kids? Otherwise, hackability (towards piracy) is the only convincing reason to be an early adopter. Otherwise, waiting a little while gets you refined hardware with superior quality software and selection for a lower price.

My experience at Best Buy was amazing. MY little brother and I arrived at 12pm the day before, we were 2nd and 3rd in line. (the first guy arrived at 7am that morning (on Sat. the day before they were going on sale).

Not only did the manager and his night crew stay there the whole entire night, he came out with a clipboard at around 6pm and made a list of the 31 people in line who would be receiving an Xbox 360. (The line was pretty much full by 6pm). Then as the night progressed he used the check list of peoples names and went through the line every 1 1/2 to 2 hours and made sure everyone was still there and comfortable. This kept people from having friends switch places with them later on, or for "adding" a friend in line who would be purchasing one. It kept things organized and kept people happy knowing no one would "cut" in front of them.

Another great thing they did was they gave out free StarBucks coffee and Pizza! They also provided blankets for whoever wanted them as well as they moved us out of the rain and to a side covered area so that we did not have to sit out in the rain and cold the whole time. It was personally my best experience while waiting for a system. I waited for a system 5 years ago (PS2) at Fry's Electronics and they honestly did not do anything to help anyone, we sat in the rain for hours and hours freezing our asses off.

Meanwhile, even when the Manager told people that all the Xbox 360 were spoken for, people still stood in line to get them so the manager took their names down and told them that they were on a "waiting" list and the only way they could get one is if someone up front suddenly decided to leave. By the morning there was about 100 people waiting in line, even though the manager came out and constantly, yet politely, told the people there was no chance they would be getting an xbox 360.

At 8am when they opened (and after they had supplied us with another fresh patch of Starbucks coffee) they opened their doors to the public, however, in order to maintain organization, they had us go through a side employee door and right into a special side room that they had set up which was full of every Xbox 360 game and accessories you could ever need for the xbox 360, then we went to a special register (the customer service register) and told the person which unit we wanted and then proceeded to purchase it right on the spot and walked out. Simple as that.

Honestly it was the best experience I have had and I know I will be taking my business to Best Buy from now on.

cry me a river.....

did any really expect to be getting an xbox with 30-40+ people in front of them?

I drove by my local best buy saturday at 2AM and started yelling at those losers on line with such great gems as "you guys are losers, they only have 25 systems"....

anyway, why should best buy management tell the line there are no more xbox's? maybe they thought the other people were lined up for some other sale items.

the 360 is joke, and anyone who bought it or bought it to the scams on ebay are suckers.

You mean they didn't have a complimentary tee shirt saying "I camped out at Best Buy for an Xbox like a dork and all I got was this stupid shirt!"???
I'm shocked.
Shame shame Best Buy.
LOL.

"A potential problem for Microsoft is that the holiday season is prime selling time for consoles and games. Fed-up customers who don't score an Xbox 360 now might not be in the market for a system again until next year, when arch-rival Sony will have the PlayStation 3 for sale. The new Xbox has not received the sort of rave reviews to give it a clear leg up on the competition in the way that, for example, the iPod has regularly batted down would-be competitors in the marketplace.

For retailers, there's real money at stake. No one wants the old Xbox now that the Xbox 360 is here, so game fans appear to be saving their money for the hot-hot console they can't get. Retail sales of video games fell 18 percent, to $696 million, in the four weeks ended Nov. 26, according to research firm NPD Group Inc., a decline the firm attributed largely to consumers waiting to buy the new console. Retailer Best Buy missed Wall Street estimates this past quarter, partly, it said, because game sales were down in anticipation of the utterly unavailable device."

--Washington Post 12/19/2005

What other options? Until the Playstation 3 comes out there is absolutely no competition in the market. And why is it flawed thinking? Noone accuses the automobile industry of flawed thinking when you get put on a waiting list because the model you want isn't available. Do you really believe that Microsoft has a warehouse somewhere with thousands upon thousands of units just sitting there? No, they were perhaps too aggressive with their launch target and they allocated too much of their production to Japan where un its now sit on store shelves. It's not like they can even distribute those over here because they have a different regional coding.

What would the better plan have been to stockpile units for a March launch and miss the holiday window and allow Sony to close the gap with them?

"Microsoft is enjoying the hype and the buzz, and as a result you have people trying to buy this thing that never would have. Good for Microsoft, if more people buy the system then there will be more of a market for games and that's good long term."

Flawed thinking considering they need to get the 360 out to as many homes as possible. The longer this drips and drabs goes on, the more it will hurt MS as people will have other options to choose from.

I was in line for an Xbox 360 in NJ on Sunday morning. I got there the day before at 6:30 and I was numer 65 in line. People started lining up at 9:00 am that morning.
Best Buy already had the police there and the officer was taking down everyone's name and giving them a number. The manager already told the police exactly how many units were available (72 units) and once the line reached that point the police and the Best Buy manager came out and made it clear that there were 70 premiums and 2 cores so that anyone who didn't want a core could leave. At that point they roped the line off. Anyone the store closed at 11 pm and the police left then as well. Up to that point anyone new that showed up was informed by the police and Best Buy employees that all the units were accounted for. People continued to show up anyway throughout the night.
Those of us in line made it clear to everyone what the situation was, even so only about 10 percent of those people left, the rest remained in line and by morning we had 200 or so people. At 5:30 the police arrived and told the crowd once again the magic number, even so most of the crowd stayed anyway. Then the manager came out and half of them left. People still kept showing up right up until the doors opened at 8. The police and Best Buy employees periodically came out to send people away. At 7am they handed out tickets according to the list of names the police had from the previous night. People still waited even when it was clear there were no more tickets, they were hoping someone's credit card wouldn't clear. It was pretty sad.
I can't speak for Best Buy as a whole, but I can't imagine them handling this any better than they did. Once the last unit was sold they put up a huge sign on the door informing everyone that the units had all been sold. As the ad said it was limited quantities. And as far as the release of the information and quantities I have no problem with that. It allowed someone like me who truly wanted a system and was willing to do what it takes to get one to plan ahead. Would it have been better for the first random 72 idiots who walked into the store that morning to get one out of sheer luck? Or for a few people to buy them all just to resell for ridiculous prices to the suckers on Ebay?
Microsoft is enjoying the hype and the buzz, and as a result you have people trying to buy this thing that never would have. Good for Microsoft, if more people buy the system then there will be more of a market for games and that's good long term.
Again I'm glad the quantites were posted online. I've got three Best Buys near me, the first one I drove past had more people on line than the quantity available. I'm glad I knew that because it made me go to a different location where I got lucky. Anyone waiting on line in the 100th to 200th position is a fool if they saw the quantites posted online. Even if they didn't see those quantites they're still a fool because all you need to do is just a tiny bit of research to know that there would never be that type of quantity available.
Welcome to the free market system people.

Best Buy computer salesman here- I work at one of the smaller best buys (half size, some of you may have seen them). We got 24 premiums and our line knew it. We had three employees in the line too, waiting just like every one else. One thing the people in our line did differently was they self organized a numbering system with a sharpie. They all wrote numbers on their hands. Also we (or atleast I) never tried to sell that compaq as an XBox replacement. Sounds like that's something that carried over from your asshole manager. So that wasn't some national bait and switch campaign.

As for not giving out vouchers the night before, Best Buy cannot presell the things nor can we have any gauranteed "list." You can thanks Microsoft for that one, not BBY. MS never told BBY how many units they were getting as a company--EBGames took a gamble and came up short (as atleast one of you has come to realize). So yes- the great plunder of the new system rests in the hands of MS and a few asshole managers.

bwallen who's responsibility is it to tell the 175 customers who didnt get a ticket a 6am that all the tickets were handed out 1 hour prior? Not Microsoft, I think it was Best Buy! That is my point!

I can't believe what I am reading. How can you fault a retailer for trying to raise sales. I take it most of you posting do not know how to run a business. The name of the game is sales. Thats it. I see nothing wrong with best buys tactics. The ad clearly stated how limited the quantities would be. If it drew people to a store to shop so be it. Maybe they should have called before they left.

Sending that circular to print was the most irresponsible action on Best Buy's account. They new well in advance the nature of the stock situation and the demand for the product. They took advantage of the public. Is it a coincidence that they chose the Sunday prior to Christmas for this little traffic building stunt? This was absolutely intentional on their side, in an effort to drive early morning business to their stores, on the busiest retail weekend of the season.

I too arrived at my Best Buy at 6:45am to watch this unfold. The crowd was told that they gave vouchers to 26 people on Saturday afternoon, and that's all they had. But they were all smiles when pulling the old bait and switch with the customers at 8:00am. And victims continued to pour into the store between 8am and 9am.

I'll never ever shop at Best Buy again. Poor, irresponsible, sleazy retail behavior. Boycott the Best Buy bastards.

After reading all of these posts I and laughing at some I think I have decided to not buy an xbox 360. As an employee at best buy, and apparently having the education of a 4 year old (good one Peter) I am a little confused about the frustration that everybody is having with the count of Best Buys products. Don't think about xbox's for a second and imagine coming to a buy a usb cable for your printer... the stock is out so you kindly ask the associate if they are expecting any soon and the associate checks the fancy computer and sees that they actually have 13 of them coming in on tomorrows truck. I find no problem in telling that customer that they can come back tomorrow and the usb cables should be right here. But for some reason that is a problem when it comes to xbox 360's? Lets take the other road and imagine what would happen if Best Buy disclosed their xbox 360 count.

After the rush of 200 customers come flying in at 7am Best Buy then tells them that we only had 20 so now it is Best Buy's fault that we didn't tell the public how many they had. Best Buy made it very clear how many they had in each store leaving it up to the customer to choose if they wanted to wait in line or not. If I was one waiting in line during this freezing storm we are having, I for one would want to know how many they had behind the doors.

I truely aplogize to you Peter for your horrible mis-treating over there at your Best Buy but I have worked as a networking engineer for 3 years wiring the CEO of google's house and about 50 other great people down in the San Jose/Los Gatos area and I moved to Sacramento with a friend to finish up school. I figured Best Buy would be fun (plus good discounts :)) and I'd really be able to help out all the customers that have lots of questions. Please don't bash the employee's that get paid just above minimum wage with no commission who just try to get you through your day.

Yes I work at Best Buy (which i hope means you won't disregard my post on this bashing forum) but I will be the first to admit that there for some huge problems with this company (cough* managment *cough) but I really don't see a huge problem other than from Microsoft in this scenario.

Yes I would. I can't stand that I don't have one. But, I've wanted one since before I knew there was a shortage.

Microsoft made more than enough XBox 360 units to have an overstock in every Best Buy, Target, Wallmart etc.
The "shortage" is just free marketing. Microsoft is keepping the supply to a trickle.
If there was not a "shortage", would you still want one?

My budy is a manager at a best buy. I know some gm's got fired for the way they have handled the 360 launch. My store had district people there to make sure it ran smoothly on the 22nd. They told us how many 360's there were so you knew if you would get one in the morning.

All i see here is - Boycott best buy cause I didnt get an Xbox 360 Seriously people...... stop whining in a month or two you'll have it an there will be more games out and it may actually be a functioning console by that time.

-Agent Knil

wtf i was there at 5am all pumped up just to see 60+ ppl on front of me, around 630 manages said that the saturday before at 2 pm you could reserve and xbox 360 by writting ur name down. What that would do was , reserve you a ticket which was used when you got there before 8am, and all the people that had to stay since 1am had to say bye bye xbox 360...boycott bestbuy

JNGOLD, I'm not saying microsoft didn't f*** this up. I'm just saying Sony did not do any better with the ps2 launch. The proof will be in the pudding a year down the road. The guy with the best games wins. Just remember nintendo, they went from first to last and the only way for sony to go is down. Maybe with this new generation or possibly five years from now sony will fall. Maybe some new company will take the crown like sony did.

If I were you, I'd buy the laptop, then come in the next day screaming about how the ad promised 256 GB of DDR Memory (pretty much impossible, BUT IT'S IN THE AD!), and that you want 256 GB DDR or you'll sue 8-)
They probably meant 256 MB, but a promise is a promise, RIGHT?!

David where do you live? I ask because the same exact laptop (complete with mis-printed 256GB of RAM) was selling for $524 - the flyer I have is indentical to what you have posted complete with the woman on the screen and the Best Buy Exclusive blue circle. Who knew they were jacking us here in Atlanta? Thanks Best Buy - you're the best!

Sigh.... Why is everyone attacking Best buy about this. Lets look at the situation here people. Did bestbuy tell all those people to wait in line since 4pm the previous day. No they did not. That was their choice. If your waiting outside for an xbox 360 you should understand theres a chance of not getting one. especially if your stupid enough to go an hour before the doors open.
If your gonna blame someone for shortage blame Microsoft for not making enough of them. They should built up more of a supply (and fix flaws ie the power supply) but no they had to live up to there release date.
As far as the best buy employee recomending a laptop, whats wrong with that right now i would prefer a laaptop over an xbox 360. Theres just not enough games out and half of those that are out are damn ports from current gen systems. If your out of one product whats wrong with offering something in its place to please the customer. Do you really think offering Anti-virus and Anti-spyware on a new computer is not a good idea? Well i'll tell you one thing if they dont get it then chances are there gonna get viruses and spyware within a month cause half the people that buy the laptop dont know how to properly protect themselves online. The offer is there for those that don't know they need it, it is to inform the customer of what is out there and what is to protect them. You look at it like there just trying to through useless product at someone. AV and Anti-spy is needed product nowadays. Sling box sure why not seems like a cool product. In-home wireless network most people don't know what encryption is and leave there wifi routers open not a bad service for a non tech-savy user.

All i mean by this post is, sure you dont deem the laptop a worthy alternative to an xbox 360 but maybe that customer saw the worth in it instead of a 360. Bait-and-switch tactics are not exactly what i would call it. They sold out of a product and offered the customer a different. They didnt hide the all the 360's. They sold out of them, really how hard is that to believe?

- Agent Knil

ROFL!!! Maybe after people wait all night on line can get a good deal on a Hoover vacuum cleaner! :)

Lol .. Kotaku is now reporting they got word Best Buy's next shipment is December 22nd!! Nice going Best Buy you are really going to isolate your customers.

bwallen,

Have you checked the marketshare numbers lately? Regardless of whether Sony drops the ball or not, they still and will continue to maintain the lionshare of the market. This was MS's opportunity to make a dent being the only 3rd box out there. They needed to get the X into more consumer homes before the next wave of PS3's and Revolutions come out.

In fact I just checked on ps2 initial availablity. The console was virually sold out until March. The console launched the actober before

I think everybody forgets how bad console launches are. Sony's ps2 had one of the worst launches in history. Trouble with the lasers. Quantieties were low. If I remember correctly after launch day you couldn't find a console for months anywhere. I admit, microsoft's 360 launch leaves alot to be desired but sony did no better with there ps2 and I would bet sony will drop the ball with the ps3 as well. and I own a ps2 so don't call me a microsoft junky. Just keepin it real.

ILL BLEED I disagree with your comment.. If they just went outside to tell everyone that they gave tickets out at 6am they would have had people very happy neverhteless much warmer. No what they did was tell them once they entered the store all tickets were handed out at 6am! Listen I didnt care since I got my Xbox a while ago but just thought this type of business is a definite model of "Bait and Switch"

At the White Marsh, Maryland Best Buy people began gathering for the 12/18 release at 11:00 pm, as the store closed. The Baltimore County Police Department was called by the Best Buy manager and we were all told we had to leave the premises or we would be arrested for trespassing.

We were assured by the manager and the police that we could return at 4:00 am ONLY and that ANYONE who arrived at the store before 4 am would be escorted off of the parking lot. This was confirmed by several signs on the front doors of this Best Buy.

The people at this time took a list of those waiting for X Boxes to prove we were the first people in line.

Predictably the manager and the police lied as we returned to the store at 3:50 AM to find 200 people lined against the Best Buy wall. When the manager and other employees returned to begin letting customers in panic ensued.

Understandably the people who had returned were upset since they were rightfully the first people in line and were only following police orders. The 200 others who had arrived after the "trespassing" threat also, understandably, believed they had the right to the units.

We offered a compromise. We reasoned that the 40 people on the original list and the first 40 people in the new line should all be given a number and then the 40 units would be raffled among those 80 people.

Because the people who work at this Best Buy have no more than a 4th grade education and couldn't be bothered with reasoning the situation out, the mob became unruly. They offered no explanation of what they were doing nor did they give the crowd direction.

Eventually the police officers used their batons on several people at the font of the line and threatened to "pepper spray" the whole group, even though there were children approximately 5 years old among the people. A man seemingly 80 years old was pushed away from the door and dragged by his collar by a police officer to his patrol car.

One officer commented to us that we had better be able to outrun their dogs since they were about to release them on the crowd.

The sad, pathetic aspect of this whole situation is that it easily could have been resolved by a person with an IQ above 70 and $60. How, you might ask? Smple. All Best Buy had to do was pay one of their employees $10 an hour for 6 hours to sit in front of the store until 4:00 am. He could have explained to anyone who tried to form the line that the line was not to be started until 4:00, as was documented on the door, and that they must leave the premises.

I guess $60 wasn't worth keeping some fingers from getting broken, an old man from going to jail, 5 year olds from hearing non-stop yelling and cursing and about 200 irate people from promising they would never return to Best Buy.

"Best Buy, where we don't give a damn about our customers, as long as their money is green!"

PS - Special kudos should also be given to the Baltimore County Police Departnemnt who not only straigh-out lied to the original people in line, but then followed up by having no ability to reason with the crowd without using words like "don't make me smack you," "pepper spray," "beat down" and in the true spirit of Christmas, "release the dogs."

Best Buy could have made this real simple. They could have made the limited quanity comment large, in bold text and just as obvious as they did the special on the xbox. This is the same as the fine print on the tv ads that you can't possibly read in or at all.

I have never and don't ever plan on standing in line for any holiday must have gadget, in part for the bait and switch BS they retailers do but also the fights that typically occur (remember the cabbage patch dolls).

Every retailer does it especially Walmart and those folks can be real suckers. The XBox360 ad they printed had a limit of something like 30 per customer, which is even worse.

haha djp... anyways im not even going to begin to add how stupid people are.. QUOTE FROM ABOVE: Why am I writing this? Because Best Buy knew they were getting limited quantity (some as little as 25) nevertheless they publicize a flyer with the XBox 360 on the front page of the sale flyer.

Now for my comment... THE AD SAYS LIMITED 20 PRE STORE.. THAT MEANS 20 OR MAYBE 25 NOT 200 PEOPLE NEED TO STOP BEING RETARTED AND GO HOME AFTER THERES 50 PEOPLE AT A STORE.. end of my post.. thank you and to the people that stood outside for all that time and didnt get one.. next time read. Same goes for idiots buyin BOXES of the XBOX360 on ebay.. READ and than BID... THANK YOU!

Honestly there is not a product out there that I would get up that early for and wait in line to get. If I have to wait a few months to get it, it is quite all right. I feel bad for all of the folks that waited only to be turned away. I also this it is despicable that these store hype these products when they know damn well they are only going to get a limited quantity. Microsoft is also to blame for not getting enough inventory to fill demand.

I too went to Best Buys only to find the same. Long lines with 42 units. Microsoft will find that many parents will be unwilling to spend $400 plus the cost of the games after Christmas when they have to find an alternate gift for Christmas. That was the feeling of everyone in the line. I also find it very suspicious that the number on the internet site was so accurate predicting the number of units in the Best Buys. My mother went to one predicted to have 23 they had 24. The one I was at predicted to have 40 they had 42. It was just toooo close not to be insider info. I smell a rat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I may not shop Best Buys again. I was on the wait list from summer at Game Stop but they have hardly received any machines! Microsoft was so interested in taking over Japan that they cut their own throat in the good ole USA!! Many in line were talking about waiting for the Sony and the Nintendo if they could not get one until after Christmas (myself included!!!!)

Did you see the disclaimer though Minumun 20. People had it coming who were waiting

I had the same experience this morning at a local Best Buy. After my local EBGames received a replenishment shipment of two(2) units, I realized that my pre-order wasn't going to be filled any time soon.

I arrived at Best Buy at 5:00AM to find a tent city with about 45 people waiting in line. The line started on Saturday at NOON! As the 7:30 hour neared the line continued to grow. There were easily more than 80 people waiting.

THIRTY-SIX (36) XBOX 360s. That was all. They're no where else to be found. As the crowd dispersed, parents talked of alternate presents.

That's the gotcha for Microsoft. The "headstart" is meaningless if they do not use it to build marketshare. An initial trickle would have been fine to build the hype, then flood the market with them -- game retailers and big box retailers would have a holly jolly christmas.

Instead, gamers aren't spending their money. "Classic" XBOX sales are dead, dead. Game Cube and PS2 as well. Sure, some handhelds are moving, but everyone is sitting on their money for the next console.

After the holiday season passes, there's going to be less motivation to spring for a "$400" toy. Especially with Sony making their rumblings about a first-half 2006 release. If Sony delivers the better graphics and the key franchises, Microsoft will have a lot to worry about.

Microsoft really messed up this time. I mean how could they "underestimate" demand this bad. Some analysts at microsoft deserve to loose their jobs over this one. Any gamer could have told you this release was going to huge. Microsoft flat out dropped the ball. I hope Sony crushes them when they release the PS3.

This Xbox shortage is going to wind-up being the final nail in the coffin for MS. They had a great opportunity to make a dent in all markets but it seems like no such thing will happen. The PS3 when it goes onsale will destroy the Xbox and finally drive MS out of the gaming business.

It's a shame. I wanted one for the holidays but there are nowhere to be found. I nor my fiancee are willing to put up with all the crap like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. Nor do we want to spend exuberant amounts on ebay for it.

As for that customer that bought a laptop instead of the Xbox, all I have to say was that he fell for the 'ole Jedi Mind Trick!