The price went DOWN? Give me a refund!

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

As is common knowledge now, the Playstation 3 price dropped last week. It's now only $299 and there's a newer, slimmer, version of the system available.

Unfortunately this hasn't exactly sat well with people who spent $399 on the console in the month and weeks leading up to the price drop.

I, my manager and my CWs have had it out with several customers who've been demanding $100 back from us because the price has dropped now and it's been less than 30 days since they bought it.

Let's review a few things here:

1) Our policy clearly states no refunds on opened new items, even consoles
2) You CHOSE to buy the console when you did, you probably could have researched and found out a price drop was coming, but you just had to have it now.
3) We do NOT owe you anything! The pricing change was from Sony, it had nothing to do with us. Also, read #2 again.
4) Yes I know other companies will give you refunds if the price drops, but we are not one of those companies. See #1 for more info
5) No the manager won't magically make it happen for you.
6) Calling corporate won't help you either since they've surprisingly been standing their ground on this one (I guess 100s of dollars in losses is enough to get them to be firm).

This hasn't stopped the bitching or complaining that will probably go one for the next several weeks.

Yes I know, it sucks to have bought something before a big price drop but we've all been there. Be a little more patient next time and you might save yourself some money.

[EvilEmpryss]

Heh heh, heh! As soon as my kids found out the new Nintendo DSi was coming out, they held off on buying the DSLite, knowing that the market was about to be flooded with people selling their old system so they could get the latest and greatest. They managed to pick up two Lites with GameStop warranties plus a half-dozen games on Craigslist for less than the cost of a single new DSLite.

Bless their mercenary little hearts, they're only 7 and 10 years old, and *they* figured it out.

[telecom_goddess]

Actually....at least in the past....Best Buy honored the price drop on items, specifically the PS2 several years ago. It too dropped a 100 bucks and I was able to get that portion refunded no problem.

Course the PS3 I have now I bought from someone else for cheaper anyway....

[workerbee222]

So by that logic, I purchased a used Honda Civic in 2006 for 10,000, and I should hunt down the man who sold it to me and get a refund, because it's not worth that much now.

[Broomjockey]

So by that logic, I purchased a used Honda Civic in 2006 for 10,000, and I should hunt down the man who sold it to me and get a refund, because it's not worth that much now.

Sorry, the logic only works if you bought it new.

[telecom_goddess]

Sorry, the logic only works if you bought it new.

Exactly! I bought the ps2 new at best buy and got the refund of the price drop, the ps3 I bought from someone used and have just enjoyed that since. No refunds there necessary.

[mikoyan29]

I bought my PS3 for 400 bucks last year but I've gotten a year's worth of enjoyment out of it. It is a 40G version. The new one is 120G? That's part of the joy of buying electronics, knowing that as soon as you sign the credit card receipt, it's obsolete. Am I going to complain about that? No.

[lordlundar]

I bought my PS3 for 400 bucks last year but I've gotten a year's worth of enjoyment out of it. It is a 40G version. The new one is 120G? That's part of the joy of buying electronics, knowing that as soon as you sign the credit card receipt, it's obsolete. Am I going to complain about that? No.

Psst! Buy a 250GB Laptop SATA drive and swap it out.

(yes, it's not only doable, it's encouraged by Sony)

[mikoyan29]

Psst! Buy a 250GB Laptop SATA drive and swap it out.

(yes, it's not only doable, it's encouraged by Sony)

Can't I just hook up an external drive to the USB ports?

[joe hx]

gah this happened to me when i bought my dreamcast. that day or the next sega announced they were leaving the console market and the price dropped significantly. i was mad, but i didn't storm to wherever I bought it for a refund.

Can't I just hook up an external drive to the USB ports?

you can but you can't play any DLC on an external drive. I've got an external 1tb hard drive and a 500gig hard drive on mine

[MadMike]

Yes I know, it sucks to have bought something before a big price drop but we've all been there.

Yes, it does. Back in the mid-90s I bought my first PC, including a color printer that sold for about $300. A couple weeks later, I was looking at the computer stuff and found that the same printer I had bought dropped in price by $100. I wasn't happy, but I wasn't about to go demanding anything either.

One of the salespeople overhead me complaining, and with a smile, told me "Don't go looking at computer stuff after you've already bought one. It'll only make you mad."

[EvilEmpryss]

One of the salespeople overhead me complaining, and with a smile, told me "Don't go looking at computer stuff after you've already bought one. It'll only make you mad."

The corollary to which is: "Don't go buying anything electronic without first seeing when the next upgrade is due out."

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

We get a similar thing at the swamp from time to time where somebody will buy something, see it advertised in a flier later for a lower price, and either try to get a refund for the difference or return the item and re-buy it. Given how cheap folks are around here, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

And I have to say, I find this kind of thing to be absolutely obnoxious. Just because your timing was bad doesn't mean we should be taking a profit or margin hit on your item, or reaching into the register and handing you a refund. We're a for-profit business. We exist to sell things at a profit. And profit is one of the things that helps determine how many hours I get to work in a week, or whether or not I get a raise each year, or even whether or not I still have a job.

Yeah, I understand it sucks. A lot of life sucks. Get over it.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

That happened to me when I bought my N64; not happy with that, they came up with a transparent pink one.
I wasn't happy but I didn't return mine anyway...

I blame the awesomeness that is Zelda Ocarina of time.

[EricKei]

Can't I just hook up an external drive to the USB ports?

Indeed you can. Just two caveats:

It MUST be formatted as FAT32. The PS3 cannot even recognize the presence of an NTFS drive.

Use a drive that plugs into the wall, rather than leeching power from the comp it's connected to, if possible. I've had issues with this one before.

If you plan to replace the internal drive, you will need a rather small-headed screwdriver and a grip that rivals that of Hercules. They put those damn screws in there friggin' TIGHT >_<

Either way, there is one minor annpying thing:
While you can play videos diretly off of an external drive, the system will not be able to tell you about the presence of unreadable file types at all. For example, it can't play RealMedia videos...So if you have a 300 gb drive that's half-filled with RM's and half-filled with (readable) DivX videos, only the DivX vids will show up AT ALL when on the PS3, but it will still accurately report the drive as being full. If you pop in a DVD full of RM's, it will say you have an empty disc with zero free space.