PS3s at CompUSA

[randay]

I had heard from some of my friends earlier, but this weekends ad just confirmed it.

You must buy a sony 40" HDTV ($2-3k) to get a reservation for a PS3. There will be no other way to get a PS3 from CompUSA. It doesnt even guarantee you one on launch day. Supposedly Sony is going to ship the PS3s when they get the reservation. And there is no guarantees on when you will actually get the PS3.

Are they allowed to do that? Seems very suspect to me, but I guess they can do whatever the hell they want? I cant think of any laws or anything against it.

Anyways, I did think about buying the TV and then reselling it unopened and everything, maybe even with a service plan from compusa, just to get a PS3. But since they can't guarantee or give any estimate as to when Ill get the PS3, I scrapped that plan. Theres still time but I probably won't do it.

 

[jmcoreymv]

Genius!

 

[MisterJackson]

They made you buy bundles and warranties on the 360......

 

[Queasy]

They can do that. They'll end up killing any customer goodwill. But, they can do that.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Yes they can do that, remember last year's $1,000+ bundles for the Xbox360?

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

CompUSA already killed customer goodwill as far as I'm concerned... The one up here is getting so thoroughly beat up by the 2-yr-old Best Buy that it's not even funny. Actually... it is.

It doesn't surprise me that compusa would stoop that low.

 

[whistleclient]

well, to play devil's advocate, is it fair that many people see the PS3 as a money-making opportunity-- sleeping out to get one to flip it on ebay for a profit?

that's not fair either to real gamers who actually want to play it. or parents who are struggling to get one for their kids.

in a pre-christmas, massive ps3 shortage world, at least this would cut down on opportunity ebayers.

 

[skace]

Honestly, if it were an HDTV that I really wanted, I could see this being a slick way of securing a PS3. But I don't know what kind of TV I want, can't seem to figure that fricken part out.

 

[nakedfrog]

Free TV!

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

CompUSA really is a dump, and seems like a crappy operation all around. I'm not amazed by this tactic. The sad part is that I bet a lot of people buy the TV and STILL end up waiting a month or more for a PS3.

 

[Sphexi]

As long as they haven't advertised the PS3 reservations without the TV, they can.

A few years back when I worked at Radioshack, the ZipZaps had just come out, and were hot as all hell. The company was sending them to stores based on sales of accessories with the cars, the idea being that accessories made more profit, so if a store sold lots of them with the cars (bundles) then they needed more cars.

A few stores in my area started telling customers that they couldn't buy any cars without a bundle (a few accessories and a case and charger/batteries) that cost about twice as much as a car by itself. Unfortunately, the company had advertised the cars on their own, and seperate from the accessories, so it was basically a bait and switch situation. Of cours, our DSM had approved and even supported the idea, until corporate cracked down HARD on it and threatened to fire store managers, then he suddenly had no idea what anybody was talking about.


So yeah, unless they had already advertised the PS3 on its own, they can do what they want.

 

[Lenine]

Originally posted by: tangent1138


well, to play devil's advocate, is it fair that many people see the PS3 as a money-making opportunity-- sleeping out to get one to flip it on ebay for a profit?

that's not fair either to real gamers who actually want to play it. or parents who are struggling to get one for their kids.

in a pre-christmas, massive ps3 shortage world, at least this would cut down on opportunity ebayers.

Why isn't it fair??

Are you saying its more fun to let some kid play the PS3 than for a flipper to have some money? Why?

All this fairness stuff is bullshit. We live in a capitalist economy and if you want something you pay the most for it. This payment can be from camping it out or buying it on ebay for a few grand. I'm going to be camping the PS3 and I haven't got a preorder because of all the people hoping to flip it. However, instead of bitching about how unfair the world is, I applaud them and wish I had thought of doing it too.

CompUSA is pretty smart. This will get them some extra sales because of how rare the PS3 seems to be.

 

[BoomerD]

I pretty much quit buying anything at Comp USSR when they were bought out by a Mexican corporation a few years ago. I understand they're looking for a buyer. Maybe, if they return to US ownership, I'll shop there again...MAYBE...NewEgg beats their prices and customer service hands-down, so I doubt they'll ever get much of my $$$...