Am I wrong to be uncomfortable with this?

[Rapscallion]

Additional thought - how would it having been pre-opened by someone else affect the warranty?

If they bought a game as pre-opened and it had the discount on the receipt (I assume you need to send that back with the goods) then the manufacturer is going to say that it could have been damaged by someone else and therefore they're not liable.

I'm not completely au fait with the US system, but it sounds like a possibility I'd prefer to avoid as a customer.

Rapscallion

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Additional thought - how would it having been pre-opened by someone else affect the warranty?

If they bought a game as pre-opened and it had the discount on the receipt (I assume you need to send that back with the goods) then the manufacturer is going to say that it could have been damaged by someone else and therefore they're not liable.

I'm not completely au fait with the US system, but it sounds like a possibility I'd prefer to avoid as a customer.

Rapscallion

As far as I'm aware it should be fine so long as the guy didn't call Sony and give them his serial number in the brief time he had the unit. As soon as someone else purchases it, they will assume that serial number and it will show on their receipt so there should be no problems as far as Sony is concerned. At least I don't think there would be.

[Hyndis]

I ran into a similar situation when I went to buy my Netbook. The sales associate brought out a box that had been opened and retaped, so I asked for a different one. There probably wasn't anything wrong with the first one, but I didn't want to take that chance.

So, as a customer, if I'm buying new, I personally want something that hasn't been opened yet. If I were you, I'd leave that one until I didn't have any others to sell.

/agree

If I want to buy something new, I want to buy something new.

I am not going to be something that has been repackaged for the price of something new.

I'm perfectly happy to buy used things, so long as the warranty is still good, but only if we're talking discount here. Double digit discount.

If an item has been taken home by a customer, opened, returned, and repackaged, it is not a new item. It is a used item. I refuse to buy something like this at the price of a new item. If I see two boxes on the shelf, both for the same price, one new and one repackaged, I'm going to get the new, factory sealed one.

After all, I have no idea what has happened to the used, returned item. I'm just not going to pay full price for it.

Additional thought - how would it having been pre-opened by someone else affect the warranty?

If they bought a game as pre-opened and it had the discount on the receipt (I assume you need to send that back with the goods) then the manufacturer is going to say that it could have been damaged by someone else and therefore they're not liable.

I'm not completely au fait with the US system, but it sounds like a possibility I'd prefer to avoid as a customer.

Rapscallion

The product key in the game is also invalid.

You're not actually buying a game. You're buying a license. The CD/DVD itself doesn't matter. The valuable thing is the product key, for without it the software is useless.

On any game or other piece of software that is not factory sealed, assume that the product key has been used. Thus, if you do buy it, you're spending your money on buying a coaster for your drinks, nothing more.

Most companies (eventually) will work with you on this if you get ripped off in this sort of way, however it will be an uphill battle, as you have to convince them that you're the legitimate owner of it even though someone has already registered the product with that product key.

[Dips]

I would be uncomfortable with this too.

I don't know if this suggestion is possible or not but maybe you could repackage it a little less carefully than normal? Such that it looks somewhat less than pristine and could have been opened.

As long as you have other units in stock, the customers will avoid buying it and you don't have to lie to them.

It's not a perfect solution. Eventually someone will ask you directly or it will be the last unit you have to sell. There might be a way to make sure only the unethical manager talks to anyone interested in that specific unit but I'll be damned if I can figure it out.

I think I'd talk to the managers first to let them know I find lying to customers a bad policy that could really bite the store in the ass big time.

The I'd just find ways to avoid selling that item without telling the customer why, but that might be impossible as well.

It sucks.

[HYHYBT]

Ah, I hadn't thought about product keys. I was thinking that, if the game works, was probably only used a few minutes, and has been wiped then it really wouldn't make a difference. And at least it wasn't returned for being defective and put back on the shelf anyway. I bought a phone like that once. Got it home, hooked it up, and the earpiece didn't work. Took it back, explained what was wrong, and left with another... which had a lot more plastic in the box, plus the usual length of phone line to run to the wall, which I hadn't even noticed wasn't in the first one (because of course who doesn't wind up with extras of those), almost certainly because I wasn't the first person to buy and return it.

[Bella_Vixen]

somehow I don't think Sony would preload Metallica albums into their unit.

Why not?????

[draftermatt]

Maybe it's because I've never worked in a retail setting like this that it doesn't bother me.

As a customer I've bought things in beat up boxes/opened boxes a lot. I try to check it to see if it's all there/not damaged.

I figure I'm going to throw the box out anyway so who cares how it looks.

As a potential employee I'd look at it this way. If every store (everywhere) had to offer a discount on something that was not at all (or barely) used and is in otherwise peak condition, nobody would make any money, and I'd be out of a job.

Yes I realize I'm stretching but I think you get the point.

There's nothing wrong with it. It was opened basically. Which someone could do if it was sitting on a shelf to "look at it"

(I'm sure you don't keep the PSP's on a shelf but regardless).

A new car that has been test drove and therefore has 48 miles on it is still new right?

Now if the guy had it for a week, used it a lot, started the warranty, etc then it's not new anymore. But this doesn't sound too bad to me.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Maybe it's because I've never worked in a retail setting like this that it doesn't bother me.

As a customer I've bought things in beat up boxes/opened boxes a lot. I try to check it to see if it's all there/not damaged.

I figure I'm going to throw the box out anyway so who cares how it looks.

As a potential employee I'd look at it this way. If every store (everywhere) had to offer a discount on something that was not at all (or barely) used and is in otherwise peak condition, nobody would make any money, and I'd be out of a job.

Yes I realize I'm stretching but I think you get the point.

There's nothing wrong with it. It was opened basically. Which someone could do if it was sitting on a shelf to "look at it"

(I'm sure you don't keep the PSP's on a shelf but regardless).

A new car that has been test drove and therefore has 48 miles on it is still new right?

Now if the guy had it for a week, used it a lot, started the warranty, etc then it's not new anymore. But this doesn't sound too bad to me.

A test drive is a normal part of buying a car, it's not for a game console. If you want to try one before you buy it, we have designated display units for you to try, we don't need to break one out of the box for such a purpose.

[draftermatt]

A test drive is a normal part of buying a car, it's not for a game console. If you want to try one before you buy it, we have designated display units for you to try, we don't need to break one out of the box for such a purpose.

I understand that, just pointing out that sometimes "new" things aren't as "new" as we would like. Not trying to compare a car to a PSP.

[bsaana]

Something similar happened to my dad. He bought my mom an Acer Aspire One from Walmart last year for Christmas. He got in blue, the last they had of that color. He called me over to get a couple of things set up on it for her (my mother has problems even visiting most websites but needed a small machine for herself - a regular 5lb notebook is too heavy and bulky...). We got it out of the box... and it was already configured and setup for 2 someone elses. They had no passwords to get into it, but had stored passwords for email and IM. We don't know what else was on there because we shut it down and took it right back and told Walmart the problem. Ended up getting a brand new one in white. I don't think he even got a discount.


Obviously I would be very bothered to try to sell it as new.

[Andara Bledin]

First, a clarification, since I'm not sure everybody is on quite the same page: This is a game device, not an actual game, so there shouldn't be an issue with registration keys, except for the possibility that the guy in question registered himself as the owner of the unit.

Interestingly, I looked in our policy manual about these kinds of discounts and the official policy is that we are to NEVER give discounts on any opened items being sold as new (this includes the display copies of our games where we remove the shrinkwrap and take the disc out). I really don't like that policy.

Neither do I, and that's why I won't shop any place that does that sort of thing.

Because I happen to know that some of those games being sold as "new" are in no way, shape, or form actually new.

^-.-^