Attention all Video Game store empoyees, advice needed!

[mrtauntaun]

Ok, I recently bought a PS2 from my local game stop (brand new, slim line model) on 12/26. On 1/26, it died. It will no longer turn on. It was 31 days old.

I called game stop, they told me their policy was 30 days. Fine, I called Sony, they want proof of purchase. Reasonable. I went looking and to my horror discovered it got thrown out with the routine Christmas garbage of wrapping paper and bags, etc.
I called game stop customer support (800 #) and they said while they had a record in their system of my purchasing the system, they could not print me copy (Sony requires something physical in writing). Their exact words to me were "We can't print here" and the store can't print old receipts.

One of the weakest excuses I've heard in all my years in retail, every store I worked at could obtain old information no problem. And a corporate call center that can't print is likely a lie (they must have a printer in there somewhere), or at least ctrl+shift+print screen and send me a screen shot.

Sorry, that got a little ranty. So basically right now I am stuck with a $130 Sony Slimline Paperweight(TM) plus the $80 I spent on Guitar Hero 2 (I miss that game already). I am not going SC on the company or the people on the other end of the phone because, hey, bottom line is I need proof of purchase and it was my responsibility to hold onto the receipt, and I threw it away.

What I would like to know from the video game store employees, who might have a better understanding of the inside workings of these kinds of returns and such with Sony, is there anything else I can do? I don't really want to do an out of warranty exchange with Sony, as that will cost me money, and this little guy is only 31 (35 now) days old.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Boozy]

I don't work at a video game store, but I do have common sense, and its telling me that if the store has a record of your purchase, then they can give you SOMETHING to indicate where and when you bought it. Ask the manager really nicely if there's anything he or she can give you. Even if they can't pull anything off their computer, maybe something written on the store's letterhead explaining the situation would help. I would think this store would want to help you if they can...after all, I'm assuming you had planned on buying more games from them for your system?
Did you pay cash? If you paid with your credit card or debit card, the bank will be able to give you a copy of that transaction record, even if you've since lost it. That in conjunction with the store's letter should cover you.

[mrtauntaun]

Unfortunately, I paid with a combination of gift cards and cash, being just after christmas loot
And I did ask about the letterhead option, to which they responded with the 'We can't do that, if we did it for you we'd have to do it for everyone' line.

[lordlundar]

Wow, that's pretty anal about it. 1 day over and they won't allow the return?

As for the excuse as to why they wouldn't do the letterhead note option, I would ask why would that not make sense to do it.

Sorry, there's just to much here that's a slap in the face of common sense.

[mrtauntaun]

Yeah, tell me about it :P

[digilight]

Just out of curiousity is it at the store level or the corporite level that you have been talking to (about getting something on letterhead). Because you could probably bribe the store manager or ASM or something into doing it. Hell bring em by a tray of bear claws in the morning or bring 'em in a cake at night (just whatever it is, make sure its factory wrapped, give them a little piece of mind that you didn't bake them exlax brownies or something This may help him out and write you the letter, "hey this guys a nice guy, and after all the trouble he's been having I'll help him out."

[mrtauntaun]

Hmm, that's a good idea, a little bribery never hurt. I was trying on the corporate level, I will try pursuing a more aggressive incentive based plan on the store level.

[RentalRacer]

Years ago when the first PS2's came out I worked at Wally land in electronics...all the systems were in the store inventory by serial #, then when we sold it, we scanned the serial #, and it took it out of inventory. The serial # also printed on the receipt.

Even though you paid with cash/gift cards I would think maybe they can pull up your transaction by the serial #? It may not be easy, but it can probably be done.

This is just one of those instances that the policies stores have to have to prohibit the SC's actually hurts the honest guy.

Good Luck.

[Knightmare]

They couldn't look up the receipt? At RadioShack, we could look up old receipts, in store, up to 3 years ago. DM and Corp could find for the past 10 years.
Lowe's can find your receipt by phone number.

I think you're getting hosed. I'd go back in and very NICELY, CALMLY ask for a manager and explain again the problem.
I'm sure that if they took it back, they would get credit from Sony for a defective machine.

[NightAngel]

Did you pay with a credit/debit card? If so, did you call your bank and see if you could get a copy of your statement? Maybe that would help?

The first PS2 I owned I won in a contest at work. It had been a rental machine so I was not the original owner. It died and I called Sony and told them that I was not the original owner and how I got it. Since I had never called for service on anything ever before they fixed it for me completely free.

Several years later (about 2 years ago) it died it's second horrible death. I bought a new one and gave the dead one to a co- worker who, in turn, called Sony. Since she was not the original owner and had never called for service on anything before they fixed it for her completely free.

But I don't know what to tell you about your situation...*cough cough*

[mrtauntaun]

I did speak with the store, they can look up the transaction, they can see the transaction on the screen. But they're telling me they just can't print anything regarding it, and Sony needs something in writing.
I've been calm up until this point, im not gonna take out my frustrations on a fellow gamer, it's not his fault. The manager is gonna be in later today and the employee I talked too is gonna speak to him on my behalf today, so we'll see what happens.

[CrazedClerk]

I did speak with the store, they can look up the transaction, they can see the transaction on the screen. But they're telling me they just can't print anything regarding it, and Sony needs something in writing.
I've been calm up until this point, im not gonna take out my frustrations on a fellow gamer, it's not his fault. The manager is gonna be in later today and the employee I talked too is gonna speak to him on my behalf today, so we'll see what happens.

I think you've been lied to. I work for that company (I am in Canada though) and it IS possible to print out a sales record from an old transaction, the only catch is we have to print out the entire register record of transactions for that day, so it does chew up some paper, but we have done it from time to time. If you know the exact day and roughly the time of day you bought it, it should be easy to look up (mind you not all employees are willing to do this, but I've seen everyone at my store, including the manager, do it on occasion) Otherwise it might be tricky. Managers are able to track items, so one could look and see the date/times of all the PS2s we've sold in the past month, but it might be tricky to find your particular sale.

We do allow returns if the customer has a bank statement or credit card statement indicating proof of purchase at our store, but that might not be enough for Sony themselves.

If all else fails, get the Gamestop customer service number and leave a firm message. That message will go to the DM and chances are they'll be willing to help you (calls that go to the DM almost ALWAYS result in the customer getting their way, which is unfortunate in certain circumstances).

Hope that helps.

[yahurd]

they responded with the 'We can't do that, if we did it for you we'd have to do it for everyone' line.

DUUUUUUUHHHHH! of course they should do it for everybody!

[El Barto]

(calls that go to the DM almost ALWAYS result in the customer getting their way, which is unfortunate in certain circumstances).

Not always. One person called our DM to complain about something and by the end of the call he was banned from every store in our distract and was well on his way to being banned from every store in the country. Let this be a lesson to you, if you ever call a DM about something, don't call her a stupid f***ing b***h during the call and still expect things to end well for you.

Back on topic: I am almost 100% positive you are being lied to. There is no way they can't print up something, somewhere that shows you bought a PS2 from them. We can't print up an actual receipt at my store, but we can print up something that shows almost everything a receipt would, including items purchased, payment method, transaction number, date, and time. There has got to be some way for them to get it for you. Have you tried calling corporate and yelling "I'm never shopping and your company again"?