"You wanna try that again?"

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Last Sunday, marketing again decided to feature the nintendo Wii in its ad and guarantee at least 10 units per store for Sunday at 8 am. We got 28 and sold them all that morning.

I was covering a break in electronics when I got this call:

Me: Hello, electronics, how can I help you?
Caller: You have Wiis in now, right?
Me: I'm sorry, we're sold out at the moment. They all sold on Sunday
Caller: (smugly) Ummm, you wanna try that again? You ad guarantees ten units per store, so you do have them, right?
Me: It guaranteed the ten units to be in stock Sunday at 8 am, when we open. Do you know which day of the week it is?
Caller: *click
Me: Heh heh, you wanna try that one again?

Rude answer, I know, but I feel it was justified the moment they decided to get all "false advertising" on my ass.

Oh, and I also got to take a call from somebody who spoke to me in a wonderful dialect consisting of part redneck, part cro-magnon, and part drunk. He called me about...curtains, I guess, and the only words I could make out were "cat", "fuck" and "y'all".

I just bluffed my way through that one. "We have a wide selection of curtains, bring in the measurements of your window and we can help you more." I fortunately did not have to deal with him in person.

[Jadedcarguy]

Rude answer, I know, but I feel it was justified the moment they decided to get all "false advertising" on my ass.

Not only did they go "false advertising" on you, they got snarky right away. Fully justified.

[tropicsgoddess]

Not only did they go "false advertising" on you, they got snarky right away. Fully justified.

I agree!

[iviles]

Why do people think that because the ad ran on sunday that there will still be there on Monday??? at my company they dont even reach the sales floor. They come in and someone hears a rumor so theres more people trying to get one then what came in. You were not rude they were stupid!

[marasbaras]

Given all of the hassles the Wii has caused due to under supply, there's a collection of executives at Nintendo that need to be sliced, diced, and fed to the sharks as a kind of reverse sushi.

[Forensic Waitress]

Your response wasn't rude it was simply stating the fact that they are a dumbass and needed to be put in their place. Way to go.

[Nekojin]

Given all of the hassles the Wii has caused due to under supply, there's a collection of executives at Nintendo that need to be sliced, diced, and fed to the sharks as a kind of reverse sushi.

Not really. Their marketing strategy was based on the sales figures from the GameCube. They were optimistic in their estimates, plugging the number at twice the sales of the GameCube. They were not expecting it to be the most popular console produced, ever.

Once it became evident that the Wii had greater popularity and consumer adoption than any video game system ever, Nintendo had three possibilities: Increase production to try to meet all of the demand at once (and risk having a massive production overrun once consumer demand was met), maintain existing production, or something in between. They did actually increase production, but conservatively - there's no way for anyone to estimate when the bubble will burst, and sales will drop off. That the Wii was one of the top Christmas "fads" for two years in a row is unprecedented.

Nobody at Nintendo is doing anything wrong.

[marasbaras]

Nobody at Nintendo is doing anything wrong.

Simply not doing anything wrong is not enough with a decision of this magnitude. How many YEARS will it take them to catch up? It was quite obvious as early as September 2007 that the Wii would blow out sales records for the second Christmas season in a row.

On a more personal level, I know a LOT of people who have said "FUCK THIS, I'm getting a PS3". I don't want a PS3, but I've given up on a Wii now. Screw it, not worth the headache.

A couple folks I know have sworn off Nintendo for good ... dumped all their old gear just from the frustration of trying to get a Wii. Kind of like me and Sony after Star Wars Online.

There's enough competition out there now that you don't get to burn customers anymore. Not like this.

[Estil]

I want a Wii myself, but not until the first price drop. I don't care if its the hot ticket Christmas item for five years in a row. There WILL be a price drop at some point (and a much better selection of Virtual Console stuff to boot); I can afford to be patient.

[friendofjimmyk]

Caller: (smugly) Ummm, you wanna try that again? You ad guarantees ten units per store, so you do have them, right?
Me: It guaranteed the ten units to be in stock Sunday at 8 am, when we open. Do you know which day of the week it is?
Caller: *click
Me: Heh heh, you wanna try that one again?

.

Too bad they hung up before you asked them the same question! Either way, I call that "OWNED"

[bendertiger]

"Sorry, we've stopped Wii'ing for today, we might have some in stock next week..."

[Naaman]

Simply not doing anything wrong is not enough with a decision of this magnitude. How many YEARS will it take them to catch up? It was quite obvious as early as September 2007 that the Wii would blow out sales records for the second Christmas season in a row.

Manufacturing on that scale isn't quite as simple, they can't just flick a switch labelled "quadruple production". Any increases need to planned months ahead for everything from packaging to the ATI graphics chips. When the bubble does burst they'd probably still be on the increased production schedule for the next few months because they're still getting parts as per the contract.

Anyway I still find the shortage preferable to Sony's manufactured 'shortages'.

[zzapp the witch]

Y'all keep talking about some sort of Wii shortage...we have plenty over here, had plenty before Xmas, through Xmas and after Xmas. We have had no shortage. They aren't just sitting there gathering dust, mind you, but we have plenty for everyone.

I started talking to my brother about all of these shortages, we can't figure it out, everywhere else must be getting their wiis accidentally sent to us....