Internal Page: Check if there’s a Nintendo Wii Console In Stock

Our current generation of consoles are powerful machines, but some clarification might be needed on whether or not they’ve surpassed their “toy-ish” roots. Are they toys or not? Well according to Best Buy, they’re not.

It’s true they certainly used to be toys but modern day video games could be considered so advanced that the word ‘toy’ may be inapplicable. Remember back in the day when the only video games we had were the basic tennis and squash games with little paddles to move your sad cursor up and down the screen? You need to be old (30+) to remember those. They were toys.

Dictionary definitions aside, this wouldn’t have been an issue if the point was clarified sooner. At least, before a customer tried to purchase a console and two video games with a coupon that entitled him to a discount on “toys.”

So this is nothing to do with dictionary definitions, at least in the eyes of the store. They obviously have their own definitions and will, if they have any sense at all, make the information available to the customer. Granted, the small print is a pain and most of us don’t read it … but, of course you should.

Rob recently tried to purchase an Xbox 360 in Best Buy with a coupon that entitled him on a discount on purchase of “toys.” Employees told him that the items did not qualify for the coupon as they aren’t toys.

It probably said on his coupon somewhere that it couldn’t be used for video games consoles. If the guy had actually taken the time to read that little bit of paper he could have saved himself a whole lot of time and aggravation, probably. Although if the terms and conditions were not clearly laid out then he would have a case against them.

Rob went home and checked Best Buy’s website, searching for the item “toy.” Halo 3 popped up as the first on the list, and a little down the list was the Xbox 360 platform. He called up Best Buy’s corporate office but he was met with the same response.

Again it all comes down to terms and conditions. The website will have it’s own T&C section which relates to the website only. The offline promotions can quite happily be governed by a separate set of terms and conditions which can, of course, change at any time. Rob could waste lots more time trying to get to the bottom of this but he’ll end up where he started. It’s just not worth trying to get any sense out of large companies these days! (in our experience).

Source: QJ