irateplatypus

so, today... against all odds, i picked up a nintendo ds. i'm thrilled w/the actual product, but that's for another thread.

after going to four stores without luck (target, walmart, best buy, gamestop), i stopped at my local EB to see if they had any DS units in stock. i asked the guy behind the counter, he said "yeah, we've actually just got a single one left because a someone who pre-ordered decided not to pick theirs up." ok, that was the best news i've heard in a while.

while he was ringing me up, he says "oh yeah, this last one is part of a bundle package... it costs $199.99 (fifty dollars more than a standard DS purchase) and includes Mario 64 and a starter pack." this really caught me off-guard... so i asked him if there was anyway i could just buy the DS hardware by itself. he replied that this was the last unit in the store and that it was impossible to separate the hardware from the other things i didn't want to buy.

since i was backed into a corner (it was probably one of the last ones available in the city and no guarantees of getting one before the new year) i decided to go ahead and get the bundle pack. w/out being a jerk about it (i hope) i said i was dissatisfied with their business practices but would take their last unit anyway under the circumstances.

so, he finishes ringing me up... then proceeds to gather my "inseparable" DS bundle. he shouts at some guy in the back to bring up a starter pack, grabs a Mario 64 game from a glass case, and (here's the kicker) opens a windowless locked cabinet to grab a DS unit. yeah, next to the "last DS in the store" was about 9 others.

now i know there is probably another side to this story... it's probably not as shady as it looked from plain view. still, i can't help but think EB was doing something unethical.

do stores have an obligation to sell merchandise as it was intended (not bundling it with items you may not have wanted and requiring you to purchase those also.)?

i'm doubting there is a legal imperative for them to stop this policy, do you think there is an ethical one?

do you think i was given the "bait and switch" or another variety of shady deal today?

my personal opinion is that they are simply engaging in a little profit gouging w/a high-demand item during the winter profit season. i suppose i should have just walked away and not encouraged such consumer manipulation even though it would mean i wouldn't be able to get the product i wanted for a long while. what do you all think?

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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill