If you learn anything from these reports, it's that maybe buying a used console isn't such a deal after all.
First up, a Lakewood, Colorado family bought a used 3DS for their five year old son, Braydon. Everything went fine, happiness was to be had by all come Christmas morning. Until that is, Mark came to his older brother with a problem. First reported by Colorado's own 9News, Mark asked for help deleting some pictures left behind from the previous owner.
The brother reported the images, 9 in all, to his parents. The father promoptly returned the 3DS from where he purchased it, the neighborhood GameStop. The retailer apologized, and offered the family a brand new 3DS in its place. According to the store's manager, the images slipped by staff before it was re-sold. The corporate office issued the following statement:
"GameStop is currently researching this situation. We have a rigorous quality control process in place to ensure that existing content is removed from all devices before they are re-sold. Out of millions of transactions each year, ones like this happen very rarely. Our number one priority is to make this right for our customer."
The apology did little for the father, who told 9News, "You can't unsee this he's 5 years old maybe when he's 18 or 20 maybe he won't know anything about it but he's not going to forget about this tomorrow," Giles said.
Moving forward to case #2, WBRC Fox 6 reported yesterday that a a Talladega woman purchased another used 3DS from WalMart, only to take it home for her son to discover Christmas morning that the box was loaded with tissue paper and rocks.
According to Fox's report, "Wal-Mart tells us this is happening because people buy the merchandise and then return it to the store with the items missing. Employees are now checking the returned merchandise." Too little too late Wal Mart.
The mother warned fellow consumers to "Check your merchandise...Just check it before you leave the store, make sure it's in there and don't get home and be surprised, like if you found what I found."
With the economy being what it is, deals are obviously attractive. GameStop currently claims almost half of its profits from the sale of used products. But it's always important to keep your guard up when buying used. Especially when the sellers can't even be bothered to check a product before re-selling it. Shout "buyer beware" from the rooftops all you like, retailers should really be up on their game so instances like this can be prevented.
