I saw the message at 10:43 PM. On the forum thread, people posted that 10 were in stock (last time they checked at 10:30 *AM*) at Tustin, and that it should be open untill midnight. I programmed my GPS for Tustin, but since I live in Huntington Beach (and mistakenly thought that the person didn't bother to check the availability at Huntington Beach (he did mention on the bottom that Huntington Beach was out of stock, I just didn't see it), I just did the Store Locator on the Huntington Beach location. Not knowing they were out of stock, I was out the door by 10:46 PM, on my way to the Huntington Beach Toys R Us. My chances of returning home with one at either store? I'd say close to 0%.
The traffic lights were on my side as all 2 dozen traffic lights I needed to drive through to get on the freeway were all green. I got to the store by 11 PM. I got to the game department, and the guy told me that they haven't had it in stock all day. I asked him whether he can look up for me if other stores had it in stock. And he said they can do it for me at the Customer Service department.
I get to Customer Service, and there is one box of Rockband 2 Special Edition for the XBOX 360 on the floor!! I puzzlingly point and tell her that I'm looking for "one of those" and wonder if she can help me get one, already resigned to the fact that they are out of stock, and everything that they have in stock is either a defective return, or something she's holding for somebody. And the lady tells me someone had just returned it, unopened because the dad didn't know XBOX 360 games didn't work on PS3s. I verified it was new and unopened. And interestingly enough, she had just got off the phone with another person who was looking for one. She told the person that they had one in stock (the one I was buying), and she wasn't sure if that person was on their way right now.
I checked out after paying $109 + tax. And she gave me a $25 gift card to boot. As I made the short walk to my car, I saw someone pull up to the store at 11:07PM. She seemed to march with determination into the store. I wasn't sure if she wanted the rockband 2 set, but I drove off quickly to avoid any possible confrontation (i.e. a woman running after me in the Toys R Us parking lot). You see, people get crazy at this time of the year.
Surprisingly, I hit about a dozen traffic lights on the way back (the universe rights itself), and I was back at home at 11:30 PM. Still on a high from the excitement. Reading more of the thread on the forum after I got back, I was told that the Huntington Beach location had been out of stock at least since 8:30 AM this morning. And it seemed as though most people in the forum had resorted to price matching at Walmart since most toys r us were out of stock after this morning. The price matching at Walmart was a good deal, but not as good as they did not give you a $25 gift certificate. Score! I literally can turn this around and make an easy $75 by tomorrow, but I'm gonna have to keep it.
Stan asked me if it would have been better if he just called me next time he saw a deal, but the irony is that if I had gotten there right after he called me, I would have gotten there before the guy returned it, and I would have walked away empty handed.
Until now, I've been playing with my brother's unused PS3 Rock Band when I was at San Diego, and after that, Stan let me borrow/have his RB1 drums, his guitar hero xplorer guitar, my brother's PS3 mic that works on the xbox as well, and Stan's RB1 game as well since he has RB2). It was kind of my makeshift Rock Band for Po' People kit. But now, I have the shiny new black RB2 drums, game, guitar, mic for $85. I'm totally stoked!
No comments:
Post a Comment