I have had a string of bad luck with some gaming transactions as of lately, and I just need to vent. It started a month ago when I ordered Super Mario 64 DS on Amazon, supposedly "brand new" for $12 shipped. I was ECSTATIC, because I played the bits out of the original SM64, and the DS version was a HUGE improvement. When I got it, it was in a standard envelope, the one you'd use for a gas bill. I had never been the best at putting the correct shapes in my toys as a child, but even I knew that DS case was NOT in there. I then noticed a small tear in the corner of the envelope. When I opened it, there was no game inside! ! I contacted the seller and told him that the game had probably been taken because he wrote "Inside:Super Mario 64 DS" on the back. Obviously someone had taken the game out and could easily credit the missing game to a small tear during handling. He was happy to give me a refund, but he's new to Amazon and for some reason I only got half of my money back! He said it was an error and he'd work on it. I just TODAY, 27 days later, got all of it back.

Later I went to Sears and got a bunch of really good clearance items on DS, but two of the shrinkwrap-less games (probably should have checked on my part ) were missing the games. It was a headache trying to get the cranky old lady to believe me, and even THEN I had to pay a 10% re-stocking fee! ! FOR WHAT! SO YOU CAN RESTOCK CASES!

Later I incidentally stumbled upon the Black Ops Prestige Edition deal for 14.99! HUZZAH! MY FORTUNES HAD CHANGED! I was in for two, and I was pretty confident because I was among the first to order them. Right away I found one was backordered.. Oh well. But the hassle the other one has been giving me is beyond belief. I was for joy when I found my other had SHIPPED! BOO FRICKIN YEAH! I wondered for 2-3 days that my shipment hasn't progressed beyond the "label has been created, come take this shit UPS" response. Customer service led me one for another 3 days, and finally I got a lady to file a tracer on the package. She assured me that she'd take care of it and it would most likely be found and brought to me. Here's hoping ! She said worst comes to worst, I could get a pretty handsome deal because of the inconvenience. So the next day, I found UPS had started a case near the town near me. HOW DOES THAT WORK? It never left the warehouse, so you check to see if Solid Snake himself had snuck into my package and slip past UPS ALL THE WAY HERE!? Then I got an e-mail saying that credit had been applied to my order. ! I EXPLICITLY said I did NOT want credit back. Many a headbanging with CS got me nowhere. It's been past the standard 3 days UPS takes for tracers, and NO UPDATE. Best Buy has taken almost the full 5 days but credit hasn't taken affect on my purchase. At this point, whatever, just give me my money back, but instead my account has been held up $40 so I could have a good delving into INSANITY with the dumbest CS agents known to man. (At one point I pondered whether or not I could just get the REGULAR Black Ops game, but the school-girlish CS agent said that there was too much of a price gap between the standard manilla version that goes for $53 bucks and the MSRP ALONE $150 package I'd gotten. Right. I was pretty fumed and went off on how much of a frustration all of this had been, and my account had been held up money for nothing, and that I don't know how much more of a "similar deal" the STANDARD version of the game could be to the super-valuable version with a lot of goodies THEY'D ed UP! She hung up on ME lol) I've given up and just want my money back and the credit hasn't taken affect. Oy...

And today, I got home after getting the Fallout New Vegas Collector's Edition from my local Gamstop for $30. Pretty happy about that! So I open it up and of course I see that the "Making Of New Vegas" DVD isn't there.
I just sent an e-mail to Bethesda asking for one. I've been listening to the Friends theme song a lot, because it has NOT been my month, and at this point, looking to be my year from a gaming standpoint.