About a year or so ago I bought a 60gb PS3 from someone who was about to trade it in to the one local shop for cheap. It had no controller and had clearly been opened(but the warranty seal was still hanging onto the console) before they tried trading it in. That should have been warning sign #1.

I tested it fully after getting it home but I was ecstatic to get a 60gb PS3 finally and especially for so cheap. It read everything I could throw at it, including CD's, DVD's, Blu-Rays, PS1, PS2 and PS3 games.

But after about two weeks of owning it, I got bored with using it as a power hungry PS2 machine, so I stored it away for around six months.

When I finally dusted it off to try using it again, surprise surprise it no longer would read PS3 games. I didn't dare try any other games in it. I put it back away. That should've been warning sign #2 to get rid of it quickly.

Fast forward to today when I took it to a friend from CAG and PSN's house to try and get them to trade it in for me to GS. It got the infamous YLOD after about 10 minutes of running.#-o#-o#-o

He still tried a couple GS stores for me to try trading it in, but apparently they only take the systems if they can run without shutting off for 5 minutes supposedly.:-#

So yeah, now I have an essentially dead 60gb PS3. At least the controller I put with it is good and I have the AV cables and charging cable for the controller that I paired with it that I could just take back as well.

So now it's sitting on my trade list here for $60 and on my local Craigslist just waiting for someone with more patience than me who wants a project system to screw around with console only.

But this is just a prime example of caveat emptor imo. I should've known better than to try buying a 60gb and especially for so cheap. Oh well. Maybe I can use it as a $30 doorstop.:lol:

As some of you may know I tried doing a trade this past week at Best Buy and found out I was unbanned somehow. With some of the credit I picked up a :ps3:Skyrim CE. Unfortunately when I opened it, I found that the manual inside the not so deluxe CE game packaging was ripped in MULTIPLE places on the front cover before I even opened the package.:roll:

I first fired off a request for a replacement to what was apparently not the correct department. So then I sent off another request for a replacement and this was the response I received:

[quote=Bethesda Support]If you need a replacement or exchange, try exchanging the product at the place of purchase first. If that is not possible, follow the instructions below.

There is no fee for replacement of a missing CD-ROM, Manual, or Map within the 90-day warranty period for the original purchaser only (does not apply to used copies). Replacement of a lost item or an item after 90 days as listed below:

Manuals - $10.00
Maps - $10.00 each
PC CDROM/DVDROM - $10.00 each
Xbox disc - $20.00
Xbox 360 disc - $20.00
PS2 disc - $20.00
PSP disc = $20.00
Playstation disc - $20.00
PS3 disc - $20.00
Nintendo DS - $20.00
Nintendo Wii - $20.00
The only exception to this are manuals for Tribunal. These are only available in PDF format, but are provided at no cost. (Proof of ownership still required, see below) Our warranty does not cover any portion of the product that has been damaged as a result of abuse, unreasonable use, mistreatment, or neglect.

We only accept certified checks or Money Orders (NO personal checks or cash). Payment must be made payable to "ZeniMax Media" in US funds.

Send check, product, and proof of ownership to:

Bethesda Softworks Support
10720 Gilroy Road
Suite 2
Hunt Valley, MD 21031

Proof of ownership: For replacement CD-ROMs, the CD-ROM must be included with the certified check or Money Order. For a Manual, the Manual must be included. For a Map, the Map must be sent. For replacement figurines, the figurine is required (Collector's edition ONLY). If it is not possible to send the item in question (i.e. you no longer have the map or manual), the original receipt must be sent in if available. Only send in the item being replaced, not the entire game.

Before sending in any materials, please reply to this email with your name address, and telephone number. Once that information has been received, we can then send your RMA number. PLEASE NOTE: Your address MUST be a valid street address, we ship via UPS, and they cannot deliver to PO boxes.[/quote]

They're asking for my name(already in the original replacement request email form), address and telephone number in this response. Hotmail flagged the email as suspicious(email was sent from: [email]support04@bethsoft.com[/email] ), so I'm leery to even respond in any way to them. Not only that but they also failed to answer my request for a replacement slipcover for the CE box as the one on the box I picked up had numerous creases on it.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this, as this is one of the first times I've had to go through the procedure as I normally just go to the store to swap out a bad or missing manual in store. But I sincerely doubt BB would crack open the other PS3 CE they have there just because I'm being nitpicky on the manual.

Has anyone on here had to deal with Bethesda for replacement on a manual or other component of a game before and if so how are they to deal with?

I stands for the individual, who is prone to having his own opinions and professing them frequently.

I also stands for intolerance and injustice and the silencing of those opinions mentioned above.

I shipped something on Friday via Priority Mail with Signature Confirmation to someone in Miami, FL. It was processed through the sort facility at Opa Locka, FL(a mere 15 or so miles from Miami), yet it took until 9:38 this morning to make it to the Miami post office closest to the destination.

The delivery estimate that was given to me on Friday when I shipped it was TODAY, but as expected the USPS underwhelms me as usual. And people wonder why they're hemmorhaging money? I could go into the packages I've sent or received prior which took the 'scenic route'(including one from Gamestop that got shipped from the West Coast, took a trip to sunny Hawaii and then finally made it's way back across the continental US to my home state of PA), but I won't bore you all with those stories, which I'm sure I've probably already mentioned a bunch of times before.

Anyway, just goes to show how freakin' incompetent the USPS is when it takes 10 hours to go 15 frickin' miles.

The following is an opinion. If you agree with it, great. If not, oh well. It's the first opinion I have not censored or edited beyond recognition in a year. If it gets me banned, then it just proves my point about a clear bias around here. I do love this site and all of the deals I have managed to get over my nearly 7 years here. There are some great members on this site and albeit there are quite a few who I'd really love to tell face to face to just go <expletive deleted> themselves(and I'm sure they'd love to tell me the same).

Anyway.....

I received a written warning I was about to be banned from here in Feb of 2011. I received no previous silencings or temp bans for my apparent grievous transgressions on here up to that point. [spoiler]Although now that I think about it, I do recall a temp ban in 2006 or so soon after I joined.[/spoiler]

Apparently I was too abhorrent of an abomination to be allowed to continue in the manner in which I was behaving on the site. So they just skipped ahead of all of the other usual avenues used to get errant members to get back in line and behave and went to the final option as a first option.

Yet I continue to see posts from other 'trolls' who insult and degrade others on an almost daily basis and see not one consequence for them. Not a single one. Yet I've had to bite my tongue and swallow my bile for almost a year out of fear of being blacklisted. Funny how that works, huh? I know, I know. I should worry about my own behavior and not that of others. But it just seems......what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah. Biased.

That's why I really am thinking of just going lurker sooner than later, since the site is 90% lurkers or quasi-lurkers anyway(300k registered users, 30k actual active posters). You only need to go to the code drop threads to see how many codes get sniped without so much as a thank you to see lurkers en masse in action. So I might as well just join the crowd and not contribute(or attempt to). God knows what you get when you try to post a deal around here anymore anyway(zomg not a deal, shipping kills the deal, etc, etc). Funnier still is that it's usually the same handful of folks posting how it's not a deal or shipping kills the deal or whatever too. Wouldn't that too be considered trolling?

I know some of you wouldn't miss me and might actually cheer if it happens. Oh well. I'm not on here seeking approval from any of you. I am who I am and if it makes me a 'troll' for being bluntly honest, then so be it. I'm just sick and tired of seeing what I(and some others) feel is a clear bias/favoritism that's being shown when dealing with some members while the book is being thrown at other members.

As many of you may know, I always kept saying how HDtv was a crock and how I would NEVER buy an HDtv. Apparently times have changed, since I bought a TC-L32C3 Panasonic 32" HDtv on Black Friday for $320 from Best Buy.:shock: Not just that, but I'm enjoying myself while playing games on it. It's nice to not have to squint when trying to write a message on PSN like I had to on my 21.5" Acer LCD monitor I used for two years with my PS3.

Now I just have to decide if I wanna put this tv on Comcast's lousy service or go with an external HD antenna n just get the OTA digital signals for the local channels, since I rarely watch anything on TV anyway.

So there you have it, boys and girls. Doomsday is coming because I bought an HDtv. Be afraid, be VERY afraid.:lol:

I stopped into one of my local GS stores today to check for some pennied guides for chuckles. Unfortunately the local DM was in his office at the time and spotted me.:-# So he starts on me about how I know I'm banned and so on. I asked him what prompted my complete ban.

He then took out his laptop and proceeded to start bringing up emails that I had sent(apparently with some 'angry' wording) and he started mentioning other issues that had popped up over the course of 5-6 years or so as one of their customers. Those issues included giving his stores negative review numbers on those surveys they always whore out on the bottom of the receipts(so yeah folks, those apparently DO get looked at by people with the power to do something at GS) and complaining about the store clerks not selling me pennied items that were clearly on the shelf. My whole thing with that is 'if it's on the shelf im gonna try for it'. The worst they can say is NO.

But I guess I was a bit argumentative to a couple of GS clerks for refusing those sales back in the day. I've since learned to just let that go, since most of the time I only want them to trade here anyway.;)

Anyway when all was said and done I found out that it was the VP of Gamestop himself who put down the chainwide ban on me. I gotta say that I'm kinda honored to be banned from such a high ranking company official. I musta been one prick of a customer taking advantage of loopholes and trading in all of those HDMI cables(which they still had no problem reselling for $20 each after giving me $5 in credit there) to get banned from the frickin' VP himself.

Maybe for Christmas I'll send him a card with an HDMI cable in it as a joke.:lol:

tl;dr version: Gamestop banned me. Oh noes. :lol: Fuck Gamestop. The End.

I said and I quote 'Don't lowball me' and put it in HUGE letters that even Stevie Wonder could see. But apparently some of ya's can't read or choose to ignore that in the in vain hopes of getting a stupid cheap deal from me. I don't blame people for trying, but from here on out I'm not answering any PM's that I consider downright insulting/lowballing and I'm putting every user who does so on my ignore list.

The last PM I received of this nature was offering me $15(SHIPPED) for Sacred 2 and Darksiders for PS3.:roll: Good luck with that lowballer.

So I guess this means I have to change my TL yet again and put prices back on there to stop the stupid cheap offers.:bomb: Every game on my TL currently is stuff I likely don't give a shit either way if I sell or not, so if the prices I put back up there are too high for some of ya'll, then oh well.

That's all I'm saying on this matter.

The first two are things that have annoyed me for a long time now, while the other one is a very new annoyance.

What are they, you might ask?

[SIZE=4][COLOR=red][B]1.[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE] People bitching about the Greatest Hits/Platinum Hits game covers/cases and how they're 'ugly'.

Honestly. The game sold well enough to reach that point, so if you wanted a 'black label' copy of the game, why didn't you buy it BEFORE all of those copies are long gone from the market?

Oh it's because you were waiting for a deal on it? So now you got a deal on the game but lo and behold the copy shows up to your doorstep and it's in the red/silver packaging. :bomb::bomb::bomb:RAGGEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Commence whining about 'omg this soooooo fucks up the feng shui of my gaming collection and I can't have this on my shelf', even though it's the SAME fuckin' game just in a different colored packaging.

Here's an idea, since the coverart is usually largely the same, Google 'replacement game cases' for your console of choice and then buy a frickin' case of them to swap out those 'ugly' red/silver ones with. Problem solved.

[SIZE=4][COLOR=red][B]2.[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE] People overvaluing their time and expecting to be 'compensated' if they spend more than half a millisecond in a store without someone being literally up their ass the moment they come into the store to see if they need help.

I understand that maybe some CAG's and other shoppers only have time during their lunch or break or whatever and can't get away to shop at their leisure. But if you're that pressed for time, why not just go to Amazon/Buy/etc/etc and order stuff online and have it shipped right to your house?

That way then we don't have to read about you 'deserving' a free gift card because it took more than 10 seconds to get that copy of (insert name of item that isn't really all that important in the grand scheme of things but you just HAD to have right NOWWWWW) into your grubby hands and get checked out.

Please learn to use sites like PriceGrabber and such to find the lowest price for the shit you want and get it shipped to your home since it's just so annoying to read how you whined to the manager at X or Y store about how you're owed shit because their employees couldn't just drop everything to wait on you and you alone.

[SIZE=4][COLOR=red][B]3.[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE] People bitching about shipping delays during the holiday season.

Yes indeed. Your package is important to us at (insert shipping carrier name here), which is why we take our time to make sure it gets to you safely and undamaged.

What's that? You wanted it yesterday, even if we had to bounce it around in the warehouse like a pinball? OK then. Don't blame us(but we know you will:roll:) when your package arrives with footprints all over it from us playing soccer with it to 'expedite' it into our truck to get it delivered to you faster.

We at (insert carrier name) value your business and want to deal with your self important ass again sometime soon. Thank you for trusting in your package to be delivered by us.

All sarcasm aside it's really amusing to me when people complain about how X or Y company uses this or that delivery service and how it took 'too long' to get to them. As if the delivery company is supposed to drop everything they're doing and forget about the other millions of packages they have to deliver and just focus on getting Betty Bitchfest their package and get it there NOW.

Don't worry little Jimmy, your toy train will arrive AFTER Christmas because impatient shopper #56363567357 had to have that Sex & The City complete season boxset delivered right NOW because they need it more than you need your toy. It's ok you'll have lots of other toys for Christmas to play with, right?

So yeah....the three things above just really get on my nerves, but I'm sure I get on your combined nerves a lot more often than that, right my fellow CAG's?:razz::booty:

It's not CAG that has changed since I joined, it's me. I was going over my feedback that I have from various trades and deals over the last five years and I noticed a trend from the beginning up until maybe a year or two ago.

Many of the feedback said I am a 'nice guy' and that just doesn't seem to mesh with the opinion I'm sure more than a few of you now have about me. Sure I keep in constant contact throughout a deal and make sure everyone is still happy with their deal, but it's been more about getting back at least what I spent for the item(s) and not so much trying to help people.

I tend to put 'eBay value' above making a deal and getting items that others possibly can't find into their hands and I seem to think that everybody who I'm dealing with is going to be some reseller who I helped out by getting them inventory so they didn't have to expend their gas to do so.

Save for my hoarding of the copies of Uncharted from TRU recently every time I've grabbed a ton of the same item in recent years it's been for flipping purposes or to resell and try to make a few bucks on.

So now I find myself at a crossroads. Do I try and go back to where I help folks out and hope for the same consideration in return or do I continue down this path and go 3 months between deals like has been happening as of late?

Since I joined CAG I've lost about two dozen or so deals because of the fact that I don't take payment via Paypal. Does it matter to me? Not really.

I only accept the forms of payment that are convenient for me and those that I trust(cash or US Postal Service money orders). I've had people send me the wrong forms of payment before, like random money orders from their local stores or :puke: Western Union money orders(which no one, including the places issuing them, will cash or they won't cash without some exorbitant fee).

In times past I've simply taken them and deposited them into my checking account, which then takes at least a day for them to post, not even taking into account whether or not they're fraudulent, in which case then I'm liable for that amount.

That's why I ONLY take the USPS MO's(since they have serial #'s that the USPS clerks can cross check AND security features like US money has) or cold, hard cash, but far too many are as stubborn as me on here and will just say fuck it and not do a deal rather than go outside of THEIR comfort zone. That's fine with me. If you don't wanna deal because I won't take Paypal, then that's fine.:booty:

I understand that there is some added security benefit for them to sending via Paypal versus mailing a physical payment. But what many fail to understand is that I typically only send out AFTER I receive a payment and never before, unless it's a trade and I have the lower feedback. So if they send me an electronic payment I would only ship out once that money posts to my account and NOT before, so then I would have to deal with people whining about 'it took forever for him to ship' on top of everything else.

FYI: I DO have a Paypal account, but I DID NOT sign up for it to take payments on here and I refuse to use it unless people demanding I use it pay any and all related fees for our transactions.