You think that's something, I was a 16 year old kid working part time as a salesman at a large local game store when the Colecovision launched. We had collected money in advance as well, and promised to deliver systems before Christmas. Well, for a variety of reasons (maybe weather, I don't recall), it ended up that the systems were stuck at a distributor somewhere in Pennsylvania... So the store manager rented a Ryder truck to go get them on like Dec. 23. He has a flat tire and other mishaps, so we have a store full of people late at night (No one was doing midnight launches in 1982), and they were starting to get rowdy and irritated thinking we were stringing them along and that we really couldn't get the systems. Now think about it... why would we do that?! Anyway, only 1 angry guy demanded his money back and left, but the truck rolled in about midnight and people got their systems. (So maybe this was the first midnight launch... :lol
[quote name='jyerby']I will NEVER forget the Xbox 360 Launch. I was the Store Manager of Gamestop 1595 in Trussville, AL -- a few miles outside Birmingham. We were the busiest store in the region. We took something to the effect of 120 pre-orders before GameStop told us to stop taking them. We were told repeatedly that the company was getting enough units and we were even encouraged to collect the full dollar amount of the system to simplify the check-out process for the masses on release night.
Then the news came a week prior to launch. We were getting 12 units. TWELVE. We had 120 orders, about 75ish were FULLY PAID. First thing I did was cancel my employees orders as well as my own. It went over like a lead balloon but it had to be done.
Then as store manager I had the wonderful job of calling the 108 people who had put all their hopes into us making their and their child's christmas and inform them that no, we will not have their unit. It was the worst thing I ever had to do. The company informed us that we would not be compensating them for this issue, since it wasnt our fault. Of course, I'm not going to say that. The company also wanted me to push people into turning their pre-order into a gift card which they could later use to buy a 360. Imagine giving that to a kid on Christmas.
Oh the real kicker: Tell them you can convert the order into a PSP purchase (the PSP had launched earlier in the year) -- GameStop's rationale: The PSP was also new technology therefore people hunting a 360 would want it too. Jeez.
Then of course people are showing up to get their money back and hoping to God they can find a unit elsewhere a week before launch. The problem? We dont start our day with a ton of cash to issue refunds with. After one or two $300-400 refunds, I'm tapped out until I collect more cash. Or they could wait 1-2 weeks for corporate to issue them a check.
It was awful. My customers hated me and I couldnt blame them.
I ended up camping at Walmart for 20 hours to get my launch 360. Good times.
Anyway, heres hoping that the Wii U launch isnt similar.
Edit: Keep in mind this was circa 2005. I havent worked for GameStop for a long, long time and I hear they have changed many procedures over that time. I'm quite sure they wouldnt let this happen again. Well, not entirely sure....[/QUOTE]
Nintendo World Store
that.
