Best Buy: Video Games Are Not Toys
Rob writes:
BestBuy has a rewardszone coupon for 10% of 1 toy, 15% off 2 toys and 25% off 3 toys. See attached coupon. Went to my local Best Buy in Bridgewater NJ and attempted to use the coupon on a Xbox 360 and 2 games for the system. I was told by multiple rude employees that an Xbox 360 is a video console and not a toy. A search on BestBuy's website for the item "toy" shows Halo 3 as the 1st item. Also further down the list it shows the Xbox 360 unit.We are fine print sticklers. Companies pay plenty for in-house lawyers trained in the art of strangling consumers with fine print. They don't cut us a break when we want an item excluded from a promotion. Why shouldn't we hold them to the same standard? Best Buy may distinguish between games and toys on their website, but the coupon does not define toys or exclude games.
How is a video game not a toy? I called Best Buy corporate office and was told same thing. I was told a doll is a toy. Didn't know Best Buy was in the doll selling business. Then I was told that if it is an electronic game for a child 12 and under it is a toy. Doesn't seem like Best Buy has any clue what a toy is. As you can see from the attached pdf file no were in the exclusions on the coupon does it state Video Game Consoles.
Got to love Best Buy making up rules that only suit themselves.
Game Over.
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Comments:
I remember they sold those dog robot music things at one point, at least at the store I went to. Could that be what they consider a 'toy?'
@DrakeLake: If it costs too much, then it is a "Electronic Music Aid Device", and therefore not eligible.
I went to their website and it seems to me that there is a category for Gaming + Toys and then another sub-category that is just toys. I was able to access just toys by themselves without any game items at all. This seems to me more like an issue concerning proper website layout.
Huh? Best Buy sells toys?
Hmmm... I have one of those sitting in my coupon drawer right now. I've been wanting a PS3. I might go into their store, use their "secret in-store website" and try the same search.
I'd love to get a PS3 for 25% off. Think about it: get a PS3 and two games for 25% off!
Now to convince the wife...
wrostbuy
@snoop-blog: Because service doesn't really matter when you hate shopping in general and you just want the lowest prices with a reasonable amount of hassle.
Occasionally Best Buy might be that place. Most of the time its screw or be screwed.
My "Cheap ass" nature forbids me from going there 100% of the time, thankfully.
Looking at the screenshot, it seems like the search for "toys" pulled up the category "Games & Toys". If video games were already considered toys, then there'd be no reason to have a compound category name like that. I find it disappointing that both Rob and the Consumerist writer conveniently overlooked that obvious discrepancy in order to shore up their claim that Best Buy is wrong here.
So if a toy is defined as "electronic game for a child 12 and under" what am I supposed to call those things my wife and I keep in the beside drawer?
So the coupon is useless? Either man-up and refer to your products as toys, or don't CALL them toys and then deny it.
it is very ironic how a place called "best buy" will not give you thee best buy. lol.
This guy is being deliberately obtuse. Obviously the search for "toy" turned up the entire category "Games & Toys," and obviously Xbox 360 and 2 *game* cartridges (or whatever form they're in) fall under "games" rather than "toys."
@snoop-blog: "Okay, I won't shop at Best Buy. I'll see if EB Games has the game I'm looking for."
"Why do people shop at EB Games?"
"Fine, I'll try Wal-Mart."
*An hour later*
"Well, Wal-Mart didn't have that game, either, and neither did Costco or Target."
"Oh, that's too bad. Have you tried looking for it at Best Buy or EB Games?"
So what happens if you go into a Best Buy and say "can you direct me to the toys"?
I'd walk over to the "in store computer" and search for "Toys".
That'd show them.
you'll notice it says games AND toys.
The video games are the GAMES,
and the roboraptors and little handheld electronic scrabble and junk are the TOYS.
Did you really think you were going to get 25% off an xbox? grow a brain...
If a game console isn't a toy then why is it sold at Toys'R'Us? Also could you use this coupon at another store that will honor their competitions prices?
Videogames are not toys. Pretty simple.
If it doesn't say in the fine print, bring it up in the store, instead of complaining on the net. Heck, they have PC's in-store with the site on them, do a toy search on those with an employee watching. Just argue and argue, especially since fine print is on your side this time.
fat wallet had a 30 page thread on this subject where some people convinced the managers that video games were toys and got PS3s and xboxs for 25% off. A totaly YMMV coupon. They sell toys at bestbuy because the last time I was in one, they have remote control robot dinosaurs and other small crap.
"a toy is defined as electronic game for a child 12 and under"
SOOOO, BestBuy would consider a Nintendo Wii and DS a toy, since their target core audience is 3-12 years. But since Xbox360 and PS3 core audience is targeted for older age groups, they wouldn't be considered at toy. Is this correct, lawyers?
SOOOO, what about Viva Pinata for Xbox 360? Is it a toy? It's a video game, a game is a type of toy (like a board game is a type of toy), it's an electronic game for 12 or under... Or is Bestbuy gonna use ESRB ratings to determine which games are toys and which games are 'adult entertainment devices'?
Why can't we just keep ALL video games defined as toys???
/Ima gonna use this here 25% coupon to go buy me some Ninty games, cos them are toyz...
It's simple really, video games are serious business, serious business can't be toys, thus, video games are not toys :P
The items that would fit into this category are probably the items actually in the toy category "All Categories > Games & Toys > Toys & Kids' Electronics"
Which is everything in this category which does not include the Xbox 360 or any games for it:
[www.bestbuy.com]
I'd love to say that Best Buy should stop being stupid, but my brain makes sense of video games being "software" and consoles being "hardware". It's the same as an anti-virus package being "software" and a car stereo as being "hardware". It's not a toy if you can't really play with it, and if you use it for multimedia entertainment. A toy really isn't one of those things, is it? Mebe one of those iDogs or whatever they're called, but something about them really just screams cheap toy. I want to think of a video game as a toy, but the logic part of my brain just won't let me see it that way.
Video games are not toys. Unless you attack them to a power brick and make a kick-ass race car.
wwjd?
It says games AND TOYS, smartasses.
Who in their right mind considers consoles to be the same thing as toys?
Best Buy sucks for many reasons, but this isn't one of them.
Circuit City did this to me. I tried to use a %-off coupon to buy a DS Lite, and they wouldnt let me because the coupon doesnt apply to "video game consoles". I tried over and over to get the CSRs to explain how a DS was a console and they couldnt, just that it was and therefore didnt apply. If you went to their website page for the xbox or ps3, it says console all over the page. however, if you go the to the page for the DS Lite, nowhere on the page was the word console. I gave up on Circuit City that day
We used to put food in the washing machine all the time when I was a kid. TOYZ!
From American Heritage Dictionary:
It seems that most dictionaries' first definition of TOY is "something a child plays with." However, all also include a definition "An amusement; a pastime."
So put some cash in your 12-year-olds hand and let them buy the console. If a child buys it, how could they deny its a toy?
I'm not surprised - stores put tons of very specific restrictions on these coupons and then don't abide by their own defintions. I tried to use a "$10 off of $10" coupon at JC Penney just before Christmas. I wanted to purchase a gift set that contained liquid soap, lotion, a holder for the set and a brush." I was told I couldn't because the coupon was not good on "cosmetics and fragrances." I said, "This is foot lotion and soap. It's not a cosmetic or a fragrance." Still, I was refused because the coupon was not good on "cosmetics and fragrances." Very stupid. I let them keep the lotion and soap and bought a "Thinsulate" gloves and hat set for my son instead which was on sale for half price, thus free with my coupon. I think they would have been dollars ahead to have sold me the lotion and the soap.
anyone here thinking that best buy is in the wrong or is some how being shady in this particular instance boggle my mind. were this not about trying to sleeze some cash from a corporation, then i bet most people here would say that video games aren't toys in the common sense of the word.
video games are more like computers than anything else and i'm sure no one would side up with someone trying to use this coupon to get 25% off of a new laptop. sure, we enjoy our electronics and can even get giddy about them, but they're not toys. mind you, this is the same crowd that would be upset to hear someone saying that video games cannot be art. clearly you want to have your cake, eat it too, and get it at someone else's expense.
as for the website pulling up halo 3 as a "toy," it's very obvious that searching for "toy" pulls up anything in the "games and toys" category (which is where video game hardware and software are filed).
like someone else already said, while there are lots of reasons to hate best buy - this is not one of them.
Worst store ever.
They pulled this crap with me years ago when they were distributing a "$5 Off" coupon that was good for many things, among them "videogame software". I brought a Gamecube game to the counter and was promptly told by the cashier that Gamecube games were not videogame software. When I asked what, exactly, constituted videogame software, the cashier stammered a bit and then said "computer games". Nowhere on the coupon did it say "computer games". I told her to clarify the situation by calling the manager, who backed her and also refused to come out and speak to me. I of course left without purchasing the game.
I later called their headquarters to complain. The custom service rep I spoke to was confused by the concept of "videogame software" and had to ask someone else about it, so they took my name, phone number and the store where I tried to buy the game, and said they would call me later. An hour later I had the go ahead to return to the store and use the $5 coupon to buy a Gamecube game. Though I didn't ask for it, there was also no apology for having wasted my time. It should go without saying that I didn't bother returning to Best Buy after that.
And for those who are interested, this was the Best Buy across the street from UCLA, though I guess you don't need to go to Westwood to get shoddy treatment. Every Best Buy is like that!
@rickless abandon: Take a few moments to browse the "toys" on Best Buy's web site and you'll find that there are no toys (in the conventional sense), just video games. Because of this, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that BB defines video games as toys, and to expect them to honor the coupon on a video game purchase.
This has been on SlickDeals all month long. Some BB's have indeed accepted the coupons on game consoles and games, while others have rejected it. Extremely YMMV on this one.
Search for "computer" on Best Buy's webpage.... top result was a stick of RAM. Sorry but I do not think of RAM as a "computer" but as a component.
If you switch it to sort by Price Lowest to Highest it shows Compressed Air Duster. This also does not scream "computer" to me. A search term gives you related results too. Yes "toy" gives you consoles as they are in the Games and Toys section but does that mean every item when you search a term IS what the search term says (oh yay, USB cables and CDRs are also computers).
games != toys
"I tried over and over to get the CSRs to explain how a DS was a console and they couldnt, just that it was and therefore didnt apply."
It is a stand-alone appliance that you purchase game cartridges for. How is it NOT a console?
Yet another reason to never shop at BestBuy. I won't even bother going into their stores anymore.
saying an Xbox is a toy is like saying a macbook is an iPod accessory.
Can Hardware and Software pass as a toy?
@sled_dog: So, basically, bring a dictionary, show it to the CSR as a Child plays with said items in any way or form, and you're home free. Flawless! :)
Interesting. I think I will go to Best Buy and convince them that I let my children play with our refridgerator, microwave, and range thus making them "toys" and I can get 25% off.
Or I can use common sense and realize that appliances, like video games, are not toy, thus saving myself a trip.
People who act like this are the reason we have the obnoxious fine print on those coupons, warning labels on hair dryers that say "Don't use in shower", and coffee cups that say "Warning: Hot".
why do people still shop at best buy?