Reader Dave said he was shopping with his friend (male) at Walmart, searching for the coveted Nintendo Wii. He was happy to find that Walmart had 7 or 8 of the consoles in stock — enough for both he and his friend to purchase one. Walmart, however, had other ideas. Dave says that Walmart wouldn’t let he and his friend each purchase a Wii because they were “together.” First they’re rationing rice and now men are forced to share their video games? What’s going on in America, folks?
My friend and I went to Walmart (in Exton, PA) on Sunday evening (4/27/08) looking for a Nintendo Wii because neither of us owned the system and have been looking for it for quite some time.
To our surprise, there were around 7-8 Wii’s in stock. The problem? The Walmart employee working in the Electronics department (older man with glasses) refused to sell a Wii to both me and my friend. He would only sell a Wii to one of us because we were shopping “together.” Mind you, we’re not dating or married. Just two guys each looking for a Wii.
He said that because we were in the store together, we could only buy 1. It’s as if we were the same person or something. He told my friend to come back the following day if he wanted one. We argued with him to no end…but he refused to sell my friend a Wii. I never heard of something like that before. It’s not like I was trying to buy 5 Wii’s..we each wanted one. Someone please tell me how Walmart can DENY a customer a product under these circumstances? I can understand if they have a policy stating one Wii per Customer per day. But, we were two separate people trying to each buy a Wii and pay with our own credit cards.
The man was rude to us, and he even had cocky remarks stating that my signature was only somewhat close to matching the signature on the back of my credit card. Mind you, I had to sign my name electronically, which is awkward to begin with.
Dave, that’s just weird. We’d suggest giving Walmart corporate (or even the manager of the store) a heads up about this incident. You seem to have encountered some sort of rogue employee who enjoys bullying people for no good reason.
Are Wiis really still this scarce? Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else?
(Photo:u2acro)
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@FreeMarketGravy: Really. Because everybody knows that gamers don’t have any friends. For that reason alone, the OP’s story is a clear fabrication.
@smoothtom: Get off my lawn!
This happened to my girlfriend and I in November at a Wal-Mart. They had several in stock and we each wanted to buy one – one for her and her daughter, and one for myself (to give as a christmas present – I’ve had one for a year now personally). Yes, we were/are dating, but we even showed them our drivers’ licenses to prove we had two different “households” – but no dice.
That’s just stupid policy I guess – one per household and purchaser makes sense to prevent hoarding, but even when we proved otherwise they wouldn’t budge.
Once you get your Wii, get Mario Kart, because holyjesus that game is awesome. Super Smash Brothers Brawl is also a good one, and Metroid was amazing as well.
I got mine on Black Friday last year after some kid forgot about sales tax. I felt bad until the kid followed me out of the mall, saying “I’ll buy that from you!” I had to tell him that he still couldn’t cover sales tax, and I’d be out money selling it to him.
Heh, this is the Wal-Mart I shop at. They are awful and I can totally believe this story as most of the staff is clueless if you can even find them at their station. There’s only one useful person in the electronics department and apparently she wasn’t on at this time.
@RokMartian: Yep, I usually just scribble a line on the electronic signature pads. They are totally pointless and should just be abolished. Thankfully the grocery I go to most often now doesn’t make you sign for any purchase under $50.
They don’t care about sending all our manufacturing jobs to China. They don’t care about fair wages. They don’t care to provide decent insurance to the employees. But they care about selling two Wii’s to two different people. Call the logic police.
@parabola101: KOP store is a bunch of dingbats.
@Gorky:
What do you think the Wii to peson ratio should be? There was no sane reason to refuse them the sale. They did not make up a mob of people trying to hoard a product. There were 8 in stock and they were trying to buy only 1 each.
If I’m in line waiting for the clerk’s attention and I begin a nice conversation with the girl behind me, should she be denied a sale because we appear to know each other?
I was in Target once and surprised to see that they had Wii’s, and was with a friend of mine at the time. I wanted one, so I bought one, but then asked him if I should get another one to sell on eBay, and we figured why not. The clerk sold them both to me on my card because my friend was there too. Two people, two total Wii’s, now that’s how this WalMart should have done it. As it turns out, I ended up returning the 2nd Wii anyways as they weren’t really going for much on eBay.
Wii + Walmart = wacky adventures!
Hopefully supply will get close to demand by this summer, but with Mario Cart out, I wouldn’t count on it.
BTW- Wii Star Wars Trilogy is quite fun.
@FLEB: they will end up with more happy customers speaking well of WalMart
see, this is where any logic in your comment goes out the window…
@smoothtom: I’m with you.
Costco had two Wii’s…I bought them both. No comment from the checkout girl.
I don’t have any problem finding Wiis anymore…..I’m in central Iowa, maybe people here just don’t play many video games…
Wal-Mart is an asshole farm. Case closed
@jamar0303: Figure out how to ship those to the USA and you’ve got quite a profitable business. In general, you’re not going to find a Wii in any store in FL. If you do it’s a complete fluke and you’re best off buying it and reselling it.
I hear they’re easier to find in other parts of the country.
I’m still curious as to why there’s a still a shortage. 2 years and still a rice..er, Wii shortage? At this point Nintendo has to be losing quite a few sales to people who would impulse-buy one. I almost didn’t buy one because I couldn’t find them back when they first came out.
Me’d like to know whom wrote this summary, and ask she kindly if her could check up on the difference between objective and subjective case before her posts stories.
/grammarjackass
These rationing stories just make me think more and more that we’re approaching some kind of consumer apocalypse. I’m waiting for the stories about ice cream riots at Wal*Mart.
I just got a Wii, and it is awesome. I got mine at gamestop and the guy said that they were expecting a more steady supply of them now that most of the production issues have been resolved.
@Snullbug:
+1
Sure, most guys will play with their Wii’s on front of each other…it just isn’t something they usually talk about, and it can be awkward. I think it’s safe to say that these two gentlement want to be able to play with their own Wii’s in private.
I have to chuckle when I read something like this. I was the first one out of the store I went to at midnight launch and I’m constantly hearing coworkers and friends complain about not being able to find one. I think I’ll have to go play some Mario Kart Wii after work.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sorry you guys can’t find one and it’s unfair of Walmart and all that jazz. I’m just glad I have mine.
That’s crap. I used to work at Target, and as much as we would know people were buying them to sell…we couldn’t do anything about it.
You guys sound pretty legit, but if 2 middle aged guys came in buying Wiis for themselves, I might have been a little leery, but would NOT have denied your friend to buy one!
That’s just absurd.
Sounds like Walmart thinks that when two men are together, it means they’re —. Sue em!
@parabola101: What the hell is up with that store? I hear nothing but horror stories. 2 people buying laptops = good sale. What you do with your older macs = none of their business. What a strange fantasy world they live in.
I bought my Wii on launch day at Target. My girlfriend was with me and also had one reserved from when we camped out for preorders. There were no issues with getting us the Wiis, even though we were obviously together.
The only issue was that they oversold the “Tickle Me Elmo” TMX ed. dolls which we had also purchased. We had to return for it later, and got a $10 gift card for our trouble. But it was worth it because her nieces love the crazy red monster.
@ludwigk: Why did I say Target? It was Toys R Us. o.O but whatever.
@austinchu: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaaha! That was great!
@Gorky: They were limiting to one every TWO people.
Comment on Walmart Won’t Let You And Your Friend Each Buy A Wii Because You’re “Together” I’m pretty sure this is a case by case basis. I’ve been to Walmart 2
times and bought a total of 4 wii’s from them, each time with another
person. This first time I went I bought one and my brother bought one
for us to keep indidvidually in Syracuse, NY. The second time I bought
one as a present for a friend getting married, and my girlfriend
bought one for her parents on Christmas in Lynnwood, WA.
I’m guessing it’s all YMMV, and you just happened to pick the wrong store.
I went to walmart for the first time Saturday. Man, talk about White Trash heaven.
Look on the bright side: Wal-mart can now perform gay marriages.
So all you gay folks out there should pretend you’re there to get a Wii and you’ll get the hitched instead for free!
Are Wiis really that hard to get still? it has been almost 2 years!
*goes back to playing mario kart wii online*
Quite a large number of Wiis were on hand for the Mario Kart launch. A clerk at the Toys R Us in Burbank said they started out with four dozen that day, and still had two dozen on hand when I picked mine up (4pm). When I went to Best Buy later that day (7pm) they still had 7 or 8 behind the counter. I have never seen a Wii inside of an actual store, so I was surprised to see so many on hand. Hopefully these guys were able to pick up another Wii somewhere else.
@Gorky: Yes, but those wanting to buy multiple wiis for ebay make sure that their buddy is not associated with them while in the store. So this policy is meaningless and only hurts honest people who didn’t realize they have to pretend to be a stranger to their friend in order for both to purchase a console. Walmart is basically rewarding those who sell on ebay, because those people will research these incidents and act accordingly to ensure they can purchase the consoles.
Everyone I know that *wanted* a Wii has got one. How do you get one? Get up early on Sunday morning and see which stores have them advertised in the Sunday paper. Check Target, Toys R Us or Best Buy. If they have the Wii as a featured item, odds are they got a shipment in earlier that will go on sale as soon as the store opens Sunday. Be at the store when it opens and odds are you’ll find you magic console (Make sure you pick up “Wii Mario Kart” and “Wii Play” with it!)
Given I’m reluctant to side with the consumer sometimes, I have to give these guys this one… That’s a bunch of hog wash! Sounds to me like this guy made up his own little rule. Maybe after he gets fired he’ll start working as a bagger at the local supermarket… Then he can take it upon himself to decide how many bags to allow someone. Crackpot!
I had the same thing happen to my friend and I at Toys ‘R Us during the holiday season. The clerk refused to sell me one because my friend who was with me had just bought one. She also used the “but you are together” line. Weird…
That’s weird. They might have thought he was buying the second Wii for his friend to auction off on ebay or something but there’s no point to it at all. Here you can only sell one per person. If the person has a friend, by all means sell the damn unit. I don’t get it. If one person buys them all you still make profit. Business is business.
Wow, I totally forgot they had one in Exton.
Could ask for the store manager (or call) since their tel# is right near the main customer service/return desk. Should at least be able to get the in-charge manager on the line if the store head is gone.
That’s craptastic. However, there should be more Wii’s coming to the US soon. Long story short, Nintendo was selling more of them in other countries, because the profit margin in the US is lower due to the declining dollar. As they reach a saturation point in Europe and Asia, they’ll come here by default.
I bought a Wii last week at Wal-Mart. I looked in the Wii cabinet to only see Gamecubes. I asked the employee if they had a Wii, they had one and it was in the Playstation cabinet for some reason.
After reading about return nightmares where the units serial number did not match what was on the box and boxes being stuffed with bricks I made sure to open it in front of the employee after paying for it to make sure there was a Wii in there and that the serial numbers matched.
Now I can’t get it to connect to the internet, it finds the wifi spot but does not connect, tells me I need to confirm the SSID. But the SSID is correct! I have a 2wire 1000hw DSL modem, any clue?
We saw like 8 of them at our local Super Target last night. We’ve had one since Jan 07 so we didn’t grab one.
When I was working at Wal-Mart, policy stated that purchases were limited to one per customer. The sales associate was just being a jerk, that’s all.
Yeah, the Super Wal-Mart here has them, they just don’t put them out on the floor, you have to ask for them.
@SkokieGuy:
Why is it that these comments always come up so quickly in any walmart/comcast/American Airlines/etc post, and then most of the comments below are, if not insightful, at least more than “Company X sucks?”
It seems to me that you’re trying to make some statement about the quality of comments from others, but the result is that you only server to lower the tone yourself.
Is it really necessary to post these content-less comments?
He forgot to mention that they were holding hands as they walked around the store…