Reader Chris spend hours trying to buy God of War 2 from Circuit City, only to get stuck with an empty box. Yuck!

Chris writes:

I never imagined a simple videogame purchase would turn out to be such a nightmare!

Two days ago I came across Circuit City’s online ad, advertising God of War 2 was on sale AGAIN! for $9.99. Vowing not to miss this second chance I telephoned my local store – #0421 the Van Nuys location the following day. [redacted] said they had just sold their last copy, but according to the system the Woodland Hills ( #0419 ) store held 2 copies.

I high-tailed it over there, but not before speaking with [redacted] there to confirm. I arrived at the store to find their Playstation 2 shelves in utter disarray, but after a rather quick search found God of War. The sequel was not there.

I flagged down a young lady and asked her if they held any copies, citing my previous conversation with [redacted]. She mentioned sometimes the computer was inaccurate, but went to check in the back and sent another associate to browse along with me. After flipping through all their games I returned to the front whereupon she told me they had none.

I politely asked if she would assist me in locating a copy. Her first result was that Van Nuys had 8! I told her I’d just spoken with someone from that store to no avail. While she called around I called back [redacted] at Van Nuys & told her I was in their Woodland Hills store without the game. She offered another location – Hollywood.

After assuring me she could do nothing more than offer me their number I took down the Hollywood number and hung up. I noticed the young lady helping me seemed somewhat flustered at this point. She told me that upon inquiring at another store the associate was bold enough to tell her they were “not going to waste their time looking for a $10 game” and hung up.

I called up store #0401 – Hollywood. While on hold she told me their Glendale store not only had a copy but was willing to hold it for me. She took my name & printed out directions for me. I hung up with the Hollywood store & thanked her for all her help.

I arrived at store #3361 hours later after battling traffic, to find a couple of copies on the shelf and another game, Namco Museum ( PS2 ) and happily traipsed to the register to checkout. I paid and left thinking that would be the end of it.

After arriving home battling a second wave of traffic I sat down to enjoy the spoils of war. I first noticed a chalky substance on the top surface of the game where the wrapping closes & then how the container seemed rather light. I shook the box and was able to hear something shifting about inside. I wrote this off realizing the game was a 2 disc set. Imagine my rage when upon tearing off the wrapper & opening the cart to find the registration card & disc 2 – the special features! No game. No manual.

I’d heard the horror stories but thought surely they wouldn’t apply to a brand new “sealed” game. And of course as luck would have it I’d just read your article on “What To Do When A Store Sells You Box of Crap”. This experience could not have epitomized “caveat emptor” more!

A Very Disgruntled Chris

Wow, what a crappy day you had. We hope you bought the game with a credit card, because then you can do a chargeback and your story can have a happy ending. If not, you might want to launch an EECB on Circuit City and see if they can’t help you out. After all, the game was only 10 bucks. Your continued loyalty as a customer should be worth that much? Right?

For more information about launching an EECB, click here.

(Photo: Mach1Power )

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