When you buy a video game from Barnes & Noble online, the order is actually fulfilled by GameStop. A nice little bit of corporate synergy and specialization, right? The problem is that when you make a mistake or something goes wrong with your order, you enter a strange state of e-commerce purgatory, with each retailer claiming that the other is the only one empowered to change or cancel your order. That’s what happened to Patrick, whose order has now lurked in corporate synergy purgatory for an entire month.

After accidentally pre-ordering Portal 2 for PC instead of Xbox 360, I’m finding it impossible to stop the impending shipment and charge to my gift certificate and credit card.

What they don’t tell you on the Barnes & Noble website is that the video games are fulfilled by game stop. An order placed on February 4th still remains active after numerous calls to both Barnes & Noble, and game stop. Each retailer claiming the other needs to cancel the order. With the impending shipment, my only consolation is the 30 day return policy on game stop games. I question however, by what means I will receive a refund. 😦

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