Ok .. I know a few best buy employees are on here... so ... I got some news.

My manager here my my store came and talked to me in the warehouse about the x360. All accessories/games.. everything ... is now "street dated" to the 22nd. So no picking up stuff early.

And... no employee / family / friend / anything .... can get an x360 / games /accessories for you at launch. If you or someone in your family gets ones for you , it could be tracked and you could be "terminated"

Now... about 15+ of us that were on got word of this fast and now are pretty much pissed about it. There was no information when we could get any , or why they are doing this. Any other stores here anything about this at all?

So me and a co-worker went down to our eb's (old jobs for the two of us also..) and put down about 900 bucks to finish paying off our may 13th preorders. Manager there still said we are all set at launch... (crosses fingers..) but i will need to see that in writing or on tuesday for myself to believe it.

I've been getting emailed updates on all the stuff I pre-ordered from Bestbuy.com hoping to get it shipped by late this week. All the accessories I ordered have been changed to "backordered" and both Madden and COD2 have moved from shipping 11/17 to shipping 11/18. Wouldn't surprise me if they change to backordered as well, at which time I'll just cancel it all. I only ordered them because of the bonus reward zone points.

Doubtful. My local GR said they'd be open for like 15 minutes or so past 12 for the 10 of us who pre-ordered, half of which were employees...

Well I don't mean to come off like an asshole or anything, but what your manager says makes sense. When I worked at Blockbuster, we were not allowed to take out new releases until a week after the custumors got them. Did I like that? No, but I understood it from a customer's viewpoint. It's not too fair if all the employees buy/rent most of the stock before the customers have a chance to get it. Just my 2 cents, and again I don't mean to come off like a jerk.

My store did get in a TON of controllers , wifi adaptors, plug in play packs. We did get in a few cases of madden 2006, condemned and a few others also came in today.

I agree. I don't think it came off that way. I'm glad someone is standing up for the customers. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing employees snatched up half of the merchandise. Plus there is no need to make an already sticky situation worse. With limited numbers, managers already know it is going to be a bad situation, why make it worse on themselves by making/allowing their limited stock to shrink even smaller.

Sure working at a store should give you perks. But an employee discount, plus first dibs on the next shipment a week later should suffice.

The thing that doesn't jive is that MS knew they were going to release the 360 in Nov. They knew this a year ago. Why would there even be a shortage? I still think they are doing this intentionally.

Its the same reasons employees aren't allowed to park in the closest parking spaces. If everyone who worked somewhere always parked up front, people would get frustrated that they had to park 9 miles away and just go somewhere else.

Am i understanding this correctly that BB employees can't buy one for themselves on launch day? If so,then that is majorly fucked up. The employees are consumers too, they have the right to buy something the day it comes out just as much as anyone else. I can understand not being allowed to buy more than one, but if they can't even get one for themselves, then i don't agree with that at all.

Just heard some bad news from someone over at cheapassgamer. They said their local Gamerush manager got an email from corporate today saying that they won't be allowed to sell them at midnight, due to them fearing people will get robbed. Kind of sucks, but I don't mind waiting until the morning, as long as they actually get all the systems in.

I tried calling my local Gamerush to verify they were getting all 10 system (or more), and to see if they heard about this. Unfortunately they said only the Gamerush manager could answer those questions, and he won't be in until tomorrow afternoon.

I disagree. However if they want one, they should go wait in line at another chain just like everybody else. Like that guy said 15+ employees wanted one. That's a lot of systems especially if most Best Buys are only getting 30 premiums in. That only leaves 15 for the customers, half of what the store was given. I don't know about you, but I would be mega pissed if I was number 16 in line and missed out on one because 15+ employees just set one aside for themselves before the store opened. What would the manger say? Sorry, we sold half of our stock to the employees, try back after christmas..but please keep shopping here, we value you as a customer. Again I don't want to come off like a jerk, but I just feel strongly about this issue. And I have been in situations where I was the employee and had to sell something to customers that I was not allowed to purchase for myself. It's just the way the business world works.

Employees make sacrafices for employers. BB probably looks at this and figures each customer that comes in and buys a 360 will walk out with another controller, 2-3 games, & warranty. This is where they make their money, not on the consoles. I don't think they make $10 on a console sale but they probably make 40% margins on the accessories.

OK. Walmart.com said the note wa sent in error and my order will be shipped on time. Woohoo!!!

Oh.. I got PGR3 in the mail today from EBGames. Makes me want my 360 even more!!!

Sam

My ebgames.com pre-order originally included DOA4. When that slipped out of the launch window, they subbed COD2. I wasn't pleased at first, but the more I see of COD2, the better I like it.

I'm not into the war games but I have to say it looks quite impressive at Best Buy in the demo.

Sam

yea , stores are getting low amounts, and yes, it does seems wrong if like 10+ of us are outside the store getting one and number 50 in line does not. But not all employees will stay and wait in line, not all employees will just buy a machine and thats it. We can't put them aside either. We would have been treated just like a customer. Just seemed weird getting the news this late. Now employees that want one, have to go and wait at the only store around here that did not do pre-orders , walmart.

With about 100,000 people around here... and a walmart with like 40 systems... does not look too good there.

I waited off fully pre-ordering my machine because I thought... "hey, wouldn't the company I work for want me to buy 1k worth of games and the system and PRP/PSP (warrenty) and stuff?" "Don't they want their employees to be somewhat knowledgeable with the product since they own it themselves?" Now, getting the message around 5 days before launch... I hope I get one at EB. Ok.. so we can't get anything at launch.. why not a game? With like the average systems shipped to stores around like 40 , if the store gets 70 copies of a game... that should not be a major problem.

And... we did not get any idea when we will be able to get one... will it be next shipment? Next Month? Next Year? Hopfully the manager hears from Corp. on more info on this.

Now the store has a large chunk of somewhat mad employees, hehe.

Ok... I am done with that little Rant...

why wouldn't ee's be allowed to buy them? you are customers as well, no? it's the same money? i don't understand that...

what's up with all the reviews? they seem to be tanking...

Reviews are about on target for launch titles. most of them in the 8's ... that is not that bad. If they all got 9's and 10's ... what do we compare the later games on?

Also.. I was redoing my harmony remote right now and they added the "play games on your xbox 360" to the activities. Got mine all setup now and ready for tuesday!

How has it worked for other launches at BB (I don't know how long you worked there, but maybe you were there for the PSP launch)? It makes sense that employees who are on duty wouldn't get to purchase it, I think that's standard policy everywhere. But if, say, my brother comes to buy one at my store, I'll get terminated? That's a little ridiculous.

Well, I got the automated message today from Gamestop basically saying "don't bother showing up at launch day cuz you ain't getting one. If the stars align right, you may get your preorder before X-Mas"

Oh well, I hope the weather outside of Best Buy isn't too cold Monday night/Tuesday morning!!

I stopped by Gamestop on my way home to see if I could get an idea of where I'm at in line.

I asked if there was much of a point in paying my system off now vs. waiting until it comes in. The manager told me that if he has any systems left over, people who have paid in full are going to get top priority. I'm not sure if that means skipping people who have only made partial payments or what. He did say that not many people at all have paid off the balance and some people have more than one pre-ordered (one system per person until pre-orders are filled).

I asked where I was in the list and he said "less than 40, somewhere in the 30s". I pre-ordered on 9/12 so I'm surprised I'm that high on the list.

I had it in my head that GS stores were getting 25 systems on launch day, which made me feel pretty good about my chances of getting one in November but then I read some posts that reminded me that the numbers are probably closer to 15 per store.

I'm hoping some kids won't be able to scrape up the money for their pre-orders and I'll get their system. Disposable income rocks.

Well , on the psp launch , there was no problem with this. You could wait in line, get one whenever, whatever. I was not there for the ps2 launch , but from what I hear.. this is the first time is has been done.

If that's true, then that manager is not following policy. We are to go down the list in order of when the reserve was placed, regardless of how much was deposited. If that person does not want the system now, or cannot pay for it, then we move on. I hope for your sake he is going to break the rules, but in general that's not how it goes. Slightly changing the topic but...just to let everyone out there camping at BB or Walmart or something the day before launch...apparently those stores are mainly getting Core systems, due to Gamestop/EBGames buying almost all the Premium systems. Just a heads up if you wanted the good system.

I have heard that bestbuy got 15% of all the sku's , and Walmart got 17% of the sku's.

Bestbuy got a 3:1 ratio (3 prem to 1 core) while Walmart got the opposite (3 Core to 1 prem)

Not sure if that is true... but the bestbuy numbers being 3 to 1 look right based on the sheet on the net.