Submission + - A Letter to EB
Rydia writes: I have written a (somewhat lengthy) letter to EB Games regarding their $700 Wii preorder bundle. Personally, I believe this is a travesty and profiteering of the highest order, playing off our fears of being unable to secure a Wii to force us to buy things I, at least, simply do not want nor need. While the only pertinent email address available on ebgames.com is site feedback, I imagine that if enough people sent a letter (or even better, a paper letter to corporate) EB would take notice. I urge everyone who has an interest in this to make themselves heard. I have included mine below as an example.
To whom it may concern,
I woke up this morning and wandered over to your web site, still hoping for a shot at a preorder for Nintendo's Wii. Much to my dismay, I find that the only way to secure an online preorder is to drop $700 on a bundle mostly full of, to be perfectly blunt, garbage.
I understand that, as a corporation, you want to maximize sales. A $700 "bundle," however, for a $250 system, an extra $450 you are requiring consumers to pay, is beyond the pale. Were you simply asking the price for a console, you would have had a sale. You would have had more than a sale: I am planning on buying an extra controller, nunchuck, classic controller, Zelda, Madden and Red Steel. All of that sale would have gone directly to your company, as I would have simply preordered every one from your site while I was there.
But you will not receive any money from me regarding this new system. Instead of trusting consumers to come to you for selection, price and quantity, you are attempting to lock us into buying things that we do not want. There is no need at this stage to buy an SD card for the Wii, as the on-board memory is sufficient for our saves and virtual console games for the forseeable future. It is widely known that protection plans are simply ways of gaining pure profit, especially when the electronics are as sturdy and well-made as Nintendo's are. A magazine subscription, though billed as a "gift," is completely unrelated to what your customers want: a Nintendo Wii.
Of course, it seems that what customers want is not foremost in your mind. I know I speak for many when I say a big selling point for the Wii is the relative inexpense of buying one. Yet your company, with what can only be described as callous disregard for your customers, ignores this and attempts to force a minimum of $700 of sales out of us, apparently because of a combination the expectation of high cost for modern consoles and the theory that we are so desperate for a Wii that we will do anything to secure one.
Many people will. I, and I imagine many like me, shall not. I could have written the entire deal off as efficiency had the bundle been sane: perhaps $500 for a couple games and controllers. But your bundle is too expensive. It contains only one controller, and no extra attachments. The consumer is not allowed to choose which games to include. This is not designed to help the consumer. This is not designed to gain sales by beating the competition's selection and service. This entire scheme is purely designed to gaurantee sales at the expense of your customers.
I am sincerely disappointed. I had been a regular at the Cuyahoga Falls Gamestop for years when I lived in Ohio, and have spent some time at the Howard EB Games now that I live in Chicago. I am afraid that I will be frequenting neither any longer. Your company exists to serve us, the consumers. It is your purpose to secure sales by impressing, aiding, and helping us secure the things we want. This travesty of a "bundle" does none of these things. Of course, a corporation must think of profits and shareholders. The customer, however, must be equally as important. It is obvious that the people who buy from you are nothing more than a resource to dredge money out of with as little effort as possible.
I will therefore no longer be buying from your website or any of your stores. While I may just be one person, I imagine that there are others whom, perhaps less vocal, will respond in kind. As gamers, we look to your store to allow us access to the hardware and software we want. When you brazenly ignore our desires or subjugate them to yours, you do not deserve our business.
To whom it may concern,
I woke up this morning and wandered over to your web site, still hoping for a shot at a preorder for Nintendo's Wii. Much to my dismay, I find that the only way to secure an online preorder is to drop $700 on a bundle mostly full of, to be perfectly blunt, garbage.
I understand that, as a corporation, you want to maximize sales. A $700 "bundle," however, for a $250 system, an extra $450 you are requiring consumers to pay, is beyond the pale. Were you simply asking the price for a console, you would have had a sale. You would have had more than a sale: I am planning on buying an extra controller, nunchuck, classic controller, Zelda, Madden and Red Steel. All of that sale would have gone directly to your company, as I would have simply preordered every one from your site while I was there.
But you will not receive any money from me regarding this new system. Instead of trusting consumers to come to you for selection, price and quantity, you are attempting to lock us into buying things that we do not want. There is no need at this stage to buy an SD card for the Wii, as the on-board memory is sufficient for our saves and virtual console games for the forseeable future. It is widely known that protection plans are simply ways of gaining pure profit, especially when the electronics are as sturdy and well-made as Nintendo's are. A magazine subscription, though billed as a "gift," is completely unrelated to what your customers want: a Nintendo Wii.
Of course, it seems that what customers want is not foremost in your mind. I know I speak for many when I say a big selling point for the Wii is the relative inexpense of buying one. Yet your company, with what can only be described as callous disregard for your customers, ignores this and attempts to force a minimum of $700 of sales out of us, apparently because of a combination the expectation of high cost for modern consoles and the theory that we are so desperate for a Wii that we will do anything to secure one.
Many people will. I, and I imagine many like me, shall not. I could have written the entire deal off as efficiency had the bundle been sane: perhaps $500 for a couple games and controllers. But your bundle is too expensive. It contains only one controller, and no extra attachments. The consumer is not allowed to choose which games to include. This is not designed to help the consumer. This is not designed to gain sales by beating the competition's selection and service. This entire scheme is purely designed to gaurantee sales at the expense of your customers.
I am sincerely disappointed. I had been a regular at the Cuyahoga Falls Gamestop for years when I lived in Ohio, and have spent some time at the Howard EB Games now that I live in Chicago. I am afraid that I will be frequenting neither any longer. Your company exists to serve us, the consumers. It is your purpose to secure sales by impressing, aiding, and helping us secure the things we want. This travesty of a "bundle" does none of these things. Of course, a corporation must think of profits and shareholders. The customer, however, must be equally as important. It is obvious that the people who buy from you are nothing more than a resource to dredge money out of with as little effort as possible.
I will therefore no longer be buying from your website or any of your stores. While I may just be one person, I imagine that there are others whom, perhaps less vocal, will respond in kind. As gamers, we look to your store to allow us access to the hardware and software we want. When you brazenly ignore our desires or subjugate them to yours, you do not deserve our business.