Best Buy Defends PS3 Upgrade Charges

[JaredXE]

The thing is, I have seen "Pre-updated" consoles sitting on the shelves of Best Buy....with the additional price included on the tag. I'm sorry, but that now means that that console is used and I would demand a discount because some grubby little tech played with that console.


It's a scam.

 

[dietpeachsnapple]

USUALLY you don't get to charge taxes for the 'greater good,' until you are the government, and even then, you make a harder sell as to why one customer is responsible for the well-being of another customer.

That doesn't sound very capitalistic...

 

[galaxygamer]

The way I see it, if you're buying any gaming console, you at least know someone who is somewhat knowledgeable about them already. Be it your friend, your kid, or someone. I'm sure they could easily save you the 30 dollars.

Yeah! That was called "grabbing a geek." You would "grab a geek" whenever you had something technical to do, but didn't know how to do it. I was the geek grabbed many times in the Marine Corps. Now, the favors paid back might approach $30.....

 

[galaxygamer]

I don't really see the problem here... Just buy your PS3 another place?

.....Like Amazon.com? Brick-and-Mortar stores simply charge too much for hardware and software. Hell, even PS3 controllers are still $54 retail, but they are only $44 on Amazon -- without tax. I haven't bought a new game from a store in years. I can only imagine the hundreds of dollars I've saved by simply not buying retail. Now, the Internet, yes. I've blown many a pretty penny.

 

[roguetrooper96]

The way I see it, if you're buying any gaming console, you at least know someone who is somewhat knowledgeable about them already. Be it your friend, your kid, or someone. I'm sure they could easily save you the 30 dollars.

I can't help but look at your avatar and think to myself (... what a wonderful world. lol) that anyone who buys this rip-off will copy it precisely.

 

[Sebenko]

Also Open your eyes people, not everyone is as technologically developed as us "gamers" nor lack the knowledge. They need help, and usually if they dont know someone who has a similar product to the one they have they seek external help usually through customer support or through paid advise/help services.

It's still a waste of $30. What, you're just going to throw that away?

It's still a useless service that takes advantage of people who don't know better.


But they should, since this is the future.

 

[antidonkey]

I love how people get all pissy when the business wants to make more money. Praise Jebus this isn't going on in America.......oh wait.

Sure it's a goofy service but no one is forcing you to get and so long as they actually update that damn thing then it isn't a scam.

I guess what I'm trying to say is once again, the folks of the internet have proven themselves to be completely retarded.

 

[Jake Martinez]

No, this is still completely a scam. Best Buy is notorious for offering extended warranty services and other services like this one and then doing whatever they can to get out of delivering any of the outcomes that you supposedly prepaid for.

You may think to yourself, "Well 30 bucks for being able to call someone and get help if anything goes wrong, that sounds like a good deal". And you may even be right, except in this particular case where you have help support available from SONY all week long at 800-345-SONY. For free.

Heck, I sent an email once to Sony and actually had one of their customer support people *call me* to see if they could help.

It's one thing to say that Best Buy is providing a valuable service for people who are not technically literate, but the truth is they are just capitalizing on the fact that most people aren't aware of the support options that they already have available (and who can blame them, the support number for the PS3 is hidden in the warranty that evidently no one reads...)

 

[GonzoGamer]

Wow, they covered their ass quick.

OMG. I just watched Window of Opportunity. Spooky.

Do people not read manuals any more?

I never read my PS3's manual. I still figured out how to set up accounts for me and my (then) girlfriend, operate it, update it, etc.

It's not an issue of reading but comprehension. For a lot of people this stuff is almost alien. Like I said in the comments of the thread first covering this, a lot of my work comes from helping people do very simple computer related tasks. They can't be bothered, don't understand, or don't want to screw their computers up. They pay me so they don't have to do it. And I'm up front on a lot of this. But it comes naturally to me and not to them. So....

True but consoles are supposed to be simple enough for people like that. Until my most recent console, I never even opened up the instruction manual; which to be fair is thicker than all of my previous console manuals put together.

 

[dududf]

If that's the case, why not make the fee optional. So people can choose if they wish to use their "feature".

Still smells of scam.

 

[Cyrax987]

If it wasn't a scam to begin with they wouldn't have to come up with a story for it. So basically they just do first time setup for you which is quick and easy and apparently put their own warranty over it as well as Sony's warranty?

 

[SaintWaldo]

Overpriced for me, for certain. Overpriced for my non-tech-savvy friends who really dig LBP and SingStar? Perhaps not so much.

If anything, this is something I can point at to keep those same friends from calling me when they switch audio inputs without realizing it.

 

[rastlin1985]

iirc the firmware upgrade takes ~1 hour. so if you think $30 is worth an hour more play time on your lovely new console rather than watching a loading screen...

realistically, you can take it or leave it no? i assume you can still buy PS3s there minus the $30 charge for this?

 

[obisean]

"I'm sorry but nowhere was it advertised that the $30 covered in-home support. That is a whole different (much more expensive) charge."

That's what you would hear if you attempted to try and get in home for the $30 you payed to upgrade the firm ware.

 

[Something Amyss]

True but consoles are supposed to be simple enough for people like that. Until my most recent console, I never even opened up the instruction manual; which to be fair is thicker than all of my previous console manuals put together.

Supposed to be, perhaps, but not actually.

Show me idiot proof technology and I'll find you some idiots to break it.

 

[GonzoGamer]

True but consoles are supposed to be simple enough for people like that. Until my most recent console, I never even opened up the instruction manual; which to be fair is thicker than all of my previous console manuals put together.

Supposed to be, perhaps, but not actually.

Show me idiot proof technology and I'll find you some idiots to break it.

Do you mean this technology breaks itself? Because that is a factor, especially with the current generation of overheating consoles.

I don't know who said it originally but I always liked "Computers used to be for smart people."

 

[Something Amyss]

Do you mean this technology breaks itself? Because that is a factor, especially with the current generation of overheating consoles.

I don't know who said it originally but I always liked "Computers used to be for smart people."

The idea behind the saying is that these things rarely seem to factor in the common man. foolproof systems, ones so easy a child can use them often still confuse the userbase. Or as Tom Lehrer might put it, "So simple that only a child can do it."

 

[Altorin]

True but consoles are supposed to be simple enough for people like that. Until my most recent console, I never even opened up the instruction manual; which to be fair is thicker than all of my previous console manuals put together.

Supposed to be, perhaps, but not actually.

Show me idiot proof technology and I'll find you some idiots to break it.

Do you mean this technology breaks itself? Because that is a factor, especially with the current generation of overheating consoles.

I don't know who said it originally but I always liked "Computers used to be for smart people."

The super nintendo was pretty foolproof.

You plug it in, plug the RF switch or AV cables in (if you were one of the rich jerks with a good tv back then), and put the game in and play.

The NES had issues due to the 10-NESCODE, causing it to occasionally read legit games as pirated and resulting in a black screen and a flashing red light, but the I didn't ever have a problem with my SNES in that sort of vein.

 

[DarkKnightBob]

Do people not know how to use google?