Where do I stand with refund?

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AVF Jay

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Wanted to know what people thought of this situation.

I purchased a 3ds yesterday for my nephew.

He started feeling really ill.

I called Game up and explained the situation, all they advised was taking breaks and turning the 3d off.

He didn't play it for long, and turning 3d off seems to defeat the point of a 3D handheld.

This cost me £200, which I don't really want to pee away, do you think I should be able to get a refund/store credit?

Or should I force my nephew to play it :laugh: Seriously though, any advice wanted?

It's not even as if I could keep it for myself, I don't like them.

So as it stands it either gathers dust, or I trade it in but I'll feel sick losing that much money in a day, they probably give 60 quid for trade in.

I would have thought manager might have done goodwill gesture, afterall my nephew could have gone for even a normal ds or games or something.

I'm going to call consumer direct but I imagine they'll tell me I have no rights and it's stores discretion.

Cheers
 
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I'd just go in and try with the receipt and with the console repackaged as close to new as you can manage. Explain that he has been saving his pocket money all year to buy it and now finds it makes him ill right away. I'd be very surprised if they won't let you have store credit.

Games return policy suggests you can't though but I'd give it a try and would be pretty confident. Doubt you will get a refund though but store credit seems likely.
 
I'd just go in and try with the receipt and with the console repackaged as close to new as you can manage. Explain that he has been saving his pocket money all year to buy it and now finds it makes him ill right away. I'd be very surprised if they won't let you have store credit.

Games return policy suggests you can't though but I'd give it a try and would be pretty confident. Doubt you will get a refund though but store credit seems likely.

Well I spoke to them yesterday, I called them up as it was apparent after about 30minutes that he was feeling weird when playing.

They weren't helpful at all, and it was pretty much "nothing we can do"

I'm a little annoyed to be honest as a little customer service can go a long way.

I tried calling customer services but they are closed (hoping they open at 9am)

How old is he ? ...

He's 7, girlfriend said it's my fault as she seen a warning on the box.

She's also totally over reacted and said I might have damaged his eye sight
 
Spoke to customer services, I was told there is nothing they can do.

Apparently they have been instructed by Nintendo themselves not to return units due to people feeling ill.

And I was told that there is even a warning on the box informing me of this. (although the warning just refers to under 6)

I'm annoyed but obviously I knew that it would pretty much be at their discretion as the unit isn't faulty.

I'll call consumer direct now but not getting my hopes up.

Seems that goodwill doesn't apply at Game, I can understand from a business point of view why they can't just do goodwill gestures but they'd have been making money, he could have had a gift card.

I certainly won't ever give them a penny, not that it'll bother them as I'm just one customer....
 
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Dealing over the phone is very cold and formal. It is very easy for the company to just refuse to help. I think that the phone and letters are best left to situations where you want to start getting formal - quoting legal and regulatory obligations etc.

I'd suggest going to the local store with your girlfriend and nephew with the 3DS packaged up as new and explain the situation.

Not saying you will get a different response, but it is a lot harder for a company representative to be non-cooperative in a face-to-face situation especially if you have a female and a small child with you.

Game are not obliged to do anything so getting legal or heavy handed is not going to help at all. What you need to do is appeal to their better nature, tug on their heart strings etc.

So ham it up a bit, go into the shop and have the nephew present the 3DS - speak on his behalf but let him be immediately in front of the assistant.

After all that it may not work, but it's probably your best chance.

And it would really help if there is something he would immediately want as an alternative rather than a refund or credit (can't see you getting a refund though).

I'm assuming you didn't buy it mail order, otherwise you would just be returning it within 7 working days of receipt under the distance selling regulations?

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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No it was bought in-store.

As you say online I would have had the distance selling regs so could have simply returned it.

You make a good point about being in person, it was more to avoid a wasted trip which is why I wanted to know before hand.

I called the store up again though, different shift manager, same response.

All they said was apparently it takes a few weeks to get used to it, and you need to gradually increase 3d effect.

That's no good, his parents don't want him playing with it anymore.
 
As a final alternative if Game aren't any help, you'll get a lot more selling on here than you would trading it in for store credit
 
As a final alternative if Game aren't any help, you'll get a lot more selling on here than you would trading it in for store credit

I've put a thread up on here, LINK as you say I'll get more than trading it in. But I still didn't want to lose anything after less than a day.

I put a thread on here while waiting for games response, obviously had they offered store credit I would have taken that.

See if it was 50 quid it wouldn't have been bad as at that age any present gathers dust.

I'm not surprised game have offered no good will, they are the company that have appeared in the media many times buying "cheap" stock from supermarkets etc.

I honestly believe had it been purchased from argos or something they would have done a good will gesture.
 
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Seems that goodwill doesn't apply at Game, I can understand from a business point of view why they can't just do goodwill gestures but they'd have been making money, he could have had a gift card.

I certainly won't ever give them a penny, not that it'll bother them as I'm just one customer....

You don't want to lose money that quickly by returning it as a trade in but you expect Game to do so?
They can't take the console back and stick it back on the shelf, it would have to be delt with as a return and potentially lose some profit on it through no fault of their own.

I understand it must be annoying for you but blaming businesses (who might be struggling as it is) for not doing everything customers want them to regardless of the cost because of "goodwill" is a bit unreasonable.

Anyway, depending on which model it is and how quickly you'd want rid of it, they sell for about £120-130 on Ebay (unless you have bundled games).
It's still not quite your money back but better than just £60.
 
You don't want to lose money that quickly by returning it as a trade in but you expect Game to do so?
Seems entirely reasonable to me. If they're happy to sell a product with known issues then they should also accept that some will have to be returned.
 
You don't want to lose money that quickly by returning it as a trade in but you expect Game to do so?
They can't take the console back and stick it back on the shelf, it would have to be delt with as a return and potentially lose some profit on it through no fault of their own.

I understand it must be annoying for you but blaming businesses (who might be struggling as it is) for not doing everything customers want them to regardless of the cost because of "goodwill" is a bit unreasonable.

Anyway, depending on which model it is and how quickly you'd want rid of it, they sell for about £120-130 on Ebay (unless you have bundled games).
It's still not quite your money back but better than just £60.

I understand that, which is why I wasn't hopeful.

I'm not expecting them to do "everything" customers want. They've given me their stance and I've not said anything.

The fact is some people are willing to do goodwill gestures to keep customers business.

It's not as though I've bought him a ps3 with modern wafare and he's been playing it for 2 weeks and want's to return it.

It's less than 24hours old, no codes etc have been scratched off and it's mint.

Anyway I really don't want this thread to turn into a pointless debate.

I know they aren't obliged to, I was just hoping they would do something, even possibly suggest giving a normal ds even pre-owned for example.

But they have offered to do nothing, nada, zilch.

It's all about trying to go the extra mile, but you don't get that nowadays, which is why many people see no need to buy in store, they buy online for cheaper prices and often better customer service.

Oh and please don't take the "game lose money" stance, if it was traded in they'd make a massive mark up, often selling pre-owned stuff more expensive than new :laugh:

Seriously I've seen them sell pre-owned games for more than new.

If game had offered a pre-onwed ds lite as an exchange or something instead of the 3ds they wouldn't have made a loss, they would have been up on the deal, as the 3ds would have sold at a profit.

And also Game are a massive company, I'd understand if it was a one off small retailer. A company like tesco for example would probably have taken the loss.

No doubt you'll tell me "Yeah but if a retailer does that for 1000000000000000000 customers"

And game losing money? If they took it back for store credit, they'd sell those games and console for near new prices (their pre-owned stuff isn't cheap)
 
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I get where you are coming from but from the retailers point of view you have bought something in full working order and works as described and advertised, anything they do would be a goodwill gesture and likely cost them money as they can't sell the console on at full retail price as it is now a re-packaged/second hand item.

And yeah they are a big company but they need to draw the line somewhere, particularly at this time of year, game will no doubt serve more customers in a day than they do in a month any other time of year. If they dont establish rules and guidelines and stick to them they will have every man and his dog in trying to abuse it. "but my mate was in and got a refund last week!" etc etc
 
Fair enough. Although a quick google has shown that customers were returning 3ds to retailers after suffering from side effects.

And draw a line? It's not that he's played too much console and got a headache, the product is causing severe side effects. It's not as though he bought a game and is bored of it and they are trying to draw a line on returns. Like they did with their old return policy that was abused.

Anyway regardless of the ifs buts and maybes, I'm now stuck with a gift that can't be used by the person it was bought for.

So I need to either sell it or trade it, or find someone in my family that will make use of it.

I'll call blockbuster see how much they offer on trade in.
 
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And draw a line? It's not that he's played too much console and got a headache, the product is causing severe side effects. It's not as though he bought a game and is bored of it and they are trying to draw a line on returns. Like they did with their old return policy that was abused.

Some people will be more sensitive to the 3D thing than others so you might have 10 people ill when 100 more are fine with it.
A bit like the projector rainbow effect where not everyone is affected in the same way and some people get severe headache from it.

Can he not use it without the 3D? I know it defeats the purpose of the console but it's not all lost and maybe when he grows up he'll be less sensitive to the 3D and be able to use the feature?
 
Can he not use it without the 3D? I know it defeats the purpose of the console but it's not all lost and maybe when he grows up he'll be less sensitive to the 3D and be able to use the feature?

He'd be better off with a ds I think if he wasn't going to use 3d.

The thing is he wanted the 3ds for the 3d.

But his parents don't want him to have the console at all after the side effects caused.
 
Did he actually set it up, or did he just switch it on, and start playing..?

It comes with the 3d slider on full whack, and actually guides you through what would be suitable for your eyes.
Quite a common thing, until people adjust it, and after a while of getting used to it, they tend to turn it up.

On slightly above minimum, the 3D effect can be seen but is far less than full, and is suitable for example, my wife, who feels sick with it on full, but can play it on a lower setting with no issues.

Seems entirely reasonable to me. If they're happy to sell a product with known issues then they should also accept that some will have to be returned.
It's not the product with issues, it's the people who use it, who maybe aren't 3D compatible..:rotfl:

Nintendo's guidelines are for 7 or over, generally, and the health guidelines is NOT for under 6 is due to possible vision damage, and with 3D on max, a break every 20-30 mins for 15 minutes at least.

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/downloads/CTR_healthsafety_eng.pdf
 
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He'd be better off with a ds I think if he wasn't going to use 3d.

The thing is he wanted the 3ds for the 3d.

Although in terms of graphical quality, the 3DS is much better than the DS even without the 3D.

The 3DS is a technological step up.

To be honest, if trading in meant that you were only going to get a little more than the new cost of a DS I would keep the 3DS.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
You can also lock the 3D function with pin code, so it won't work at all, and will be 2D only.
It may be of help, rather than trading it in, and losing a lot of money.
 
Most game stores also have the 3DS on twin demo units. I would stress that parents try the units and get their kids to try these prior to purchase. Way to many reports of people feeling sick after a play session.

Good job the 3D aspect can be turned off for those caught out.
 
couldn't you just say the unit was faulty and isn't working/charging properly etc and that you would like a refund?
 
couldn't you just say the unit was faulty and isn't working/charging properly etc and that you would like a refund?

Yes you could. if it is within so many days. Otherwise you will get a repair or replacement.
 
couldn't you just say the unit was faulty and isn't working/charging properly etc and that you would like a refund?

They don't have to give you a refund, they can repair or replace it, and if they can't do that in reasonable time then you can demand a refund.
 
I'm not surprised game have offered no good will, they are the company that have appeared in the media many times buying "cheap" stock from supermarkets etc.

Can you qualify that please !
 
Can you qualify that please !

he means that on the 3DS launch, Game employee's were sent out to buy further 3DS stock from surrounding supermarkets that were offering cheap deals.

They then resold that stock instore at inflated prices.
 
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