I live in a dual-city area of around 200,000 in Oregon (Eugene/Springfield for those of you curious) where we’re sometimes pretty far down the list of expansion cities for some of the larger chain stores that many of my more “city folk” friends frequent. When we got a Best Buy about two years ago, I was stoked. Finally, our Circuit City had some “real” competition. I even remember posting in excitement on some forums about getting a Best Buy only to be greeted with the typical “horror stories” we’ve all heard time and again (about most big box chains.) Today I got to experience a little bit of that big box mentality and am happy to report I overcame it by remaining calm and using logic. I know… I’m surprised too.

As you may or may not know, Metal Gear Solid 4 is out now. I’m not one to preorder games… ever. But I did preorder MGS4. Not because I thought I’d be having a hard time finding it, but because I got a DVD and access to the Metal Gear Online beta (that I didn’t really play.) Funny thing is, I didn’t preorder the game from Best Buy, I pre-ordered it from Game Crazy. Game Crazy called me last night and let me know my preorder would be ready to pick up anytime Friday. Friday?! The game comes out Thursday! Friday?! Then I remembered… I’ve got a gift card from Best Buy, I should just go buy it there.

As I sit at work and watch the clock tick minute after minute towards 10:00am when Best Buy opens, I get an IM from a friend telling me he just got his confirmation that his MGS4 was waiting for him at Best Buy, all safe and sound. I chuckled a bit at his need to buy it online to make sure he had it, but the more he talked about, it didn’t seem such a silly idea. I had the gift card in my hand before I knew it and I was halfway through typing www.bestbuy.com. It didn’t take me very long to place my order and get my “Thanks for creating an account!” email, shortly followed by “Thanks for placing an order!”. I printed my receipt and started to feel the warm and fuzzy feeling my friend must have felt knowing that I can now relax as my copy was safe, waiting for me to come pick it up.

I then received a THIRD email from Best Buy. Marketing? I didn’t want a new line of junk mail from them… no, not marketing… it was an email telling me that I should be receiving my “confirmation” and I shouldn’t go to the store to pick up my order until I receive it. Confirmation?!?! What do you mean? When I ordered the game for in-store pickup, it said it was in stock. I need a confirmation that you’re telling the truth? Ok, I kept reading and I calmed down. Confirmations usually come within 45 minutes. I can’t play the game in the next 45 minutes, I’m still at work. I’ll wait (what choice do I really have?) 45 minutes pass… an hour… two hours… THREE FRICKIN’ HOURS pass… nothing.

I finally broke down and called Best Buy hoping for a simple “Aw, no problem, just bring down your receipt and you’ll be just fine!” You HAVE know me well enough by now to know you wouldn’t be reading this if that’s the answer I got. What I got was the “Yes sir, you do need that confirmation before you can pick up your order” answer. So I calmly ask what the confirmation number actually “confirms” since I thought the website indicated stock. The lady explained that it means they’ve actually gone out and “picked” my item. She then asked me what it was I ordered, to which I replied “a videogame.” She immediately asked “Metal Gear Solid 4?” to which I replied “Yes.” “Oh,” she said… “we’ve got plenty of those” to which I replied “yeah, I could’ve come in two hours ago and picked one up, but I thought I’d save time by ordering it three hours ago. Silly isn’t it?” to which she agreed. She asked me if I had my order confirmation (which is all I ever expected to need anyway) and I told her I did. She asked me to hold on and covered the mouthpiece of her phone and talked to someone nearby (a manager I assume) and then told me to bring in the paper and they’d make sure I left with a copy of the game. Score.

My spidey-senses were tingling BIG TIME from the moment she said I needed the other confirmation and I just knew I was going to get screwed in some bizarre “we have it but we can’t give it to you even though you paid for it” scenario where I couldn’t cancel the order because it had already been charged, but couldn’t pick it up because they hadn’t processed it yet. It was a close call actually and has only served to reinforce one thing for me. Don’t preorder games (or even do the buy online to pick up in store.) There’s something reliable and immediate about walking up to a shelf, picking up what you want to buy, and walking to the check-out area with it.

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