Place Your Rants Here

Game Stop

I just wanna go on record and say I absolutely hate Game Stop. And here are my reasons why.

1) Back then we had a lot of video game based stores that sold new, used, as well as retro based games. And it was convenient and the people who work in such places were very friendly and cool. But Game Stop had to go around and buy off like 90% of these places and turn them into Game Stop, as well as create more Game Stops to the point that everywhere you go, theres a Game Stop. They pretty much created a monopoly to where there are little to no competition. And it's nearly the only game store you can go to other than Play N Trade, Game Over, or whatever may be in your area if you are lucky.

2) The supposedly new games are not new! All the cases to the game are empty, stickered to all hell at times, put on a shelf, with all the CD based games put into little paper sleeves where they can easily get scratched in a drawer behind the counter. These games being sold as new have been played by the employees as they are allowed to rent them from the store at times. So when you buy the game for the whopping retail price of $59.99, the game is searched into a drawer containing numerous copies of the game crammed into each other, pulled out with the paper sleeve, slipped into the case with the paper sleeve, and the case is taped together. As if there aren't enough stickers on the case already. So when you get home and open it, you will conveniently find that you have the manual, but not the inserts that originally came with the game, as well as find your game to have light to heavy scratches, as well as fingerprints and smudges.

3) The brand new games taken back to the store by pissed off customers or customers that have beaten the game are resold for, get this, $55. Would you really wanna buy a used game for $55 over $60 for new?

4) Customers just purchasing a game are constantly hassled to buy magazine subscriptions, preorder for new games coming out, preorder new game consoles coming out, and constantly hassled to take a Game Stop Power Card. And the employees are forced to do this by management. If they don't sell enough of them for just 3-4 days a week, they are fired.

5) No more retro games. WTH! All Game Stop sells are new and used games for the current console generation. So you won't find NES, Super NES, Genesis, Gameboy, Gamegear, Turbographx-16, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, Game Cube, PS1, and just recently PS2 are no longer sold. Why is that? People still play them, and there are numerous collectors out there (myself included), not to mention most retro games go for a lot of money on eBay, even more than new games at times. Little Samson for the NES goes for $700 average, Myriad 6-1 for the NES goes for over $3000, Megaman 1 for the NES goes for about $45-$55, Earthbound for the SNES goes for about $100, and I can go on and on. If the corporation new these prices on the online markets then....nvm they shouldn't cause all theyll do is screw it up.

6) It is considered to be the top 10 worse places to work at unless you are a manager then you get better treatment such as paid vacations and outstanding pay, where as the regular employees are getting minimum wage and get treated like crap.

7) The Game Stop corporation doesn't care about the employees nor care about the games. All they care about is profit. They want to maximize their profit by one method. And that is sell, sell, sell. If a customer walks into the door and picks out a game or two, the employees have to force all this other crap on you such as preorders, subscriptions, or new games that came out. Its a joke. If Game Stop doesn't want to care other than money, then I shouldn't care to walk into the store.

8) Trade In value. It is a joke. If you beaten a game and wanna take it back, they will only give you $24 for it, and resell it for $55 or if in good enough condition, $60. Yea they can resell it as new and get away with it! Or if its an old game, or lets say you bring in 3-4 old games and they give you, if youre lucky, $5. What?!! Then they can resell the games for anywhere between $20-$40 depending how popular the game is. Some Game Stops are worse. There are some that will not even give you cash, but just in store credit at that price. If its a console, if its complete, they will give you just $20 for your console, and resell it for $250-$300 depending on its condition. So if you go there to buy a new console or used console, don't expect it to work like new because it probably won't.

So all in all, if you want new games, just goto walmart or kmart. If you want used games, or retro based games, hit up your local fleamarket, or try online such as eBay, Amazon, or Craigslist. Even though online you may find games from time to time overpriced, sometimes you get really lucky and find that one game that slips through the cracks at a very affordable price. And one last thing, screw Game Stop!

Or, you can simply download emulators and ROMs for free online :)

It's just you... the GameStops around here have been pretty good to me... new games are just that... .new... still sealed in their factory shrink wrap. The only time they "go to the drawer" is for a used item, and each and everyone is in it's own CD sleeve. We then inspect the disc for any significant scratches. I've been to two local GSs and they've been very helpful and knowledgeable everytime. I think it's just like any large chain retailer... you're going to have a few bad apples and a few good ones and a whole lot somewhere in between.

-tg

-- edit - although your advice is sound... especially in the resale area... but I have issues giving money to WalMart.... :p

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Originally Posted by Niya

Or, you can simply download emulators and ROMs for free online :)

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I'm a collector though, and prefer the real thing. Collecting them is the fun part. You'll find games here and there, then eventually you'll run into them complete in box! And once in a blue moon you'll run into the super rare games worth a lot of money, or even factory sealed. As you add more and more to your collection, you end up with a nice library of games, and you can in time create your very own game room! However having a bunch of roms is not that fun. Its like Magic the Gathering. You collect a bunch of cards, and eventually you end up running into these rare cards out there. Some are very valuable. Just having a couple of them that are very valuable makes you feel pretty stoked knowing you have them. But if they were digital cards, it would be no big deal, enough to make you shrug to it and be like "ehhh". Its not the same feeling. Having the physical copy of them is very nice. And you get that nostalgic feeling every time you pop em into your console and start playing.

Now if you are really lucky as a collector, you end up running into Nintendo World Championships for the NES (Grey Cart value - $8000, Gold Cart value - $30000) or even Stadium Events for the NES ($45000-$90000). These are the Holy Grail amongst NES collectors, and its worth the investment. Overtime the value of these increases even more as the years go by. Thats pretty much when you can cash in and retire early. Or even buy a nice house. Lets see if you can do that with roms :bigyello:

Wow. I had no idea this was such a deep hobby. Apologies if my comment seemed dismissive.

It is interesting though. From a programming perspective, these games are incredibly simple yet they have come to acquire so much value over time because of scarcity.

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Originally Posted by Jacob Roman

Place Your Rants Here

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Not only does the PA Turnpike STILL suck they now charge almost $40 in tolls to drive the length of America's crappiest highway.

PA highways, in general, seem to be pretty crappy. The toll has always been impressive, though.

My Sat-Nav won't stick to the window.

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Originally Posted by FunkyDexter

My Sat-Nav won't stick to the window.

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http://www.gpscity.com/rammounts

I did buy a dashboard mount for it. It came with a sticky rubber base that didn't stick.:mad:

Society

Our entire society is turning upside down. Everyone is constantly on Facebook, tweeting, texting, as well as looking at meaningless memes on their smartphones, tablets, and computers, rather than socializing with the individual in front of them. How often do you go to a restaurant and find people around you with their iPads and smartphones, hardly socializing? People are walking across the streets staring at their phones rather than paying attention to whats ahead or what car maybe incoming. The way our food tastes is no longer as flaverful, because we have people out there, even our own government, banning things such as transfats, and removing sugar from sodas, replacing them with corn syrup. From what I was told by my Argentinean girlfriend, food tastes so much better in Argentina because nothing is processed and everything is made fresh. When she came to America, everything she tasted was tasteless in comparison. My guess is food must be better everywhere else in the world. TV is also contributing to our downfall as a society, with horrible reality tv, always talking about sex, celebrity gossip, and constantly telling you what you should wear, how you should look, and what is popular. Even music is going downhill. All the pop music out there isn't even about the music, but instead image. The music itself is either crappy ghetto horribly executed rap music, Britney Spears style which focuses more on singing rather than focus on the song in general and has a girly like feel to it, and horrible dance club style music. At least back in the 90's, the rap music was actually very good, girly like pop music didnt exist until the late 90s and was only listened to by kids and teenagers, and dance club music was amazing with the Latin freestyle and incredibly catchy songs. All the real talent is gone. And record companies are stuffing this crap down our throats telling us that these are hits and this is popular. Even Hollywood is going downhill as more crappy movies are coming out than good movies. And more bad directors producing crap all for the sake of money, such as Michael Bay. He focuses more on special effects and CGI than the movie itself because thats what sells. He also takes what use to be popular and nostalgic to many people and does his own twist on it, thus ruining it for the watcher, such as Transformers and soon, even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Could it be that our society is being dumbed down and totally transformed? To where we can't understand something unless we Google it? Because I remember that society was much better than this more than a decade ago. What do you think?

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Originally Posted by Jacob Roman

Society
The way our food tastes is no longer as flaverful, because we have people out there, even our own government, banning things such as transfats, and removing sugar from sodas, replacing them with corn syrup.

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In the case of the tomato, the flavor was bred out of them because the industry needed a more durable tomato for transport. There has been a push, in some places, to recover the old fruit. As for sugar vs. corn syrup, I always assumed that was a price decision.

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From what I was told by my Argentinean girlfriend,

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Have you been , "hiking the Appalachian Trail"?

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Originally Posted by Jacob Roman

Society

Our entire society is turning upside down. Everyone is constantly on Facebook, tweeting, texting, as well as looking at meaningless memes on their smartphones, tablets, and computers, rather than socializing with the individual in front of them. How often do you go to a restaurant and find people around you with their iPads and smartphones, hardly socializing? People are walking across the streets staring at their phones rather than paying attention to whats ahead or what car maybe incoming. The way our food tastes is no longer as flaverful, because we have people out there, even our own government, banning things such as transfats, and removing sugar from sodas, replacing them with corn syrup. From what I was told by my Argentinean girlfriend, food tastes so much better in Argentina because nothing is processed and everything is made fresh. When she came to America, everything she tasted was tasteless in comparison. My guess is food must be better everywhere else in the world. TV is also contributing to our downfall as a society, with horrible reality tv, always talking about sex, celebrity gossip, and constantly telling you what you should wear, how you should look, and what is popular. Even music is going downhill. All the pop music out there isn't even about the music, but instead image. The music itself is either crappy ghetto horribly executed rap music, Britney Spears style which focuses more on singing rather than focus on the song in general and has a girly like feel to it, and horrible dance club style music. At least back in the 90's, the rap music was actually very good, girly like pop music didnt exist until the late 90s and was only listened to by kids and teenagers, and dance club music was amazing with the Latin freestyle and incredibly catchy songs. All the real talent is gone. And record companies are stuffing this crap down our throats telling us that these are hits and this is popular. Even Hollywood is going downhill as more crappy movies are coming out than good movies. And more bad directors producing crap all for the sake of money, such as Michael Bay. He focuses more on special effects and CGI than the movie itself because thats what sells. He also takes what use to be popular and nostalgic to many people and does his own twist on it, thus ruining it for the watcher, such as Transformers and soon, even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Could it be that our society is being dumbed down and totally transformed? To where we can't understand something unless we Google it? Because I remember that society was much better than this more than a decade ago. What do you think?

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Ahh the good old days...where did they go?

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

- Socrates (470 – 399 BC)

I think what you are lamenting could be said by every generation in the context of the time period they grew up.

My rant...I hate people that shoot down other people's rants :p

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Originally Posted by Jacob Roman

Society

Our entire society is turning upside down. Everyone is constantly on Facebook, tweeting, texting, as well as looking at meaningless memes on their smartphones, tablets, and computers, rather than socializing with the individual in front of them. How often do you go to a restaurant and find people around you with their iPads and smartphones, hardly socializing? People are walking across the streets staring at their phones rather than paying attention to whats ahead or what car maybe incoming. The way our food tastes is no longer as flaverful, because we have people out there, even our own government, banning things such as transfats, and removing sugar from sodas, replacing them with corn syrup. From what I was told by my Argentinean girlfriend, food tastes so much better in Argentina because nothing is processed and everything is made fresh. When she came to America, everything she tasted was tasteless in comparison. My guess is food must be better everywhere else in the world. TV is also contributing to our downfall as a society, with horrible reality tv, always talking about sex, celebrity gossip, and constantly telling you what you should wear, how you should look, and what is popular. Even music is going downhill. All the pop music out there isn't even about the music, but instead image. The music itself is either crappy ghetto horribly executed rap music, Britney Spears style which focuses more on singing rather than focus on the song in general and has a girly like feel to it, and horrible dance club style music. At least back in the 90's, the rap music was actually very good, girly like pop music didnt exist until the late 90s and was only listened to by kids and teenagers, and dance club music was amazing with the Latin freestyle and incredibly catchy songs. All the real talent is gone. And record companies are stuffing this crap down our throats telling us that these are hits and this is popular. Even Hollywood is going downhill as more crappy movies are coming out than good movies. And more bad directors producing crap all for the sake of money, such as Michael Bay. He focuses more on special effects and CGI than the movie itself because thats what sells. He also takes what use to be popular and nostalgic to many people and does his own twist on it, thus ruining it for the watcher, such as Transformers and soon, even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Could it be that our society is being dumbed down and totally transformed? To where we can't understand something unless we Google it? Because I remember that society was much better than this more than a decade ago. What do you think?

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My rant: People who don't use paragraphs.

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<p>



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paragraph's

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My other rant: people who use apostrophes in the wrong place.

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Originally Posted by invisibleduncan

my other rant: People who use apostrophe's in the wrong place.

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There, FTFY

Damned birds pooping all over my brand new Mustang! And not a single splotch on my 12 year old beater van. I swear they know the difference.

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Originally Posted by TheBigB

There, FTFY

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*Slap*

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Originally Posted by InvisibleDuncan

*Slap*

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*Duck's*

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Because I remember that society was much better than this more than a decade ago.

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No, you don't! Society wasn't any better or worse a decade or a decade of decades, or a decade of decades of decades ago. You'll find complaints about how people don't socialise any more, how everything's about sex or fads or hero worship, and generally how everything's going to Hell in a handcart in the literature of every era since writing began. I once gathered together quotes on the state of society from writers from the 400 BC to the present day, modernised the language so that any clues to age were removed, and asked a bunch of people to identify what periods were being talked about. Needless to say, there guesses had no more accuracy than random!

Memory is an unashamed liar. It is to be trusted no further than you can jump wearing a lead suit! What you remember is a comforting illusion designed specifically for the purpose of obscuring the sheer tedium, frustration, pointlessness and misery of real life! We are predisposed to believe that all that went before was better than it was and thus better than it is.

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Originally Posted by homer13j

Damned birds pooping all over my brand new Mustang! And not a single splotch on my 12 year old beater van. I swear they know the difference.

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It's a good argument in favor of reincarnation. Heck, if I came back as a bird, I'd be targeting shiny cars and sunbathers.

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Originally Posted by dunfiddlin

Memory is an unashamed liar. It is to be trusted no further than you can jump wearing a lead suit!

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Yet we forget this point immediately, for the most part. Memory is everything other than what is happening at this very instant, even the first word of what I wrote is only a memory, and memory is inherently unreliable. However, it is just reliable enough that we can depend on it...most of the time, and tend to be shocked or betrayed when it proves to be wrong.

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Originally Posted by dunfiddlin

No, you don't! Society wasn't any better or worse a decade or a decade of decades, or a decade of decades of decades ago. You'll find complaints about how people don't socialise any more, how everything's about sex or fads or hero worship, and generally how everything's going to Hell in a handcart in the literature of every era since writing began. I once gathered together quotes on the state of society from writers from the 400 BC to the present day, modernised the language so that any clues to age were removed, and asked a bunch of people to identify what periods were being talked about. Needless to say, there guesses had no more accuracy than random!

Memory is an unashamed liar. It is to be trusted no further than you can jump wearing a lead suit! What you remember is a comforting illusion designed specifically for the purpose of obscuring the sheer tedium, frustration, pointlessness and misery of real life! We are predisposed to believe that all that went before was better than it was and thus better than it is.

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There is a lot of truth to that and that was my point about my "youth of today" post. But...we aren't publicly burning witches anymore. That's a plus :)

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Originally Posted by TheBigB

*Duck's*

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ROF'L :rolleyes:

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I don't know, I think that'd be pretty cool!

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Well you would have to move to Africa for that where it is still current!!
Witches that practice black magic are burnt,
and if you are cursed by black magic you have to visit a witch doctor to get rid of it!

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I'm guessing that this is mostly in the 3rd world parts of Africa

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Sadly not. Kenya and Ghana most recently.

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Originally Posted by dunfiddlin

Sadly not. Kenya and Ghana most recently.

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Yep and Gambia too, some even label the Kenyan district of Kisii 'the sorcery belt' of Africa.

I remember the day when, to have a good rant, you had to go out into the street and stand on a corner. And not just stand, you needed to carry a box. You needed eloquence to get the attention of the one hobo willing to listen. A good ranter never let 'the man' get in the way. Or weather.

Now, it's innernet this, innernet that. Bah. what has society come to when they can't be arsed to get off their arse to give a good rant?!

And what is it with spell check?! 'arsed' is correct, but 'arse' is not?!

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Originally Posted by SJWhiteley

And what is it with spell check?! 'arsed' is correct, but 'arse' is not?!

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That a rant ?

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Originally Posted by Niya

That a rant ?

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He's got rant control where he lives.

The child sexual abuse crimes, against children as young as 3 years old, committed by Catholic priests: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases

Dammit! When did 'I'm a newbie' become an excuse for not exercising the simplest of study skills like reading? You give people a one page text to scan for a specific piece of information and it's like you've handed them alien technology from the 26th Century. And it's all because they're new? Do they not teach reading in school anymore or is it just any text longer than the tweet character limit that throws their poor little brains into confusion?

Specific rant - not replying to anyone in particular:

Anyone following news of JC Penny over the last couple of years should be aware of how they crashed and burned on their new marketing approach and are currently asking their old customer base to come back to them. One of the issues was they stopped the many sales they had opting for “everyday low prices”. In general their customer base did not like that and now they are having sales again. They are also running this huge “come back to us” campaign.

Last week I bought some pants there that were marked at $60.00 and on sale at $24.99. I bought a couple pair and at home found that under the $60.00 price tag was another for $35.00. I believe that to be the true price. It really scalds me that they would pull such a blatant deception.

I wrote JC Penny myself about this and haven’t heard back. I don’t belong to Facebook, twitter, or any of the latest incarnations of social media but I sure wish I could get some attention drawn to what I consider a very deceptive practice.

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Originally Posted by TysonLPrice

Last week I bought some pants there that were marked at $60.00 and on sale at $24.99. I bought a couple pair and at home found that under the $60.00 price tag was another for $35.00. I believe that to be the true price. It really scalds me that they would pull such a blatant deception.

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Most of the JC Penny stores I know of are in rapidly declining shopping malls that I tend to avoid. I don't think I've bought anything from them since the '80s.

Somewhat related: in a local used book store I recently found a rare, out of print book I had been seeking for quite some time. On the back cover was a price tag: "$15--" so I took it to the register and handed it to the store owner. He opened the book and inside the front cover was another price: $50. He rang it up at $50.

"Uhh... it says 15 bucks on the back." I said.

He flipped the book over, saw the other price tag and started mumbling "aw, gee... I don't know..." then he saw the look of pure disgust on my face and said $15 was fine.

Funny thing is I really wanted this book and probably would have forked out $50 for it.

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Originally Posted by TysonLPrice

...I don’t belong to Facebook, twitter, or any of the latest incarnations of social media but I sure wish I could get some attention drawn to what I consider a very deceptive practice.

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You cannot win a media war with the Illuminati.

Hmm. Caveat emptor and all that. Although this might fall foul of advertising standards, it's not a fraud. When all is said and done they offered you an item at a price of $25 and you accepted their offer believing that to be a fair price for the item. The reasonable consumer (which is what courts have to measure by) is not affected by any previous offers and decides entirely upon the offer they are currently presented with. The onus really is on you to shop wisely, comparing prices at other outlets etc. The argument that you would never have bought the item if you'd know that it was previously offered at $35 is not going to get you very far in law.

It's not as though you discovered a previous price which was lower than the one you paid! In that case you could have required that they sell at the lower price. But their only legal requirement is to show that at some point the item was offered at $60 and you would have no end of difficulty trying to overturn the evidence of the price tag that says it was. Although your irritation is understandable, the fact remains that they have not actually done anything wrong (even if this is only on a technicality) and I would advise against a tirade over the Internet. That's the kind of thing that gets you sued!

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"aw, gee... I don't know..."

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UK law is quite clear on this. The retailer must offer the lowest price displayed. Staff here are savvy enough not to leave two prices visible on anything (well, at least if they want to keep the job!)

"Hmm. Caveat emptor and all that. Although this might fall foul of advertising standards, it's not a fraud. When all is said and done they offered you an item at a price of $25 and you accepted their offer believing that to be a fair price for the item. The reasonable consumer (which is what courts have to measure by) is not affected by any previous offers and decides entirely upon the offer they are currently presented with. The onus really is on you to shop wisely, comparing prices at other outlets etc. The argument that you would never have bought the item if you'd know that it was previously offered at $35 is not going to get you very far in law."

I’m not sure where that response came from…I wasn’t crying foul of any kind as far as me being duped. But obviously my intent didn’t come across as I meant it. Part of that is probably I have closely followed the story over the last year or so and a lot of people may not have been.

What scalds me is JC Penny is supposedly trying to win their old customer base back and part of doing that seems to include “making up” a sale. The pants I’m referring to wouldn’t command $60.00 on their best day.

The whole “we are sorry please come back to us” campaign is in part based on this lie. Just marked down from $35.00 to $24.99 is good enough. They had to make up this inflated price. I just consider it insulting.

So I disagree and think they are doing something wrong. They are inflating sale savings in an attempt to say “yay! We brought sales back”. The sale prices they advertise are deliberately misleading.

So it’s not that I feel ripped off. I feel I’m being lied to.

I agree about an internet campaign not fitting this scenario. I have enough trouble keeping my foot out of my mouth here let alone taking on the whole net :bigyello:

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Originally Posted by homer13j

Not only does the PA Turnpike STILL suck they now charge almost $40 in tolls to drive the length of America's crappiest highway.

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I once took a trip to JFK airport to drop a friend.
The tolls I paid were close to $60.00 (to and fro). This includes the PA Turnpike, the NJ Turnpike and the Verazano bridge toll.
Funny thing is the tolls were more than the gas and I had rented a big SUV to haul luggage.

Tolls are BS. Hmmm perhaps I should revive my "You know whats BS" thread.