superchunk said:
Nope to both. I literally went and verified my info is still correct and pre-ordering via BB forces full payment online (though I do know they only require a deposit in store, which has a $$ real cost as well as physical of going to a damn store). Amazon is far more convienant and my personal experience has never had a miss on Amazon shipping time. Though, I know it does happen but when it does happen (as shown in this very thread) you can call and get all kinds of free shit vs an "I'm sorry" you'd get from BB or any other retialer. User 1: While doing literally anything else (walking, driving, working, eating, shitting, receiving oral sex, etc) I can open my Amazon app, pre-order with one-finger and one-click. Time spent = less than 2mins with zero $$ spent or wrapped up on a long-term pre-order. (launch day comes, card is now charged as item was shipped out!) I do whatever the fuck I'm alreadying doing each and every day... like work, managing da kids, kids sports, side-chick's needs, then come home to check mail (which I do everyday as well) and hello kitty! there is my brand new game in my locked USPS box perfectly safe and sound. Done. Literally no impact to my everyday life. User 2: I have to drive to a store either on my way to/from the many important events in my life. Park car in parking lot risking door dings. Walk in heat (I'm in AZ) to store. Greet person whose sole purpose in life is to watch for theft and fake that they actually care you are there. Walk to section of store that sells games. Use the stupid kiosk that works (poorly) to print a ticket I take to a cashier. Go to cashier and crawl though a $5 transaction. Time spent = at least 15mins if the store was on my way already or double/triple that if I had to leave home just to go do this action. (launch day comes!) I again spend 15+ mins to go out of my way to get to the damn store. Then walk in with my receipt (fuck did I remember the receipt?) and proceed to the counter. Wait in line. Get up and they pull up the receipt, find the game, cashier my ass for the remaining amount and then I finally make my trek home. Literally a ton of impact unless I am an employee for that store or a store right next door. User 3: While doing literally anything else, I can open my BB website and find the game/pre-order (far more clicks that the one I do in Amazon) the game. What's this, I have to pay the fully $60 plus tax up-front? Normally not a big deal as i'm buying the game anyways, however should I want to cancel my pre-order for any number of reasons, now I need to go through the cancellation and refund process (yay). Otherwise, I've spent ~5mins and far more focused attention due to the numerous clicks / process to pre-order. (launch day comes!) Here I follow pretty much the same process, except BB ships via FedEx or UPS. Why does this matter? well it matters because my small package has been sitting on my door step begging those nasty little neighborhood kids to claim my new game or won't arrive to sometime in the late PM. Far too much risk, which is why I probably chose pick up at store... ugh now I need to take a way out of the way trip to the damn store again. I'm sorry, how in the world can you conclude that using Amazon is not somehow more convienant? There is a reason Amazon is dominating the retail market. |
I'm speaking from my own, extensive experience with BB and GCU. I do not get charged until my preorder is being prepared to ship. I do not get charged at time of order for preordering video games. Most recently, I had SMO preordered. I ordered it in January, and wasn't charged until it shipped last week. Unless that policy has changed in the past week or two, that's not how it works...
The checkout process for Amazon and Best Buy do not differ at all for me (although, I purposefully do not use their 1 click order option because I've with enough problems with payment options), both are very simple and easy. Both take less than 5 minutes.
As for dominating the retail market, they still lag behind GameStop who is the most consumer unfriendly out of them all. That's more to do with their volume of stores I guess.
