Tired of School

In a surprise to me and the Internet as a whole.  Stootsi.com appears to be suddenly closing their virtual doors.  There is very little information on the Stootsi site other than an email address that purports to be for customer service.  I am sad that this business is no longer a part of the Internet.  I spent many hours on the site in the early days.  It started as a deal-of-the-day website that, in my opinion, was better than woot.com on price and coolness.  The folks that owned the website interacted with the members in blogs and forums.  They would often talk about what they ate for lunch among other unimportant topics.  They were real people making it in the world.

My favorite part of the early iteration of the website was the weekly contests.  Often they had very clever contests that you could win money or gift certificates by playing.  I won various places in the contests early on.  At some point they moved to only picture captioning contest (which I abhor), so I stopped visiting as often.  Still, though I wished the site the best.  As time went on the website started selling more and more things until there was  a glut of disjointed items for sale on a very busy and hard to navigate website.

Still though, the people who ran the website seemed to be genuine and I wish them the best.

Author’s note: The events listed below happened over the course of several months. Many people have had good experiences with the Best Buy Trade-In Program.  Some people have not.  This is just my story, decisions about who to do business with should not be made based on one person’s story.  I continue to shop at Best Buy, but have decided not to use the trade-in service again. This story was originally published as a series on another website, but now that it is completed, I decided to add it to this site as well.

I guess I should have known better than to use a “mail in” trade program, but I thought I’d give it a try. I am disappointed with the program (as I will describe below), but it turns out I am not the only one: Click here to read another person’s problems. I decided to start recounting this story now so I could update as more information comes in. Also, you should know that I do shop at Best Buy and have had generally good experiences there. Here’s what happened to me, in an overly dramatic and long winded monologue.

Part 1: Saying Goodbye

After several years of hanging on to a PSP that got very little use, I decided to unload it as quickly as possible. It’s an original PSP, but it was mine and it worked like a charm. I fondly remembered playing Loco Roco and Pat-a-Pon. I remember the frustration I had trying to play Ratchet and Clack with only one joystick. I even remember thinking it would be useful to have a wireless internet browser I could take on trips and then never using it. Methodically, I cleared the memory card, reset the interface, and got it all ready to be sold. I geared myself up for the loss, as I’d not had the courage or self control to sell the item many times before. This time was different, I was ready to cut the cord of mobile gaming from my life for good.

Part 2: Finding a New Home for an Old Friend

So there I was, sitting at home trying to decide the best way to sell the little entertainment machine. Selling it on EBay or Craigslist may have gotten the highest profit, but were also a higher risk for scams and could be more trouble than they are worth. I had hoped to get rid of the thing like a Band-Aide, with a quick and slightly painful RIP. I decided that if I could find someone willing to give me $50 for the thing on the spot, then it would be sold. Surely I could get that at GameStop…right? I called GameStop and asked for a quote, I thanked them nicely, and hung up. As I recall, the offer was around $25, well under my asking price. This would not be easy.

Part 3: A New Hope

I searched around for other easy trade-in progrmas that I could utilize. I discovered that Best Buy has a new fangled trade-in program and they give you quotes online. I looked up the PSP and the website quoted me about $75! Wonderful. Of course, there was no way to tell it what model of PSP you were sending them so I couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t lower the value of this a little. Either way, this seemed to be the way to go and a good way to test out this new service.

Part 4: All Quiet on the Western Front

I packed up the PSP, shipped it for free, and all I had to do was wait a few weeks for the Best Buy giftcard to arive in my mailbox. I did not receive the giftcard. I waited. I still did not receive the giftcard. I did not have to worry though, becuase by now my PSP should have been recieved and if there was some sort of problem or if they decided to lower the trade-in value, then I would receive an e-mail asking if I accept the new quote. I had not received an e-mail so no worries.

Part 5: Contractual Obligation

After a month, I decided to look again to see if I had any e-mails about the trade-in: nada. I discovered that I could log back into the trade-in website, and sure enough my PSP was processed last month. The comment stated that my PSP was not working (it was when I sent it, how else could I have reset it and cleared off the memory card). They had decided that my trade-in was worth NOTHING! However, according to the Term and Conditions I should have received an e-mail offering the chance to get it back. The terms also state that I have to let them know “within __ days of being contacted” that I want the item returned to me. I was not given the notice, nor do the Terms specify how many days, they just give me a blank line to fill in myself. Let’s see, what number should I choose? I’ll go with 365 days.

Part 6: The Saga Continues

This is were we are now. The website offers no phone number that I can find for service. Best Buy does not run this service, as they utilize “Deal Tree” to take care of the trades for them. I have send an polite inquiry via their online form. I have some free time to keep following up on this right now, so I will see what I can do and let you all know how well this is handled. However, I think CAG should have a fair warning about these problems. Also, since I might end up without a PSP and without any trade-in credit, I’ll can at least entertain myself by posting the experience.

Part 7: You Won’t Believe This One

Here is what I sent to customer service to ask nicely ask where my PSP is since they decided not to pay me for it:

Here is the response I got:

Part 8: Whose Terms are Those Anyway?

On closer inspection of the Terms of Service regarding my trade, I’ll present you with another quote:

You might notice that the default action in those terms tells me that I can expect them to send the item back to me if they don’t want it. In addition, if you look through the rest of the Terms then you will not find anything telling me that I have to rely on e-mails with this company.

Part 9: Due Diligence

Given that Best Buy/Deal Tree just decided that they could keep my PSP without paying me for it, I thought the least I could do was file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I decided to file it against Deal Tree instead of Best Buy because they handled the trade; however, I am not sure that I should not also submit as a complaint against Best Buy as well. I have already submitted the complaint on Deal Tree, here are the juicy bits I sent the BBB: (keep in mind these paragraphs are responses to specific questions on the BBB complaint form.)

Part 10: A Small Reprieve

Now that my complaint is sent, I do not expect to get much more information for a week or so. The complaint has to go though the BBB and get presented to the company. In the mean time, I will not sweat it and will finish a classic Half Life game I am working on so I feel better about playing HL2. There are also some legal options I could take if I decide to press the matter, but I am not sure I want to do so yet. I suppose the response I get from my complaint will help me decide.

Part 11: A Small Technicality

Today, however, I want to tell you how I have been able to snatch defeat from the grip of victory.

You see, despite BestBuy/DealTree telling me that my PSP was a gift I gave them for free, the response I got from them after submitting to the Better
Business Bureau was much more positive:

So, sweet, I won…right? To be fair, the BestBuy Trade-In website DID change their terms of service to reflect that it is your job to check on the trade-in. Good for them. Also, they said they would send me the money.

One problem.

The gift card never showed up. It’s been about 2 months since the BBB reply that indicated that I would receive the gift card that was initially promised 3.5 months ago.

I have now submitted this to the customer service form:

Work has kept me busy. I expect to get a there’s-nothing-we-can-do-about-it email from customer service. I will, of course, follow that up with one or both of the following actions:

1) Attempt to contact the person at BestBuy/DealTree who responded to my BBB complaint (I belive I only have a name and possibly an address, but that should be enough for me to get a letter to him or find a phone number for him with the company.)

2) Reopen my case with the BBB to state that this was, in fact, not resolved.

This is not about the money (although it would be nice to go use the gift certificate on Halo, or even Bioshock ii by the time it gets here) but it’s about the principle. A company should not ignore their terms of service and then tell the customer that they did not follow a procedure that is different than was even in the “small print.” I can now add to the list that they have placated the BBB while not following through on the resolution.

Part 12: Really?!? Are You Sure this Time?

Submitting to customer service was a much better experience this time around. Here is the response I received:

I would really like to thank* Haley for being kind*, understanding*, and being an all-round good sport about this*. She did not question me or claim that I had already been sent the gift card. Nope, she just apologized and put the order through.

*NOTE: My thanks to Haley must be taken in context. It was also Haley who told me nearly three months ago that my PSP had been destroyed and that “We cannot assist you further.”

Part 13: Let the Good Times Roll

A few days after Haley’s e-mail, I was greeted with another sign of good things to come in my e-mail.

I felt all warm and squishy about this. My wife felt that this was another ruse and I would never actually receive the gift card. However, she was also surprised when my “Free XBox 360″ was shipped to the apartment several years ago too.

There was nothing to do but wait.

Part 14: The Saga Ends

Today, I received several pieces of mail. One of them was unmarked as to its’ origin and looked exactly like a credit card offer. In fact, it even had a fake-credit-card-inside-feel to it as well. I opened it up so I could tear the offer in half and I was greeted by a very nice blue gift card. I have verified the value at the correct $73. I finally had my small victory over the man.

Part 15: Postlude

This whole episode was always more about the principle than the money. The big loser in all this was a perfectly good PSP that has been tossed into the recycle bin. I would have much rather given it to an unsuspecting and clueless parent outside of GameStop than have $73 and one less PSP in the gaming world.

I have now finished my second Master’s Degree and am no longer tired of school!

Are you on the prowl for good quotes about school, college, or university?  Well, you could go find quotes by famous people, or you could just take the quotes I made up below and attribute them to TiredThomas (remember to use proper MLA or APA style references).

• School is for the ignorant:  Once you’ve gone to school long enough to realize this, you graduate.
• I never saw somebody who enjoyed college as much as an alumnus.
• The best way to survive a test is to bluff; if that fails, you might try studying.
• Going to school is like holding your breath:  It’s painful, but you know it has to eventually come to an end.
• Studying is a lot like being on vacation, except without the relaxation, fun, or the being on vacation.
• If you’re not smart enough to drop out of college, you get what you deserve.
• If you’re not smart enough to stay in college, you get what you deserve.
• Choosing a college is easy, choosing to graduate is another matter.
• You should never procrastinate at school, unless you’d rather be doing something else.
• Philosophy class is like a reality show you get a grade for.
• College math is as easy as deriving the proof for the derivative.
• College English is as easy as Faust.
• College music is as easy as Tchaikovsky.

• There seems to be a trend of online music companies going out of business.  A few weeks ago Ruckus(tm) unceremoniously closed its virtual doors.  This is a service I enjoyed (I even wrote an article about it a while back).  It was free streaming music for college students.  I even paid for the premium service so I could use it on my mp3 player.  Now if I want this same service I have to pay around $20 a month to one of the more well-known companies (such as Napster).  I won’t be doing that anytime soon; perhaps I was spoiled by Ruckus’ $5 a month for premium use.
• Most recently, I discovered that BMG(tm) is also closing its normal operations.  This is quite a shock to me since I’ve been getting ads from them for decades (ahhhh, the days of stamp-sized CD cover mailings).  Granted, I rarely order from them and send back most of the CDs they ship out to me, but I did actually enjoy the service.  Sometimes it’s nice to be exposed to new music.
• So, what is the future of online music?  I can’t be sure.  I don’t condone copying music, but if you want to hear a song free there is probably a YouTube(tm) video out there with your song as the sound track.  The iTunes(tm) store is also  doing booming business, but I don’t see many people being exposed to new music. Lack of exposure is likely to get worse if the music industry gets its way and makes radio stations pay to play their songs.  The upstroke of this legislation is that local stations will start playing more local music (garage bands that don’t charge to spin their tunes).  I am already hearing more local music on the radio where I am (check out The Republic Tigers).
• All in all, I am not happy about this, but then again maybe someday I won’t have to pay tuition anymore and I’ll have more expendable income.