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Counsel? that's what you get for getting lawyers involved in console purchases.
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@B: The Wii Game Counsel: Mario, Toadstool, Link, Yoshii and Diddy Kong. Only they have the power to bestow Wii consoles upon fortunate Consumerists.
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He got so mad that he forgot how to spell.
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@UTC: Seriously. It says a lot about the way the editors feel about the OP that they didn't even bother to spellcheck his post.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-121354-100x100.png\")
@unobservant: I think it's typical practice for Consumerist to avoid editing an original post in any way. I sort of agree with that. The OP has a responsibility to present himself/herself well, or suffer the wrath of the commenters.
@Rhayader: Concurred. Kudos on the lack of spell-checking, and bah on Wii counsel!
Related to the actual post, though, I bought a Wii last Christmas from Amazon for a friend. They didn't make me bundle, so you may want to do some shopping around. Fry's is obviously not your best option there.
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Do a bit of leg work then? While there's no sign of Wii Fit anywhere to be had, I've seen several Wii in the wild, unbundled. There was a stack of them at the Fred Meyers I was just at last yesterday, in fact.
So they are out there. Just keep your eyes open.
(Of course if I was after a Wii for xmas, I would have been looking LONG before December rolled around. Consistantly trying to find one this close to the 25th is just folly.)
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@El_Fez: Costco had Wii Fit boards / controllers (whatever you call them) last Friday for $80, no bundling, no nothing. A single pallet of them by the front entrance, with a sign saying \"one per member.\"
So I bought one.
@El_Fez:
Since the poster is talking about Frys, an electronics store located on the west coast, parts of the southwest, and now Chicago, there isn't Meyers (or Meijers for that matter) nearby to take advantage of.
Anyways, Circuit City has them in stock. However, you have to buy 4 additional Wii-Fit accessories at full price as part of their \"bundle.\" This includes the Wii-Fit skin, available in 4 fashionable colors, the Wii-Fit mat (on which you place your Wii-Fit supposedly so it doesn't slide around) also in 4 fashionable colors, and don't forget about the Wii-Fit branded water bottle, wrist bands and head bands! No, I'm not joking. Each is available for the \"low\" price of $19.95 each! (yes, a water bottle that says \"Wii-Fit\" is $19.95! WTF!?)
Don't forget the Wii-Fit itself has a MSRP of $89, but at Circuit City, for the low-low price of $169, you get the Wii-Fit and 4 useless accessories...for $80 more!
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@amuro98: He was talking about Fred Meyer, a chain grocery/department store here in the PNW. I'm in Seattle and we have many around here, and they can be a great place to look for in-demand electronics, since a lot of people seem to forget about them as an option. I have an oddly strong love for Fred Meyer and their natural foods section...
@amuro98: Fred Meyers is on the west coast. Not sure about California, but you can find Fred Meyers stores in Washington and Oregon.
In fact, I always assumed Fred Meyers was a west coast only chain.
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Did someone call the Whaaaambulance yet?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-132151-100x100.png\")
@Jeremiah1977: @Corporate-Shill: The point the op was trying to make wasn't the availability of the Wii, it was the fact that this retailer was banking on customers being so desperate for the system that they felt that they could add on unnecessary items during the holidays and make a few extra bucks. He pointed out that during the rest of the year you can buy just the Wii, but during the busy holiday season they ONLY sold the bundles. They didn't give the consumer the option of purchasing it unbundled. No, it's not the biggest deal ever, but forcing an upgrade is a consumer issue.
There does seem to be something illegal about requiring people to buy other items along with the main thing they want to buy, and then jacking up the overall price. I'm surprised no lawyer has been closely looking into this to determine whether restraint of trade is being committed. A class-action lawsuit against Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and major retailers?
@thewriteguy: Best Buy tries to bundle in Geek Squad services with many new laptops. Optimization (windows updates, tweaks, and uninstall of stuff like AOL, yahoo etc) + restore cd's if the computer does not come with them (only toshibas and dells do these days) for 59.99. Now, if we only have presetups in stock they will try to get you to buy the presetups (and some people want this honest to god) but if the you are insistant you want to not pay for the presetup they have to sell it to you for the regular price.
@thewriteguy:
It's a pretty weak case of tying in the antitrust sense. It's unlikely anyone could actually win, because you have to prove that the partying doing the tying has market power in the tied product (the ability to profitably raise the price). While I'm sure Walmart sells quite a few Wii's, I doubt they sell enough to be able to profitably raise the price of the \"tying\" console (if they raised the price, people would just buy elsewhere since WalMart doesn't have such a big share of the market).The real case of tying would be against Nintendo if they were selling them this way, but as pointed out above, Nintendo has condemned the practice.
@thewriteguy:
In the case of the Wii, there is no grounds for a suit against Nintendo since Nintendo has publically said they don't want the stores to bundle.
If you look carefully at the bundles, most of them end up saving you $20-30 if you had bought the items individually. Only the Circuit City \"bundle\" for the Wii-Fit (see my post above) is rather awful and abusive as you aren't getting a price break on the other stuff at all, and the stuff you're being told to choose is ridiculously overpriced to begin with ($19.95 for a set of wrist straps that say \"Wii-Fit\" on them!?!)
Bundling in the console world has been around for a long time now. It's especially nasty during the holidays, or when the console is first released, as retailers use the bundles to try and dump unpopular games or useless accessories on consumers. Careful shoppers, however, will know to check several stores and compare their options.
Post holidays, we'll see the stores go back to just selling items separately, or offering open bundles, meaning you can pick what items get included. Again, careful shoppers armed with calculators and a web browser can easily find the best deals.
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@thewriteguy: Man I sure hate crust, but I'll be damned if they don't bundle it with every loaf of bread. I could buy it in smaller packages without crust but that comes bundled too! [www.smuckers.com]
I bought my Wii and before a week was up I bought more wiimotes, nunchucks, and another game. In retrospect I shoulda opted for a bundle.
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@solareclipse2: My thinking was along the same line. Since the fellow didn't list what was in the bundle, it's hard to say whether there'd be future use.
Another thing you could do is sell the extra pieces on eBay (or some other reseller market.) Again, depending on the nature of the extras, you could find your $250 console ends up costing $225.
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Brainwav is correct that you would likely already be spending that extra on additional games/accesories.
Also: it's called a CONSOLE
@highpitch_83: This is a symptom of the trend of people not taking the time to read. I hear the same thing all the time with phrases like \"for all intensive purposes\" and it manifests itself all over the intarwebz in the \"your/you're/there/their/there\" phenomenon.
Pick up a freakin' book every now and again, people.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-364553-100x100.png\")
@xwildebeestx: I remember reading once how you can tell which kids (and I would say it also applies to adults) read a lot and which don't because those who read a lot will spell better, but might not pronounce words correctly when reading aloud. While those who watch more TV will pronounce words better but not know how to spell them. I thought it was interesting. But then again, I'm a dork and find many things interesting that others just go \"uh-huh...whatever\" to. *shrug*
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Captain Duvel Moneycat seems quite suspicious of that Wii-Mote.
@Segador: I thought his name was Menace. And he looks rather protective of it to me. At least he's wearing the wrist strap as advised.
@unobservant: That was my thought.. he says, \"mine!!\". That just seems to be the look a cat has when they're watching you verrrryy carefully..... Maybe they spilled some Starbucks oatmeal on it.
To compare, imagine if your grocery store did \"bundling\": You can't just buy peanut butter, but you have to buy the peanut butter and jelly bundle for a higher price. Then the grocery store says this is justified because the supply of peanut butter is limited and demand for it high at the moment. Would a grocery store be able to get away with a sales tactic like this?
@thewriteguy: Food and a Wii are 2 totally different things. Since peanut butter is food, and food is essential to live most places have laws against jacking up or price gouging on the price of food for whatever reason there may be.
The Wii however is not essential to live, its just another video game system.
Most of these bundles are just \"suggested\" bundles, many companies bundle items at Xmas time because they are the most common items to purchase with the big item. Also because sometimes things are required to operate it that are additional and not packaged with the item such as memory cards, imagine getting a system and games on Christmas and not getting a memory card to save your games. This is also done so that they don't have a million parents coming in on Dec. 26th complaining that they didn't get a memory card with their console. You can't exactly run to a store on Dec. 25th to get that missing item. Bundling the system, a memory card and games solves a lot of those problems and makes sure every customer gets what they need to use the item in question. I know memory cards are kind of obsolete now but this was the situation a couple years ago.
Try asking to buy the item separately without the bundle, I know they allow you to at Toys R Us. There might even be a law on the books in some states that requires stores to sell you the item without the bundle.
@thewriteguy:
Again, it'd only be illegal if the bundled cost of the PB&J was more expensive than if you had been allowed to buy the PB and J separately. Console bundles end up saving your $20-30 over the cost of buying everything separately - and unlike PB or J, a console by itself isn't very useful. You'll need games, usually another controller, maybe a better video cable, and other accessories.
In the Wii's case, unfortunately, they're only bundling unpopular or bad games, as a way of just getting rid of them, even though the store is selling them at a loss.
@thewriteguy: Man I sure hate crust, but I'll be damned if they don't bundle it with every loaf of bread. I could buy it in smaller packages without crust but that comes bundled too! [www.smuckers.com]
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-159929-100x100.png\")
Would a grocery store be able to get away with a sales tactic like this?
No... because there really isn't a limited supply of peanut butter, and in most places people could go to plenty of other places to buy it. Wiis, on the other hand, are in limited supply (although they've been in stock at Amazon quite a few times recently), so stores know some people will pay for the bundle rather than keep hunting or risk going without.
But that's the point I raised: What IF a peanut butter (or any other food item) were in limited supply and a grocery store required that it be sold as part of a \"bundle\"? Would that be legal?
@thewriteguy: If any other product were in limited supply, stores would just increase the price. However, with the Wii, the stores can't increase the price to balance the high demand, so they resort to bundling.
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Walmart has \"Thousands\" in stock...and no forced bundle...all you have to do is say no thanks and walk away if they want to tack on other products you are not interested in.
What store was this guy in? I just got home from Best Buy here in DC and there was at least a dozen Wii consoles for sale w/o bundles. I was surprised that there wasn't really anyone noticing them.
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@Hayes: Well, it's says Fry's in the story.
Anyway, this is a common situation, but it's not specific to the Wii. It's been going on for years with various consoles (or counsels, YMMV).
I seem to recall that this first happened when there was a shortage of Gameboy Advanced. Places like Electronics Boutique and GameStop and Funco sold what little they had in very large bundles. People ranted and complained but they bought anyway. So, lots of retailers do it now.
It's not pre-ordained by the manufacturer. There are usually other retailers that aren't selling consoles in bundles.
Man, the \"can't buy a Wii to save my life\" meme is tired. We've moved on to \"can't buy Wii Fit to save my life\" long ago.
I'm actually surprised there's still any demand for it, given how poor its game lineup is for the next few months.
Nintendo: Localize Project Zero/Fatal Frame 4 nao!
Bring Disaster: Day of Crisis to the US while you're at it.
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Just a heads up to anyone looking for any sort of game system or accessory: Blockbuster Video. They sell new consoles there for the same prices as bestbuy or circuit city...just no one realizes it
@snowburnt: That and Shoppers Drug Mart in Ontario - for Wiis, anyway. That's where I got mine (with a Wii Fit, no less!)
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I was kinda disappointed I had to buy a bundle when I bought my Wii, but at least I waited until I found a bundle I liked. Zelda, Metroid, and an extra controller; which are all things I would have bought anyway.
No harm, no foul, I guess.
I can't believe there's still a shortage of these things, they've been out for over two years now.
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i went to buy just a wii. then sitting there decided how much fun can it be with one controller? hmm this wii play game comes with a controller and game for $50, no second nunchuck better add that $20, omg a wii fishing game, surely bowling will get boring better add that $30. probably would have been better off getting a bundle. barely got out under $400.
Consumerist, you should edit posts for spelling before posting them so Consumerist readers won't waste valuable comment space admonishing spelling mistakes!
@morganlh85:
I agree. It is an editor's job to correct spelling errors in text. This isn't a game of \"gotcha.\" It's an online periodical, in effect, and the editorial goal is to present material that is relatively easy to read and contains as little distraction from the main point as possible. \"Counsel\" for \"console\" throughout that letter was incredibly distracting, and the comments prove it.
@morganlh85: To feed this circuitous loop a bit more, it must be noted that the sender-inner was the one making the typos. At most a (sic) would be necessary, I think. Strunk and White fans, can I get some input?
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There is no way that this is \"obvious attempt at price gouging.\" Any half way informed consumer would buy it some where else or realize that they are going to need some of the stuff it is bundled with.
@whereismyrobot: What about the fact that oftentimes there's nowhere else to buy a Wii other than stores that sell the bundles? And what if someone does not want the crappy games/accessories that come with the bundled consoles?
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@scootinger: I declare shenanigans on you. Since when is a second player controller a 'crappy accessory'? Secondly, if there is no where else to buy it, then you ought to be friggin happy that someone has it for sale, and who ever your buying it for is going to be friggin happy they actually got a second controller since the system sucks as a single player experience.
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As much as I think it's a goofy practice, console bundles aren't uncommon and they aren't confined to the holiday season.
Like many posters above, I also purchased my Wii as part of a bundle (not during the holidays, but in March of 2006) but our bundle actually saved us money. We would have bought the two games it came with anyway, and we also got an extra Wiimote and nunchuk back when they were difficult to find anywhere in stock on their own. When you added it up, we saved about $45 over the combined retail of all of those items.
We also resold Zelda (one of the two bundle games) to a friend of ours for $20 when we were sick of it. I know a lot of people who put the bundle games they don't want up on eBay or on their local Craigslist to pull some of their money back out of their bundle purchase if the games weren't ones they wanted anyway.
For some bundles, the individual components are individually returnable. When I bought a Wii last year off Walmart.com, it was their megabundle or whatever. Came with an extra Wiimote and 6 games. I just took those extra games back to a Walmart store and they were off my credit card just like that.
Hey, I have a Wii question. I avoided the bundle b/c I thought my husband had no use for the nunchuck.
Does he indeed have use for that? What game does that go with?
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@Youthier:
Super Mario Galaxy not only requires it, you have to use it in one hand with the controller in the other. It's strange until you get used to it, but after 20 minutes or so, it becomes second nature to use both hands.
Several other games require it, too.
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@Youthier: Your retail Wii should have come with a Nunchuck controller, sans bundle.
As for which games use it; many (probably the majority) do. Consider it a necessity. Most of the best games - and by design, any 3-D platformer - will require it. Listing them would be an exercise in futility, but some key examples Mario Galaxy, Zelda, and Wii Fit.
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@Youthier: You don't need it but many party type games have modes where you need both the Wiimote and nunchuck.
The most fun with the nunchuck is to get a couple to play Wii Sport boxing against each other. Just turn on your video camera and I guarantee you'll get lots of fun footage :P
@Youthier:
Also the Wii comes with one remote and one nunchuck intially. So your husband will be able to play any single-player games he wants. The only reason you'd need a second nunchuck is if you and your husband will be playing two-player games that require a nunchuck (such as Wii Boxing as mentioned already).
@Youthier: There's a lot of games that require them, but you might not play those games...all the games have little pictures on them with the required and/or optional controllers as well as how many players the game can have. Check that out before you buy one.
@Youthier: Well, if you want to beat the crap out of each other in Wii Boxing (which comes with all Wiis), it's worth it.
@unobservant: @snowburnt: @lisa1120: @satoru: @impetus:
Thank you all! I apparently have one and don't even know it. Do I get my Consumerist commenting privileges revoked for making a purchase when drastically uninformed?
Seriously Consumerist, can't you fix obvious spelling errors on behalf of the OP before putting them online, thus sparing us from the knee-jerk spelling correction comments?
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So the problem is the retailer needs to run an end around using bundling to get past manufacturer set pricing and establish the price as they (the retailer) sees fit.
Pick a different retailer. Problem solved. Next case.
This summer, I decided on a bit of a whim to get myself a Wii (a strange gift to myself, being in my mid 30s and a non-video gaming female). Anyway, I started looking on the Internet and immediately became paniced - Wiis were nowhere to be found, except for $400+ bundles, which added on shipping.
On my way home that day, I stopped in Target, where they had at least a dozen unbundled Wiis. The rarity of the Wii seems to be mostly legend.
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Counsels always make me angry with their litigation bundles
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you can find them unbundled, it just takes a little effort. I haven't noticed any difference between the amount of effort required during the holiday season vs normal shopping conditions.
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When the Wii first came out, it was hard as hell to find. When Walmart put them up on their website you had to fight the slow servers from everyone trying to grab it, and you HAD to buy the $600 \"bundle.\" ...
To make my purchase faster, I just selected 4 games at random, got the bundle in the mail, and then...
Ready for this????
I TOOK THE CRAP GAMES THAT WERE BUNDLED DOWN TO MY LOCAL WALMART WITH THE RECEIPT, AND I GOT MY MONEY BACK!
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@Dooley: I'm assuming you mean without the receipt and got store credit.
I don't understand why they would refund money for games that you bought as part of the bundle. Clearly on your receipt it would show the entire bundle purchase and not the individual game purchases...
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I went through something similar with my playstation 2 purchase back in the day. The console was $300, I was waitlisted at a local store, and months later, when my name came up, I was told that I'd need to purchase an ATV racing game. I knew the reason they were pushing that game was because nobody was buying it, so I took my name off that list and went to Software Etc. the next day and bought my console. Nowadays, the thing I don't like about bundles is when they include a video cable. I think the Costco bundle for PS3s has a spare controller and an HDMI cable. It comes out to be a little cheaper if you base your prices on the retail price of the official Sony HDMI cable, but if you compare it to the bulk cables you can buy online for $8 or less, you're getting hosed. It would be helpful if JEFF THE ANGRY CUSTOMER could specify what comes with the bundle. If it is a Wii Play and a nunchuck, and something else, you're only paying about $5 for that something else at a $325 price point. And what does $325+ mean? I see 3 wii bundles on fry's website, 2 at $400, and one at $290. The 290 has a second controller bundled, and so is neither saving or losing you anything (either you want the second controller, or you've missed the point of 'Wii'), and the 400s are bundled with either mario kart or wii music, plus a second wii remote, nunchuck, 3rd party charger, and 3rd party HD component cable. Without description of the actual bundle, I can't really know if there is a problem.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-355460-100x100.png\")
I avoided the $300 Xbox Holiday Bundle and made my own bundle:
$199.99 Arcade Console + $40 Refurb HDD and Wireless controller @ Circuit City.
$250 w/ tax (or close to it) for a system with two wireless controllers, a HDD, and absolutely no games I did not want. Then I bought Project Gotham 4 and got the Live 12-month sub, a headset, and a chatboard for $70.
You just have to know how to shop.
@tmlfan81: You also ended up with no HD cable, which will run you another $50 down the roud when you realize you can't read the text on half the games they release these days unless you play them on an HD TV.
the xbox arcade is a horrible deal. As the other commenter mentioned, you don't even get a LAN port to go online, so your stuck buying the $100 wifi adapter ($82 if your lucky at amazon). You may not think youw ant to play online, but the first time you play an awesome game and realize you could be downloading extra levels and stuff for it... well, then your 'great deal' is going to really slap you int he face.
This has been standard practice since day one of the Wii's release. These places know it'll sell and bundle all sorts of crap with it, usually \"shovelware\" titles.
Just go to smaller retailers and you shouldn't have that issue. Independent retailers, if they can even get the system in, should sell it to you with no bundling.
Either way, the Wii has nothing I'm interested in, and I can't believe how wildly popular the system is. I haven't bought a game for it since Brawl came out back in March.
@ModernTenshi04: You are simply wrong. it has not been standard practice at all. I saw wii's available everywhere I went for the past 2 months with no forced bundles.
You also have no idea what is in this bundle. It is simply an extra controller, an extra nunchuck, wiiplay (which is great), and a charge station. Unless you like buying batteries every 3 days, the charge station is a must.
@ModernTenshi04: There are some really good games for the Wii, but they are few and too far in between. The 'average' quality for Wii games seems to remain extremely low.
This is pretty much also the case for Nintendo DS, and GameBoy Advance titles, where the average quality is very low, but there is a high enough volume of titles that there is a healthy ecosystem of quality games.
With the Wii, I feel like I have pretty much every release I want (I have about a dozen Wii games, and some of them are kind of crap), and I also haven't picked up a game since SSBB, unless you count Mega Man 9 (which was multiplaform).
The first party titles are far and away the strongest offerings on the Wii. If you're not into any of the Nintendo franchises, I don't really see the draw of the whole system. Comparatively, it's not even that cheap any more with X360 and PS3 having seen deep price cuts in the last year. I also do not understand its lasting appeal.
Counsel??? Any rate, this issue is sooo last year, when the exact same thing happens. Looks to me like this year there will probably be a relatively plentiful amount of Wiis available, so that you can actually get just the console if you please this time around.
For those shopping for Wii's, you will want extra controllers and nunchuck attachments right away, so bundles including those are relatively fine. Beware of the ones that come with lots of crappy licensed property titles, like \"Happy Feet + Spongebob + My Little Pony\" games. Those probably are all garbage unless your child is very, very young. Even then. You should start your kids on better games!
Ours came with with Super Mario Galaxy, an extra controller, and Wii Sports. We paid a bit under what it would have been if we'd bought them all separately, which we would have done anyway.
I don't see how this is \"Christmas gouging\" since:
). I got my bundle in May or June, no where near the holidays, so they bundle year 'round;
and
2). we don't know if the aggregate price was higher than the components separately. Jeff says that the bundles are \"($325+)\". What comes with it?
And since it doesn't sound as though any violence or blackmail was involved, no one is forcing Jeff or anyone else to purchase the Wii.
Buy it. Don't buy it. If stores are making money by bundling because people are happy to pay the price, they'll continue bundling. If they aren't, it is safe to assume they won't.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-603395-100x100.png\")
I don't see the reason for anger here. If you do not like the bundle at FRY's, go elsewhere. It is not against the law to sell bundles. THey do it in cars, and call it a package. Usually, it includes things like AC, pin striping, car mats, etc. If you want to purchase the items seperately, it will cost you more. Now, if a hurricane were on its way, and they were bundling plywood, chinsaws, water, and generators in a lifesaver bundle, and you couldn't buy them individually, that would be a problem. No dies or loses a home because they had to get a wii bundle. Priorities people.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-142852-100x100.png\")
I used to hate having to do the bundle thing when I worked retail during the release of PS2 and Gamecube (surprisingly, I do not recall us doing bundles for Xbox), partly because we ended up forcing people to buy crap titles because we had already sold out of Tekken Tag, but mostly because I did not like to hear the whining about it; yes, I know it sucks, no I cannot make an exception.
My Wii was bought unbundled, but last year we ended up getting a bundle for my neice and nephew, but I didn't really mind because it actually good games in it, as well as a total of 3 Wiimotes and nunchuks. We ended up keeping two of the three bundled games, and one of the Wiimotes and nunchuks.
Mind this year's bundles seem a bit lamer, so I probably would have minded more, although I walked into Best Buy Green Friday morning around 7am, and they still had a stack of unbundled Wiis
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They are doing that everywhere. Its the only legal way they (a retailer) can raise the price.
Like the other people have suggested, go to walmart, my dad just got one there the other day, no bundle involved.
I got my wii off of craigslist, from a guy who bought them on amazon and sold it to me for $20 more, but it was okay since none of the stores had it in stock at all at the time (this summer). The extra nunchuck and wii mote are great, as for games, I suggest renting them from places like Hollywood video or Blockbusters or something to see if you like them before dishing out $30 to $50 for a game (was definately worth it for me).
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Disclosure - I work for costco.
Ahem Given our business model of trying to keep the prices low on quality goods we do run into problems with items like the Wii where we cannot negotiate a significantly lower price for our members. So what the buyers will do is bundle in an extra remote and nunchuck and keep the price down by what the console goes for around 250.00. so there is some value add there.
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When you are forced to purchase bundles, is there anything that prevents you from returning the additional items separately without also having to return the console? Are the items rung up separately? Could you rely on a credit card's return policy?
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@ianmac47: Totally depends on where you buy the bundle. Best Buy, CC; you can't just return the games and/or extras. But through Walmart, they have an option to \"build a bundle\", where you choose your games/extras, and they do ring up separately. And yes, you can take those back (for refund of what you paid for them, not retail value, of course).
Price gouging? Try supply and demand. If something is in high demand, why is it considered a crime to raise the price to make a larger profit? If someone will pay it, I see nothing wrong with it. When people stop buying it, the price will come back down. If you don't like their price, quit your whining and go somewhere else.
So far every comment I've read (about 35) has missed what a douche JEFF really is . He isn't just whining about the bundling; he's whining about the bundling even though ([sic] coming) \"I have seen the counsel for sale there regularly prior to the Christmas season with no forced bundling!\"
So jump in your time machine and buy it back then, douche, or find something valid to complain about. The point a couple people have made about returning the unopened games is valid, too. JEFF is a sad lonely person desperate for attention... oh wait, a troll.
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I'm actually surprised people are complaining about this. I say this because of the laws of supply and demand. If you really want something and there is a small supply of it, you should be willing to fork over more money.
When I worked in retail, it was right as the Wii was coming out. I had one guy ask me if I would save him one. I said, \"Sure. It will cost you $200. But that's just for me to save it. You'll still have to buy it.\"
He didn't go for it. Needless to say, no one did. They just didn't want it enough, I guess.
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It's not gouging - they still sell it for what you'd pay for it any time,a nd the bundling of items are saving you money, had you the desire to own all the individual pieces. Ebay sellers, those are the people gouging (or at least they were).
Try Walmart instead, apparently they have a glut of Wiis right now
Try contacting Nintendo.
This is illegal, and against their license agreement with stores.
you might not get a wii out of the deal, but at least you can possibly get the store's contract with nintendo revoked
Has no one mentioned... its Fry's! Enough said.
As a general rule, retailers can set their own prices for whatever they choose to sell. Consumers can choose not to buy them. Feel lucky they include the extras. They could charge you the higher price for just the console, if they so chose.
There are options with Fry's. You can appeal the decision of a supervisor/department manager to the Person In Charge at the front of the store. That decision can be appealed to the Store or Ast. Store Manager. Any of those decisions can be appealed to Fry's corporate customer relations and Fry's maintains feedback forms all over the stores that actually are read and responded to by Corporate President Randy Fry himself. Has the OP availed himself of any of these options?
Of course, it is usually easier to go down the street, because, as I said, it is Frys.
I work in retail at a national chain that also sells bundle packs with electronics. Please allow me a moment to tell you why bundle packs are beneficial to both the consumer and the retailer.1) There is little to no profit made from selling a game console alone.2) Often times bundle packs are purchased from the manufacturers of the console as negotiated by the company's buying team in effort to promote a better value to the consumer. Additional items frequently include a controller, memory card, and game(s). These additional items have a slightly larger markup when sold individually, but the bundle pack allows the retailer to sell the group of items at a much lower price, reducing profit in favor of the consumer's wallet.
Bundle packs are purchased as such from the manufacturer, and thus cannot be broken up and sold individually by the retailer. That's okay, though, because as has already been pointed out, there's a need for the additional items.
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I kinda wished mine came in a bundle. We got our Wii at the company picnic this summer (WOO! Free Wii!) And then we went out and spent about $250 in accessories and games. So, yeah. A bundle would make sense if it had decent accessories...
I just want a damn Wii Fit. :(
Check your local Target stores. They ALWAYS have them in stock. I guess a lot of people don't realize Target sells them too. BTW I would never buy a Wii. It's junk, kids games only, no HD - simply junk.
@2719: seriously. take your trolling elsewhere. go look up madworld and tell me thats a kids game. or No More Heroes. or Okami. You are so damned ignorant its painful.
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You know what's worse? Here in Hong Kong, each electronics store sells consoles. The consoles are around the same price as in the US (unbundled), but when you go and check out your purchases, you are forced to buy two games! They don't tell you that until you've taken out your credit card. It's ridiculous.
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Frys tried this when the Wii came out. You could only buy a Wii if you bought 5 other games. Problem is Zelda was the only game that was worth it at the time. So I just waited till another store got some in and I bought a Wii, Wiimote, and Zelda. And I saved myself the price of 4 more shitty games.
Man O Man! Get over the mis-spell already! Like YOU guys never spelled a word wrong. Anyway, I think the point here is choice. It's the holidays and people may or may be able to afford a bundle with a bunch of crap games. MAYBE they can only afford the COUNSEL and 1 game!
Besides-this guy has a cool name ease up a bit eh!!!
I remember one year selling 50 remotes and 50 rf switches on Xmas day when I was at Blockbuster. A bundle might not be such a bad idea when the person buying is not the person using it.
I work at a location that sells the WII Bundles and I don't see how anyone can have that big of a problem. We have 3 different ones ranging from 350 to 699.
Ours comes with a ton of stuff with it. And yes, I don't feel like it is illegal because as one previous poster put it, it does come with a bunch of other stuff and games as well.
Price gouging normally would be considered raising the price of the system to something over 249.99 and not getting any extras. That is mandated by Nintendo and most retailers do not have the option of changing the prices.
That being said, for the 10 people that ask about our Nintendo WIIs, 9 walk away and continue to look, 1 still buys it. And we are currently sold out of all our bundles. Must not be a bad deal after all.
The way I see it, people need to quit complaining every time they don't get their way. Some people are worse than my 2 yr old daughter.
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*sigh*
No one is being forced to buy bundles. Even in cranky consumer-speak that's a big stretch of the word. In reality, Fry's is just giving customers a new set of options:
1) Buy the Fry's Wii bundle.
2) Buy the non-bundled Wii somewhere else.
This is a surprise from Fry's, but I never shop there for game stuff so I don't know their MO in that department.
This is no different than complaining that you want to buy just the wii but no wii sports and no nunchuk.
The retailer and producer should have a right to sell it however they want at whatever price they want. They aren't forcing you to buy anything, so quit complaining that you are forced to buy a wii bundle because you could just not get the product in the first place.
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They're bundling lawyers with Wiis now? Incredible.
Joking aside, bundles are a pain. However, sometimes you'd have been buying all that anyway. $325 bundle likely has a spare wiimote and nunchuck, that's $60, and probably a game. Depending on the game, it may worth it anyway.
@brainwav: The games are always crap, like barbie horse adventure or something.