It is actually fine with the service agreement with the M$ because not every unit gets preset. The agreements BBY has worked out with the gaming and comp manufacturers state 40% of the delivered quantities.

So nobody jump down my throat, I said "40% of delivered quantities", so that means when everybody comes through and says they want one without it means eventually 100% of the units left will be preset.

And like I say all the time, BBY doesn't do this because its so amazingly hard... they do it because the American consumer is lazy as hell and has more money than sense. Thus they pay for it every day.

@robgbrown: Are you being serious? Mods disenvowel people that are rude or are trolling. It's punishment. In fact, you can click the little box with the lower case "a" in it to get more details.

By not giving a specific location it's a little harder for BB to pin it on just one store as the bad apple if they don't know the store in question.

Ya know...posts where you don't use vowels is really annoying. Not sure if its the "new cool thing", but really stop
Stop NOW

Grrrrrr

After 10 minutes of arguing I walked out refusing to set foot again in the store... have not been back since and I am sure amazon appreciates it :)

XBOX 360 games include the appropriate updates. Assuming they didn't buy a game more than a few years old for the console, the first time they try to play it, it'll ask to update the console (If the console's factory firmware is old enough not to support the adapter, which wouldn't be the case for any consoles sold in the past couple of years). If you say no, no playing the game. :o)

Now, I suppose someone could buy it just to use on live, and be buying some sort of NOS, but that won't be happening at BB. I hope...

Don't blame BB, blame the consumer.

Bob, Dick and Stan want low prices. Vendor complies with low prices. Then vendor discovers that they aren't makeing enough $. So Vendor starts sneaking in fees to compensate for selling the goods for low prices.

Bob, Dick and Stan want even lower prices. So vendor sells the goods below cost... in hopes that the vendor can raise even more fees from unsuspecting customers.

Give this circle of discounting enough time and we will so find free Xbox 360s at BB conditional upon signing up for a fee laden Credit Card, buying the extended warranty for $999 AND leasing a Snuggie for the weekend.

There is absolutely zero needed from any of these updates. These won't update the games with any bugfixes for the above reason. Sure, it'll add Netflix...but uhh, with no net, fat lot of good that'll do. It'll add avatars, but wtf's the point when you have no net and thus no friends list to show them off to? The way the 360's firmware works, it's generally irrelevant to those without internet access. This service would be mostly useless for free, let alone $40.

There's seriously no need to update it if you don't have internet aside from patches with bugfixes, which come in updates downloaded when you try to play the game, not the system firmware updates. And if you do have internet, the XBox will pop up a box telling you that you need to update and to hit A to continue with the update.

You could honestly train a monkey to do what Best Buy is charging $40 per open-box system for.

Thats her serial number, robots are not employees

This $29 upgrade is worthless.

@zoompooky: I keep my saved games backed up on a memory unit, so I guess I'd just lose DLC, which I only own one DLC pack anyway... Wouldn't be a huge loss, but no way would I pay $60 for them to transfer data when I ahve the transfer cable from the last time my 360 died.

Please someone made a comment it was for people who don't have an internet connection? Do people know that the system will work fine without being connected to the internet and that most newer games can update the firmware with a update that is put on the new game disk. And I still feel the media an improper users have caused alot of the RROD failures on the 360. I own 3 Xbox 360's 1 from launch, 1 from 3 months after launch and 1 from this year and none have failed. Weird huh.

That said, in the case of the XBox, if your router's well away from your TV, and you don't get the wifi adapter for the console, one of these may not be as terrible an idea. Still short-sighted, as it's better to buy the adapter for a permanent solution, but not quite as ridiculous as paying for upgrades on a Wii or PS3, where wifi is built right into the console.

Now, as I've said elsewhere, I think the smarter move is to bite the bullet and get the wifi adapter, putting the thirty bucks towards its purchase rather than spending money on an "optimized" system, but if someone's so uninformed as to shell out the cash, that's really their problem. I don't think it's appropriate to be cracking open boxes to optimize them before sticking them on the sales floor, but I think this will actually lose sales in the end; if someone wants just the XBox with no updates and all that are available are the updated ones for another thirty bucks, nine out of ten people will go to another store (possibly another Best Buy, but more probably Target, Wal-Mart or Gamestop). At the end of the day, that's Best Buy's loss.

And for what it's worth, when I worked at Best Buy, the vast majority of my coworkers found the whole "optimization" thing ridiculous and never tried to sell people on it unless the pre-optimzed systems were all that were in stock. And even then, I'd usually tell them that it wasn't too hard to do, and they could probably get a standard system over at Wal-Mart or wherever. But then, I no longer work at Best Buy, so obviously the Kool-Aid didn't really take.

Personally, I'd say it's wiser to take that thirty bucks and put it toward the purchase of the wifi adapter, but that's just me.

Some games may allow you to install the updates directly from the disc, but I haven't found any so far. That's not to say that I don't think that would be a great idea, either.

As far as this Best Buy thing goes, it's standard, and most of the people I knew when I worked there thought it was pretty ridiculous. That said, in the case of the XBox, if you don't have the wifi adapter or a router within reach of your TV, it may be worth the thirty bucks to be sure you have all the updates you need to get started- at the very least, people can be aware when they get the system sans updates that they'll have to hook it up to a network somehow to get started. In the case of the Wii or the PS3, which have wifi built in, it's pretty redundant, but if clueless people are willing to pay for it, I'm inclined to feel like they deserve what they get.

And yeah, don't get me started on the variety of reasons why Microsoft sucks for not just building wifi into the stupid thing to begin with. I was hoping that the new wifi adapter would mean the old one got a price cut to $50, in which case I'd probably buy it, but not so much. Meh, screw them.

Interesting fixx

Since this is now an open box, it cannot be sold as "new", and I also have to wonder if this causes problems with it no longer being supported by Microsoft since you (the buyer) didn't do the upgrade. If anything, Best Buy has to knock at least 10% off based on the retail price, and I don't think they can charge the $30 service fee either.

This worked in my favor the last time we were laptop shopping. We found the laptop we wanted. Best Buy had the best price but was sold out. Frys had one, but was more expensive. The manager was a jerk and wouldn't match the price, even though we were holding a Best Buy flyer showing the same laptop. Fortunately one of his coworkers took us aside, and asked if we would like to open the box to confirm it was the same laptop. When we did, he winked at us and said "oh, look at that, it's an open box. i have to re-price it now." Open items get a 10% discount, which beat the Best Buy price by a few bucks and change.

@FDCPAGuy:
The GS "agents" at my store are certainly "snot nosed."

Or, not to be sexist, not every female has great writing.

No, the solution is DON'T BUY AN XBOX.

At a certain point, it *does* become the consumer's fault. Buying common electronics with the expectation that you won't have to do a single thing with them other than take it out of the box and have it all magically work. . . in 2009, there is no excuse.

People are going to pay for stuff they can't do. A lot of people like the service. Other people don't. I personally don't need and it wouldn't buy it. But really, Best Buy is a business and they need to make money, or maybe all businesses should never make money?

Holy moly, I enjoy reading Consumerist but there are certain companies you all have a vendetta against and it's old. :P

The 'work' was done because the box was opened as well as there is a date scribbled on there around the time I was given the firmware update on my own 360.

@AirIntake: Hell, the PS3 is even more simple, it pops up and tells you to press "X" to update!

Me thinks you need an education before you call a few thousand people 'snot nosed'

I had a 360 go bad on me - but I had the store warranty. I went down and picked up a new one and all was good - until:

The clerk behind the desk said that I couldn't keep the hard drive. Even after their "geek squad" determined that the issue was present without the drive and that it wasn't related, she said "Microsoft says we can't return the console without the Drive". Then, of course, goes on to say "However, we do offer a data transfer service for $59.95.

I say no thanks, and went to a different Best Buy - one that apparently didn't get the memo to rip off their customers with tricks. I told them flat out - the other store said I couldn't keep my drive because MS says so... they said they'd never heard of that and didn't know what I was talking about.

I'm wondering if they use this as a ruse. Perhaps someone bought the unit in question and returned it for a variety of reasons. Rather than resell it as a discounted "open box" item, they do this simple upgrade, and reseal it so they can sell it as NEW again. Still slimy, either way, but not quite out of the realm of reason.

But yeah, definitely the date.

Tht ws hrd.

We only did Presetups on laptops, unless they changed policies, but I do know NO store I have ever worked at has ever pre-setup consoles and then charged money for that and wrote on it with a crappy sharpie. So This store is breaking policy and they should be beat up for that.

Also I believe most of the newer games have the latest update on the disc as well. So there really is no need at all for BB to do this.

@Scatter: Don't you have a bridge to sit under, waiting for children or goats to pass?

I'm just sayin'...

/trollfeed

Also the models that they keep on the floor are only the optimized ones, and they don't tell you that unless you ask, otherwise they will just give you one that costs $30 more.

And finally, the fact that they charge more money for a product that has been opened is disgusting, especially since when we tried to buy a laptop from them they would not open it stating that if they did they would have to lower the price because it was an open box.

@DraconWolfX:

Ah yes I see now. Sorry quick glance made her slashes look like 1's :P

@pecan 3.14159265: But if you were to know that the given location you work at was doing these very things, you could look and see who is actaully doing it and report them to either store or corporate.

Also is good when people know that a given location has employees doing shady things vs another location in town where a good vist to Best Buy might actually exist. Also good to mention which location so any interested news stations could investigate and shed light on it.

@arimer:

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's the date...9/22/09 -- not an employee number.

There is a reason Best Buy charges people for services like this, THEY'RE WILLING TO PAY FOR IT!!

Why do people condemn a business for trying to make money. Not everybody has the required equipment at home or is tech savvy enough to be able to do the things that BB is charging them to do.

It's kind of like back in the day when there were full service gas stations. There were usually self serve and full service pumps. If you were willing to pay the price, you could have someone pump your gas for you. If you werent, you had to get out of your car and do it yourself. This is the same thing people, its a business trying to make a profit by providing a service that some people might not be able to do for themselves.

It's ok guys, it's optimized.

@plamoni: Uh, Kim's employee number seems to be 9122109. You don't think BB corporate can just look that up and see what store she works at?

We need to know so we can avoid that BB location like the plague (not that I've set foot in a BB in over 8 years).

And yes, I will go elsewhere.

Just wondering if the Geek Squad works on the Spiff system. Because when I worked at compusa in the tech shop I could've passed this 30 dollars charge off as an upgrade which would've netted me 3 dollars per upgrade purchased. What leads me to believe they have the same system is that she put her name on the box and the 9122109 could be her employee number for the cashiers to ring up at sale so it knows who the spiff goes to. As I said I'm not sure if they use that system but salesmen at comp used to do the same thing or they would bribe the cashiers to use their number anytime an "unassisted" customer rang up.

Sorry! Hard to understand sarcasm over the internet sometimes!

How many times has your mom gone to you with a million and one questions about her PC? Or your friends sister who got a virus on her PC for watching too much Pr0n? THAT is BBYs demographic....

There is only one, single, solitary "benefit" from this.

IF you aren't planning on hooking the Xbox up to the Internet, at least you get the most updated software when you buy it.

Not much of a benefit, though.

nice job astra!

@ganzhimself:

What I meant was pre-optimization, where you get an open-box laptop or desktop that was "optimized" by a snot nosed Geek Squad Agent who just put a CD in the drive and clicked run... Then re-sealed with a big GS sticker over the original seal, and sold at a premium of $30-$100.

That's even worse than their computer optimization "service" that costs between $30 and $100 depending on location. But, hell, it's a deal compared to their in-home PS3 setup!

Although, from this article, it looks like the store is pre-opening and doing the install without anyone's consent... now THAT is wrong... horribly wrong... And i believe its against the contract with M$ and the resellers that they are not allowed to do crap like that...

On a side note, does anyone know if Microsoft is OK with this practice?

They're not selling it for 29.99, they're ADDING 29.99 to the price of a NEW (not open-box, even though it is) Xbox 360.

lol good point.

So something obvious needs a news post?

Well, to be honest, I see an open-box Xbox 360 they are selling for 29.99

Pretty good deal if you ask me.

@plamoni: Also, it unfairly punishes the store's innocent employees. If I worked at Best Buy, I'd be really annoyed that one of my coworkers acted stupidly or did something shady, and that I was being punished because someone posted the store's name on Consumerist. I think it's fine that Consumerist redacts the store name or the employee name, but if people stop going to my particular store through actions that are in no way my fault, I'd be very upset.

What the hells the point of BILLING for something that comes out as a net NEGATIVE? Is Amazon going to bill me for shipping me damaged boxes? Ford for giving me a car with "fresh" dents?

I mean, really, this is extremely stupid.

[consumerist.com]

Basically, Best Buy appears to be suffering from a number of systemic problems. If Consumerist reveals which Best Buys are the source of each problem, then Best Buy corporate will just reprimand the store in question. By not revealing the locations of the stores, it forces Best Buy corporate to actually do some investigating and set some policy. Which could reveal (and hopefully correct) other stores that are doing shady thins.

Consumerist shouldn't be doing Best Buy corporate's work for them.

But that's just my guess. If someone in the know wants to chime in, I'd love to hear it.

In all seriousness, I don't foresee MS being too happy about this.

Of course, this is a new low. Considering how unbelievably simple upgrading the firmware on an Xbox 360 is.

If they have 50 360's in stock and it takes 5 minutes to open and hook up each 360, press the button, and return later to package it back up, then you're looking at about 4 hours to complete the whole process. Which brings in just about $400 an hour in revenue. Minus the $8/hour they paid the employee to actually perform the update.

Seems like a pretty good investment to me. As long as you don't care about ripping off your customers.