Consumer FYI/Warning

[Anthony]

This is just a FYI to all purchasing games at Gaming stores. My experience is with EB in particular, but this warning applies to any store with a liberal return policy.

My wife recently Purchased Return to Wolfenstien for me. When she brought it home I opened it and noticed the scant documentation contatined within the box (this was normal but I didnt know it at the time). I then checked the box and noticed that the original seal had been broken and it had been taped closed (with that round tape that the store uses).

Next I examined the CD which was unsealed (It should have been sealed but I didnt know that at the time,) and discovered a big ThumbPrint on the CD. Along with that the Keyboard Layout in the CD case had been removed and replaced. All of this told me that I had purchased a recently owned game at the new price.

To some this may not be a concern, but if I pay a NEW price I want a NEW product. Also this raises other questions/problems. See..Return to Castle Wolf requires a CD Key that is on the outside of the case (similar to BCM). Whose to say that this game wasnt Bought, Burned and Returned??

The instructions read that you should Protect the CD Key, but how can you do that if it has been compromised prior to your purchasing it.

To make matters worse, when I returned it to the store (an 1 and 1/2 hr drive ) and got an exchange, the Clerk gave me a blank look when I explained the problem taped the box back up and put it on the shelf.

This is just a Heads up to all to check your box for tampering before purchasing. This is just a recent experience, but I've even purchased a game from another EB (couple yrs ago) opened it in the car and found that the CD/DISK/GAME was missing . The clerk at that store told me that it was a recent return and they must have forgotten to check for the contents before putting it on the shelf.

Anyways to sum it all up, Check your box!! You never know where that game has been!!

[Simparadox]

Unfortunetly, this is basically true. Especially with EB. Be especially wary of boxes with bad shrink-wrap jobs (the plastic is loose or just generally looks like crap). That used to be an easy way to tell the returns from the fresh copies, but now they've taken to just taping the boxes back up.

Another reason to be especially careful: This does not apply only to "I'm bored with it" or "I didn't like it" returns. From my (fairly short) experience working at EB they will take games that supposedly will not install/have damaged CDs and test them only to see if the CD will autoplay. They'd rarely even check to see if the game would install before sealing it back up and putting it back on the shelf.

This is also their policy with console games.