Last night, customers were given the opportunity to pre-order a PS3 through the Bestbuy.com website. This was a bit odd considering that Best Buy is known for expressly NOT taking pre-orders. The boys at PS3land decided to take matters into their own hands and get to the bottom the situation. They spoke to a Best Buy customer service rep who informed them that the whole thing was a "system glitch" and none of the pre-orders would be filled. They were told that all customers that placed orders would receive a full refund and what I'm sure will be a very sincere form-email apology.

To clear up the matter even further, the sales representative assured us that all participating Best Buy outlets will be opening their doors on November 17 at 8 a.m. An employee will come around giving out PS3 tickets that correlate to the exact amount of PS3s their store holds. When a customer receives a ticket, he/she will be able to go inside the store and purchase a PS3.

Not surprisingly, over on the AVS forums there was a quite different story when dealing with customer service.

He (the rep) said the pre-order was real and the orders will be honored. He said the link was emailed to customers last night and that's how they intended to do it. But I did point blank ask him "Is this legitimate and will I get my system shipped on the 17th?". His exact words were "Yes sir, it was and your system is set to ship on the 17th".

Let's hope that this last conversation is the real truth. If it isn't and you were one of the unlucky folks who were unfortunate enough to fall to this cruel, cruel fate, don't feel bad, it could have been worse...at least you're getting your money back. Actually, I take that back. You were screwed. Flynn De Marco

Bestbuy preorders deemed "a system glitch" [PS3land]

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