Let me start off by saying that I am not quite the avid gamer that I used to be. Pretending to be a grown up, entering the real world and trying to have an actual career have really gotten in the way of that. There was a period of time (pretty much a decade really) in which I would alternate between the new Madden game or the latest NCAA Football each year to get my fake football fix. Well, it has been a few years since I have purchased either and with a long holiday weekend and some cash burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to head to the local Walmart Super-Center here in Houston and give the new Madden 2013 a try.
Had a great little lazy Sunday in mind, drove the 15 minutes or so to the nearest Walmart and braved the crowd of dregs and vagabonds with their own personal Sunday bests (stained wife beaters, moo moos, assorted skimpy apparel that is at the very least two sizes too small) and headed towards the electronics department. I obtained the attention of a friendly associate who helped me get the game from the locked plastic security case and he allowed me to check out right there in the electronics department. Which I was quite thankful for because as you know trying to checkout at the front of the store, no matter what time of day or night, is like your own personal purgatory. Every lane is at least ten deep and there are always between fifteen and twenty unattended checkout stations at any given time.
So, I make it home, charge my controller battery and my headset and get ready to talk some smack to some twelve year old in Iowa who is already undoubtedly infinitely better already than I am. I open up the game, still sealed in its plastic packaging with EA stickers and the Xbox security seal on the inside. The first thing I notice is that the disk appears to be either upside down or it does not have a label on it. Next, the top exposed part looks to be fingerprinted and scratched. I take the disk out and see that it was indeed upside down, and much to my surprise the label the disk does have is a for a JLo album. Love may not cost a thing, but surprise, anger and disappointment come to about 59.96 + tax.
Obviously perturbed to say the least, I head back to said Walmart to try to rectify the situation. By now it is a little later in the day and the parking lot and store have filled up. With Madden still on my mind, I give the homeless guy in the parking lot a stiff-arm and a spin move and head towards the customer service both. And of course it is Walmart on a Sunday, so a pretty substantial line has formed, so I wait my turn behind the best society has to offer with their money-order requests and receipt-less returns. It is finally my turn and I hand over the game case, the torn plastic, the JLo CD and my receipt. I tell the customer service representative the in my mind unbelievable story. She looks back at me, unimpressed and tells me that I can go get another copy of the game, but only that same game, and bring it back to complete the exchange. I cannot decide if video game makers often switch up crappy old used CDs instead of their highly anticipated new releases, video game buyers try to double up on games by pulling this stunt, or the far more likely scenario that this poor woman works customer service at Walmart in the forth largest city in America and this is by far not the strangest return/ exchange that she has dealt with.
Well, I was able to exchange my purchase for a real copy of the game, and minus the wasted gas and time of a return trip, all's well that ends well, right? But I cannot help wondering where down the line this switcheroo could have occurred.
