Circuit City Refusing To Honor Advertised Offer For Free Call Of Duty 3?

Adam says:

"Today, like many anxious gamers, I went to Circuit City (Store # 3111) to pick up the highly anticipated "Call of Duty 4" for the XBox 360. I chose to pick it up at Circuit City as this week's circular ad listed a free copy of the previous game "Call of Duty 3" with purchase. When I went to check out, I was told that it was a misprint and that they refused to honor it. Myself, along with about half a dozen co-workers were rightfully angry that we wasted our lunch hour on this Circuit City bait-and-switch, that has become too common with this outlet lately. I would urge other Consumerists to skip out on Circuit City and try for another retailer (Target has a free $5 gift card)."

Adam

We looked up the weekly circular for Naperville, IL and sure enough. There it is. No mention of a misprint. We think Circuit City should honor this offer. There's really no reason to believe it was a misprint.

Are other people having this problem?

[Captain Tuttle]

Honored the deal but the fine print said that the limit was 5 per store. Some guy who works there called me when the game came in and I was the third person to have bought the game. There were 2 more guys behind me. They went quickly.

Now I'll trade it in towards Mass Effect.

[lawman1108]

Was second to get it and they gave me COD 3 &4 plus a poster that I just left there. The only problem was they would no sell it until 2pm Look at the PILE of PS3's they had behind the counter,most were the 40gb I counted around 70 just sitting there. The girl at the counter said they should just give them away because nobody is buying them. She said they had a bunch more in the back too. So much for the price cut.

[etownone]

BS... I went to one circuit city, and they were selling the last COD4 with free COD3 to the guy in front of me, then I went to another CC, and supposedly they were still waiting for their shipment, and it was already 3pm, so manager gave everyone on line waiting (about 14) a business card that secured cod4 with free cod3 plus 10 dollar gift certificate for our troubles. This CC was in woodbridge, NJ.

if anyone is having problems with advertised promos, just call the CC customer service number and they can help you.

[HeavyweightInTheGame]

True, but people still make fun of the 360 and how they will always "RROD". Just how the PS3 has fixed some issues, so has the 360. The 360 has a smaller failure rate and you hear less and less stories of it happening. Just like you mentioned, MS has fixed some of it's issues as well and RROD is becoming a thing of the past just like PS3's high price. Both are systems with downfalls but at least the companies are doing something about it.

Edit: sorry meant for maldread above

[BenzMoney]

The title of this story is technically incorrect, because advertisements have a long legal precedence of NOT being considered "offers" at all.

Contract law stipulates that in order for a contract to be legally binding, there must be three essential things. An offer, consideration, and acceptance.

Advertisements are what is called an "invitation to treat". The actual offer comes when you, as a consumer, offer to buy a good at an "advertised" price. It is at that point in time that the business will either ACCEPT your offer, and sell you the good, or refuse the sale.

So while this may qualify as false advertising and piss a lot of people off, there is nothing technically wrong with what CC is doing (from a legal contract-law standpoint). They reserve the right not to honor an offer from you to purchase their product.

[Danja]

so why is this guy pissed that he didn't get COD3..I mean the game isn't that great either...

[jackdoe]

I agree. CoD 3 was a meh. Should have never been made.

[etownone]

why should he be pissed?? its FREE

i got a fre cod3 with cod4 even though i already have cod3. I plan on trading it in, selling it, or giving it to someone for xmas.

whats better? $60 for cod4 or $60 for cod4 and cod3??

[BrianC6234]

Maybe the reason this deal was even made was Circuit City had a warehouse full of COD3 for the 360. I don't see this offer for the PS3 which tells me they didn't have PS3 copies. Smart move by Circuit City. It got them a bunch of sales of COD4 for the 360 and cleared room in their warehouse. No way would those copies ever get sold.

[Snukadaman]

whoever did this deal....is favoring the xbox 360...think about it..if you have both consoles....with the xbox360 you get a free game....more a incentive too purchase it....no ps3 love means someone wants too see those xbox numbers high...or see the ps3 fail..im surprised the sony fanboys didnt pick up this conspiracy theory yet...cause this time it makes alot more sense when no incentives for getting the ps3 version.

[TrenchaunT]

I used to regret buying COD3.

Now I very, very seriously regret it, since I could've gotten it for free if I'd just waited some months. Not that I really want it, anyway.

[Snukadaman]

Im waiting for the CC too get their shipment in at 2 pm...where im supposed too get one of the copies of cod3...its really not a bait and switch...bait and switch is if they advertise a ps3 for 250$...then turn around and say they only have xboxs for 250$...

update..just went and picked up cod4...got my free copy of cod3 which will be put up on ebay in minutes...one observation I had was everyone in line was picking up the xbox version...I was there for 15 minutes and not one person purchased the ps3 version. It goes too show you that when you give something free like circuit city did..people will flock...Im going too start looking for sales like these....very good incentives instead of pre-paying for a game with gamestop and not getting nothing in return while they invest your pre-paid money....looks like healthy competition and us as consumers winning.

better then getting 2 bucks from gamestop right...?? im putting it up for 10 bucks...someone will get it knowing nothing but a 360 game for 10 is a bargain.

[BrianC6234]

Why don't you just give it away or throw it away? I bet almost everyone will do that. How many copies of COD3 will be on eBay by this weekend? I say 35,000 at least. Maybe someone will give you $5 plus the shipping.

[pizzavideogames]

I just went to Circuit City and picked up COD 3 for free... of course by "went to Circuit City" I mean Best Buy, and when I say "picked up" I mean they matched Circuit City's offer.

[jackdoe]

Did the cashier call up the CC to confirm that they were honoring the deal?

[Spartan 117]

I can't believe this if they printed it they should honor it.

[rbanke]

Just got back from Target and got the 5$ gift card. was a bonus because i didnt even know about it

[Sean14233]

Mine would not honor it either and said the same thing about it being a misprint, after lots of arguing with a manager he reduced the cost of COD4 to 40.00 bucks for me. So it was worth the arguing.

[BrianC6234]

That means you got $20 off COD4. That was robbery by you. He should have given you COD3 or another bad game nobody wants.

[Chris_GTR1]

i got COD3 free with COD4... its because they only give the platinum hits version... the gold edition isnt given as part of the deal

[grover]

I picked up my copy at 2pm today and got Call Of Duty 3 non platinum deal. The sticker on COD 3 said $59.99, and it says it has the added maps and content. I was a happy camper. Had to wait until exactly 2pm and there was only one guy getting it for the PS3, and one other for the 360. No free deal for the PS3 though.

[Chris_GTR1]

congrats. there were a lot of people looking through the 360 games for cod3s including the manager but he said the gold edition wasn't part of the deal. they only had 7 copy's of the platinum hits. and i had to wait till 3 cause the UPS guy didn't show up on time.

[UltramanJ]

Unless they have a disclaimer in the store mentioning that it was a mistake (which it clearly wasn't), they have to honor it. Even if it was a mistake you can usually get your way if you cause a big enough scene.

[Jack Bauer]

i went to CC at 11 and they didnt have CoD4 but had plenty of CoD3's so i went back an hour later and they had CoD4 but out of CoD3... i was mad, went to BB got their deal...but karma helped, i went to Target after and they had Tomb Raider legend for the 360 for 3 bucks.

[Chris_GTR1]

anyone disappointed by the cod4 poster? yes it was free but i was expecting a regular sized poster.

[ikkokucrisis]

Playing CoD3 for both 360 and PS3, the 360 was really smooth and sharp. Whereas the PS3 version of CoD serves as a friendly reminder of growing pains for the system. Users who haven't played the game on their 360 are the ones who would lose out the most on this deal. Ps3 users would probably not put up with the game after playing 60fps on CoD4...

[chinkee]

You obviously haven't played it on the PS3 if you think that the X360 version is any better. It's pretty obvious that the PS3 also runs at 60fps and even runs in 1080p where the X360 only does 720p.

http://www.ripten.com/2007/...

[ikkokucrisis]

Um, dude, I'm a PS3 user, I know CoD4 on PS3 runs great and I'm looking forward to playing the hell out of that game. But that's not what I said above. I'm saying that CoD3 for the PS3 is not as great of an experience as on the 360. I've played both versions of CoD3. So if you're a PS3 user looking to get CoD3 from this Circuit City deal, chances are, you probably won't really like it anyways compared to CoD4.

[Excalibur]

No problems what so ever.
In fact I used my 10% off Circuit City card, My Burger King $10.00 coupon and a $10.00 gift card from my previous purchase. I'm one happy dude!!

BTW the game is great!!

[sp00l]

I too was suprised when the Daytona Beach Circuit City did not honor the add going as far as to claim "there are no supplies of COD3 anywhere in the state of Florida". It was one final disappointment in a long relationship filled with disappointment. Thankfully I no longer have to deal with their incompetence.

[Excalibur]

I got mine in the New Tampa store and a buddy of mine got his in the Brandon store with no issues.

[n00dl3s]

I work at a circuit city and we gave out around 30 copies on ps3 and 360 before we sold out. Our ad said "while supplies last" which is legit. I dunno what assheadiriffic stuff was going on at this guy's CC.

[WilliamRLBaker]

I dont purchase from circuit city or gamespot unless I know the deal is a lock.

[Crazyglues]

For me it was great, I ran out to the store and the first one I went to in Valley Stream said sorry it's coming out wednesday instead. I was like what the F$#$.... LOL

But then I realized that store never get's the stuff on time or peforms right, it's like the people their don't give a dam. So I went out to Nassau - Roosevelt field Mall a 15min drive for me.

They always seem to care about the customer out their.... Only reason I keep coming back to them too, it's even the reason I like them better then best buy. -but anyway

I get their at 1:53pm Flyer says in-store by 2:00PM so I ask and they say sorry it's not here but they should be getting it soon. So now I'm upset thinking I made the trip for nothing, but decide to walk around the store and wait.

Then I hear some guy saying if you can find Call of Duty 3 that's the only way you will get it free with the game. I was like dam, why didn't they say that before. Ok so I figure who cares it's just Call of Duty 3 I was just going to sell it on eBay so No big deal.

Then I get on line it's here at 2:30pm Fedex truck just pulled up and there is not a lot of copies...To make matters worst while I was looking around the store they gave people their a gift card for the game being late. About 15 people in line and now I'm thinking dam I can't believe this.

But then a guy comes and splits the line and starts taking us over here, and he starts with me, and about 5 people who are behind me. So I say to him where suppose to get COD3 with it free and a Poster, and he says oh ok hold on. Then he says sorry no more COD3's left. Then I say what about the Gift Card we didn't get ours for the game being late. He says ok let me check with manager and they give us that, Sweet, and just as he's ringing me up someone points out two COD3 just sitting on the desk, so me and the guy behind me get that and the Poster...

Oh what a sweet day, so to sum up Free poster, got a gift card which we used right their for 20 dollars off the game making it 40 bucks plus 5.17 tax for a total of 45.17 bucks and a free call of duty 3..

I love that Circuit City out there, too bad their not all like that.

[hamsterfist]

I picked up the last copy of COD3 with COD4 at Circuit City, and yes it was the gold edition. However i am bumming as I did not get a poster. =) It seems to me though that the best way to get the deal would have been to purchase online through circuitcity.com, as they had the deal on their site.

[DrRage77]

i was able to get both games at Circuit City today in Kildeer, Illinois. I got the last copy of Call of Duty 3 (platinum edition was the last copy of CoD3 they had). I had checked yesterday and all stores were sold out around me, luckily I called today right before lunch and one last store I tried actually had it! no fuss either, i talked to the guy at CC, and he said they had one copy left and that he would put it on hold for me, so i hopped in my car and picked it up

[joyo616]

I live in florida and at the Circuit City they gave me a free game that was equal to the price of COD3 cause they were out of it. When i got up to the checkout they rang up both games for 32.00 after tax. My recept said COD4 19.99 and lost planet 9.99. Now thats a deal. Anyone living in the Tampa bay area should check this deal out before they fig this one out.