My Play N Trade Horror Story

I want to start off by saying that Play N Trade has never been my main source for video games. Now a days I enjoying electronically thumbing through page after page of great deals Amazon or taking advantage of some of the great deals at Best Buy. What drew me there today wasn't a modern game, wasn't a hidden gem I was looking to find for cheap. I was looking for nostalgia, I was looking for a Nintendo 64. This all started last night when I was at my friend's house enjoying Wrestlemania. Now I had given up on wrestling due to the lack of creativity and fun gimmicks that use to be around about a decade ago. Last night that flame was reignited. I watched by far one of the best matches I have seen in my life featuring Triple H vs. The Undertaker and John Cena vs. The Rock. It all came pouring back, my friend and I went back and forth about the old greats and much like anything I talk about it leads to video games. All it took was me saying this sentence...


Awesome Match

"Dude, and do you remember WCW vs. NWO Revenge and Wrestlemania 2000?"

We gushed talking about two of the best wrestling games we had played . They just have not come close to the fun and playability of those titles. My biggest problem was I no longer had a N64. I didn't have WCW vs. NWO Revenge or Wrestlemania 2000. All I know is that I had to get them and the next day I attempted to do just that.

Where are you N64?

A line that sticks out to me when I think of being patient is, "patience is a virtue". If you know me at all patience is one thing that I lack. I woke up today and as quickly as I could threw some cloths on and made my way to the local Play N Trade knowing that they usually carry old systems. Now for reference this Play N Trade was about 15 minutes away from my house, just so you have reference for later in the story. I made it there and asked if they had any N64's in stock and the younger guy behind the counter apologized to me and said they had only one but it was being held because there was something called a "wish list". There were seven people on it and if I wanted to add my name I was more then welcome to.

Not the actual store I was in...

Now I am no business major but if I have someone who is willing to pay for an item that I have in stock at the moment I am going to sell it to them. I tried to get him to budge, but he proceeded to tow the company line and I understood. I asked him if there were any other locations that may have a unit and he told me about a store a half an hour away. I shrugged and figured it was my day off, what is another half an hour? He called up and the store had one Nintendo 64 and a copy of WCW vs. NWO Revenge. Wrestlemania 2000 wasn't an option, but I figured one out of two wasn't bad so I went to the other store.

On arrival the gentleman at store number two seemed very nice, talking to me about street fighter and some of the hot topics in games. He pulled out the unit and the game and proceeded to sell them to me saying, and I quote, "This system has new cords and everything so it should work just fine". Now, at no point did I bring up its working order believing that they checked these things. So I walked out and hit the accelerator a little harder so I could once again be transported to my youth.

"N" as in NOT going to go there anymore

So I ran down the stair, pulled out everything that I needed, put in the game, flipped on the switch and...black screen. Whatever, I tried again....Black screen. I tried this several times before I did get it to work for a while...then it stopped again. Upset, but calm I wrapped up the system and took it to my local Play N Trade,. I walked in and the same guy was there before. He looked at me puzzled and asked what was up. I nicley placed the merchandise on the counter and told him all that had happened. At the end of my story I ended it with...

"Listen, I just don't feel comfortable with a faulty system after paying forty bucks for it."

I then presented him with the receipt. He looked at me like he had gotten a sour grape and said the following...


Kinda like this face....but dummer

"I'm sorry but I can't take it back, we are all run independantly so if I took it back we would be losing money."

I couldn't believe it. I gave him my best "sour grape face" and followed up with, "you're kidding right?" and "Nowhere on this reciept does it say that I can't return it to a different Play N Trade." He shook his head and still continued to tell me that I would need to go all the way back to the other store to return the unit. I was pissed, telling him that he may have not lost forty dollars today but lost a lot more in the long run. I left and went back to the other store and quietly returned my purchase. The second store clerk couldn't allow me to return it without giving me the, "Well, did you put the cords in right?" (Insert same dumbfounded Play N Trade confused clerk look.)

"Oh my god...That has to be it, because I don't understand how to put two cords into a machine and one into a wall and my T.V."

The moral of this story is I wasted 3 hours on this whole debocle and don't have a N64 to show for it. I wanted to not feel as if I wasted my time so I wanted to make sure to send this disclaimer out to all of our readers. Be careful with third party retailers, most of all be careful if you go to Play N Trade.

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