Nintendoguy

Follow this up with an email to the corporate office and cc the local store so they see you sent it. Word it professionally and strongly. It's important to be heard as, although you are getting the system Wednesday, you were guaranteed a console on Sunday. And your local store manipulated policy for whatever reason and you ended up getting the shaft for it. I am not one for complaining when unnecessary but stuff like this just drives me nuts. If you buy something tangible that's a guarantee, you should be able to take that guarantee to the bank, it's not like they made a mistake they just disregarded the policy in order to sell ( or keep) reserved units. I never let people pull hat stuff on me without a fight. Just my 2 cents...

Someone at my store really did act wrongly, and I took your suggestion and sent an e-mail.  I agree with you, because I believe how they acted was unprofessional.  Here is the email that I sent.

Hello, I am writing to you today in regards to your Alpine (Grand Rapids, MI) store.  I have had an experience where I believe the situation was handled unprofessionally.

I had bought a Reservation Card for a black Nintendo Wii U 32GB Deluxe console that was released on 11/18/2012.  The back of the reservation card clearly states "The reserved merchandise for this card will be held at the counter in the Electronics Department for seven days after the national release date, at the Target store where purchased."

According to the Target company's own words on the back of the card, I should have been able to walk in at any point between 11/18 and 11/25 and my system would be held for me at the Electronics Department at the Alpine store where I purchased the card.  When I came into the Target store on the morning of 11/18 I was told that they did not have any more of the Deluxe Wii U's to sell even though my system should have been reserved.  A manager assured me that another shipment would be in on Monday, and that if I called one would be held for me to come pick up.  I called Monday morning shortly after 8am and was told that no shipment came in at 4am, but to call back at noon as a UPS shipment might contain some Wii U's.  After calling numerous times at noon only to get a busy signal, I finally got through to someone at 12:40pm and was told that they did get a shipment that morning, and they were already gone.  I was also told by an associate that the reservation cards were only good for the release day, and that systems were now being sold on a first come first serve basis even without having a reservation card.

After finding out that the store was going against the guarantee that was on the back of the reservation card, I asked to speak to a manager, and I read him the information on the back of the card.  He said another shipment would come in on Wednesday, and took my name and number and assured that a system would be set aside for me.  I appreciate the manager working with me to save me a system, but I am still wary of this, because I was made a guarantee before by Target, and a system was not set aside for me.  Why should I trust the manager now when there seems to be an error in communication between what is written on the reservation card by corporate and how employees are acting?

All I know is that everywhere else that I shop a reservation is a reservation, and someone with a reservation should be sold the product before walk in customers, and this was not the situation.  It may not seem like a big deal to have to wait a few days to after release to pick up the system, but a guarantee is a guarantee, and this one was not honored, and the sheer lack of disregard of this reservation is completely unprofessional.  Anything you can do to resolve this would be greatly appreciated.