"New" Dreamcasts Not Really New? Who Knew!

Well it turns out that there seems to be a few bad apples thrown in the bunch.

Not really New...

It seems like some of the "new" Dreamcasts being sold at Think Geek were not really new at all. (Probably returned items)

Ever vigilant wraggster from DCEmu alerted me to this in his most recent article after he read all about it in Gizmondo.

Gizmondo ran the article about the matter after they read one from the Consumerist.

The Consumerist ran the article derived from a Rumors article written at Destructoid by Nick Chester.

So lets run down the list.

Destructoid originates story.

Consumerist grabs story.

Gizmondo gets story via Consumerist.

DCEmu reads story on Gizmondo.

I read the story from DCEmu.

I knew a guy in college who was an extra in a movie starring Kevin Bacon! Yeah!

I hope this doesn't lead to people thinking that we aren't really on top of all the Dreamcast rumors flying around. I mean we were kinda in the top ten of the people who first reported this (At least we were when I first started typing this out).

All kidding aside the Think Geek Monkeys replied to the Gizmondo article with the following comment.

"Hello from ThinkGeekland!

We emailed Destructoid's editors [where this post originated] late last night but haven't seen the posted amended, so here's our Official Apology, in blog comment form.

First, a little backstory: We came upon an amazing cache of new-in-box Dreamcasts not too long ago. We had a bunch of units shipped to us to inspect them, and indeed, though the boxes were a little worse for the wear on the outside, the consoles had nary a scratch and even the wire twists that bundled the cables had never been undone. It was like magic--magic that had been hiding in a warehouse, unknown, for years.

So we asked our source from whence these beautiful Dreamcasts came, and they didn't know--could've been a liquidator, or a Circuit City that had closed shop. (Hear that? It's the sound of a plot thickening.)

But we'd seen them with our own eyes and figured it was best to share our discovery with the world. Hundreds were snatched up quickly and squees were heard 'round the internets.

So far we've had 2 instances of not-so-new-in-box Dreamcasts. The individual who received the one reported here contacted us via email (which never appeared in our inbox, for some reason) and Twitter (through which we've taken care of the situation) has already been issued a return shipping label. We're more than happy to refund him for the Dreamcast as well as shipping.

We're very sorry about the whole thing--we never meant to ship used Dreamcasts. We know our customers are smarty pants and could tell if they'd been duped with a stale Dreamcast; we'd never get away with taking advantage of you guys, so why would we try?

And now we have 3 options: 1. Stop sharing the gift of new Dreamcasts; 2. Have them all shipped to us and inspect each one individually and then ship back to the warehouse; and 3. Continue spreading the (mostly) untainted Dreamcast love and working with the very few customers who get lemons.

We hope you'll understand why we're continuing to offer them on our site (when we get our grubby little paws on more, of course). And again, we apologize to the 2 customers who ended up with what appears to be returned merchandise.

--The ThinkGeek Monkeys"

This was their response to the original Destructoid article.

Personally I did order a Dreamcast from them (Though I would have had seconds thoughts if I knew that Monkeys were processing my order...damn dirty primates.). It was in a beat up box that smelled faintly of bananas but it was NEW.

If I had gotten a used Dreamcast I would have known and I would have been a bit upset. But really folks. It's a console that's ten years old. You are always rolling the dice when you order stuff online. Still it looks like Think Geek is gonna back up their reputation and work with the people who got screwed over on this deal. It also looks like the number of people that did get screwed over might be very small.

-All Hail the Undead Console!

P.S. - In the article about ThinkGeek's response blogger Nick Chester used the word "Debacle" to describe the situation. It's my personal opinion it was more of a Kerfuffle or perhaps a Snafu.


Barry the Nomad said...

LOL for a moment I thought this article was stating that the Think Geek's Dreamcasts weren't manufactured in the last year.
"There's no 2008 sticker on the bottom!"
Then I read it in full.

nick944 said...

I moght buy a new Dreamcast in the next couple weeks, but I'm buying straight from sega since it's more likely new than preowned.

fatherkrishna said...

"It's my personal opinion it was more of a Kerfuffle..."

Classic Caleb!

a very interesting update indeed, particularly as I've been wrestling with myself (or more accurately my wallet) since you first posted about the phenomena... I don't need another Dreamcast, I've got eight, including three 'boxed as new'.

I think ThinkGeek have accquitted themselves well under the circumstances...

Tomleecee said...

FK - you've got EIGHT Dreamcasts?! WTF! I've got the same single DC that I started this blog with, complete with it's speaker wire wrapped around the blown transistor on the controller board. EIGHT DCs?! And 3 boxed at that! Lol

Barry the Nomad said...

I've had 3 Dreamcasts.
My original bought in 1999, placed in a clear "smoke" colored body, sadly lost in a PSO Ver.2 online session during a thunderstorm (I swear I saw sparks fly out the back).
My replacement, bought used that same week from Gamestop (used to this day).
And my recently bought Japanese Dreamcast.

Caleb said...

I have my in box Dreamcast from ThinkGeek, the Dreamcast hooked up to my computer monitor, 2 black sports model Dreamcasts, and my beater Dreamcast hooked up in my bedroom.


I might have another one as well. I really should check.

João said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
João said...

Who the thunk it, hey? Dead for 8 years and still creating drama! Ok now seriously, in all honesty I believe that the fine people at ThinkGeek's should have have been more dilligent in their assertion of the conditions of these Dreamcasts. Still, it's a console that lasts so I would guess that all "gunk" aside all of them still work... fortunatly the DC didn't came with a "3 Month Warning RROD" device installed unlike what happens with the Dreamcast's grandson (Xbox 360).

BDDC said...

I've got three... one workhorse, two backups. One of the backups is NIB. I saw another at a thrift store for $20 that I almost grabbed. I may go back for it tomorrow.

It's a drug; we're addicted; end of story.

Mister Dreamcast said...

I have found a new one with new extras as well on ebay Article number 320376111708 . I hope i get this one :)