Hunting For A Wii Fit

I decided to purchase a Wii Fit for a dear friend of mine when she told me she’s been really wanting one for her three children but could never find one. I knew it would be difficult to acquire one right before Christmas, but I’m always up for a challenge. About three weeks before Christmas, my hunt for a Wii Fit was on.

I began the search by looking on the Wii Fit Tracker website (http://wiitracker.com/wiifit/), since it keeps track of multiple retailers and whether or not Wii Fits are available. It’s actually a pretty good website that’s a subservice of Ben’s Bargains’original Wii Tracking service. It lists 20-25 different sites, what exact Wii Fit product it sees (i.e. just the Wii Fit Balance Board or the bundle, etc.), price and status.

Multiple times a day for an entire week and a half I looked on there and it always said “Sold Out” for all the websites, until one glimmer of hope appeared on CircuitCity.com - “In Stock.” Excitedly I clicked the link and tried to order one, but it was too late, they were already gone. The link on CircuitCity.com clearly stated “Out of Stock.” Meanwhile, I was making daily phone calls to local retailers around the island, but I had no luck there, either.

Thankfully, the very next day the tracker indicated “In Stock” for Dell.com. Again, all excited, I clicked the link, and this time it was actually in stock! I went through the whole process, added it to my basket, put my credit card number in, shipping address, etc. Done, pau. I felt a peace of mind that it was on its way to my friend.

I was wrong. Four days later I received an e-mail from Dell.com stating that my order had been cancelled. I was so angry, steam was coming out of my ears. I can understand it delaying the order to wait for it to restock, but to completely cancel the order after everything already went through was uncalled for. At least the CircuitCity.com site stated upfront that it was not in stock and wouldn’t allow you to add it to the cart.

I called Dell to find out what was going on and all they could say was that it was not in stock and that there was a possibility that lots of people were online ordering at the same time. Yes, I understand that, but they shouldn’t have sold it to me in the first place if it wasn’t in stock! I moved on and found another Wii Fit - thankfully I have connections (Mahalo, Egan!), but it could have ruined Christmas for someone without that advantage.

My point to all this is don’t use Dell.com. You never know what will happen, and I wouldn’t want this to happen to any of you.