Props to Regal Cinemas and Namco.
As some of you may know, I’m a bit of an arcade junkie. Even though I know most of them are rigged, I still play “prize games” (claw games, et cetera). The Regal Cinemas location in the mall near USF has a game, “Lighthouse”, that I’ve been addicted to lately.
Normally I’d give up after a few plays… but this game has extraordinary prizes. After feeding about $15 into the machine, I ended up winning a Cardo Scala 500 Bluetooth headset… in pieces. It was literally broken into two pieces (the speaker had broken from the rest of the headset, and wires were left exposed). It was obvious that it was not a brand new item, as the box was torn and various things taped up.
Of course, I was upset.
I took the broken headset and box to the customer service desk, expecting to get a standard brushoff: “It’s not our game, so it’s not our responsibility.” To my surprise, the manager on duty was not only helpful, but almost apologetic, even though she made it clear that it was Namco’s problem: Regal Cinemas only provides the space; Namco provides, maintains, and stocks the games. While she couldn’t provide me with a replacement herself (only the Namco representative has a key) she made a note for the maintenance guy to retrieve a replacement.
Almost a week later, I got a call from another manager at Regal Cinemas: my headset was waiting for me, and all I had to do was come by. I managed to pick it up five days later.
Now, I’m the owner of a Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset, and all it required was some patience.