I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning to buy a Wii for my dad. He's been playing stuff like Bases Loaded on his NES forever now because he finds everything else too complicated. Judging by the other moms and dads whom have been recruited on YouTube, I think this will go over well. He's recently quit smoking so I'm also hoping it will at least supplementally provide the crack he needs.

I knew Circuit City stores would have a few and there was one right around my block, so I headed out hoping that the number of guys who barely slept that were already there before me were outnumbered by units on hand. I barely made the cut -- scoring Wii voucher 7/9. Two other strangers soon joined up and the usual tenth guy offered us money for our vouchers. We were unmoved and passed the time doing what gamers do -- we talked about Halo. Nuclear war will break out and even the surviving roaches will still be talking about Halo.

Anyway, the store would eventually open and we would buy out all the units within five minutes, leaving late moms (and oddly enough, a group of firemen) circling around with empty hands. "Try GameStop, they have the Gamecube trade in program starting today.", I would offer. "And read Destructoid, you batches." As I stood inline for my turn I noticed that a few of my voucher bretheren were holding the spontaneously cancelled coupon that surfaced on the internet yesterday and had a lifespan of, say, 6 hours tops. I didn't a copy knowing what would happen, but these guys didn't get the memo. I wanted with eyes wide open to see the outcome. This would not end well...

Shit face: "I'm sorry, the coupon doesn't work for this item."
Victim: "But look at the fine print, it doesn't say video games or Wii, etc."
Shit face: "I know, but my computer says it won't take it and my manager says we can't accept it for this item. Do you still want the Wii?"
Victim: "Yeah, I guess. But this really sucks!"
Niero: "They cancelled the coupon cause it received too much attention online after getting on Digg and every other gaming site. It's bullshit. Can I take a photo of you with the coupon for the site?  We need to show people what just happened."
Victim: "Hell yeah!"
Shit face: "Let me get out of the photo."

Indeed, the coupon says nothing of the sort. In fact, it is a very specific disclaimer that disqualifies specific brand name items like Apple but not Nintendo. The manager was not available for further comment. 

There you have it, captured on my greasy cellphone, proof that Circuit City is indeed not honoring the coupon at the checkout counter. I imagine that hundreds if not thousands of people will go through the same bait and switch situation across the nation this morning in stores down your block which will end in the same result -- people will buy the Wii out of desperation due to high demand, but they might have lined up at Best Buy, EB Games, or Target had this false coupon never circulated. 

Today the consumer lost. We can only hope that this story gets enough negative press that they'll give a shit and make it right or that the Better Business Bureau kicks them in the nuts. Repeatedly. If you were affected by this incident, we strongly encourage you to file a complaint online right now - it takes only 5 minutes.