Topic: Walk-in pre-order?

As you all know, the Nintendo Switch pre-orders officially "sold out" in most places here in the United States. That does not necessarily mean you won't be able to just walk up and buy one in the store on launch day. It simply means that the amount the stores have prepared to have available as a safe guarantee has already been reached by number of pre-orders. There could still be plenty more to go around, hopefully.

With that said, I have come here to share a story of what happened to me earlier today. I was at Walmart picking up some things for the house and I came across a shiny new Nintendo sign with the Switch in all its glory. The sign read "Reserve yours today for just 10% down at the lay away counter!"

So I proceeded to the lay away counter and made the inquiry. The guy at the counter responded with "what?" so I explained to him what a Nintendo Switch was and when it comes out and all of that. He seemed excited. But had no idea that they were taking reservations. He told me to go to the Electronics department.

The friendly lady at the electronics department told me she knew what the Switch was but that she has not been made aware that they were taking pre-orders or reservations. She said that reservations are handled through the lay away counter and sent me there again. I told her they sent me to her, so she was kind enough to walk with me to the lay away counter.

Now I had the electronics dept and the lay away dept both in front of me. And guess what? Neither of them knew what to do or what to tell me. So I suggested they both follow me to where the big glossy Nintendo switch sign was so that they can read it with me and tell me if I misunderstood anything. They came and stood in front of the sign with me, both looked perplexed.
They continually asked one another who put that sign up. They ended up calling their own department managers, who both came and also did not have a clue as to who put that Nintendo switch sign up. One of the managers asked me if this switch thing was an adapter for the NES which I found to be a frightening thing to say. By now I felt embarrassed. I felt like I was making a fool of myself because I had four people who cannot answer my question.
They call the store manager. And the store manager happens to be off today. They then asked me to come back on Monday and see if they have any more information then.

Has anyone else had any trouble placing a hold/pre-order/lay away/reservation in person?

#firstworldproblem

My experience in the UK is that supermarkets just dont understand games launches. Multiple time ive gone to 24 hour stores at midnight and had to prompt staff to go out the back to find a new release.

If they can't answer customer questions that they should know the answer to, then they're the fools, not you. Don't worry about it. Businesses have a lot of bureaucracy, and it's easy for staff to sometimes not receive the information they needed to get.

@ChrispyNoodle To be fair, video games aren't something supermarkets consider as part of their core business so I can understand them not being clued up on release dates etc. I mean the sales they make aren't that big in this area.

@Masurao what store did you get this response at?

I pre-ordered this way. This seems to be overlooked around the country. You can still pre-order the Switch at most local Walmarts. I just walked back to the layaway/pickup counter and asked to pre-order the Switch. The lady took out a book and thumbed through it. She found the appropriate bar code, scanned it and I payed 10%.

I did this on Jan 17 after seeing this article:

http://bgr.com/2017/01/17/nintendo-switch-preorder-walmart-in...

Anywhere to pre-order the switch in U.S. anymore? I want one but didn't pre-order right away and can't seem to find any anywhere.

@nobboysbro
I'm hearing people are having success by walking into stores, particularly Walmart.

um...

I had similar issues like the OP. When I heard that stores started taking pre orders, I went to my nearest GameStop in the morning the very first day they started taking pre orders. But because I didn't get there as soon as it opened right on the dot, preorders were already sold out! Then I went to EB Games in the mall, and a nearby Best Buy which both of them are less than a mile away from that Gamestop. But they were booth sold out as well!

So then I went to Super Walmart which is right next to my house, a minute away. I saw the same advertisement the OP saw at his Walmart in the video game section of the electronic department. So then I went to a Electronics sales person, and asked them if they had any more available to preorder. She seemed to be knowledgeable about the Switch, and told that she believes there's still a few left to preorder. So she proceeded to tell me that that you have to go to the layaway to preorder it, and how you can put anywhere from 10% to the whole amount down.

So I proceeded to go to the layaway, and when I got there I was talking to this lady who seems to have no clue as to what I was talking about. I told her contact the electronics department, and they will give you more information about this product if you have no idea! But the lady was refusing, and kind of giving me an attitude.

After that I went back to the electronics department to get the same lady who was telling me the information just a few minutes before. I told her what the layaway people told me and she ended up getting the stores general manager to come to the electronics department. After he showed up, he knew what the Nintendo switch was, but had no clue about any preorders. The sales rep in the electronics department was basically giving the stores GM a crash course in the whole situation and the preorders for the switch.

The GM knew how layaways and preorders work in general. So he proceeded to walk with me to the layaway. When we got there he started pulling out a book(like some of you describe here in the comments). But he apparently couldn't find the bar code for the Nintendo switch! He went on to tell me that the advertisement in the electronic section could be misleading for now. As it could of been Prematurely put up there and we're not taking preorders just yet! I then told him that Walmart's website has it for preorder that's now sold out. Also, that I've seen online(in fourms like these), that people are preordering the Switch at various Walmarts across the country. So why not this one? He then proceeded to tell me that if I would like he can discuss this with his district manager and corporate, and told me come back the next day. He proceeded to tell me that whatever the answer may be good or bad, that he'll have a definite answer for me.

After that I said to myself in my head F that, and I immediately I left the store. As I was walking out, I already started looking online at any online retailer such as Gamestop, Best Buy, Amazon, & Walmart. But so far no luck!

Also I have a friend of mine that works at Best Buy. He told me that he's almost certain(at least for his specific store), that they're not getting any more units in for preorder. Also, he said that Switch's are going to be available to purchase for people walking in on release day, but they expect a very limited number of consoles for walk-ins.

@strumdrum On the website it says you can't pre-order it both colors. Will I have to go to the store to see?

@nobboysbro I asked if I had the option of grey or color and she said the grey was the only one available for preorder.

@strumdrum Would rather have grey, but both are fine if I can get it

I also pre-ordered at a Walmart here in Chicago. Luckily when I pre-ordered the guy seemed to know what I was talking about. However when I went back yesterday to ask about launch plans, my pre-order, I literally got the same run-around. I went to customer service who sent me to electronics, who wanted to send me to customer service. LOL needless to say I do not trust them to keep my pre-order safe until I arrive on Friday.