We purchased Rock Band 2 and the Drum Kit on the week of launch, having played on the drums for about a month we’ve already broke them. This time, however, it’s not the foot pedal, but the blue and yellow drum heads, now having smashed little holes in the center.

It’s not abuse when the object of the game is to hit the pads with sticks, right? Hopefully not, as we’re not the first to beat the pads to the breaking point using standard pressure and part-time play. In the full month we’ve had little time to really rock out with Rock Band 2 but we play when we can. It seems a bit early to already have blown out the pads.

The issue is simple: the blue and yellow pads have a dent/hole under the rubber surface, pressing down on the pad allows you to easily feel the plastic “button” which executes the hit. The middle of these two pads can be seen sunk in while the red pads center is popping up as if the rubber has let go from the surface and risen. Needless to say, the “bounce back” on the pads was gone.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo of the busted instruments before returning it to Best Buy. Being the smart gamer that I am, I was sure to purchase a two-year extended warranty right from Best Buy prior to walking out with the initial purchase. Although a nice red paper arrives in the box that says “do not return to retail outlet” if it breaks, my warranty allowed me to do so upon destroying the set.

Of course, Best Buy was out of stock in the “Wireless Drum Kit” version of Rock Band 2, only having the “Special Edition” (translation: comes with everything.) Best Buy refused to swap out the drums from the Special Edition kit and their computers “were down” so they couldn’t find any stock numbers or estimates on new kit arrivals.

Computers are down?

I asked Best Buy to call up local stores in the area to see if they had any on the store floor but Best Buy is completely and utterly useless if their computers are down. They have absolutely no method of calling any other nearby stores unless the computers are up; apparently, they do not keep a store phone record on paper anymore so they couldn’t help me.

Best Buy doesn’t know how to dial a phone directory to find local stores and I sure as hell wasn’t going to oblige them with a Circuit City next door. They returned my busted product for a cash refund (including my two-year warranty) and I walked over to Circuit City and got myself a new one with a warranty.

I commend Best Buy for giving me a full cash refund, especially since I purchased it on a credit card and used my Reward Points card. I commend Circuit City for having them in stock and pray they’re still in business for the life of my warranty.

I am saddened that Best Buy is retarded when it comes to technology and not having a secondary method to help customers when their computers are on the fritz. I am saddened to see Rock Band 2‘s drum kit to fail after a month of gaming.

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