When I was an 11 year old kid, I told my dad I wanted a PS3 for my birthday. He told me that it was too expensive for a single year's gift, but instead of buying me one and just telling me to wait a few years before asking for anything again, he decided to get me to start a campaign across my entire family to raise funds slowly. Everyone was told to get me gift cards to a local electronics store, so I would not be overly tempted to spend it on useless crap. A little bit at a time, I saved up year after year. This was a two year venture where I basically sat out each birthday and christmas in anticipation of my eventual purchase.

At one point, I had enough to get a limited edition Xbox 360, but the PS3 was more. I wanted to buy the Xbox, but my dad was vehemently against microsoft products and basically refused to take me to the store until I agreed to stick to my guns and go for the PS3 anyhow. Eventually, I saved enough to afford a 128gb PS3 slim, so I bought it. I was so excited to play it! I managed to convince my dad to help me buy a cheap game from a different store, since I pointed out that waiting three years to afford a PS3 I couldn't play after I did the saving was a little much, and he agreed.

It got the YLOD after 4 hours. I tried to troubleshoot it for 7 hours afterwards, but I was still a dumb kid, and I didn't want to try and fix it myself only to void a warranty or something and be stuck with a paperweight. I was scared to tell him, to make him think that I had been irresponsible with the gift after wasting so much time gunning for it. I decided to ask him if he had an extra hard drive disk laying around, so I could swap the bad drive for a good one and move on. My dad was shocked that the original unit failed, though, and didn't feel like it was smart to try and fix it either. So, he took me back to the electronics store that day and we tried to exchange it for another one.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any more of the 128 models, and the 256 was 50 bucks more. I tried to suggest that I could just take the money back then and keep saving until I could afford it, but the store in question told me that they had to refund it to the original method of purchase, and since they had thrown out the original gift cards, they could only exchange it same-day. I had also suggested that I could take the Xbox 360 instead, but that was also denied by the store as it wasn't a like-for-like exchange. My dad decided that this whole situation was bullshit for me, so he begrudgingly coughed up the money to pay the difference.

That unit still works to this day, although I passed it along to a family member at one point. I wish I could say that owning it was a joy, but I had to go through the closure of the PSN network a year later, which lasted a shockingly long amount of time for someone actively gaming on a daily basis back then. Between that, and all the issues I had playing the games I was most interested in, I was pretty happy to get my hands on a used 360 elite shortly afterwards. That console's disk drive is failing now, but it lasted seven long, good years.

Thinking back on that time, as annoying and frustrating as it was for me, makes me sad when I relate my experience to this person. They're someone who did everything right, like I did, but they didn't get a happy ending. In my case, I had the horrific customer service of The Source to blame for my woes. In theirs, however, the person who made the promise, who endeavored to teach their child an important lesson, was to blame for the trouble.

To me, the difference is stark: my dad wasn't necessarily entitled to do anything for me as far as buying me things is concerned. Parents take care of kids, but buying them gaming consoles does not necessarily count as enrichment or necessity. However, instead of flatly refusing me, he gave me every opportunity to succeed in getting what I wanted while also doing his best to impress upon me the value of time and money. When the lesson was tested, he decided that making sure it meant something was more important that his own comfort - remember, he couldn't afford to spend a lot of money, so $50 was a big deal at the time.

This person's dad tried to teach a lesson about unfairness, but ultimately, all his actions serve to prove in my eyes, is that trusting the right people makes all the difference, and he ultimately holds little value for his child's time. If this person should take anything away, it should be that if you're going to accept a large payment for a large amount of service or goods, that you should set up a proper payment plan ahead of time. And, if you can get a guarantee for the promised reward, you should. Imagine if OP had gotten their dad to purchase gift cards and provide receipts at the beginning of the summer? It would have been a much better way to teach their child about the world than screwing them over.

Anyhow, sorry for rambling. I hope that someone found this little story interesting. Or, at the very least, topical.