IHaveCandy
Banned
What sociopathic and con-artist things does GameStop do?
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Customers lying to businesses. Justifiable?
- Thread starter IHaveCandy
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What sociopathic and con-artist things does GameStop do?
Oh yeah, if a customer is a dick, no way am I going the extra mile or making an exception for them.
However, I was more talking about customers making a stink to get something they don't need to make a stink to get. As much as I would love to, I can't tell a customer "no" when what they want is something that our rules/policies or whatever clearly state we will do what they want. It sucks that I have to needlessly put up with their attack because they think they need to do it to get their way when they don't.
Sell gutted copies of new games at full price of course
what have I got myself into replying to one of your posts, I should know better
IHaveCandy
Banned
Really? Do you REALLY think that is true? What has brainwashed you into thinking every business is out to lie and steal from every customer they interact with? This is what people do. They demonize the people they wish to justify wrong-doing.
that1dude24
Member
it wasn't quite useless.
you, and persons you have known have probably lied countless times throughout the course of life. you termed liars (under which label you, myself, and many others reside) as worthless.
i was attempting to convey that you shouldn't be so quick to label an entire group of persons (or near everyone, in this case) as worthless.
IHaveCandy
Banned
Sell gutted copies of new games at full price of course
what have I got myself into replying to one of your posts, I should know better
How is that sociopathic or con-artistish? It is a new game. The game has not been used. If you do not like the fact that it has been opened, then fine don't buy it. But it isn't as if they do not show you the game is opened until you buy it. There's nothing shady about that at all.
I know this guy that is a preacher at a Christian church, he is constantly telling people to live their lives like Jesus did. Yet he illegally downloads movies/games/music.
I have no respect for the guy, and I'd love to call him out on it but he is close to my wife's family and I see him all the time.
I have no respect for the guy, and I'd love to call him out on it but he is close to my wife's family and I see him all the time.
MrSunshine
Member
Hmm, seems to me that both the goody-two-shoes and the rabble-rousers in here kinda miss the point.
We tell the kiddies lying is wrong, but that's only because it's to someone. Lying in an empty room can't really be an immoral act.
A business is not a kind of thing that one has a moral relationship with or obligation to. It's constructed to be precisely amoral. Can someone commit anything other than a legal wrong against something that is explicitly amoral?
We tell the kiddies lying is wrong, but that's only because it's to someone. Lying in an empty room can't really be an immoral act.
A business is not a kind of thing that one has a moral relationship with or obligation to. It's constructed to be precisely amoral. Can someone commit anything other than a legal wrong against something that is explicitly amoral?
That was a joke.
IHaveCandy
Banned
That is a terrible idea. A business is an establishment owned by people. When you lie and trick a business, you are tricking the people that own that business. Just because they have buildings and employees between you and them doesn't mean it is still owned by people. If I sell you my car, we are doing business. If I lie to you about the car, or you somehow trick me about what the real value of the car is, we are cheating each other and lying. When you are buying from a business, you are buying from the people that own the business. When you are lying to a business, you are lying to the people that own the business.
Angry Fork
Member
Re-selling used games for close to the price of a new game but just lower enough that people will buy the used one instead. This is a consumer decision but the fact that gamestop is allowed to do it in the first place is what's morally wrong. Buying something for 20 to sell it for 50 later is only okay to people who have no concept of fairness. Their brick and mortar monopoly also takes huge cuts in revenue from developers who have to sell to gamestop in order to make enough to recoup costs.
In order to make profit you have to con someone, that's the entire rule of the game. You're selling for more than what it's worth and trying to squeeze as much as you can out of them in the process. Sometimes the profit is put back into the business in order to hire more people or offer better services. Sometimes CEO's keep it and buy yachts.
Usually owned by 1 person who gets all the spoils, not people. Worker co-ops are owned by people.
MrSunshine
Member
And here's where we disagree. When they decided to establish an interaction founded on profit motive, I am interacting not with a person but with that establishment. They've decided on another basis/model for involvement with me. So, I couldn't possibly be morally involved with this thing. A for-profit business is, of course, entitled to the fair and impartial protection of the law, but it can't have any moral standing.
I'd better not tell you the markup on things like bottled water then.
IHaveCandy
Banned
Do you flip out in moral rage after buying a $1 coke that cost pennies to make? The profit margins are not ridiculous and you forget a few things here.
1. There is a 7 day return policy, which is actually a great customer feature. I've saved hundreds of dollars buying games used that didn't turn out as great as I hoped.
2. They do not sell all of their stock at the $55 price. Working at Gamestop, you notice some trends. They may buy Black Ops 2 for $25-$30 and then resell it for $55. But only a portion of those games actually sell at the $55 price. Over the years, the value of the game drops and a lot of games have a huge stock of unsold used copies. Remember, Gamestop never says no to a trade-in. They don't stop buying a game even if the demand isn't there for the game. When there is little demand and a lot of supply, the value shrinks. This should be expected.
IHaveCandy
Banned
And you're saying this why? Why shouldn't there be any moral integrity with a business? Because it suits you?
Considering the culture of businsess and the means companies be it gaming or entertainment have gone to make a quick buck it's fair game. Is what your friend did honorable, no but won't be stopping people from doing crap like this due to atmosphere we all put up so we can be satisfied.
Nothing is ever justifiable. When I hear this word just like excuses I see something totally different going on and usually ethically or morally there is something wrong going down.
OP I don't like what your friend did but totally get it. Companies do very little to stifle this mentality and since 3d gaming has gotten bigger same for piracy they are making the problem worse. Gaming companies could do well to start their own system that allows people to sell back in to the system and that gets rid of these retail scumbags. Saying owell you paid X amount of dollars for something you didn't like but you get nothing out of it isn't a nice way to foster business relationship.
I wanna know say it was a game that was just pos would you be thinking the same thing?
Fork you got mega respect for saying that flat out truth in that post.
Nothing is ever justifiable. When I hear this word just like excuses I see something totally different going on and usually ethically or morally there is something wrong going down.
OP I don't like what your friend did but totally get it. Companies do very little to stifle this mentality and since 3d gaming has gotten bigger same for piracy they are making the problem worse. Gaming companies could do well to start their own system that allows people to sell back in to the system and that gets rid of these retail scumbags. Saying owell you paid X amount of dollars for something you didn't like but you get nothing out of it isn't a nice way to foster business relationship.
I wanna know say it was a game that was just pos would you be thinking the same thing?
Fork you got mega respect for saying that flat out truth in that post.
glaringradio
Member
I once bought a copy of Pokemon Fire Red from a second hand store in Belfast. Proper cartridge and box/manual. Paid £10 for it and this was only a week after the game had been released.
Took it home to find out that it was a pirated cartridge (couldn't progress outside of the van at the very start of the game...) Shop wouldn't take it back, so I went to the nearest GAME store, bought a new copy, swapped the insides of the cartridges and returned it a day later saying it wasn't working.
In hind sight, incredibly sneaky, but I was pissed off and had a pre-existing hatred for GAME after a sour deal involving the very GBA that I was getting said game for.
Took it home to find out that it was a pirated cartridge (couldn't progress outside of the van at the very start of the game...) Shop wouldn't take it back, so I went to the nearest GAME store, bought a new copy, swapped the insides of the cartridges and returned it a day later saying it wasn't working.
In hind sight, incredibly sneaky, but I was pissed off and had a pre-existing hatred for GAME after a sour deal involving the very GBA that I was getting said game for.
IHaveCandy
Banned
It doesn't matter how bad the game was. When I buy the game under the agreed upon terms, it is wrong of me to break those terms. The store didn't force me to buy that game. I chose to buy it.
I will always hate this "fair game" excuse. It demonizes all businesses as if none of them are honest. And even the ones that are not honest tend to not blatantly lie and cheat like a customer will at times. It's not "fair game". It's the game you want to play. The game where you make it okay to lie because the person you are lying to happens to not care what happens to the company you are lying to.
And by "you", that's just a filler for lying customers.
IHaveCandy
Banned
He exchanged his opened game for an unopened one so he could return it to another store.
Pretty much this.
If it's an honest mom and pop shop i have no problem being honest but places like Walmart? Gamestop? Fuck 'em.
The question is, why do you care so much? Why do you care that a company that strives on ripping off consumers maybe took a $10 loss from that exchange.
Do you own stock in GS? Get off your high horse.
I don't know, what I get from this isn't that he tricked "bad corporation X", its that he went out of his way to do something dishonest, then bragged about it. Is shoplifting ok too as long as you do it in a Gamestop store?
Pretty much how I feel about stories like the one in the OP. To me it's not a matter of feeling bad about a faceless big business (I don't care), it's about feeling unsure of where someone you know draws certain lines. Not trying to be on a high horse, just my usual reaction when someone does something like this and brags about it. Thread reminded me of some personal stories.
IHaveCandy
Banned
Why do you care that I care? See how pointless that question is? I'm not saying lying to GameStop only is wrong. I'm saying lying to businesses in general is wrong. You know perfectly wel GameStop is just the example here. Though I do find it ridiculous how people have collectively decided GameStop is some immoral company for selling one case display copy of each game and having less than ideal trade values and used games prices. You'd think GameStop actually did shady and wrongful things with how people justify lying to them.
If such terms are under what I deem bs all bets are off, that's just how I am and life has left me too many examples to think like you do. In ideal world where don't have stores and the content can be delivered with no scummy middle men I wouldn't be so fierce my position.
Very few are as honest as a consumer needs to be it's a rigged game and governments tend to not care about legitmate issues or often times side with companies. Call it a game or life that's just the way it is. Some people I know game the system like this in this same exact way and the only thing that is a driving motivation is because they can and to amplify that nasty core of thinking because it saves money. You know in life there are plenty of people who go I didn't get caught so it didnt happen and feel nothing about it. It's much harder to tolerate irrational or immoral things than it is to understand these things.
IHaveCandy
Banned
If you don't like what they offer, don't do business with them. Doing business with the intention to lie is not better than a business having a bad offer. It's a lot worse.
Devolution
Member
Telling people not do business with monopolies or to go to another chain that's doing different but somewhat sketchy shit as well isn't really an answer.
While I agree with this sentiment you're aiming that message at the wrong person. I'm mature enough not to do this kind of crap. People who pull this stuff are working from an irrational standpoint. I haven't pulled anything like this in recent memory be it games or not. If I'm spiteful towards a business I tend to spread around bad crap about them that will do far more damage than what your friend did. People will do what they do and most just need a few basic reasons after that me and you can't do much
I said being dishonest. Anyone can play the semantics of lies but when you start including deceit, omission, or misrepresentations it's another matter to me. Business operate within the law not on honesty. Not to butcher a certain comedians words but if you're dishonest to me you're simply dishonest don't care about your methodology or the level of effort you go through for the end result.
I'm not trying to lie to any businesses, so I have no reason to justify wrong-doing. Just consider that Gamestop employees can, are encouraged, and regularly do open sealed new games, take them home and play it, then bring it back and sell it at regular price and with the label "new". OP's friend bought a game, opened it, took it home and played it, decided he didn't like it. He took it back, but they can't accept it because they no longer consider it new when he opens it.
When the business takes this action, the game is still new. When a customer does the same thing, it's used. The customer is at a disadvantage. By exchanging the game and then returning it to another store, he was able to play by the same rules as the employees.
IHaveCandy
Banned
They aren't all evil
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
technically its illegal.
businesses tend to do shady things often enough, where i guess you can say acts like this "balance" it out a little bit -- especially since they usually take this stuff into account when pricing their merchandise.
i'm going with "two wrongs don't make a right."
he shouldn't have done it. its his fault he didnt like it, he should have rented it if he was iffy about it.
businesses tend to do shady things often enough, where i guess you can say acts like this "balance" it out a little bit -- especially since they usually take this stuff into account when pricing their merchandise.
i'm going with "two wrongs don't make a right."
he shouldn't have done it. its his fault he didnt like it, he should have rented it if he was iffy about it.
IHaveCandy
Banned
I agree that policy of checking out new games is bullshit. Our store doesn't allow it. The answer is to demand GameStop end that policy, not lie.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
LOL, this is like the logical fallacies that the subject isn't important like in the tropes thread. That's one hell of an argument.
Devolution
Member
Oh it's important but in terms of screwing a business over this is on the very low end of the scale.
Sure.
Since I work at a RadioShack (yay me!) I get to sell phones. One day, I was blowing it up and I sold 4 phones, one of which was a Sprint iPhone 4S. The guy told me I was an idiot for offering him Applecare, and he told me I was twice the idiot when I recommended a couple of cases for it. Even though we get graded on our attach metrics, I had done so well earlier I just told him that he had to be careful with it. There's nothing we can do after 30 days for a malfunction, and there's absolutely nothing we can do about accidental damage. He's all like "Whatever, it's an iPhone and they can't break."
Two weeks later, this guy comes back in with his mother. Keep in mind, this guy is 45 or so. He comes over to me and he says "My iPhone won't turn on. We took it to the Sprint store, and they told me you sold me a refurbished phone with bad water damage indicators. You have to replace this." This, of course, made me look really hard at the phone. The indicator inside the headphone jack was red, and the one in the charging port was red. I told him "No, it was new in the box when I opened it and activated it for you. You submerged your iPhone."
His retort is to this day the most absolute stupid thing I've ever had a customer say to me.
"There's no way I dropped it in water, I haven't been near water since I left the Navy in 1995!" When I pointed out that he had in fact been near water, his mother threw an absolute fit and demanded a manager. Since I'm a manager, she decided I wasn't good enough and demanded my boss. When he wouldn't replace the phone, she decided to call our district office, where she was promptly told no.
I just couldn't stop laughing at that. Haven't been in the shower or near a sink in 17 years, eh?
*Edit* Conversely, today I had one of my regulars come in with a phone case she bought well over a year ago from a different RadioShack. I swapped it out for her anyway. I might even get in a little trouble, but I really do try to help the people that are always kind and understanding of my position as an employee.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Still doesn't change anything but whatever.
IHaveCandy
Banned
Other people should not dictate how you act and what you consider right and wrong
So you can be better than them. But since you have no problem with the idea of being a bad person, hey, whatever.
IHaveCandy
Banned
He lied and said the game is not working.
So why were you trying to argue with your friend if you feel this way?
I'm surprised they have no way of verifying that in store.
I've done similar things a couple times... but it's definitely not right.
First time, I was a kid, didn't know that much about computer games, all I knew was I loved Final Fantasy and the new one was an MMO on PCs (FFXI). So, I asked for it for Christmas, got it, then when I tried to install it realized our computer didn't meet the minimum requirements. We had opened it already so GS wouldn't take it. So we bought another copy from a different Gamestop, that we didn't open, seran-wrapped the opened one and returned it to the second store, then returned the real unopened one to the first store. So, we broke the rules, but I never felt bad about this one because I never actually played the game and it certainly wasn't malicious, I was just an ignored 11/12/13 year old.
Second time, I ordered Portal 2 from Amazon, they sent it to the wrong address, sent me a new copy, the post office ended up correcting the address and sending me the original order too, so I got two copies. I "returned" one unopened one to Walmart without a receipt for a Walmart gift card, which I then traded online for an Amazon gift card that I used to buy LA Noire.
Kinda shady, I could have just sold the extra copy on craigslist or something (or sent it back to Amazon I guess? Not sure what their policy is if they send me two copies of something), but I wouldn't take it back.
First time, I was a kid, didn't know that much about computer games, all I knew was I loved Final Fantasy and the new one was an MMO on PCs (FFXI). So, I asked for it for Christmas, got it, then when I tried to install it realized our computer didn't meet the minimum requirements. We had opened it already so GS wouldn't take it. So we bought another copy from a different Gamestop, that we didn't open, seran-wrapped the opened one and returned it to the second store, then returned the real unopened one to the first store. So, we broke the rules, but I never felt bad about this one because I never actually played the game and it certainly wasn't malicious, I was just an ignored 11/12/13 year old.
Second time, I ordered Portal 2 from Amazon, they sent it to the wrong address, sent me a new copy, the post office ended up correcting the address and sending me the original order too, so I got two copies. I "returned" one unopened one to Walmart without a receipt for a Walmart gift card, which I then traded online for an Amazon gift card that I used to buy LA Noire.
Kinda shady, I could have just sold the extra copy on craigslist or something (or sent it back to Amazon I guess? Not sure what their policy is if they send me two copies of something), but I wouldn't take it back.
IHaveCandy
Banned
Because I disagreed with him. I didn't attempt to coerce him into doing what I think is right. I didn't tell him he should follow my way because it is my way. I criticized him for his actions and how they contradict how he claims to carry himself. I told him he was wrong for reasons x, y, and z. If you want to say morality is subjective, then we're in agreement. If you want to say we should all just let others act the way they want and never criticize them, then we're not in agreement.
You argued with your friend because he lied to GS. Why is it wrong if I let the decisions of others effect how I act but not when you do it?
His argument was basically that two wrongs don't make a right. You're suggesting this means that he cannot criticize someone when they're wrong?
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