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[UtadaBarkley]

jeff was this eb in NYC by any chance?

Nope, Louisville.

I know, I really didn't wanna buy it, but I needed it THAT day. Well, I didn't NEED it, but it was a for a gift that day. I usually make EB/GS my last resort, and as you can see, it was. I went to Target, Walmart, Bestbuy and CC, and couldn't find the game. I had actually ordered it 3 weeks ago from CC online, but it's backordered... No word on if they're ever going to ship it, and they already charged my CC.

 

[Cronox]

The people at my EB seem to be intimidated when I ask specific things ("do you have a copy of ____"), as if they'd be way more friendly if I had no ****ing clue.

Being lectured for returning a game recently wasn't that great either. The guy acted like, because I returned a used game within a 7 day period I was treating his store like my personal Hollywood Video or something.

 

[Kintaro]

I don't seem to have a problem with the Gamestop near me. They're pretty new, and I made it a point to be pretty cool with them right off the bat, as they're the only speciality store in the town, videogame wise. I don't get hassled on any preorders or anything, and we just chit chat while I browse the used games for hidden gems.

I don't know if it's store policy to do so, but I gave them a list of games that if they came in used, to notify me so I could pick them up. It already paid off well in the case of Digital Devil Saga and so forth. New games, if I wanna preorder, I will. Etc, etc. I tend to get called if any random demos come in or rare used stuff not on my list shows up (like Rez). I got a call the minute they got the information about the Castlevania PoR package in their system (which I didn't even know about).

I dunno, I've had good experiences with these guys thus far. I guess it pays to disarm them right off the bat and make people comfortable than it does to walk into the store like they are the enemy.

 

[Blackace]

And like magic

 

[RSP]

When I was in the US in 2004, I asked the guy behind the counter if I could get a discount on my 5 DS hardware purchase.

he told me I could get the bag for free

 

[WickedAngel]

And the new games come, you know, new. Sealed and unused. And the used games are cheaper and in better condition.

I do like that this thread has turned into multiple EB/GS employees telling GAFfers not to shop there. Listen to them, people -- they know what's up!

I love how they sell used games that they've opened and play as "New". I loved it so much that I've stopped shopping at all of these gaming specialty stores, basically.

 

[Dot50Cal]

A friend of mine in Russia had me preorder 4 copies of the new MK game. Some for his friends and one for himself, The collectors edition for the PS2. I called up to make sure it was ok, they said it was. So I headed up and preordered them. No resistance or anything. I come in to pick them up a few weeks later and the same kid who put them in for me and gave the OK was playing the game on a PS2 in the store.

I didnt think much of it because it was almost closing and they just had a long day of PS3 preorders. So I go up and tell the clerk what im there for and all of a sudden all four employee's just stop. One lets out "Oh yeah I seen that earlier" then the guy whos PLAYING THE GAME (who SOLD me the preorders) pauses it and says "Hey yeah why did you do that? I wanted to get a copy but I couldnt because of you."

My jaw hit the floor, I couldnt tell if he was just trying to act cool or if he was indeed that stupid. So I blurted out in a rather pissed off voice "I have some friends in russia". Before I could even finish this moron was back playing the game.

I worked in retail and I only harassed people if I knew they werent harassed yet. I didnt harass people if I knew that they were in the know on things. Even then I was smooth about it, unlike EB which hypes up the worst possible games to me. Scratchguard, etc all that bullshit. Its so tiring.

Since Gamestop took over its gotten noticeably worse. People who knew who I was and didnt bother me with such shit now are forced to thanks to their policies. Friend who works at a NY EB is also hating their horribly demanding rules now.

 

[Bartman3010]

I still dont get what the big deal is, games take a day or two before they reach any store where I live. Every other piece of entertainment (DVD for example) comes in the day its supposed to come out.

 

[jgkspsx]

You do not understand the distribution method.

:lol

Our policy supports our customers because we DO urge pre-orders on these specific titles, and most that do buy them, understand what a b*tch Atlus games are too find so they are EAGER to pre-order.

Aha! You think EBA is an Atlus game, dontcha.

I really can't fathom your inept position on the subject of being employed at a retail store. You classify any hard-working individual as a 'shill' who has been brainwashed by corporate worldview/policies.

Reading is fundamental.

(I classified, in the post you quoted, people who come onto gaming message boards in their free time to defend the ludicrous business practices of their employers as shills (that would be you ). I don't hold any grudge against individual employees who cause annoyance to me. Though being lectured about not preordering Wario Ware as if I were late paying my taxes was beyond the pale.

Our policy: Try before you buy. We let any customer pop open a new game to try (if they're intending to buy it, its a judgement call obviously). If they don't like it, its put back on the shelf as new (90% of the time they buy it, and we push used beforehand anyway).

Don't know how I feel about that, but it's better than GSEB's pointless gutting, anyway.

 

[Kevtones]

:lol


Aha! You think EBA is an Atlus game, dontcha.


Reading is fundamental.

(I classified, in the post you quoted, people who come onto gaming message boards in their free time to defend the ludicrous business practices of their employers as shills (that would be you ). I don't hold any grudge against individual employees who cause annoyance to me. Though being lectured about not preordering Wario Ware as if I were late paying my taxes was beyond the pale.


Don't know how I feel about that, but it's better than GSEB's pointless gutting, anyway.

*EBA is a Nintendo published title, I have Osu.
*You're on a message board, posting about these 'shills' :lol
...how is it off-base to explain our policies (EXPLAINING their benefits, not defending them), and defend myself when people like you develop pre-conceived notions of every person that works at a gamestore. You sound like the type that scoffs openly when asked about pre-orders instead of saying no. Saying 'no' is very easy.

I know there are a TON of employees that fit this smelly, stupid, sales-jackass cliche, I know, I've fired a ton of them. There are also a ton that aren't, so I don't understand your need to classify some hard-working people rudely and hypocritically, doesn't make sense.

And I guarantee if you bought something from me, you'd be in there for 40 minutes, talking about EBA, pre-ordering some Wario Ware game, and be a repeat customer. Its all about approach and I'm just saying, THERE ARE infact game salesmen that have their wits about them.

 

[DrEvil]

*EBA is a Nintendo published title, I have Osu.
*You're on a message board, posting about these 'shills' :lol
...how is it off-base to explain our policies (EXPLAINING their benefits, not defending them), and defend myself when people like you develop pre-conceived notions of every person that works at a gamestore. You sound like the type that scoffs openly when asked about pre-orders instead of saying no. Saying 'no' is very easy.

I know there are a TON of employees that fit this smelly, stupid, sales-jackass cliche, I know, I've fired a ton of them. There are also a ton that aren't, so I don't understand your need to classify some hard-working people rudely and hypocritically, doesn't make sense.

And I guarantee if you bought something from me, you'd be in there for 40 minutes, talking about EBA, pre-ordering some Wario Ware game, and be a repeat customer. Its all about approach and I'm just saying, THERE ARE infact game salesmen that have their wits about them.

I worked at an EB for long enough; I was one of those salesmen that had wits about them.. I didn't push, because I really didn't care about being hammered down if I didn't fill my GPG or Preorder Quota -- why? Because I was a keyholder, there wasn't that much staff, and since EB's policy is to not give references, being written up, I could care less about..

When you say that if we bought something from you, we'd be in for 40 minutes talking about EBA and preordering wario etc.. Man, most people dont WANT to be in there for 40 minutes, and this is where the "gamestore employees are inept idiots" comes in. You mistook EBA for an atlus game - as pointed out above, and yet you think we'd sit and listen to your POSSIBLE misinformation for 40 minutes while in trying to just buy say, Guitar Hero 2?

I'm not defending you, I'm not attacking you, I used to be you; but man, seriously, there's no point in defending your employer on GAF - you're not going to get anywhere. Everyone loves to hate EB/Gamestop, and anywhere else that's similar, and trying to defend that just makes people dislike you. If you want that opinion of yourself, then by all means, keep on truckin; but seriously, just stop.

I know how much people HATED being pestered about trade ins or preorders or GPGs or Edge cards, I hated giving the speach; and I got to the point where I was really good at seeing who wanted one, and who just didn't give a flying ****. I filled my quota but I never EVER pushed it on someone. I'd bring it up and say "hey, interested?" If they said no, I dropped it and let them get out of there as fast as they wanted to. If they wanted to stay and chat about the Revolution or whatever, then by all means, it was casual conversation.

Because of this I had people coming back and looking specifically for me - being on GAF does help your 'knowledge' of the industry, you can usually stay mostly up to date if you read a few threads before you go into work; but I never tried to mix business with friendly conversation. Yeah, I was getting "paid" to socialize, but it was still relevant to the place of business.. I just didn't try to get people to preorder the game I was talking about.. If they wanted to, they would.

All I'm trying to say is, don't defend your job like it's the ****ing holy grail of retail. Gaming retail sucked, and I'm glad I'm out of it - Just remove all your contact information from your profile and let your mind loose, that's what I did; and I think if you look through my post history, you'll see I posted all the trade-in exploits and pitfalls of EB up here in Canada.. now that I'm not employed there, I could care less.


d

 

[jgkspsx]

...how is it off-base to explain our policies (EXPLAINING their benefits, not defending them), and defend myself when people like you develop pre-conceived notions of every person that works at a gamestore. You sound like the type that scoffs openly when asked about pre-orders instead of saying no. Saying 'no' is very easy.

Hey, I treat even annoying service/retail employees respectfully. I realize there are a lot of assholes out there on the customer side of the desk, I realize people want to keep their jobs, and I realize they're not the best jobs in the world. I don't harass or condescend to employees, I complain to district managers and corporations and try to dissuade others from shopping at dishonest businesses.

I realize you're trying to explain why your chain and others do the things they do.

The thing is, it is NOT normal to have to preorder other forms of media. Unless the new John Cale album is import-only (and sometimes even if it is), the local indie record store will get at least one copy. The most obscure new fiction is on the new release table at Borders (and yes, I realize those stores are much larger and have more in the way of economy of scale than gaming specialty stores). It's not as if it's "Preorder at GSEB or don't get it first day" -- it's "preorder at GSEB and maybe get it the first week, possibly after Target and Best Buy get it". And requiring money to preorder is just ludicrous.

It is not normal to open CDs and DVDs and sell customers discs that employees have taken home (GSEB, mostly). One local independent music chain did that. They went out of business.

It is not normal to **** over people selling their old games and **** over the people who then buy then used. (Well, I guess it's normal, but it ain't right. GAF buy/sell/trade thread ftw!)

Now, I've had mostly good experiences at GameCrazy, but there's only one remotely near me. I've had bad experiences at every GSEB in the area, since GameStop bought out the Funcolands and Babbages and EBs. These stores used to be good! They're not any longer, and I just won't shop there. There's something intrinsically wrong with the corporation, and while there may be good stores, the majority seem to be no good.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, I'll admit that while the Gamestop I mentioned is unintentionally entertaining in its ineptitude, the EB closest to me (the Plaza location in Kansas City; incidentally where the Foxtrot guy goes) is actually pretty good. The manager there actually knows his stuff, and is honest.

 

[cubicle47b]

I've just started ordering everything from Amazon since it's actually cheaper, I don't have to drive down to a store, and I don't have to put up with crap like being sold display copies with stickers on them or even worse, DS games marked "not for resale" on the cover (I didn't notice until I was home). I think the most annoying thing they've done, though, is sold the NES GBA SP I pre-ordered after talking to one of them on the phone the day before and telling them I'd be in the next day to pick it up since I had to work all day.

If I have to deal with a retail store, I'll most likely go to Best Buy or Circuit City now.

 

[bdoughty]

If I have to deal with a retail store, I'll most likely go to Best Buy or Circuit City now.

Ah yes Circuit City is a bastion for gamers everywhere. Copies of Timesplitters Future Perfect still marked at $49.99 because marking it with the correct price would simply be too time consuming. Offering to charge $28.99 so you can have backwards compatibility on your 360.

And of course offering 15% off GOW but only good through 10/31/06

Yea they are a swell group to deal with. A+++

 

[MingisDew]

*Starts Mashing Keyboard*

"Blah Blah Blah! I hate stuff! Blah Blah Blah! I'm angry! Blah Blah Blah! I'm going to go post on a forum about it! Blah Blah Blah! I'm going to give standup comedians more nerd jokes! Blah Blah Blah! I'll never go back there again!"

*2 weeks later*

"OMGLOLZ! I just got a Wii from a GameStop!!11!!1one!!"

 

[cubicle47b]

Ah yes Circuit City is a bastion for gamers everywhere. Copies of Timesplitters Future Perfect still marked at $49.99 because marking it with the correct price would simply be too time consuming. Offering to charge $28.99 so you can have backwards compatibility on your 360.

And of course offering 15% off GOW but only good through 10/31/06

Yeah, all retail kind of sucks, huh. I just like that they leave me alone and I get unopened copies of games when I don't want to wait 3-4 days for it to come in the mail. And I only do this if the item has the same price as online retailers.

 

[RedNumberFive]

Would you like to buy a cleaning kit with that?

 

[cubicle47b]

I've never been asked to buy a cleaning kit by any store.

 

[Jugendstil]

I hate GameStop. I hate everyone that works there. I am usually fairly sympathetic to retail slaves because that was me a couple of years ago, but the guys at my local Gamestop are rude, stupid, and ugly. Sometimes I break down and go there because I like being able to trade in old games, but NO MORE! I'd rather go across the street to Best Buy and deal with their brand of high school drop outs. At least they stop asking me about free subscriptions to US Weekly once I tell them I'm not interested as opposed to the endless pre-order schpiel I get at GameStop.

 

[ShowDog]

But Circuit City's laziness and ineptitude = massive clearance sales every couple months. No one wants to buy their unmarked overpriced shit so they eventually give it away. Bless them.

 

[UpperCaseN]

I was at a Gamestop buying a very used copy of Viewtiful Joe. The clerk asked me if I wanted to pick up another title, and I responded with, "No thanks, I'll probably try ebay for that one." He responded in a very condenscending way, "ebay will get you with the sales tax, though." (in a don't come crying to us kind of tone)

Now let's take a moment here.

Although it is true that some auctions charge you sales tax depending on what state you're in, most of them don't. In fact, of all 75+ transactions I've ever made on ebay, sales tax has never been a factor for any of them. If anything, it would be SHIPPING cost that gets you...

I didn't feel like arguing with him at all, so I just ignored his comment. this left a very negative impression on me, though...

 

[C4Lukins]

I've never been asked to buy a cleaning kit by any store.

Funcoland did this back in the day.

 

[jgkspsx]

Re sales tax: In most states you owe sales tax on every transaction, even person-to-person. They don't enforce it much (how can they?) but several states are starting to crack down on internet sales. Person-to-person transactions (i.e. most ebay transactions) aren't a big target, but Amazon.com and other large sellers are. FYI.

Funcoland did this back in the day.

To be fair, some of the cartridges you'd get from Funcoland made a cleaning kit necessary :lol

 

[Microtransactions Hater]

whenever im asked if i have trade-ins ill tell them i have like 10 games i have in the car but forgot to bring in with me out of absent mindedness

 

[levious]

To be fair, some of the cartridges you'd get from Funcoland made a cleaning kit necessary :lol

Funco also would not offer returns/gaurantees on used carts unless you purchased or could that you had in the past purchased a cleaning kit from them. Otherwise it was buy at your own risk.

 

[Jive Turkey]

whenever im asked if i have trade-ins ill tell them i have like 10 games i have in the car but forgot to bring in with me out of absent mindedness

I always stuff my hand down my pants and say "I sure do! Let me just whip it out!"

And bless you bdoughty for not giving up on EB/GS no matter what! Fight the good fight!

 

[Kevtones]

I worked at an EB for long enough; I was one of those salesmen that had wits about them.. I didn't push, because I really didn't care about being hammered down if I didn't fill my GPG or Preorder Quota -- why? Because I was a keyholder, there wasn't that much staff, and since EB's policy is to not give references, being written up, I could care less about..

When you say that if we bought something from you, we'd be in for 40 minutes talking about EBA and preordering wario etc.. Man, most people dont WANT to be in there for 40 minutes, and this is where the "gamestore employees are inept idiots" comes in. You mistook EBA for an atlus game - as pointed out above, and yet you think we'd sit and listen to your POSSIBLE misinformation for 40 minutes while in trying to just buy say, Guitar Hero 2?

You misunderstood. I wouldn't TRY to keep him in there 40 minutes with bullshit, I'd TALK to him for 40 minutes. About games, etc. I'm very friendly and 99% people ask for game advice or a game I've played, I share experiences, I don't sell first. 40 minutes = reflection of my attitude and nature, not me selling them. It could be 5 minutes of chat, but I was just implying the way I act as an employee is to befriend.

I did not mistake EBA to be an Atlus title, I was referencing Atlus-games because they are notoriously difficult to find and very low-print and vanish quickly. WTF?

I'm not defending you, I'm not attacking you, I used to be you; but man, seriously, there's no point in defending your employer on GAF - you're not going to get anywhere. Everyone loves to hate EB/Gamestop, and anywhere else that's similar, and trying to defend that just makes people dislike you. If you want that opinion of yourself, then by all means, keep on truckin; but seriously, just stop.

Game Crazy fares well here at GAF for the most part. Again, you failed at reading here because I never once defended the COMPANY, only the employees. I also explained the logic behind the distribution (however effective that distribution is)

I know how much people HATED being pestered about trade ins or preorders or GPGs or Edge cards, I hated giving the speach; and I got to the point where I was really good at seeing who wanted one, and who just didn't give a flying ****. I filled my quota but I never EVER pushed it on someone. I'd bring it up and say "hey, interested?" If they said no, I dropped it and let them get out of there as fast as they wanted to. If they wanted to stay and chat about the Revolution or whatever, then by all means, it was casual conversation.

Because of this I had people coming back and looking specifically for me - being on GAF does help your 'knowledge' of the industry, you can usually stay mostly up to date if you read a few threads before you go into work; but I never tried to mix business with friendly conversation. Yeah, I was getting "paid" to socialize, but it was still relevant to the place of business.. I just didn't try to get people to preorder the game I was talking about.. If they wanted to, they would.

This is what I mean when I said 'its all about approach'.

Yup.

 

[Microtransactions Hater]

I worked @ Gamestop for a mere 2 hours, and 45 minutes of those 2 hours were spent talking to some borderline autistic kid about how awesome nintendo was, it was cute and sad at the same time.... he was pretty much a poster child for GAF, he knew like every single rumor out there too

 

[Google]

Do the majority of people here have nothing better to do than get upset over trivial 17 year old retail staff?

Seriously...

Pick up your game, pay for your game, say you dont want anything other than the game, walk out...

If they give you shit, dont shop there...dont come on the interweb with your stories how how awful it was when you tried to buy Worms Armageddon!

Life sucks at times, and things arent always easy...Why get yourself worked up when you try and spend $50?

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Seriously. How dare you people discuss things you like and/or dislike, and share amusing stories on a message board?

 

[heavy liquid]

Ah yes Circuit City is a bastion for gamers everywhere. Copies of Timesplitters Future Perfect still marked at $49.99 because marking it with the correct price would simply be too time consuming. Offering to charge $28.99 so you can have backwards compatibility on your 360.

And of course offering 15% off GOW but only good through 10/31/06

Yea they are a swell group to deal with. A+++

The next issue of Official Xbox Magazine (The current one - Rainbow 6 on the cover) has the corrected 15% off GoW coupon that expires on 11/30/06. I wouldn't be surprised if they're honoring the old coupon as well. AND you'll get a free GoW faceplate.

 

[Google]

Seriously. How dare you people discuss things you like and/or dislike, and share amusing stories on a message board?

Amusing?

You think that being treated like every other mother on this planet is amusing?

All thats amusing is that certain people feel they are entitled to an assumed amount of service.

Companies like Gamestop and EBGames owe you nothing, if they want to give bad service, then fair enough, they dont receive your money...

But quite obviously, as profits show, they provide a service that many thousands of people are happy with.

 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

"OMGLOLZ! I just got a Wii from a GameStop!!11!!1one!!"

I'll get my Wii at Target, thankee sai.

 

[jgkspsx]

Now that this thread has degenerated into:
"Stop complaining about video game stores on teh intarwebs lol"
"You're complaining about my complaining? lol"
I just want to add one final note, and I'll shut up:
Don't buy pre-opened "new" games at GameStop/EB. Don't preorder. For God's sake, don't pay in full in advance. And, most importantly, don't trade in your games unless they're really, truly worthless.

This has been a public service announcement.

 

[Google]

Don't buy pre-opened "new" games at GameStop/EB. Don't preorder. For God's sake, don't pay in full in advance. And, most importantly, don't trade in your games unless they're really, truly worthless.

Why not?

 

[bdoughty]

And bless you bdoughty for not giving up on EB/GS no matter what! Fight the good fight!

Well not really a fight as much as it is common sense. I tend to leave my grudges towards people, not brick and mortar stores. I shop wherever I can get the best deal and/or is the most convenient for me. What I don't get is how people can deamonize EB/GS, yet somehow all the other chains are squeaky freaking clean and would never do something as evil as upselling. I guess some are destined to a life of ordering online and avoiding human contact as this is pretty widespread in the retail world.

I wonder if some of these people get angry at the... "We also suggest" sections of online shops.

There really needs to be a (So your Going to EB/GS 101 or Specialty Video Gamestores for Dummies) sticky here.

#1 If you are afraid of having to say the word (No Thanks) more then once. Stay the **** away from the building.

List could continue but I pretty much cover this on the link I posted on gaming customers a few pages back.

 

[bdoughty]

The next issue of Official Xbox Magazine (The current one - Rainbow 6 on the cover) has the corrected 15% off GoW coupon that expires on 11/30/06. I wouldn't be surprised if they're honoring the old coupon as well. AND you'll get a free GoW faceplate.

Of course to cover costs on re-advertising I forsee...

Circuit City can insert the GOW game in your Xbox360 for $2.89!

 

[bdoughty]

Why not?

Cooties... Your average Gaffer still has a fear of them. Vaginas would be a close 2nd though.

 

[MoxManiac]

Ah yes Circuit City is a bastion for gamers everywhere. Copies of Timesplitters Future Perfect still marked at $49.99 because marking it with the correct price would simply be too time consuming. Offering to charge $28.99 so you can have backwards compatibility on your 360.

And of course offering 15% off GOW but only good through 10/31/06

Yea they are a swell group to deal with. A+++

The fact that they don't gut games still puts them above gameslop in my book, even with all that crap.

 

[Google]

Cooties... Your average Gaffer still has a fear of them. Vaginas would be a close 2nd though.

Shit...do open games spread Aids?

 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Why not?

Let's say that there's this car dealership, let's call it CarStop.

They want to sell you a new car--with 5,000 miles on the odometer, sure, but they re-spritzed it with that new car smell! The employees can drive any car they want on the weekends for as far and as long as they want--cool, huh?

If you want to buy a car from CarStop, you need to request it 3 months in advance. If you just show up and start browsing, the staff is condescending--cars are expensive, and the poor car companies can't make a profit unless their customers give them enough advance notice. Other dealerships just let you walk in on the street and choose something of the show floor, but you wouldn't know from CarStop employees.

When you decide on a car you'd like--3 months in advance, natch--CarStop asks for $16,800 up front so that they don't sell your car to another consumer. Hopefully, you didn't have any other plans for this cash.

They will also buy your 2002 Honda Civic for $500. Not that much, sure, but what do you care? You're buying a NEW CAR! It's so much shinier than your old one.

Does this sound like a retail establishment you'd give your business?

 

[bdoughty]

Shit...do open games spread Aids?

Nope, but it will lead to the Apocalypse when God realizes that humanity can't deal with something so minute.

 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Cooties... Your average Gaffer still has a fear of them. Vaginas would be a close 2nd though.

No way I'm touching a vagina's been opened by a GameStop employee!

 

[Google]

Let's say that there's this car dealership, let's call it CarStop.

They want to sell you a new car--with 4,000 miles on the odometer, sure, but they re-spritzed it with that new car smell! The employees can drive any car they want on the weekends for as far and as long as they want--cool, huh?

If you want to buy acar from CarStop, you need to request it 3 months in advance. If you just show up and start browsing, the staff is condescending--cars are expensive, and the poor car companies can't make a profit unless their customers give them enough advance notice. Other dealerships just let you walk in on the street and choose something of the show floor, but you wouldn't know from CarStop employees.

When you decide on a car you'd like--3 months in advance, natch--CarStop asks for $16,800 up front so that they don't sell your car to another consumer. Hopefully, you didn't have any other plans for this cash.

They will also buy your 2002 Honda Civic for $500. Not that much, sure, but what do you care? You're buying a NEW CAR! It's so much shinier than your old one.

Does this sound like a retail establishment you'd give your business?

But we arent talking about a $30,000 investment...we're talking about the occassional $50 purchase.

Different rules apply...

Im happy to forego a 'pleasant shopping experience' as long as im happy with my purchase.

I've never, ever pre-ordered a game, because generally, im happy to wait a couple of weeks to make my purchase...

I dont really sell my games, and if I do, I shove them on eBay...

I may very well be, the average consumer!

Some of you, are obviously big into pre-orders, and big into purchasing a lot of videogames from retail.

My question to you is (hypothetical), why bother with such establishments, if you know the service is bad?

Can you not go elsewhere to get your new games?

And if not, can you not bear to wait a week or two to play it?

 

[bdoughty]

Let's say that there's this car dealership, let's call it CarStop.

They want to sell you a new car--with 4,000 miles on the odometer, sure, but they re-spritzed it with that new car smell! The employees can drive any car they want on the weekends for as far and as long as they want--cool, huh?

If you want to buy acar from CarStop, you need to request it 3 months in advance. If you just show up and start browsing, the staff is condescending--cars are expensive, and the poor car companies can't make a profit unless their customers give them enough advance notice. Other dealerships just let you walk in on the street and choose something of the show floor, but you wouldn't know from CarStop employees.

When you decide on a car you'd like--3 months in advance, natch--CarStop asks for $16,800 up front so that they don't sell your car to another consumer. Hopefully, you didn't have any other plans for this cash.

They will also buy your 2002 Honda Civic for $500. Not that much, sure, but what do you care? You're buying a NEW CAR! It's so much shinier than your old one.

Does this sound like a retail establishment you'd give your business?

Eesh you are really missing the point and that is a very bad analogy.

#1 You can pre-order a custom made vehicle from Ford, GMC, etc and they DO require MONEY DOWN in many cases on special orders and/or the financing on the vehicle gets started.

#2 There is a reason the majority of people sell their cars themselves. Because you can almost always get more money then what a dealership will offer in trade-in.

So does that make all dealerships the same great evil that EB/GS are?

Guess you will be buying your next auto on the internet. Have fun with that.

 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

You're right! I've been a bad, bad consumer! I deserve the awful treatment GameStop gives me! I take pleasure in a completely unsatisfactory retail experience! I want you to gut my boxes and scratch your fingernails all over my game discs! Place your stickers all over my product! I want you to upsell me as hard as you can.

NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY CONSUMER! I'VE BEEN SO BAD! TELL ME HOW MUCH I DESERVE IT!

 

[Spencerr]

I was in EB Games yesterday playing the GH2 demo. When I went to leave, my gf accidentally knocked over a magazine stand. I thought you, GAF.

 

[RedNumberFive]

I've got absolutely no problem with GS/EB selling "gut games" as new as long as they are upfront about it. What I am sick of, is asking for a new copy of the game, and then getting the "gutted copy" without even asking me about it. I get especially pissed, when there are 20 shrink-wrapped copies of the same game sitting next to it.

 

[djtiesto]

It all depends on the employees working there... I am a regular at the Gamestop near work and the Gamestop/Funcoland near where I live, the people working there when I come in recognize my face and we'll shoot the shit... 'course they still mention reserves but they know not to give me a re-sealed or gutted game, and everything is good. I wouldn't want to go to a Gamestop where the employees are as condescending as bdoughty though

Toys R Us is a pretty nice place to get games at, too, but there are some games they don't get right away (I was kinda hoping to pick up Tales of the Abyss and Contact at the buy 2 get 1 free sale but neither came in).