Is Gamestop Evil? The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[Fragems]

Anyone upgraded to Power Up Pro "Elite" status? Been so long since I've been in gamestop I hadn't even heard they had created another tier to the Power up program until the other day. I ended up upgrading since my order was big enough that the extra 10% off paid for itself and saved me a few bucks on top of that. Basically it cost double what the standard pro does at $30 a year as opposed to $15 but it also doubles the discount on preowned games from 10% to 20% (same for trade ins although I doubt many of us have ever done that). If you are "pro" you can upgrade to Elite for $15 and they give you another B2G1 coupon however I'm not sure if you get the full year of Elite that way.

Still no discounts on new games or preorders but amazon/bestbuy have that covered.



Edit: If you go up from Pro to Elite it does give you another full year just checked my account and the expiration date was updated to November next year.

Sadly it doesn't stack with the CAG16 coupon code online if you input it it removes your 20% preowned discount at least as of the moment.

[Sarge]

Interesting. I buy enough there that it might be worthwhile to do.

[Tanooki]

Given some conversations with mas I've had recently I'd say they fall into the evil and ugly category with retro stuff. He mails out for some Dreamcast goodies, every single one if I remember right arrived with disc rot/damage. He then asks to return which is fine, but then they lie and say they have replacements. Things don't arrive, call and complain to find out they never had them and when he tried to do another order they'd list stuff intentionally as in stock when they were not. Having this guy on the phone he gets money back, so called free games out of it, and replacements, and when what then gets shipped arrives it's chipped and rotted too. They must be using the Stevie Wonder QC department to inspect the games cause they clearly wonder if they'll get away with it and can't see obvious damage even a blurry mobile phone picture shows well enough.

[chuckster]

Given some conversations with mas I've had recently I'd say they fall into the evil and ugly category with retro stuff. He mails out for some Dreamcast goodies, every single one if I remember right arrived with disc rot/damage. He then asks to return which is fine, but then they lie and say they have replacements. Things don't arrive, call and complain to find out they never had them and when he tried to do another order they'd list stuff intentionally as in stock when they were not. Having this guy on the phone he gets money back, so called free games out of it, and replacements, and when what then gets shipped arrives it's chipped and rotted too. They must be using the Stevie Wonder QC department to inspect the games cause they clearly wonder if they'll get away with it and can't see obvious damage even a blurry mobile phone picture shows well enough.

It sounds like inept customer service as well. I was thinking of grabbing a few Genesis games from them, I am having second thoughts now.

[dunpeal2064]

I've seen a pretty even spread of horror and success stories when it comes to ordering older carts from them. Fake Earthbounds galore (Though there have been recommendations to place something like a sticker inside the cart, since they may just be reselling returned repros ), but have seen people score legit carts of stuff like E.V.O as well.

I think the return issues are likely isolated, haven't heard of anyone else going through that hell.

[Fragems]

Gamestop has a pretty sweet deal on the PS4 Pro right now. $350 plus get CoD WWII and your choice of Star Wars Battlefront II or Fifa 18 for free. Got lucky almost didn't scroll down and notice the SWBII/FIFA promo it's listed down the page and you get no warning at checkout about it you have to add one of them to the cart yourself before the promo kicks in. So glad I didn't take the plung during the recent Amazon sales.

PlayStation 4 Pro 1TB System with Call of Duty WWII

Star Wars Battlefront II

[samsonlonghair]

GameStop (sigh)

I walked into everyone’s favorite retail location today. I walked out five minutes later wondering why I bother.

There’s two guys at the counter. Presumably the older one is the shift manager, and the younger one is a sales associate. I ask them both if they are getting Nintendo NES mini back in stock on Friday. The younger guy doesn’t say anything at all. The older guy says very little as unhelpful as he can possibly be.

He says, “Yeah. Everybody is getting them on Friday”

I say, “OK, but are Y’ALL getting them in on Friday? As in here at this location?”

He says, “I guess so”.

I say, “So... can I preorder one or do I just show up?”

He says, “Just show up.”

I ask, “when do y’all open?”

He says, “whenever the mall opens.”

Game stop is going to end up just like Toys “R” Us I guarantee it.

[noiseredux]

Game stop is going to end up just like Toys “R” Us I guarantee it.

well... I mean, they are in talks about a buy-out supposedly right now.

https://www.gamesradar.com/what-gamesto ... buy-games/

[marurun]

I don't know who the owners are right now, but if this is a leveraged buyout GS is done. Leveraged buyouts are what's killing these places.

[Sarge]

If GameStop dies, physical media won't be far behind. Which drives which is up in the air, but I do not welcome our new digital overlords. Unless it's DRM-free, and even that isn't ideal given how large games are these days. I'm still stuck on 4G internet.

I do think GameStop is doubling down on perhaps the wrong things, and additionally, they have too many stores. Not to mention the varying quality between locations. Some of those storefronts deserve to die. (Not mine, though; I've never had bad experiences there.)