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

[jinx]

Same goes for GeekSquad. Our agents were actually inelegant(fort he most part) and knowledgeable about our products.

I love applicable typos.

[CRTGAMER]

I finally have a rant about gamestop. I picked a game off the shelf that had the art and manual, then when I got home and got them out of the bag the employee switched it with gamestop printed case.

this was an out of town gamestop so now I have to go to my local to try to get it complete.

That is painful, hopefully you find a CIB. Maybe give Feedback thru the sales receipt back to the Gamestop site? Not only for getting back for the switch out by that employee, but to show Gamestop that there are customers that hate incomplete games.

Employees once in a while try to do this to me too. I think it is more of in a hurry instead of just being sneaky though. The disc is already in the case from the overstock in the drawer, saves the employee having to swap the disc over the case you brought up. Gives the employee more time to do the five minute add on sale speech.

The Bad
Almost happened again yesterday. Found two games on the shelf with both game and special controller manuals inside. Employee takes the cases to the mystery back room and returns with games already inside other cases. He sets the cases I pulled from the shelf aside and opens the replacements to verify the discs were inside and proceeds to ring them up. ONE GAME HAD NO MANUAL, THE OTHER WAS IN A DVD CASE. I quickly pointed out I wanted the cases I pulled since they were original and included the game manuals. That DVD case really stood out compared to the Wii cases I pulled.

[dust_hound]

The good:

From the Gamestop on Henry Street in Dublin, I recently picked up Castlevania LoS: Mirror of Fate for 3DS, costing 40EUR (note that this is around $59, but it is the standard price for a new handheld game here in Ireland, annoyingly).

I played the hell out of it, completed, then realised there wasn't much to the post-game, so i then traded it and got 25EUR off Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, which i received new and sealed, again at the same store, paying 20EUR cash to make up the balance of its 45EUR price tag. (Getting 25EUR off is pretty good here, where normally you'd get maybe a tenner at most).

Furthermore, the trade-in of CVLoS:MoF also snagged me 6.25EUR off any preorder, so i put that towards Fire Emblem: Awakening, which came out a week later, at 45EUR.

So i then picked up my copy of FE:A at the same store, for 38.75EUR, took it home, and then realised that i still had Club Nintendo points for CVLoS:MoF as well, so by registering that, Monster Hunter and Fire Emblem, i was entitled to a FREE GAME from Nintendo Europe's "So Many Games" promotion!

[Fragems]

Actually had one of the best experiences I have ever had in a Gamestop today. The clerk who I think was also the owner of the store in Southpoint Ohio was awesome. Not only did we have a nice conversation but he noticed me going through the cases checking for manuals and spent a good 20 minutes ensuring I got the best copies of each used game I picked up. They also had probably the best stock of older used games in the area and I found alot of games which were getting flushed out of the other gamestops in the area. They still had a good selection of PS2 games as well but they were mostly the pricier games .

Only thing that pissed me off was I had a coupon which offered 20% off of any used games purchase which seeing as they said "games" I expected it to mean multiple. After going over my receipt it only took 20% off of one game. At least the 20% came off of the most expensive game which was only $5 to begin with. Wish they would use better wording on their coupons .

Here is my haul picked up alot of games which were circling the Gamestop drain. All complete in box except for Too Human for $50 after taxes.

360:
Virtua Fighter 5 Online
Too Human(Replacement case and artwork)
Stormrise
Mind Jack
Band Hero
Brutal Legend

Wii:
Drawn to Life The Next Chapter
Mad World
Samba De Amigo

PS3:
Golden Axe Beast Rider
RAGE Anarchy Edition(Have it for the PC but its buggy as hell)

PSP:
Kill Zone Liberation

[CRTGAMER]

@ Fragems - Something interesting on that "used" copy of Samba De Amigo, I think yours might be the same as what I bought. I also misread a Gamestop Coupon that i had printed up.

The Good
I bought a game and thought the "Ten Dollar off on Wii, PS2 and DS used" was a good value since it used less points compared to regular ten dollar off coupons from the Gamestop site. Turned out it was only for the used consoles and not the games! The employee recognized me as a regular and marked ten bucks off the game anyways!

The Ugly
The game I was buying was Kirby Dream Collection as used. In visiting five different Gamestops the Outer Liner Box and Art Book were missing. Really? To save a lousy 1/4 inch of thickness of shelf space from the disposed box, the stores are throwing the extras out! Only one store had one CIB that I think used to be a display. Wait a minute, why a display on a used game?

The Very Good
I have posted before that Gamestop retags new games as used. Perhaps this is done to help sell slow moving overstocked inventory? It has happened before on other Wii Titles, Kirby Yarn comes to mind. I actually knew ahead of time on Kirby Dream from a previous talk with a price changer employee, again I got this due to being a regular with good rapport. That was the reason why I hunted all the stores, I hoped one would still have "new" CIBs on hand.

Both these games got retagged from new to used! Good luck in your hunt, that pink box of Kirby Dream might be hard to find CIB.

Samba De Amigo New $39.99 Used $0.99/$089
Kirby Dream Collection New $39.99 Used $29.99/$26.99

The Gamestop card takes another 10 percent off. With my ten dollar off coupon, my new CIB copy of Kirby Dream Collection only cost $16.99!

Note the New Stickers on the retagged as used games in the attachments. I would really love to find the new to retag as used game list at Gamestop. I have only found the retagging on certain Wii Games, bound to be happening on the other systems too.

[Fragems]

@CRTGAMER

I got some of the retags as well. While the guy was scavenging through the drawer he found new copies of Stormrise and Samba De Amigo. My copy of Samba De Amigo looks brand spanking new looks like they took it out of the wrapper and slapped a single used sticker on the back .

[BurningDoom]

I went to GameStop the other day and this one certain employee just really got under my skin.

First when I walk in, he's talking to a customer about how stupid XBox is for back-peddaling on the DRM and used game stuff. I keep my opinion to myself, though.

I then go up to the counter and ask if either of the employees there had played Dragon's Dogma. They both say yes, so I ask them a simple question: "Is this game an RPG, or is it just an attack the bad-guys button-masher?" The aformentioned guy replies, "What do you mean?" So I clarify that I want something a little more in-depth than just a beat-up the bad guys game. He then looks all taken back and says, "Well you just mash the buttons in any video game, so I'm still not sure what you mean." The girl then turns around and says, "Yes, it's an RPG." And I distinctly got the feeling from that, that I wasn't alone in thinking the guy was being a douche.

So then I decide on Dragon's Dogma and I go to get rung up, and it's my favorite GS employee again. I give him the game, and he goes and switches the case out for one with a game. Before I leave, I open it up, as I always do, and I notice it doesn't have the book like the one I purposely grabbed off the shelf for the book. So I go back and point it out and ask if I could get the case that has the book. He looks at me and says, "What?" I tell him that's why I picked out that copy because I wanted the book. He says, "You don't need the book, it'll tell you what to do in the tutorial." I then finally get a little testy with the guy and tell him, "I want the damn book, because I paid for it, and that's reason enough." He then hands me the book and I walk out.

I really hope that guy gets fired soon. I know it doesn't seem like much, but he just pushed all my buttons.

[Fragems]

I went to GameStop the other day and this one certain employee just really got under my skin.

First when I walk in, he's talking to a customer about how stupid XBox is for back-peddaling on the DRM and used game stuff. I keep my opinion to myself, though.

I then go up to the counter and ask if either of the employees there had played Dragon's Dogma. They both say yes, so I ask them a simple question: "Is this game an RPG, or is it just an attack the bad-guys button-masher?" The aformentioned guy replies, "What do you mean?" So I clarify that I want something a little more in-depth than just a beat-up the bad guys game. He then looks all taken back and says, "Well you just mash the buttons in any video game, so I'm still not sure what you mean." The girl then turns around and says, "Yes, it's an RPG." And I distinctly got the feeling from that, that I wasn't alone in thinking the guy was being a douche.

So then I decide on Dragon's Dogma and I go to get rung up, and it's my favorite GS employee again. I give him the game, and he goes and switches the case out for one with a game. Before I leave, I open it up, as I always do, and I notice it doesn't have the book like the one I purposely grabbed off the shelf for the book. So I go back and point it out and ask if I could get the case that has the book. He looks at me and says, "What?" I tell him that's why I picked out that copy because I wanted the book. He says, "You don't need the book, it'll tell you what to do in the tutorial." I then finally get a little testy with the guy and tell him, "I want the damn book, because I paid for it, and that's reason enough." He then hands me the book and I walk out.

I really hope that guy gets fired soon. I know it doesn't seem like much, but he just pushed all my buttons.

Have had the same scenario happen a couple of times. There are a few gamestops that I avoid because I know they have low standards when it comes to employees .

[CRTGAMER]

Concerning my earlier Kirby Collection Post, I submitted this to the Gamestop Site.

THE GOOD
Jorge is an outstanding Sales Employee. His supervisor as well talked to me in selecting a game, both really have a keen interest in taking care of the customer. I bought Wii Kirby Dream Collection that was in pristine and complete condition.

THE BAD
First off, no reflection to the employees above. The Kirby Dream Collection game I bought was the only Gamestop store location that had the outer Cardboard Box and Art Book. I visited five different Gamestop locations earlier that day and all had multiple copies with the Box and Art Book tossed out! These were not trade ins but new games gutted by the employees. Really? To save a lousy 1/4 inch thickness, the Outer Box and Art Book which would not fit inside the game case were being thrown away. This is offensive to any one who likes games, the extras such as reading the Outer Box and Art Book are part of the gaming experience. That book goes over the History of Kirby in which the entire game theme is about so it really should not have been thrown away. Sometimes I visit stores who have tossed out the Bonus Disc or Music CD, the mindset of the employees are the SKU is the same Bonus Disc or not. A store loss, any extras that were originally included in the game to me is an incentive to buy a product.

THE UGLY
The game gutting has happened so many times before, notably the PS2 games which are still stocked in stores as low purchase incentive due to stored in just yellow envelopes. Not even worth looking thru, not to mention difficult to find a title since there are no game case. Please do not allow a repeat of game case gutting on Wii, PS3 and 360 games as the newer systems come out.

The Bad Ugly
Its been known that Gamestop uses your purchases to keep a record of what you play when using the Power Rewards card. One of their tools is to offer you a Trade In Credit as in the case of the current 50% Extra. They sent me an EMail on two expensive games I had bought from them in the past, even with the bonus I think they are profiting too much!

XEONOBLADE CHRONICLES New $49.99 / Used $79.99 / Bonus 50% Trade In Credit $48.00

METROID TRILOGY Used $64.99 / Bonus 50% Trade In Credit $40.00

Both of these titles average over 100 bucks CIB used online!
Funny how a used copy of Xenoblade costs more then a new copy. Yeah, this game will keep going up in value. The crazy part on the figures above is that these are high on the Trade In Credit to Sale percentage ratio compared to most of their other Trade Ins! Normally on any games traded in, you'll be lucky to get more then a few bucks or even one dollar.

Thanks but No Thanks Gamestop. I plan on keeping my games till I die.

[flojocabron]

same here CRTgamer

I got the same email where they offer me money for my copy of zenoblade, NSMB2, Ni no Kuni, and Fire Emblem.

NOPE!

They offer me $110.40 for them with bonus.

F*ck that!

And yes I did buy them at gamestop.

Sorta Good the past 3-4 years of buying cheapie and new games at gamestop, I used my power up rewards points to get me a free ps3 controler.

MEH The coupon only works with black PS3 controler, not the newer colorful ones.