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

[chupon]

I hadn't been in a Gamestop to buy anything for about a year now for all the reasons people complain about in this thread. In the last two weeks however, I've been in two different stores and had two experiences that re-aligned my dislike for the store and it's employees.

I'm aware people on this forum work for Gamestop. To you guys, know that the bad apples make me hate the store and loathe all of the employees. Not your fault but in my opinion you are all guilty by association.


Incident Number 1:
1290 E Ireland RD
Bldg X100, Erskine Village, South Bend, IN
(574) 231-9117

I pop in at random during a lunch out mid day. Not sure what made me go in but to my surprise it was a buy 2 get 1 day. Cool! I pretty thrifty and with few exceptions don't pay full price for games at release. Figure today I can score three solid PS3 or 360 titles for less than $35 if I get lucky. I find three titles! Lost Odyssey, Final Fantasy 13 2, and Kingdoms of Amalur. I'm pretty pumped figuring I'm going to have close to 250 hours of gameplay for ~$35. I'm kidding myself because I'm never going to actually have time to play through all these but whatever - still pumped about what I think is a good deal. I also snagged a new Ultra SF4 for PS3 that was mislabeled for $20 new.

So I hand the guy behind the counter the used games saying I'd like these three please. The guy behind the counter says he can't sell me FF 13 2 because the game is shit. The guy actually said that. There's another dad with his son who looks about 8 behind me and the guy I'm dealing with swears and says he's not going to sell me this game. The other employee behind the counter is just leaning against the counter snickering. He could be helping the other family in line. Instead he's laughing at the asshole I'm dealing with. I brush it off as the dude grabs the games and goes to the used drawer where the disks are. He comes back with two games sans FF 13 2. Seriously. WTF. I calmly tell the guy I'd like to get the FF game as the third game per the promotion they're advertising. This guy says man you're making a huge mistake and wasting your money. This game is absolute crap he says. At this point I throw up my hands shrugging and say I want the game. The guy rolls his eyes and begrudgingly gets it out of the drawer. Don't way I didn't warn you he says as I'm walking out.

I also grabbed Ultra SF4 on PS3 that was mislabeled for $20 new. Same guy looks at the sticker on the case and says that's mis-priced. He says he's going to "allow" me to have it for the marked price but that he was tired of the incompetence and knows who mis-marked it. He also said he was going to fire that kid. Lovely.

So while I'm happy I think I did well this guy personifies what I believe Gamestop Employees to be. Stuck up ignorant jerks who will probably have Gamestop jobs for the rest of their lives. Sucks for everyone who chooses to shop there.



Incident Number 2:
52991 Indiana State Route 933
STE D, South Bend, IN
(574) 243-4780

Just this afternoon and the reason I'm motivated to write about all this. So last week my nice old mom sends me a $50 giftcard to the Gamestop. How nice. Too bad I have to deal with these assholes again.

No deals running today. After circling the stores used sections for all systems and asking a few questions about colors for the New 3DS systems a real nice Gamestop girl answered all my questions. She even tells me that Gamestop is changing how the buy 2 get 1 free thing is going to work. It's only going to work with games sub $25. Smart move for the business, bad for the gamer. This is great I'm thinking. She's honestly and sincerely telling me what she knows and is trying to help. Then I ask about Xenoblade 3DS having heard it was recently released. Do you have any copies in by chance I ask.

The store manager, a bald troll in his late 40's, immediately butts in from across the store and comes walking over. Before he's half way to us he's already shouted twice that the store is all out of Xenoblade 3DS. Something didn't seem right. I ask the girl if she could check her computer and she says sure. Before she gets there the manager says he's sure they're all out. Girl does her thing and says they have three copies! FUCK YEAH! Guy immediately counters with, "that can't be right I just checked," and "they're all on reserve hold for preorders." The girl says that only one seems to be marked that way in the computer and begins checking the drawers for the other copies not turning anything up. The manager says and I fucking kid you not, "if you can find them you can have them." and shuffles to the back room. Unbelievable isn't it?

Girl keeps looking saying she'll find me one. I start chatting her up saying it seemed like he really didn't want to sell me one. I didn't want her to get in trouble or anything. She says they're somehow related and doesn't seem worried. I ask about the display case on the shelf high up behind the counter. She says oh yeah - guess I can well you that one but it's been opened. I'll take it I say.

Then we go through the whole well I guess there's no instructions with this - oh yeah - games don't come with those anymore... Since this is an opened copy I have to put this clear circle sticker over it to keep it sealed. Sticker residue everywhere.

This girl was great and I plan on writing something nice into corporate for her. She's my hope for Gamestop and as far as I'm concerned the best employee at a Gamestop I've ever dealt with.



I'm not proofing this nor do I care what other think about my opinions on Gamestop employees. Just adding to this thread which clearly has Gamestop in the wrong in most instances.

[Sarge]

Wow, those are two horrible experiences. I'd hate my local store if it were like that. All the folks I know there are awesome.

Look, I have no problems with someone telling me a game isn't very good. In fact, I appreciate it! But if I say I want it, it's not your place to tell me you're not going to sell it to me. Moreover, I suspect higher-ups would be severely displeased that you had a chance to sell product, and you're not. (I'm also not against thinking that maybe the dude was put up to it by his friend or something as a dare. Who knows? It's awful either way.)

That second case is weird, but my first thought is that he was trying to surreptitiously save the games for someone else, and potentially himself. Maybe even biding his time to see if there's a lot of demand, and resell. Who knows?

Anyway, maybe you can find some better stores, or your feedback will help change some things in those. I'd complain for sure.

[CRTGAMER]

Girl keeps looking saying she'll find me one. I start chatting her up saying it seemed like he really didn't want to sell me one. I didn't want her to get in trouble or anything. She says they're somehow related and doesn't seem worried. I ask about the display case on the shelf high up behind the counter. She says oh yeah - guess I can well you that one but it's been opened. I'll take it I say.

Then we go through the whole well I guess there's no instructions with this - oh yeah - games don't come with those anymore... Since this is an opened copy I have to put this clear circle sticker over it to keep it sealed. Sticker residue everywhere.

This girl was great and I plan on writing something nice into corporate for her. She's my hope for Gamestop and as far as I'm concerned the best employee at a Gamestop I've ever dealt with.

If you have not posted your customer survey yet, maybe let Corporate know about her Manager so he does not retaliate and get her fired. A good employee like that who ignored her Manager's bad call to take care of a customer should be the Store Manager. Most employees would not step past their coworker let alone a Manager to help a customer as confirmed by that first Gamestop visit in you post.

As for that nasty clear tape to seal an opened used game, a very very stupid policy. The employee is required to place the seal on opened new games to allow for a refund as long as the case is still sealed with that circle tape.

1. Tell the employee you know the broken seal policy and you will not refund the opened new game. You do not want YOUR game you are buying with tape glue that is hard to remove.

2. AFTER purchasing, then tell the employee that a defective game won't be known until the seal is tampered to point out how silly that rule is!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Brootal stories, chupon. I despise the FF 13 games myself but there's no reason to insult the taste of a customer. Plus, it could have been a gift for all the employee knew...

I've actually had better luck at my local GS lately. It's a younger crowd working there and they're all quite friendly. In the past it had been the bitter middle-aged employees that generally gave me a hard time.

Actually the stores with their "new system" can no longer see out any further than us as a customer can.

This reminds me of the last time I requested a game, the Samurai Shodown collection on PS2, and at the time the closest one the GameStop system had in was over 1000 miles away.

Just buy the MVS carts brah.

[Tanooki]

Wow chupon, just wow. I think that employee is fairly lucky he didn't get the wrong person with a short temper with his fantasy argument that FF13-2 is so shit that he wouldn't sell you it without harassment. A nastier person would have grabbed him for that for cussing in front of a kid and insulting the buyer. You just don't do that. And the other manager troll, I feel sorry for that girl, one for putting up with him in that place and two if she was honest about them being related. You should call into corporate, let them know the store id# on the receipt and what happened so the girl doesn't get in trouble and that dude does.

[darsparx]

You guys explain the one reason that if i do go to gamestop that i keep to the store where this one lady seems to be stuck in for the time being since she's the nicest employeee they have that doesn't seem snobby. Though oddly I've still yet to have someone try to persuade me out of a game whenever I've been there....

[Ack]

Actually the stores with their "new system" can no longer see out any further than us as a customer can.

This reminds me of the last time I requested a game, the Samurai Shodown collection on PS2, and at the time the closest one the GameStop system had in was over 1000 miles away.

Just buy the MVS carts brah.

Already got two of them on MVS and a port of III on the Saturn. But I did eventually find the collection.

[CRTGAMER]

THE GOOD
Due to Metal Jesus's review of Wii Mad Dog McCree, I finally remembered to take a trip out to Gamestop to buy the game. After all, a few weeks ago there were at least ten Gamestop locations that had the game in stock.

At only $2.69 surely there must be a CIB at one of the locations.

THE BAD
Turns out now there is only ONE Gamestop locally that had it in stock, of course a generic case. Calling stores further away all were scratched up disc only. The game was averaging around twenty bucks online, really indicates a Reseller hit all the stores locally for this reviewed as crappy Lightgun game.

THE EVIL
Gaaah I hate resellers. Sometimes they are at Bookoff scanning every barcode blocking the aisle. I swear I will start "accidently" bumping into them and oops five hundred dollar iPhone splattered all over the floor!

THE GOOD
Found an Ebay Star rated seller who has FIVE brand new copies (well, now four) for only $9.99 shipped! Yeah the game is reviewed as crap, but I did play the original Laser disc version back in the day and also have the very ancient PC version which had FMV resolution of a Gameboy.

Looking forward to try all three games and especially seeing the campy footage of the Undertaker again. If this "Laser Disc" game has access time like the Wii Dragons Lair disc, I can more the live with the Lightgun delays. Now that I think about it, a pristine disc for this game is a must due to the high access rate of all the video. Worth getting a new disc for the "movie" video nostalgia of early CDRom and Laser Adisc games.

[KayJay]

The GS near me is pretty good. I've had a couple of conversations with them, and they are all pretty helpful, and greet me when i go in.



So yeah, as far as retail goes, i like them.

[Fragems]

Looks like Gamestop dropped their standard Playstation TV systems down to $40 online, but it looks like they have cleared out. Think I saw a few of them in store in the area will have to check them out when I go to the mall tomorrow.

http://www.gamestop.com/ps4/accessories ... tem/115547