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

[BurningDoom]

I just came back from EB Games. I saw an Eye Toy accessory and it was only $2.99. I normally wouldn't bother with the thing, but since it was only $2.99 I thought why not add this little oddity to my collection. I dug through their stupid yellow sleeved games to try and find the Eye Toy Game Disc that comes with it. I found it for only $1.99! But it had holes through it. So I brought the disc up front and pointed it out to them and asked if they had another copy. They looked at me like I was crazy. They then proceeded to tell me it was fine and just surface scratches, without even looking at it. So I was like "take a look at it, hold it up to the light". They did, and then agreed they saw them, but then told me it was still fine. They said it was just paint chipped off on the top. So I was like "But you can see all the way through the disc, like if I close one eye and look through that hole, I can see your face." They continued to tell me it was fine and told me if I wanted another disc I can look at another store and did the whole shake their head and laugh thing. So I didn't buy it.

I mean seriously? I know some of us collector's can come off as picky and all, but holes that go all the way through the disc means often times that data is missing. They shouldn't be able to sell games in that condition. Am I being too anal?

[Rurouni_Fencer]

I mean seriously? I know some of us collector's can come off as picky and all, but holes that go all the way through the disc means often times that data is missing. They shouldn't be able to sell games in that condition. Am I being too anal?

Absolutely not.. "The customer is always right."

[BRIK]

Absolutely not, the only hole should be in the middle! Having said that I would of still bought the Eye Toy and looked for the disk somewhere else.

[SplashChick]

I mean seriously? I know some of us collector's can come off as picky and all, but holes that go all the way through the disc means often times that data is missing. They shouldn't be able to sell games in that condition. Am I being too anal?

Absolutely not.. "The customer is always right."

Bullshit. Customers more often than not have no clue what the hell they're talking about, and the whiners are just whining for the attention.

That said, those people were morons. There's no way that disc would work in that condition, and they never should have taken it. But that's how GS does business: Screwing gamers over.

[CRTGAMER]

Obviously some employees at that location who didn't care or just plain ignorant how a disc works. With $60.00 new games being sold, the energy not there for that Retro game. That is wrong. I would definitely post a complaint thru the website. Most local employees I have dealt with treat every customer's purchase just as important.

I still hate the case toss out concept. At least a maybe solution I posted on the previous page?

wow, CRT. So awesome that you got to talk to some higher ups about all this. Did they seem receptive to the notion that some of us might be only buying completes?

It is pretty much a done deal at this stage. I mean most of the stores have already tossed the cases. However, some stores still have complete games so maybe now those will be around just a little while longer in my area. The District Manager pointed out an idea of keeping complete cases in the back room. I mentioned that may not work due to logistics of employees leaving the sales floor to grab a case that may or may not be in the back store room.

As I'm typing this, I just thought of a great work around. I called back to the District Manager here and he is very receptive of this idea. He will bring it back up at the Monday Conference Call Staff Meeting. Hopefully this will apply everywhere across all Gamestops.

The Compromise
Some Gamestops here have kept the game Instruction Books with the games at the register in the drawers with the yellow envelopes to prevent theft loss of the game books. Taken a step further, instead of tossing the manuals, place them with the disc in the yellow envelope for all the under ten dollar "Toss Out Cases" games. Not a perfect solution, but not bad either. I didn't want to push too hard and ask to include the covers. The cover inserts can be found on Google Images and printed up as an less desirable alternative. Hopefully the cover inserts will be common sense be saved too along with the game books. Load up on spare PS2 cases whenever you can.

From the phone call
The PS2 ten dollar toss the cases is in effect, some markets is five dollar or less. There are a few locally here that is in that five dollar category.

Fifteen dollar toss out probably will not happen.

On Gamestop's defense you cannot beat the seven day no hassle returns on used games. The Buy 2 Get 2 Free ends Sunday the 24th of April.

I am buying a ton of GBA, Gamecube and PS2 games. I only get the freebies done when I find enough games from multiple stores with the same price. A refund an repurchase for the best value.

Just to get an idea what my local employees do, I submitted this in the Gamestop online survey:

First please pull this sales transaction, you will be amazed what EMMANUEL (Empoyee #------) at the ------ Gamestop did to get me a great sell on the Buy 2 get 2 free program. I bought games from three other Gamestops and came to this location to take advantage of the bonus free promotion. He promptly refunded all six SKUS from multiple receipts, helped me match up an additional six selected used games. Emmanuel researched all the prices to help me line up games that I chose to get me the best prices. Emmanual also mentioned that my Rewards card was almost ready to expire. I walked out of the store with TWELVE GAMES and a renewed POWER REWARDS CARD.

As line 18 insinuates in the Survey: SETS THE STANDARD ON CUSTOMER SERVICE . Promote this employee immediately!

Also would like to mention another employee from the ------ Gamestop Alexandra (Employee #------) did the same thing a few days before. I was also reminded of the Power rewards card getting ready to expire there as well. Same mathematical logistics to get me the best deal from previous purchases. I walked out the store very happy with six used games.

Thankyou Gamestop you are my number one source for Playstation 2, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance games and Playstation 3 games! Just as important is the expertise and genuine concern for customers in the store.

Still another couple of bags of purchases to get sorted, two more days!

[saturnfan]

I can not remember the last time I bought a "new" game at gamestop and it was still shrink wrapped. Instead they open all their games and plaster them with stickers and still charge the full new price.

[dunpeal2064]

I mean seriously? I know some of us collector's can come off as picky and all, but holes that go all the way through the disc means often times that data is missing. They shouldn't be able to sell games in that condition. Am I being too anal?

Absolutely not.. "The customer is always right."

Bullshit. Customers more often than not have no clue what the hell they're talking about, and the whiners are just whining for the attention.

If you ever worked in customer service, you would know that that doesn't matter. The customer IS always right. Even when they aren't right, they are right.

What is silly about this situation, is that gamestop employees are instructed to never take in games if ANYTHING is wrong with the top of the disc. Surface scratches are ok, and deep scratches get sent in for referb, but top damaged discs are always supposed to be rejected.

Thats how I was trained anyways, could be different now.

[BurningDoom]

I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. I still didn't make a big deal nor am I gonna complain online, though. I mean it was only a $2.99 accessory with a $1.99 disc. I just wanted to make sure I was right and not just being an anal collector.

[SplashChick]

If you ever worked in customer service, you would know that that doesn't matter. The customer IS always right. Even when they aren't right, they are right.

What is silly about this situation, is that gamestop employees are instructed to never take in games if ANYTHING is wrong with the top of the disc. Surface scratches are ok, and deep scratches get sent in for referb, but top damaged discs are always supposed to be rejected.

Thats how I was trained anyways, could be different now.

I've worked in customer service for 3 years, and "the customer is always right" is a load of bullshit that drama queens use an an excuse to whine in the store.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

I just came back from EB Games. I saw an Eye Toy accessory and it was only $2.99. I normally wouldn't bother with the thing, but since it was only $2.99 I thought why not add this little oddity to my collection. I dug through their stupid yellow sleeved games to try and find the Eye Toy Game Disc that comes with it. I found it for only $1.99! But it had holes through it. So I brought the disc up front and pointed it out to them and asked if they had another copy. They looked at me like I was crazy. They then proceeded to tell me it was fine and just surface scratches, without even looking at it. So I was like "take a look at it, hold it up to the light". They did, and then agreed they saw them, but then told me it was still fine. They said it was just paint chipped off on the top. So I was like "But you can see all the way through the disc, like if I close one eye and look through that hole, I can see your face." They continued to tell me it was fine and told me if I wanted another disc I can look at another store and did the whole shake their head and laugh thing. So I didn't buy it.

I mean seriously? I know some of us collector's can come off as picky and all, but holes that go all the way through the disc means often times that data is missing. They shouldn't be able to sell games in that condition. Am I being too anal?

DVD's don't matter for topside damage.

The media for the data itself is pressed between two pieces of plastic and not disturbed at all by label scratches. Look at the center hole for the spindle on any DVD and you'll notice the two halves that get pressed together and where the epoxy that holds them in place is.

The top label is just that, a silk-screened label and merely for decoration purposes.

If you were to have a blue CD disc then it's a different story and data is printed immediately below the label on a single piece disc.