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

[CRTGAMER]

I'm actually dreading going to my local Game Stop to TRY and exchange a game I bought this past Saturday. I bought GH:Warriors of Rock for the Wii brand new and it was the last copy but I noticed they do have it in the bundle deals (i.e. w/ the guitar or Super bundle w/ all the instruments). I have RB 2 instruments that work fine w/ the guitars & mic but the drums are impossible so I want to exchange the game(full price, no trade in shit) for the Super bundle w/ the Drums and pay the difference. I just have this feeling they won't let me exchange it though and my only option will be a trade in because the game was opened. Their policies really blow, I think it's a fair request being the clerk told me that I could use the RB2 instruments which was why I bought GH. I'm going to try and if they won't do it then I'm going to complain to corporate. Hopefully it won't come to that but I have a feeling it will. Anyone think they'll do this for me without going to corporate to complain? Thanks guys!

Well that was your fault, should not have broken the seal on a new game. Complain to Corporate only if it legitimate, which in this case it is not.

As a workaround, is there a sealed game inside the bundle? Maybe Gamestop can take the sealed game out. You keep the opened game and buy the bundle at the regular price.

I would never buy a new game that is not shrunk wrapped, so many other competitors might carry it sealed. I did make one exception though. I bought an out of print PS2 game from Gamestop, a very old display copy of Raiden III.

The Bad
As others pointed out the DLC codes are a real concern for many new games. I asked one employee about Wii registration numbers. He takes advantage of them on any trade in, figures to build up his own points for Nintendo freebies. That is not right.

The Good
I mentioned earlier of keeping great rapport with the local District Managers. I do this by not only offering CONSTRUCTIVE complaints, but also praise great employees thru the Gamestop Survey site. The district Manager just called me again today for more insight. He pointed out exactly which stores will no longer sell PS2 games. They will continue to accept PS2 trade ins and then send out to designated stores. I also confirmed a few stores near me will be the designated stores. The best part? The PS2 games will be kept complete!

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

The best/worst analogy is that it's like a car or a book on the shelf at a store. You can get the fresh and completely new ones for a good while when they come out, or even order one in advance. But don't expect to come by months later and grab one that doesn't have a few miles on it or some weathering. You can argue all you want, but it's the definition of new that's being argued and the games themselves haven't been played. If you see a store checking out new games to an employee report it to your local district manager and see it all stop, fast.

that's bullshit though. If I buy my games at Best Buy then I can expect to not have a gutted one now matter how long ago the release date.

But they're not BestBuy, they are a specialty store and fall under a completely different category. Just like book stores, comic book shops, music stores that let customers demo CD's, trading card shops, etc... etc... Plus, if you want a better analogy look at floor display models. Oftentimes they aren't sold with any form of discount at all and people don't complain, they either don't buy and go somewhere else or suck it up because that's the last model of a cheaper set. If you want to end the practice in your local district complain to the district manager, but understand that all that display paper comes out of the store's profit and the manger's pocket, not GameStop's money.

[brunoafh]

^ I would have to agree with the jist of what he's saying.

Then again, the points he highlighted are why I avoid Gamestop at all costs. The Sengoku Basara thing I posted above was and will be my final trip to Gamestop.

Also Mod_Man, I agree that I should have contacted the DM. I did not though, I felt it was much easier to just not bother with the store ever again and just use more reliable distributors. I barely buy new games anyway.

[BurningDoom]

I agree that GameStop is a monopoly. I don't know about other areas, but in California it most definetly is. There's 4 GameStops in my area, and not 1 other gaming store chain, not 1. There's a local a used music shop, and a local used movie store that both happen to sell used games. But they can't compete with GameStop on their level and they're locally owned and operated.

The only other chain I've even heard of that is specifically gaming and still operates is Play-N-Trade, which I have none of which in my area (but would LOVE to have one). All the GameCrazys over here shut down. All the EB Games were bought-out by GameStop, as were all the FuncoLands both years ago.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

^Read pages 64-present

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... &start=630

Also, if any of you are pissed about opened games that are on the shelf as new you do know GameStop can give you a 10% shopworn discount for them if you truly demand it, right? It's in the options for every transaction and we've got little toppers for returned new accessory bags and other things that proudly displays it.

If they try to give you hell call a district manager and make them do it. The process is simple and takes 5 seconds.

[Hobie-wan]

But they're not BestBuy, they are a specialty store and fall under a completely different category. Just like book stores, comic book shops, music stores that let customers demo CD's, trading card shops, etc... etc...

Good point. Though CD stores don't (or generally shouldn't be) opening up retail CDs for demo purposes that then sell to customers anymore. My favorite music store used to do that, but then when all the big record companies were freaking out about Napster and such, they threatened music stores that would let customers try any disc they wanted at stations with employees there. Granted a lot of the stuff I buy is indie, even distributed stuff was affected and the store had a huge list of labels they couldn't demo. Eventually they just took out the demo stations so you couldn't even try the indie or used stuff.

[CFFJR]

Good point. Though CD stores don't (or generally shouldn't be) opening up retail CDs for demo purposes that then sell to customers anymore. My favorite music store used to do that, but then when all the big record companies were freaking out about Napster and such, they threatened music stores that would let customers try any disc they wanted at stations with employees there. Granted a lot of the stuff I buy is indie, even distributed stuff was affected and the store had a huge list of labels they couldn't demo. Eventually they just took out the demo stations so you couldn't even try the indie or used stuff.

So that's why cd demo stations disappeared! How annoying!

[Hobie-wan]

So that's why cd demo stations disappeared! How annoying!

Yeah, you'd think they were worried about people realizing how much crapola and albums with 1 or 2 'good' songs with filler they were putting out.

[pepharytheworm]

FYEs still have plenty of demo stations. You scan the barcode then get to listen to 30 sec samples of all the tracks.

[lisalover1]

Went to my local Gamestop today, and was horrified to find this:

The clerk said that around 90% of the games had their cases and/or manuals thrown out.