Gamestop sued for misleading used game ads

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Hell, my manager buddy flat out told me that the company is ok with robbing people blind and taking their games. He had a young kid (as in younger than 10) trade in 5 games for a total of 11 dollars credit or something, and couldn't say "no we cannot accept these games from you" to try and help the kid out because it's against store policy. So this kid trades in his games, gets his 11 dollars store credit, realizes he can't get anything with it, cries to his dad, his dad gets into it with my buddy (the manager), who calls up someone from corporate, who then tells the father "perhaps you should watch what your child does more closely".

What the **** kind of soulless company is that?

Well, lets be fair. They are a corporation.

The bottomline is all that matters.

This is kinda a must-have if you want to be a successful corporation, probably.

 

[Havok83]

When I was growing up, Gamestop was one of many gaming stores and they were always my least favorite. I never went there and didnt like dealing with them. I always preferred Babbages, Electronic Boutiques/EBX, Software Etc. Then Gamestop bought them out

 

[amazingfantasy15]

Cool to hate gamestop? You honestly think I give a **** what peers think of me to a point where I'd take a stance on something blindly like this? I've been ****ed in the ass by Gamestop plenty of times to know how ****ed they really are. I have some very, very close friends who work at different gamestops. One's a manager, one's a newly hired clerk. They BOTH have these 'horror stories' of how awful the place really is.

Hell, my manager buddy flat out told me that the company is ok with robbing people blind and taking their games. He had a young kid (as in younger than 10) trade in 5 games for a total of 11 dollars credit or something, and couldn't say "no we cannot accept these games from you" to try and help the kid out because it's against store policy. So this kid trades in his games, gets his 11 dollars store credit, realizes he can't get anything with it, cries to his dad, his dad gets into it with my buddy (the manager), who calls up someone from corporate, who then tells the father "perhaps you should watch what your child does more closely".

What the **** kind of soulless company is that?

But go ahead, just post some 1 liner about how I'm stupid, when you're clearly some kind of expert on the subject.

Actually I side with Gamestop in that case. The father should've been right there when the kid was selling the games, asking how much he'd get, then explained it to his son. The employees are most likely high school or college kids with this as a part time job, they don't give a crap, it's in no way a career. I never buy from Gamestop, I can get the same game at Best Buy for the same price and points for my Rewards card.

 

[JaD]

Here's a rundown of why gamestop sucks dick.

Their company policies and stances are absolutely ridiculous. Did you know that they're not actually supposed to tell you how much in store credit you're getting from games until you actually agree to give them the games over? Not every follows this policy, but it still stands.

They'll buy used games from you and sell them with a 500% markup of what they bought them for. I sold them a few games years back for something like a total of 30 dollars for 8 games, and the next week I saw each one of those 8 games for 19.99+.

Their warrenty/preorder system is a joke. Preorders don't mean **** other than "I already partially paid for the game". Think it means you'll be guarenteed a copy? Think again. If you' get there before they sell out, then yah good for you, but if it's a game that's going to sell out and you pre-order without getting there before they do sellout, you're going to be **** out of luck. The Warranty system is even more of a joke. They have their own special warranties for RROD's and what not with the 360, but it ends up costing an extraordinary amount compared to dealing with Microsoft themselves.

Managers and employees will lie, cheat, and steal from you, right in front of your face. I actually had someone tell me "No, Demons Souls never got ported to America, if you want it you'll have to get the Weeaboo version, you should pick up blahblahblah instead"

The employees there are an absolute joke. Maybe not 100% of them, but a good 90% of them will scoff at any purchase you make that they don't find cool. Wanna buy a game for your nephew ? Get mocked with things like "why is someone as old as you playing these games"? or "want anything else, something more mature like MW2 or MAG?" so on and so forth - as if my reasoning for buying whatever game or accessory I'm buying is any of their business.

The "new games" are an absolute joke too. What's that? If you're not one of the people that gets the first wave of shipments in you're going to have to grab one of the display cases that's already opened, and we're going to give you a game from an envelope under our drawer where countless neckbeards have gotten their smuggy ass fingerprints all over the bottom. Oh, and did I forget to mention the whole "if you're a gamestop employee you can 'rent' out any new games" - preorders be damned. I went to pick up a copy of Knights in a Nightmare, and when the dude grabbed the game he went "oh hey I remember this game, yeah I was playing this one earlier, its not very good". Got home and there was already a save file that was halfway completed. This was supposed to be a new copy.

So yes, Gamestop is a piece of ****. 90% of it's employees are pieces of ****. It's corporate model is a piece of ****. It's policies are pieces of ****. If a company like Sony or hell Planters Peanuts tried to pull the same kind of ******** gamestop pulls they'd be shut down pretty swiftly. But, it's just video games right, so who cares?

I get all my **** at Target/BestBuy now. Which, is much better to be honest. No snarky ass comments from clerks, cheaper prices, and the games are actually sealed when you buy them, new. Who woulda thunk ?

The $5, is the problem.

That, and employees using the new games as they're own personal game rental store.

All this hate for GameStop

And the store policy is we're allowed to rent used games for up to 4 days at a time, but new games are a no-go. New game traded in the week after, hell, I run after it if I see it on the shelf. A friend of mine told me the store policy used to let you rent "new" games from the store that weren't preowned. He said that was very bad, and I agreed. And the only store policy I know of of that trade-in policy thing is not being allowed to tell you over the phone how much credit you can get, but you have to bring it in. There's no way you have to agree to give them over, you just have to let us run it through the computer.

But damn, I'm realy just amazed at how much people disliked Gamestop that's all. I'm not trying to say their perfect but you guys may have the worst Gamestops in the country if people talk to you like that. I actually told my coworker the other day that I wasn't used to speaking so casually with customers at a job before, so maybe that's the problem. But we're encouraged to talk about pre-orders, the new games for their system coming out etc. I bought Bayonetta the other day at my store and can kinda agree with you at the scoffing thing. 'Cause my coworker was asking me "Really? You wanna buy this? Really?" But I take it more of as teasing since I see him all the time and I'm not gonna get bugged out over it, if I was just some normal customer on the other hand, you wouldn't need to be making comments like that. And the only reason I think we stick with the display case thing is because of how our stores get robbed. My manager was already robbed at gunpoint before. Why have an empty store or everything behind a glass case when you can have display copies out for us to look at? And you don't have to buy the display case, I've yet to have a problem with a customer who didn't want the display case. Maybe a kid one time who was like ehhh, I was ready to put it back but he said he didn't care. You guys seem insulted when asked if you want the display copy version. Right underneath Amazon for me, Gamestop is my favorite place to buy video games. But I can agree a few tweaks to some of their policies would make people happier.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

And I' not a piece of s***. *sobs in corner*

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Cool to hate gamestop? You honestly think I give a **** what peers think of me to a point where I'd take a stance on something blindly like this? I've been ****ed in the ass by Gamestop plenty of times to know how ****ed they really are. I have some very, very close friends who work at different gamestops. One's a manager, one's a newly hired clerk. They BOTH have these 'horror stories' of how awful the place really is.

Hell, my manager buddy flat out told me that the company is ok with robbing people blind and taking their games. He had a young kid (as in younger than 10) trade in 5 games for a total of 11 dollars credit or something, and couldn't say "no we cannot accept these games from you" to try and help the kid out because it's against store policy. So this kid trades in his games, gets his 11 dollars store credit, realizes he can't get anything with it, cries to his dad, his dad gets into it with my buddy (the manager), who calls up someone from corporate, who then tells the father "perhaps you should watch what your child does more closely".

What the **** kind of soulless company is that?

But go ahead, just post some 1 liner about how I'm stupid, when you're clearly some kind of expert on the subject.

L.O.L

I know you are lying because a 10 yr old kid cant trade in games. Haha c'mon man, try harder with your bulls**t next time.

Stop thinking the world is made of rainbows and marshmellows. You'll be better off.

. Best Buy and Target always have enough copies of games, and I don't feel like I'm walking into a porn store when I go in... time to go drink some whiskey and forget about all of this.

Haha, i find this funny as hell, because i kind of feel the same way. Iv worked there in the past and will prob go back to work there this summer yet i still feel the same. I always kind of peek over my shoulder before going in there.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

But damn, I'm realy just amazed at how much people disliked Gamestop that's all. I'm not trying to say their perfect but you guys may have the worst Gamestops in the country if people talk to you like that. I actually told my coworker the other day that I wasn't used to speaking so casually with customers at a job before, so maybe that's the problem. But we're encouraged to talk about pre-orders, the new games for their system coming out etc. I bought Bayonetta the other day at my store and can kinda agree with you at the scoffing thing. 'Cause my coworker was asking me "Really? You wanna buy this? Really?" But I take it more of as teasing since I see him all the time and I'm not gonna get bugged out over it, if I was just some normal customer on the other hand, you wouldn't need to be making comments like that. And the only reason I think we stick with the display case thing is because of how our stores get robbed. My manager was already robbed at gunpoint before. Why have an empty store or everything behind a glass case when you can have display copies out for us to look at? And you don't have to buy the display case, I've yet to have a problem with a customer who didn't want the display case. Maybe a kid one time who was like ehhh, I was ready to put it back but he said he didn't care. You guys seem insulted when asked if you want the display copy version. Right underneath Amazon for me, Gamestop is my favorite place to buy video games. But I can agree a few tweaks to some of their policies would make people happier.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

And I' not a piece of s***. *sobs in corner*

Most of the hate towards Gamestop is unwarranted. It's primarily because they are THE biggest games retailer. Gamers tend to be immature thus you see some of the ridiculous "hatred" towards the company. Most ppl who are tossing the 'hate' don't actually have a viable reason. Im not saying there aren't ppl out there who haven't been screwed over or have dealt with an inept employee but no more than any other retailer that pays its employee's minimum wage. Gamestop is no better or worse than any other major corporation.

 

[SouLeSS]

L.O.L

I know you are lying because a 10 yr old kid cant trade in games. Haha c'mon man, try harder with your bulls**t next time.

Stop thinking the world is made of rainbows and marshmellows. You'll be better off.

Yeah, I'm going to take the word of a gamestop drone over one of my best friends whos worked with Gamestop for 3 years now and is a manager.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Yeah, I'm going to take the word of a gamestop drone over one of my best friends whos worked with Gamestop for 3 years now and is a manager.

Haha. Its ok man. Keep fighting that 'power'. You'll get em.

 

[SouLeSS]

What power? What am I fighting?

I just don't shop there, that's all. You seem to be delusional. Just because I can give you some valid reasons as to why Gamestop is such a **** corporation in response to an insult you threw my way just because I said gamestop and companies like it are ruining the world doesn't mean I'm fighting some kind of big huge battle against corporate America.

It just means I'm not a braindead drone.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

What power? What am I fighting?

I just don't shop there, that's all. You seem to be delusional. Just because I can give you some valid reasons as to why Gamestop is such a **** corporation in response to an insult you threw my way just because I said gamestop and companies like it are ruining the world doesn't mean I'm fighting some kind of big huge battle against corporate America.

It just means I'm not a braindead drone.

Really? How is Gamestop ruining the world?

 

[SouLeSS]

It and companies like it. Companies that leech off their customers and exploit their ignorance. Buying out all the big competition and forcing mom/pop stores to shut down. You think those companies are good for the world?

 

[amazingfantasy15]

It and companies like it. Companies that leech off their customers and exploit their ignorance. Buying out all the big competition and forcing mom/pop stores to shut down. You think those companies are good for the world?

I've been buying or been bought video games since the days of Coleco Vision, in that time I've used Toys R Us, Funcoland, Babbages, Best Buy, Target and Gamestop, I've never even seen a "mom & pop" video game store. Video Games have always been sold primarily at huge chain companies. If anything Gamestop is the "mom and pop" store of the video game world because that's really all they sell is video games.

 

[JaD]

Most of the hate towards Gamestop is unwarranted. It's primarily because they are THE biggest games retailer. Gamers tend to be immature thus you see some of the ridiculous "hatred" towards the company. Most ppl who are tossing the 'hate' don't actually have a viable reason. Im not saying there aren't ppl out there who haven't been screwed over or have dealt with an inept employee but no more than any other retailer that pays its employee's minimum wage. Gamestop is no better or worse than any other major corporation.

I wasn't even going to mention this because I didn't feel it was even part of the conversation, but it's somewhat related. But I've already received a bit of hate working there so far, and my manager told me to prepare for it after I got hired there after I told him a story about one of the first few days working there, I got one of the dirtiest looks from someone who apparently tried to get a job there but didn't get it because of I got hired. He even asked me if I was the new guy and I said "Yeah, not gonna come after me are ya? *jokingly*" and he was like "Oh yeah, man. My friend's got a shotgun." *laughs nervously* Ahem. It wasn't even that comment at all, it was his friend he was with who was giving me the biggest "F*** you." look I've seen in a long time. When I told my manager a week or two later about how my first few days have gone and that story, he told me just be prepared to have people hate on you when you work here.

People are gonna think you don't know jacksquat about games at all (I'm not a hardcore multiplatform gamer and will admit I'm 50% Sony, 50% everything else but I'm always learning), and that you're always trying to rip them off. When really, you can save a sh**load of money from Gamestop, especially if you buy used or trade in old games for credit. I never buy games from Best Buy anymore and use them as an absolute last resort. To put Best Buy above Gamestop in terms of games is baffling to me. But Gamestop is still far from perfect.

 

[Havok83]

I never buy games from Best Buy anymore and use them as an absolute last resort. To put Best Buy above Gamestop in terms of games is baffling to me. But Gamestop is still far from perfect.

For one Best Buy price matches other competitors, something GS doesnt do. Last week I pretty much got GoW3 from Best Buy bc they pricematched Toys R Us' $20 gift card in addition to the $10 they were offering for buying the game that week. Each purchase at BB is added towards Rewardzone Points and after you spend a certain amount you get vouchers for $5, $10 or $20 off. In addition they frequently send me coupons for 10% off. These are my reasons for getting games at BB. I only go to GS for games if they have a preorder incentive and even then I often cancel after Ive recieved it bc GS is never the cheapest option for new games

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I wasn't even going to mention this because I didn't feel it was even part of the conversation, but it's somewhat related. But I've already received a bit of hate working there so far, and my manager told me to prepare for it after I got hired there after I told him a story about one of the first few days working there, I got one of the dirtiest looks from someone who apparently tried to get a job there but didn't get it because of I got hired. He even asked me if I was the new guy and I said "Yeah, not gonna come after me are ya? *jokingly*" and he was like "Oh yeah, man. My friend's got a shotgun." *laughs nervously* Ahem. It wasn't even that comment at all, it was his friend he was with who was giving me the biggest "F*** you." look I've seen in a long time. When I told my manager a week or two later about how my first few days have gone and that story, he told me just be prepared to have people hate on you when you work here.

People are gonna think you don't know jacksquat about games at all (I'm not a hardcore multiplatform gamer and will admit I'm 50% Sony, 50% everything else but I'm always learning), and that you're always trying to rip them off. When really, you can save a sh**load of money from Gamestop, especially if you buy used or trade in old games for credit. I never buy games from Best Buy anymore and use them as an absolute last resort. To put Best Buy above Gamestop in terms of games is baffling to me. But Gamestop is still far from perfect.

If you're buying new games, it costs the same anywhere you go and I get rewards points at Best Buy, might not be much, but it's an advantage Best Buy has. Although I did just get an email about a sale at Gamestop and Rabbids Go Home on Wii is on sale for $20, which is the price point I was waiting for it to drop to, so I'll probably pick it up this weekend.

 

[JaD]

For one Best Buy price matches other competitors, something GS doesnt do. Last week I pretty much got GoW3 from Best Buy bc they pricematched Toys R Us' $20 gift card in addition to the $10 they were offering for buying the game that week. Each purchase at BB is added towards Rewardzone Points and after you spend a certain amount you get vouchers for $5, $10 or $20 off. In addition they frequently send me coupons for 10% off. These are my reasons for getting games at BB. I only go to GS for games if they have a preorder incentive and even then I often cancel after Ive recieved it bc GS is never the cheapest option for new games

If you're buying new games, it costs the same anywhere you go and I get rewards points at Best Buy, might not be much, but it's an advantage Best Buy has. Although I did just get an email about a sale at Gamestop and Rabbids Go Home on Wii is on sale for $20, which is the price point I was waiting for it to drop to, so I'll probably pick it up this weekend.

I guess since I've never got into the whole Rewards program at BB I don't know about how much I could be saving. But I think either way I mostly buy from Amazon and end up saving money from both places. A camera I bought last year cost me about 750$ on Amazon and Best Buy had it up to 825$ when I was browsing other store's prices. That's why I've never enjoyed buying from there.

 

[Havok83]

well one reason to go to Amazon over BB is the no tax depending on your state. I dont go to BB as much as I used to but when I do the price matching and reward incentives are the main reasons why I do. I dont have a main place where I get my games. I pretty much get to where I can get the best bargain. So far this uear, Ive pruchased 3 new games (HR, FFXIII and GoW3). HR was at Amazon and the latter 2 at BB. The next game I will buy will be SSFIV. So far Amazon has the best price but I think I wil get it at BB simply bc I now have $40 in credit due to buying FFXIII and GoW3 there

 

[StrainedEyes]

Haha, i find this funny as hell, because i kind of feel the same way. Iv worked there in the past and will prob go back to work there this summer yet i still feel the same. I always kind of peek over my shoulder before going in there.

It's just all about the atmosphere. The overall gray tone, the strange people looking at cases on the walls, the posters covering up what few windows there are, the fact that everything is locked behind the counter. Seriously if GS is ever in danger of going out of business they could easily switch over to XXX and do just fine. They would have to rethink their whole focus on the used market, though.

 

[Spider-Vader]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A[/YT]

For both of them.

 

[Fading]

You can toss me in the group that doesn't understand why there's so much hate for Gamestop. Now I do dislike that it hurts the game developers themselves, don't get me wrong, I purposefully buy games like Heavy Rain new to support the developer. It's just past that, you know what you're getting into with Gamestop. If you grab a handful of games, and take them to a Gamestop, you shouldn't be surprised at what they offer. Plus, everytime I've traded games in, they've TOLD ME how much everything was worth at that point, and I had the option of saying, "No, I'd rather not trade them" at that point.

To me tho, just having the option of having 5 or so games I have no intention of playing anymore, and getting money back from them to put towards a new game is great. I agree with Havok that I prefered EB, but what can you do? EB's not there, Gamestop is, and I know about what Gamestop's going to give me for a game.

I also want to ask why everyones Gamestop experience differs from mine. I keep saying ppl say they trade in 4-6 games and get $11...never has happened with me. In fact, when Gamestop was having their 50% extra on in store credit deal lately, I traded in 3 PS3 games, and a handful of PS2 games I have no plans on playing anymore, and got over $80 with that deal. Enough to buy a new game, and part of a second one. Even tho I know I was losing money considering when I bought them originally they were all $60...I was fine with that because they had no value setting on my shelf collecting dust. Atleast that way I was able to get something more out of them after having played them to death.

 

[deathshead2]

While I miss Funcoland there really isn't much left to do. No matter where you go your going to get ripped off. Theres a ton of small stores that sell dvds and video games, and while they say, "We have better deals", they don't. They have the same crap deals, with the same broken used games like gamestop.

And I hated EB games. Always filled with the laziest unfriendlist people, who mostly stole from the store. Funcoland was where it was at. It was always great.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

GameStop sucks. It's a glorified pawn shop.

What I hate the most is they make a killing off used games but NEVER have sales on new games. The only time they do is 1-2 days a year with their "Gamers Day Sale" (which is actually this weekend). But the copies they sell are the gutted, display copies.

Take God of War III for example. Brand new game, came out not even 2 weeks ago. It's $59.99 new. You're probably going to get $25 for it. GameStop is going to sell it for $55.99. That's $30 more than they gave you for it, so they're at least making $25 off that game. It's no different with games they pay $0.25 for.

And here is where my problem with them comes in. They make all this money from new and used games but never have sales on brand new games. All other stores do but GameStop never does. It's only used. Remember, MSRP means Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price. The stores can price it whatever they want.

And on the subject of trade-in values, you're not getting real money in return for your games.

Oh, and I love their promos which are a complete joke. Take this one for example:

http://www.gamestop.com/gs/specialt...7&sourceID=FKSJxY2VJAk-Y.F0RcAKIsG8mG0VA.AIWw

Get $40 off GoWIII or FFXIII by trading in 2 games you paid $120 for. What a great deal


I found this a year ago. I PM'd it to Kingfish (an ex-GS employee) and he said, while he never saw it, it was the exact same type of instructions they got.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

you're not getting the principle. If its open then it should be sold at the opened price. It shouldnt be sold as new. There is nothing wrong with selling a display copy. If they were to sell it at the used price, it woudlnt be an issue. A Gamestop employee tried to do that to me once and I wouldnt take it bc I was buying the game as a gift for someone and its not right to give gifts to open already opened. So you know what he did? He didnt sell the display to me; he instead took one of the new preorders which were on reserves and gave that to me. It was good for me but sucked for the guy that pre-paid and was coming in later to pick up his copy, only to find that it wasnt in the store and wouldnt be until they got their next shipment.

To be honest, I think thats some classic Fanboy obsessive compulsiveness lol. I understand if its a gift, but knocking off like 30 bucks simply because the flimsy outer plastic wrapper was opened? Seriously man, who cares? The disc is where the game comes from, and it's not like its a special edition or anything, because they don't use those ones as display boxes.... A box is just a box, and when I worked at Blockbuster, i'd tell customers like that to f**k off. They'd ***** and moan and say "For all I know it's second hand" and stupid **** like that, and i'd just honestly say "You know what buddy, the cost it would take if that got stolen combined with the limited number of stock we would actually be able to store on our shelves (without keeping the discs in a seperate area) GREATLY outweighs any profits we loose from nitpicky bastards like you... and then i'd slap them... in my mind....

 

[Spidey-Bat]

To be honest, I think thats some classic Fanboy obsessive compulsiveness lol. I understand if its a gift, but knocking off like 30 bucks simply because the flimsy outer plastic wrapper was opened? Seriously man, who cares? The disc is where the game comes from, and it's not like its a special edition or anything, because they don't use those ones as display boxes.... A box is just a box, and when I worked at Blockbuster, i'd tell customers like that to f**k off. They'd ***** and moan and say "For all I know it's second hand" and stupid **** like that, and i'd just honestly say "You know what buddy, the cost it would take if that got stolen combined with the limited number of stock we would actually be able to store on our shelves (without keeping the discs in a seperate area) GREATLY outweighs any profits we loose from nitpicky bastards like you... and then i'd slap them... in my mind....

No one is saying to knock off $30 off the price. There aren't even used games that are $30 less than the new. But asking $5-$10 off is reasonable.

It does matter because the games are on discs. Outside of PS3 games, they are easily scratched and it can show when playing them. You never know what can happen when it's taken out from the case to when they put it back in when someone buys it. I have seen employees be very careless with the discs when handling them. You also have no idea if someone had purchased it before and if they did anything to it (there'd be no way of knowing if they did or didn't play it).

 

[Havok83]

To be honest, I think thats some classic Fanboy obsessive compulsiveness lol. I understand if its a gift, but knocking off like 30 bucks simply because the flimsy outer plastic wrapper was opened? Seriously man, who cares? The disc is where the game comes from, and it's not like its a special edition or anything, because they don't use those ones as display boxes.... A box is just a box, and when I worked at Blockbuster, i'd tell customers like that to f**k off. They'd ***** and moan and say "For all I know it's second hand" and stupid **** like that, and i'd just honestly say "You know what buddy, the cost it would take if that got stolen combined with the limited number of stock we would actually be able to store on our shelves (without keeping the discs in a seperate area) GREATLY outweighs any profits we loose from nitpicky bastards like you... and then i'd slap them... in my mind....

$30? When does Gamestop EVER knock off $30 bc a game is used? They charge $5 less for their used games as opposed to new ones.