Gamers are already pretty skeptical about Gamespot, from its employees which seem to not even understand the most basic of concepts about videogames to some exorbitant prices Gamespot has been the subject of hate for many an avid gamer. But this story is going take that and turn it up to 11. Yes that's right Gamestop have some rather 'shady' business tactics they don't want the public to see.
You see apparently when Gamestop gets a preoder which is never picked up the money and game reserved magically disappear, now this might be considered questionable in itself but it gets worse. Employees are told not to contact the person in question and are even told to not mention it to a customer if the system brings up a previous preorder when they are purchasing something else. 'Shady' to say the least
At around 11:55 pm toward the end of a delightful September’s day, a local Commerce Bank employee came into our store looking to reserve yet another one of these alien vs. human space epic shooters, which I believe goes by the name of Halo 3. The game was going to be released in about five minutes, but paying for the full thing, all 63 dollars and 49 cents of it guaranteed him a quick pick-up after the clocked ticked to the next day. In order to take his reserve, and his money, I first needed to bring up his information. I asked for his phone number and received it. As a regular customer, his name came up as did any game he had reserved and has yet to pick up. At that moment I noticed something special, for him anyway, which was the fact that he had a fully paid-off copy of another alien versus human epic shooter, I believe called Gears of War, and I could simply transfer the balance to Halo 3 giving him what would now seem like a free game. He was overjoyed at the prospect of not having to shell out any of his hard earned cash and gladly accepted the balance transfer. After the transaction was complete, my manager took me aside and what she said changed my whole outlook on EB Gamestop forever.
EB Gamestop is a multimillion dollar corporation once owned by Barnes and Noble, but I always assumed that they were one of those good monopolies… you know like… Febreeze. She brings me to the other computer and types in a couple of secret manager passwords which brings up a screen of released games with a number next to each one. She immediately scrolls down to Madden 08 and points at the number. “How many people have this game reserved?” she asked. I then realized that the number next to the game represents the people who still have the game reserved. “42”, I respond completely flabbergasted. She then said, “People often forget where they reserved a game, pick it up somewhere else, or just do not care. Now while corporate does not just come out and say it, they really do not like us to remind people they have things reserved that already passed because at the year anniversary of that game’s release date, the reserve sku and the money magically disappear.” Not knowing what to say next, I got extremely curious and asked her to scroll down to Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Gamecube, and to my astonishment there was still a shocking 99 reserves in our system that would disappear forever on December 3rd.
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It's hardly the cutsomer's fault if they forget to pick it up - Some people have busy lives, some people pre-order months/weeks ahead, some people aren't aware of release dates, etc. That's the whole reason the store is supposed to ring them in the first place. People forget things. It hardly makes the customer an idiot.
But on the other hand, people are really stupid when it comes to pre-ordering things. I've seen people just come in a drop whatever money they had on any given pre-order that gets on the list. And mind you this list is huge. Some games can be on the list for over a year. I knew this one guy who come in at least weekly to switch pre-orders because he had a change in heart as to what he wanted.
But if you play system right, you could get some decent stuff for little to nothing. See an old strategy guide to a game you have? Ask the Clerk if the price has changed on it. Sometimes it will pennyed out of the system and you can have it. Same goes for some PC games.
So I'd say your mileage may vary.
Same here, my Gamestop is usually fully loaded with the latest. No need to even make a pre-order.
I did, though, do it for Vice City a few years ago, because I figured it would be eaten up like crazy, and Gamestop did in fact, call me the night before. I would definitely do it again if needed.
I agree that it's the customer's duty to keep track of their finances and remember where and when they reserved it. When you pre-order something, it should only be games that you are desperate to play, one you will NOT forget about the first day and know it'll be a hot sell.
To be honest, I believe that's bullshit when you get called for the game, then suddenly, it's sold right under your nose. They should at least keep it for a week or so, because people do have work and can't pick it up immediately. I'm not going to trust Gamestop anymore with deliveries and pre-orders if they're going to pull off something like that. I could just go to Game Crazy for pre-orders, but I don't even like them as much either.
Mine usually calls the night or day before the release to remind me to pick up the game. Usually though I can go in two or three days later and still get my copy. All the workers are extremely friendly and actually seem to care about what I want.
I've also switched pre-orders before, but you also need to be careful as to which store you go to. Even though GameStop is a chain, every individual outlet varies depending on the employees. I've dealt with incredibly awesome clerks to sexist managers.
(2) Did anyone else notice the GG poster accidentally refers to GameStop as "GameSpot" several times?
(3) Febreeze is a monopoly? If the author meant "Febreze," shouldn't he say that the company which manufactures Febreze is a monopoly? Though it isn't, because there are competing air sanitizers/odor neutralizers out there. I use Oust myself.
(4) I still can't believe someone is dumb enough to forget they had a pre-order and WHICH store they pre-ordered from (that should be printed on his receipt). He even has the gall to blame his own incompetence on a large retail chain that's already known for questionable practices in the past. Hey, genius, look up the other 59327938974 blog/pseudo-news entries out there complaining about GameStop.
I'm with BlackLabel though. If you forget what you have pre-ordered then you're a moron. I have no sympathy for anyone who does something like that.
To all the people saying they have no sympathy for people who forget they preordered: I don't think you are taking everything into consideration. You are assuming that everyone who preorders is a gamer and hyped about the game. What if you are a parent for example that pre-ordered for a kid. Or a friend that pre-ordered for another friend. Maybe you know someone is dying for a game and you want to get them it for their birthday or something. You put down your deposit, forget the release date and when you come to pick up the game they have sold it without even calling.
Sounds a bit rubbish to me.
If they are gonna pull that stuff why take the deposit in the first place? the only reason to take a deposit is the hope of money for nothing.