To try and bring it back full-circle: do you have to get stuff mailed to a military/APO box office? Does that complicate things?
Wow I fucked that bbcode up, here it should be fixed now
Anyways yes, I have to get stuff mailed to a military/APO/ buddy who's married's mailbox if I order online. That's one of the myriad reasons I didn't much do it, in addition to the whole 'no taxes' thing.
Other cool military stuff that Gamestop does:
IF you're not on a military installation, usually GS's have a military discount
They ship to Iraq for free, and really fast
So I mean yeah GS does suck in a lot of areas but they quite frankly rock in a lot of others too
And UncleSporky speaks the truth; Gamestop.com (which actually is a separate entity from the retail stores) has quietly become a really awesome online retailer. Lately they've been matching price incentives and credits from Amazon, Best Buy and such. Case in point, I was able to buy Super Mario Galaxy 2 the week of release for $39.99 with free shipping and a $20 voucher for another online purchase. Depending on your state, though, like maxzero is saying, you might be able to avoid tax if you buy through Amazon.
Wouldn't avoiding tax through any site be a matter of what state you live in? Like if you don't pay tax on Amazon in the state you live in, you'll likely not pay it for Gamestop either?
I think a lot of online retailers charge tax to customers in certain states only, because certain state governments are more vigilant about following up when out-of-state retailers aren't handling taxes correctly according to their laws. But some online retailers are more compliant than others, so you have a weird hodgepodge of "this one does charge taxes but that one doesn't".
There were too many pronouns in what I just typed. But maybe you understand.
Anyway, Amazon being one of the most legit online retailers, I'm sure they're correctly charging taxes to customers in states whose governments insist on state sales tax being applied to out-of-state purchases. But that doesn't necessarily mean that retailers in state X must charge sales tax. I'm sure that at least one state without sales tax has a law on the books that says "we don't have sales tax in our state! but if you, a resident of our state, buy from out of state, then we're sales taxing that purchase!" Whether this hypothetical law is widely enforced, who knows.
Why did I just type out my train of thought? This wasn't a very interesting post. But I'm hitting Submit anyway, because I already typed it.
Captain K on
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DietarySupplementStill not approved by the FDADublin, OHRegistered Userregular
To try and bring it back full-circle: do you have to get stuff mailed to a military/APO box office? Does that complicate things?
Wow I fucked that bbcode up, here it should be fixed now
Anyways yes, I have to get stuff mailed to a military/APO/ buddy who's married's mailbox if I order online. That's one of the myriad reasons I didn't much do it, in addition to the whole 'no taxes' thing.
Other cool military stuff that Gamestop does:
IF you're not on a military installation, usually GS's have a military discount
They ship to Iraq for free, and really fast
So I mean yeah GS does suck in a lot of areas but they quite frankly rock in a lot of others too
As someone with family who is either retired or still in active service, it's the least we (the country) could do for you guys.
And Captain/Henroid: That's actually something that states are really cracking down on now. While Amazon and most large online stores do accurately charge sales tax, there's still a large portion that do not... usually because they can't be arsed. In Ohio, each year when filing state taxes, there's a very large and formidable step that asks if you bought anything online... and then if you did, you have to declare them. And pay tax on them. I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb to say that most people just decline... but again, in Ohio, they're getting pretty crafty, and there's always one or two news stories about someone that got nailed by it... and in typical state tax fashion, they wait three years, when they can hit you with a penalty (usually interest at a high rate) to say "hey remember that Liberator you bought? And didn't pay tax?"
I for one had to man up because I bought a goddamn power washer online... which I won't do again.
I have never shopped at a Gamestop before, since I've only lived in the US for a few months back when I was very much younger. So.. would someone kindly tell me why there is immense hate for it around here so I can understand where you folks are coming from?
Inzigna on
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DietarySupplementStill not approved by the FDADublin, OHRegistered Userregular
I have never shopped at a Gamestop before, since I've only lived in the US for a few months back when I was very much younger. So.. would someone kindly tell me why there is immense hate for it around here so I can understand where you folks are coming from?
See I don't think it's just Gamestop... I think they get the unfair brunt of it around here. But to be fair, it's not a Gamestop problem, it's a retail problem. Everyone thinks they're entitled to exceptional customer service. At the same time, there's an awful lot of people working in retail that just shouldn't be. So when mistakes happen, either warranted or unwarranted, people fly off the handle. A lot of people operate with a "fuck you I don't have to deal with anyone who lacks respect" type of attitude, on both sides of the register.
Wow, no kidding. I wondered when that was going to catch up with us. I guess it already has, in some places at least.
Although, thinking bigger picture, it's no surprise that we're still in the formative stages of online retailing. Technology is always a few steps ahead of bureaucracy. A few decades from now I'm sure sales tax will be correctly applied no matter where or how you're purchasing.
In fact, I'm sure somebody will get rich by designing some online point-of-sale middleware that correctly applies taxes and fees to online purchases according to buyer and seller location. If anyone reading this post eventually gets rich from my idea, just send me a gift basket to say thanks.
Captain K on
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DietarySupplementStill not approved by the FDADublin, OHRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
I mean think about that for a second: a state is actually asking you to honestly state what you bought online. I have a hard enough time keeping my checkbook balanced and actual receipts from things like the grocery. And if you really want to get tinfoil hat about it... it starts with paying taxes... and where does it end? When does the scrutiny of your purchases begin, and when does Uncle Sam start keeping that info?
Not that I have anything to hide.
Although, I didn't include the Liberator example by accident...
I actually went in and voluntarily preordered a game once, Indigo Prophecy for the PC. Release date comes, they didn't bother to get any because I was the only one who ordered it. So I went to the Best Buy next door, where they had a bunch of copies. I haven't been back to Gamestop. Fuck that shithole.
I don't know why people continue to do business with Gamestop. Encouraging the "pre-order or you don't get it" mentality is not helping things.
Also, gutted games are evil. You broke the shrink-wrap? Sorry, that's used.
I gave up on Gamestop once they stopped selling NES/SNES games.
Anyway, I can't wait to see this thread devolve into the flame war that you know is coming...
See when it comes to purchases, not just games, I'm totally impulsive. I hate waiting for things I really want. If a game comes out on day X, I have to have it day X. I know some people get things from, say, Amazon on release day, but I think it's based on your geography and luck. If I have to go into a brick and mortar for something, I'll do it.
But 8 bucks for Saint's Row 2 PC? Why, hello there Amazon...
...but you don't have to go to Gamestop. You could also go to Target. Best Buy. Walmart. Toys "Backwards R" Us. Bunches of other retailers that don't gut games, that have plenty of copies of games upon release, and that don't hassle you about trade ins.
Cameron_Talley on
Switch Friend Code: SW-4598-4278-8875
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
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RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
I have never shopped at a Gamestop before, since I've only lived in the US for a few months back when I was very much younger. So.. would someone kindly tell me why there is immense hate for it around here so I can understand where you folks are coming from?
It's mostly the gutting thing
See Gamestop guts their games and places the covers up for sale as "display". They do this for three main reasons:
So they can display a copy that won't be stolen
Display copies are easier to mainpulate (lighter, can be reorganized better, less worry of damage)
So game employees have a wider understanding of the games they sell
This last point is pretty fucking shady. Basically so employees can appear knowledgeable about shit and to help customers get what they want they're able to 'borrow' copies of games to enjoy at home (I think it's up to 3 days), which they turn around and sell as new
It's clearly not new; it's a floor copy, and that's how they should sell it (just like they do with floor model TVs and such), but they're basically continuing deceptive practices
Also a lot of whiny fuckers like to complain about exclusive pre-orders and like the exclusion of small business in the game industry, when they convienently ignore the existence of Wal-Mart and the fact that pre-orders hugely benefit the developer in the long run
I have never shopped at a Gamestop before, since I've only lived in the US for a few months back when I was very much younger. So.. would someone kindly tell me why there is immense hate for it around here so I can understand where you folks are coming from?
See I don't think it's just Gamestop... I think they get the unfair brunt of it around here. But to be fair, it's not a Gamestop problem, it's a retail problem. Everyone thinks they're entitled to exceptional customer service. At the same time, there's an awful lot of people working in retail that just shouldn't be. So when mistakes happen, either warranted or unwarranted, people fly off the handle. A lot of people operate with a "fuck you I don't have to deal with anyone who lacks respect" type of attitude, on both sides of the register.
You're right, it's not just Gamestop. Gamestop is just a great example, because there's kind of a perfect storm of factors at work.
The majority of its employees are compensated with near-minimum wage and provided a minimum of training. Its sales policy is highly aggressive (toward both customers and employees!). Most of its profit is generated not from selling new product (a traditional business model that we're all conditioned to understand and accept) but from used product sales (with an accompanying business model that generates hand-over-fist profit that any savvy consumer can see gives the serious shaft to the customer). So on and so on.
I actually went in and voluntarily preordered a game once, Indigo Prophecy for the PC. Release date comes, they didn't bother to get any because I was the only one who ordered it. So I went to the Best Buy next door, where they had a bunch of copies. I haven't been back to Gamestop. Fuck that shithole.
Somehow I think there's more to this story, whether you know the rest of it or not.
But Gamestop always gets at least 1 copy minimum of every new game. Sometimes its the only copy they get, and it gets gutted and put out on the shelf. But they always get at least one.
Furthermore, their new game shipments are largely based on the number of reservations they have, and in my experience, they always get at least enough to cover their reserves. I have never seen them get short changed on reservation copies, at least not in my area.
Lucascraft on
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RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
You're right, it's not just Gamestop. Gamestop is just a great example, because there's kind of a perfect storm of factors at work.
The majority of its employees are compensated with near-minimum wage and provided a minimum of training. Its sales policy is highly aggressive (toward both customers and employees!). Most of its profit is generated not from selling new product (a traditional business model that we're all conditioned to understand and accept) but from used product sales (with an accompanying business model that generates hand-over-fist profit that any savvy consumer can see gives the serious shaft to the customer). So on and so on.
Americans customers have become the most self-entitled pricks about retail in general
Guess fucking what I get paid minimum wage, and my job is solely to help you buy your shit. Just because you think "the customer is always right" (which incidentally is the most stupid bullshit idea in American retail today) doesn't mean I'm your indentured servant during the 6-8 hours I work at this dead-end job, and doing it all with a smile because you Mister Moneybags have the 10 dollars necessary to buy a fucking bag of Cheetos and won't stand for anything less then pure joy on the faces of your register jockeys at K-Mart
Go fuck yourself, american consumer
Rent on
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DietarySupplementStill not approved by the FDADublin, OHRegistered Userregular
I don't know why people continue to do business with Gamestop. Encouraging the "pre-order or you don't get it" mentality is not helping things.
Also, gutted games are evil. You broke the shrink-wrap? Sorry, that's used.
I gave up on Gamestop once they stopped selling NES/SNES games.
Anyway, I can't wait to see this thread devolve into the flame war that you know is coming...
See when it comes to purchases, not just games, I'm totally impulsive. I hate waiting for things I really want. If a game comes out on day X, I have to have it day X. I know some people get things from, say, Amazon on release day, but I think it's based on your geography and luck. If I have to go into a brick and mortar for something, I'll do it.
But 8 bucks for Saint's Row 2 PC? Why, hello there Amazon...
...but you don't have to go to Gamestop. You could also go to Target. Best Buy. Walmart. Toys "Backwards R" Us. Bunches of other retailers that don't gut games, that have plenty of copies of games upon release, and that don't hassle you about trade ins.
Well yeah, I'm not pigeonholed by any means. There are tons of retailers nearby; Gamestop just happens to be close, and they often do preorder bonuses. And they have a pretty good selection of used games, too... for when I want to play Army of Two.
DietarySupplement on
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RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
I remember back when preorder bonuses were always some sort of trinket, poster, shirt, or other non-game item. I was ok with this. Then they started getting exclusive game content and that scared me. I don't like being forced to pick a certain retailer just to get something that's included on the disc but locked via a code.
And what I hate even more than that is how each retailer gets their own exclusive item now, which means that no matter where I reserve it, as a customer I still lose, because I am not getting everything on the disc that I am paying for. This isn't a Gamestop problem. Its a problem with marketing across all major retailers.
I kind of understand the whole "educating our employees" thing. I escaped from retail but if I were still in retail, I would bust my ass to know everything about the product I was selling. Unfortunately, given the current setup of Gamestop's business model, they do not provide copies to their employees which I find fascinating.
When I worked for the Warner Bros Store, they sent me home with every movie, every cd, and every Pokémon game for at least the weekend and when we were done, we sold that copy as "used" or discounted. We were incredibly knowledgeable as a store though. I guess that wouldn't work for Best Buy or Fry but companies should just think about how they train and educate their employees.
Also, back to my question from the last page, how can I get my cash back for pre-orders they gave me?
I kind of understand the whole "educating our employees" thing. I escaped from retail but if I were still in retail, I would bust my ass to know everything about the product I was selling. Unfortunately, given the current setup of Gamestop's business model, they do not provide copies to their employees which I find fascinating.
When I worked for the Warner Bros Store, they sent me home with every movie, every cd, and every Pokémon game for at least the weekend and when we were done, we sold that copy as "used" or discounted. We were incredibly knowledgeable as a store though. I guess that wouldn't work for Best Buy or Fry but companies should just think about how they train and educate their employees.
Also, back to my question from the last page, how can I get my cash back for pre-orders they gave me?
Well, I'd have to think if it were a reconciliation thing... I don't think they'll let you translate it for money. Just a hunch.
Did you pay for your preorders with store credit, or with real money? Because if you made your deposit with store credit, they legally can't give you anything else. Store credit is not taxable and works differently than if you just plunk down some money.
If you paid with real money and they gave it back to you as a gift card or store credit, that was a dick move on the part of the employee. It was basically just them screwing you into spending that money at the store at a later time. You'd probably need to escalate the problem to get any kind of resolution.
Lucascraft on
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RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
You're totally right, but it's really kind of a cultural/institutional thing at this point.
Having worked in customer service for a long time, I can say that the default customer interaction at any American retailer is one designed to "empower" the customer and make him/her feel as comfortable as possible.
-The employee must wear a nametag. The customer knows the employee's name, while the customer may only be addressed as "sir" or "ma'am". Psychological advantage: customer.
-The word "buy" is almost never used. "Pick up", "take home", and other euphemisms are used instead. The customer is reminded as infrequently as possible that he/she has to spend money. Along the same lines...
-Customers are frequently called "guests". Employees are frequently known as "team members". Cashiers are known as "front-end" employees. The cash register is a point-of-sale, or POS if possible. Basically, everything is referred to in some way that tries not to harp on the fact that stuff costs money and that people go into stores and spend money. Preferably, the only time money comes into play is at the precise instant that it's exchanged for purchases. And if possible, nobody even looks at cash dollars--use an in-store credit card instead!
-Regardless of the actual state of affairs, the customer is invited to believe that he/she is always right. In nearly every case, a customer may demand to see an employee's superior, and company policy usually dictates that the manager summoned must (at least outwardly) agree with the customer.
-The majority of retail employees are (fairly) short-term hires, given (nearly) minimum training to perform their jobs, and paid (near) minimum wage. While a lot of customers lament this fact, I think it's by design. If the average employee at retailer X is functionally less knowledgeable about his job than the average customer at retailer X, it makes the customer feel powerful.
I could go on here. Don't even get me started about restaurants!
Anyway, the point is that American consumers have been conditioned to feel like demigods as soon as they enter a retailer of any kind. My sympathy goes entirely to the lowest-level employee.
Captain K on
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DietarySupplementStill not approved by the FDADublin, OHRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
The only thing I'd add to your post, K, is that most retailers hire seasonal help... and will take just about anyone. So someone with even perhaps less people skills in an overly-stressed environment... yikes.
I actually went in and voluntarily preordered a game once, Indigo Prophecy for the PC. Release date comes, they didn't bother to get any because I was the only one who ordered it. So I went to the Best Buy next door, where they had a bunch of copies. I haven't been back to Gamestop. Fuck that shithole.
Somehow I think there's more to this story, whether you know the rest of it or not.
But Gamestop always gets at least 1 copy minimum of every new game. Sometimes its the only copy they get, and it gets gutted and put out on the shelf. But they always get at least one.
Furthermore, their new game shipments are largely based on the number of reservations they have, and in my experience, they always get at least enough to cover their reserves. I have never seen them get short changed on reservation copies, at least not in my area.
I'd love to know what the problem was, then. The guy told me it was because I was the only preorder. It was a PC game, too, so maybe they're extra shitty on those.
PolloDiablo on
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RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
I hated going to K-Mart even when I wasn't working because customers would bother me into helping them out
It's like, really? Really?
Hey Jim, since you're a mechanic and all mind rotating my tires cause you're over?
Just got to second/third/fourtieth/whatever the suggestion of Amazon on the front page. Hell I work at a gamestop (Before anyone says anything, fuck you its a job) and still do half my video game shopping on that site.
Anyway, the point is that American consumers have been conditioned to feel like demigods as soon as they enter a retailer of any kind. My sympathy goes entirely to the lowest-level employee.
You're right
But man, ever shopped at Costco? That place has some of the most genuinely happy motherfuckers I've ever seen
They like love their jobs, and everyone treats everyone else with mutual respect
Oh yeah, since we're talking about Gamestop: I can speak from experience about how the lowest-level employees are treated there. (Or at least how they were treated there about seven years ago.)
Firstly, the "game advisor" (Gamestop term for "entry level team member") gets paid minimum wage. There may be a system in place that offers pay raises over time, but I worked there four months and it was never even discussed as an option.
The second factor determining how much a game advisor gets paid is the possibility that game advisor hours can be cut at any time. If the store isn't meeting its sales numbers by the end of a pay period, the system dictates that labor costs be acutely adjusted to make up the difference. Of course, the lowest-level employees are the least important, so game advisor man-hours are the first to go. This means that you sometimes find out Friday that your Saturday shift has disappeared. Hope you already made rent for next month, pal!
Game advisors get the minimum necessary education/training to complete their jobs. High prioritiy is placed on the ability to alphabetize. Those empty game cases aren't going to shelve themselves!
Training game advisors to operate the cash register system is almost an afterthought. I was personally trained for about a half-hour. Whenever a "complicated" transaction occurred, I almost always had to find a manager to show me what to do.
And as far as actually knowing anything about video games, it was almost viewed as a detriment that I was the most knowledgeable at my store. If someone asked whether such-and-such game was any good, I usually had an answer, and I was discouraged from answering honestly! Not in so many words, sure. But B- games already sell poorly, and a knowledgeable employee honestly advising customers that such-and-such game might not be worth the $60 price tag means less business for the company! Much better to hire casual gamers who can earnestly recommend the latest GTA clone or ho-hum third person shooter.
The most vital piece in the puzzle of the employee culture at Gamestop is "numbers". When a Gamestop employee talks about "numbers", he's talking about how many preorders and discount card/magazine subscriptions he's sold that week. "Subs" and "reserves" are your two numbers. Subs are good. Reserves are even better.
In no uncertain terms, everyone is urged to "keep their numbers up". Sales quotas are nothing special, I know. But the strangest thing is that there's no default reward for having good numbers. There's not even a quota! It's just an ethereal concept that's constantly in your face as a Gamestop employee. Your manager constantly praises the employees with the best numbers and chides those with poor numbers.
If there's any kind of reward for doing a good job in this respect, it's always coming out of some manager's pocket personally. I've heard reports of store managers buying a free game for the employee with the most reserves in a month, or a district manager giving a gift card to the employee with the most subs in a quarter, and so on. But in general, the only motivation for a game advisor to have high numbers is to avoid having to hear about it from his store manager!
This all translates into a pretty fuck-awful work environment for the lowest-level employees, and a fairly unhelpful and unfriendly environment for the customer. Your average game advisor is poorly trained, knows as little as possible about the product sold at the store, compensated with a laughably small (and unreliable) wage, and forced to badger customers about extra crap that the customer probably doesn't want and that the game advisor sees no reward for successfully selling.
(All this might be different nowadays. Like I said, I worked there seven years ago.)
Anyway, the point is that American consumers have been conditioned to feel like demigods as soon as they enter a retailer of any kind. My sympathy goes entirely to the lowest-level employee.
You're right
But man, ever shopped at Costco? That place has some of the most genuinely happy motherfuckers I've ever seen
They like love their jobs, and everyone treats everyone else with mutual respect
Why can't like, everywhere else be like Costco
Basically what I'm saying is is I love Costco
It largely has to do with the fact that Costco treats their employees really damn well, and works hard to make sure that they have a decent working environment. Most retail establishments prefer a "screw the labor for all they're worth" mentality, which leads to employees who are stressed and short-tempered.
That said, I'll post again my standard defense of Gamestop:
1. My local branch is staffed with awesome people, who are gamers, and we often chat just to see what we've all been playing and give recommendations.
2. My local branch only guts a few boxes, majority of new product is sealed and locked behind the counter. Those boxes that ARE gutted are kept in as nice of condition as possible, so I rarely mind if I'm getting an open box; media is pretty sturdy these days, there's no real loss in value if someone else takes it out of the box before me.
3. Your local Gamestop may not be as awesome as mine.
Houn on
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DietarySupplementStill not approved by the FDADublin, OHRegistered Userregular
Good friend of mine worked at the "precursor" to Gamestop, aka Babbages... and loved it. Thought it was the best place to work. I guess things changed...
DietarySupplement on
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Dr_KeenbeanDumb as a buttPlanet Express ShipRegistered Userregular
That said, I'll post again my standard defense of Gamestop:
1. My local branch is staffed with awesome people, who are gamers, and we often chat just to see what we've all been playing and give recommendations.
2. My local branch only guts a few boxes, majority of new product is sealed and locked behind the counter. Those boxes that ARE gutted are kept in as nice of condition as possible, so I rarely mind if I'm getting an open box; media is pretty sturdy these days, there's no real loss in value if someone else takes it out of the box before me.
3. Your local Gamestop may not be as awesome as mine.
High 5. Posts like Captain K's and then posts like yours make me realize I work at a really awesome store. That sounds like the one I work at.
And as far as actually knowing anything about video games, it was almost viewed as a detriment that I was the most knowledgeable at my store. If someone asked whether such-and-such game was any good, I usually had an answer, and I was discouraged from answering honestly!
At my store, my managers rely on me to be so knowledgable and spread that around. Were all pretty big gamers but Im really the only one that follows gaming news so closely and can keep everyone updated. We're also honest with our customers. If a game sucks, we'll tell you that. If you can find a game cheaper somewhere else (enough to make a difference) we'll usually tell you if we know about it. The logic is if were willing to help out the customers and be honest with them like that, they'll be more likely to come back to our store which as far as I can tell is true. We have a fuckton of regulars for what is a pretty average store in terms of amount of customers.
^5 Zerokku. Best moment with my local Gamestop? Randomly asking the manager if they had any extra Sgt. Johnson Preorder codes for ODST, and him proceeding to pull a stack of them out of the trash that he was just going to throw away anyway. They were promptly shared with my friends and in the Halo Thread here.
I didn't even buy ODST from them, and he still gave me all the extra codes. I make it a point to buy most of my games there. Or, I have up until now. I'm moving soon, and will be on the wrong end of town, so I'll likely drop down there one last time after I move to pick up my SC2 Collectors with a tear in my eye.
I'm moving from the the burbs on the south end of Seattle up to the burbs on the north end. At least 30+ mins, more in traffic, seems a long way to drive for a game. Hopefully there are some stores just as good on the north end.
Houn on
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AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
edited June 2010
I don't bother with Gamestop or pretty much any other local store for that matter. I just buy from Amazon with Next Day Air and I still end up paying less then buying from local stores.
Axen on
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
I actually went in and voluntarily preordered a game once, Indigo Prophecy for the PC. Release date comes, they didn't bother to get any because I was the only one who ordered it. So I went to the Best Buy next door, where they had a bunch of copies. I haven't been back to Gamestop. Fuck that shithole.
Somehow I think there's more to this story, whether you know the rest of it or not.
But Gamestop always gets at least 1 copy minimum of every new game. Sometimes its the only copy they get, and it gets gutted and put out on the shelf. But they always get at least one.
Furthermore, their new game shipments are largely based on the number of reservations they have, and in my experience, they always get at least enough to cover their reserves. I have never seen them get short changed on reservation copies, at least not in my area.
What I have heard is:
gamestop must get five pre orders in order to order six copies which allows us to gut one, and hold the five pre orders.
It sounds as if this poster was told they did not preorder at all but they got his copy and did not hold his pre order, which makes sense in a way.
I think one of these days I'm going to buy a game from gamestop new, take it home, take off the shrink wrap, and then go back and try to return it as still new the next day. "I took off the shrink wrap, but I never put the game inside my system, it's still new."
Obviously a game I intend to keep, as they're not going to buy it.
I just want to see what they tell me when I ask "So why is a game still new if YOU GUYS take off the shrink wrap, but no longer new if I do?"
Posts
To try and bring it back full-circle: do you have to get stuff mailed to a military/APO box office? Does that complicate things?
Wow I fucked that bbcode up, here it should be fixed now
Anyways yes, I have to get stuff mailed to a military/APO/ buddy who's married's mailbox if I order online. That's one of the myriad reasons I didn't much do it, in addition to the whole 'no taxes' thing.
Other cool military stuff that Gamestop does:
IF you're not on a military installation, usually GS's have a military discount
They ship to Iraq for free, and really fast
So I mean yeah GS does suck in a lot of areas but they quite frankly rock in a lot of others too
I think a lot of online retailers charge tax to customers in certain states only, because certain state governments are more vigilant about following up when out-of-state retailers aren't handling taxes correctly according to their laws. But some online retailers are more compliant than others, so you have a weird hodgepodge of "this one does charge taxes but that one doesn't".
There were too many pronouns in what I just typed. But maybe you understand.
Anyway, Amazon being one of the most legit online retailers, I'm sure they're correctly charging taxes to customers in states whose governments insist on state sales tax being applied to out-of-state purchases. But that doesn't necessarily mean that retailers in state X must charge sales tax. I'm sure that at least one state without sales tax has a law on the books that says "we don't have sales tax in our state! but if you, a resident of our state, buy from out of state, then we're sales taxing that purchase!" Whether this hypothetical law is widely enforced, who knows.
As someone with family who is either retired or still in active service, it's the least we (the country) could do for you guys.
And Captain/Henroid: That's actually something that states are really cracking down on now. While Amazon and most large online stores do accurately charge sales tax, there's still a large portion that do not... usually because they can't be arsed. In Ohio, each year when filing state taxes, there's a very large and formidable step that asks if you bought anything online... and then if you did, you have to declare them. And pay tax on them. I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb to say that most people just decline... but again, in Ohio, they're getting pretty crafty, and there's always one or two news stories about someone that got nailed by it... and in typical state tax fashion, they wait three years, when they can hit you with a penalty (usually interest at a high rate) to say "hey remember that Liberator you bought? And didn't pay tax?"
I for one had to man up because I bought a goddamn power washer online... which I won't do again.
See I don't think it's just Gamestop... I think they get the unfair brunt of it around here. But to be fair, it's not a Gamestop problem, it's a retail problem. Everyone thinks they're entitled to exceptional customer service. At the same time, there's an awful lot of people working in retail that just shouldn't be. So when mistakes happen, either warranted or unwarranted, people fly off the handle. A lot of people operate with a "fuck you I don't have to deal with anyone who lacks respect" type of attitude, on both sides of the register.
Although, thinking bigger picture, it's no surprise that we're still in the formative stages of online retailing. Technology is always a few steps ahead of bureaucracy. A few decades from now I'm sure sales tax will be correctly applied no matter where or how you're purchasing.
In fact, I'm sure somebody will get rich by designing some online point-of-sale middleware that correctly applies taxes and fees to online purchases according to buyer and seller location. If anyone reading this post eventually gets rich from my idea, just send me a gift basket to say thanks.
Not that I have anything to hide.
Although, I didn't include the Liberator example by accident...
...but you don't have to go to Gamestop. You could also go to Target. Best Buy. Walmart. Toys "Backwards R" Us. Bunches of other retailers that don't gut games, that have plenty of copies of games upon release, and that don't hassle you about trade ins.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
It's mostly the gutting thing
See Gamestop guts their games and places the covers up for sale as "display". They do this for three main reasons:
This last point is pretty fucking shady. Basically so employees can appear knowledgeable about shit and to help customers get what they want they're able to 'borrow' copies of games to enjoy at home (I think it's up to 3 days), which they turn around and sell as new
It's clearly not new; it's a floor copy, and that's how they should sell it (just like they do with floor model TVs and such), but they're basically continuing deceptive practices
Also a lot of whiny fuckers like to complain about exclusive pre-orders and like the exclusion of small business in the game industry, when they convienently ignore the existence of Wal-Mart and the fact that pre-orders hugely benefit the developer in the long run
You're right, it's not just Gamestop. Gamestop is just a great example, because there's kind of a perfect storm of factors at work.
The majority of its employees are compensated with near-minimum wage and provided a minimum of training. Its sales policy is highly aggressive (toward both customers and employees!). Most of its profit is generated not from selling new product (a traditional business model that we're all conditioned to understand and accept) but from used product sales (with an accompanying business model that generates hand-over-fist profit that any savvy consumer can see gives the serious shaft to the customer). So on and so on.
Somehow I think there's more to this story, whether you know the rest of it or not.
But Gamestop always gets at least 1 copy minimum of every new game. Sometimes its the only copy they get, and it gets gutted and put out on the shelf. But they always get at least one.
Furthermore, their new game shipments are largely based on the number of reservations they have, and in my experience, they always get at least enough to cover their reserves. I have never seen them get short changed on reservation copies, at least not in my area.
Americans customers have become the most self-entitled pricks about retail in general
Guess fucking what I get paid minimum wage, and my job is solely to help you buy your shit. Just because you think "the customer is always right" (which incidentally is the most stupid bullshit idea in American retail today) doesn't mean I'm your indentured servant during the 6-8 hours I work at this dead-end job, and doing it all with a smile because you Mister Moneybags have the 10 dollars necessary to buy a fucking bag of Cheetos and won't stand for anything less then pure joy on the faces of your register jockeys at K-Mart
Go fuck yourself, american consumer
Well yeah, I'm not pigeonholed by any means. There are tons of retailers nearby; Gamestop just happens to be close, and they often do preorder bonuses. And they have a pretty good selection of used games, too... for when I want to play Army of Two.
Oh btw thanks for this
And what I hate even more than that is how each retailer gets their own exclusive item now, which means that no matter where I reserve it, as a customer I still lose, because I am not getting everything on the disc that I am paying for. This isn't a Gamestop problem. Its a problem with marketing across all major retailers.
When I worked for the Warner Bros Store, they sent me home with every movie, every cd, and every Pokémon game for at least the weekend and when we were done, we sold that copy as "used" or discounted. We were incredibly knowledgeable as a store though. I guess that wouldn't work for Best Buy or Fry but companies should just think about how they train and educate their employees.
Also, back to my question from the last page, how can I get my cash back for pre-orders they gave me?
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
Well, I'd have to think if it were a reconciliation thing... I don't think they'll let you translate it for money. Just a hunch.
If you paid with real money and they gave it back to you as a gift card or store credit, that was a dick move on the part of the employee. It was basically just them screwing you into spending that money at the store at a later time. You'd probably need to escalate the problem to get any kind of resolution.
please let it be the record of agarest war SE
oh please oh please oh please
You're totally right, but it's really kind of a cultural/institutional thing at this point.
Having worked in customer service for a long time, I can say that the default customer interaction at any American retailer is one designed to "empower" the customer and make him/her feel as comfortable as possible.
-The employee must wear a nametag. The customer knows the employee's name, while the customer may only be addressed as "sir" or "ma'am". Psychological advantage: customer.
-The word "buy" is almost never used. "Pick up", "take home", and other euphemisms are used instead. The customer is reminded as infrequently as possible that he/she has to spend money. Along the same lines...
-Customers are frequently called "guests". Employees are frequently known as "team members". Cashiers are known as "front-end" employees. The cash register is a point-of-sale, or POS if possible. Basically, everything is referred to in some way that tries not to harp on the fact that stuff costs money and that people go into stores and spend money. Preferably, the only time money comes into play is at the precise instant that it's exchanged for purchases. And if possible, nobody even looks at cash dollars--use an in-store credit card instead!
-Regardless of the actual state of affairs, the customer is invited to believe that he/she is always right. In nearly every case, a customer may demand to see an employee's superior, and company policy usually dictates that the manager summoned must (at least outwardly) agree with the customer.
-The majority of retail employees are (fairly) short-term hires, given (nearly) minimum training to perform their jobs, and paid (near) minimum wage. While a lot of customers lament this fact, I think it's by design. If the average employee at retailer X is functionally less knowledgeable about his job than the average customer at retailer X, it makes the customer feel powerful.
I could go on here. Don't even get me started about restaurants!
Anyway, the point is that American consumers have been conditioned to feel like demigods as soon as they enter a retailer of any kind. My sympathy goes entirely to the lowest-level employee.
I'd love to know what the problem was, then. The guy told me it was because I was the only preorder. It was a PC game, too, so maybe they're extra shitty on those.
It's like, really? Really?
Hey Jim, since you're a mechanic and all mind rotating my tires cause you're over?
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
You're right
But man, ever shopped at Costco? That place has some of the most genuinely happy motherfuckers I've ever seen
They like love their jobs, and everyone treats everyone else with mutual respect
Why can't like, everywhere else be like Costco
Basically what I'm saying is is I love Costco
Firstly, the "game advisor" (Gamestop term for "entry level team member") gets paid minimum wage. There may be a system in place that offers pay raises over time, but I worked there four months and it was never even discussed as an option.
The second factor determining how much a game advisor gets paid is the possibility that game advisor hours can be cut at any time. If the store isn't meeting its sales numbers by the end of a pay period, the system dictates that labor costs be acutely adjusted to make up the difference. Of course, the lowest-level employees are the least important, so game advisor man-hours are the first to go. This means that you sometimes find out Friday that your Saturday shift has disappeared. Hope you already made rent for next month, pal!
Game advisors get the minimum necessary education/training to complete their jobs. High prioritiy is placed on the ability to alphabetize. Those empty game cases aren't going to shelve themselves!
Training game advisors to operate the cash register system is almost an afterthought. I was personally trained for about a half-hour. Whenever a "complicated" transaction occurred, I almost always had to find a manager to show me what to do.
And as far as actually knowing anything about video games, it was almost viewed as a detriment that I was the most knowledgeable at my store. If someone asked whether such-and-such game was any good, I usually had an answer, and I was discouraged from answering honestly! Not in so many words, sure. But B- games already sell poorly, and a knowledgeable employee honestly advising customers that such-and-such game might not be worth the $60 price tag means less business for the company! Much better to hire casual gamers who can earnestly recommend the latest GTA clone or ho-hum third person shooter.
The most vital piece in the puzzle of the employee culture at Gamestop is "numbers". When a Gamestop employee talks about "numbers", he's talking about how many preorders and discount card/magazine subscriptions he's sold that week. "Subs" and "reserves" are your two numbers. Subs are good. Reserves are even better.
In no uncertain terms, everyone is urged to "keep their numbers up". Sales quotas are nothing special, I know. But the strangest thing is that there's no default reward for having good numbers. There's not even a quota! It's just an ethereal concept that's constantly in your face as a Gamestop employee. Your manager constantly praises the employees with the best numbers and chides those with poor numbers.
If there's any kind of reward for doing a good job in this respect, it's always coming out of some manager's pocket personally. I've heard reports of store managers buying a free game for the employee with the most reserves in a month, or a district manager giving a gift card to the employee with the most subs in a quarter, and so on. But in general, the only motivation for a game advisor to have high numbers is to avoid having to hear about it from his store manager!
This all translates into a pretty fuck-awful work environment for the lowest-level employees, and a fairly unhelpful and unfriendly environment for the customer. Your average game advisor is poorly trained, knows as little as possible about the product sold at the store, compensated with a laughably small (and unreliable) wage, and forced to badger customers about extra crap that the customer probably doesn't want and that the game advisor sees no reward for successfully selling.
(All this might be different nowadays. Like I said, I worked there seven years ago.)
It largely has to do with the fact that Costco treats their employees really damn well, and works hard to make sure that they have a decent working environment. Most retail establishments prefer a "screw the labor for all they're worth" mentality, which leads to employees who are stressed and short-tempered.
That said, I'll post again my standard defense of Gamestop:
1. My local branch is staffed with awesome people, who are gamers, and we often chat just to see what we've all been playing and give recommendations.
2. My local branch only guts a few boxes, majority of new product is sealed and locked behind the counter. Those boxes that ARE gutted are kept in as nice of condition as possible, so I rarely mind if I'm getting an open box; media is pretty sturdy these days, there's no real loss in value if someone else takes it out of the box before me.
3. Your local Gamestop may not be as awesome as mine.
Good friend of mine worked at the "precursor" to Gamestop, aka Babbages... and loved it. Thought it was the best place to work. I guess things changed...
Don't ever get a job in the IT field.
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High 5. Posts like Captain K's and then posts like yours make me realize I work at a really awesome store. That sounds like the one I work at.
At my store, my managers rely on me to be so knowledgable and spread that around. Were all pretty big gamers but Im really the only one that follows gaming news so closely and can keep everyone updated. We're also honest with our customers. If a game sucks, we'll tell you that. If you can find a game cheaper somewhere else (enough to make a difference) we'll usually tell you if we know about it. The logic is if were willing to help out the customers and be honest with them like that, they'll be more likely to come back to our store which as far as I can tell is true. We have a fuckton of regulars for what is a pretty average store in terms of amount of customers.
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
I didn't even buy ODST from them, and he still gave me all the extra codes. I make it a point to buy most of my games there. Or, I have up until now. I'm moving soon, and will be on the wrong end of town, so I'll likely drop down there one last time after I move to pick up my SC2 Collectors with a tear in my eye.
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
gamestop must get five pre orders in order to order six copies which allows us to gut one, and hold the five pre orders.
It sounds as if this poster was told they did not preorder at all but they got his copy and did not hold his pre order, which makes sense in a way.
http://www.youtube.com/vegassteven
Obviously a game I intend to keep, as they're not going to buy it.
I just want to see what they tell me when I ask "So why is a game still new if YOU GUYS take off the shrink wrap, but no longer new if I do?"
This made me laugh much more than it should have