Die in a fire, Gamestop.
 

Admittedly, this will be a rant about Gamestop because they recently pissed me the **** off and basicly ripped me off, but I was curious to see how many people share my viewpoint, or how many feel Im simply an overreacting pillowbitergot.

Ill start by saying that first and foremost, Gamestop has some shady ass practices, and some practices that are just annoying as f***.

I bought three new games in there last week. Tomb Raider, Twisted Metal, and Hitman. I got repeatedly badgered by the manager to buy the games used. She kept on and on and on with "are you SURE you want those new? I can get you a rewards card and save you 10% on the used copies that are about five bucks less."

I repeatedly say no, and then when I finally just say that Im in a bit of a rush to get her to STFU, she gives me the tongue click and eyeroll and rings up my stuff.

I get the games home and WTF do I find? ALL THREE OF THESE GAMES HAVE BEEN PLAYED. I paid the full new price for these games, and I received USED copies of the game. The code for Twisted Metal didn't even f'ing work. It had been redeemed already.

Tomb Raider and Hitman had smudges on the discs, and Twisted Metal had light scratches on it. These games were sealed, so I had no reason to suspect that I wasn't getting a new game.

I attempt to return the games with the explanation about my discoveries, and the bitch manager tells me that she's sorry, but all she can do is accept them as a trade in because Ive opened them. She then goes on to remind me that she suggested I buy them used, which would allow me 7 days to decide whether I was satisfied and I could've gotten a full refund.

As if this bullshit is MY fault because I wanted new, and not used, and didn't take the bullshit rewards card.

Now Im stuck with this shit, and I have to pay extra now if I want to play Twisted Metal online.

This greedy bullshit is ridiculous. Gamestop pushes used sales because it cuts the publisher out of the deal, and all of that money goes directly to them. So they **** up new copies of their discs and then Im supposed to learn my lesson and buy used. **** Gamestop.

Im told that the code was likely redeemed by a Gamestop employee, as they are allowed to open new games and take them home for up to a week at a time, play them, and return them. Gamestop Corporate feels that this practice deters employee theft if they just let them "borrow" any game in the store. So one of these bitches "borrowed" my Twisted Metal, redeemed my online pass, used it for a few days and brought it back and put it on the shelf knowing Goddamn well it wouldn't work.

I encourage anyone reading to never go to Gamestop. **** Gamestop.

Bitch to holy hell to corporate and your local news. Make a stink until they make it right, don't let up.

I guess this will teach you to buy used.

Wallcrawler lost

You should have asked here, I knew about this long ago. I want to root for gamestop because I prefer the experience of going out to buy my games but it's hard when they pull shit like this.

There is no point in going to Game Stop to buy new. Just go to Best Buy, Wal Mart or Target if you intend to buy new.

you can't win this one. Consumers don't have any rights whatsoever. All you can do is never shop there again. Reading this certainly makes me want to not shop there though.

I don't know how it can be legal to put a previously played game on the shelf, re-shrink wrapped and label it as new especially if its codes have been redeemed already, and charge me the full price of the game.

I guess its just my word against theirs that I found it in the condition I did, and I didn't redeem the code.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that she knew exactly what I was talking about and refused to fix it.

Ya but those stores are not Gamer only stores, something super kewl geeky about going to a gaming store to purchase shit.

I use Gamestop for their rewards program. You get certain amount of points and you get money off on games. I haven't had this issue. I used to work for gamestop and if I wanted to borrow a game I borrowed used or an opened new copy. Never would do what happened to you. Now If this happened to me now, I wouldn't leave the ****ing store until they get me a new unopened game that is legit.

From what I understand they open BRAND NEW games and take the codes out to put in with the used ones. So technically the games are NEW and the codes are used or non existent.

Nothing as bad at that, but I went in there around Christmas to buy games for my kid, and the girl wanted to sell me their little card. I wanted 3 games and she told me the card would get me buy 2 get one free, essentially paying for the card. So I buy 2 and the 3rd isn't in stock, and she tells me I can pick it up at another store down the way. So I go there and get it but they tell me it's a different store so I can't get it free.
So, after arguing with the guy and the original store and getting nowhere, I say F it, whatever, I'm just done with you as a company.

The Gamestop guys here are great. I bought my son a used Pokemon game and decided to return it a day later, as most of the guys he likes weren't on the game. They returned the game for full price and let me have a different one.

I'd fly a ****ing banner over their store

Wow, I never liked GameStop to begin with but now I'm not even going to go anywhere near one. **** that noise.

Their price ratios are beyond ****ed up, but this is taking shit to the next level.

Did you buy these with a credit card? If so, you might consider calling and disputing the charges or going back into Gamestop and telling them that is what you are going to do if they don't fix there error.

Twisted Metal online is broken anyways, you would have spent more time sitting in a lobby waiting for the host to start the game than you would actually playing the game. The community is also really small and the only people who continue to play the game are really freaking good or they use the cheapest vehicles (Talon, Juggernaut)

The game would've been so much better if more people bought it and if the devs wouldn't have given up on it after a few months because Jaffe left Eat Sleep Play before the game released.

I used to play twisted metal on PS 1. Miss that game

This is a long standing practice with Gamestop. I worked there a decade ago and we were taking new games home then and re-sealing them once we were done.

Yeah it's shady as ****.

We never reseasled games that I remember honestly. But that is shady shit.

Yeah Twisted Metal was one of my favorites back in the day. Bought the Twisted Metal PS3 the day it released and it was fun but it took forever to get into online matches.

Never had a problem with them. They have always treated me well. I purchased a used Xbox from them, decided that PS3 was superior in every way, took it back and they traded me straight across for a 32 gig iPad.
They've always been really professional and have worked with me on every purchase.

Hell, one of their employees knows exactly what kind of games I enjoy and always sets them aside for me.

I bought COD Black Ops 2 there via pre order to the one here in dedham.

COD release day is a freaking busy day right? I mean, that's gotta be one of the busiest days of the year.

They had one ****ing person working the register and hundreds of people in line. This wasn't a midnight thing, I went at about 11 am on that tuesday. I felt bad for her, but that was the last time I've purchased anything from them.

I'll just go to best buy I guess, get in and get out.

I wouldn't go and say all Gamestops are the same. You just go to a bad store with a bad manager. I bet you right to corporate or call corporate office they will make it right. Complain above the store you go too.

I would be upset to buy a new game expect it to be new and find out it's been used. I didn't know Gamestop did that. Next time I go there and want a new game I will make sure & ask about that detail before I buy and make sure I can return it if I have problems with it.

I'm surprised they wouldn't refund your money or exchange the product for you.

Actually there is something else you can do. Go down to the local PD and file a police report, at minimum the crime is theft and if they want to pursue it the crime is fraud. They advertised a new product and sold you you new one.

Get a copy of the police report and take it to the manager, ask them how far they want to take this, because you're ready to go all the way.

As to your word against thiers? Actually it's not, it's easy to verify that you don't have an active code on your account. I'd also be willing to bet it's possible to verify that you tried to enter a code and WHEN the code was attempted to be entered which also backs up your account.

Additionally feel free to contact the Better Business Bureau. Again if you want your shit back you can get it, you just have to be a real PITA.

I worked for Electronics Boutique 20 years ago, back in the days of Sega Saturn and Atari Jaguar and 3DO, and even back then we were allowed to take one game home at a time... Not to prevent theft, but to keep us up to date on games.

Oh, please. Do you know how many things you've bought "new" that were probably returned by another customer? Department stores do it all the time. The cops would laugh at you.

So what about the online pass, then?

Ahahahahhahaa

I always ask to see the back of disk before even taking my money out of wallet cause I always find it weird that they take new games out of sleeves since reading through this thread it's bs that they do that which is y I only buy day one releases from them. they are only good for that rewards program nothing else

Even Better http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/gam...4-dead-2/75064

They could of changed that process when everything just became Gamestop. The store I actually worked in was a Funcoland store (was owned by GS tho). They were doing the whole transition phase to Gamestop when I quit to go work at Best Buy. Yeah Best Buy sucked ass too, but a hot slut worked there.

Complain to corporate. Stores cave quickly when that happens.

I mentioned this a couple weeks ago about what they do with new games. If I am buying a game new I almost always get it from newegg on release because they always have a preorder discount of around 15 bucks. I almost always buy used OLDER games at gamestop with the B2G1 free option and use my additional 10% discount on top of that.

I have never liked their practice of opening new games as a "theft deterrent."

Having worked there that is just like them. I always felt bad and would tell people I'm sorry

It was EB games at the time. We would only borrow used games or new ones that had already been opened. I always look at my new games when I buy them.

Well now that you mention it, I bet that's why my friend has bought a game and you could hear the game bouncing around in the case. I thought that's odd it's brand new it shouldn't be doing that.

Yeah Gamestop can eat a penis. I've only gone there in the past several years if I absolutely needed to in order to purchase something I wanted that day that no other store had. I'm sorry but I'm not buying a game "new" when they take it out of a paper sleeve and place it into an already opened plastic case. Whether it's been played or not. If I tried to return a game that was already opened and claimed "It's new because I never played it" they would tell me to eat a dick. So in return, I tell them the same thing.

Also, I don't want to subscribe to anything, I don't want to be a member to anything, and I don't want a strategy guide. If I politely decline once and they continue to push it on me, I tend to get a little rude, and they apparently can't deal with that.

I'm sorry it happened to you, but I'll never step foot in another one after reading this. Consumer's worst nightmare...

What people forget is that the employees are pushed to get preorders from the customers. So that is why, like telemarketers, don't take no for an answer. Although I would ask once and that's it.

I stopped going to Gamestop long ago because of stuff like this. A lot of times you can get a new copy of a new game from Walmart for less than a used copy from GS.

So I called up my friend Cliff who actually works at the GS about 35 miles from where I live and asked him about some things. He basicly confirmed that yes, they do take the games home but they are NOT supposed to activate any codes and that the game is supposed to be returned in the shape it left the store in.

He says that they are supposed to only use the "gutted" copies that they used for display, and that his store does not even have a shrink wrapper to re-seal the games.

Its total BS that Gamestop cannot simply get cover art boxes to represent the product, without ripping open a brand new game and stashing it in a sleeve that is going to destroy it, while they still consider themselves entitled to sell it as new after half the staff has taken it home already.

Anyway, Cliff said that I should bring all 3 games and my receipt to his store, because he's 99.9% sure that his store manager would fix the issue immediately and get me either new copies of all 3 games, or a full refund.

I guess Im heading out there after work this evening to see what happens.

Ya that makes sense. There weren't game registration codes when I worked at GameStop.

I've bought exactly two games there. One was a "brand new" copy of Oblivion for PC and I found it really odd when they had to pull the game disc from a drawer and put it in an unsealed box. At the time I assumed they were just doing it that way to cut down on theft. The second game I bought was preordered so it came sealed and was truly brand new. Now I only preorder off of amazon with release day shipping and I buy and sell used on half.com. I steer clear of GameStop.

I usually avoid GameStop because the guys that work there are snarky bastards. I've never met a friendly clerk there with good social skills. It's hard to describe but they're very condescending, like they know something you don't...

I mean really? If it was all about theft, they'd have a lot more efficient ways of combating shrinkage.

You don't see ANY other national retailer doing this do you? Places with much larger stores and much more product.

The GameStop close to me they're very social and not snarky. I tried to be polite and help people out when I worked there

I've been pretty happy with my gamestop but as I said, I generally never by new games from them because they gut them. Unless it is the day of release, then they are not gutted.

We have a Mega Media Xchange here. I went in there when I wanted to pick back up a copy of Halo Reach, this was before Halo 4 came out, and I looked at game stop, they were still selling it for 44.99. I went to mega media xchange, and they had it for 17.99. Havent been back to Game Stop since. They are beyond ridiculous. Their mark ups, and trade ins are ridiculous.

Sometimes you have to fire the customer. This seems like a win win for both parties.

Yeah tell all your friends and family, we'll tell all our friends and family and take this company down!

Never been a GS fan. I never buy used games & it's bullshit that they charge $60 for a new game & $55 for a used one. I would buy used if there was a bigger difference in price. But, hearing my "new" game may not technically be new, I won't buy from them again.

never bought anything there.. There upselling and not shutting up when I told them no ****ed that up..

Well, to update this mess I took my games and receipt to the other Gamestop and spoke with the manager. She was extremely helpful, apologized for the inconvenience of having to drive 70 miles round trip just to get this simple thing taken care of.

She not only gave me the option of replacing all of the games, or taking a full refund, but she also gave me the rewards card and I believe 6 months of Game Informer for free.

I got myself 3 new copies of the games, and she was more than happy to let me open and inspect them before I left the store. I absolutely cannot complain about the level of professionalism that she displayed.

She offered her view on what probably happened and said that since I didn't spring for the rewards card, it probably frustrated/pissed off the manager since apparently the rewards card is a massive thing for the company. If you don't get enough cards, basicly corporate rides up your ass with a splintery broom handle.

She also said that there was absolutely no reason whatsoever that I could not have at the very least been offered brand new replacements of the exact same games when explaining my problems with the ones I got, and was basicly trying to twist policy in order to get back at me for not taking the card and buying used.

Buying used, and cutting the publisher out of the transaction giving full profit to Gamestop is basicly now the safest bet with all of the stuff that they do based around the used game.

You can get double reward points buying used, you have 7 days to play the game and even if theres nothing wrong with it and you just don't like it, you can get a full refund. Basicly, at the end of the week, it becomes a free rental with the return of your "deposit" in the total of the pricetag.

New games are restricted to same game only exchanges on defects, and if you just didn't like it, its trade-in only for a fraction of your initial price.


While I dislike many of their practices, I couldn't say that if I was in the neighborhood of this particular store, that I absolutely wouldn't go back. The manager there fixed a problem for me immediately that didn't even originate in her store. I have a great deal of respect for that.

I certainly wont be walking out of a GS without inspecting my product first, should I have no choice but to buy there.

Im going to stop in at my local GS and inform thunderc*** manager there that I found a competent store manager to fix her screwup.

So basicly you won't be buying from GS again?

:)

Thats great that you found a manager that would take care of it for you. I wouldn't go back to your local Gamestop ever again though. Not even to rub it in their face. Pointless maneuver.

do you want to add disc protection for $4?

That always cracks me up. they don't even clean and inspect the disks before they sell them to you. I always ask to see the disk before I purchase used copies.

We have a local ma and pop shop here that sells used games but they aren't very competitive. The one thing they have going for them is that they run every disk through a cleaner to remove any scratches.

Yup. Plus, she might rat out the good manage to corporate over some bullshit and cause her grief.

If you do go back, I'd just tell her you went to another Gamestop that treated you well. I wouldn't tell her which one, though.

I'm like 2k points away from a $50 gift card and then I'm never going back.

You still need to write a letter to corporate to condemn the actions of the crappy manager and to praise the actions of the good manager.

I never take that disc protection shit

Good deal. Glad you were able to get it taken care of.

What people like the first manager dont seem to understand is, if they had treated you with professionalism, respect and kindness from the beginning instead of trying to strong arm you into buying a rewards card, you might be inclined to buy one in the future. Instead they probably lost a customer.

some store in the mall gave me 10 bucks for some 360 games. I was surprised.