So people just dont like Gamestop?

[QUOTE="Calmador"]

The only legit reason... is a lot of gamestop employees use up the new copies of games they have behind the counter... and sell them to us at new price...

-_-

I've heard some of them say so themeselves

SteveTabernacle

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

[QUOTE="QuistisTrepe_"]

But ITT, apparently that makes you little more than akid who doesn't really know anything except that they do not want to pay for anything and think they should get whatever they want whenever they want it as well as someonewho regurgitates mere popular opinion. At least that's what I've come away with so far. Come to think of it, Game Crazy didn't do that. Hmmm......supposedly they were modeled exactly on the Gamestop model.

QuistisTrepe_

Actually, both Gamecrazy stores in my area did precisely that same thing. They are forced to gut a new copy for display purposes.

Odd, I managed at three different locations in two states and this would be the first time I've ever heard of Game Crazy doing something like that.

Hate to break it to you but the whole gutted copy for display purposes thing didn't even start with Gamestop. Stores have been doing it for years.

And regardless of your own experiences, I can attest that the Gamecrazy located in Hemet, CA. gutted new games for display before shutting down.

Do you really think I'm going to lie about their practices to prove some point to a person I don't even know?

I like EB a lot (there aren't any gamestops around here.)

Ok, their trade values are low. But that's what a middle man does. You don't have to sell them our games. I don't, and I get on fine.

They usually have a pretty good selection, and the guys aat the one near me know what they're talking about. I love it there.

As opposed to "non-sensical", "regurgitating popular opinion", and "ignorant?" For someone to dismiss someone's opinion in such a manner doesn't suggest they're open to having a conversation. For someone to start off with such a condescending approach and then cry crocodile tears about the other person being arrogant and insulting is the height of disingenuousness and a bit juvenile.

Gram closed the door on having a conversation from the start. If he knew anything about interpersonal communication let alone possessed any sense of tact, this would have gone down much differently. This is all on him as far I'm concerned.
I have no patience for dime-a-dozen internet tough guys.

QuistisTrepe_

Actually, you are the one who injected hostility into these discussions and I'm not the only person you got snide with so don't waste my time playing the victim when you've clearly brought any and all derision upon yourself.

And the dime- a-dozen Internet tough guy thing further proves you are the one lacking in tact. I've offered up a rebuttal argument to your specious postulations and you've spent more time making snide comments and being dismissive than actually debating the issue at hand.

Again, if you've worked for Gamestop and have something to share that could act as a revelation regarding their business practices, I'm happy to read it because I have no personal investment in defending them. As I've stated previously, I have my own issues with the company but I personally draw a line between rational criticism and the propagation of fallacious logic to unnecessarily vilify a company. Whether or not you realize it, the onus is upon you to demonstrate why Gamestop is such a negative entity and so far you haven't done that.

Feel free to keep attacking but understand that disparaging me won't make your arguments any stronger.

Gamestop was a barely enjoyable experience before they bought EB Games, but after the fact things have only gotten worse. Their trade-in values are a bigger joke than they ever were, the shopping experience feels like borderline harassment, all the signage and displays are migraine-inducing, and they hire some of the dumbest, inept people imaginable. It's almost as if store managers and district managers go out of their way to find the least talented people who apply.

When it's all said and done, the waiting time for purchased items off of eBay and Amazon isn't an inconvenience at all by comparison.

[QUOTE="morrowindnic"]

Reasons why I don't like gamestop:

1. They screw you over. If you want to sell a game, you could probably sell it for more then double on craigslist.

2. They open ALL of their games.

3. They will sell you broken games.

4. Their employes are biased.

5. Extreamly small PC section.

6. The whole company is a **** one.

7. They try to sell you crap you don't want.

I can keep on going if you want.

PogostickJesus

Im with you on that. I work for Gamestop now, and i dont mind people saying they hate it, but its just a store. theres plenty of go arounds for us. I really cant stand asking people for reserves/gameinformer subs/GPG's, but im getting paid, so im doing my job.

Also i have an incredible knowledge about video games, so im not a dumbass.

Actually, you are the one who injected hostility into these discussions and I'm not the only person you got snide with so don't waste my time playing the victim when you've clearly brought any and all derision upon yourself.

Grammaton-Cleric

I may have overreacted a bit. I still think you need to brush up on your people skills however.

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

Actually, you are the one who injected hostility into these discussions and I'm not the only person you got snide with so don't waste my time playing the victim when you've clearly brought any and all derision upon yourself.

QuistisTrepe_

I may have overreacted a bit. I still think you need to brush up on your people skills however.

I get along with most people just fine and dandy. What generally happens is that people take an attack on their position as a personal attack on them, which isn't the case. I have no idea who you are and I certainly have no reason to attack you personally. I am aggressive in my dismantling of an argument I feel is unreasonable or illogical but I am also open to other people's point of view and I change my mind consistently. When I invited you to share your own experiences and insight, that was a genuine offer that still stands. Despite my own copious experience with GS as a consumer, working within the company would have granted you a perspective that is potentially very valuable and unique so again, if you wish to expand on your previous assertions I'm happy to read them.

[QUOTE="QuistisTrepe_"]

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

Actually, you are the one who injected hostility into these discussions and I'm not the only person you got snide with so don't waste my time playing the victim when you've clearly brought any and all derision upon yourself.

Grammaton-Cleric

I may have overreacted a bit. I still think you need to brush up on your people skills however.

I get along with most people just fine and dandy. What generally happens is that people take an attack on their position as a personal attack on them, which isn't the case. I have no idea who you are and I certainly have no reason to attack you personally. I am aggressive in my dismantling of an argument I feel is unreasonable or illogical but I am also open to other people's point of view and I change my mind consistently. When I invited you to share your own experiences and insight, that was a genuine offer that still stands. Despite my own copious experience with GS as a consumer, working within the company would have granted you a perspective that is potentially very valuable and unique so again, if you wish to expand on your previous assertions I'm happy to read them.

Fine, let's back it up a bit. When I argue corporate culture, I mean the manner in which the company sets out to meet its goals. In my time at Gamestop there were always specific, micromanaged targets (such as targeted game titles, vendor of the month sales, pre-orders, etc.) to be obtained and this factored into store rankings with which you can ascertain were used as our metrics towards annual reviews. This fosters a culture of sell anything at all costs where customer service is often overlooked. Not that everyone ran a store like that, I certainly didn't. The low trade-in values are understandable given just how low-margin the game industry is.

Game Crazy's model is more streamlined. In other words, they didn't care what you sold, as long as you were keeping your numbers in line. This produces a more relaxed atmosphere where my crew was free to chat people up about their interests, the numbers just fell into place, as long as a manager was minding the store. That approach just makes more sense. I even had the freedom to match trade-in values of our competitors. As far as gutting game cases, of course you have no reason to lie about that. My guess would be that either the store was "cowboying" their displays, they were under orders to do this from their district manager due to high shrink, or the company got to the point where they weren't ordering displays anymore, a byproduct of being owned by the failing Movie Gallery corporation. Looking back on it, I don't know why they didn't just dispense with the movie rental side of the business and go all-in as a video game retailer. It was known years ago the GC was driving the cash flow.

You then have to choose whether to wait for a new shipment of factory sealed copies or to get the display copy immediately. If you want a factory sealed copy then just wait.Diablo-B

Despite being somebody who generally likes to shop at GS, I completely agree this type of thing is unacceptable and is borderline consumer fraud. That's why I only purchase shrink wrapped, factory sealed games.

Grammaton-Cleric

But then what if they tell you the opened copyis theirlast copy? I've had that happen to me on a couple of occassions. First time, i just told them to keep their 'used' copy, and went and bought the game from Walmart. Last time, I went to buy MAG and of course it was their 'last copy'. So of couse, they felt compelled to take it out of the box. This time I decided to buy it from them because I am an idiot and they made me feel guilty for cancelling my Uncharted 2 preorder. And that's another thing about Gamestop, their employees completely change their tone when you tell themu want to cancel a preorder. The manager gave me the nastiest look, and why? because they didnt hold a Midnight Launch for Uncharted 2. I told them if they wanted to sell me the game before they closed that night they could, but they couldnt so I went and bought it from Walmart at midnight. Anyway, the point of this rant is that theyFORCE preorders on their customers and when we cancel them (which is our right as consumers), we getcrapped on. i've even heard that they put you on a 'banned' list if u cancel too many preorders. So now I amtoo scared to go and cancel my preorder for GoW3 (which my brother gotfor a discount from the store he works at) and Battlefield 2which I didnt want to buy after playing MAG.

So now I cant go cancel those two preorders becauseifGamestop scores an exclusive LBP2 beta, i wouldnt be able to get it because they would put me on their ****ing banned list.

P.S, Blockbuster gives you $35 for newgames you trade in.

[QUOTE="Grammaton-Cleric"]

Despite being somebody who generally likes to shop at GS, I completely agree this type of thing is unacceptable and is borderline consumer fraud. That's why I only purchase shrink wrapped, factory sealed games.

But then what if they tell you the opened copyis theirlast copy? I've had that happen to me on a couple of occassions. First time, i just told them to keep their 'used' copy, and went and bought the game from Walmart. Last time, I went to buy MAG and of course it was their 'last copy'. So of couse, they felt compelled to take it out of the box. This time I decided to buy it from them because I am an idiot and they made me feel guilty for cancelling my Uncharted 2 preorder. And that's another thing about Gamestop, their employees completely change their tone when you tell themu want to cancel a preorder. The manager gave me the nastiest look, and why? because they didnt hold a Midnight Launch for Uncharted 2. I told them if they wanted to sell me the game before they closed that night they could, but they couldnt so I went and bought it from Walmart at midnight. Anyway, the point of this rant is that theyFORCE preorders on their customers and when we cancel them (which is our right as consumers), we getcrapped on. i've even heard that they put you on a 'banned' list if u cancel too many preorders. So now I amtoo scared to go and cancel my preorder for GoW3 (which my brother gotfor a discount from the store he works at) and Battlefield 2which I didnt want to buy after playing MAG.

So now I cant go cancel those two preorders becauseifGamestop scores an exclusive LBP2 beta, i wouldnt be able to get it because they would put me on their ****ing banned list.

P.S, Blockbuster gives you $35 for newgames you trade in.

Fine, let's back it up a bit. When I argue corporate culture, I mean the manner in which the company sets out to meet its goals. In my time at Gamestop there were always specific, micromanaged targets (such as targeted game titles, vendor of the month sales, pre-orders, etc.) to be obtained and this factored into store rankings with which you can ascertain were used as our metrics towards annual reviews. This fosters a culture of sell anything at all costs where customer service is often overlooked. Not that everyone ran a store like that, I certainly didn't. The low trade-in values are understandable given just how low-margin the game industry is.

Game Crazy's model is more streamlined. In other words, they didn't care what you sold, as long as you were keeping your numbers in line. This produces a more relaxed atmosphere where my crew was free to chat people up about their interests, the numbers just fell into place, as long as a manager was minding the store. That approach just makes more sense. I even had the freedom to match trade-in values of our competitors. As far as gutting game cases, of course you have no reason to lie about that. My guess would be that either the store was "cowboying" their displays, they were under orders to do this from their district manager due to high shrink, or the company got to the point where they weren't ordering displays anymore, a byproduct of being owned by the failing Movie Gallery corporation. Looking back on it, I don't know why they didn't just dispense with the movie rental side of the business and go all-in as a video game retailer. It was known years ago the GC was driving the cash flow.

QuistisTrepe_

See, now that's some incredibly relevant information that actually illuminates a significant gulf between the two retailers. What's interesting is that I have had several friends who worked for GameStop in the past and their experiences mesh with what you've posted here. I actually knew one manager who was literally told by his D.M. that he couldn't go home until he sold a certain number of MLB games and was finally forced to ask another employee to come in, buy the games, and then return them later just so he could get the hell out of the store and home to his wife and kid.

I also remember that when Gamecrazy first opened, they actually paid exactly half of what they were intending to sell the used games for but that practice died out relatively quickly, no doubt because of the unrealistic margin for profit that policy set. Regardless, I certainly agree the corporate philosophy at Gamecrazy would appear to be less inclined towards pushing specific games and promotions, which is always a good thing for somebody like me who doesn't require a hard sale and certainly doesn't need to be told what to buy. .

I actually really liked Gamecrazy for most of their stint and it was only during their last couple of years that the local stores around me began to feel a bit different, though certainly no worse than GameStop. What I think remains an important distinction is that a person's experience can vary radically from store to store, as evidenced by my loyalty to certain managers and employees at the GS I frequent. I also feel there is a very important difference between looking at GS through the eyes of an employee versus the eyes of the consumer. You are clearly unhappy with your experience working for GS and based on what you've shared, those criticisms seem pretty valid. Conversely, my own experiences have been mostly positive because I have frequented stores run by people like you who placed an emphasis on customer service and staffing their stores with knowledgeable employees. I think what this whole debate really boils down to is that the experience of any one consumer will be directly dependent upon the manner in which the store is run, which is why you experience people praising and cursing GS in the same thread.

That said, I think working for GameStop would be relatively unpleasant based on your own experiences and the experiences of others I have spoken to. Most companies that are around long enough and have achieved a certain level of success tend to micromanage their employees to such an extent that any and all individualism is lost, making them nothing more than drones repeating the same catch slogans and inquires day after day. The upper tier management running GameStop would do well to remember that a specialty store needs to be a place where the medium is treated not merely as a source of revenue but alsofacilitates an environment enthusiasts want to frequent.

I agree with you that for a while, Gamecrazy did that much better than GameStop.

I don't actually have a problem with Gamestop, it's the employee's that I take issue with.

I frequent 3 stores in particular and have experienced poor service in all of them.

Some of the experiences are as follows:

I traded in a bunch of old systems and a few games for a PS3 around the time the 80 gig was released. I specifically told the clerk I wanted the launch 60 gig for backward compatibility. She swore up and down while she checked my trade ins that they had the launch PS3. 20 minutes later after making sure all my stuff worked and spread my stuff all over her countertop, she comes back and says, yeah, she was wrong no launch PS3's available, but to take the 80 gig b/c it was the same, which is a lie. I made her call all the area stores until we found a launch and had to put all the trade-in money on a gift card and high tale it over to the other store 30 minutes away, and they would NOT put the launch PS3 aside for me while I was traveling there.

Another time, another store, I happened to be around when the employees got the preorder incentive items for Castlevania Portrait of Ruin, which was an awesome soundtrack in a nice case with stylus, art book and wax seal. The employees literally tore an item apart and took the disc, art book and stylus and divided it amongst them. Thankfully I ordered mine online. But I feel bad for the poor guy who didn't get his preorder bonus and the clerk told him supplies were limited and we took yours.

Which brings me to my next point, different store. Clerk told me preorders for Heavy Rain would come with a code for the first DLC. I specifically asked him is it limited or am I guaranteed a code. He SPECIFICALLY said they were coming inside the sealed case. I thought that odd, but he would know right? He was wrong. When I showed up on launch day at several hours after they started selling Heavy Rain another clerk told me the codes were extremely limited and they were all gone in a few hours. Well my issue was that the employee lied when he told me I was gauranteed b/c it would be inside the game. I made them void the pre-sale and got it on Amazon, since the only reason I went to Gamestop in the first place was for the pre-order code.

Which gets me to my last point. 99% of the time I know more about what is being released and when and what pre-order incentive is included then the employee's do in the stores around my area. That doesn't bother me as much as the fact that, when I ask them, they very often just lie or give information that is to the contrary. And quite often they do it with a snotty attitude.

Having shared that, I would like to add that I have never had a problem with the store managers. Overall they seem respectful of the customers. But some of those clerks leave much to be desired.

Also, the trade-in value is terrible, but again as others have said, you can and will get more on ebay. So there you go. My two cents.