Why all the Gamestop hate?

[thespyisdead]

i don't have any negative experience with them. and i really appreciate the used games they sell, and the inexpensive older PC games they have on display, they do, however, tend to have a bit overpriced new games...

and people, that think that used games are a sin, then i will gladly go to hell for my sin

 

[Adultratedhydra]

As someone who worked at EBGames (Thier aus branch) Its safe to say that, yes thier business practices are shady as hell and they hire the most incompetant people (One of my casuals could never sell PC games because he only knew about a PS3.).

However you will find some employees are there because they love thier hobby and in the store i worked at the manager and i had an understanding, if someone came to me with a game i knew was bad (Im talking from a technical standpoint.) id inform them of this. As for the comments on some employee "Rudeness" im sure many people considered me rude because i wouldnt throw in an extra controller when they were buying thier PS3. "Oh yes well you could cant you?" "No." "oh what a tightass" "Yes. Because my job is worth your PS3, get the hell out of my store." -Actual conversation with possibly the worst customer i ever dealt with.

Wall of text made short.

Hate the company and the dumb employees, but dont blame the employees for doing thier job. Work a day in retail and youll understand why some act like they do. And Gamestop sucks.

 

[Spearmaster]

at my three (all three) local Gamestop locations Ive had to request "unopened" new copies of games every time and im given grief for my request if they have one at all, they don't have a PC game section at 2 of the locations, the third's is sad if it still exists today, sales people push used games over new every time, push consoles over my PC telling me that consoles will be a better PC than a PC in 10 years and I should "upgrade", they hustle bad games to people because they know you are gonna resell it back to them so they can re hustle it, and the difference in what they pay you for a used game, what they sell it for and what it is new I can usually get it new on amazon for less than their used price, I ask for new its $60 used is like $50-55, mainly hate the hustling of bad games for a quick resell.
My general experience
Clerk-"buy this game its awesome, great reviews I played it for hours, everyone loves it"
Me-"$60 OK ill try it"
play for 2 hours, look at is disgusted
Me-"better sell it back while its still pretty new"
Clerk-"we can give you like..$10 for it, its not a very popular game"
Me-"but your selling it used for $55!?"...never again
Next guy-"this game any good"
Clerk-"yeah man its awesome and we got a deal for you we got a used one that's only a day old for $5 bucks less"

gamestop employees =/= gamestop

No but they represent them and some of them are managers that have been there 3 years also gamestop is the sum of all its parts.
employees=customer service
customer=revenue
revenue=gamestop
:. employees=gamestop (as per my experience anyway)

 

[Yopaz]

I don't hate GameStop, but I dislike them for the following reasons.

They have a terrible return policy. Buy a new game from GameStop and if it doesn't work you wont get a refund. This has happened to me several times despite how they claim they will give refunds to any non functional games. Once they even accepted a return and paid what they would pay for someone selling a used game, since the game wasn't used they sold it as a new game.

Their prices are generally higher than all of my other sources for video games. I can usually get new games cheaper than used games from GameStop. I've even seen GameStop selling a new game for less than the price of the same game used.

It's usually difficult to find old games new (thinking a year or two). In general they don't seem to have a very good selection at all. It's strange that most of the GameStops around here got a worse selection of games than my electronics store.

 

[Spearmaster]

at my three (all three) local Gamestop locations Ive had to request "unopened" new copies of games every time and im given grief for my request if they have one at all, they don't have a PC game section at 2 of the locations, the third's is sad if it still exists today, sales people push used games over new every time, push consoles over my PC telling me that consoles will be a better PC than a PC in 10 years and I should "upgrade", they hustle bad games to people because they know you are gonna resell it back to them so they can re hustle it, and the difference in what they pay you for a used game, what they sell it for and what it is new I can usually get it new on amazon for less than their used price, I ask for new its $60 used is like $50-55, mainly hate the hustling of bad games for a quick resell.
My general experience
Clerk-"buy this game its awesome, great reviews I played it for hours, everyone loves it"
Me-"$60 OK ill try it"
play for 2 hours, look at is disgusted
Me-"better sell it back while its still pretty new"
Clerk-"we can give you like..$10 for it, its not a very popular game"
Me-"but your selling it used for $55!?"...never again
Next guy-"this game any good"
Clerk-"yeah man its awesome and we got a deal for you we got a used one that's only a day old for $5 bucks less"

gamestop employees =/= gamestop

No but they represent them and some of them are managers that have been there 3 years also gamestop is the sum of all its parts.
employees=customer service
customer=revenue
revenue=gamestop
:. employees=gamestop (as per my experience anyway)

the suits make gs what it is, the retail employees, like in any major corporation, have zero power in determining policy, prices, whatever, they're just little cogs in the machine, albeit a failing machine. You ever try to get someone to buy your used copy instead of theirs inside of a gamestop? Lol they get maaaaaad

I know that the employees don't make policy but I loose sympathy for them when I remember they are getting paid to do these things, gamestop does bad things to get money, gamestop employees do bad things to get money, sounds pretty much the same, I do feel for people that have to work said job to get by with bills and such though, extra harsh for them and thats another reason I don't like gamestop.

 

[LiquidSolstice]

>Buy new game the day it comes out for $60
>Trade it in the next day and get $20 back
>Visit store next day, see your game being sold for $60

Regardless of the fact that in your idiotic little story that a full refund would have been a better strategy, I laugh at the whole "gamestop rips me off on used games" bullshit.

Here's a nice dose of reality for you.

A) You are not required to sell anything to Gamestop. Craigslist, eBay, Amazon, go nuts.
B) Why the hell should GameStop pay you anywhere near the original value for a game that they already have a ton of in stock? If a store has 50 copies of MW3 in stock, why the fuck should they buy it from you for even $30? It doesn't make any monetary sense for them to do so, it's just the usual "I should be entitled to xyz" gamer mentality that seems to think differently...

Selling your games to GameStop is not economical, it's not profitable, it's not wise. You know what it is? Convenient. It's fast, it's always there, and it requires almost no effort from you.

That being said, I stopped selling my games back to GameStop because frankly, I like my games too much.

 

[LiquidSolstice]

No but they represent them and some of them are managers that have been there 3 years also gamestop is the sum of all its parts.
employees=customer service
customer=revenue
revenue=gamestop
:. employees=gamestop (as per my experience anyway)

I like how you skipped out on the online purchasing ecosystem of the equation to revenue. Because that of course doesn't mean anything at all.

Customer service is not the same thing as customer, either. You cannot "have experience with employees being the same as gamestop as a whole" because it is not possible for you to know what Gamestop is, as a whole.

 

[Spearmaster]

No but they represent them and some of them are managers that have been there 3 years also gamestop is the sum of all its parts.
employees=customer service
customer=revenue
revenue=gamestop
:. employees=gamestop (as per my experience anyway)

I like how you skipped out on the online purchasing ecosystem of the equation to revenue. Because that of course doesn't mean anything at all.

Customer service is not the same thing as customer, either. You cannot "have experience with employees being the same as gamestop as a whole" because it is not possible for you to know what Gamestop is, as a whole.

I was just answering the OP's question on why I hate gamestop and that I did, I don't care about the rest of gamestop I don't see because that's not the part I deal with, customer service leads to customers and if that was not a huge part of their business they wouldn't have 3 gamestops and an eb games within 5 miles of each other. I don't like them so I don't deal with them anymore simple as that, same for a lot of people, I don't agree with the game devs trying to halt the sales of used games though that is worse than what gamestop does. I usually give away games im done with to people I know that are not as well off as I am and they are trying to block that at the same time.

 

[Vigormortis]

They're like the walmart of game stores. They're cheap, everywhere, and use extremely shady tactics. They make a profit from used games and the devs/publishers don't see any of that money.

For me, it's not the fact that they sell used games. That doesn't bother me. Second hand markets are just how the world works.

Likewise, I don't hate the employees, per-se. Sure, there are the occasional asshole-employee who acts like a jerk to the customers, but that's true of every business.

What does bother me, and is the reason I hate Gamestop, is the way they treat gamers and publishers at a corporate level. For example, with the gamers, the used games they sell are marked WAY too high to the point it's just a blatant rip-off. You're almost better served just buying new in most cases. At the same time, they push "deals", pre-orders, and "club memberships" on people. Even if you're already signed-up.

Then there's their general policies with publishers. (not that some pubs don't deserve it. *cough* EA *cough*) For example, taking 70% of all game sales and giving less than 30% to the publishers; on a good day. That's just ridiculous and way more than is likely needed to cover their over-head. (an assumption, admittedly)

That said, I also hate how, after saying I don't like Gamestop, I get people accusing me of simply hating used game sales or irrationally hating Gamestop employees. That's not at all what I say. People really need to stop putting words in my mouth.

[edit]
Also, need I remind people of the time Gamestop was caught allowing employees to take copies of new releases home? They were allowed to open the cases to play the games and then they'd bring the game disc and case back. The store would then re-shrink-wrap the case and put it on the shelf marked at full price as "new". This wasn't an isolated incident either. This was a corporate-level allowance.

 

[GDB]

One of the biggest concerns many GameStop employees have is that they have to keep working after they clock out (in other words, the have to work ?off the clock?). Some employees report that they are given way more to do than can be completed in a shift, but if they don?t clock out on time, or don?t finish the work, they can be fired. So employees end up clocking out and then finish the work. Other employees complain that the Comdata Card comes with fees, effectively reducing the actual paycheck. These are blatant violations of federal and state wage and hour laws, and Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz, P.C. is actively investigating a potential class action against GameStop. If you would like to discuss your legal options, please do not hesitate to contact me:

Greg Blankinship, Esq.
Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz, P.C.
1311 Mamaroneck Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605
914-517-5000
gblankinship@mdpcelaw.com

To ensure compliance with applicable rules of professional conduct, please note that this post might be construed as Attorney Advertising. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.

 

[scorptatious]

I'm really not sure. My experiences with GameStop have been positive overall. Sure, there are those employees who ask if you would like to subscribe to GameInformer and if you have a rewards card, but they're just doing their job.

That being said, their weekly ads that enter my email inbox can be kinda annoying. Plus I find it easier to find older and cheaper games over at places like say, Dimple Records.