GS Trade in rip off

mcwilliams132

mcwilliams132

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I'll start off with this; I've been a fairly loyal GameStop shopper for nearly 10yrs. For the most part, I've always had good luck and generally good deals.

That being said...

Over Christmas vacation, I started cleaning up some of my backlog of games sitting half done and was planning on doing a big trade in for some upcoming titles.

I noticed that GS trade in deal section has a 3/$10 and 4/$20 credit bumps for just about all systems through 1/10. I had nearly 30 360 games and about 4/5 Wii titles I was going to trade in. So I figured that I'd get at least a $120 bump in credit above the normal trade in prices (I'm thinking about $250 maybe) - a pretty hefty store credit to score some new titles.

I get to the store, they look everything over, and the first quote is something like $127 for the games (minus their lame "refurbishing" fees). Then they applied the promo's and it was only $50 more.

I stated that their web site says that there's a 3/$10 4/$20 deal going on through 1/10/10 to which the employees said they knew NOTHING about. Pulling out their ad book - there's nothing there. they have no Internet access to verify. I even heard the claim that "oh, yeah, we're not exactly affiliated with gametop.com".

WTF?!

Not affiliated? Why the hell is your name on it?! Why are your stores listed there?! Why do you have trade in value/deals posted?! If not... change the gd name of the site. That's false advertising and leads the consumer to the wrong conclusions.

Anyways, I'm pissed at the deal but push it through; not wanting to deal with it any longer. I got what I could with the credit given and left.

I went home and immediately jumped on gamestop.com and filled out a negative feedback form and requested a district manager contact me - to which it hasn't happened yet.

Anyone else get a response from a DM? Or do I need to hit up the local store manager? Call GS corp? Ideas? Hopeless?

If this doesn't play out for me, I'll probably abandon GS all together (I'm sure that's some of your sentiments as well).

I want my extra credit! :bomb:
 
You might have overlooked the part of the promotion that states games 2.00 and under do not apply to the promo. If you had a lot of low value games, chances are they didn't even apply to the promo. Even though half the time the employees don't know about the promotions going on, the computer does. That's why there was a 50$ bump after they hit in total. Hope this helps.
 
[quote name='mcwilliams132']Yeah... thanks... but doesn't address my issue.[/QUOTE]


from the gamestop page:

"Trade-ins subject to manager approval. Offer subject to change at anytime. See store associate for details."
Click to expand...

unfortunately, i think they can basically do whatever they want whenever they want because of this.
 
They're generally really good about emails regarding issues with stuff in-store or online. I'm sure they'll get back to you and straighten things out. Although, since you went ahead and did the trade anyway, you may have screwed yourself. Had you just kept your stuff and emailed your problem, they might have done something along the lines of extending the program for you so you could get your extra credit.

[quote name='Maledar']Why the hell would anyone trade-in at gamestop?[/QUOTE]

Seriously, one of these? If you know how to trade, you can actually get decent prices at GS. Please go troll somewhere else.
 
[quote name='bigpimpin24']You might have overlooked the part of the promotion that states games 2.00 and under do not apply to the promo. If you had a lot of low value games, chances are they didn't even apply to the promo. Even though half the time the employees don't know about the promotions going on, the computer does. That's why there was a 50$ bump after they hit in total. Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]

Most likely this. Check your receipt and I'm sure you'll see some low value games on there.
 
Can you post a list of the games you traded in and the value you got(base, or before edge)
Like some said, if some of the games were less than $2, they didn't apply. Also, some of your games might have qualified for the $20 trade bump with purchase.

Either way, you definitely should NOT have allowed them to take your trades until you straightened this all out.
 
Thanks guys. The $2 and under may be the issue in some cases (still a travesty). I'll check when I get home from work.

From now on I think I'll try GameCrazy or resell on eBay.
 
Does that promo work multiple times in one transaction? My understanding was that you would have to trade in groups of 4 games in multiple transactions to get the bump.

If this was a 'rip off' an a 'travesty', why did you let the trade go through? They can only give such low values because people let them.
 
another person complaining about Gamespot ripping them off yet they still took the trade in. EBAY EBAY EBAY people, you said you had like 30 360 games and 4 Wii games and accepted what $180ish according to your post, you wouldve gotten alot more on Ebay even if they were older games
 
I know, I know, shame on me. I pushed the deal since I was there with my kids all clamoring to get something. Should have walked away, but didn't.

I guess the dm calld my house, so I'll call back and see what the word is. thanks everyone.
 
i had a DM call me back when i filed a complaint. Douche bag employee refused to take my trade ins for credit to buy a ps3-he claimed he had a backlog of work to do and would simply not take my trade ins, to go someplace else and forget about buying a ps3 since they were crap (mind you, this was a 60gb i bought at 650 bucks with extra warrenty)who the hell turns away buisness? the DM called me in about 2 days, didnt offer me anything for me being pissed off and waiting for the next day to go to another store, trade in my stuff and buy my ps3. never did see that kid working at any of my gamestops again though
 
[quote name='yourlefthand']Does that promo work multiple times in one transaction? My understanding was that you would have to trade in groups of 4 games in multiple transactions to get the bump.

If this was a 'rip off' an a 'travesty', why did you let the trade go through? They can only give such low values because people let them.[/QUOTE]

Ding ding ding. We have a winner right here. THIS is exactly why GS is still in business now, because shnooks may get mad at the low TIV's and crummy condition of their used products they sell, but because people put up with it they are allowed to continue doing it.

What the OP hasn't answered is whether or not his/her games were in crappy condition and incomplete, since some stores will always nail you with a refurb fee for incomplete and scratched up games.

If that was the case, then the OP should have found a more lenient store(like the one I hit up yesterday to trade in 3 games for the $20 promo)and done the trade there.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Ding ding ding. We have a winner right here. THIS is exactly why GS is still in business now, because shnooks may get mad at the low TIV's and crummy condition of their used products they sell, but because people put up with it they are allowed to continue doing it.

What the OP hasn't answered is whether or not his/her games were in crappy condition and incomplete, since some stores will always nail you with a refurb fee for incomplete and scratched up games.

If that was the case, then the OP should have found a more lenient store(like the one I hit up yesterday to trade in 3 games for the $20 promo)and done the trade there.[/QUOTE]

sir the OP did post that his games weren't in the best condition, he stated that the trade was only $127 at first after they processed their "lame refurbishing fee's"

those only get applied when your games are scratched beyond belief.
 
Besides the games with a value of less than $2 being excluded, any game you got charged a refurb on was most likely than excluded from adding to the bonus also. When I go in to trade I research the gamestop value thread on here or call and get values if needed to have a very close figure to what I should be getting. Then I don't sign shit until I see what promos are being applied and if correctly, and if they try and charge me refurbs I just take my stuff back.
 
[quote name='yourlefthand']Does that promo work multiple times in one transaction? My understanding was that you would have to trade in groups of 4 games in multiple transactions to get the bump.

If this was a 'rip off' an a 'travesty', why did you let the trade go through? They can only give such low values because people let them.[/QUOTE]

Well, I traded 8 games in the same transaction and got the promo twice.

[quote name='blissskr']Besides the games with a value of less than $2 being excluded, any game you got charged a refurb on was most likely than excluded from adding to the bonus also. When I go in to trade I research the gamestop value thread on here or call and get values if needed to have a very close figure to what I should be getting. Then I don't sign shit until I see what promos are being applied and if correctly, and if they try and charge me refurbs I just take my stuff back.[/QUOTE]


I was going to trade COD2 but they wouldn't take it because it was "developing a circle".
 
Yeah, GS has their moments, but if you have the patience and don't mind eating the cost of shipping, goozex is the way to go to get better value for your trades. Even a crappy game that's worth 100 points still is worth about $5 goozex value and if it trades for anything less than the $2 and change it costs to ship, you're up on things.
 
OP, no offense, but I don't see how gamestop is at fault here. You agreed to the amount they offered you. You likely had to sign at the register agreeing on this amount. If you had a problem with the amount, or the amount was too low, etc, then why did you agree to it?

While I completely agree that gamestop's trade in values suck, you have to take some responsibility here. They didn't force you to accept any deal.
 
[quote name='mcwilliams132']
I stated that their web site says that there's a 3/$10 4/$20 deal going on through 1/10/10 to which the employees said they knew NOTHING about. Pulling out their ad book - there's nothing there. they have no Internet access to verify. I even heard the claim that "oh, yeah, we're not exactly affiliated with gametop.com".

WTF?!

Not affiliated? Why the hell is your name on it?! Why are your stores listed there?! Why do you have trade in value/deals posted?! If not... change the gd name of the site. That's false advertising and leads the consumer to the wrong conclusions.[/QUOTE]
Walmart and walmart.com are the exact same way. The B&M WM stores won't pricematch their own website.
 
well... the $50 bonus would mean he had 10 games qualify for the promo.

It is hard to believe he had 20 crap games which did not qualify. dude.. check your receipt and get back to us.
 
[quote name='BionicCommando']sir the OP did post that his games weren't in the best condition, he stated that the trade was only $127 at first after they processed their "lame refurbishing fee's"

those only get applied when your games are scratched beyond belief.[/QUOTE]

Actually, a few of the GS stores around by me charge refurb fees if you don't have a manual or original coverart for a game as well, which is total bullshit when you look at their large walls of GS 'coverart(blah GS cover with name of game printed on it)' games.

Almost every single time(let one slip by cuz I was still making decent credit)I've ever been charged a refurb fee, I've taken my stuff and said 'no thanks'.

The best time was when I was trying to trade in my last gen game collection(PS2/Xbox)and the grand total for everything was like $150 after any applicable promos. I later on ended up selling them on here for $450 shipped. It's still your property till you get the gift card with the credit on it, so you can still walk out.
 
[quote name='SlammedNiss']Walmart and walmart.com are the exact same way. The B&M WM stores won't pricematch their own website.[/QUOTE]

Same with Target, but the issue here is GS.com has trade-in deals listed on the site. You can't trade-in via online, only via B&M, so by logic the deal and website is affiliated with the B&M. That employee was either full of crap, or simply ignorant.
 
Uhmm... my games are in generally excellent condition. The goons behind the counter set aside 4 games that they claimed need to be refurbished.

I did get a call from the DM last night but of course, it was near quitting time and I was at work. I called and left a message to call me at work.

Going over my list... I calculate that I'm owed at least another $60+. The promo says nothing about trading in groups of 4 per transaction (I've never ran into that stipulation). if that's the case it was at least applied twice (2 groups of 4). I excluded all games under $2 and still came up with 4 additional groups that should have qualified.

We'll see.
 
During the last 4/$20 deal, the computer wasn't calculating groupings of more than 12 games that qualified for the extra $5 per game deal; this is probably what happened here, and is probably what the district manager will communicate tomorrow (today?). If he doesn't, bring that to his attention, especially since there wasn't any mention of a limit to the amount of games you could trade in with the 4/$20 deal.
 
Gotta be wary of GS and constantly keep an eye on it. I've had them do trade-ins for me and only was able to cancel at the last second when I noticed I didn't get a credit bump.

Hell, they fucked me over lately with those Bayonetta posters. Sorry to semi-rant in your thread, but those idiots promise a pre-order bonus and then, when I get there, they say they're all out. It wasn't even the day after release; it was fucking RELEASE DAY. They knew how many pre-orders had been made; why did they not ship enough posters? I live in a somewhat small and conservative town, and even went on my lunch break. There is no way that they had more than two sets of posters there yet had dozens of pre-orders.
 
[quote name='Nirron']Gotta be wary of GS and constantly keep an eye on it. I've had them do trade-ins for me and only was able to cancel at the last second when I noticed I didn't get a credit bump.

Hell, they fucked me over lately with those Bayonetta posters. Sorry to semi-rant in your thread, but those idiots promise a pre-order bonus and then, when I get there, they say they're all out. It wasn't even the day after release; it was fucking RELEASE DAY. They knew how many pre-orders had been made; why did they not ship enough posters? I live in a somewhat small and conservative town, and even went on my lunch break. There is no way that they had more than two sets of posters there yet had dozens of pre-orders.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure how that would be Gamestop's fault and not Sega's.
 
[quote name='Survivalism']I'm not sure how that would be Gamestop's fault and not Sega's.[/QUOTE]

This type of stuff happens often enough at Gamestop (most recent one other than Bayonetta is the Muramasa wall poster) that it's hard for me to believe it's on a publisher/dev basis. I don't even know if Sega was responsible for the posters, as they weren't available anywhere BUT Gamestop, so I could be wrong. (Edit: I should mention that the clerk remarked to me as well that they had some figurines for Darksiders or something, and they apparently had even FEWER of those, and I believe that was a THQ game)

What makes Gamestop annoy me is that Gamestop enticed me to pre-order with them because there was the incentive of the posters, yet they shrug and tell me tough luck when they don't have it. They knew how many pre-orders they had. If Sega's to blame, then my irritation is misplaced, and I would begrudgingly take back my comments. It's just very reminiscent of a Black Friday type deal - they put some loss leader (like a nice laptop or something) to bring the people into their store, but they only have like 3 or 4 of them.

The really fun part is that the other GameStop in town, about 2-3 miles away, actually has a set of posters and presumably still do. I went in there with my receipt from Bayonetta showing that I had pre-ordered and bought it from the other store, and said they had to hold onto the bonus in case other people came to pick up theirs. I know it would be screwing another customer out of the posters, but if GameStop's going to do first come first serve then I figured what the hell. I even asked the cashier if I should pre-order from BOTH locations in the future to ensure I get at least one copy of the pre-order bonus I was promised, and he somewhat fumbled through that one. I'll probably check back Friday; if it's still there, I'm going to politely ask if I can take it and show them my receipt.

P.S. I don't know if you're mocking me with the video or not sasukekun :p but I love that. I'll also apologize to the OP for going way off here, but I figured another GS rant thread/blog would create more eye rolling than my posts already are. I shall speak of it no more.
 
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[quote name='mcwilliams132'] I calculate that I'm owed at least another $60+.[/QUOTE]HAHAHAHA

GameStop doesn't owe you shit! You chose to trade in those games. They tell you the value before you agree to trading it, there is nothing stopping you from walking out... So why the hell are you bitching about it?! Stand up for yourself and gain some self confidence instead of getting pushed over by the GameStop employees.

In conclusion, you are a stupid smelly pushover who is also a whiny douche bag, and the GameStop corporation is ran by geniuses.
 
[quote name='Nirron']This type of stuff happens often enough at Gamestop (most recent one other than Bayonetta is the Muramasa wall poster) that it's hard for me to believe it's on a publisher/dev basis. I don't even know if Sega was responsible for the posters, as they weren't available anywhere BUT Gamestop, so I could be wrong.[/QUOTE]

Generally, I am quick to point out that many (definitely not all) of the problems people have with GS really aren't that bad or are not entirely their fault, but in this case, I will agree. GS does seem to have a horrible reputation when it comes to pre-ordering. I have seen way too many stories on CAG about people not getting their bonuses or sometimes even their game. This is why I try to stay on top of them. I kept calling and asking when the Metal Gear Saga Volume 2 DVD was coming in, because I didn't wanna get screwed out of one like I did with Volume 1 (ended up being extremely common, but at the time, we didn't know).
 
[quote name='Nirron']P.S. I don't know if you're mocking me with the video or not sasukekun :p but I love that.[/QUOTE]
Nah, was mocking GS for always taking more pre-orders than there are pre-order bonus items. They should at least inform the customer before hand or make a wait list.

Hell... I bought LBP for PS3 when it came out, they ran out of the Kratos Costume, and they just shrugged at me. But I talked to the employee and managed to convince him to give me some really nice LBP postcards, which turn into a big poster if you put em together. They only had one in the pre-order drawer and he just gave it to me.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44'] I have seen way too many stories on CAG about people not getting their bonuses or sometimes even their game.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, the whole reserving a game and then them not having one for you thing is beyond ridiculous. They did that with MW2 at a ton of Gamestops. You take the pre-order...why should someone then also HAVE to be one of the first people in-line to guarantee they get the game. Isn't that what a pre-order is for; you're guaranteed a copy?

The Seinfeld clip nails it perfectly.
 
OP, I don't see how anyone other than Gamestop is at fault, or how Gamestop "owes you money." They aren't putting a gun to your head and telling you to trade the games, you completely agreed to receive the trade in value by signing your name on the receipt, could have easily walked out.

There, I didn't bash the OP at all, please don't delete my post. Thanks
 
80% of gamestops profits come from screwing people with getting them to trade in games and them selling it for a profit. 10% from selling new games and the rest is probably from left over pre orders. Thats insider information for you all!
 
Oh hellz yeah!

Just got a call from the DM and they investigated my transaction/trade and figured I was owed about $70 more (which is what I figured looking over my receipt)! He states that they've been having an issue with their promo software applying things properly and they're still working out the kinks.

They're mailing me out a $70 gift card today!

I'm pretty happy with the turn out.
 
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