BestBuy Enforcing Removal of GCU If You Go Past 3 Game Limit

G

GoldenGod1

Banned
To my knowledge BestBuy didn't enforce this policy very well in the past. In my experience anyways.

Point is, now that BestBuy is removing GCU it looks like they plan on enforcing it now to cull the herd.

So if you do violate the 3 game rule, don't violate it anymore.

Luckily I have another GCU account.

so fuck BestBuy

Forgot to mention, the way BestBuy wipes your account is quite unique. You'd think they would just disable your GCU and go on their merry way. No sir.

*Your points are wiped.

*Your order history is wiped.

*You have pre-orders for games? Ha! Too-bad, they won't show up and you won't be able to cancel. (I think.) Without calling and wasting more of your time.

*You were Elite Plus? HA! Not anymore. Essentially you just make a new account.

*You had warranties for appliances, tv, etc.? Not anymore you don't.

 
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I got that email last night. I called and they told me it was a computer algorithm that will flag me and erase my account. I had about $45 in reward money and was taken away as well.
 
what is the policy? 3 games what per order, period, or within a certain time frame?

 
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Bestbuy will get sued in the end. They erased people warranties on other stuff they had bought. Your whole account should not have gotten erased for this.
 
GoldenGod1 said:
To my knowledge BestBuy didn't enforce this policy very well in the past. In my experience anyways.

Point is, now that BestBuy is removing GCU it looks like they plan on enforcing it now to cull the herd.

So if you do violate the 3 game rule, don't violate it anymore.

Luckily I have another GCU account.

so fuck BestBuy
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No, fuck people like you. That's why we can't have nice things.
 
If they have algorithms that can detect when you buy more than 3, then they should code it to where if you buy more than 3 the price reverts back to the non-GCU price.   I can think of many scenarios where someone could buy more than 3 copies of the same game in a calendar year.  The way to avoid this would be to not use your MyBB account when buying the 4th+ game, but the whole purpose of shopping at Best Buy is to buy stuff and get points for your purchases.

This is a BS move by Best Buy if true

 
^^this. You knew the rules. You broke the rules. Best buy shouldn't have to modify their system to block you. You should police yourself and keep your end of the agreement.
 
Even if I did buy 3 copies of the same game within the year.   They can cancel my GCU, but why did it wiped out all my earned points and elite status too?  That's a fucked up move from BB. 

 
sonicguile said:
Even if I did buy 3 copies of the same game within the year. They can cancel my GCU, but why did it wiped out all my earned points and elite status too? That's a fucked up move from BB.
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probably because those points and elite status were, at least in part, gained by violating the ToS

 
I’m glad you posted this. I didn’t know there was a limit. There are legit reasons to buy 3 copies, folks. I bought Far Cry 5 for myself and was about to buy 2 more copies, 1 for my brother and another for a friend so we can play it online. Guess I’ll have to buy one elsewhere.

Was there a warning on your cart or did it allow you to explode your account? A warning would be a more reasonable response.
 
gorgo said:
I’m glad you posted this. I didn’t know there was a limit. There are legit reasons to buy 3 copies, folks. I bought Far Cry 5 for myself and was about to buy 2 more copies, 1 for my brother and another for a friend so we can play it online. Guess I’ll have to buy one elsewhere.

Was there a warning on your cart or did it allow you to explode your account? A warning would be a more reasonable response.
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You can buy 3.
 
I'm surprised they didn't enforce this earlier on but are suddenly so adamant about it after killing the program. 

This really makes me think the reason for this that they're phasing out physical games. Sad really.:whistle2:( 

 
I have issue with how they handled this and the timing of this is highly suspicious. A lot of changes went into effect yesterday at Bestbuy.com shortly after this wave of bannings occured. As someone who was affected by this, the problem is bigger than them just removing GCU. They went for the full nuclear option, deleting order history (including preorders,) Elite Plus status, and any points that were banked. And if you were lucky enough to have a credit card with them it is not usable since it is tied to the rewards account that no longer exists in their system.

They had the tools to limit sales in store and online. Which they used for Amiibo, Animal Crossing cards, and things like that. But when it came to games they made no such effort. A warning would have been a good start if they were enforcing. Hell take away the points gained by the purchase in question. But no, Bestbuy went a bit too far here. Returning and repurchasing a game counted towards your 3 titles per platform per year!

Don't be fooled some of us knew the rules and still got burned. I had till 2022 and paid full price for GCU because I saw the value in it years ago. That was then and this is now and with the sunsetting of GCU and Bestbuy looking to enforce rules in a time where there is no recourse for loyal customers. I know where I stand now with them.

 
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Vinny said:
I'm surprised they didn't enforce this earlier on but are suddenly so adamant about it after killing the program.

This really makes me think the reason for this that they're phasing out physical games. Sad really.:whistle2:(
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This. It’s interesting how they are fully enforcing this now, shortly after cancelling GCU altogether. GCU must have been really hurting them financially to make them go after people so agressively all of a sudden.

Also FYI, I found out that returning a game and rebuying it later, or with price matching, you should assume your total number of purchases of that games goes up.

If you’re wondering what the banhammer email says, here it is:

“Dear [Customer],

You are receiving this email because we need to communicate a change in the status of your My Best Buy® and Gamers Club Unlocked memberships.

As you know, one of the great benefits of the Gamers Club Unlocked membership is a substantial discount on gaming software titles. In order to support those discounts, we needed to set limits on the maximum number of games that each member can purchase. We set this limit to 3 copies of each title per platform, per year, per member and included it in the terms and conditions.

Our records indicate that your account exceeded these limits on more than one occasion over the last 12 months. By exceeding these limits, your membership in the My Best Buy® and Gamers Club Unlocked programs has been automatically canceled. This change is effective immediately for all in-store and online purchases.

If you choose to participate in programs in the future, we ask that you be mindful of the terms and conditions. You can find additional information at www.bestbuy.com/mybestbuy.

Sincerely,

Your Best Buy Customer Care Team

Additionally, if you have questions regarding our policies, you can read our Conditions of Use.”
 
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I’m okay wIth this.

Again I do not think BB got rid of GCU because it was hurting them in game sales. I think they got rid of it because they are losing a ton of margin in other areas listed on the financials as “entertainment”. This is a way to make up some sales and margin short term. Long term it will hurt game sales as people like me will just go back to amazon or GameStop depending on deals available. It will also hurt them because I will no longer run in to pick up a new game and maybe grab another item.
 
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Thanks, I had no idea this was a rule. I’m sure it was in the fine print but I don’t recall ever reading it. I certainly understand why they would put a rule like this in place but as someone mentioned they should code for this scenario and not allow someone to violate it. Although rare, There are legit scenarios where someone could be buying 3 copies to give out as a gift so for BB to automatically ban and remove someone’s rewards without a warning seems harsh. That email does make it sound like the person did it more than once bough, if B.B. sent an initial warning I don’t feel too bad for the person because they were warned. If this just came out of the blue without warning, it seems like a great way for them to lose customers.
 
Staind204 said:
Thanks, I had no idea this was a rule. I’m sure it was in the fine print but I don’t recall ever reading it. I certainly understand why they would put a rule like this in place but as someone mentioned they should code for this scenario and not allow someone to violate it. Although rare, There are legit scenarios where someone could be buying 3 copies to give out as a gift so for BB to automatically ban and remove someone’s rewards without a warning seems harsh. That email does make it sound like the person did it more than once bough, if B.B. sent an initial warning I don’t feel too bad for the person because they were warned. If this just came out of the blue without warning, it seems like a great way for them to lose customers.
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Yeah I get it, but reading the email it seems as if they are going after people who vilotaled it a few times. I agree there are reasons someone might buy more than three copies of a game once or twice a year.
 
Looks like they're going after repeat offenders. I'd like to hear from someone who can explain why buying 4 or more copies of a game multiple times a year is normal.

Best Buy should have enforced this earlier by not applying GCU discounts after the first 3 copies and limiting accounts to 1 per household. For the cheap price of the subscription I'm not even sure why the limit wasn't 1 per SKU.
 
Good.

Those people are one of the reasons the program no longer exists. You took advantage of the savings and likely flipped copies.

Ha, HA
 
Vinny said:
I'm surprised they didn't enforce this earlier on but are suddenly so adamant about it after killing the program.

This really makes me think the reason for this that they're phasing out physical games. Sad really. :whistle2:(
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To me, it almost seems like they are gearing up to discontinue the program entirely later this year. First, stop customers from buying or renewing GCU. Next, use a "loophole" to get rid of a bunch of still active GCU accounts to lower the total number of users. After the dust has settled from that announce they will be ending the program and issuing prorated credits/refunds to those that remain. By getting rid of a bunch of accounts that had violated the GCU TOS they will pay out less money/credits when they ultimately discontinue the program.

To me the writing is on the wall with this and it may happen sooner than you think.

 
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The sense of entitlement is pretty much killing everything cool lately, from Gamestop to Best Buy.

If you knowingly break TOS and then face consequences for it, own it.

GCU was a great way to bring in new customers when BB was on the ropes, but now that they've stabilized, there's no reason to take the loss. People taking advantage of their willingness to take that loss know they're playing with fire.
 
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Oh wow they cancel your who account so you lose the points as wel? I thought ppl would just lose the gcu benefit
 
So if you just have a regular mybestbuy account are you allowed to buy more than 3 per item? From this point on after this fiasco (gamers club accountp deleted) I wont have worry about them nuking my account?

 
Josef said:
To me, it almost seems like they are gearing up to discontinue the program entirely later this year. First, stop customers from buying or renewing GCU. Next, use a "loophole" to get rid of a bunch of still active GCU accounts to lower the total number of users. Aster the dust has settled from that announce they will be ending the program and issuing prorated credits/refunds to those that remain. By getting rid of a bunch of accounts that had violated the GCU TOS they will pay out less money/credits when they ultimately discontinue the program.

To me the writing is on the wall with this and it may happen sooner than you think.
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That all seems very likely. And you can bet if they do cancel the program altogether, they won't give any warning whatsoever, just like when they removed the ability to subscribe to it. They'll just flick off the lights and throw a few credits at anyone left in the dark.

This membership termination would be all well and good, if not for the fact that several other things are tied to accounts. Like people said, warranties, credit cards, store credit and more are liable to get axed which can have severe consequences. If customers are smart they'll take up arms.
 
Not fair. I hate using the same disc when I play a game. I like to have at least 10 copies to switch out. There is not greater feeling than hitting the disc eject button and putting in an identical disc seconds later. Some people go on safari rides or party at clubs.. This is my thing. I spend most of my weekend hitting that eject disc button.
 
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I bought about 5 copies of a game because they kept sending special editions packed in bubble mailers. I emailed them asking if I should stop because I don't want to be banned for abusing returns or something. I ended up giving up so I hope I don't get affected by this.

Sent from my SM-G900R7 using Tapatalk
 
Ugh, I didn’t know about this rule. Recently bought four copies of destiny 2 for pc when it was $10. (For me and my three boys.) luckily one was a price match at Target. That’s extremely lucky. 😧
 
weird i didnt go over any limit and didnt get an email that i did but i got an email that a new best buy account was made with my email..which is the same email that i had ...and now i have lost my elite plus status and my points and GCU...are the assholes forcing us to lose GCU? i had it until march 2019..! and like 15 dollars in rz points!

 
The 3 limit is in the FAQ here, as well as BB’s welcome email packet, and the ToS on their website. And mentioned all the time here as well.

If you are a cag, and a GCU member and you had no clue about the 3 game limit... thats your fault for not reading.

Im mad at BB for canceling GCU... but i cant find any problem with this. They are simply cracking down in people who broke the rules.
 
humbug43 said:
Bestbuy will get sued in the end. They erased people warranties on other stuff they had bought. Your whole account should not have gotten erased for this.
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And people wonder why things cost so much sometimes. Lawsuits are just taxes where most of that windfall goes to the pockets of lawyers, not those harmed.
 
spoonTRex said:
Ugh, I didn’t know about this rule. Recently bought four copies of destiny 2 for pc when it was $10. (For me and my three boys.) luckily one was a price match at Target. That’s extremely lucky.
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I've unknowingly broken this rule buying a game for me and 3 of my friends, too. Didn't even know it was a thing.

 
Deleted my account.

They also stole $15 in rewards points from me.  Can't wait for the class action lawsuit against them in a couple years.

 
Troblin said:
Deleted my account.

They also stole $15 in rewards points from me. Can't wait for the class action lawsuit against them in a couple years.
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LOL, it's probably in the terms and conditions that if you cheat them once they can assume you're a cheater elsewhere. Best you'll get with a class action is some store credit or a miniscule check not because Best Buy is wrong, but because they'd rather pay a few million to tell the lawyers to go away than to risk a trial.
 
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