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

Bingo. Once a customer hits the 3 cap, they are no longer able to get discounts on that sku. THAT is what they should have done as far as the limit goes. They ALSO should have have kept the $120 for two years membership fee like they did in the beginning. Even at the $120 price point, it was worth it. fuck all knows why they dropped it to a measly $30 for TWO YEARS. I didn't complain because hell, I bought 4 years at that time. But it made no financial sense from a business standpoint.
At 120$ for 2 years I would have NEVER bought it, you really would need to buy a ton of games just to break even on the program. It would definitely narrow the potential customer base. I found at $30 I bought much more than I would have otherwise.
 
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.
Yeah I don't see why they needed to nuke everything and why they simply couldn't have just ended the GCU early. Seems a bit overkill and if people have warranties valuing thousands of dollars, they're gonna hear it.
 
At 120$ for 2 years I would have NEVER bought it,
You're missing one incredibly important detail - the GCU program was far better when it cost 120/2 years. More games had steeper discounts year round, meaning an avid gamer buying 2 games a month would break even in no time. Today finding a solid GCU discounted deal is like pulling teeth. They haven't had nearly as many steep discounts as they used to.
 
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At 120$ for 2 years I would have NEVER bought it, you really would need to buy a ton of games just to break even on the program. It would definitely narrow the potential customer base. I found at $30 I bought much more than I would have otherwise.
I initially signed up for GCU when it was $120 and I found it to be more than worth it for two years at that price. I absolutely got my money worth within a year. I am probably not the norm though when it comes to buying video games, I would say I buy at least 50 new games a year give or take. I will continue to do this even when my GCU is up in November, the only difference is Amazon will get a lot more of money after GCU is done for me.

 
At 120$ for 2 years I would have NEVER bought it, you really would need to buy a ton of games just to break even on the program. It would definitely narrow the potential customer base. I found at $30 I bought much more than I would have otherwise.
Couldn't be more wrong lol

The $120 was so easy to recoup on just discounts alone, not to mention the deeper discounts on games and promotions they had.

 
Couldn't be more wrong lol

The $120 was so easy to recoup on just discounts alone, not to mention the deeper discounts on games and promotions they had.
The glory days of GCU. The discounts and promotions were some of the best I have ever seen.

 
Oh boy, 5 more pages of whining to read. Keep it up fellas.

 
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Oh boy, 5 more pages of whining to read. Keep it up fellas.
it's the same 5 pages every time.

-i got banned, unfair!

-you deserved it.

-i had a bunch of stuff attached to that account!

-so?

-I'm never shopping at best buy again

-The old GCU was better.

-GCU price should only count on first 3

-Who buys more than 3 copies of a game?

-I did, i bought 87.

-Shoulda read the TOS (links to TOS)

rinse and repeat.

 
So this is CaGs “System Wars vs. GameSpot” moment. Non flippers gonna break off to their own eZ Board at www.cheapbutfairgamers.net
 
Well if you ever wanted proof this board is dead, the fact this thread is still in the deals section and has been despite all the name calling and absolute nonsense it contains should do it for you. 

 
Well if you ever wanted proof this board is dead, the fact this thread is still in the deals section and has been despite all the name calling and absolute nonsense it contains should do it for you.
This is the ultimate truth in this thread. CAG is more dead now that it has ever been in the past and that is truly sad.

Thankfully the friendships and deals will always be alive on Discord.

 
it's the same 5 pages every time.

-i got banned, unfair!
-you deserved it.
-i had a bunch of stuff attached to that account!
-so?
-I'm never shopping at best buy again
-The old GCU was better.
-GCU price should only count on first 3
-Who buys more than 3 copies of a game?
-I did, i bought 87.
-Shoulda read the TOS (links to TOS)

rinse and repeat.
Yeah but are you a pharmacist/lawyer?
 
Well if you ever wanted proof this board is dead, the fact this thread is still in the deals section and has been despite all the name calling and absolute nonsense it contains should do it for you.
Welcome to the internet. I agree that this thread should be moved, but really Video Game Deals is the only place that sees a lot of activity here. I recommend checking out the CAG Discord channel if you haven't already. You won't find name calling there, but the nonsense is abundant.

 
it's the same 5 pages every time.

-i got banned, unfair!
-I'm never shopping at best buy again
-The old GCU was better.

rinse and repeat.
Donald Trump just tweeted this...

"Best Buy, who is a dying company, just canceled my GCU unlocked account. It's an obvious witch hunt by the deep state swamp. Unfair! The old GCU was a much better better deal! Sad!"
 
Donald Trump just tweeted this...

"Best Buy, who is a dying company, just canceled my GCU unlocked account. It's an obvious witch hunt by the deep state swamp. Unfair! The old GCU was a much better better deal! Sad!"
FTFY

ji0gc371_1m6yjda_svc4y0.png


 
It's much easier to just have a system scrub for the fourth purchase and terminate the membership after the fact. That can be easily applied to work for both in store and online purchases, and you don't have to worry about some customer getting irate when their game rings up full price at the register because it's the fourth copy.

I'm sure a lot of people would have liked it if the system just didn't apply the benefit on the fourth copy, but that's not necessarily the easiest to implement or most cost effective for their accounting.
Is it more cost effective to have people take advantage of the system for years, cost you countless profits, shut down the system abruptly, and piss off several customers?

ALL of this could have been avoided with better coding.
 
Is it more cost effective to have people take advantage of the system for years, cost you countless profits, shut down the system abruptly, and piss off several customers?

ALL of this could have been avoided with better coding.
No one can answer that. Designing a POS way to have handled this could’ve cost a fortune.

We also have no way of knowing the impact of this approach
 
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I'm confused by the people here complaining about the complainers: so what if opinions are being repeated? The fact that so many are saying the same things should strengthen the message that this sucks. If none of us reciprocated those feelings and opinions, then people would think it wasn't a big deal because "only one person complained". Hell no. If you have a gripe with this and haven't yet shared it, feel free to do so! That's how opinions work =D

Oh boy, 5 more pages of whining to read. Keep it up fellas.
A person whining about a whiner; nothing is tastier than that. At least we're talking about the situation at hand - you're just slinging shit into the air.

 
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I'm confused by the people here complaining about the complainers: so what if opinions are being repeated? That fact that so many are saying the same things should strengthen the message that this sucks. If none of us reciprocated those feelings and opinions, then people would think it wasn't a big deal because "only one person complained". Hell no. If you have a gripe with this and haven't yet shared it, feel free to do so! That's how opinions work =D

A person whining about a whiner; nothing is tastier than that. At least we're talking about the situation at hand - you're just slinging shit into the air.
I already explained your positions 200+ posts ago, but you kids just want to vent and threaten lawsuits after you violated a ToS you consented to during the sign-up process. This thread is just a salty bitching support group where everyone who isn't offering a Kleenex is a stupid corporatist, and as someone whose account is still active I find the whining hilarious. My favorites are the "in hindsight their program should've been different" and "I make more money than you do cuz I flip" arguments, but nobody has blamed Trump or Obama yet so I think we can do better. More Alex Jones levels of irrationality, please.

 
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I already explained your positions 200+ posts ago, but you kids just want to vent and threaten lawsuits after you violated a ToS you consented to during the sign-up process. This thread is just a salty bitching support group where everyone who isn't offering a Kleenex is a stupid corporatist, and as someone whose account is still active I find the whining hilarious. My favorites are the "in hindsight their program should've been different" and "I make more money than you do cuz I flip" arguments, but nobody has blamed Trump or Obama yet so I think we can do better. More Alex Jones levels of irrationality, please.
Two things can be true at once here: Yeah there were lots of crappy people abusing the system, and yes BBY responded in an overly punitive way. This could have easily been handled by simply terminating the GCU subscription from the offenders accounts.

 
Although my account is still intact, I think the lack of communication and the way this was implemented was not the best.

I only buy one copy of a game, but have done price adjustments which sounds like it counts as two copies in their system.

I must say all this doesnt make me feel comfortable with the 100's in rewards dollars I have on there. How can I trust they implemented this correctly with the lack of communication? I may need to go on a shopping spree.....

On a side note I dont really have sympathy for those buying whole stacks of the same title, which I have personally seen. I do have sympathy for a father with three kids that buys 4 copies....
 
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My account is still intact too.  I didn't violate the TOS.  I still think it sucks the way BB is doing this.  What's the smarty pants response to someone who didn't violate the TOS but still thinks BB is trippin? 

 
I personally think Best Buy will reintroduce GCU, but it most certainly won't be like it is currently. I am thinking they will keep the discount at 20% off, but will restrict to only be eligible for pre-orders and first week or two of release. GCU really only ever gets abused by people buying 3 + copies of a game when they know they can profit on flipping it and that just isn't going to happen with new releases. It's when games are $16 or less after the GCU discount that scalpers go in and clean out the shelves. 

Even if this does end up happening people will still complain since it would essentially be the same as the Prime discount and I am willing to bet a large number of GCU members are also Prime members so I could see a lot of people just ditching the GCU program altogether if they add those types of restrictions. 

Of course, I am only speculating here but I would rather have a lesser version of GCU than no GCU at all. The more gaming discounts we have to use the better. 

 
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Today I visited the site and was asked to take a survey. In the comments section I politely expressed my displeasure with the end of GCU. I mentioned that I do not resell games or purchase multiple copies. I used GCU for pre order bonuses and the 20% discount. I informed B.B. that without this benefit I will search for the lowest price which could be Target with the Redcard 5%, Amazon, Walmart, etc. Maybe if many rewards members express their displeasure/concern in an insightful manner we will get a refreshed GCU.
 
Today I visited the site and was asked to take a survey. In the comments section I politely expressed my displeasure with the end of GCU. I mentioned that I do not resell games or purchase multiple copies. I used GCU for pre order bonuses and the 20% discount. I informed B.B. that without this benefit I will search for the lowest price which could be Target with the Redcard 5%, Amazon, Walmart, etc. Maybe if many rewards members express their displeasure/concern in an insightful manner we will get a refreshed GCU.
Best Buy is very aware of the displeasure already. That is why I think we will see GCU return, I honestly think that they had something planned to revise it for a while now. They could even rename it all together and sell a membership for discounts on movies and music (if you can find any) too. Ultimately if they do implement something I don't see it allowing the discount for any purchase while you have an active subscription and instead they will restrict the discount to pre-orders or first 2 weeks of release. If they added movies to the mix though, I could see myself buying new releases more often. A lot of people are going to be expiring in the Fall so maybe we will hear something about a new program then.

One thing that is for sure though is that Best Buy is well aware of the displeasure, but it's hard to say how much business they gained or will lose from not having GCU versus having it. I know that with GCU I have been spending around $3,000 or more annually at Best Buy since I pretty much buy all my games there and would go in and leave with other things many of the times I was going in to just pick up a video game. I know for me personally once I can no longer get 20% off games at Best Buy I will not have nearly as many reasons to go into the store and I have two Gamestops within a mile of my house. I don't prefer to buy games new at Gamestop, but it's close and if I am going to pay full price for something I don't want to drive further out of my way to do it.

 
I already explained your positions 200+ posts ago, but you kids just want to vent and threaten lawsuits after you violated a ToS you consented to during the sign-up process. This thread is just a salty bitching support group where everyone who isn't offering a Kleenex is a stupid corporatist, and as someone whose account is still active I find the whining hilarious. My favorites are the "in hindsight their program should've been different" and "I make more money than you do cuz I flip" arguments, but nobody has blamed Trump or Obama yet so I think we can do better. More Alex Jones levels of irrationality, please.
Easy there buddy, no more shit slinging. You leave a lot of shit to dig through. First, suggesting that I should personally read every past post you've made before leaving my opinion is ridiculous. Secondly, if YOU had read MY posts, you would have easily inferred that I did not violate TOS yet think BB is handling this poorly - but I guess that would be a ridiculous expectation, no? "My favorites are the "in hindsight their program should've been different" and "I make more money than you do cuz I flip"" -- I never said any of those things, so I'm gonna go ahead and assume you didn't pay attention to anything I actually said.

"More Alex Jones levels of irrationality" I think you've been putting on a wonderful show already.

I'm a business graduate and a big BB customer, therefore I find this to be a highly interesting debate and situation; I think my 2 cents are worth...at least 2 cents. Read on below:

Two things can be true at once here: Yeah there were lots of crappy people abusing the system, and yes BBY responded in an overly punitive way. This could have easily been handled by simply terminating the GCU subscription from the offenders accounts.
Isn't that an amazing concept, that both parties involved have acted poorly? The only difference is we are feeble, individual customers and BB is a reputable, long lived corporation with some of the best professionals in retail - one has a higher bar than the other, I'd guess.

My account is still intact too. I didn't violate the TOS. I still think it sucks the way BB is doing this. What's the smarty pants response to someone who didn't violate the TOS but still thinks BB is trippin?
I suppose you can check out my posts? Do so at your own risk of boredom.

 
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Isn't that an amazing concept, that both parties involved have acted poorly?
One side forced the other to follow thier rules that they were lax on enforcing..

Violators were wrong, BB acted to protect their bottom line. As i said before, the warranty issue could be a problem, the rest... they are in the right.
 
My GCU isn't banned but it does run out in July.  :( If I preorder games now like Smash Bros, will it charge the lower $47 price when it ships, after my GCU runs out? Someone told me it will and another told me it only will if you pay with paypal but not with just my debit card.

 
I'm really surprised this thread is still open. I know all of the vocation (ie: pharmacist) talk was a few pages back, but did any CAGs who work in finance (loan officers especially) happen to chime in? I've got a question or two if they feel like sharing.

Oh, and to stay on topic "How dare Best Buy" or "You flipping asses deserved it" whichever applies to you.

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