EB Wouldn't Sell Me what I tried to pay for

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Darkprime

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I'm not sure if the topic title is the most eye grabbing, but here's what happened. Over a week ago I went to my local EB at the mall looking for old PS1 Beast Wars Games and a Taiko Drum by Red Octane (I got a Taiko Drum Master from Game crazy and I love that game). Anyways, about the drum, I had read on this site not too long ago that various stores were clearancing out this item. I have been checking all the game sites in my region for one and was really excited to find this EB having 3 of them in stock. In fact, they were all sitting out along a top shelf above the PS2 games. I had said I wanted two of them (one for me and one for a friend who also got the Taiko Game) and wanted to know if they were on clearance there (if not, I was going to wait for them to clearance it because I didn't want to pay $30 for one). Well a girl working there got them down and price checked them for me. As soon as the first one rang up at 1 penny she flipped out at me yelling about how I am trying to rip them off by knowing about a clearance and how she must destroy the drums and will not sell them to me. She then acted like she was calling a manager who allegedly told her not to sell them to me. At this point I was no longer welcome in the store (although not specifically told to "GET OUT").

At the request of my friend, I went to the other EB in town, told them my story (they said they knew of problems with this girl at that first store) and they gave me the district manager's phone number and customer service. I called the DM and left a message. I then called CS and reported the incident and was told that the DM would contact me later. Fast forward a week and nothing has happened. No call from the store, CS, or the DM. My questions are should anything have happened, should I have gotten a call from the DM, and should EB have sold me 2 of the 3 drums they had on the floor?
 
What I don't understand is why they won't give something away (or sell it for a penny) instead of destroying it. They are obviously trying to get rid of it, why not let you take it off their hands?
 
Call the DM a bunch of times. Don't just leave a single message.

OH yea, if it's not too much of a hindrance, go to the store over and over again, and try buying the item again and again, until she relents.
 
Well i went back there about an hour after i first left and all 3 were out of sight. The other EB said that they should not have been on the floor and were supposed to be destroyed because they didn't want store employees sellign those items to friends or themselves for fear of them turnning around and selling them to others at a big mark up, ala ebay. That other eb did say though that they should have sold them to me because they were on the floor.
 
Gamestop/EB actually just realigned districts, so you may have to call a couple of times to try to catch the DMs attention at the moment since they're dealing with trying to get to and meet their new employees, etc. Now would be a good time to get ahold of a DM though assuming they got a different DM. That would not be a good first impression for her.
 
Many stores have a policy, either their own or agreed upon with the distributor of the item, not to sell those 1 cent things, because that could lead to fraud [Oh look! *Here's* that case of Steel Battalion controllers! Whoops, I guess I'll buy all of them now that they're a cent".] And they have to have some 'value' so they can be inventoried and counted in the computer.

Definitely keep calling, and I would actually follow up with a snailmail letter as well. At the very least, the girl's CS skills were, well, nonexistent.
 
[quote name='Darkprime']
At the request of my friend, I went to the other EB in town, told them my story (they said they knew of problems with this girl at that first store) and they gave me the district manager's phone number and customer service. I called the DM and left a message. I then called CS and reported the incident and was told that the DM would contact me later. Fast forward a week and nothing has happened. No call from the store, CS, or the DM. My questions are should anything have happened, should I have gotten a call from the DM, and should EB have sold me 2 of the 3 drums they had on the floor?[/QUOTE]

Good luck on trying to get ahold of a the DM or getting anywhere with CS. I called and complained about the whole credit card reciept fiasco and the CS person just tried to make excuses for the store employees rude behavior. Then he claimed the DM would be calling me within 2 business days. Its been over 2 weeks.

Oh well. I just wouldn't shop at EB from now on.
 
Yeah those things were put in the trash after your encounter. Most people would just give it to ya but this lady's a bitch. My advice is this: find out were they chuck their "trash" and check their dumpster. You'd be surprised at what ends up in one a store uses. I haven't done it but my sister who worked at a mall would bring home stuff every once in a while that she saw in their store's dumpster. It always puzzled me. Why not donate it to Goodwill at least.
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']Why not donate it to Goodwill at least.[/QUOTE]
Typical corporate policy: If they can't make money, NO ONE can make money.
 
I'd just wait for a different employee and try it again and give them a lot of shit about it if you have a problem. The girl was clearly menstruating like no other so perhaps somebody else wouldn't be such a bitch about it.
 
[quote name='kakomu']Typical corporate policy: If they can't make money, NO ONE can make money.[/QUOTE]

Well they would get tax credit.
 
[quote name='kakomu']Typical corporate policy: If they can't make money, NO ONE can make money.[/QUOTE]

QFT, I worked next to a Pizza joint and if someone mess up a order they would throw the food out. However the jacked up thing about that was we had a lot of homeless around their. So instead of laying the pizza outside the back door, or laying in the trash nicley they would throw it into the dumpster with no box.

I think the lady should of sold them or at least been nice about it.
 
[quote name='Graystone']QFT, I worked next to a Pizza joint and if someone mess up a order they would throw the food out. However the jacked up thing about that was we had a lot of homeless around their. So instead of laying the pizza outside the back door, or laying in the trash nicley they would throw it into the dumpster with no box.

I think the lady should of sold them or at least been nice about it.[/QUOTE]

Then you'd get homeless people ordering obscure pizzas like mushrooms and onion. When nobody shows up for, it is there for him in the back.
 
That is what they are supposed to do though. The reason they are pennied out is to throw them away. They are told not to sell them and to destroy them. You won't be hearing back from the DM or from CS, because the clerk did what she was supposed to do.
 
[quote name='Graystone']QFT, I worked next to a Pizza joint and if someone mess up a order they would throw the food out. However the jacked up thing about that was we had a lot of homeless around their. So instead of laying the pizza outside the back door, or laying in the trash nicley they would throw it into the dumpster with no box.

I think the lady should of sold them or at least been nice about it.[/QUOTE]
What's even worse is that messed up orders are prime for ready made pizzas sold by the slice.
 
[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']is there a technical reason why it would be .01 and not .00 if they are just trashing them?[/QUOTE]

Because .01 is the "retail code" that lets employees know they are supposed to trash them. She should have just given the drums to you, I bet you would have gone back into the EB plenty of times after that to spend your money, right? Technically, yea, she was in the right, they aren't supposed to sell things for .01, I think that's why most of the EB / Gamestop's just give me the penny guides instead of actually ringing them up.

I've been lucky, every time I've recently gotten penny guides from EB they've let me have them since they were on the floor (their mistake), or they just didn't care.

You know what's really messed up is that my friend on this site, lpj8, found an EB with a TON of penny guides on the floor for sale - dude refused to sell them, cited all the corporate BS, so my friend left. He went back a few hours later, and the guides were BACK ON THE SHELF!!! He tried to get them again, same thing... he goes back a few weeks later, they are still on the shelf.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Because .01 is the "retail code" that lets employees know they are supposed to trash them. She should have just given the drums to you, I bet you would have gone back into the EB plenty of times after that to spend your money, right? Technically, yea, she was in the right, they aren't supposed to sell things for .01, I think that's why most of the EB / Gamestop's just give me the penny guides instead of actually ringing them up.

I've been lucky, every time I've recently gotten penny guides from EB they've let me have them since they were on the floor (their mistake), or they just didn't care.

You know what's really messed up is that my friend on this site, lpj8, found an EB with a TON of penny guides on the floor for sale - dude refused to sell them, cited all the corporate BS, so my friend left. He went back a few hours later, and the guides were BACK ON THE SHELF!!! He tried to get them again, same thing... he goes back a few weeks later, they are still on the shelf.[/QUOTE]
There appears to be a healthy balance between adherence to the rule and lenience that most employees just don't have.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']
You know what's really messed up is that my friend on this site, lpj8, found an EB with a TON of penny guides on the floor for sale - dude refused to sell them, cited all the corporate BS, so my friend left. He went back a few hours later, and the guides were BACK ON THE SHELF!!! He tried to get them again, same thing... he goes back a few weeks later, they are still on the shelf.[/QUOTE]


He ought to go in there and start destroying them himself. When they question him, he could pitch them a dime to pay for what he tore up.
 
It's a weird thing that women in retail try to be defenders of thy store. When I used to work at Kmart, female cashiers and floor help would do this shit all the time. Hell, it's happened to me at other stores -- never with men, though... they always seem to think it's hilarious when something rings up for a penny. The women always call their manager.

If I worked there, I'd gladly sell a customer a stupid-ass bongo for a penny. I'd think it was hilarious; in addition to getting a secret erection to stickin' it to my employer.
 
[quote name='Strell']20 posts and no one has said kick down the magazine rack.

I am disappointed.[/QUOTE]
QFT. Do it as a rebuttal to whatever the store person says...

"Sorry sir, we can't sell you those"

"Well...well...(kick down magazine rack and run)"
 
I hate both ebgames and gamestop. You guys still deal with those crooks? They are the only arrogant stores in USA.
 
[quote name='Brak']It's a weird thing that women in retail try to be defenders of thy store. When I used to work at Kmart, female cashiers and floor help would do this shit all the time. Hell, it's happened to me at other stores -- never with men, though... they always seem to think it's hilarious when something rings up for a penny. The women always call their manager.

If I worked there, I'd gladly sell a customer a stupid-ass bongo for a penny. I'd think it was hilarious; in addition to getting a secret erection to stickin' it to my employer.[/QUOTE]

Actually, I've noticed that at stores like Best Buy, I have only taken shit from women cashiers when trying to use a borderline legit coupon. A sexist view perhaps, but apart from sex, I have no use for women.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']Actually, I've noticed that at stores like Best Buy, I have only taken shit from women cashiers when trying to use a borderline legit coupon. A sexist view perhaps, but apart from sex, I have no use for women.[/QUOTE]

Its been the opposite for me... most women (aka college girls just doing the job for extra cash) really don't care what goes through, as long as it dosen't mess up the register and they can ring me out quickly.

Its been most guys who ALWAYS think something is up, who want to inspect everything, who generally give me a hard time unless I send my girlfriend to use a coupon / price match for me (sexist, but it works).

Now... older women? They give me a hassle whether it's me or my girlfriend... luckily there is an older cashier at best buy / circuit city once out of every 30 trips.
 
I would have told them since it was on the shelf they would have to sell you the item. Obviously it's their fault for not recalling the product as soon as they were given the notice.

Then tell them to sell it to you or you will camp there infront of the registar till you are escorted out.

or knock all the games off the shelf and run.

or ask the employee to sell you the product over and over again till her head explodes.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Its been the opposite for me... most women (aka college girls just doing the job for extra cash) really don't care what goes through, as long as it dosen't mess up the register and they can ring me out quickly.[/QUOTE]

Ding ding ding!

As a female cashier, I can safely say this is true for me. I don't give a rat's ass what you're buying, why, and if you've got an 'on the fence' deal going on- just set it up to get yourself out fast, And I'll give you no trouble. But screw up my day with some ridciculous time-consuming thing, and I'll screw you over if I can.

As for the penny drums- yeah, she's not allowed to sell them to ya. They destroy the inventory, send the info to the company, and they some rebate or another for it- certainly more than that penny.

The penny cost is simply so it easier to count the merchandise being destroyed- you can use the POS system.

What's NOT cool is being bitched out for it. A simple "Sorry dude, too late on that clearance" was all that was needed. Keep pestering the DM, but focus your complaints on the poor CS, not the lack of sale.
 
[quote name='DuelLadyS']
As for the penny drums- yeah, she's not allowed to sell them to ya. They destroy the inventory, send the info to the company, and they some rebate or another for it- certainly more than that penny.

The penny cost is simply so it easier to count the merchandise being destroyed- you can use the POS system.
.[/QUOTE]

But it's just as easy to say the item is "destroyed", and give it to a customer, whether then destroying it for no reason at all. You might as well build customer loyalty while you're at it.

Chances are, someone already marked all the items as destroyed for the store anyways out of laziness. I mean, this is why I figured that EB / GS has never charged me for a penny guide - someone has already marked them as destroyed and did the procedure for it, so ringing it up after the fact would be a big no no.

Instead of that EB gaining a potential long term customer, the CS has alienated the customer from the brand altogether.
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']Then you'd get homeless people ordering obscure pizzas like mushrooms and onion. When nobody shows up for, it is there for him in the back.[/QUOTE]

Homeless people have phones now. ;)
 
I never really understand why they penny things out or destroy them rather then put them on 75% off sale, at least that way they'd make some money back.
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']Then you'd get homeless people ordering obscure pizzas like mushrooms and onion. When nobody shows up for, it is there for him in the back.[/QUOTE]

I've seen that pizza before. One of the most popular pizzas around here is onion pizza. In another region once I remember having to repeatedly explain to them I wanted an onion pizza, just onion. No pepper, no sausage, just onion. The guy acted like I asked for peanut pizza or something, he said he'd never heard of anyone ordering an onion pizza.
 
[quote name='zionoverfire']I never really understand why they penny things out or destroy them rather then put them on 75% off sale, at least that way they'd make some money back.[/QUOTE]

I guess the credit they get back from destroying the items is substanially larger then what they get on a normal clearance.

When its pennied out, apparently they get credit for the ones that are destroyed, so its not like all these stores are just swallowing a huge loss.
 
I've been shot down from purchasing penny guides in the past. Sometimes I get the "You can only have 1" deal, which is alright with me. Yet, they toss the rest of them in the trash.

I thought they could've at least done me a favor and given them to me after I had located all of them on their rack and made them easier to dispose of.
 
back in the day when i was working at EB and we saw a list of .01 items that were to be "destroyed" we just took them home...guides, mad catz shit, old toys, etc
 
[quote name='Roufuss']But it's just as easy to say the item is "destroyed", and give it to a customer, whether then destroying it for no reason at all. You might as well build customer loyalty while you're at it.[/QUOTE]

I know When I get the penny items, it depends on the item/situation... if it's small enough to throw in the bag, and no one's around, I usually toss it in and give the customer a 'shh' gesture. On the other hand, if it's big enough someone's gonna see them taking it/notice it's gone, I usually actually destroy it to keep my job.

I'm guessing either she had to do that to prevent a manger from going "Oh, someone bought all 3 drums? How much did that make us?" and getting caught. Or- the cashier girl was pissed about having to pull product down from the top shelf, and didn't feel like sneaking around policy anymore. One of the two. :D
 
Has anyone else's EB (or GS) had some out of place older gentleman sitting around in the store when you go? The last two times I've gone to EB a graying man has been sitting on a chair kinda behind/off to the side of the counter. I dunno if maybe he's a DM or some other corporate type observing the store or what. If so, that could be a big reason I was denied penny guides the second attempt I made.
 
[quote name='botticus']Has anyone else's EB (or GS) had some out of place older gentleman sitting around in the store when you go? The last two times I've gone to EB a graying man has been sitting on a chair kinda behind/off to the side of the counter. I dunno if maybe he's a DM or some other corporate type observing the store or what. If so, that could be a big reason I was denied penny guides the second attempt I made.[/QUOTE]

That guy probably owns all the people who work at EB. They told you slavery was over, but it's not -- he bought those workers and the reason that they have no soul is because he sucked it out of him. That's why he's lived for hundreds of years. Such is the district manager.
 
In my experiance, I'd say your ugly.

Cause personally, I would just said something like "Well if you sell them to me, maybe we can Taiko jam, after work sometime? Tell you what, I'll buy 2 for myself, and I'll buy the third drum for you."

Even though you'd probably never call her, you would of got them for a penny easy.

I dunno, most women here would say thats lame and would never work, but if you're fairly attractive, its "cute".
 
[quote name='Roufuss']But it's just as easy to say the item is "destroyed", and give it to a customer, whether then destroying it for no reason at all. You might as well build customer loyalty while you're at it.[/QUOTE]

Isn't it obvious why they don't (and shouldn't) give $.01 items to customers? If the customer knows the item will eventually drop to a penny, they'll just wait until it does and get it for free instead of actually paying for it earlier. CAG already has a huge thread about penny guides because people KNOW that guides will drop sooner or later. If every EB and GS just gave out all their penny guides, no one in their right mind would buy them at full price, or any price, because they could be had later for a penny. You'd have idiot children coming into the store daily and asking the cashier to scan everything in hopes of finding something for a penny that they'd expect to be given to them for free.

Now I don't see why the store couldn't just raise the price from a penny to sell the guide to someone who really wanted it and came into the store willing to pay for it. Maybe charging something like the last clearance price or 75% off would be appropriate (or charging whatever they get back from the publisher for destroying it). That would be a decent way to build customer loyalty. Otherwise they're just breeding leeches.
 
[quote name='AlanSaysYo']Isn't it obvious why they don't (and shouldn't) give $.01 items to customers? If the customer knows the item will eventually drop to a penny, they'll just wait until it does and get it for free instead of actually paying for it earlier. CAG already has a huge thread about penny guides because people KNOW that guides will drop sooner or later. If every EB and GS just gave out all their penny guides, no one in their right mind would buy them at full price, or any price, because they could be had later for a penny. You'd have idiot children coming into the store daily and asking the cashier to scan everything in hopes of finding something for a penny that they'd expect to be given to them for free.

Now I don't see why the store couldn't just raise the price from a penny to sell the guide to someone who really wanted it and came into the store willing to pay for it. Maybe charging something like the last clearance price or 75% off would be appropriate (or charging whatever they get back from the publisher for destroying it). That would be a decent way to build customer loyalty. Otherwise they're just breeding leeches.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't buy guides for more than 5 bucks. I think I've purchased a total of 10 normal guides for full price (normal excludes buying a disgaea guide for 15 bucks, while it's worth 50 on ebay, and similar purchases), all but maybe 1 (mario sunshine) were purchases in the snes/saturn/early ps1 days.

Honestly the only reason I go to game stores is to see if I can find rare stuff well below ebay value. So, since eb's rare game and ps1 selection is absolutely horrible around here (unlike gamestop), I stopped going into eb until I discovered the penny guide thing. I've bought some stuff since then, but not a lot.
 
they were not supposed to sell those to you (you should not have even seen them). they should have been in the trash.

BUT. BUT. BUT.

if they are on the sales floor... they're all yours.

i've never liked doing any business at EB games stores in my area. ever. i only go to one gamestop (the one a few of my friends work at) so im always treated well.

we have an EB games in a mall here and 99% of the employees do not know what you're talking about. typical conversation with an emplyoee there... (this is a real convo i had)

me - "do you guys have anymore dreamcast games?"

employee - "it comes out next week"

me - "wait what comes out next week?"

emp. - "yeah next week."

me - "????????????"

that just made it clear that i would never shop there again.
 
[quote name='praystation']I hate both ebgames and gamestop. You guys still deal with those crooks? They are the only arrogant stores in USA.[/QUOTE]

I agree. They are the most ridiculous stores in America, yet they stay in business and make a killing because there is always going to be some crackhead who has no other means to sell something. I mean, honestly, to buy a game for 50 and take it to Gamestop 2 weeks later for only 15 bucks (if that), you would have to be a crackhead (or just plain retarded).
 
[quote name='AlanSaysYo']Isn't it obvious why they don't (and shouldn't) give $.01 items to customers? If the customer knows the item will eventually drop to a penny, they'll just wait until it does and get it for free instead of actually paying for it earlier. CAG already has a huge thread about penny guides because people KNOW that guides will drop sooner or later. If every EB and GS just gave out all their penny guides, no one in their right mind would buy them at full price, or any price, because they could be had later for a penny. You'd have idiot children coming into the store daily and asking the cashier to scan everything in hopes of finding something for a penny that they'd expect to be given to them for free.
[/QUOTE]

While I agree with that, pennying guides out at EB / Gamestop is nothing like it is, at say, Best Buy. With Best Buy, they do things systemtically for the most part... you can predict when a specific guide will drop and why, based on the time its been in the store.

At EB / Gamestop, penny guide drops are done randomly... if you really want a guide bad enough, you'll pay full price for it, because you could be waiting YEARS to get a guide for a penny. Hell, Shining Tears's guide just pennied out, and that game is what? 2 years old? Plus the fact that EB / Gamestop never stocks alot of a particular guide anyways (unlike BB, who usually does 8 + of a guide), and that guide may be long gone by the time it pennies out. For instance, I will probably buy Animal Crossing: Wild World at full price, since when it pennies out it will be a bitch to find.

If they left it on the store floor, it rings up a cent and the customer sees / knows it, they need to not be a dick and hand it over for the price on the register. It is either their, or something else's in the store, own fault, so they just need to own up to it. From reading the penny guide thread, they get little memo's of what to pull, its not my fault if they don't want to do their job and I happen to catch them on it.

Most EB's just give their penny stuff to me, and I wasn't an asshole about it. Two EB's admitted that they must have missed some, and since they were still out on the floor I was welcome to have it and any other guides I might have found. Another EB just told me they never got around to pulling them, they didn't care.

I assume its the same with the Taiko Drum... this has been pennied out forever, in plain view of the customer, its really bad form to refuse a sale (even if its for a penny) on something that should have been destroyed months ago. Its like the girl in the OP was just trying to cover her own lazy tracks.
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']Yeah those things were put in the trash after your encounter. Most people would just give it to ya but this lady's a bitch. My advice is this: find out were they chuck their "trash" and check their dumpster. You'd be surprised at what ends up in one a store uses. I haven't done it but my sister who worked at a mall would bring home stuff every once in a while that she saw in their store's dumpster. It always puzzled me. Why not donate it to Goodwill at least.[/QUOTE]

Toys R Us always threw away the big lego displays once they got a new model in. It was such a waste. I ended up taking home the nice Enzo Ferrari display.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Its been the opposite for me... most women (aka college girls just doing the job for extra cash) really don't care what goes through, as long as it dosen't mess up the register and they can ring me out quickly.

Its been most guys who ALWAYS think something is up, who want to inspect everything, who generally give me a hard time unless I send my girlfriend to use a coupon / price match for me (sexist, but it works).

Now... older women? They give me a hassle whether it's me or my girlfriend... luckily there is an older cashier at best buy / circuit city once out of every 30 trips.[/QUOTE]


exactly! it is the really old blue hairs that give me a hard time at best buy, "no copies means NO COPIES" heh . the younger cashiers are all pretty lenient.

as for gamestop/eb selling pennied out guides/accessories, i would suggest buying some legit items along with your penny items, your average gamestop/ebgames reg monkey wont even notice.
 
[quote name='dracula']
as for gamestop/eb selling pennied out guides/accessories, i would suggest buying some legit items along with your penny items, your average gamestop/ebgames reg monkey wont even notice.[/QUOTE]

I've tried it this way, and they always seem to notice it, because the total never adds up... EB / GS guys are usually sharper then BB / CC cashiers.

I just grab the guides by themselves now.
 
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