Great Find Turns Into Big Loss

[quote name='dtcarson']And then these same losers complain when they get only 4 hours of work a week, or get paid 4.50 an hour. You're working at a BUSINESS. That business sells stuff to CUSTOMERS. Maybe if they worked harder [or at all] and didn't try to screw their customers....![/quote]

Regardless of who buys it from the store, it's still money in the store's pocket. My manager sold me that RE2 and 3 after we were closed, because he wanted to get the used sales numbers up, and that was another $40.
 
Sure it's money in the store's pocket.
In your case, you bought games, after the store was closed for the night I guess, and the games had been sitting on the shelf for a week and no one bought them? I don't have a problem at all with that, when I ran retail, I kept the register open after we closed if the employees needed to do some shopping. More sales, and that way, the customers don't have to wait in line behind employees.
If you hid those games for a week, or told a customer, "No, we don't have those" while knowing you did, then, I would have a problem with that.
 
I think there's a difference between seeing the game and buying it right there and putting it on hold/hiding it for yourself or another employee.

(All from an employee's stand point).

Latter is just jacked. Former is just life.
 
Absolutely. When the employee acts like a customer [sees something buys it], that's life.
When the employee purposefully does something to lessen the customer's shopping experience, [like lying to the customer] that is wrong, that is harmful both to the customer and the company, and of course in the long run, to the employee himself.
Negative opinions travel a lot faster and wider than positive. Here we are, sharing anecdotes about crooked EB employees, and I'd bet the most common thought readers leave with is 'shaq-fu EB.' That cheap crooked employee just harmed himself, his company, his coworkers.
 
[quote name='jer7583'][quote name='dtcarson']And then these same losers complain when they get only 4 hours of work a week, or get paid 4.50 an hour. You're working at a BUSINESS. That business sells stuff to CUSTOMERS. Maybe if they worked harder [or at all] and didn't try to screw their customers....![/quote]

Regardless of who buys it from the store, it's still money in the store's pocket. My manager sold me that RE2 and 3 after we were closed, because he wanted to get the used sales numbers up, and that was another $40.[/quote]

Since he did it after you were closed, I'm completely OK with that. While the store was open, that's a whole different matter.
 
It's amazing how righteous and moral everyone is when it comes to buying games from Gamestop. This site often gives information on how to purchase games from one store to essentially screw over another store, but that's just fine. I can understand being upset if a game had been put on hold for you, but was sold off to an employee; you have every right to be upset. But, those complaining about employees putting games on hold really need to lighten up. The majority of the time, the items put on hold are games that would typically sit there for weeks upon weeks. I'd honestly like to see how many CAG'ers would not put aside a used RE 2, or RE3, or Gitaroo Man, if they were working for a game store and just had it traded in by someone. Anyone who had the ability to would clearly put it on hold, but because you don't have the option to, now it's completely wrong.

Reading through this topic, I've noticed several people calling Gamestop employees "nerds" and the like. Quite funny, when you are the people whining about not being able to purchase a game at your local Gamestop stores. "Omg, the people at Gamestop are so nerdy because they won't leave games there for me to purchase!!." Yeah, makes all kinds of sense.
 
I wouldn't. My job is to help the customer and make sales, so that customer comes back and spends more money. If I wanted it, I'd buy it right then, if that was even allowed by the store. If I didn't have the money, I'd curse my luck.

I see no problem with sharing deals/price information, unless they are glitches or single-use-coupon type deals.

How is purchasing a game from one store 'screwing over another store'? If store A has the game for 40 bucks, and store B has it for 20, and we buy from B, if anyone is 'screwing' store A, it's store B. But that's not screwing, that's charging a price the market will bear.

If the game sits there for weeks and weeks, then there's no need to put it on hold, now, is there?

I don't call GS or EB employees nerds...Surely some of them are, but in general, I've run into some rather nice, helpful folks there. I think it would be fun to work in a game store. Like any industry, there are some excellent representatives, and some not-so-good ones, and throughout your life, you'll probably run into both kinds.
 
What I'm referring to is places like Hastings and GameRush that used to have great trade-in policies, deals like trade in three games, get a pre-owned game for $10. These places obviously weren't expecting people to go out and buy many cheap PSX sports games solely for the purpose of abusing their system. While I do understand that it was their own doing and that these companies typically make all kinds of money, it's still not right to essentially steal from them. Deals like the CC $5 sale are perfectly legit; CC cleared out inventory that they no longer needed at a much reduced price. Abusing a trade-in policy by purchasing bargain games from another store is not exactly moral. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, if you are SO worried about Gamestop/EBGames losing out on sales because employees put games on hold, don't take part in the deals that also help these companies lose out on money.
 
See, I don't equate "participating in a deal that the store inititated, following their policies" as "stealing from the store." [I personally didn't do any of that, because I don't have a Hastings or GR near me, and even if I did, the cheap games I'd buy would probably be on the exclusion list.]
I'm not worried about GS/EB losing on sales, I'm worried about employees not treating customers or their company right, which of course results in lost sales. As I've said before, you can make money, run a business, and still 'do the right thing.' Lying to customers is not included in that.

If I traded in 3 games, got PO for 10 bucks, and they didn't like it, there's fine print on all those ads saying 'For a limited time only.' and they could at any moment say 'Guess what, promo's over.' which I would respect [I'd probably bitch that someone killed it, but I'd respect it.]

How is purchasing cheap games from one store, at the price they ask, and trading them in at another, using that other store's own policies, 'not moral'? Returning as new, yes. That's not right. What if I bought 15 5-buck games, opened them all, played them for five minutes each, then traded them on 5 new games at another store, using that other store's policies and not misrepresenting my games at all? Is that somehow 'immoral'?

And are you implying you think it's more moral for an employee to lie to a customer or hide a rare game so that he can buy it, than for me to make use of a store's legimitate, posted policies? That's twisted. Or I shouldn't buy stuff on sale either, because that's hurting their profit margin.
 
The kicker is the online site says they have 1-3 copies of Ikaruga.

Sucks about that Resident Evil story Chris... Good reason to be upset. About that guy that posted above that worked at a gamecrazy, I can't believe you said some of that. I've never half-assed any job I've had. If I didn't like the job, then I didn't like it, but I put my 100% into everything I do. I don't hang around game stores. I've seen some people do it, and that's their business. I don't condemn them for it.

About rare games, it's the honorable or right thing to do by giving the customer the game they purchased or asked for. If you didn't know it's in stock, that's your problem. Gamers(read: customers) should have first dibs on the item anyway. If it doesn't sell in 6 months, then let the employees buy the game. Because, if they keep up these shoddy practices, both EB, Gamestop(etc.) are going to lose money and employees.
 
We're still talking about GCN ports of 4-5 year old PSone games, right? You could get both the PSone originals and a PSone to play them with for less than the $40 value price of one GCN port mentioned here. Why is everyone getting so excited about this?
 
There you go again not using your logic or reasoning. I clearly stated the difference between a sale and abusing a policy. You would not be purchasing 15 copies of $5 games if the policy did not exist. You're taking advantage of a situation that was not present at the time the policy was brought about. As for lying to customers, who said anything about that? The majority of the time, games put on hold are not hot items that local customers want. I should know, I've been working at a game store for over two years now. I've never once put a game on hold for an extended period of time. When I see something I like, I buy it immediately. However, there are some people working in the store who will put some items aside for themselves. We've got a small box in the backroom where we can put items on hold for a small period of time (usually 2-3 days), but it's not overused. Most times, we'll have 2-3 DVD sets and about 6-7 games. Out of the thousands and thousands of items we sell, do you honestly think that 10 or so items will hurt sales? This is exactly what I am referring to with the other deals! If you are SO worried about hurting sales for a company, why would you go and purchase cheap games from another store simply to take advantage of a good trade-in policy? The customers still get treated quite well, as we have many regulars who've been coming in for over two years. Very rarely do we have requests for a copy of Suikoden II, RE2, RE3, Gitaroo Man, Rez, or any such games. They're rare for a reason; people were not interested in these games. The only semi-viable argument you have is that of customer service, which is hardly an issue with 10 or so items being put on hold.
 
[quote name='gmzone']The kicker is the online site says they have 1-3 copies of Ikaruga.

Sucks about that Resident Evil story Chris... Good reason to be upset. About that guy that posted above that worked at a gamecrazy, I can't believe you said some of that. I've never half-assed any job I've had. If I didn't like the job, then I didn't like it, but I put my 100% into everything I do. I don't hang around game stores. I've seen some people do it, and that's their business. I don't condemn them for it.

About rare games, it's the honorable or right thing to do by giving the customer the game they purchased or asked for. If you didn't know it's in stock, that's your problem. Gamers(read: customers) should have first dibs on the item anyway. If it doesn't sell in 6 months, then let the employees buy the game. Because, if they keep up these shoddy practices, both EB, Gamestop(etc.) are going to lose money and employees.[/quote]

Probably 1-3 copies sitting back in the back for some employee to buy.

No point in half-assing your job, you're there to work and put in 100% of your effort. If not, then get out. Pretty simple logic to me.

And here's a funny thought. If you go into a store and find something you like there, and like the service you received there, chances are that you'll not only go back there for repeat business, you'll also recommend it to your friends/coworkers/family, if they go looking for an item that they might have.
 
I don't know what the big deal is about RE. I mean, I have a GC, and it'd be nice to play them on that console(i.e. have every Resident Evil game on just one console), but that won't happen, because RE: Outbreak, etc. are on PS2, and who really cares? I mean, I'm not paying any more then $20 for some PS1 carbon copies. These games are perfect to play on a Dreamcast. To each his or her own, I guess.

About Gamestop & EB though, I find fault in both of them for their mark-up prices. They'll pay you such a marginally low price(most of the time) for a game, then mark it up not by a few dollars, but by such an incredible amount, that it's no wonder that EB's stock value is worth more then some game manafacturers.
 
[quote name='gmzone']I don't know what the big deal is about RE. I mean, I have a GC, and it'd be nice to play them on that console(i.e. have every Resident Evil game on just one console), but that won't happen, because RE: Outbreak, etc. are on PS2, and who really cares? I mean, I'm not paying any more then $20 for some PS1 carbon copies. These games are perfect to play on a Dreamcast. To each his or her own, I guess.

About Gamestop & EB though, I find fault in both of them for their mark-up prices. They'll pay you such a marginally low price(most of the time) for a game, then mark it up not by a few dollars, but by such an incredible amount, that it's no wonder that EB's stock value is worth more then some game manafacturers.[/quote]

Excellent point! If I had a problem with Gamestop or EBgames, it wouldn't be about the employees putting a game or two on hold but the fact that EBgames and Gamestop give next to nothing for trade-in value.
 
And here's a funny thought. If you go into a store and find something you like there, and like the service you received there, chances are that you'll not only go back there for repeat business, you'll also recommend it to your friends/coworkers/family, if they go looking for an item that they might have.[/quote]

You get more bees with honey, then vinegar. Treat your customers right, and they'll be back to spend more money. Treat them fairly, and you'll make tons more in the end.
 
I don't like that they give so little for trade in. Thus, I don't trade there. End or problem. Obviously some people do. If they didn't, then EB/GS would offer more in trade credit. An item is 'worth' whatever someone is willing to pay for it. To some people, that 1.00 in credit may be worth more than their copy of RE2. Who are you to say that's the wrong decision?
With the trade-in, no one is forcing me to trade or not trade; with the lying and hiding, they are preventing me from possibly purchasing their product.

There you are, not reading my posts. I said my primary concern is not directly 'hurting their sales', although that is a tangential effect of this situation. My primary issues came up in this thread:
- lying to customers ["No, we're out of that one" *shove rare game in pocket*]
- employees prioritizing themselves over the customers ["Nope, that one copy was promised to my coworker"]
True, both of those things in the long run do affect sales.

Personally, I think customer service is the MOST important issue affecting ANY retailer. I'm quite old-fashioned that way. When I ran a grocery store a few years back, I would have people come to my store, out of their way, and PAY MORE for their groceries because they knew they'd get treated well and with respect there, and given any help that was needed. Customer service is a dying skill, and this thread evidences that fact.

Using a store's policy, as outlined by them, can not in any way be defined as abuse.
What if my local Food Lion had 2-liter Mt Dew for .19? Great price, I'll stock up! Is that abuse, if I buy 150 of them? If the company deems it is abuse, then they can take steps to limit that, such as revoking the deal, or, hey, look at that fine print: "Limit 4 with 10.00 additional purchase." Self-correcting.
It doesn't matter how or why I got the 15 5buck games [as long as I didn't steal them.] If I am fulfilling the criteria for Store B's promotion, I am doing nothing wrong, legally or morally. If the promo says 'Limit One Trade-In Per Person Per Day', for instance, and i take action to circumvent that [like getting all my friends to act as my agents], I could still be within the letter of the promo, but violate the spirit thereof, and I could see some cause for moral concern there.

So somehow it's worse that EB offer a price that, *to you* is not worth it, to a person voluntarily attempting to trade games in and not forced by any means, than for me to follow the exact letter of the law stated in a store's on trade-in policy? And each of those are worse than an employee hiding a rare, probably-will-sell item so that he can purchase it later, or lying to a customer so that the employee can purchase it later?
 
[quote name='gmzone']The kicker is the online site says they have 1-3 copies of Ikaruga.

Sucks about that Resident Evil story Chris... Good reason to be upset. About that guy that posted above that worked at a gamecrazy, I can't believe you said some of that. I've never half-assed any job I've had. If I didn't like the job, then I didn't like it, but I put my 100% into everything I do. I don't hang around game stores. I've seen some people do it, and that's their business. I don't condemn them for it.

About rare games, it's the honorable or right thing to do by giving the customer the game they purchased or asked for. If you didn't know it's in stock, that's your problem. Gamers(read: customers) should have first dibs on the item anyway. If it doesn't sell in 6 months, then let the employees buy the game. Because, if they keep up these shoddy practices, both EB, Gamestop(etc.) are going to lose money and employees.[/quote]

6 months?! What would be the point of working there if something has to be on the shelf for 6 months for you to buy it. I worked at Best Buy for a year which isnt the same as having used/rare games in but sure i kept a few things in the back til i got out of work to buy it, there is nothing wrong with that. In eb/gs id say same deal, first come first serve but in the case of what happend to chris...well thats just really fucked up. I know you work at TRU Chris so you have to know there are customers who bitch and complain until they get what they want....you seriously need to be one of those people in this case. If I drove 2 hours for something they said they would hold and they sold it, i would be pissed off. I wouldnt yell at the person working because ive been yelled at myself for some dumb shit the morning crew does knowing they wont have to deal with it later on but i would call the DM and RM and bitch like a mother! Just keep pissing them off until something gets done about it and or you just dont care anymore :cool:
 
It is quite clear that our opinions differ. You keep bringing up the fact of lying to customers, which rarely occurs. I completely agree with that statement though. I believe as employees, we are more than capable of pleasing the customers while pleasing ourselves at the same time (please don't take this out of context and turn it into something it isn't :p). We have policies at our store that prevent us from putting newer games on hold, plain and simple. However, when an older, more collectible game comes in, we are able to put it on hold for ourselves. Technically, the item is taken and therefore not available for sale. If the employee has every intention to purchase the item in a reasonable amount of time, I don't see what the big fuss is. On the other hand, if you find a game in-store and the employees refuse to sell it to you, that's completely wrong. Employees like that should not be working any where. We seem to have misunderstood each other. You keep discussing the possibility of someone blatantly lying to someone about a game that is in stock, while I am discussing the "morality" of putting a game on hold.
 
I don't want to know if you're pleasing yourself at the same time ; )

Those two specific issues--lying to customers like the anecdotes in this thread, and putting a game on hold--are indeed different issues, and I was focusing more on the lying-so-the-employee-can-have-the-game one. I do agree wholehearted about the in-store sale refusal thing.
But both of them are subsets of 'customer service.'

The store is inbusiness to sell stuff to customers. Yes, any sale is a sale, but I find something wrong about employees having 'first pick-and-hold' on any and all older, possibly rare, collectible games. Like I said earlier, if they saw it come in and said I'll buy that, that's first come first serve. But putting it on hold, thus removing it from the market, while not buying it [for a 'reasonable' amount of time--how long is this?], seems to me to be an abuse of positiion. And the fact that the employee taking in my Rez or suikoden II or Rhapsody as trade, may be interested in buying it, seems to be a conflict of interest to say the least. The customer should come first, and should have an opportunity to buy a product, especially if it's a product that isn't usually in stock.
 
If these games were pulling such high prices on ebay this wouldn't be a discussion. If you are really interested in a game buy it at lanch, there are tons of these games around at circulation. But when sales are sluggish, and the title is cancelled or not produced more the ebay scavengers are out in full force finding these items. $$$$

Then people get upset when they can't buy them at "reasonable" EB or GS used prices. Patience is the key here! I think the employees should have some perks (holding games for themselves for a reasonable amount of time) to working a crappy job, but one of those should not be lying to the customer like the holding a game situation.
 
Wow.... I was manager for a game store for 2 years.

When a rare game came in, I BOUGHT it. That includes rare PS1, SNES, NES, Genesis etc. Why shouldn't I? I should be allowed to purchase games just like customers. And as someone else posted in this thread, its VERY rare for a customer to come in and ask "Do you have Secret of Mana for SNES". It dosn't happen. Ive had extremly rare games sit on my shelves for 6 months before someone buys them. So why shouldn't I?

Also, pre-ordering was my favorite. I loved when customers didn't/refused to pre-order, and then when GTA San Andreas comes in, and they see a HUGE stack on the counter and ask to buy one and I say "Pre-order only" it gets me so happy.

Lesson of the story - Treat your store employee's nice and they might help you out. When your there bitching about prices they have NO way to fix, or trying to buy games as someone is trading them in, they WILL remember you. TRUST ME. I would know customers that would constatly lie to me, I would make sure that game they wanted was not available. Evil? Sure, but its call getting even.
 
It makes you happy not being able to sell a product to a customer?
Please tell me you're no longer in customer service.

If you buy a rare game when it comes in, that's fine. Especially if it sits there for months. "Hoarding" it, or lying to a customer about it, is not fine.

I generally refuse to pre-order, simply because that in general benefits the store much more than the consumer. [I don't mind the store benefiting, but what's in it for me?] I'm not a person who has to have a game on release day, though, so perhaps I'm not the target market for a pre-order. It's like a gift card, which, really, benefits the store--any store--much more than the customer.

I agree with the idea behind your last paragraph, though not its conclusion. Try to treat people--retailers, customers, clerks, etc--with respect. Don't bitch at someone for something that's not their fault, and that they can't do anything about. And if you do have a valid complaint, complain gracefully, don't turn into a raving maniac.

How do customers 'constantly lie to you'? Unless it's something like "No sir, I didn't just shoplift", I don't see how it matters if a customer lies, or even see much opportunity for it.
 
You'd be surprised how many times customers lie. The most frequent lie I hear is that pertaining to a game being defective. We constantly get returns on perfectly good items that must be damaged out because the person who bought it didn't like it and decided to lie about a defect. Customers also frequently lie about the return policy, claiming that employees told them a new console was returnable up to 90 days after purchase. If they make a big enough fuss, we are forced to go through with the return.

All in all, I do agree with almost all of your views dtcarson. It's completely wrong for an employee to lie to a customer. In turn, I think the employees should have some perks as long as they don't abuse them. It's just hard to determine what exactly is abuse.
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']Never had this happen to me. I know that most Fry's have this game new for 19.99 though.[/quote]

I was gonna say the same thing. :)
 
Interesting thread here... I wanted to add a couple things.

I don't think it's wrong at all for an employee to hold a game if store policy also allows for customers to put items on hold. Whoever puts the item on hold first should get it, end of story. I know a lot of stores don't allow employees to shop while on the clock, though, so buying things as soon as they're traded in seems a little fishy to me (again, depending on store policy).

Second, and more important in my mind: Remember that online inventory tracking RARELY gives an accurate reflection of a store's stock. Heck, most of those trackers even tell you in small print that you need to call to ensure availability and that they won't be held responsible for errors. I work in retail and for my particular store, it's almost a given that if our webiste says we have it, we DON'T, and vice versa. It will generally tell a customer that we regularly carry something, but as far as whether it's there at any given moment, forget about it.
 
Interesting update to this story. I went back to the same Gamestop store tonight, and what do I see on the shelf, x days later... IKARUGA! USED! GAMECUBE! I'm thinking, maybe they found it? I go to pay for it, along with 2 other games, and he tells me he doesn't think they have it in stock. He told employee not to put it back on the shelf, but they did anyway. He searches for about 30 secs., and says they don't have it. So, again, I come away with nothing to show for. Discuss.
 
You know, this happens ALOT more than you'd think at all game stores across the board. I've met game store employees who consider their major incentive for their job the fact that they get first pick of games and discounts. I went to check the price of the System Selector Pro at a local gamestop this week, and watched one take Resident Evil 3 for gamecube and toss it in the employee bin under the counter. It is ridiculous, but if it happens to you... immediately call a district manager. It reflects poor management. They HAVE to give you the # if you ask for it
 
I think I know what happened in your situation gmzone. Often times, we'll sell games as no-casers on accident. This often leads to a case being left out without actually having the game. This is corrected by weekly gut checks, but sometimes things are passed up. I honestly doubt they would lie twice about having the game in, so I'd assume this is what happened.
 
I used to work at a GameStop or as I like to call it GayStop. And because of the putting display cases on the floor tht will happen on occassion. I think originally you were making a bigger deal about them not having a game but having a case for it mainly becaus eit was a harder to find game but for that to happen twice is unexcuseable. I read the majority of this thread and it digressed into many other topics so I'll put my two cents into what I can remember.

As for calling another store (2 hours drive away) having someone say that they will put something on hold for you then you going there and them not having it is bullshit. Don't ever go there again. If a customer has something on hold then it should be on hold until close no matter what. I remember when Xbox first came out I had put one on hold for a customer. I held it for at least 2 hours and he showed up at the store about 10 minutes before the store closed and bought about $400.00 worth in stuff. If it was aggred upon the customer and employee that something will be on hold then it should be on hold until closing unless otherwise specicfied.

With the store having display cases out and not the game, it happens. A lot of times, especially with "rare" games, people will go staright to the counter and ask fo the game and not look for the case. When they have a disc it would be assumed that there should be some kind of case out on the floor. Alot of times it may be hard to find out on the floor because it's hard for a store with 2 employees to try to keep a store that has 20 people looking around, messing stuff up and and not putting things back, tidy. In the end the disc will be sold but the case is floating around somewhere. For it to happen twice. Not cool.

I'm pretty sure a lot of these guys (employees being talked about) are dicks. I always put stuff on hold and if any employee put something on hold then basically it was out of stock to everyone else. But if something was worth buying and a customer got to it first then the customer gets it.

As for employees putting all of the good stuff on hold. That's how it works so deal with it. You got to remember, part timers are getting paid crap (whatever the minimuw wage is where you live is what you start with at GS) with few hours to work and no health and store managers are usually getting paid for 40 hours worth of work when they usually put in about 55 - 60 a week. Only during the holiday season is when people get decent hours. Employee discounts are either 10% - 15% which is not much and of course no discounts on systems. Every person is going to lookout for themself and if they are an opportunist then hey go for it. There really isin't much to look forward to. Go to every video game store in this country. I gurantee that there is a stack of stuff on hold for the employees somewhere in the store. Management won't care. They probably got stuff on hold as well. Tell the district manager if you wan't. They deal with complaints everyday and you will be brushed off. In fact they will be more happy that the employee is buying a game from the store rather then just buying it off of the person trading it in for trade in price. It's easy to say something is bad an wrong until you the one on the other side of the table and when you get paid crap, get crappy hours, and deal with a bunch of customers that dont' give a shit about you, your store and your work then everything seems fair game.
 
I see nothing wrong with employees grabing rare game when they first come in, most people here would most likely do the same. It is wrong if the game is put on the shelf and is brought up to the counter and the employee refuses to sell it. Once the game is on the shelf it is anyones game but the employees are there all day. Of course they are going to grab it the first chance they get.
 
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