Updated/Resolved: HORRIFYING experience at Game Crazy

[quote name='zohar']I definitely understand your perspective here, as it's been brought up numerous times from both GC and GS employees. Basically it's the system that's forcing bad behavior, I get it.

It's an unfortunate fact that the numbers game is what drives the used game business, but I still do not believe it's any justification for the behavior that I observed. Sure, if you have to pitch something, then pitch it -- I can't say I'll like you afterwards, but at least you didn't ADD on fees without my knowledge and then lie to me about it. I think any reasonable employee would not behave in such a way.

I assume the problem is that much of the work force is made up from teenagers who idealize the job, thinking that selling video games all day must be frickin' awesome. And then of course they're jaded by the whole system and eventually stoop to shady tactics. Plus, there is ALWAYS someone else willing and ready to replace you. People need to realize these jobs suck. If and when this ever happens will we ever start to see any change in GS or GC's policies.

But blame cannot be solely placed on only the higher-up corporate types OR the individual employee. It's really a combination of both. The system might make you want to do wrong things, but it's still your choice to do them or not.

Ok... done sounding like an afternoon special.[/QUOTE]

Well trust me, I agree on what he did was wrong, but I think it was wrong wording. I did work with the guy for 10 months, and yes I can blame the 'higher ups' because they did teach us the shady sales tactics.
Example: a $7.99 game that was marked down to $4.99 but it still had the $7.99 sticker, my managers told me to 'sneak a game guard' so it will be 5.99, and they 'still technically save money'.

Or even if someone traded in a bunch of games, and they would 'save' $11 bucks, they would tell me to sign them up for MVP- since the savings and the price would cancel it out.

He was fearing for his job, which anyone would when they have bills to pay. I think he pulled the first thing I said where the game was marked down, but he didn't know of the sale, had zero game guards and thought he would sneak it on.

I was fired because I didn't believe it was good customer service to pitch a billion things to customers. My numbers were never really terrible either. But I was fired because I would mention only one or two things out of the 6 we had to say, and people actually liked me for that.


Did you know... They would actually force employees to game guard their games, and if you didn't they refused to ring you up? Or preorder something etc?


Did you happen to be a regular at the store?
I probably know you if you were, I was one of the girls that (use) to work there.
 
[quote name='mindslurry']Well trust me, I agree on what he did was wrong, but I think it was wrong wording. I did work with the guy for 10 months, and yes I can blame the 'higher ups' because they did teach us the shady sales tactics.
Example: a $7.99 game that was marked down to $4.99 but it still had the $7.99 sticker, my managers told me to 'sneak a game guard' so it will be 5.99, and they 'still technically save money'.

Or even if someone traded in a bunch of games, and they would 'save' $11 bucks, they would tell me to sign them up for MVP- since the savings and the price would cancel it out.

He was fearing for his job, which anyone would when they have bills to pay. I think he pulled the first thing I said where the game was marked down, but he didn't know of the sale, had zero game guards and thought he would sneak it on.

I was fired because I didn't believe it was good customer service to pitch a billion things to customers. My numbers were never really terrible either. But I was fired because I would mention only one or two things out of the 6 we had to say, and people actually liked me for that.


Did you know... They would actually force employees to game guard their games, and if you didn't they refused to ring you up? Or preorder something etc?


Did you happen to be a regular at the store?
I probably know you if you were, I was one of the girls that (use) to work there.[/QUOTE]

Wow, small world. I'm not a regular to the store, but I've come in from time to time, usually when there are sales posted here on CAG. The last time I came in, I do remember it was a girl who processed my purchase, so if you were the only girl working there for the past X months, then it was probably you. Otherwise, not sure.

As for not knowing about the sale, I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't -- like I said, the sale prices were right there on the sticker of both new and used copies.

Regarding the shadiness though, honestly, I wouldn't have raised any complaints if he would've just shown me the monitor, acknowledged his mistake, and refunded only the Gameguard charges (or heck, ANY combination of those). But he persisted in claiming that the game was $25 and refused to show me the monitor.

So even if management had coerced you to do whatever to get your numbers, when someone catches you in the act, at least admit the mistake. Could've said he read the screen wrong (which by GC's outdated database, could be the truth), give an apology (doesn't even have to be a real one!), and all would have been forgiven, at least if it was me.

I don't mean to sound like some self-righteous asshole on some kind of crusade, but I'm just tired of game specialty stores (both the higher ups and employees) with respect towards their treatment of consumers -- no, actually, fellow gamers. Once again, I understand employees are kind of just "following orders," but like you, everyone has a choice on whether or not to listen. It's truly unfortunate that not following shady business tactics == loss of job. :\
 
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[quote name='Josef']If you were the only girl that worked at that store, then it probably was you :)

Of course, if there was another nice and cute girl that worked there, well then it would be harder to tell.[/QUOTE]

i hired one other girl while i worked there, but she wasn't there very long. i did manage the store for a little over a year and made sure my employees treated customers like people. our regulars were our life blood. so it was probably me. ha.

plus, i got to know what people liked. i had customers i could call at home when a game came in i thought they would want, even if they didnt have a preorder or werent specifically looking for it.

good customer service goes a long way. and i stole a lot of gamestop business. although, i was told (by several old customers) that gamestop is better than my old store now. its sad.

i work for hot topic now. its a much better company.
i miss the game industry, i miss everything from the supernerds that got confused to the college boy i could put in his place by knowing things about games.
but i dont miss what game crazy turned into. it was too much pressure. i dont do high pressure sales.
 
glad things worked out.

experiences like these nowadays gets escalated very quickly because they know somewhere, somehow the story will get out there and spread like wild fire. word of mouth is a powerful tool to get these retailers to straighten their acts up and do the right thing. why else do you think a company like gamestop have one of their employees (not just a store employee *cough*) sign up on cag and im sure it was on purpose :)
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']I'm glad everything worked out, OP. Would it be all right to ask the amount of the gift card? If it's enough for a new release game, that's pretty sweet.[/QUOTE]

I actually don't know yet myself, it's being mailed to me. Never asked for the amount on the phone since that would've been.. awkward, I guess.
 
i guess i am just an a**hole. i go in grab my item, say no once and dont ask me any other stupid questions. just give me total. and i am out the door. works at gs and gc.(sorry i was posting in response to first page) way to go op glad they did something for you
 
[quote name='mindslurry']Did you know... They would actually force employees to game guard their games, and if you didn't they refused to ring you up? Or preorder something etc?[/QUOTE]

That is not true at all. I worked there as well and the company had no such policy. Some employees would give you a guilt trip about "killing their numbers" if you didn't want Game Guard or a preorder, but there was no expressed or implied policy that you had to Game Guard your games or preorder anything. The company (just like GameStop) certainly pushed numbers and made their employees sell, but let's stay within the realm of truth here.
 
It might not be corporate policy, but it could be at that individual store. I wouldn't doubt that this sneaky tactic was played on some employees that didn't know any better. The store I work at claimed that it was corporate policy that all employee purchases had to be made at the self checkout. Someone checked the handbook where all policies are printed, and called out my boss on it, because it wasn't in there.
 
[quote name='Chairman_LMAO']It might not be corporate policy, but it could be at that individual store. I wouldn't doubt that this sneaky tactic was played on some employees that didn't know any better. The store I work at claimed that it was corporate policy that all employee purchases had to be made at the self checkout. Someone checked the handbook where all policies are printed, and called out my boss on it, because it wasn't in there.[/QUOTE]

I'm not doubting that some store somewhere has a manager that does this. I worked at the store in question and the person who claimed the company forced them put Game Guard on their games or preorder something when they bought something claims to have worked with the guy who started this whole mess. I was just refuting that particular poster's statement about that store.
 
[quote name='hayatetokidoki']I'm not doubting that some store somewhere has a manager that does this. I worked at the store in question and the person who claimed the company forced them put Game Guard on their games or preorder something when they bought something claims to have worked with the guy who started this whole mess. I was just refuting that particular poster's statement about that store.[/QUOTE]

I don't think they said anything about working at the same store, just with the same manager. With all the manager shuffling they do, I wouldn't be surprised if that was true.
 
[quote name='zohar']I definitely understand your perspective here, as it's been brought up numerous times from both GC and GS employees. Basically it's the system that's forcing bad behavior, I get it.

It's an unfortunate fact that the numbers game is what drives the used game business, but I still do not believe it's any justification for the behavior that I observed. Sure, if you have to pitch something, then pitch it -- I can't say I'll like you afterwards, but at least you didn't ADD on fees without my knowledge and then lie to me about it. I think any reasonable employee would not behave in such a way.

I assume the problem is that much of the work force is made up from teenagers who idealize the job, thinking that selling video games all day must be frickin' awesome. And then of course they're jaded by the whole system and eventually stoop to shady tactics. Plus, there is ALWAYS someone else willing and ready to replace you. People need to realize these jobs suck. If and when this ever happens will we ever start to see any change in GS or GC's policies.

But blame cannot be solely placed on only the higher-up corporate types OR the individual employee. It's really a combination of both. The system might make you want to do wrong things, but it's still your choice to do them or not.

Ok... done sounding like an afternoon special.[/QUOTE]

Its basically a high pressure sales job that just so happens to involve selling video games. There is probably a long lineup of people waiting to get the job, especially in this economy because the potential applicants think selling video games is awesome. If you want to work retail you would be better off working at a grocery store, since you don't have to pitch anything there, and its much more relaxing.

Several years ago (5+) it did seem that the job was awesome, I would walk into Gamestop and the employees would be friendly and they would be playing video games while standing behind the counter. Plus they were more than welcome to engage in a friendly, non-opinionated conversation about games especially if there was no one else in the store. Now I can't remember the last time I had a good conversation at a game store. Now its all about the pitch and how much they can extract out of me as a customer.
 
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