Worst B&M Game Retailer 2010

Gamestop makes a powerful case for itself every day of the week, but I've never been treated as horribly as I was in my two attempts to purchase games from Best Buy this year, so they win.
 
Target. I don't think I picked up a single game from them, at all. Wal-Mart is a close second, the only thing they were good for were the $10 PS3 games, and only because Amazon matched them.
 
I think Best Buy is far worse than gamestop. All their deals generally just look like deals and you have to buy too many to get them. They also didn't have my friend's copy of FFXIII when he preordered.
 
I know that Gamestop is the obvious choice, but really BestBuy was my choice. Most of their sale prices were matched by Amazon and in many cases Amazon had better prices. Also most of their " clearance" stuff is cheaper elsewhere. At least with Gamestop they have the Gameday sales and their buy 2 get 1 sales.
 
[quote name='io']Glad to see some other people voting for my perrenial favorite in this category: Walmart. It is so easy to pick on Gamestop. I, for one, appreciate their trade-in deals and occasional low prices on some games. Walmart, on the other hand, never seems to have anything more than a few cents less than MSRP. That and highly YMMV clearances make them pretty worthless for game shopping.[/QUOTE]

Exactly, couldn't say it better myself. I don't think I've ever bought a game from Walmart. EVER. Almost never any deals!
 
GameStop B&M for sure. I never bought anything from them because the 3-4 times I walked in to get on a "Cheap Ass" / "Slick" Deal, they never have what I'm looking for.
 
Gamestop. I've never had a problem ordering online from them, but buying in store is pretty terrible.

For example, I attempted to buy a game with a limited edition box and CD. They charged me full price for the game without the box- with no explanation for the missing box!
 
I voted for Kmart. I would really like for them to win both Best and Worst Game Retailer. The former for their deals and the latter for the horrendous customer service.
 
Gamestop. When you only sell one kind of thing, you could at least get it right. The other places at least get more leeway from me because of that.
 
[quote name='super_dawn']It would have to be Gamestop for me. I usually end up staring at the games and saying to myself I can find these so much cheaper online OR I wonder if Amazon has a good price since I have all my credit stored up.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, lol.
 
[quote name='slidecage']Best buy..... i did the buy 2 games for 20 and get a 20 buck gift card free first week of dec

Got cooking mama 2 and garding mama ...... got charged 40 bucks .... the second game went to backorder and never shipped and then got hit with another 20 buck charge for the gift card cause i only ordered 1 game ..... they still have not fixxed the billing problem[/QUOTE]

Seems like your problem is with Best Buy ONLINE, not Best Buy B&M.
 
In terms of just deals on games, I would say Walmart had the weakest brick & mortar deals of the year. Despite Kmart having some pretty good deals, the few times I tried to par take, I wasn't able to because they didn't have the item....Nearly everytime I've gone in as well, I've had to track down and employee and/or wait 5-10 mins just for assistance.

But gamestop takes the cake just for all around s**** customer service....and this is based on several different gamestops I have shopped at over the past few years. I know they have some decent trade in promotions some times, but the only way you get your moneys worth out of gamestop credit is using it online, which I can't do since I'm "banned"......which literally makes gamestop credit useless too me, as their b&m sales are almost always lacking compared to their online sales.....especially with the buy 2 get 1 free as store prices are always jacked up higher.
 
I used to love Best Buy. They used to have really awesome deals years ago. Lately not so much, but there are a few deals now and then.

But my major beef with BB is that they never have anything in their ad that I'm looking for. Then the employees roll their eyes as I ask if they can check in the back. Driving an hour for something they advertise and don't have just really makes me angry.

Also when I went to get my xbox replaced, a lady told me over the phone that they had 11 360s with the kinect 250gb bundle. I asked her to physically get one and hold it anyway because of the drive. She put me on hold and told me that it was being held for me. I went there and they had no bundles at all and she lied about holding it. This wasn't during the holidays or a rush or anything. Their system was wrong and she just lied. Thanks for the waste of gas and time.

Now I did preorder Homefront with them. So I'll see if they can redeem themselves or if they'll just turn me away for good.
 
GameStop by far. I would never under any circumstance, sales included, buy a new game there because it means I am going to get a gutted copy. It's not new when its open damnit! And then they have those annoying fucking stickers on the packaging, its a pain in the ass to get rid of them. Not a single retailer listed does this and because of it, I'm not buying new games there, period.

When I do try to buy a used game, especially PS2 or GameCube, its like playing the lottery. Most of the game cases look like they have been dragged out of a trailer park and the disks handled by a spoiled kid.

Further, forget DS games, all the stores around me throw the cases out. Its just depressing altogether. I really miss the days of EBGames. :(
 
gamestop. I just want to buy my game. I don't want to preorder every single thing that's been announced and I don't appreciate the condescending tone when I say no....
 
Gamestop, hands down. GS online at least had some codes / glitches / coupons that you could use, in store is a whole different story. The B&M is good for only two things: Trading in games and replacing / completing the games I bought from GS online.
 
How can it be anything other then gamestop? I mean Christ they told us they would have a guarantee in place that their used games online would come complete then like 2 months later backed out without notice. Most of their games come incomplete and they are a pain to deal with. I LOATHE best buy...but Christ even they are better then gamestop.
 
gamestop for sure, I hate those guys they are rip-offs. They dont offer any real incentive to buy from them and they practically offer you beans for your trade ins. I've completely stopped doing business with them.
 
I'll never understand why people still waste money at Gamestop. Prices are absurd, they want $40 for a used copy of Pokemon Heartsilver? Eff that. Screw them, the only time I visited them in the past two years is because they had the Pokemon downloads, which I did from outside the store except when they didn't have it turned on and I had to ask them about it.
 
Well I have to say Gamestop, but Best Buy's cancellation of the Dragon Quest IX event at the Amherst, NY store nearly tops everything Gamestop has done. Best Buy said they were having an event and they did not have one, I called twice and the employees had no idea what I was talking about. The one thing I can give credit to Gamestop for is that when they have an event like a Pokemon download I have never had trouble getting it but that might be the only thing I can give them credit for.

I did complain to Nintendo about the event and got a personalized response that was obviously not scripted (thankfully I didn't actually drive out to the event) but they obviously couldn't offer any compensation.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']How can it be anything other then gamestop? [/QUOTE]

I don't see how it can be anything but Walmart. I don't get all the GS hate here on CAG. They certainly aren't the best, but I don't get why they are always voted the worst. Yes, I am annoyed by the incomplete games from their online site (but this is the B&M award - they deserve the worst online retailer award for sure). And yes, "GS new" is a bad practice. But, in general, they are not a bad place to buy stuff. At least they generally know stuff about games compared to just about every other retailer that just happens to sell games in addition to a bunch of other crap. And with their trade-in program you have opportunities to get stuff pretty cheap if you know what you are doing. And they are pretty much the only source for obscure used games. And by no means are all their used games in bad shape - I've gotten plenty of mint/complete games there. It all depends on the customers who trade them in.

Redeema - when have they ever charged $40 for used copies of SoulSilver? It is $40 new there. Used is presumably $35 - not a great price by any means, but after Power Up it isn't too bad. Combine that with their frequent B2G1 sales and it can be had for cheaper than most other places.
 
The two things that piss me off about Game Stop is the least they can do is automatically give you a discount for a gutted game. The second is, when you buy a used game and it is not complete they charge you full price but some stores charge refurb fees when incomplete games are traded in. There is one GS near my house that I hate with a passion, well not the store but the manager. That GS is a gold mine for certain hard to find games but that manager really gets under my collar.
 
[quote name='io']I don't see how it can be anything but Walmart. I don't get all the GS hate here on CAG. They certainly aren't the best, but I don't get why they are always voted the worst. Yes, I am annoyed by the incomplete games from their online site (but this is the B&M award - they deserve the worst online retailer award for sure). And yes, "GS new" is a bad practice. But, in general, they are not a bad place to buy stuff. At least they generally know stuff about games compared to just about every other retailer that just happens to sell games in addition to a bunch of other crap. And with their trade-in program you have opportunities to get stuff pretty cheap if you know what you are doing. And they are pretty much the only source for obscure used games. And by no means are all their used games in bad shape - I've gotten plenty of mint/complete games there. It all depends on the customers who trade them in.

Redeema - when have they ever charged $40 for used copies of SoulSilver? It is $40 new there. Used is presumably $35 - not a great price by any means, but after Power Up it isn't too bad. Combine that with their frequent B2G1 sales and it can be had for cheaper than most other places.[/QUOTE]

I disagree. Yes I talked about the online stuff but I was mixed up at what topic I was posting in. The offline stuff is equally bad. Maybe the employees where you live know what they are talking about, but I have been to 5 gamestops locally and only 2 or 3 of the employees at the gamestops have a clue what they are talking about. Most of the rest are cute girls hired just to have cute girls there or guys that do not know anything beyond God of War and Modern Warfare. Game prices are usually higher in store then I can find online at various retailers, they try and sell used games as new, games are often disorganized and they push preorders and edge cards like its their job....because it is. I am just going to stop there but I can name more negative.

Yes the people at walmart NEVER know what they are talking about, but at least you are never dealing with a myriad of other issues.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus'] Most of the rest are cute girls hired just to have cute girls there[/QUOTE]

Who cares? I wouldn't mind cute girls at my Gamestop.

My problem with gamestop is the newsed games and the constant hounding of you to do a preorder.

I hate Walmart with a passion but I've never been harassed there to drop $5 on a preorder, nor have I ever asked for a game and was anxious whether it was actually shrinkwrapped or not.
 
[quote name='confoosious']Who cares? I wouldn't mind cute girls at my Gamestop.

My problem with gamestop is the newsed games and the constant hounding of you to do a preorder.

I hate Walmart with a passion but I've never been harassed there to drop $5 on a preorder, nor have I ever asked for a game and was anxious whether it was actually shrinkwrapped or not.[/QUOTE]

If you notice I listed the pre order/edge card thing as well as other issues and could keep going like having gamestop employees stealing pre order bonuses.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']If you notice I listed the pre order/edge card thing as well as other issues and could keep going like having gamestop employees stealing pre order bonuses.[/QUOTE]

oh yeah I forgot about the preorder bonus thing: "Ooops, we ran out of the bonus item even though we pressured you to preorder this item and told you this tshirt would come with it.... why yes, it looks exactly like the one i'm wearing today.... Yes, this copy I'm handing you looks like I took it home last night and played it but... if you haven't put it in YOUR xbox yet, it's new to you!"
 
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