Zero Originality: The Gamestop Whistle Blower

I had a female friend of mine in college who worked for gamestop. If I recall correctly she made some sort of promotion, I forget what it was, I mainly remember her never having any money. I also remember her going from fun to be around to trying to get her friends to pre-order shit games from her outside of work.

Then I got her boyfriend drunk on Sparks and showed up at her job when her GM showed up. Pure awesome as he reeked of alcohol and was bouncing around the place.
 
[quote name='probablysober']I had a female friend of mine in college who worked for gamestop. If I recall correctly she made some sort of promotion, I forget what it was, I mainly remember her never having any money. I also remember her going from fun to be around to trying to get her friends to pre-order shit games from her outside of work.

Then I got her boyfriend drunk on Sparks and showed up at her job when her GM showed up. Pure awesome as he reeked of alcohol and was bouncing around the place.[/quote]
I'm not a drinker but...Getting drunk on Sparks? :whistle2:s
 
I can also vouch that the stores sell through pre-orders to walk-in customers. They did this with GTAIV and the results were hilarious.

I work a few shifts off and on there as my friend is the manager, so I can escape a lot of the BS.
 
[quote name='bubbafett4hire']i am surprised you didn't mention the 100's of eye's you felt watching you while you were in the store i had some people work for me at game stop when any girl walked in the store they'd follow her around like a lost puppy dog. i know a lot of female gamers who have said how there were treated like idiots while in the store and most of those girls can kick most guys asses at games.[/quote]

Weird. A lot of the /employees/ at the local Gamestop are female.

Oddly enough, they seem to treat me like an idiot because I'm older than them. YES, I'm starting to grey. YES, I remember PONG fondly. YES, I'm here at the counter wearing slacks, a sports jacket, and 'old people shoes.' I'm not here to buy a 'classic gaming' collection.
 
Watched the videos last night and I enjoyed them. I don't spend money at gamestop (I've only taken advantage of promotions that benefit me), but I've been thinking of not going anymore.
 
Gamestops business practices aren't any more "evil" than any other store you'd find at the local mall.

People are just oversensitive about it because they think somehow because its games that everything needs to be handed to them on a silver platter or something.
 
[quote name='Treehouse Gamer']I almost shop exclusively at GameStop, but I guess I'm a somewhat more educated gamer with regards to promotions. I buy a new game or two every week and probably spend less than $100 a month on games.

Not to mention there was a stretch of about 4-5 months last year where I wasn't spending any money at all. Found a loophole where I was getting about $60 in profit from trades. Did that and probably got closer to $1500 in store credit for not spending any cash.

If you dismiss GameStop automatically without looking at their promotions, you probably hate your hobby, too.[/quote]

I think you have to re-evaluate what you're saying. Basically by loophole, I'm assuming you're flipping. In that case, you're not supporting Gamestop or what they do, but rather you're exploiting and taking profit away from Gamestop. While I have nothing against that, that course of action is certainly not pro-Gamestop.

Also, I'm assuming that by taking advantage of their promotions, you're saying that you use those promos generally more than once? Maybe that's being presumptuous, but if that's the case, you're using promos that are only intended to be used once per customer, exploiting another trick.

If the only way to win when shopping at Gamestop is to exploit their offers, then you're not a real Gamestop shopper and you're not really supporting their store. I think there's a distinction.

These videos are for people who shop at Gamestop and play by their rules. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but he makes some very valid points and strong arguments.
 
Wow, this video is really getting around, I've seen links to it all over the place.
It's food for thought. I've always kind of known about how much gamestop sucks, but just viewed them as part of the inescapable corporate culture. I haven't traded in games with them for years (am still kicking myself for falling for that bullshit). I have mixed feelings about shopping at the gamestop close to my house because on one hand, its really convenient (I can walk to it), the employees there are all friendly, know about games, always hold the pre-order items for me (I even got a call from them that my ninja gaiden stylus had come in) , but on the other hand you still get constantly pestered about the pre-orders and edge card, trading in games is a massive rip off, "new" games are gutted....
And on the plus side for GS, the other video game stores around here are just as bad, GameCrazy pestered me just as much to join their gameclub and pre-order and the employees were douchebags, Circuit City has a crappy selection and theres either no employees to be found or 3 of them hover around me until I leave, etc etc...
 
[quote name='Gourd']Weird. A lot of the /employees/ at the local Gamestop are female.[/quote]

That's addressed in the video. I've seen many attractive young ladies work at Gamestop, and I think they're all taken off guard by me not treating them like tits on a stick. It's like they expect me to gawk over them. Either that or they think I'm gay.

But I've seen many more guys work at Gamestop.

Oddly enough, they seem to treat me like an idiot because I'm older than them. YES, I'm starting to grey. YES, I remember PONG fondly. YES, I'm here at the counter wearing slacks, a sports jacket, and 'old people shoes.' I'm not here to buy a 'classic gaming' collection.
Click to expand...

Rock on! Actually, the only Atari of my era was the Jaguar, but I played a lot of my parents' Atari 2600 games, and I caught the tail end of the 7800.
 
Was just about to post this in the GGT. As someone who worked at GS for a few months I can honestly tell you that the videos were dead on (and hilarious).

I noticed the very last video gave a quick reference to CAG.
 
[quote name='heavyd853']Gamestops business practices aren't any more "evil" than any other store you'd find at the local mall.

People are just oversensitive about it because they think somehow because its games that everything needs to be handed to them on a silver platter or something.[/quote]

How do you mean? Who's expecting what on a silver platter?
 
[quote name='SpazX']How do you mean? Who's expecting what on a silver platter?[/quote]

i was wondering the same thing. i mean, for example, i don't know of any huge Best Buy fans on these forums, but i think most people will agree that Best Buy is a reasonable place from which to buy games. by heavyd853's logic, does that mean Best Buy hands us everything on a silver platter?!

Gamestop shouldn't be expected to be the best retail chain ever, but they should be expected to treat both their customers and their employees fairly -- and like human beings. they're incapable of that.
 
[quote name='heavyd853']Gamestops business practices aren't any more "evil" than any other store you'd find at the local mall.

People are just oversensitive about it because they think somehow because its games that everything needs to be handed to them on a silver platter or something.[/quote]
yeah and i bet those people complaining about other stores would probably be happy if someone were to do something like this. it is a way to help consumers. we are the consumers and we are a community. so this little stunt means alot to other people. you treat your customer and employees right, you'll get good feedbacks and more people will shop at your store. even gaming blogs bash gamestop for their stupid business tactics.

i thought GS was the sponsor for cag these days? a day after this post, the ads are gone up top? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^. weird. is it because of this thread?
 
[quote name='phear3d']
i thought GS was the sponsor for cag these days? a day after this post, the ads are gone up top? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^. weird.[/quote]

no, they're still there. there was one at the top as i read your post right now.
 
[quote name='allyourblood']i was wondering the same thing. i mean, for example, i don't know of any huge Best Buy fans on these forums, but i think most people will agree that Best Buy is a reasonable place from which to buy games.[/QUOTE]

And, as far as I know, it's at least a decent place to work. But maybe somebody wants to blow the whistle on them?

This isn't even about minimum wage jobs either. (Although I am ideologically opposed to the cogs getting minimum wage while the CEOs get exorbitant salaries and ginormous bonuses... nobody should "get by" on minimum wage...) It's about how a company runs its business, treats its employees, and shows some modicum of integrity. G$ has violated its customers and its employees.
 
[quote name='phear3d']i thought GS was the sponsor for cag these days? a day after this post, the ads are gone up top? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^. weird. is it because of this thread?[/QUOTE]

I'm still seeing the ads, but they don't seem to be as frequent as they have been in the recent past. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

Kudos to CAG for allowing this topic to exist for this long. You have shown a great deal of integrity.
 
[quote name='Chuplayer']I'm still seeing the ads, but they don't seem to be as frequent as they have been in the recent past. Maybe it's just a coincidence.[/quote]yeah its weird. maybe its just me..
 
[quote name='GuardianE']I think you have to re-evaluate what you're saying. Basically by loophole, I'm assuming you're flipping. In that case, you're not supporting Gamestop or what they do, but rather you're exploiting and taking profit away from Gamestop. While I have nothing against that, that course of action is certainly not pro-Gamestop.

Also, I'm assuming that by taking advantage of their promotions, you're saying that you use those promos generally more than once? Maybe that's being presumptuous, but if that's the case, you're using promos that are only intended to be used once per customer, exploiting another trick.

If the only way to win when shopping at Gamestop is to exploit their offers, then you're not a real Gamestop shopper and you're not really supporting their store. I think there's a distinction.

These videos are for people who shop at Gamestop and play by their rules. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but he makes some very valid points and strong arguments.[/quote]

There was a period last year where I did that, like I said in the post. Nowadays, I'm pretty much a straight shopper.

Also, the promos that I take advantage of now aren't coupon-based - they're in-store promos.
 
There is no reason to shop there now unless you have a coupon, and I have gotten used games for less than the going ebay rate from Gamestop before. You just have to be a smart consumer and not let the store take you, retail (all of retail) is almost as bad as going to a carnival nowadays, if you let your guard down they will take you for all you are worth. Parents should shop with children and teach them how to shop so they are not taken for a ride as well. If your kid gets taken by a retail store then its your own fault as a parent for not supervising them.

It would be stupid to completely boycott gamestop because sometimes they DO have lower prices than anywhere else. Castle of Shikigami 3 was only 19.99 there and the going rate on ebay was higher for a used copy, so it doesn't make sense to spend more for the used one on ebay plus shipping costs when you can buy it for less. Also no other retailers in my area stock Castle of Shikigami 3 so I had no choice but to go to gamestop. If there was another store that sold it I might have to drive 30 min to get there and with gas at 3.90 in NY state a gallon it does not make economical sense for me to do that when gamestop is 5 min down the road. It doesn't matter much anyways as the profit margin for buying a new game is minimal across all retail stores. The moral of shopping is you should be impartial and buy wherever you can get the lowest price.

If I was to boycott gamestop I would have to boycott all of retail as well and ebay (charging sellers high fees and many other things) and amazon (changing policies) and half.com (they are owned by ebay) as well at which point I would have no where left to shop. The salvation army is the last store I would want to support as they sell used items for sometimes MORE than what I can buy them for in a retail store (again, it wouldn't make economical sense for me to purchase used and worn out items for more than I can buy brand new stuff in a retail store just for the purpose of boycotting retail). There is a decent non salvation army thrift near my house right now and I don't mind shopping there for whatever I can get but realistically I cannot live on it. At this point I would have no where left to shop, and as a human being I obviously need stuff that I have to buy, even if I cut all frivoulous spending I would have to shop somewhere for essentials.

Some people also prefer convenience, and some people also have enough money to shop at gamestop and submit to their policies. Not everyone who buys games is a gamer trying to squeeze as much value as they can out of their used games. Some people just don't care. Some people are buying gifts for a kid. There are different types of people that shop at gamestop. Gamestop provides a service. Some people are very happy with the trade in values at gamestop and they are happy just to get something for their old used games.

Sometimes it even makes more economical sense to trade in games at gamestop due to the 2 for 10 and 3 for 15 promotions they are currently running than it does to sell them on ebay. Some games are worth less on ebay than they are at gamestop when combined with a promotion. Then save up your store credit and use it when they have a coupon to buy the used games of your choice at a nice discount. This is provided you don't need quick cash and want to buy more games with that store credit.
 
SaraAB, i think the bigger problem people have with Gamestop is their sales tactics and treatment/manipulation of customers and employees alike, and not so much their prices.
 
[quote name='allyourblood']SaraAB, i think the bigger problem people have with Gamestop is their sales tactics and treatment/manipulation of customers and employees alike, and not so much their prices.[/quote]

very true i liked to see a survey done (though it will never happen) on how many ex gamestop employees continued to shop their after leaving the company. Oh and just cause someone stops working for gamestop doesn't meant that they were fired or layed off people can not live on what gamestop pays. 8.50 an hr for a asst manager is a joke the highest paid asst manager I've ever heard of made about 10.50 hr
 
[quote name='allyourblood']SaraAB, i think the bigger problem people have with Gamestop is their sales tactics and treatment/manipulation of customers and employees alike, and not so much their prices.[/QUOTE]

This is unfortunately becoming common in all retail stores though, which was the point I was trying to make. Its almost like you have to watch yourself as you watch yourself when passing through the games part of the midway at a carnival. All retail stores are trying to manipulate the customer, and gamestop does it too. I cannot count the times I have handed a cashier a coupon in various stores and they "forgot" to apply it, likely on purpose because they are told to do that. How many people have gotten shafted in best buy while buying computers? Can you actually get out of BB without buying a warranty on whatever you are buying, or being basically badgered into buying one? CC does the same thing. I know a few people who have been taken by BB when buying a computer. In fact these stores are even worse than gamestop because they advertise sale computers and other items then never have them in stock and then pretty much require you to purchase a warranty and tons of extras or your not getting out of there with your computer or whatever you are buying. The warranty badgering, magazine subscription badgering, and badgering for sales is far worse at these stores, at least in my experience. At least I have never seen false or almost false advertisement from gamestop. CC constantly advertises items that they never have in stock and then they put up a bunch of signs in the store saying that the ad was a misprint, and I have seen a lot at the store here. The sales tactics retail stores are using these days are ultra pushy and scammy so you must be on the lookout for them in all stores, not just gamestop. Gamestop also doesn't hold Wii shipments then release them on a certain day such as Sunday just so people would come into the store and perhaps if they didn't get their Wii they will buy something else just because they are there (so the store gets more sales regardless), they sell systems as they come in. The only way to stick it to the man is to be a smart consumer and make your best attempt at trying to resist any sales tactics retail stores try to pull on you.

Perhaps because of my age and demographic I have not had any trouble being badgered by gamestop, I suspect they are only targeting soccer moms and the like as the videos describe (and yes I did watch the videos). I have been in many different stores too and have not had a problem. I have never even been asked to preorder anything or sign up for the magazine although I do have the 2$ edge card from another thread on here. They have offered to print lists of upcoming games for me. Badgering of the employees at any store I do not agree with by any means, and unfortunately paperless payment with fees is becoming all too common in our society today. It would be interesting to see if other retail stores are doing this as a payment plan now. No, I am not sticking up for gamestop as a corporation, but my local store is decent, I don't know how the people put up with working there, but jobs are super short where I live (everything is closing up), and if you have one, even a menial retail job, your probably best off holding onto it. I also know one of the guys that works there so that helps a lot (he has also worked there for many years), and he doesn't seem to mind when I trade in games I bought elsewhere for cheap, in fact that probably helps my relationship with the store and I don't do it that often, maybe once or twice a year. They don't care where the games come from and it brings in money for the store, plus they know I am honest and would never steal. There is another store here where the manager definitely frowns at my coupon use, even if it is within the limits of the coupon and perfectly legit since I only buy things with coupons and he recognizes that I am the devil customer, but alas he accepts the coupons. And believe me I am a CAG I am not trading in games that I just bought for 60$ and getting 20$ in store credit back for them.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']No, I am not sticking up for gamestop as a corporation, but my local store is decent, I don't know how the people put up with working there, but jobs are super short where I live (everything is closing up), and if you have one, even a menial retail job, your probably best off holding onto it. [/quote]

I believe most of the complaints are regarding Gamestop as an organization. Now, sure you can make the argument that they're a business and they obviously have their own interests at heart, but some of the things they promote are infuriating to a consumer like me (like giving pre-orders away to walk-ins).

Now, on the other hand, I know Gamestops that don't do those things and I have to say that every local Gamestop in my area, save for maybe one, has been nothing but awesome to me. They aren't pushy, treat me well, let me know about deals, chew fat about upcoming games, call around to find copies of the games I want, call around to find a MANUAL to a game I wanted complete... basically going above and beyond.

I just think there's a reason why we hear horror stories like these and there must be a reason why so many people hate Gamestop. It's probably because there are some regions where what is described in the videos is a norm.
 
Yeah I just saw this yesterday and the minute I saw it I went and cancelled my subscriptions for LittleBigPlanet and Fallout 3 at my local Gamestop and never intend on going there again. And to think I applied to work there 3 weeks ago.
 
[quote name='Gatsby']Yeah I just saw this yesterday and the minute I saw it I went and cancelled my subscriptions for LittleBigPlanet and Fallout 3 at my local Gamestop and never intend on going there again. And to think I applied to work there 3 weeks ago.[/quote]

my brother works as a "courtesy clerk" at Vons, and he was thinking about applying at the GS that's opening in the same shopping center. i already didn't like the idea much (beyond the possibility of easy preorder bonuses), but i'm gonna point him to the videos, and let him decide for himself. i doubt he's gonna go thru with it since Vons is actually a pretty nice company and he's treated quite well there.
 
[quote name='allyourblood']my brother works as a "courtesy clerk" at Vons, and he was thinking about applying at the GS that's opening in the same shopping center. i already didn't like the idea much (beyond the possibility of easy preorder bonuses), but i'm gonna point him to the videos, and let him decide for himself. i doubt he's gonna go thru with it since Vons is actually a pretty nice company and he's treated quite well there.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, the whole "dream job" section of it really hit me hard, it's really a shame because you think a job like this would be cool. You get to like act as a hub for a whole gamer community and get to deal with video games all day, have to talk about them, I was always thinking about how I vowed to be a better employee that the majority of Gamestop workers, but now I can see it's not worth the effort whatsoever.
 
[quote name='bubbafett4hire']as bad as gamestop is and as much as i hate them we have to remember that there in business for one reason to make money and not be the local gamer welfare agency.[/quote]I have no problem with a store in it to make money but when you buy back my game for less than $10 and sell it to someone else for $45 when a new copy is $50 that's a little extreme. That's the sort of thing that'll make me now shop at your store.

I don't buy used games from them $5 off for no manual and sometimes no box and completely random conditions is no deal in my mind. Without the willingness to buy used there's little incentive for me to shop there.

Nothing new in the video except for the payment system but it's still good and I wish I could show it to people who didn't know better.
 
The guy is a bit hard to understand, but w/e

That being said, this is what happens when you are unemployed: you have too much time on your hands.
 
Great videos. One thing I've never understood though... why in the fuck do people pre-order anything other than niche title games??? Who the fuck pre-orders Madden 3019, Halo 12, or Grand Theft Auto: Infinity?? And for the love of all things holy, don't say "for the pre-order bonuses." Who the fuck seriously wants a tiny 4 page art book or a stupid plush? Uughhh.


And off-topic, but about SaraAB's post regarding Circuit City's ad "mistakes": it's so annoying that a company can get away with such blatant false advertising. I can understand the occasional advertising blunder, but when Circuit City has notes on their entry doors EVERY week regarding misprints, there's a problem. Either hire a new editor or just fucking admit the blatant flase advertising.
 
[quote name='SpazX']How do you mean? Who's expecting what on a silver platter?[/quote]


Damn right. Gamestop is so cheap, not even handing them out on GOLDEN platters.
 
[quote name='Warner1281']why in the fuck do people pre-order anything other than niche title games??? [...] And for the love of all things holy, don't say "for the pre-order bonuses."[/quote]
A good bonus would get me to pre-order. I pre-ordered Soul Calibur II in part for the art-book (but mostly for Link). That said I would have pre-ordered WindWaker for the Zelda bonus disc. (I ended up getting it thru other means). If they ever do anything like that again for instance putting all the portable Zelda games on one disc to stream from your Wii to DS as a pre-order bonus for the new portable Zelda game. I'd pre-order it twice. I literally would.
 
First video's down already? That's bullshit. I'll see if I can find it elsewhere.

The dude's unemployed? This is Cheapassgamer. Not Makeanassoutofyourselfgamer. Try watching the videos before being so damn judgmental.
 
Does anybody know how to save Gametrailers user videos? I saved all the Youtube ones, but I hope to get copies of all of them in case something goes down, and the very first video is the only one I'm missing.

EDIT: I got it. Never mind.
 
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[quote name='Chuplayer']Does anybody know how to save Gametrailers user videos? I saved all the Youtube ones, but I hope to get copies of all of them in case something goes down, and the very first video is the only one I'm missing.

EDIT: I got it. Never mind.[/quote]the alternative way is to use downloadhelper through firefox.

im not quoting SaraAB's long posts, but to make it clear (im not saying youre wrong btw), BB, CC and other companies trying to push those extra bundles of joy (like credit cards and extended warranties) is because they have to. its a part of selling. if the customer refuses, they are allowed to be presistent and annoying. i had similar experiences while working in retail where we had to mention our own credit card and have to try to get one for every customer. heck, my manager offered one to a person whos buying CHAP STICK LIP BALM (he wasnt persistent at all btw, he just mentioned it)..

but the point of the video is that they push it hard enough that they almost wont let you do the transaction without doing it. or you are so annoyed, to get the person to shut the hell up, you end up buying an edge card or preorder madden 2010.. companies should not allow this to happen. the customer should feel comfortable at the store until he pays for the transaction. a paying customer at the register should not be annoyed because they have a 50% chance of leaving, loosing you a sale and obviously a waste of time for both parties.

as much as i hate gamestop, some of you are right, sometimes you have no choice but to shop there to find some things cheap or let alone find the game you've been looking for. but its not fair for both consumers and employees on how they are treated. boycotting GS is only natural at this point. remember the speedy vs circuit city ordeal? speedy won because CAGs supported him by boycotting the store. im sure it was a small thing to CC and probably didn't affect much of their numbers, but it was enough for them to call off the lawsuit.
 
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Well after watching this entire series I did learn a few things I didn’t know before, but for the most part it is old news. The only parts I didn’t know about was the way the employees get paid. That is most definitely ridiculous, and I would say borderline criminal. When it comes to the rest of the stuff that was stated, I really don’t see how it is any different than any other retail store. A lot of my post is really going to echo what SaraAB said.

I’m going to start with addressing the EDGE card. Yes, I do have the EDGE card and yes GameInformer isn’t worth the paper it is printed on, the card itself can be of a huge benefit. The person making these videos uses buying $200 in used games as an example. Granted, that may be an average for standard consumers. However someone like me who has dropped over $4,000 on video games and video game related items this year already, only about 18% or so of it at GameStop, the EDGE card is of a great benefit to me. I use all of their coupons and promotions to my advantage, I’m actually known for letting the employees know about the new coupons and being just about the only one in my area that uses them. I don’t buy new games except when I pre-order, and have only pre-ordered 6 games, and I used store credit I got from moving store credit from FYE to Gamestop. More on that later.

The main GameStop I go to, I know the store manager and one of the main regular employees fairly well I never have to deal with any of these problems from the sales point of view. I know this isn't the norm or there wouldn't be stories of hate against GameStop. None of the employees ask me for pre-orders or anything, even the new hires seem to know my name and not to ask me anything. I still haven't figured out if that is good or not. Even towards other customers while I’m there, they will mention the EDGE card and it’s benefits. They say if you don’t plan on buying more than $150 in used games or accessories than you should probably skip it. They don’t even mention the magazine until someone has already agreed to buy one.

I was in there the other day and someone asked about a game coming out, and they mentioned that if you wanted one FROM THEM on the day it is released they should pre-order. They said that their shipments are based on pre-orders and normally only get enough to cover the pre-orders. The guy then asked if the game was in short supply, and the employee straight-up said no it’s just how their shipments are handled. The guy then asked if he could get the game on release day from Best Buy, and the employee said more than likely. He was completely honest on how their pre-orders and new game sales work.

Now onto the trades. I only trade there when they have a decent deal going on and even then I rarely trade, considering I hadn't traded anything to a Gamestop for almost a year. I don't get rid of my games, I'm a bit of a pack rat. Actually, I'm a huge pack rat that doesn't really get rid of much of anything. With that being said I recently traded in my entire PS3 collection, games and hardware, when they were doing both the hardware trade-in bonus and the extra 30% on game trade-ins bonus. Worked out well for me and I didn't look back. Before anyone yells about all the money I spent on that PS3 and most of the games I had, I didn't even pay for it. I had liquidated almost a third of my DVD collection to FYE during their trade-in special and picked up the PS3 stuff using the credit I had with FYE, which has much worse prices and customer service than GameStop, at least the ones in my area.

Yes, I could have probably gotten another hundred or so by going through eBay. However, since the changes in eBay and the amount of money that eBay and Paypal both take out, the extra $100 gets dropped down to about an extra $60. Again that's an extra $60 and it would have been in real money. That is true. I could have sold them on CAG too and probably made some more money. Craigslist isn’t an option in my area because, well there are like 25 posts a month in the entire site for my area. It’s dead.

The real people these videos are targeting are the uninformed consumer. They aren’t direct at CAGs like us. Boycotting a place like GameStop will do no good whatsoever. Normally CAGs aren’t the ones that are doing pre-orders and buying the new games. We work the system, even the EDGE card signup, to our advantage. We know what we need to do, to get the best value. With our nature, we avoid many of the problems that videos describe when it comes to sales portion. What really needs to be done, is we need to inform other consumers as much as possible, pass on the ways to get the best deals. Yes with opening up the line of communication to others, we risk hoarders and SD/FW people to just overtake it. Oh well, everyone on these boards are worried about these people. It doesn’t matter, we need to pass as much information on as possible. For everyone 1 deal that the hoarders ruin, we can still help the general populace on how to deal with GameStop and other retailers. Also, support your local GameStops that have good employees and good policies. The more you support those stores, the more support they get from the RM/DM.

I apologize for the length of my post, practically a novel, but I wanted to put my two cents in on this. I know my experiences and viewpoints will be largely ignored. That is fine. I know GameStop has problems, and I'm not refuting that. I'm just saying that a lot of these things aren't limited to GameStop and the best way to deal with them is to do business with a GameStop that doesn't act like a bunch of idiots. GameStop isn't going to go away.
 
[quote name='Warner1281']Great videos. One thing I've never understood though... why in the fuck do people pre-order anything other than niche title games??? Who the fuck pre-orders Madden 3019, Halo 12, or Grand Theft Auto: Infinity?? And for the love of all things holy, don't say "for the pre-order bonuses." Who the fuck seriously wants a tiny 4 page art book or a stupid plush? Uughhh.


And off-topic, but about SaraAB's post regarding Circuit City's ad "mistakes": it's so annoying that a company can get away with such blatant false advertising. I can understand the occasional advertising blunder, but when Circuit City has notes on their entry doors EVERY week regarding misprints, there's a problem. Either hire a new editor or just fucking admit the blatant flase advertising.[/QUOTE]

This is exactly what happens at the CC near me. I don't go there often, but even if I don't go I can see the signs on the door. In fact they stopped posting them on the door and are now posting them on the ad rack they have at the front, so you can basically miss them. I have NEVER in my life seen another retail store not even BB have that many misprints in their ads to the point where there are multiple signs for each week's ad. I can totally understand the occasional misprint but this is insane.

I apologize for the novel as well. I just wanted to state that not all gamestop stores are bad, and from what has been said here it appears to be regional with regards to good and bad stores. I live in upstate NY so we must have a decent district manager up here or something. Yes, I am sure some gamestops are staffed by teenage douchebags, and I could totally understand why someone would boycott them if a significant amount of local stores were like that.

With that being said I don't think a boycott would do much good, for every hardcore gamer that boycotts them there are 100 soccer moms lining up to trade in their kids games, buy edge cards and magazine subscriptions. Even though a lot of hardcore gamers play the gamestop system, many others do not, and likely the number of those who are ideal gamestop customers far outweighs the hardcore who know how to play the system. Its futile. In fact they probably want to phase out the hardcore because we minimize their profits while the soccer moms increase their profits, so I wouldn't be surprised if thats what they are trying to do. The only thing we can do is continue to be creative with the system and find the best way to maximize it to our advantage..

The gamestops here feel exactly like a small, independent video game store that are governed by a bunch of stupid policies from corporate. Of course before the Gamestop buyout they WERE the small independent video game store pretty much.

The best thing is education. Instead of putting your energy into boycotting one store take the time to educate some people. Take some time out to discuss retail and how it currently operates with your family and friends if they don't know. Take a little time to educate people on buying video games if you have to. Try to make the decision on a product before you get to the store, or at least arm yourself with information. Explain to someone why extended warranties are a bad idea. Tell them to watch out for added offers when paying with a credit card. Hand out a printed coupon or 2 when you are in gamestop (I have done it before) and tell some customers about the email so they can save money with coupons. Tell someone in gamestop where they can get the game they are buying or looking at cheaper if you know off hand.

I am not too worried about the hoarders, I have visited the enemy and some of you may have seen me posting on there. I go there for the non gaming deals and contests. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a non-gaming extension to CAG? With that being said the people over there seem to be more interested in gathering all the sale items from their CVS and reselling them at their yearly summer yard sale. Also, using coupons illegally to get overage. So unless your in the market for 1000 tubes of toothpaste I don't think you have much to worry about.
 
Not posting in reply to anybody in particular, but it's striking how much self-centeredness there is here.

"The dude's unemployed."

"I didn't watch the whole thing, but..."

"Profits, profits, profits."

"It's convenient."

Look, the only thing you need to justify a boycott here is the bullshit Commdata system and Game$top's predatory attitude to young workers. Their virtual monopoly is worth mentioning, too. Everything else is just gravy. In some ways, it's worse than even Wal-Mart, but nobody's going to take a Game$top boycott seriously because they're a "kiddie games" store. Unless people watch all these videos and get the word out to casual shoppers just like the dude did in real life before making these videos, nothing's gonna improve for anybody, employees, hardcore gamers, casual gamers, and people buying games for the gamers in their lives.

I should have just posted the last episode. I'm sure half of this posturing and misunderstanding I'm seeing in this topic would have been avoided and replaced by constructive posts with proactive attitudes.
 
[quote name='SaraAB'] I have NEVER in my life seen another retail store not even BB have that many misprints in their ads to the point where there are multiple signs for each week's ad. [/QUOTE]

You obviously have never been to Frys.
 
[quote name='Frogurt.man']Episode 3 Part 1.

Jesus that sounds lame as hell. Can anyone actually vouch for that "Comm data" pay system? That shit sounds horrible, immoral, and a little illegal.[/quote]

Oh my god, it's fucking terrible. I have a friend who is forced to use it. (Works at Burger King I think.) He says it's freaking impossible to get money, and you have to pay fees. In my opinion, it should be illegal to not allow you the choice of direct deposit, or even checks you can cash at your bank/grocery store for free.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']Oh my god, it's fucking terrible. I have a friend who is forced to use it. (Works at Burger King I think.) He says it's freaking impossible to get money, and you have to pay fees. In my opinion, it should be illegal to not allow you the choice of direct deposit, or even checks you can cash at your bank/grocery store for free.[/quote]
before i left my retail job, we had a meeting about something similar to this but by JP Morgan. my manager was upset about the whole thing because it really doesn't make any sense to give you money on the card, let you use it, but charges you alot by doing it. i believe it was 12% or maybe a little less. but instead they let you have an actual debit card which isnt too bad i guess for people who doesn't have a bank account. the shit they think about in america just to get rich..
 
This is pretty bad, I thought it was bad when I worked at Circuit City and we had to bitch for people to buy warranties and fire gay dog

I'm surely thinking twice before buying a game at GS again, and stopping my gf from working there

He gave Cheapassgamer a shoutout >
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']Oh my god, it's fucking terrible. I have a friend who is forced to use it. (Works at Burger King I think.) He says it's freaking impossible to get money, and you have to pay fees. In my opinion, it should be illegal to not allow you the choice of direct deposit, or even checks you can cash at your bank/grocery store for free.[/quote]

It's an old trick - I remember hearing about it from my sixth grade teacher.

Mining camps would pay miners in store credit, but when you went to the store all of the prices were vastly inflated.

Congress finally stepped in and outlawed the practice. Corpos just put some new lipstick on an old pig and here we are again.
 
[quote name='Wolfman']You obviously have never been to Frys.[/quote]

Actually I have. And honestly, Circuit City has Fry's beat by at least 2:1.
 
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