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Best Buy to end all Gamers Club Unlocked subscriptions on March 1st, refund checks to be sent out

Josh5890

Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,206
Seeing my GCU subscription lapse was the best and worst thing that could happen to me.

It stopped me from impulse buying more games day 1. Like a 90% drop I kid you not.

The down side is I wait a lot longer to get games, but with my backlog it isn't a problem
 

Deleted member 7148

Oct 25, 2017
6,827
Best Buy Gamer's Club perishing is the reason I went mostly digital. It was such as awesome program.
 

Deleted member 22750

Oct 28, 2017
13,267
I'm gonna continue to buy physical but just not near as much
 
DaveB

DaveB

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,513
New Hampshire, USA
My GCU ran out last March and I have bought very few games on day one since. I was actually going to start buying them from a local shop in my area because new releases were usually like $56.97, but then COVID happened and they stopped discounting them.
 
Rapscallion

Rapscallion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,792
Mine was going to expire in May. Best Buy has been my go to for years. Don't imagine I'll continue buying stuff from them unless they happen to have cheaper prices.

Guess I should get some preorders in..
 
SAINT_

SAINT_

Banned
Oct 4, 2020
460
Guess there's still a lot of people with active subs lmaoo

I always felt like it was way underpriced, $30 for two years was insane.
 
tmarg

tmarg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,694
Kalamazoo
crimnos said:
Seems like canceling this in the first place was a miscalculation, as they were doing pretty well at that point and are now struggling. Obviously there are other, more significant circumstances like the retail collapse that's been accelerated by COVID but it seems like quite a few folks stopped shopping there once the discount stopped. I know they had become my primary entertainment source for awhile there and now I can't even remember the last time I shopped with them. It's a real pity.
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I really don't think so. The premise behind these programs was that loyal gamers would also buy higher margin items, and that's just not the case anymore. If BB has the best price on a game, walmart has the best price on the console, and Amazon has the best price on the TV, customers will place 3 orders and have them all shipped. All the other retailers were ending their discount games programs at the same time, because they just don't work.
 
crimnos

crimnos

Member
Oct 27, 2017
282
tmarg said:
I really don't think so. The premise behind these programs was that loyal gamers would also buy higher margin items, and that's just not the case anymore. If BB has the best price on a game, walmart has the best price on the console, and Amazon has the best price on the TV, customers will place 3 orders and have them all shipped. All the other retailers were ending their discount games programs at the same time, because they just don't work.
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Yeah I concede that you're probably right, I haven't seen any data either way. I do know that, personally speaking I did buy higher-margin items from Best Buy due to GCU as it was a lot easier with the Best Buy rewards I was racking up. If I had the rewards money it was a built-in discount, if not it contributed to the reward total so either way I was coming out in a better position. And that's coming from someone who is fiercely anti-loyalty as a consumer. I'd be really curious to see what the numbers say but I doubt they'd ever release that data.
 
Bakercat

Bakercat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,154
'merica
The moment amazon got rid of their 20% off preorder games I stopped buying day one. Games are not worth the investment day one for the price.
 
Jerm

Jerm

The Fallen
Oct 31, 2017
5,772
This was the only thing that kept me buying games at Best Buy. I haven't purchased a game from them since mine ended a couple of years ago.

GCU + Rewards had me in their ecosystem indefinitely, buying games and accessories I probably wouldn't have purchased normally.

pretty much digital only now. I've gotten fine with waiting for price drops or completely skipping most titles.
 
Teh_Lurv

Teh_Lurv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,097
shadowhaxor said:
A few years back, they were giving away the program with $10 dollar pre-paid cell phones. I brought 7 of them the years stacked.
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So according to that press release, Best Buy will be paying you $30 to buy back each membership you still have left. That's a pretty sweet deal considering what you paid.
 
abellwillring

abellwillring

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,925
Austin, TX
The fact they honored it at all after the end date was honestly wild to me. Congrats to the people who finessed it so they could get a bunch of extra time though. You had a good run.
 

t26

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
4,559
The real trick was also getting a Best Buy credit card so you could reach Elite status - at that point the bonus really adds up
 
Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,760
I miss GCU so much. Would make a huge difference on $70 games. I imagine it was a huge loss leader for BB. Wish they'd replace it but they are probably fine with limited $10 rewards coupons for some titles. I bought like all my games at BB if I could from 2012-2019 because of this
 
Wong Kar Why

Wong Kar Why

Unshakable Resolve
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
1,419
i mostly buy digital games nowadays, but i really miss the gamer's club days. i bought so many collector's editions of games and had plenty of store credit to throw on the next purchase. it was the best deal in gaming while i was working part time.
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,828
It's sad to see it finally go but not totally unexpected. At least they're giving people a bit of a heads up so people can utilize it before it's gone. Definitely one of the best deals in gaming. I know lots of people say they stopped after GCU ended but I have to admit they've locked me in for three reasons. First, the rewards points still have me making purchases there. Second is getting elite status so I might as well make my purchases there anyway to make sure I maintain that every year. Third, since they price match it makes it easy to still continue to shop there. It's not as if they still don't have some of the best gaming deals out of all the retailers still so I still buy games there anyway. I might as well reap all the benefits by focusing my purchases there to get that Elite benefit. Elite just gets me more reward points, the ability to bank my reward points instead of having to spend them right away, free shipping with no minimum which is great for small deals or during Black Friday, and early access to deals. So ya, I'm locked in at Best Buy because I can't see a reason to buy games elsewhere anyway even with GCU gone.

Pompadour said:
Anyone know if pre-orders lock in the discount? I can pre-order Guilty Gear Strive now and it's 20% off in the cart although the game comes out in April.
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When mine was about to expire, I preordered a ton of stuff and everything was honored at the 20% off price when they were finally available.
 
0ptimusPayne

0ptimusPayne

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,748
I just walk into the small walmart up the road and get new releases for $10 off nowadays if I'm buying day 1. I do miss the $10 coupons and 20% trade in though for Sure From my membership.
 
Rapscallion

Rapscallion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,792
I'm hoping a few PS5 games get dates so they pop up for preorder on bestbuy before GCU is gone. 20% off 70 dollars feels especially nice.
 
HomerSimpson-Man

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
Oct 30, 2017
3,629
BriGuy said:
TVs, probably. I spent $1000 extra dollars getting their extended 5-year warranty for my CX. I'd be really bummed if they went back on that because that peace of mind is why I don't overly baby the TV.
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What the hell?

I'm guessing you bought like the 77 inch CX or something to get a 5-year protection plan for ~$1000 since that was a $4000+ tv.
 
OP
OP
Koppai

Koppai

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,417
crimnos said:
Seems like canceling this in the first place was a miscalculation, as they were doing pretty well at that point and are now struggling. Obviously there are other, more significant circumstances like the retail collapse that's been accelerated by COVID but it seems like quite a few folks stopped shopping there once the discount stopped. I know they had become my primary entertainment source for awhile there and now I can't even remember the last time I shopped with them. It's a real pity.
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Best Buy stock and sales have had a huge increase. Share price was down to like $40 something back in March 2020 and is now like $114 a share. All of the people at the top have a ton of shares so they are hoarding all the wealth anyways. I don't feel sorry for Best Buy they are starting to penny pinch and screw over store employees. Here is a raise that we are only giving you because Target and Amazon already did it. Most BB employees that have been there for years already make 15 an hour so that chincy raise they gave everyone after furloughing half the employees was a joke.

Them cutting stuff like GCU is huge BS but they really don't make much off games as it is. So the 20% was making them lose money. I am guessing they had it as an incentive because people would also buy more than games such as accessories and warranties which is where the real money is.
 
Perkin_Warbeck

Perkin_Warbeck

Member
Jan 27, 2020
3,385
Washington, DC
Bakercat said:
The moment amazon got rid of their 20% off preorder games I stopped buying day one. Games are not worth the investment day one for the price.
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Yep. I never had GCU, but for a while Amazon had those preorder discounts because they were competing with GCU. I did that for a couple games that had a high level off certainty about what the final game would be like. Now, I'm back to my old "never preorder" rule.
 
nihilence

nihilence

nøthing but silence
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
15,926
From 'quake area to big OH.
I think I bought and flipped so many games early on.

20% + $10 + points, and a trade in program with high value and a 10-20%. I think I made money off some new games.

There was also that 4gb arcade glitch that I got close to $300 for? There was a time gaming was almost free.
 
FinalFanXtreme

FinalFanXtreme

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
565
Really sad they ended this program. I bought so many games during the years I had this program. I actually felt appreciated buying games. Now I just go Walmart since all the games I've bought have been $10+ off
 
night814

night814

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 29, 2017
15,039
Pennsylvania
Darknight said:
Why? They're getting refunds and if they got a deal on it, the might come out ahead.
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Because they wanted to keep using the service which would be why they paid for years in advance hoping for it to continue? Im sure some would rather forego the refund to just keep the service for as long as they've paid.

That being said it is good that they refunded people who did this.
 
Negatorous

Negatorous

Member
Jul 14, 2018
1,255
Kill3r7 said:
That sounds way off to me but I will say that their warranty is overly broad (generous) and arguably one of the few worth signing up for. I got my $1800 dollars back when my Marantz receiver started to overheat and turn off 4 years after purchase. It's a shame people abuse it to just get new items when they tire their old ones.
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This is exactly what a lot of people have done. A TV (or other item) they warrantied for 5 years is intentionally broken near the end and when Best Buy has to replace the item it is long gone from their inventory so they end up giving you not only a new TV but a brand new model.
 
Brofield

Brofield

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,896
I know GCU was a US only feature, but man it's weird watching Best Buy start to go the way of Future Shop. Not even paying their employees with commission is going to be the reason they go belly up.
 
Nolbertos

Nolbertos

Member
Dec 9, 2017
3,314
night814 said:
Because they wanted to keep using the service which would be why they paid for years in advance hoping for it to continue? Im sure some would rather forego the refund to just keep the service for as long as they've paid.

That being said it is good that they refunded people who did this.
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BB was never gonna honor GCU forever. It was only a matter of time before they pulled the plug on alot of people that had GCU to inifinity, after they announced the cancellation of the program in 2018. I predicted that they'll honor GCU for 2-3 years and they say thank you to the rest and refund there money. GCU sales was not paying off for them as there initial strategy was lure in gamers and families to buy more than just games, but that never fell through. I still say GCU should've stayed at 99.99/ year because only then, it might've been worth it for BB to keep it around longer, with a select few owning it, but instead when they lowered it to $30/year, got more people in it, but not the market that would buy more than just games.
 
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