Gamestop - Your worst stories/experiences

[Chairmanchuck (另一个我)]

Since the Polygon article, I kinda miss the Gamestop story threads that popped up constantly on the other forum.

So what was your worst experience from Gamestop?
I have a few, before I decided to shop online (in Germany):

1.) Preordered the Wii in 2006, paid up front, but had to work till 17:00. Excited to get it after work, I drove there, showed my recipe and was told "You were not here in the morning. We sold it to someone else." while somehow other people, mostly older ones, could still get their Wii. (Now I think it was because they could sell them shovelware like Happy Feet and whatnot for that console) I was mad, told them I paid up front and they said "there is nothing we can do about it", so obviously I just wanted my money back. They wouldnt want to give it back (which I was wondering if clerks did not get legal training regarding customer rights) until I threatened to call the cops.

2.) This is just anecdotal "evidence" from a friend who worked there shortly, but he told me they had a system where they just "borrow" the games. Since they always put the DVDs in a paper slip, they said no one will notice, if they just take a game home over the weekend, play through it and then return it "as new". Obviously this was not allowed, but I was told even the manager did it, so no one cared.

The other stuff I encountered was just the typical sales talk of everything else besides games. "Do you want the guide for Red Steel?" or "Do you want scratch warranty" as well as one time I got a "new" DVD that was scratched that I did not want.

 

[Ryuelli]

Once upon a time when I was a kid I went to Gamestop to sell Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure for the Gamecube and they had the audacity to only offer me 75 cents.

 

[low-G]

Been a while, but they once told my S/O that a subscription to their crappy membership was 'free', and proceeded to use my store credit without telling her.

 

[TaySan]

I remember as a kid selling my ps2, gamecube and xbox and all of my games for a 360 and STILL didn't have enough credit for a 360 in summer 2006. My father was nice enough to cover the rest for me and we picked up the 20gb model around my b day.

 

[L Thammy]

I've never had a horrible GameStop experience like the stories I've heard. I did once go there specifically to get Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus, only to have to explain to the clerk that they had actually brought me a copy of Guilty Gear Accent Core, which is something different.

Oh, and there was a time that I bought a used copy of Wii Sports Resort, except it was just Wii Sports with Wii Sports Resort written on the box.

And some other used games that straight up didn't work.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

As a kid the clerks literally did not allow me to buy a game, twice, because they personally did not like it. Like wtf. Fuck off Kevin

 

[Pyro]

My worst experiences at GameStop are whenever I have to step inside a GameStop. So I've had a lot of bad experiences.

 

[Pirate Bae]

I worked there for several years. Worst experience was when my dickhead boss went into the back room and left me in the front with some dude who wouldn't stop hitting on me, touching me, and wouldn't take no for an answer. He watched the situation on the monitor and laughed because he thought it was funny.

 

[ryseing]

They added warranties multiple times without asking and only took them off when I said something. Like, I know y'all are under pressure to sell the stupid warranties, but come on.

Getting gutted copies passed off as new is always fun.

 

[criteriondog]

GameStop offered me $2 for Destiny 2 shortly after release

 

[rare]

Probably when my store got robbed and I was the only one working that night.

 

[Green Mario]

Nothing in particular. I hate being pushed to preorder or get their useless membership. The other day I went out looking for a copy of Bayonetta/Vanquish on the Xbone and a store nearby had it in stock, but when I got there they only had one open "new" copy.

It pisses me off that if I were to buy a game and open it up right there in front of them it's no longer considered new, but they gut copies and put the discs in sleeves to sell as new ones. I'm sorry, but if the shrinkwrap is gone and you've had your hands on the disc, it's not new to me. Maybe I'm just picky, but if I'm paying full price, I want to be the one to open it, you know? The salespeople and managers always act like I'm crazy when I say I don't want their last open "new" copy, but whatever.

There's also the fact that employees could take games home to try out, including the "new" ones. Not sure if it's still allowed, but I know someone who got fired from a store management position because so many games were missing because employees would just take them home and never return them.

 

[ClickyCal']

I honestly never had one, usually always have dealt with nice people working there and never had a hard time with anything. Seems like that is uncommon.

 

[AimLow]

I worked at Gamestop for several years when it was still Babbage's.

For your Number 1 point, yeah, that's shady/bad business af. But I'm not sure if that's a difference between Germany and the US.

For point Number 2, yes, the employee check out policy was allowed to us by corporate - completely legal and supported. We could rent a new disc for a few days then return in. That said, the condition of the discs were scrutinized closely upon return and if there was damaged, we had to purchase them.

There was plenty of of BS around that company, in fact so much so that I will never set foot in one again and certainly will never purchase from them. They treated their employees like replaceable garbage, they offered like a third of the trade in value for gamed then resold them at near-new price, they encouraged us to be as annoying and pushy with add-ons as possible and was just generally an unpleasant company. Glad to see they are in financial trouble and their days are numbered.

 

[Deleted member 16657]

I had a trade in card with a decent chunk of store credit on it and was waiting for the Spider-Man PS4 Pro bundle to come out.

Unfortunately, my wallet was stolen with the card in it. I called up their customer service who advised me to freeze the card so the thief couldn't use it, and that they would mail me a replacement. A few weeks later I still hadn't got my card so I called them up again and this time they said I would actually have to go to the store to make the replacement, they didn't mail cards. Whatever the store wasn't too far so I went.

When I went to pick up the replacement card, the clerk couldn't access my account because it was frozen. So I called up customer service and explained what had happened. After they talked to the clerk they unfroze the account and gave me a new card.

I used that card 3 times after getting it back, and each time it was magically frozen again. The first time the clerk had forgotten to actually unfreeze it on my end. The second time they had some kind of data wipe and my card reverted to being frozen. The third time I don't even know. Each time I had to call gamestop CS and get it unfrozen.

I haven't bought a single thing from gamestop since I used my trade credit up.

 

[Lobster Roll]

I don't have any horror stories, but I stopped going because the salespeople are way way too pushy and I just want to go in and buy a game.

I get it, too. It's something that's a requirement of the job. I also get the appeal of the little membership thing people sign up for as well. But look, nobody wants to be sold to constantly. Have brochures to hand out or little cards that have links on them. There should be an option where as a consumer I can say "yeah no thanks, but do you have a pamphlet I can take with me?" and be D O N E with the situation.

 

[Cabal]

I worked there for several years. Worst experience was when my dickhead boss went into the back room and left me in the front with some dude who wouldn't stop hitting on me, touching me, and wouldn't take no for an answer. He watched the situation on the monitor and laughed because he thought it was funny.

Click to shrink...

Jesus. That's awful. I think you may 'win'

Fortunately(?) my experiences with Gamestop have mostly been fine, but one time I went to a store I don't normally go to in order to pick up a rare copy of the PS2 game Kuon. The guy at the counter would not ring me up until I preordered the new Ghost Recon game for 360.

After about 10 minutes of back and forth, I game him the 5 extra dollars so I could leave and I came back later when he wasn't there to refund it. That's really the only asshole I've dealt with there, but the whole asking for warranties and membership thing doesn't really bother me either.

Also, this many years later, I wonder, why Ghost Recon? I was buying Kuon which is about as close to Ghost Recon as Barbie Horse Adventures but whatever.

 

[inner-G]

I "luckily" noticed a 60GB PS3 in stock at a store about 30 miles away last weekend. I drove down and got it, excited to have a 60GB PS3 again after mine d years ago.

Brought it home, upgraded to a 500GB SSD, spent forever downloading and installing a bunch of stuff at PS3 speed. The next day I went to launch Persona 4 and... it crashed. 3 beeps and the red light. F

 

[Kace]

I went to pick up monster hunter for the 3ds the week it dropped and the girl at checkout kept trying to push the guidebook on me for only 20 dollars more ! and I kept polietly brushing her off but she just would not take any of the hints till finally I looked her in the eye and said

"why would anyone in their right mind spend money to get something they can look up online for free?"

Her- "oh there's no way the guide book is online the game just came out this week lol" \

Me- pulls out phone and one quick google search later shows her the site with the entire guide cover and all.

Her- 0.0 "so just the game then? "

Either that one or having the manager lie to my face that they only had Smash Ulitmate used after watching another employee open a box filled with new unopened Smash Ultimates and when I pointed that out to him he lied again saying I saw wrong. Ended up having to hang around till he went into the back and got an employee who had just came in to get me what I wanted.
Then of course I waited till he came out the back room told him what happend and asked for coprated number, the only salvation to that fiasco was watching his face as I reported him right there in the store.

 

[Vilix]

I worked there for several years. Worst experience was when my dickhead boss went into the back room and left me in the front with some dude who wouldn't stop hitting on me, touching me, and wouldn't take no for an answer. He watched the situation on the monitor and laughed because he thought it was funny.

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OMG! That's so awful. Was there someone at the company you could talk to?

 

[Pirate Bae]

Jesus. That's awful. I think you may 'win'

Fortunately(?) my experiences with Gamestop have mostly been fine, but one time I went to a store I don't normally go to in order to pick up a rare copy of the PS2 game Kuon. The guy at the counter would not ring me up until I preordered the new Ghost Recon game for 360.

After about 10 minutes of back and forth, I game him the 5 extra dollars so I could leave and I came back later when he wasn't there to refund it. That's really the only asshole I've dealt with there, but the whole asking for warranties and membership thing doesn't really bother me either.

Also, this many years later, I wonder, why Ghost Recon? I was buying Kuon which is about as close to Ghost Recon as Barbie Horse Adventures but whatever.

Click to shrink...

Corporate often pushes stores to get as many preorders as possible for big upcoming releases like Ghost Recon. The more pre-orders a store gets, the more extra copies they will receive to sell to people who didn't preorder. They also consider it like a contest and the store with the most preorders in a region will often win some kind of prize. For example, I pretty much got a copy of the ME3 collector's edition for free because I sold the fuck out of that game.

That's why.

 

[Pirate Bae]

OMG! That's so awful. Was there someone at the company you could talk to?

Click to shrink...

My boyfriend at the time worked at the store down the street and I told him about it, but our regional manager didn't give a fuck about anything other than performance and my boss had been with the company for so long that I knew I would get fired if I said something.

 

[Mozendo]

I once went into a gamestop to buy some steam cards, I was in the store for 30 minutes since the two employees were just ignoring me.
Since then I've only went back to buy the scott pilgrim game once it got delisted

 

[Cabal]

Corporate often pushes stores to get as many preorders as possible for big upcoming releases like Ghost Recon. The more pre-orders a store gets, the more extra copies they will receive to sell to people who didn't preorder. They also consider it like a contest and the store with the most preorders in a region will often win some kind of prize. For example, I pretty much got a copy of the ME3 collector's edition for free because I sold the fuck out of that game.

That's why.

Click to shrink...

That makes sense. I wonder how many people he hijacked into preordering? I would have left but it was the only store within 100 miles that had the game and they were way cheaper than eBay.

I just feel bad that that guy scummed his way into a pizza party or some bs when he honestly should have been reprimanded. At the same time, I didn't complain to corporate when I should have so I didn't really stop it either...

 

[DrKelpo]

I think the first game I ever purchased from Gamestop was Stalker SoC.
It was also the first time I ever bought a new game at a store and had to wait for them to get the disc and put it in the already opened case.

The price sticker on the case which was super tough to remove was just the icing on the cake.

I hated this practice back then and still hate it today. Gamestop is pretty much a total no-go for me because of it.

 

[pauljeremiah]

I was buying Smash Bros Melee on Gamecube (2nd hand) but they had run out of Gamecube cases so they put it in a PS2 case and when I refused I was told: "but it's the same thing, what's the problem?" I stood my ground and eventually they gave me a Gamecube box for it.

 

[ConfusedOwl]

I don't go to Gamestop often anymore (EB games in Canada) but when I do I've never had any issues as far as I can remember. There was one time when they wanted me to pay them to trade in a game because it was scratched which I thought was funny.

 

[mreddie]

I didn't hit my quota after working a year there and got my time replaced by a pothead. Mainly it was me getting swindled from bringing in my PS3 games I spent full price when they came out and getting 30 dollars in return.

 

[poofynamanama2]

Absolutely none. My gamestop rocks. Employees are chill and don't push every little thing to you.

 

[linkboy]

Back in the PS2 days, I lived about 80 miles from a Gamestop (Reno, NV).

I saw on their website that they had a copy of Suikoden II (one of my favorite games) used in. I called the store to verify and sure enough, they did. I told them I was driving 80 miles to pick it up and I'd be there in about an hour. The associate was awesome, said he'd hold it for me and that it'll be there when I arrive.

However, when I got there, I was told that the store manager had come in on his day off, saw the game, and rang it out for himself. Pissed me off since I wasted the gas to drive to the store.

I ended up finally getting a copy when one got traded in at the Play in Trade in Great Falls, MT. I got to know the owners and staff there and they held it for me as I was out of town due to my job in the Air Force.

 

[Asbsand]

A clerk hard-selled me on the GameStop+ silver membership because I bought a used game copy, and I just succumbed to it. What's worse is that I never got any benefits out of the card because their prices are so aggressive, running their own failing ecosystem to compete with the game publishers as competitors.

Now they are closing all shops here in Denmark and they don't even have a closing sale, games are still stock priced.

What a thoroughly unpleasant store. As a consumer I feel very mistreated.

 

[Hyperfludd]

Last month, I wanted to pick up an exclusive collectable that I had preordered online and had it sent to the store (their shipping prices are bad). Went in the store, everything going so smooth until near the end where I declined when the dude asked me if I wanted to join the power up club or whatever it's called. Note that I already said that I declined btw! Another employee, who I think was the manager or someone in a higher position at least clicked her tongue and went towards the register and suddenly started asking me a bunch of questions regarding how I buy games and stuff. Another guy joined in asking if I buy digital and if I did it'd still be cool, etc etc.

They were essentially ganging up on me even though I already said no, I didn't want the dang program. :\ It doesn't matter what my game purchasing habits are, if I said no already you drop it - I'm not interested. I'm never going to that store again because man that was not fun.

 

[Vivian-Pogo]

I've never really had a bad experience in the stores. The website sucks though and buying used games through it is a lottery.

 

[OldDirtyGamer]

They never seemed to have games on launch day when I used to go there and they would say all they had was the copies that were preordered . I was like okay I'll just go to the best buy that's literally a 2 minutes walk next door . Sometimes they'd then have a copy that was cancelled preorder .

Really the most terrible experience is how they pressure you on selling you crap you dont want . Sometimes they are relentless . I know they have to do it , but that's the reason I dont go to gamestop's at all anymore . I think the last time I went there was when I got a TE stick for x360 , years back . I dont plan on ever going back .

 

[Reed Rothchild]

Bought Dark Alliance II. Eventually found out they had put the disc for the original Dark Alliance in there. The girl who sold it to me angrily told me it was my fault for not checking the disc.

One of the only times in my entire life where a conversation with a retail worker got heated. Possibly the only time.

 

[lightning16]

I went to pick up my preordered copy of Pokemon Moon. I went in to pick it up and they say I cancelled my preorder (I never did). I asked for my $5 deposit back and the guy said it was cancelled so it was already given back at some point so he couldn't do it again. I was pissed off at this point and didn't want to make a scene over $5 (would've been completely justified, though) so I just left, but I've never been back to a Gamestop since.

 

[Mbolibombo]

Dont have one, I've always been treated with respect and decency by Gamestop. Maybe I was just lucky by the ones in my town but I genuinely liked them.

Now that they are gone, I'm missing them.

 

[Deleted member 16365]

From last year, also one of the last times I went to a GameStop:

"You know we accept phone trade ins. You could get nearly $300 for that." - manager talking about the brand new Pixel 3 XL I just spent $900 on.

 

[MistahS]

I've never had a bad experience. I guess the only time I've had an "issue" was when I bought a used PS4 and I told them I wanted to exchange it for another one because the hard drive was faulty on the one they gave me. The audio would cut in and out on games and it wouldn't even completely install the Nathan Drake Collection and it wouldn't even let me rebuild the database.

And they just looked at me like I was crazy and gave me a new one. They took the faulty one and I heard one of the workers ask the manager if they should mark it as faulty and she said no so they probably sold that one to someone else without even bothering to check it.

 

[Matemático]

Since the Polygon article, I kinda miss the Gamestop story threads that popped up constantly on the other forum.

So what was your worst experience from Gamestop?
I have a few, before I decided to shop online (in Germany):

1.) Preordered the Wii in 2006, paid up front, but had to work till 17:00. Excited to get it after work, I drove there, showed my recipe and was told "You were not here in the morning. We sold it to someone else." while somehow other people, mostly older ones, could still get their Wii. (Now I think it was because they could sell them shovelware like Happy Feet and whatnot for that console) I was mad, told them I paid up front and they said "there is nothing we can do about it", so obviously I just wanted my money back. They wouldnt want to give it back (which I was wondering if clerks did not get legal training regarding customer rights) until I threatened to call the cops.

2.) This is just anecdotal "evidence" from a friend who worked there shortly, but he told me they had a system where they just "borrow" the games. Since they always put the DVDs in a paper slip, they said no one will notice, if they just take a game home over the weekend, play through it and then return it "as new". Obviously this was not allowed, but I was told even the manager did it, so no one cared.

The other stuff I encountered was just the typical sales talk of everything else besides games. "Do you want the guide for Red Steel?" or "Do you want scratch warranty" as well as one time I got a "new" DVD that was scratched that I did not want.

Click to shrink...

About your Wii: Here, in Brazil, they would need to pay you, at least, the double that youd paid.

 

[Holundrian]

No specific horror stories just the service in general is shoddy, annoying and the prices are shit. It's basically how does this chain even still exist kind of stuff.

And this is anecdotally my experience from stores in 3 different places. It's like do they have a policy of hiring rude idiots? Or is it in the company manifesto to treat customers like utter shit while being insanely blatant about trying to rip them off?

 

[Cabal]

Bought Dark Alliance II. Eventually found out they had put the disc for the original Dark Alliance in there. The girl who sold it to me angrily told me it was my fault for not checking the disc.

One of the only times in my entire life where a conversation with a retail worker got heated. Possibly the only time.

Click to shrink...

I actually had this happen to me once as well with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on PS3 but the cashier was super apologetic about it and honestly felt bad. Your fault for not checking the disc? Uh fuck that, that's specifically their responsibility. I would have been mad had I got anything but an apology & exchange.

 

[Deleted member 9241]

I had a salesperson try and sell me their last copy of a game, which was unboxed in a paper sleeve, at full price. We got in a battle if semantics and she flippped her shit when I refused to buy it. She kept pushing me and trying to escalate and I just wanted to leave. It was super awkward. I think she had issues. This was over 15yrs ago.

The game was the original Katamari Damaci for PS2.

 

[Mr_Blue_Sky]

One time around the launch of Yakuza 0 I went in to pick up my preorder and when I was checking out a donation advert for donating to homeless veterans or something popped up on the credit card scanner for like .5 of a second so I asked the guy behind the counter what that was about. He told me it was just some optional thing and not to worry about it but I let him know I'd be fine with donating so it'd be cool if he brought it back up. This dude then launched into this unhinged rant for 5-10 minutes about how it was complete bullshit for people to be donating to veterans, how they should have money/job training already, like just insanity. Halfway through the dudes rant I glanced over at the only other gamestop employee in an effort to maybe have someone save me from the hellscape I was trapped in but he just had a 1000 yard stare on, looked completely dead inside so I'm guessing this rant was a common thing. Managed to get my shit and leave before round 2 started up. Never went into that store again.

 

[Suedemaker]

I may have actually created one person's "Worst Experience" when I worked at a Gamestop back in the day. One of the managers at the time wasn't going to be able to get a lunch break because it was just me and him in the store. I was seasonal and the GM didn't want me running the register (I did when he wasn't there anyway and no one else cared) so he couldn't leave me with the store alone. So...he gave me a $5 and had me go get him a sandwich from Subway. I didn't mind since the store was slow and boring and I didn't dislike this dude. So, I went to Subway and got him what he asked for..."Sub of the day, with mayo."

It was a meatball sub.

If you're out there man....I'm sorry. There's no way that sandwich was any good 😂

 

[Deleted member 41651]

I worked at a Babbages which became a Gamestop during my time working there which counts pretty much. Anyway, my friend's sister (we were all in high school) needed a job so she applied and was hired immediately.

It turned out, my manager who was like 25 or so only hired her so he could ogle her bending over for stuff, stocking the floor, brushing up against her behind the counter cuz it was close quarters etc. Then he'd go on and on when she wasn't there, getting pretty graphic. One day at lunch I went on autopilot or something and told her brother about the situation then he spoke to her about it, then she confronted my manager and quit. It became a hostile workplace after that with my hours getting cut, rude remarks and quips but being discreet enough so I'd feel I couldn't go to anybody higher up to say what happened, including the fact she wasn't 18 either. I'm sure I could have but I was only 17 and way out of my depth so I quit.

 

[Matemático]

Last month, I wanted to pick up an exclusive collectable that I had preordered online and had it sent to the store (their shipping prices are bad). Went in the store, everything going so smooth until near the end where I declined when the dude asked me if I wanted to join the power up club or whatever it's called. Note that I already said that I declined btw! Another employee, who I think was the manager or someone in a higher position at least clicked her tongue and went towards the register and suddenly started asking me a bunch of questions regarding how I buy games and stuff. Another guy joined in asking if I buy digital and if I did it'd still be cool, etc etc.

They were essentially ganging up on me even though I already said no, I didn't want the dang program. :\ It doesn't matter what my game purchasing habits are, if I said no already you drop it - I'm not interested. I'm never going to that store again because man that was not fun.

Click to shrink...

All that they would need to do was to give you a 5% coupon, and invite you to come back.

It's not that hard.

 

[Ryan.]

I've been very fortunate with the experiences at my local gamestop. Outside of the typical questions when checking out, but not pushy, they're pretty cool to the customers and happy to help. I think it helps it's a small college town so while we may not know each other personally, we know of each other in some way because it's not hard to see people around campus or town. It's also the only Gamestop within at least an hour radius so there's not much competition outside of Walmart.

 

[JigglesBunny]

I worked there.

 

[Deleted member 4970]

I had an associate accuse me of trying to trade in a stolen Switch once

I'll quote myself from a thread I made. I was trading my regular Switch for a Switch Lite

The associate I dealt with was training and when I gave him my Switch box, he literally said "We can't take this. Do you have a receipt?" I asked him what does he mean and he was straight up insinuating I had a stolen new Switch because I had it all wrapped in the original plastics. His coworker rushed over and told him I just kept the packaging and I also pointed out the screen protector I had on it and that it wouldn't be new with a screen protector on it. THENNNNN he tried to get the protector off with his fingernail and had to be told no, stop because the trade wasn't finalized yet and he might damage it.

Alright, trade can commence! Then they got to talking about a "<dumb or something> guy" who would be calling angry since they (the employees) had not accepted something. I asked if it was about a reservation and no response. Then I asked again and said I had reserved a Switch online this morning since it gave the option and I figured I'd shoot my shot! The coworker to the guy handling my trade said yup it was about my reservation and explained that they can't hold things on release day. I said oh ok cool and explained that I did it since it gave me the option and was unaware! It wasn't awkward or tense, but kinda funny!

Trade done, yay but not before the new associate grilled me about why I would want the Lite if it can't do YouTube on "the big screen" and I said I'm mainly a PC gamer so no big deal (he still couldn't get it why I'd want a Lite)

There were other weird exchanges that I won't mention but yeah, I knew something funky would happen lol

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