How To Shop at Gamestop in 28 Easy Steps!
I'm personally guilty of complaining about the service at GameStop. I love the people there, don't get me wrong. It's fun to be able to joke about things like Halo 3 branded tampons and pre-ordering the next version of Barbie Horse Adventures so I can have a copy on launch day. Even with my good relationship with those cats, there is always that one straggler that is desperate for sales and pesters me to sign up for all sorts of crazy things. Understandably this is company policy and honestly, they should do it if they want to keep their jobs.
Now, we have a handy dandy guide to why those policies exist and how to work with them! An unnamed GameStop supervisor has compiled a lovely list of 28 things about their policies, such as why and how to deal with them. Okay, so it's kinda reeks of "please, bear with it", but there it is a good read, especially when it comes to things like finding out all those neat hidden policies. Like did you know you can swap out used games if you bring it back in 7 days or less? I didn't.
28 Confessions Of A GameStop Shift Supervisor [The Consumerist]
[via Kotaku]
Asterick
Posted to Video Games on 6 November 2007
· Comments (16)
Other stuff like this: gamestop, shopping, supervisor, why shopping sucks
Its about time...and its all freaking true. Really, not sure what else to say besides its worth a read. >_
Its worth a read. We as gamestop employees go through alot of shit that we don't even HAVE to do. Most of us live at home, with our parents, and are just trying to help people because we love video games. We don't HAVE to help you, we don't have to do anything, and we don't HAVE to have your particular business. If you want good customer service, be a good customer.
I've never understood why people get so angry about their 'opened new games' policy. It's not like they take screw drivers to all the games they open.
But, as to getting good customer service, it's pretty much a hit or miss thing here. I refuse to even go into several of the stores near me, because I'm constantly told things like: "You won't like that game, it's for boys. Maybe you should get Sims, that's a girl game." Ugh!
"I've never understood why people get so angry about their 'opened new games' policy. It's not like they take screw drivers to all the games they open."
The article mentions the main concern here are that employees are still able to check these games out. I mean, if someone else has played the game, it's not exactly "new." Nit picky, but still annoying to those that care.
The article is definitely a good read and a pretty unique perspective. Sadly, I bet the company tries to find the guy that wrote this just to fire him. I've shared experiences similar Ezri's when picking up Zack and Wiki recently ("That game looks so teh gehy") and vowed not to shop there again. Sorry the-only-nice-dude-at-that-gamestop, your jackass coworkers cost you a customer that buys up to six games a week.
I have no problem with the "open new game" policy. It has only ever bothered me once when the guy that did the display box did it with a box cutter and sliced up the plastic on accident, so the cover marred.
Now has anybody out there played Barbie's Horse Adventures besides me? That game gets thrown around here a bunch, but I'm sending out the call. I got to the beach levels, which I think was the beginning of the last world. How far did you get?
Thanks Asterick for pointing out this list. GameStop is a mess of a store, but at least it's one of the last relics of the brick-and-mortar game peddlers.
"We don't HAVE to help you, we don't have to do anything, and we don't HAVE to have your particular business. If you want good customer service, be a good customer."
This is the attitude about retail I cannot stand - no offense, but if I was met with that attitude, I'd be heading right off to Best Buy or FYE or any other store that sells games. You actually DO have to do "[some]thing." No one gets paid to do nothing, if they do they're lucky. It's called a job - don't act like you're doing people a favor, you're paying the bills just like anyone else. GameStop or otherwise, it's helpful to approach your customers like people rather than peons wasting your time. And yes, I've worked retail, in a large toy store actually.
We have a copy of Barbie Horse Adventures for sale on the site. :) People who want to help Toots out can get a copy.
http://www.dawdle.com/product.php/barbie-horse-adventures-wild-horse-rescue-playstation-2-020626720557-9a30d
OK, I'll stop astroturfing now.
@CerberusTheHitman
WOW! WOW!
"We don't HAVE to help you, we don't have to do anything, and we don't HAVE to have your particular business. If you want good customer service, be a good customer."
Really?! Really?! We are not a guest in your home ... we are a customer at the retail store you work at where you are paid to provide a service and goods. You are at work, supposedly to do your job which IS to HELP the customer.
You might want to re-educate yourself on your company's Mission Statement:
Our GameStop, EB Games and Electronics Boutique retail locations set us apart in the industry. Everything that we offer our customers—from our expansive selection of new products, to our knowledgeable associates and our value-added pre-owned products—is geared to deliver customer satisfaction.
Together, we hold a passion for gaming, a commitment to our industry and a disciplined business perspective to continuously drive value with shareholders, customers, vendors and employees.
Your attitude along with this "supervisors" thought process that we need a guide to be a customer is one reason why I left the corporate office at Gamestop and hated dealing with stores that were not my own when I was a store manager.
The Gamestop/EB/Game Crazy/Play model of retail sucks plain and simple. It's broken and needs to be fixed.
and sorry to throw another "Gamestop bash" on the fire but this past Sunday went to a Gamestop looking for a "new sealed" copy of a game where the only one left was the gutted one (I passed on the purchase btw); I came across the Halo trinket/bobble collectors display and picked up one of the stickers. I proceeded over to the 3 employee ready register counter where one was helping a parent and child cash in what was seriously 20 gift cards for 1 game, while the other 2 watched, chatted and cheered on their friends in the store playing GH3 on the demo kiosks. I stood their behind "20 gift card father and child" for seriously 7 minutes until one of the mouth breathing Guitar spectators thought "hey, that guy has been staring at us for almost 10 minutes, maybe he needs something" ... paid my $3.24 and I guess as a little treat or maybe it was a gift for my viewing pleasure witnessed the assistant manager tell a customer who asked what all do I need to play Gamecube games on the Wii, he told him just a Gamecube controller. The customer even asked, "so I don’t need a memory card?” and the AM's response, "nope the Wii has internal memory, you don’t need an extra memory card." I ran out of the store in utter but not surprised disgust.
Asterick, you didn't know about the 7 day used return policy? Shame on the employees at the GameStop you shop at. At the GameStop where I work we use the 7 day return policy as a major selling point, and mention it to almost every customer. Especially when a customer is debating between 2 different games (usually something like NBA Live vs NBA 2k), I'll always suggest that they can get both now, try them both to see which one they prefer, and within 7 days return the one that they don't like. It's also how I'm able to convice people to buy amazing games that they wouldn't otherwise try like Psychonauts, Indigo Prophecy, Odin Sphere, Skies of Arcadia Legends, or Condemned as recent examples. Sometimes they come back and return it within the week, but most of the time the customer will return saying that they love the game and become a regular customer looking for recomendations. I recomended Disgaea to one guy who had never played an RPG before over a year ago, and now he loves RPGs and won't buy a single one until I've given it the OK. It's adorable.
Sure, there are people that will try to abuse the 7 day policy, but generally it's pretty easy to pick out people that are abusing it, and we'll tell them when they get the game that the system is not meant to be abused and write something on their reciept to indicate it to whoever is working at the store if they do try to return it.
As a former Gamestop employee, I can tell you, they're really not that bad in terms of pushy sales (of course, the company is very messed up, but in other ways). People always seem to complain about it, but seriously if Gamestop's selling tactics bother you I hope you don't ever go into a RadioShack. But seriously if being asked to preorder a game or sign up for a magazine subscription bothers you, you've got a problem. All you have to say is "no thanks" and that's it.
Radioshack: You've got questions, we've got vacant stares.
Haha, pretty much. Luckily my store has a manager that really knows a lot about just about everything in the store. But expecting the associates to be electronics experts on the pay we get is asking a bit much. Same as with Gamestop - if either company really found it important to offer the best in terms of knowledgeable staff, they'd do two things. First, they'd hire people with more general knowledge to begin with; and second, they'd reward their employees for their knowledge or willingness to learn by paying them more.
So basically, then, it's "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company."
is it just me or does it sound kinda silly that someone needs to make a list on how to shop at a certain store... it shouldn't be a chore or a quiz when it comes to shopping and spending your hard money at any retail store
Gabe at Penny Arcade had a few pretty awesome comments about this article: http://www.penny-arcade.com/2007/11/07