Sitting around the Xbox telling horror stories of trips to GameStop is a regular experience for the MTV.com Video Games team in my four-person office. As is the tradition amongst gamers throughout the world (they have stores in sixteen countries), complaining about the nation's most prevalent gaming retailer is almost guaranteed given the chain's tendency for sub par service by "know-it-all" fanboys.
I too have had many stories to tell, the worst of which happened on a recent trip to purchase "Beautiful Katamari," but instead of a story of frustration and defeat my story is one of triumph, and satisfaction. Sadly that is not the norm with this store, but hopefully we can make a difference by showing you how to turn a GameStop negative into a positive worth $25.
Very rarely do I run out and buy games the day they are released. But, being the "Katamari" fan that I am, when the opportunity to roll up cities in HD hit the market I figured I would brave the standard Tuesday game store traffic and get the game. I live in a part of Queens where there are two GameStops within three blocks of each other. After calling both stores, it turned out that the store furthest from my apartment had a copy left. So, I left work at 6 P.M. and headed straight there.
The "Incident"
About a half hour later I arrived at the store, games to trade in hand. I got in line, making me the only customer waiting in line for the only open register. Two ladies ahead of me were trading in games and purchasing a stack of used PSP games. They were looking for advice on what game to buy with the remainder of their credit. The cashier suggested the amazing "Castlevania" remake, or perhaps a preorder for the March 2008 "God of War: Chains of Olympus." But the ladies were fans of "The Sims," and they wanted to know when the next "Sims" game was coming out for the PSP. After checking the release list, the cashier told them that "The Sims Castaway" was the next Sims release for the PSP, and upon hearing this, a conversation ensued between the ladies and the cashier about how "Castaway" was a bit different from the other "Sims" games. A line was now forming. The ladies decided not to purchase anything, and put the remainder on a card. I breathed a sigh of relief, and I started to remove my trade-ins from my bag.
It was at this point that the man behind me saw that I was trading in some PS3 titles, and, as has happened to me before, offered to buy them off of me for a few dollars more than I would receive for credit. Not wanting to be rude, I told him I wanted to see what I can get for them, and maybe we could work something out. The ladies in front of me were finishing up and about to leave. The man behind me said something to cashier about used copies of "Madden '06" and another used PS2 title behind the counter being the only games he was going to get, and then proceeded to go ahead of me in line. Without any explanation the cashier began to process this man's transaction, as I stood in line dumbfounded. The man had told me that he was buying the games for his cousin because they were cheap. I really didn’t care. At this point I had already been in the store for about ten minutes, and I was starting to get a tiny bit annoyed.
Once the man's transaction was completed it was my turn in line (which was now about six people deep). The friendly man who offered to purchase my PS3 title stood right next to me as the cashier scanned in the game to see the trade-in value. After seeing the trade-in value, I politely declined my new friend's offer and sent him on his way, knowing that I needed that game to take full advantage of the multi-game trade-in deal that would net me an extra $10 in credit.
I traded in four games, which appears to be normally (from what I can tell) a three-step process: scan the barcode, check the disc, enter it into the transaction. This procedure should have taken about one minute to complete but was dragging on as the cashier was doing his best impression of being stuck in molasses. Trading in the four games took somewhere between five to eight minutes. At that point I was finally able to tell the cashier what I would like to spend my credit on, and this is where it took a turn for the worse.
After stating that I wanted a copy of "Beautiful Katamari" the cashier then told me he didn’t know what game I was talking about. I believe I said "Beautiful Katamari" and Xbox 360 about five times, before he decided to ask his manager about the game. The manager was five feet away and on the phone. Unfortunately the cashier's attempts to get his attention, by waving his hand slightly, took a solid two minutes. It turns out that the last copy of the game was in the back, so I found myself waiting again. I finally laid my eyes on the glorious green box that housed my game, which, of course, meant it was time to try to get me to preorder something else.
I don’t preorder games. It’s a level of preparedness that I have never reached, but I was told that I could get an extra 20% on my trade-ins if I threw some money down for "Super Mario Galaxy." Sensing that this may be a demonstration of employees not knowing their own deals GameStop I said sure, hoping to stretch my dollar a little further. While the cashier and the manager tried to figure out how to pass along the promotion, I glanced at my phone and saw that 15 minutes or so had now passed since this transaction started (not counting my time in line). Turns out I couldn’t actually get the 20%, since I couldn't double up on promotions, which was fine, I just wanted to get out of there. Which I finally did.
Hope for Salvation
This deplorable customer service bothered me so much that on my walk home I stopped by the other GameStop and asked if they had a number I could call for customer complaints. They asked what my problem was. After filling them in on, they surprisingly knew exactly which cashier I had dealt with. However, they were helpful enough to give me a link to TellGameStop.com, which is a GameStop's customer service website.My schedule, laziness, and of course "Beautiful Katamari" kept me from checking out TellGameStop.com for a week or two after the incident, but I finally did get around to it. After filling out a short form, and recounting the story above (in less detail) I made sure to check the box that said it was okay for the district manager to contact me. Lo and behold, two days later he did.
The Payoff
After again recounting the above experience with the GameStop District Manager, and chatting a bit about how he spent the prior day in that store working on customer service and helping out the staff. He also mentioned that they are planning to staff up the store for the impending holiday rush, so far as to introduce Wal-Martesque greeters at the doors. He then promised to compensate me with a $25 gift certificate. That's almost enough for half of a game.
It's not worth complaining about the amount of the compensation, but, more to focus on the fact that something did actually come from it. I generally stick to complaining about things like this to myself, and my coworkers, but this time it was just too much. Perhaps if enough people complain about their bad experience or incompetent employees it might invoke some change. At the very least, you might get a little more money to spend at the store.
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