I've almost been through more Fallout Collector's Editions than Xbox 360s O_O

[jupitersj]

Yup! That's right :puppydogeyes:

My first one had a shattered case inside...even though it also damaged the artwork they just went in the back and grabbed a new Xbox 360 game case and did a swap. They would not give me a new game(the regular fallout 3 game is inside the fallout 3 ce tin and does not differentiate). Also the slip cover had some indent like a hammer hit it which you could see through the inside of the tin >.>

So I finally get back home for the second time frustrated and now find that when they threw my ce into the bag they split open one side of the slip cover over the lunch box AND that the extra's dvd was all scratched up. I call up AGAIN and they give me crap about not wanting to return it because the last copies are probably pre-orders(SO is mine! I don't deserve a non shit copy though!?).

I finally get them to break and do a full CE swap and the new one I open in the car and has a completely melted and shattered tin slip cover :onfire: Furious I just go to the other gamestop in the same mall and ask them to please exchange it and the guy tells me I'm beat because "people just throw away that stuff and it isn't an excuse"> He just stared at me blankly when I mentioned after spending $85 I don't want a damaged/falling apart/scratched/shattered CE. I collect games as well as play them and why should I have to deal with subpar BS when spending $85 on brand new stuff! I expect to deal with this garbage on Ebay not here!

So for now my only recourse was to go back to the original gamestop and swap the slip for my old one and hopefully hotglue the one side from the inside without it being noticable. This is friggin rediculous :(:(:(:(

I did ship to store for Little Big Planet and Fallout III because for once this generation i was excited enough to not want to wait like I usually do and now I remember why i stay out of retail EB/GS. I realise there aren't many CE's but you'd think they would not go in the back and throw in the most damaged out of them 2-3 times into my bag or refuse an exchange in the first place so adamantly.

:bawling::bawling: Anyone else has troubles like this recently? I know the slip cover IS designed like trash(almost perforated on the sides) and the PC version is riddled with DRM and bugs...cmon Bethesda!

p.s. Sorry for ranting on and the formatting seems to be weird in 1680x1050 for some reason ...preview is so much different than the way i typed it.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

What?!

[walrusmonger]

So the 2nd one you got was ok except for the plastic slip cover? I'm super-anal about this type of stuff but that wouldn't really bother me enough to get angry over.

[jupitersj]

What?!

What ain't no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What?

:drinking: :dance: :cheers: :evil laugh:


So the 2nd one you got was ok except for the plastic slip cover? I'm super-anal about this type of stuff but that wouldn't really bother me enough to get angry over.

Yeah..unfortunately with a collection my size and being one of those people that does it through hard work, deals and occasionally being at the right place at the right time with my small income I just can't justify inferiority in a product I'm buying not only as a gamer but for my personal collection when I'm spending $85 on it NEW....not 15 years later when I missed something and it's going for 200+ and I can justify less than mint still for said price(ala PDS).

Hope this clears things up...I was just ranting. I stopped really shopping in stores like Gamestop/EB 1-2 years back(pre-order bonuses always missing, giving away my pre-orders and offering display copy at full price, stickers on the artwork now). This isn't really the same but it'll justify me going back to online shopping and local non corporate >.> Condition of my collection means a lot to me(i'm even pining over poly/propl bagging my entire 1000+ disc based collection).

I'm one of those weird gamers that usually collects during the consoles lifespan heavily but through deals and sales and trading to achieve it without breaking the bank...for example i'm a few games off of having the entire ps2 rpg US release(would but I got into a collecting rut awhile back and stopped). There are so few current gen games i'm interested in plunking cash down for and this just bummed me out is all.

Thanks for replying =)

[backguard]

if they keep giving you crap ask for the district managers contact info. the dm will help you out.

QUESTION though - how available are the CE's? I'm thinking about grabbing one.

[carlcarlson]

That sucks man, I wouldn't stand for it either. I'm super anal about stuff like that, and if I paid for a new copy I want that sucker to be mint.

[s1lence]

The CE's are everywhere, meaning I see as many of them as I see of the regular copies.


The Amazon Survival Editions....not so much.

As for Jupiter, I understand being anal about collections, but some of what you put is a bit extreme imo especially for a slip cover. I can understand though......

[jupitersj]

The slipcover isn't just clear; it has the game info and artwork adorned on it as well as system logo's. It's basically a plastic game artwork sleeve just for the box.

It isn't like it's some little tear, and entire side is ripped almost all the way down and cracked in a corner...it isn't going stay on much longer without having to ghetto repair it; that's unacceptable to me for a readily available expensive "collector" item....sorry but it's just the way I see it.

[mailman187666]

The slipcover isn't just clear; it has the game info and artwork adorned on it as well as system logo's. It's basically a plastic game artwork sleeve just for the box.

It isn't like it's some little tear, and entire side is ripped almost all the way down and cracked in a corner...it isn't going stay on much longer without having to ghetto repair it; that's unacceptable to me for a readily available expensive "collector" item....sorry but it's just the way I see it.

I agree that if it is going to be a collector's edition that collectors are going to be buying it and should be in good condition. If it was a minor defect or something along those lines, I wouldn't have cared as much but the problems I've seen listed here seem to be legitimate reasons to return it to the store as long as you are nice about it and understand it was probably a shipping mistake and not really gamestop being like "ha ha ha, lets piss this guy off" although gamestop sometimes seems like they want to piss people off purposely.

[The 1 2 P]

although gamestop sometimes seems like they want to piss people off purposely.

Well what do you expect from a corporate company that knows very little about games? I gave up on having faith in Gamestop after the dude at the counter told me I couldn't hook up my xbox to xbox live because I had a laptop instead of a desk top*_* And then there were all those times where they tried(very unsuccessfully) to get me to buy the last copy, because although it was open--it was still "new".

Back on topic, keep at it until they do a fair exchange. I agree with you 800% that an $85 game should not be in anything less than flawless condition because thats one thing I really get pissed about.

[davidbrit2]

Did you pay with a credit card? Just tell the store you want a non-damaged copy, or a refund, or you'll call your credit card company and dispute the charges.

[nate1749]

If you ever wonder what people are talking about when they say they hate working in retail, customers like you are the reason (no offense).

I understand what you're saying, but you have to realize people only have so much mojo each day and you just sucked it out of the guy's working at gamestop that day.

Nate

[The 1 2 P]

If you ever wonder what people are talking about when they say they hate working in retail, customers like you are the reason (no offense).

I understand what you're saying, but you have to realize people only have so much mojo each day and you just sucked it out of the guy's working at gamestop that day.

Nate

If they didn't use that mojo to constantly try to shove preorders(of which this is one) and trade ins down our throats they probably wouldn't have such a rough day. I use to work in retail too(sadly) but in this case you have a store full of employees who have to(it's their job) push this stuff at the customer every chance they get. So if you succeed in getting a customer to put down $85 for ONE game then you should be completely understanding if they are less than impressed because of various blemishes.

When I use to work retail I could never understand why some customers would refuse to take certain bills as change because(in their own words) the bills looked worn or used. My philosophy is: if you are going to eventually spend this money(and they were) then you should not bitch about it unless it has something sticky or wet on it. To relate this to the story at hand, this dude is obviously keeping this game to play and that gives him the right to have a nice copy. Especially since he paid $85 for it.

[videogameking26]

Bought my reserved CE at EB Games, open it up and everything was prefect with no problems with artbook, making of DVD, Lunchbox, Bubblehead and game...all was in mint condition..sorry to hear about your luck and wish you the best on a new one again.

[alxbly]

If you ever wonder what people are talking about when they say they hate working in retail, customers like you are the reason (no offense).

I understand what you're saying, but you have to realize people only have so much mojo each day and you just sucked it out of the guy's working at gamestop that day.

Nate

Whether the staff have had a good or bad day shouldn't matter; if the customer is buying a new product then they deserve to get a product in new and undamaged condition. If the store can't offer that, the customer should get a refund.

There's basic standards people should be able to expect from stores and the staff having a good or bad day doesn't change that. Try applying that logic to other jobs...

"I'm sorry we botched this operation but the doctor and nurses were having a bad day".

[zektor]

Troubles like that "recently"? No. I had troubles like that with them a few years ago. I have not set foot in a Gamestop for a few years now, and all is good!

Oh, and I work in retail. I have for ten years and am a store manager. Yes, I realize the pain of complaining customers, and I still think how most Gamestops run their business is just wrong. Just give the guy another copy or a refund and be done with it. I personally can NEVER let a customer leave disgruntled. I would most certainly hear about it later (in the form of a customer complaint) from the DM or Regional. And you know what they would say to me? Why are they getting bothered and why did I let a customer leave upset over $XX?

[Slate]

I go to the other gamestop in the same mall and ask them to please exchange it and the guy tells me I'm beat because "people just throw away that stuff and it isn't an excuse"> He just stared at me blankly when I mentioned after spending $85 I don't want a damaged/falling apart/scratched/shattered CE.

O_O

.......................
.......................
.......................
.......................

I zoned out, Could you repeat that and did you ask which planet, dimension and time he is from?

[nate1749]

I can see it both ways, sure it would be nice for them to have a whatever type of attitude, but on the other hand I don't think it should be a requirement for them to accommodate some anal (his words) collector customer. I mean that's not exactly the demographic they're going after. They want problem free easy transactions of people who come in and buy the games to play them and have fun and come back and buy another. Not one who rarely purchases games and when they do they complain because a 25 cent plastic sleeve wasn't in mint condition. The easiest way to think of it is if every customer was like this - they'd shut the doors.

I run a glass business and I deal with customers just like this and it's the best to refuse them business. I used to be all about pleasing every customer, but then I realized what for - I come home feeling drained and when I'd see their name come up on the caller id it was like seeing blue & red lights behind you while you're driving - except worse since the $85 ticket was gone with just $85, the annoying customer was like the whiny complainy never satisfied with anything wife I never married (and couldn't divorce!!).

It was like no matter what I did for them wasn't good enough (even at times giving them the piece for free that was worth hundreds of dollars - yet they still had issues?). I realized these people are just, no matter what the circumstances, huge pains in the asses (not saying this is the OP, but sounds somewhat like it). They were never happy, they always had issues, and a lot of times (in my instances) they didn't even know what they were talking about or asking for.

I also noticed these customers didn't spend much yearly so why was I wasting my energy on low revenue customers? Here I'd have one customer who would spend 5-10K a year and would take up SOOOO much of my time, plus I'd feel drained. Then I have another customer who spends 6x that a year and never complains about anything, in fact, they're grateful and nice. So now I say sorry you're too high maintenance and refuse them business. Best decision I ever made in business was refusing business - ironic.

Plus now I have more time to go get new low maintenance customers (and I have!). So in the end dropping the bad ones has made me more money.

Oh and I run a wholesale company that's why the #s are high (selling to stores - never retail myself!!!).

So if I was that GS manager, I would have taken the game back, given the $ back and sorry we can't provide you the service you need maybe target or walmart will - see you later, and then I'd go spend some time with the local kids who come in all the time and yap it up with them.

In the end it's a better business decision and you save your mojo! Pleasing every customer is not only unrealistic, it's inefficient. Kind of like how they say cops spend 90% of their time on 10% of the population, in business you need to just eliminate that 10% then you'll have 90% more time for your good customers (or new ones). Okay so the %'s aren't scientific, but you get the idea (plus you're not feeling drained - I can't emphasis how important that is!)

Nate

[nik]

I can see it both ways, sure it would be nice for them to have a whatever type of attitude, but on the other hand I don't think it should be a requirement for them to accommodate some anal (his words) collector customer. I mean that's not exactly the demographic they're going after. They want problem free easy transactions of people who come in and buy the games to play them and have fun and come back and buy another. Not one who rarely purchases games and when they do they complain because a 25 cent plastic sleeve wasn't in mint condition. The easiest way to think of it is if every customer was like this - they'd shut the doors.

I run a glass business and I deal with customers just like this and it's the best to refuse them business. I used to be all about pleasing every customer, but then I realized what for - I come home feeling drained and when I'd see their name come up on the caller id it was like seeing blue & red lights behind you while you're driving - except worse since the $85 ticket was gone with just $85, the annoying customer was like the whiny complainy never satisfied with anything wife I never married (and couldn't divorce!!).

It was like no matter what I did for them wasn't good enough (even at times giving them the piece for free that was worth hundreds of dollars - yet they still had issues?). I realized these people are just, no matter what the circumstances, huge pains in the asses (not saying this is the OP, but sounds somewhat like it). They were never happy, they always had issues, and a lot of times (in my instances) they didn't even know what they were talking about or asking for.

I also noticed these customers didn't spend much yearly so why was I wasting my energy on low revenue customers? Here I'd have one customer who would spend 5-10K a year and would take up SOOOO much of my time, plus I'd feel drained. Then I have another customer who spends 6x that a year and never complains about anything, in fact, they're grateful and nice. So now I say sorry you're too high maintenance and refuse them business. Best decision I ever made in business was refusing business - ironic.

Plus now I have more time to go get new low maintenance customers (and I have!). So in the end dropping the bad ones has made me more money.

Oh and I run a wholesale company that's why the #s are high (selling to stores - never retail myself!!!).

So if I was that GS manager, I would have taken the game back, given the $ back and sorry we can't provide you the service you need maybe target or walmart will - see you later, and then I'd go spend some time with the local kids who come in all the time and yap it up with them.

In the end it's a better business decision and you save your mojo! Pleasing every customer is not only unrealistic, it's inefficient. Kind of like how they say cops spend 90% of their time on 10% of the population, in business you need to just eliminate that 10% then you'll have 90% more time for your good customers (or new ones). Okay so the %'s aren't scientific, but you get the idea (plus you're not feeling drained - I can't emphasis how important that is!)

Nate

Just curious how long you've been running this store? I've been in management quite a bit.. my store is over 220,000 square feet however, and that logic wouldn't fly for me with my experience, so I strongly disagree.

Big chains like GS don't need to bother refusing a customer like that, because claims make up for their loss, not to mention the volume that game is doing over the small percentage that single store in the chain gives, compared to the entire number sold. It would be personally annoying for the GS employee to refund several times, but to be honest they are paid by the hour, and should not be in a customer service retail job in the first place if he does not enjoy what he is doing.

A customer is the single, only, whole reason you have a job, no matter how little, annoying, or ridiculous.

Did you have a rough day there today or what? Perhaps its different at a glass store, but attention to detail gets around..... serving minor customers as well as regulars does nothing but good for your stores rep.

Although please... understand I have had more then my fair share of customers that strain my patience and understanding, so I 100% agree in theory... but not practice!

[Iron Draggon]

if you can't get it worked out with GS, write to the publisher of the game and tell them what happened, including all the information you can about which particular GS put you through this hell over trying to obtain a mint copy... I'd be willing to bet the publisher would swap it out for you, as well as chew the hell out of whoever's in charge of the particular GS that gave you problems... GS may not care enough to do their job for you, but I can almost guarantee that any publisher of a collector's edition like this would go out of their way to make sure their customers were satisfied, no matter how anal they are...

[nate1749]

Just curious how long you've been running this store? I've been in management quite a bit.. my store is over 220,000 square feet however, and that logic wouldn't fly for me with my experience, so I strongly disagree.

Big chains like GS don't need to bother refusing a customer like that, because claims make up for their loss, not to mention the volume that game is doing over the small percentage that single store in the chain gives, compared to the entire number sold. It would be personally annoying for the GS employee to refund several times, but to be honest they are paid by the hour, and should not be in a customer service retail job in the first place if he does not enjoy what he is doing.

A customer is the single, only, whole reason you have a job, no matter how little, annoying, or ridiculous.

Did you have a rough day there today or what? Perhaps its different at a glass store, but attention to detail gets around..... serving minor customers as well as regulars does nothing but good for your stores rep.

Although please... understand I have had more then my fair share of customers that strain my patience and understanding, so I 100% agree in theory... but not practice!

It's a distribution company (warehouse, no retail store) and I've been doing it for about 2.5 years.

And I will disagree the annoying customers are not why I have a job and they're not what pay the bills, it's the easy low maintenance ones. I know this because I've cut out the bad apples and sales have continued to rise (plus everyone is happier).

But this whole discussions is way off the OP. I understand what the OP was talking about and that's fine that his level of service was not met, but I was trying to let him know that hey you know when people say they hate retail it's because of people like you. Now whether he knows or cares or changes anything I don't know and doesn't really matter.

Just from my experience in life difficult people don't know they're difficult, sometimes they even think they're easy. Sometimes the seller isn't providing enough service, but sometimes the customer is asking for too much - in this case I'd say it'd the latter and is why I'd refuse further business. Like I said before "Pleasing every customer is not only unrealistic, it's inefficient," these difficult people can't be pleased so why drain yourself and your time over them. Other people who do similar things to what we do (sort of competitors, not really) have the exact same issues with the exact same customers - at trade shows we sit around and trade our horror stories. If this was the only type of customer out there and what I needed to pay by bills I'd close my doors and go shovel dirt or something.

Nate

[Bojay1997]

It's a distribution company (warehouse, no retail store) and I've been doing it for about 2.5 years.

And I will disagree the annoying customers are not why I have a job and they're not what pay the bills, it's the easy low maintenance ones. I know this because I've cut out the bad apples and sales have continued to rise (plus everyone is happier).

But this whole discussions is way off the OP. I understand what the OP was talking about and that's fine that his level of service was not met, but I was trying to let him know that hey you know when people say they hate retail it's because of people like you. Now whether he knows or cares or changes anything I don't know and doesn't really matter.

Just from my experience in life difficult people don't know they're difficult, sometimes they even think they're easy. Sometimes the seller isn't providing enough service, but sometimes the customer is asking for too much - in this case I'd say it'd the latter and is why I'd refuse further business. Like I said before "Pleasing every customer is not only unrealistic, it's inefficient," these difficult people can't be pleased so why drain yourself and your time over them. Other people who do similar things to what we do (sort of competitors, not really) have the exact same issues with the exact same customers - at trade shows we sit around and trade our horror stories. If this was the only type of customer out there and what I needed to pay by bills I'd close my doors and go shovel dirt or something.

Nate

But what you're missing is the multiplier effect of how many other customers you've lost when the one "difficult" one complains to friends and family about your lack of service. You might be happy with the size and profitability of your business, but you will never be as successful as you could be if you allow these folks to slip through the cracks.

In the case of Gamestop, the combination of a few bad experiences with damaged games, as well as their policies of gutting games and generally being annoying trying to force pre-orders has caused me not to buy from them anymore. While the $12,000 or so I spend a year on new games may not seem like much, it's money that now goes to Amazon, Target and Best Buy that GS will now never see again. More damaging to their business is the fact that I have warned my friends and family not to buy from them and to only buy from Amazon or Target or Best Buy. Without exception, these people consider me to be the resident video games expert, so they don't shop at Gamestop for gifts for me and other people in their lives. I'm only one person and I've impacted the buying habits of a couple of dozen people. The thing is, on this forum alone, there are dozens of people who don't buy from Gamestop for the same reasons. Now multiply that by their friends and family. Gamestop is literally losing millions in dollars of revenue because they can't pack things a little more carefully and figure out a way to avoid gutting every copy of a game in their store. I suspect that your business is similarly losing lots of money because there is a group of people who know your reputation and have never even met you. It's sad, but true.

[carlcarlson]

Just from my experience in life difficult people don't know they're difficult, sometimes they even think they're easy. Sometimes the seller isn't providing enough service, but sometimes the customer is asking for too much - in this case I'd say it'd the latter and is why I'd refuse further business. Like I said before "Pleasing every customer is not only unrealistic, it's inefficient," these difficult people can't be pleased so why drain yourself and your time over them. Other people who do similar things to what we do (sort of competitors, not really) have the exact same issues with the exact same customers - at trade shows we sit around and trade our horror stories. If this was the only type of customer out there and what I needed to pay by bills I'd close my doors and go shovel dirt or something.

Nate

So if I buy a brand new car and it is delivered to my house with a huge scratch down the side I would be asking to much if I demanded they give me a different car? Please, that's not being difficult, that's expecting to get what you paid for. If someone tells me I'm buying a NEW car I expect a NEW car.

[Leo_A]

Apparantly you wouldn't be worthwhile to serve if he ran a car dealership and you weren't happy about the scratch.

[Slate]

Someone, put this topic back on track before it turns into a massive train wreck!

[nate1749]

Well retail is a little different than wholesale - the multiplier effect as Bojay1997 said isn't really the same. We only sell to retail stores and retail stores are in direct competition with each other, they could care less what their competition thinks of someone and if a supplier is refusing to sell to their competition it's a bonus to them. It is possible they could dominate and buy up their competition, but from my experience that doesn't happen and even if it does that's fine I still don't want to deal with them (which is why I'm passing on their sale).

The point is difficult people are difficult. There is no satisfying them. Saying oh so if I got a car with a scratch I wouldn't be worthy of your business is taking the situation completely out of context. If you came back on 3 separate occasions with issues that are out of the norm and no other customer cared about - add in they're an infrequent low revenue customer - yes I'd take the car back and tell them to go across the street and let them deal with that individual. However, I will say I don't know the OP I'm sure he's a real nice guy and just in this particular instance I was telling him that he's what makes retail bad (at least on that day at that store).

I'm speaking from direct experience from dealing with people like this and not just from a consumer perspective. It's just my opinion though and my proof is my real life experience with being happier (priceless) and increasing revenue (bad economy? we're up 25% this year). If you don't agree with me that's fine, but I was just sharing my experience. I just hope that you all one day get to run your own company so you can really understand what I'm talking about and then you can decide how much personal happiness you're willing to sacrifice to please an impossible to please customer.

Yes Slate, this topic should now be locked or moved to OT.

Nate

[The 1 2 P]

Did you get a new copy yet Jupitersj?

[jupitersj]

Wow, I never thought my topic would be such a hassle. I personally worked in Retail for many many years and I wouldn't define myself as a customer that is hard to get along with. I'm sorry that you only see the easiest will take anything garbage from corporations type customers as the only viable customers...maybe you should start selling Britney Spears CDs.

Assholes that trash your stores, spend an hour gleaning information about products from you so they don't have to do the research themselves so they can buy it cheaper on Amazon, people defacing things, treating you like the dreg of society, etc. I dealt with that kind of bs over and over.

I manage a large gas station in NJ and still get these types of people everyday.

I'm sorry that you put me into that same bracket of people. It's such a hassle because when I buy a NEW "COLLECTORS" version of a game that I actually bothered to return it for an exchange because the gamecase was shattered and the extra's cd looked like brillopad war?

Or the fact the slipcover is actually part of CE and not a generic see-through piece of plastic?

Especially in a field where the difference almost always between buying NEW and USED is much less than this debacle? Those two differing words that put more cash in my pocket?

Ridiculous....it was the GS I used to shop in before they got rid of Travis who was a cool manager who i would chat up about games much like was mentioned. The store that did get thousands of dollars a year from me as a regular and still did longer via their website(whom I never have problems with).

I spent more time in line while they spoke to each other about tv shows instead of helping customers than time I bothered them about.... a few minutes of their time at most. Why am I even bothering validating myself to someone that was not there?

[The 1 2 P]

Soooooooooooo, did you get a new copy yet?