Best Buy Kills Off Popular Discount Membership Gamers Club Unlocked

Megalith

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Best Buy’s discount membership program for video games, Gamers Club Unlocked (GCU), has been discontinued. The electronic chain’s internal systems have confirmed its demise, although no definitive reasons were given by corporate. Costing $30 annually, the membership offered 20% off new games and game guides, among other perks.

This is a massive blow to the deal-hunting gaming community -- since the death of Amazon Prime’s premium discount (and even before that), Best Buy’s Gamers Club Unlocked was considered the gold standard plan for the dedicated gamer. This was due to the fact that all versions of gaming software (including premium editions, collector’s editions, and even amiibo figures) got the benefits of Gamers Club Unlocked.
 
Seems like trying to raise the price of membership would be smarter if it was popular.

I had it a few years ago, used it twice on PC games. Only because it was way cheaper on release day, and I could use the code to download the game.
 
Best Buy ceased to exist for me after they quietly changed returns from 30 days to 15 days. I purchased a $200 gift for someone, then ended up needing to return it, still shrink-wrapped, and 17 days post sale was told "sorry, you have to spend at least $1500 a year to get Elite status for My Rewards to unlock 30 day returns".

So my next $1500 will go to Amazon instead. In the past when price comparing and BB was same as Amazon, I'd go to BB and keep the dollars local, but not anymore.
 
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Best Buy ceased to exist for me after they quietly changed returns from 30 days to 15 days. I purchased a $200 gift for someone, then ended up needing to return it, still shrink-wrapped, and 17 days post sale was told "sorry, you have to spend at least $1500 a year to get Elite status for My Rewards to unlock 30 day returns".

So my next $1500 will go to Amazon instead. In the past when price comparing and BB was same as Amazon, I'd go to BB and keep the dollars local, but now I'll regrettably do my part feeding the cancer that is Amazon.
Bestbuy is good for things like tvs where they are the same price everywhere and il raither not have a tv shiped to me
 
I didn't even noticed my local best buy shut down. I needed something quick and I was near there. Only to find a shell of a best buy. They even took down the big yellow pro e tag. That store just opened 5 years ago. I always thought it was dumb putting a new BB 3 miles from one that been around for 20+ years. I honestly don't know how they stay in buissness. Everytime.e I go on to that one there are more employees then customers.
 
Says the person who has a Microcenter or Fry's locally.

True that. I go into Frys and MC on a regular basis. Best buy? Only if I saw some closeout deal on Slickdeals and only for the one item. I have bought TVs from them in the past, but I have no fear of buying a TV online any longer.
 
True that. I go into Frys and MC on a regular basis. Best buy? Only if I saw some closeout deal on Slickdeals and only for the one item. I have bought TVs from them in the past, but I have no fear of buying a TV online any longer.
True that. Only purchase from BB I have made in the last ten years was a 4TB external for $80. They sent me a 3TB..... Seems they didn't have their system setup to accept a return for anything other than what was ordered.... They couldn't return the 3TB drive, but could send me another drive for the right size that I ordered. 7TB for $80.... Only deal I have gotten from them in 20 years.

BB can suck a bag of baby duck vajayjays.... Yup.
 
Not a surprise...Best Buy can't ever ship games on time these days, so people probably largely stopped buying games from them. (Unless they had time to swing by the store and pick it up.) The only thing Best Buy is good for these days is shopping for TVs.
 
I like bestbuy.

Me too!

Bb did some dumb stuff in the past but it's one of the few remaining stores to rival Amazon.

Just a reminder Amazon keeps raising their membership costs... And that's with competition in the marketplace!

I think people bash on bb still just for the heck of it...(although killing gcu wasn't the smartest. Prob shareholders)
 
Me too!

Bb did some dumb stuff in the past but it's one of the few remaining stores to rival Amazon.

Just a reminder Amazon keeps raising their membership costs... And that's with competition in the marketplace!

I think people bash on bb still just for the heck of it...(although killing gcu wasn't the smartest. Prob shareholders)
It won't be long before BB is in the media for something Geeksquad is doing, or some other silly shenanigan, again.... Or perhaps they are just so mundane, nobody cares if they wrong a customer anymore. Most of the BB's in my state, I travel quite a bit, have bellied up, or are shrinking their stock, or have just plain adopted the ghost town motif.

There are other alternatives to Amazon, and them raising Prime membership costs really has nothing to do with competing with BB's services and sales. There is more to the world than BB, Walmart, Amazon, Newegg, blah, blah, blah. It is a wide world after all with better choices in abundance.

BB has done the damage to themselves and some people choose to not consider that establishment to be conducive to future transactions. I honestly will never miss someone harassing me while I shop in store, or the bait and switch tactics, or the we price match but we use our own intranet and cant verify Officemax has this item cheaper, or any of the other shitty experiences I have had with BB.
Just perhaps, they have earned a bad rep with some people, and accept that. :)
 
It won't be long before BB is in the media for something Geeksquad is doing, or some other silly shenanigan, again.... Or perhaps they are just so mundane, nobody cares if they wrong a customer anymore. Most of the BB's in my state, I travel quite a bit, have bellied up, or are shrinking their stock, or have just plain adopted the ghost town motif.

^ But none of that is unique to BB. Recently Newegg has gotten themselves in the headlines. That's just good ol' everything-is-disposible-USA/customers don't care either.


There are other alternatives to Amazon, and them raising Prime membership costs really has nothing to do with competing with BB's services and sales.


There is more to the world than BB, Walmart, Amazon, Newegg, blah, blah, blah. It is a wide world after all with better choices in abundance.

BB has done the damage to themselves and some people choose to not consider that establishment to be conducive to future transactions. I honestly will never miss someone harassing me while I shop in store, or the bait and switch tactics, or the we price match but we use our own intranet and cant verify Officemax has this item cheaper, or any of the other shitty experiences I have had with BB.
Just perhaps, they have earned a bad rep with some people, and accept that. :)

Last time I was harassed at BB was in the 90's. Never seen a bait and switch and I have gotten price match 100% of the time when I just show them my cellphone on the product page Amazon page or Target etc.

So can't say I will just "accept that" but simply disagree.


ps I'm curious, who do you shop with then?
 
Too bad, GCU was one of the few reasons (the other being SlickDeal posts) I actually bought anything from Best Buy. Instead of killing it, they should've just raised the price.
 
still getting 20% off pre-orders on prime, just did it about 10 minutes ago actually, for a game that comes out in 2 days lol. Screw BB, I just wish the nearest MC wasn't an hour away
 
Oh really? You clearly have not traveled the wide world then because you have not a clue what you speak of. :rolleyes:
So, you are saying there are no alternatives to Amazon and BB? Funny, never had an issue getting the things I need or want.



^ But none of that is unique to BB. Recently Newegg has gotten themselves in the headlines. That's just good ol' everything-is-disposible-USA/customers don't care either.




Last time I was harassed at BB was in the 90's. Never seen a bait and switch and I have gotten price match 100% of the time when I just show them my cellphone on the product page Amazon page or Target etc.

So can't say I will just "accept that" but simply disagree.


ps I'm curious, who do you shop with then?
That is true, it is not unique to BB, and I haven't purchased from Newegg in some years either.
I'd say it's been about the same for me, (the 90's), since I was harassed in BB. I just don't go there anymore, so in fairness maybe that isn't as much of an issue anymore, but it left an impression.

At the time I had a problem with price match, cell phones were in their early stages.

I do seem recall that a few years back though, BB was pulling a fast one with a Sony TV and PlayStation deal over the holiday's. Something about buy the TV for about a grand and get the PS free, when some months prior the same TV was selling for cheaper. Like the price of a Playsation cheaper.
But as you say, not just a BB issue, but one that continues to make an impression.

As for where I shop, depends on what I need. If we are talking PC hardware, sometimes used stuff here on the forums, Microcenter, Fry's, B&H Photo, I have a Prime account with Amazon. Sometimes I use PCPartpicker to help find some deals. I'd say most of my PC spending goes to MC as I am old enough to appreciate a good brick and mortar store.

I travel Kansas, not the world, quite a bit. Plenty of options to fulfill my needs without some downward spiral company like BB.

As I said earlier, some people don't care for BB, and that has to be accepted. :)
 
So, you are saying there are no alternatives to Amazon and BB? Funny, never had an issue getting the things I need or want.

That is exactly what I am saying, unless you consider Walmart a good alternative for B&M. (I don't since I had to order pants from Amazon just to get a normal size pair or 2.)

As for where I shop, depends on what I need. If we are talking PC hardware, sometimes used stuff here on the forums, Microcenter, Fry's, B&H Photo, I have a Prime account with Amazon. Sometimes I use PCPartpicker to help find some deals. I'd say most of my PC spending goes to MC as I am old enough to appreciate a good brick and mortar store.

I travel Kansas, not the world, quite a bit. Plenty of options to fulfill my needs without some downward spiral company like BB.

As I said earlier, some people don't care for BB, and that has to be accepted. :)

No, sorry, not everyone lives in the Dallas, Fortworth area or places like that. Yes, you do need to be aware of the world and the fact that your experiences are unique, not common.
 
Best Buy ceased to exist for me after they quietly changed returns from 30 days to 15 days. I purchased a $200 gift for someone, then ended up needing to return it, still shrink-wrapped, and 17 days post sale was told "sorry, you have to spend at least $1500 a year to get Elite status for My Rewards to unlock 30 day returns".

So my next $1500 will go to Amazon instead. In the past when price comparing and BB was same as Amazon, I'd go to BB and keep the dollars local, but not anymore.

Umm, Best Buy has had 15 day returns for years. Only when you use Elite is when you get 30 days. So spend more and get elite status. lol
 
I like best buy because they price match amazon ,have never ripped me off and I have never had any hassle returning anything including computers . Newegg has gone down the tubes and Amazon's add on item selling should be illegal...
 
i have never heard of this program. They might have wanted to try to advertise it. Normally that helps.
 
Well crap, I'd shifted a ton of buying to Best Buy largely because of GCU. I got hooked on the service and wound up shifting a lot of my business from Amazon and others to BB.

Bye bye.. I'll just be doing a lot more PC gaming.

Edit: Well, after my Aug 2019 expiration anyways.
 
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