Behind The Scenes Shenanigans At GameStop

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Last week it was Apple employees sharing their behind the scene secrets. This week, it's GameStop employees. :eek:

“GameStop stores (and their managers) live and die by the number of pre-orders and discounts cards they sell,” says B. a long-time employee at the chain. “It’s literally about the ONLY thing the company cares about with regards to its customers and they’ve become more and more hardcore about it with each passing year.”
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i hate this company
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Everytime I walk into one its no longer "how may I help you?" its "What can I pre order for you?"
 
I thought it was a terribly written article. I'm more upset that I read it. Wish I had just commented based only on the title like others commonly do.
 
martinmsj said:
I thought it was a terribly written article. I'm more upset that I read it. Wish I had just commented based only on the title like others commonly do.
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when i tried applying for work there they said i wasn't conceded or jaded enough.
 
That's the reason I stopped going there. Their workers are uptight about the idea of pre ordering and gift cards. I don't care, just give me the game.

God said, let their be less shit, and Steam was made. And God said, "that's good".
 
I stopped going there, and now pick up games from *gasp* best buy when in a pinch.

Got really sick and tired on being berated about pre-orders. Just like I get pissed everytime someone asks for my phone number or area code AND THEN a warranty when I am buying something.

What ever happened to free raffles to get personal/marketing information.
 
What's the "discount card" he's talking about pushing? I've only bought from a B&M gamestop store a couple times when a game is new and it's retail is the same locally as it is online...
 
I cant think of one good thing to say about Gamestop. I quit giving them my money years ago.
 
If you enjoy bashing GameStop like I do, check out the Whistle Blower Zero / Zero Originality series. An ex-employee basically spills the beans about his experience working there.
 
JoeUser said:
Sarcasm or not this actually happens to me about 90% of the time.
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Oh it wasn't sarcasm.

I stopped in one not too long ago (drove a friend) and stood their watching their upcoming video games video, which is pretty cool. Litterally after one would finish the clerk stood their telling me all the pre-order information, how much I need to put down and when they will get it.

Mind you, I never said one word to this person or even looked at them, it was my friend, the clerk behind the counter and me.
 
Trimlock said:
Oh it wasn't sarcasm.

I stopped in one not too long ago (drove a friend) and stood their watching their upcoming video games video, which is pretty cool. Litterally after one would finish the clerk stood their telling me all the pre-order information, how much I need to put down and when they will get it.

Mind you, I never said one word to this person or even looked at them, it was my friend, the clerk behind the counter and me.
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I would have said.

"SHHHH, Im trying to watch this."
 
“GameStop stores (and their managers) live and die by the number of pre-orders and discounts cards they sell,”

Which is why I fucking quit when I was a teenager. Every day my boss was all over my ass to push this kind of crap on everyone both in the store and on the phone. Thanks to secret shoppers you had absolutely no choice and I hated doing it.

If Gamestop cuts this crap out it would be a far more pleasant experience buying from them overall , until they act rational about this policy I refuse to spend a dime at that store.
 
German Muscle said:
I would have said.

"SHHHH, Im trying to watch this."
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I did start creeping away, I figure the guy did get the hint but still did his job. Good on him for being so dedicated but its one of the reasons I'm not going there anymore.
 
Same shet, different toilet. Companies that can't see past the next quarter only care about a quick comeup. If your not selective about where you spend your money, then you deserve to be treated like cash cattle.
 
I used to work at GameStop years ago, and yeah this kind of shiznit happened a lot (among other questionable, shady things). And I see that the problem has only gotten worse in the years since I've left. Just another reason why I buy all my retail disc-based games from Amazon or sometimes Newegg.
 
I have no desire to go to Gamestop. There is really no point to having a boxed copy of a game today. I just hope they don't run themselves out of business because they bought my Impulse. I was a fan of Stardock and at the time purchasing from them was far better than going to steam. I have had to adopt steam anyway so that doesn't matter much anymore but I do have several non-steam games there still. I'd hate to lose those.
 
Huh, I still get treated like a person, and not another sale at my local GameStop.

Maybe it's because I only visit the one located inside the AAFES building.
 
rsaotome said:
Huh, I still get treated like a person, and not another sale at my local GameStop.

Maybe it's because I only visit the one located inside the AAFES building.
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Yea they don't have to worry about mystery shoppers and AAFES management would have their asses. Not to mention they could potentially piss off the wrong ptsd troopers.

Our AAFES GameStop both on Ft Belvoir is awesome.
 
When I bought a Wii U at one the other week, the guys there casually mentioned pre-ordering once, then moved on in the transaction. It was an alright experience.
 
Years ago I went to pickup a copy of CnC 3 at Gamestop. The clerk laughed at me when I told him I didn't preorder and said I had no chance of getting it. Walked into Bestbuy in the same mall, walked out with a copy in minutes. Never stepped inside a Gamestop again since.
 
This isn't a problem with gamestop or store managers.

Its more of a problem with stupid metrics being jammed down the manager's throat. If you threaten to fire(and do fire) people for not meeting metrics then yes people will do anything to meet them.

It was common practice where I worked to offer people a coupon on the item they were buying if they would buy the item being used as a metric. The value of the coupon was greater than the value of the metric item, but this isn't about store profit.

Its about meeting metrics or being fired/chewed out.
 
Honestly, there's absolutely no reason to preorder anything from Gamestop. They try to tell you it will be sold out so you MUST preorder with them, but I can guarantee that you can walk into the Target or Walmart that is likely in the same shopping center and pick up the game you want on release day with little issue.

I stopped shopping at Gamestop years ago after my cousin worked there for a while and explained how the employees were allowed to take games home, play them, and sell them as new when they were done. I didn't want to believe him, but a few months later I went to buy a game and the guy behind the counter opened a drawer, pulled out a sleeved disc, and stuck it back in a retail box to sell to me. I told them "hell no" and walked over to Target to buy the game instead.

Now days, I buy nearly every console game I get from either Amazon or Target since both are tax-free for me. (local sales tax = 5%, RedCard savings = 5%, so Target shopping = basically tax-free)
 
On one hand I agree with the points most people are making in this thread. However, I am also surprised at the utter hatred and anger being displayed as well. As a customer, going into a store, and being asked a simple question, to which the answer is a simple "no thank you", I am not filled with RAGE at being asked that question.

Is our humanity so far gone at this point that a sales person can't try to sell to you? Don't you dare talk to me when I am looking at my video games.
 
nubbin77 said:
On one hand I agree with the points most people are making in this thread. However, I am also surprised at the utter hatred and anger being displayed as well. As a customer, going into a store, and being asked a simple question, to which the answer is a simple "no thank you", I am not filled with RAGE at being asked that question.

Is our humanity so far gone at this point that a sales person can't try to sell to you? Don't you dare talk to me when I am looking at my video games.
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I like this post. I don't have any anger or frustration with Gamestop about the pre-orders or Best Buy or any other place. I mean the guys thinking they're so fucking cool because they work at Gamestop are funny at best. (Seriously, they make minimum wage at a game store with no benefits, why are they like that?)
 
They say its a dishonest practice that gets employees fired. Yet from the top they made is SOP to force MASSIVE bundles on new console buyers with zero option to buy the console by itself.
 
I used to run a Gamestop in Texas. We were top 3 in the district in reservations and subscriptions. To be honest we really did not try that hard. Most of our reservations came off of trade ins or regular customers. I had several gamers that would come in on a regular basis just to B.S about what ever game was coming out soon. Hell most of my customers were friends on Xbox Live or Steam. Those guys probably made up about 60 percent of my reservations.

Reservations are way to gauge a games popularity and inventory control. Sure we all knew that Halo 4 was going to sell like hot cakes, but that doesn't mean that they want to send every store 1000 copies of it. When Halo 3 launched I received a little over 700 copies. I had roughly 600 preorders. I did not sell out for about a week. After I got low I received a small restock. Not another 700 copies. It is actually a very smart way to maintain inventory and not have millions of dollars in cash tied up on the store shelves.
 
I haven't been out of luck finding a game in a B&M store on release day since Street Fighter 2 on the SNES.

I don't go to Gamestop anymore either, I can usually find the newer releases for cheaper at Target.
 
A rant I delivered recently to a Game Stop manager:

GSM "Yeah GTAV looks pretty sweet, come over and get a pre-order so you will have it on launch day."

Me "Who the fuck pre-orders games now anyway? They are either digital delivery or plastic fucking discs. There will be no shortage of them on launch day or any other fucking day. Back in the day hot games were often sold out cause they had to create boards and ROM chips and that shit is much harder to make than a foil coated piece of plastic in a plastic box.

Shit they used to have to make DAMN sure the game was done before they pushed it to manufacturing. Can't patch a ROM on a cart. Now they just shovel it out and patch the shit out of it every 10 minutes.

No I do not want a damn pre-order of something that will be on every shelf on launch day."

GSM "Well I cannot garauntee you will have it launch day if you don't pre order now."

Me "%|"
 
I see GameStop as the same type of store as Edible Arrangements or Harry&David. The people that shop there are NOT buying things for themselves but rather as gifts for other people. As such they are more likely to overpay, or be sold into things they would never agree to for themselves.

So most [H]gamers would not be caught dead there, but your dear ol' auntie trying to buy you the latest hip game could very well fall for the pre-order; thinking that it is somehow a great exclusive gift.
 
This article might have otherwise been relevant to me, but I still can't get over the fact that people go to brick and mortar stores to buy things.
 
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