OK, well don't assume all gamestop employees are asshats either.

but inmy experience, wal-mart employees are retards just for working there. there has got to be a better job out there. Wal-Mart is pretty much the worst company of all time.

SoulPunch

freespeech

Anyway, our store completely ignored the email we got, set aside our copies like we usually do, and turned people away when we didn't have extras. We aren't going to shaft repeat customers on one of the biggest releases of the year.

Uzero

dunetiger : one of the naerds

The gamestop employees are bitching about the fact we were ordered to ignore the 48 hour hold period and fuck all our preorder customers.

ManjiKengo

Squieonat

So the walk-in goals are on the number of copies minus preorders expected to be collected. I am sure there are things to complain about regarding preorders, but the scheme as detailed here in theory doesn't seem to be one of them.

Greenacre

KidU

but then they'd be shopping at Wal-Mart, which is like a thousand times worse than gamestop. Everytime I've ever gone into wal=mart (which luckily I've avoided for like 2 years) asking about a game I either find someone in the electronics that doesn't know what I'm talking about, or doesn't have keys to the game case and I'm stuck waiting forever for someone who has either those keys or a clue. FUCK wal-mart AND their retarded employees TEN times harder than gamestop.

SoulPunch

With that bullshit they are asking every single one of its employees at stores to violate the policy and even our own ethics.

ManjiKengo

anElpenor

Fierfaerie

Squieonat

----------------------
GameStop purposly creates the illusion of a shortage in order to generate pre-sales. I can't tell you how many times I have heard " If you don't pre-order you woun't be able to buy one anywhere! " or my favorite is " They will only ship us just barley enough to cover our pre-orders, so you better do it now!" This is being said the DAY BEFORE RELEASE! It always has been and always will be total BS.

I don't like making blanket statements but... Everyone who works @ GameStop is a douche! I am sorry for having to say it but, even if you are the 1 in 1,000 people who actualy do care about the customers, you are still a douche-by-proxy for pulling a paycheck from them. My advice: LEAVE NOW!!! There are dozens of other jobs out there, they pay better money. You are bound to be qualified for at least one of them. I was a douche as well. I was saved. You can be too!

p.s. This also applies to EA employees as well.

Mr.SithNinja

This makes no financial sense.

EdwinJ85

I'm not really against anything, but I do get a kick out of people that complain about stuff like this... However, I agree wholeheartedly.. if you don't like a company, stop supporting it. It doesn't help to get mad at it on the internetz.

MrBionic

MrBionic

Hi-freaking-larious!

I am not against pre-ordering something, just as long as it isn't from GameStop. Why feed the beast?

Mr.SithNinja

Tycus

EB Games pulled this on me with Rockband even after I called 3 times to confirm that they would hold it an addtional 3 days unitl I got back from out of town. They claimed their store was to small to keep such a large box aside.

beatrat

ben.freefly

I saved myself 10 bucks and I still got my game when I picked it up on release day.

Phlycheez

But yeah. It makes me really angry to see emails like that, because 1) I would be PISSED if someone sold off my reserve copy before my 48 hours were up, and 2) I don't want customers screaming at me.

Sigh. Looking forward to vacation~

Tsuzu

ManjiKengo

Albanian_Killa

Terrible business practice, though. If a retailer is concerned about walk-in sales, they have the option of putting a portion of the shipment aside for specifically that purpose.

MechaJebus

realjas

ShrimatiBanks

Benstein

That'd be a baaad time.

This whole thing is just bogus when clearly printed on any preorder receipt is a note saying "preordered items will be held for 48 hours from the release date".
It should say "terms are subject to corporate screwjobs"

OoBaSNoRk

[kotaku.com]

spiderweb1986

SoulPunch

movieman200x

Orionsaint

Every site or store has its downside, but the EBGameStop experience is the worst. Annoying, underpaid gamers behind the counter dealing with annoying, under-showered gamers in front of the counter, along with petulant preteen brats, their dipshit parents, and the 'eye in the sky' being a truly evil corporation. How can one endorse this?

jollydwarf

I took my business to Best Buy, I only regret that no Best Buys in my immediate areas do midnight launches.

BUt they always have a ton of stock, and no employees nagging you for extra shit.

FunKrusher

yashichi8bit

Nekura20x6

I'm not the only one either. Gamestop is a company with some bad policies, but there are some good people in it.
Be nice to counter jockeys, and they'll remember you for it.

yaboonabi

Perky Peanut

Helmet Touch

beowulfshadow

Wow. The same thing seems to be happening at Future Shop and Best Buy in Canada:

Futureshop.ca game pre-orders are a scam
[artofgeek.com]

madgunde

Satis24

Derigor

Largest game release of the season and Gamespot/EB still can't predict proper sales numbers.

Shadman

xrobx

Its definitely bad business either way.

I walked into gamestop around 6 last night after a crap day at work + rush hour traffic only to find the copy of GTA I traded in a game toward, and paid off in full was not there for me.

To make it better, I had my brother call the shop for me while I was driving to confirm I could pick up my GTA presale with just my photo id and cred card and they said yes! Not, yes but we are fresh out of games, just yes!

I showed up, was told they sold out by the SAME d-bag that assured me I was promised a copy on release day (he was a key-holder and should have known better...)when I reserved it this past thursday. I said something brief and scathing, cutting off the backpedaling clerk mid sentance and stormed out.

When I worked for GameSlop we had a snafu with madden shipments for launch and we called folks to let them know around mid-day to let them know the score. Apparently thats not good business for them anymore.

The end.

OoBaSNoRk

PissedPS3Fan

Derigor

Absent Blue

So much for customer loyalty and having done THOUSANDS of dollars worth of buisnes with them over the past 15 years.

Sugaray

screamingslave

Yah I'm not preordering from Gamestop anymore. First I called and they said I could come over and preorder it, then I got there and they said I can't. So I bought it at their website, for $15 extra. $10 overnight, $5 tax. Nope, not happening again.

SubKamran

after that, your cash is still good, but you're subject to stock availability.

haven't heard about those orders here...

PGGB

statnut

1) It guarantees the sale for the store
2) Eliminates the profiteering on hardware systems
3) Saves time for real customers

dirtypanda

I know for a fact they did this during the Halo 2 launch. Me and a friend went and picked up our copies at midnight, got home, found out his copy was scratched to hell, went back the next day to return it, and were told that there were only a few copies left, copies that had already been paid for. However, the manager basically said, "screw em" and gave us the pre-ordered copy anyway.

So yeah, I know through experience, it's one of the reasons I loath Game Stop.

SycoKiller

fuzzchopz

Anyhow, I pre-reserved paid in full back in March for a Collector's. Seeing as how I am middle aged have a job and a family, I pulled in last night at 6 to pick it up, 18 hours since launch.

The guy ahead of me says "I want to get GTA 4 360 Collectors." Employee asks: "Do you have it reserved?" He says: "Nope." So, she sells him one, I figure from the non-reserved stack. He pays and leaves and I say "I reserved a GTA 4 360 Collectors." and she says that they are freaking out!

I just about blew up right then and there. The jackass ahead of me got the last copy and didn't even have a reserve. WTF is a reserve good for besides to keep you locked into buying the game from them even though someplace else may have a sweetened offer on release day (aka Amazon License Plate or the picture frame, etc..) She said something about her district manager telling them to sell to anyone. I knew it wasn't her fault.

I left a voice mail for that district turd that should help to remind that customers will have certain expectations when you play with their money. I demanded a full refund plus a written appology.

saigumi

If anything, I would welcome a new player in the gaming retail biz.

RPGr

Needless to say my ex-manager hated me (for lots of reasons) and got me fired 1 week before I said I was going to quit.

RPGr

scottieb2

gils0n

Amen, brother.

Not only does it guarantee every customer gets what they want, when they want it, the dematerialization of the product also eliminates wasting oil on making discs that don't need to be made, cases, printing labels and booklets (that nobody ever reads...), but the shipping gets eliminated. It's just WAY more efficient, and it's a billion times better for the environment.

PlayerX

Although if you do the math above they are basically taking the number that usually doesn't get picked up and selling those - not all pre-orders. Somewhat shaddy - maybe. But I think people here are making a bigger deal about it than it is.

Limafoxtrot

Although this is pretty stupid since a lot of stores might break the reservation policy to get the $500 and the GTAIV copies.

n2Depth

ChimDeathmonkey

@branwheatkillah: WRONG. The right business move would have been to order more copies so that they have at least enough for their pre-orders, and extra for walk-ins (if I put money down on a game and am told that my copy's guaranteed for 48 hours, it damn well better be). And the usual corporate attitude of "Well, we don't know if it's going to sell so we don't order extra copies" just is asinine, especially in this case. IT'S GTA IV, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! If someone doesn't pick up their pre-order within the guaranteed timeframe and doesn't make any effort to contact the store (e.g., reasonable emergency and can't get there), then I would have no problem with their copy going to a walk-in. Otherwise, that's lying to your customers (may not legally be fraud; I'm not sure whether the deposit receipt constitutes a contract), and that is definitely NOT good business.

Fiztaru

I bought Forza 2 instead.....

SPitFyRe666

kRaSh32

CaptainAtman

Slorg

frobishlumpkin

I'm pretty darn busy and I don't find it difficult to run by GameStop on the way home from work to pick up a pre-order. Takes about five minutes.

Anyway, one of my best friends is the manager of the GameStop I buy from. I drop buy almost every day. He told me, regardless of "orders", he would never sell someone's pre-order to a walk-in customer.

Also, how "good" the GameStop store is depends on its employees. Yes, I've been to some where the "heartless corporation" identifier is well-placed. But, I've been to others where the employees know what they're doing, are respectful and will bend over backward to make sure you're happy with your experience there.

Chadness

Proto_Man

I don't really see why people preordered a game like GTA except for to have some freebie item or something, but preorders are games that are already sold. You can't sell someone else's game at a yard sale..that's stealing. Why can gamestop do it?

Ajh

SoulPunch

slyzxx786

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

SpearXXI

y2kenjination

Asbestos_Underwear

The maddening part is they expect us to convince people the joys of reserving, and then have us go back on our promise to our customers.

This is not a normal practice of GameStop by any means, but this should not be an exception.

Please just don't blame/punch the sir or madam behind the counter. We can only do our job. :(

BudDudandSlash

Enigma_20XX

I walked across the street to EBGames and got in line. There was about fifty people with reserves who went first and I was the first non reserve person to go in. I had no problem picking up a copy of GTA.

I don't reccomend using the reserve system unless a special gift is involved or you can garuntee yourself to be there apon the opening of the store. It's utterly pointless.

Jaysunli

Pornosaur

Pornosaur

SoulPunch

Shigamado

SoulPunch

N15PCA

s0ulzx

I really do feel bad for whoever got screwed over like that. But, in all real honesty, it's all about who is in charge of the store. I can say as an employee that some store do indeed have DOUCHFAG managers and employees. My store had great employees and I always do my part to treat my customers like...you know, PEOPLE. I thought I was so cool that when I was going to work for the GTAIV Midnight, the guys waiting in line were happy that I was gonna be part of the launch.

Treating employees like shit doesn't help either. Just because Johnny behind-the-counter McGee didn't give you AAA customer service doesn't mean that all GameStop employees are the same. So, if you treat employees like people, the same should be returned to you.

As for the GTAIV shortages....wait, there's shortages?!?

HeartlessOmega

Witzbold

N15PCA

supercrap

If someone didn't preorder a game and is passed up for somebody who did, I don't think they've got room to complain.

spiderweb1986

poopdeedoo

If I don't sell you a copy of the game because you didn't pre-order the title, and I only have enough copies of the game to give to my customers who did pre-order it, I am a motherfucker.

If I do sell you a copy of the game that someone else reserved, I am a motherfucker.

That's the general gist of what I get from the comments to this article.

In short, I am a motherfucker. I'm glad I cleared that up.

MuppetChrist

spiderweb1986

Jopan

It's part of the job - it's not your fault, but people are going to be upset if this happens to them, and they'll blame someone. Usually, that will be your burden to bear, especially if you're the one who just sold it to Joe Somebody who walked in without a reservation five minutes before.

Besides - yelling at a person is usually a much more cathartic release. You only get so much mileage out of pushing over magazine racks and dumping glitter everywhere.

spiderweb1986

Jopan

Kotaku's Silent Assassin

I think the biggest threat to them is other retailers. Stores like Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Toys R Us sell a lot of games, and if someone has a bad experience with GameStop it's probably not too hard for them to head over to the nearest national chain store for their game the next time around.

@Darth_Pogo: This is the problem. Given GameStop's prominence in retailing video games, they can/have/will/do get away with this kind of thing without any repercussions.

spiderweb1986

Kotaku's Silent Assassin

Or, you know, we could shop somewhere else... I'm just saying.

RedRust

The key difference? The pre-order meant something there. They weren't going to sell my copy to someone else because they'd permanently lose a customer by doing so...and they can't afford to do that. Unfortunately, GameStop can, which is why this policy exists.

Plain and simple, the only reasons to shop at GameStop now are used games, because they're one of the only retail options for that. I don't trust them for anything beyond that, and with some justification. Ever since my sister bought a "new" copy of Elite Beat Agents that came with a 100% complete save file, I've been leery of the company. Take their "rental" policy (employees take home games, play through them, then return them to sell as new): most people would never know or even be affected by it, but if you're the one who gets the scratched disc or the completed game, odds are you'd be unhappy about getting an obviously used "new" product. The same goes for selling display copies as new: while I understand the reasoning behind it (just think about how easy it'd be to steal a game if it was in its box on the shelf), I'd rather drive a bit further to a store like Circuit City if I know they'll have the same game at the same price, in its original packaging.

The thing is, these are rare occurrences, and that's why they can get away with shoddy customer service like that: most of their customers will never know.

GameStop's a necessary evil of sorts, I guess - off the top of my head, I can't think of any other nationwide chains that focus exclusively on games, and I don't think that allowing Target and Wal-Mart to exert full control on the industry because they're the only retail outlet for the product is a better alternative.

At this point, I don't know what the best way to handle GameStop is. I do know, though, that if I've got an option to give another retailer my money instead I will. A one-man boycott won't do much, but at least I won't be supporting practices like the one discussed here.

@Spartan1308: Wal-Mart midnight launches would require having a Wal-Mart that's open 24 hours, and that's not something everyone has near them.

spiderweb1986

Croixtreize

LanceJr

Darth_Pogo

bigdonthedj

I preorder games from there all the time now because I like a lot of the bonuses they have, and its the best place to get the smaller release and rare titles, like Atlus games. Today I just got a mint copy of Digital Devil Saga and Nocturne, so I'm a happy camper.

If its a game I'm going to get, I preorder for the bonus stuff and to know that there is a copy waiting for me. Since Xenosaga all those years ago, I've had not one complaint.

EMalachi

Cathaoir

Cathaoir

Also, I'm bored and Big World amuses me.. and my mom is asleep upstairs so she won't watch Matlock with me. That makes me so sad.

I guess I could always go play GTAIV, which I bought at Wal-Mart among the 300 other copies they had sitting there, and paid with out of the money I stole from my daddy's wallet. When he finds out, somebody gonna get-a hurt REAL bad.

MrBionic

Big World

Dexor

It sounds like someone at Gamestop realized that refusing to sell games to your first-time customers leaves a bad impression with them. Unfortunately, refusing to sell reserved games to your returning customers is bad policy too.

Isn't it time that all of Gamestop's management was sacked before they lose all of their market share to Walmart?

seishino

When you go into a game store and pre-order a game, and they guarantee that the game will be available to you the first few days of release because you gave them a CASH ADVANCE, and then they turn around and sell your copy for more money, that's stupid, and very ethically wrong. It's a scam, simply put, and we should be up in arms about it, regardless of the necessity of pre-ordering in the first place.

I for one already don't go to Gamestop anymore cause of the damage they are ultimately doing to the games industry as well as their terrible customer policies. (I mean, did we all actually read that corporate letter? It's shocking how much they disregard their best customers for a quick buck.)

The Gamestop I live by currently has $10 of mine on permanent hiatus because I didn't pick up two games I pre-ordered and didn't want to get from them. They won't give me my money back without a receipt, which is MAYBE understandable, but then they won't even let me put use that money as store credit towards other purchases! Ridiculous!

Really, if we care about our games, we should just stop buying them from Gamestop. As you can see from the above, they don't care about you, the customer at all, but rather all of the green they can harvest from you however they can.

Mini-Boss

Big World

With a game like GTAIV, a store might have 350+ reservations, some dating back a year or more. Easily 50 of those reservations will never be picked up. You wouldn't believe the number of people who reserve games and then forget about it or reserve it again at another store because they forgot they reserved it in the first place. I remember with Madden 2006, there were two people who had fully paid off the Collector's Edition and never picked it up. 9 months later and that credit was still there. The one guy had come in the day before the game was released. To this day I wonder what the hell happened to that guy.

Anyway, this is referred to as "breakage" and is part of the reason stores are encouraged to sell their reservations to walk-ins. The more reserves you have, the greater the breakage is gonna be. You can safely allocate like 10-15% of your reserved copies to sell to walk-ins because they are *never* going to get picked up period, let alone within 48 hours. It's called "playing the float".

And that's the other half of the equation. Reserves are only held for 48 hours but a lot of people who reserve games don't have a chance to come pick them up until the weekend. So again, you're sitting on a ton of copies you could be selling to walk-ins that aren't going to be picked up by reserve customers either.

So if you've still got 80 reserved copies laying around tomorrow evening, it's pretty safe to start selling into them because there's no way all 80 people are going to show up that night. If you're sitting on those 80 copies once the 48 hours is up, that's a lot of copies you could've sold to walk-ins and who now went to Best Buy or Target to buy the game.

Our district manager always told us to sell to everyone no matter how much we had to dip into our reserves, and that they would pull copies from another store if we needed to satisfy reservations.

The idea is to sell as much of your initial allocation as quickly as possible because you'll be sent even more product in your next shipment (which I'd figure most stores will get on Thursday or Friday). So by the weekend you've got even more copies in that you wouldn't have gotten if you hadn't sold all those "reserved" copies earlier in the week. And in the meantime, every single person who came in to pick up their reservation had one waiting for them.

Gamestop is in no way recommending to sell all copies to walk-ins and to hell with reservation customers, they just want stores to be aware that there is no reason to strictly set aside 350 copies if you have 350 reserves. There's just no way you'll need them all.

So yeah, your reservation IS meaningless, but not because you aren't guaranteed a copy, but because there's no need to actually reserve a copy in order to get a game, especially when it comes to mega-releases like this.

skullivan

Enyeez

MrBionic

Maybe, just maybe, if you had your spending priorities budgeted properly, you wouldn't have to go without lunch the day before dropping $90 on a game.

Nice comment about mother's basement by the way.. lol.

I'm sorry that you're so absolutely stuck in the world that you think the only way to get a copy of the game you want is to be sucked into the pre-order world.

MrBionic

Next.

LOL.

(Seriously, that's so badass)

Big World

DaWarrior25

If you don't want to preorder, fine. But do not fucking bitch if you can't get the game you wanted, or the CE you wanted, because you didn't bother ordering it because you "knew we'd have it." Oh, yes, there are people like that. Even ones who want the newest Atlus or NISA game.

With a big title, whatever, I understand not being too worried about Halo or AAA game. But then, if you know our business and the amount of games we order is based off of reservations (and it is, believe me), then just fucking order it. It doesn't cost extra, and usually there are incentives (like the extra 20% trade in in GTA's case).
The more people that order, the more copies we get, and therefore the more we can sell in general. But there are so many with the "I don't have to order it because there will be extra copies when it comes out" attitude that it ends up screwing everybody else over, especially if your store manager is a corporate bitch like some stores have.

And to those who mentioned MGS 4. If you're talking about the CE there's no fucking way it will be sold. At least, not if you shop at my store.

Fierfaerie

Very.

Slowly.

You see, if you have no money... (you with me?)... and then you get paid... you now have money.
So... a person who couldn't afford something yesterday... but got paid today... (still with me?)... can now afford that certain something (and many other things if they've got a well-paying job) because they got... paid.

So, to recap: I haven't been living on the street, going without food and other luxuries so that I can afford my precious copy of GTA IV. No, I skipped lunch yesterday to avoid any funky business with the bank, and when I get paid tomorrow my checking and accounts will be chock-full of gas tank-filling, video game-purchasing, bill-paying money.

If and when you no longer live with your parents, you'll know what I'm talking about li'l buddy. Now go play your video games, but don't turn it up too lound. Dad's got work in the morning.

Big World

Tomahawk214

If you walk-in at a game launch you can't buy the game because you didn't preorder. But some people who preordered get screwed because the store sold their copy because they oversold their preorders.

More reason to just preorder games from someone else who actually honors their preorders or just buy it from some other store who has plenty of stock.

NullsRevenge

MrBionic

Orionsaint

Altima NEO

Next.

LOL.

MrBionic

redrabbit

GranzonTotoro

Hard to find New Release (Atlus games, etc.): Amazon pre-order (free shipping + no tax)

Seriously…why would anyone pre-order a game of GTA/Halo/Madden caliber? As for harder to find games, just use Amazon to pre-order them, it is a lot less of a hassle and cheaper than Gamestop anyway.

KidU

I reserved my Collector's Edition copy of GTA IV a couple of weeks ago. I get paid on the 15th and 30th of every month, and this month has been particular hard on my finances, to the point where I didn't buy lunch yesterday. Knowing that my reservation was good for 48 hours, I reserved a copy of the game with the explicit intent of purchasing the game on the 30th, when I get paid. As you know, the game was released on the 29th.
After reading this post, I now know that there is a possibility that when I walk into GameStop later today, the copy of GTA IV that I paid to have reserved could have been sold to a person who didn't have the foresight to reserve a copy in advance and simply stumbled through the door with $90.
So, I don't deserve my copy? It's my fault that life dealt me a bad hand this month, and now I may have to wait longer for the game that I paid to have reserved specifically for me? A lot of people would call that reasoning selfish, narrow-minded and juvenile.

As far as GameStop goes: this is the most blatant disregard for the customer that I've ever been subject to, and it'll be the last time I reserve a game with them again, whether or not my game is there today.

Big World

I second this commenter. That's how the typical store works.

Deebo's Bike

Though sometimes when I go to gamestop (here or in town) some of the workers are condiscending. I can't even spell. I'm going to go cry now.

Channing

"Can I get a copy of GTA IV for the PS3?"

"Did you pre-order?"

"Nope."

"Sure, here you go."

Easy as pie.

kingclip

Spartan1308

Darlan

Adam_Locked

Sesstuna