274: Confessions of a GameStop Employee - Part Two

[JeanLuc761]

Man, Ben is right on. As a current employee at Gamestop, everything he's said (possible exception being the quality of the game discs) is perfectly accurate.

Folks, we don't want to treat you badly. We want you to turn your games into us, we want you to be respectful, and we WANT you to stand up for yourself if you don't like the trade-in credit you're going to get. There isn't a single person on this earth who is being FORCED to trade their games in at our store.

It honestly comes down to this: Customers, more often than not, are complete assholes when in the store. I'm sorry, but it's true. Here's a few examples of what I see on a daily basis:

1) Customers bitching about the price of new games
2) Customers bitching about the price of used games
3) Customers bitching about the condition of used games
4) Customers responding to "Are you okay this game is rated M for Mature" with "No," then buying the game anyway.
5) Customers bitching at us to shut up when all we're doing is our damn jobs (Asking about EDGE card, warranties, that kind of stuff).
6) Customers APPARENTLY forgetting how the alphabet works, meaning that we have to spend the last two hours of the day fixing all the walls because apparently people are too lazy to put things back where they got them

The list honestly goes on and on and on. Treat your Gamestop clerks well, and we'll be nice to you. Treat us like scum, and we won't be quite so jolly.

 

[A_Parked_Car]

I'm glad I never have to actually deal with used games. Although all the games I have are in pretty much mint condition. You could probably get away with selling them as new.

 

[Arionis]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

I've worked at a CD DEPOT, I did the resurfacing in store, behind the counter.

Customers are idiots in all situations he described, and you grow to love when you get to put them on the spot for their stupidity and lack of care for their games.

I personally love these articles.

 

[mattaui]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

Yes, yes he does. I'll just get this out of the way since everyone likes to air out their customer service bonafides. I've worked retail, customer service, consulting and now professionally deal with a lot of very angry people with very big problems and very small ones. Some people just get mad at the same level no matter if they're going to face jail time or they don't have their favorite movie for rent. Shouldn't be that way, but it is.

I really disliked this guy from the first article, and now I see that he's just getting worse and likely goaded on by his fellow travelers here in the thread. I used to serve coffee to people, at a snooty little independent coffee shop for a summer job in high school, and you know, there were some seriously annoying and even enraged people I had to deal with. But you know, that's part of the job, and in fact customer service is what you're largely being paid to do when you get a job selling retail products to people. They didn't care if I particularly liked or knew much about coffee or even if I really liked it, but could I show up and serve it, ideally making it a pleasant enough experience that they'd come back instead of this new place called Starbucks that had gone in down the street.

This isn't an article about Gamestop, it's about a raging misanthrope who seems to think that working at a game retail store that deals in used games is supposed to be like curating a gaming museum where he can deal in pristine copies of cherished games and get paid to wax rhapsodic about games to polite and interested people. Sorry for the confusion there, Ben, you work at a Gamestop.

 

[PeePantz]

i hate that this is split up.. i feel like there's not much content in each of these stories and its just being dragged out for the hell of it

I agree, although I am enjoying these articles. The writing is both well done and engaging. However, the content is something that probably 95% of people either are aware of or assume.
Also, I believe that this is starting to get away from Gamespot and more into the realm of "Ben" only enjoying new and shiny things. In other words, he's not taking the toy out of the case. I feel like there's a slight ocd/nerd rage bottled inside of him.
I personally enjoy Gamestop and have never had a problem with them. The one closest to me is filled with knowledgeable employees that are very helpful. I've never been insulted or dicked over by them. Yes, they always ask if I'd like to pre-order anything, but that's their job, and they're never too pushy with anything. I feel that "Ben" has had the misfortune to work at a terrible location and if these are the "horror" stories from them, so far, Gamestop is looking pretty okay.

 

[sailor_960]

It sounds as if the moral of the story is: retail would be easy if not for the customers.

 

[cypherslock]

I can understand not getting much if the game is 2 years old, but what about recent ones. I write reviews for a video game site. As such I get games from the publishers. One day I got Modern Warfare 2. It had just been released that week. I took it, in its shrinkwrap to trade it in as another reviewer had already reviewed his copy. I was told $20. For a BRAND NEW as in JUST RELEASED game? Now that is bad and really makes me wonder what the games are truly worth.

I wasn't happy, but I generally like Beat Goes On, so I took it. And having worked in retail (Best Buy) I agree with pretty much everybody on here. It gets to you after a while. Grown adults acting like children. Wanting advice and then not fucking listening. And treating you like dirt because they've had a bad day. That said, I'm glad I had the opportunity as I respect those that are still in it.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Confessions of a GameStop Employee - Part Two

In the second installment of a four-part series, Scott Jones relates the story of "Ben," an employee from a New York City-area GameStop who reveals the truth about trading in games.

Read Full Article

So yeah, this is actually a pretty accurate account of how GameStop works. The customers are often idiots...

Well, they are shopping at Gamestop so...
Most intelligent people stop shopping there when they realize it's a ripoff.
As I have never got to know Gamestop enough to trade in (buying games there is enough of a pain in the ass) I never knew how truely awful the trade in program is. To tell you the truth, I expected it a lot worse: more "particulars" to detract from the price: "those are some ugly shoes, you get $5 less credit."

It should just give everyone more reason to sell on ebay or something like that.

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

Is it just me or do all gamestop employees seem like dicks?

 

[Lord Aronsworth]

This article, I'm happy to say is accurate. Yes, a lot of the games are missing cases and manuals. My store regular sees kids drop a ziploc bag of discs on the counter. I tend to be a little more harsh in determining saleable vs. Refurb in that situation.

The Madden issue hasn't been as much of a problem more recently; I, personally, let them know older sports games don't keep their value if a newer one comes out every year before I even check the value in the system.

Basically, the only thing GameStop employees want is for our customers to remember that is a human being behind the counter. If you treat us as such, we are happy to go above and beyond for you.

 

[Jenny Decimal]

I'm nice to nice customers, but such creatures are rarer than left handed unicorns.

And I do try to be nice even to the jerks, but I'm only human. It's infuriating to me to see the disrespect people treat expensive things with, it shows a tremendous disregard for money and objects that really rankles. And then without fail those exact same people will treat you like shit if you don't offer them exactly what they paid for the thing six years ago.

A customer of mine traded in an Xbox a while back, and when it was taken out to be tested out back, we discovered a pair of visibly used underwear and half a packet of wet cigarettes in the bag with it. Another customer demanded that I replace her Nintendo DS because it hadn't worked since she dropped it in the toilet. This is the stuff we deal with every day, and after a while you get a little bit less forgiving when you have to deal with yet another person who treats both the objects and people around them like absolute shit. I'm sure you guys are cool, but lots of our customers aren't. We endeavour to treat all with courtesy, but I reserve the right to grumble about it quietly to myself when somebody hands me a controller covered in chewing gum or a PS3 with a load of cheese wedged into the USB ports, again, and demands a mighty king's ransom for it lest they summon my master.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

One day I got Modern Warfare 2. It had just been released that week. I took it, in its shrinkwrap to trade it in as another reviewer had already reviewed his copy. I was told $20. For a BRAND NEW as in JUST RELEASED game? Now that is bad and really makes me wonder what the games are truly worth.

Strictly speaking, they're not supposed to take still-sealed games for trade.

As for the trade value, I thought I heard that it's about half what they'll eventually sell it for, but that doesn't sound right because they sell new releases used for $55, so you should have got more than 20 anyway.

 

[Tharticus]

I can relate. My friend currently works at GameStop and he's pissed everyday because unruly customers keep on coming expecting that their game that was made 2 years ago, has depreciated to about 3 USD. It's GAMESTOP buddy. You must be a idiot expecting that you can get quick cash.

Everytime that I enter GameStop or other gaming stores, I tend to pick out good plastic covers, color that hasn't fade out and even having the manual inside. But man oh man, most of the customers I meet were dicks and I talk to the clerks. Some would talk, others wouldn't say anything.

 

[mjc0961]

More than likely, the people smart enough to take care of their games are also smart enough to not trade in their games at GameStop. I take care of my games, I have good cases (except in the situations when they were damaged in the mail on their way to me), and the manuals are in great shape as well. Now, do you think I'm going to take any of those into GameStop and get $5-$10 for them when I could go on Amazon or eBay and sell them for $20-$30 depending on the game? HELL NO. I may not get instant money selling online, but when they do sell, I get way more money than I would have at GameStop.

Plus I don't sell games that often anyway. The last one I sold was inFamous, and as some people here may have picked up on, I fucking hate that game with every fiber of my being. I find zero redeeming qualities about it and was glad to get it out of my house (although I feel sorry about the poor bastard who bought it and has to play it).

 

[Necromancer1991]

Can I point out one thing about the "Light Test", it doesn't hold true for blu-rays, they are borderline translucent. But really I never fall victim to the negative credit, I always make sure my games are in great condition, that and I make sure most of the games I am trading are relatively recent, case and point I just traded in my copy of red dead and got like $30 bucks for it which isn't so bad because I usually trade in games in groups of 6 or so so I'm sure that even with the minimum of payments I should be able to afford a DS game. If you want to trade in like say GTAIV, don't, at this point you're bound to only get like $10 bucks for it.

 

[Jenny Decimal]

mjc0961, that's kind of the trade-off. I mean I know I can get more if I advertise and sell it myself, but often, I'm willing to take the hit for the sake of convenience and the instant return I can get in a store, and many others are too. That's the deal and I'm cool with that.

Incidentally, Gamestop's instore credit values aren't actually that bad. Their cash values blow, but if you're just buying another game, then you're on to a winner.

 

[Irridium]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kinda come of like a dick in this article?

Trust me, its justified. You'd be amazed at how many people rent a game/movie in brand new condition, and when they return it it looks like it just aged 5 years.

I'd have long conversations with co-workers speculating at what people do with these games. Is it so fucking hard to just keep them on a shelf with the manual inside the case?

Working in retail does this to you. It chips away at your psyche, gradually turning you more into a bitter husk of what you once were.

Is it just me or do all gamestop employees seem like dicks?

Dealing with the average customer will turn you into a dick. Every single thing he described is what he has to put up with every day.

If customers want people in retail to stop being dicks, then perhaps they should stop acting like self-absorbed, know it all assholes.

 

[Charli]

Siblings happen man, You can't hide shit from them. I take care of a select few that I never intend to trade in, But usually I got the stern 'Share thy video games' talk. And what happened? Sticky fingers, unexplained scratches. My little brother actually broke my gamecube (a feat thought impossible) by slamming the ON button down so hard it broke.

Well that was just dandy.

There are reasons I envy single children. Smug brats they are.

 

[NobodyHereButUsTrees]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kinda come of like a dick in this article?

Clearly you've never worked in retail. Either that, or your experience retail was pleasant. I envy you.

 

[Orekoya]

Worst case scenario: Sure, you might only get $1 for your mint-condition copy of FIFA: Street, but that's more than anyone else in their right mind would ever give you for it.

Yep, there is no other way for anybody anywhere to sell their games. If only somebody would invent some magical place where they could communicate with everyone they could ever want to, all over the world. Maybe with a series of tubes.

Right, but even the mighty internets can't sell a two or three year old game when there's last year's version for $20 or less, this year's version is already out, and next year's version is coming out in 3-4 months. Especially if its in the shitty condition he's described.

What? Think you're getting examples confused.