GameStop Sued Over "Deceptive" Used Game Sales

[crotalidian]

3 words ee dee yot

As this looks more and more likely to become an issue in future it may be worth comapnies that sell used game sto start printing a DLC disclaimer on receipts for used games.

Edit: actually receipt would not be a good idea, maybe just a sign in store? a sticker on the box...I dunno cant be that hard to sort out

 

[squid5580]

Hey here is a question. What happens after April 30th? What will happen to all those homeless new games collecting dust on store shelves? Move over E.T. you got some company coming lol.

 

[TPiddy]

This guy hasn't a leg to stand on. It says right there on the box. Just like I didn't have a leg to stand on when Gamestop sold my pre-order because I didn't pick it up within 48 hours. It says so on my receipt.

It doesn't mean that Gamestop aren't complete DICKS for doing so, but it does mean that legally, in this case, as in mine, it's buyer beware. At least I got my deposit back, and went and bought the game at a retailer who's not a total douche.

What made you take 48 hours? I get them at midnight. I mean, you had 2 days. Why not go get it? They are open till 9 PM.

Because I have better things to do than wait in line at midnight for a video game. In this particular case I was out of town, called them beforehand to tell them I was going out of town, and they agreed to hold my copy for a week, then they sold it. They're assholes. And it wasn't like I put $10 down, I paid for the whole game... $90. And they still sold it. And lost a good customer in the process.

They're within their rights to sell it, but why tell me over the phone that you will hold it and then sell it anyways. There's a little thing called customer service and they are sorely lacking in that department.

 

[mechanixis]

How stupid. That guy is just greedy. So is Gamestop. They should offer him a job, as he'd fit right in.

Maybe at your local Gamestop, but mine knows not to bother with trying to sell me that which I never buy. I'll buy the disk warranty, as I'm paranoid about the disk, but I treat all disks nicely, so I don't need. I will not buy GI, or the card, so they don't try to sell me either. They know that I'm probably there to pre-order, and they make small talk. Whenever I'm there I normally have a gaming discussion at check-out. I enjoy it.

Well that's all well and good, apparently you live near a rare exception of a Gamestop that employs human beings. For the rest of us, the only staff seem to be spiteful troglodytes who only understand the phrases 'pre-order' and 'trade-in'. It's a place associated with getting $4 store credit for a trade in that then goes on the shelf for $50, and buying used games that turn out to be covered in scratches. Everything about the place reeks of ruthless marketing and disregard for consumer satisfaction.

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

I hate gamestop and I'm glad my local gamestop closed. I hope Collins wins even though he has a very slim chance.

 

[dragontiers]

This guy hasn't a leg to stand on. It says right there on the box. Just like I didn't have a leg to stand on when Gamestop sold my pre-order because I didn't pick it up within 48 hours. It says so on my receipt.

It doesn't mean that Gamestop aren't complete DICKS for doing so, but it does mean that legally, in this case, as in mine, it's buyer beware. At least I got my deposit back, and went and bought the game at a retailer who's not a total douche.

What made you take 48 hours? I get them at midnight. I mean, you had 2 days. Why not go get it? They are open till 9 PM.

Because I have better things to do than wait in line at midnight for a video game. In this particular case I was out of town, called them beforehand to tell them I was going out of town, and they agreed to hold my copy for a week, then they sold it. They're assholes. And it wasn't like I put $10 down, I paid for the whole game... $90. And they still sold it. And lost a good customer in the process.

They're within their rights to sell it, but why tell me over the phone that you will hold it and then sell it anyways. There's a little thing called customer service and they are sorely lacking in that department.

That seems to be a case of (at least) one bad/stupid/harebrained employee. It is perfectly acceptable store policy to hold the item when you called, but the person you spoke to should have attached a note to on your copy and put it separate from the others so it wouldn't be accidentally sold. If they did that and another employee sold it, then that employee is an ass (or that manager is an ass if they made an employee sell it).

 

[Xanadu84]

I checked out my own copy of Dragon Age: Origins and it does specify, on the back, that it includes Shale, The Stone Prisoner [http://dragonage.bioware.com/addon/] and Blood Dragon Armor as DLC, but each is marked with an asterisk; reading further, the asterisk is revealed to mean, "One time use code available with full retail purchase. Expires April 30, 2010." It seems clear enough, but then again, who's got time to read and comprehend when there's five bucks on the line?

God Damn how can people be so retarded to not read the god damn games they buy but go to the trouble of taking on a massive retailer-chain?

Edit:Can Gamestop even be sued for what they did?I mean sure it's deceitful as hell, but who the heck buys a used game for $5 less then a new one?

How is what GS does deceitful? Unless of course the employee specifically said "ya you get the DLC" I don't see how they are to blame.

It's "deceitful" because in their store, they were selling a product that clearly states on the front that the game they were buying had something that it did not have, and charged them for it. Of course, I suppose its not exactly deceitful since they almost definitely did not realize the problem. But that's not the customers fault. Yes, any of us well informed gamers would put 2 and 2 together and realize that something was off. But to a person who just happens to play a few video games here and there, they have likely never logged on to a game news site, and read an article on Project $10. They probably assumed that the game contained what the box said, instead of piecing together Gamestops pricing scheme together with the publishers recent marketing strategy. It's not a strange mistake to make, I will bet that the vast majority of gamers would make a similar one. What should have happened is that when the game was brought back, past deadline or no, GS would realized that the pricing error was there fault, and given the guy his 10 bucks. That's just decent customer service. If sueing is what it takes for GS to realize there mistake and charge the correct price, hey, I'm fine with that.

 

[mechanixis]

How stupid. That guy is just greedy. So is Gamestop. They should offer him a job, as he'd fit right in.

Maybe at your local Gamestop, but mine knows not to bother with trying to sell me that which I never buy. I'll buy the disk warranty, as I'm paranoid about the disk, but I treat all disks nicely, so I don't need. I will not buy GI, or the card, so they don't try to sell me either. They know that I'm probably there to pre-order, and they make small talk. Whenever I'm there I normally have a gaming discussion at check-out. I enjoy it.

Well that's all well and good, apparently you live near a rare exception of a Gamestop that employs human beings. For the rest of us, the only staff seem to be spiteful troglodytes who only understand the phrases 'pre-order' and 'trade-in'. It's a place associated with getting $4 store credit for a trade in that then goes on the shelf for $50, and buying used games that turn out to be covered in scratches. Everything about the place reeks of ruthless marketing and disregard for consumer satisfaction.

I rarely trade in, but I did one time with a large batch of games, most of which were gifts, and they had a pretty good deal going on. That is, for every 4 PS3, Wii or 360 (I only have 360) games you trade in, you got a extra $20. For every 3, you get a extra $10. I used the $160 I got out of that to get L4D 2, Borderland and Mass Effect 2 (CE). Most of the games were bad, like Far Cry 2, Far Cry: Predator Instincts, Sonic 06 (which, while I like, had no replayabilty), Sonic Unleashed (which I hated), and some other bile.

And guess what? When I was done with it, I sold my copy of Fallout 3 on eBay for $50. And got reimbursed with good old fashioned use-it-anywhere cash. But if you're content with getting four bucks for it because GameStop says that's what it's worth, then power to you. If you actually do the math on how much you pay for games and what GameStop gives you in return for them, it's pretty ridiculous.

 

[XainBushido]

Well its on the box, not much you can argue over. Even if it seems shady that the fine print is probably smaller than the print of the listed free dlc, but thats a life lesson. You get those credit card offers you will see it you cant go sueing them for things like this. Even if I do think its misleading.

However on the used game thing, usually I buy them used for the seven day return policy. I am sure people have bought a new game beat it in a few days and go was it worth 60.00, well its cheap of me but I will buy use when I have a question about liking the game or not.

 

[DocSun]

Surely there's no case here?It says on the packaging that the free DLC is only for new purchases so how can this possibly be Gamestop's fault?Cheapskate should have just forked out the extra $5 and bought it new

Ding! Totaly agree. Guy is just looking for money for an excuse to get rich fast. I mean... if 10$ is that big of a deal that he can't just bite the bullet and call it a lesson learned... hes defiantly just out to cause problems and make money.

My real hate of gamestop is when they sell a "NEW" game when the box is opened and the disk is out cus they wanted to put an empty box on the shelf.... Im sorry thats not new you opened the damn game.

 

[mechanixis]

How stupid. That guy is just greedy. So is Gamestop. They should offer him a job, as he'd fit right in.

Maybe at your local Gamestop, but mine knows not to bother with trying to sell me that which I never buy. I'll buy the disk warranty, as I'm paranoid about the disk, but I treat all disks nicely, so I don't need. I will not buy GI, or the card, so they don't try to sell me either. They know that I'm probably there to pre-order, and they make small talk. Whenever I'm there I normally have a gaming discussion at check-out. I enjoy it.

Well that's all well and good, apparently you live near a rare exception of a Gamestop that employs human beings. For the rest of us, the only staff seem to be spiteful troglodytes who only understand the phrases 'pre-order' and 'trade-in'. It's a place associated with getting $4 store credit for a trade in that then goes on the shelf for $50, and buying used games that turn out to be covered in scratches. Everything about the place reeks of ruthless marketing and disregard for consumer satisfaction.

I rarely trade in, but I did one time with a large batch of games, most of which were gifts, and they had a pretty good deal going on. That is, for every 4 PS3, Wii or 360 (I only have 360) games you trade in, you got a extra $20. For every 3, you get a extra $10. I used the $160 I got out of that to get L4D 2, Borderland and Mass Effect 2 (CE). Most of the games were bad, like Far Cry 2, Far Cry: Predator Instincts, Sonic 06 (which, while I like, had no replayabilty), Sonic Unleashed (which I hated), and some other bile.

And guess what? When I was done with it, I sold my copy of Fallout 3 on eBay for $50. And got reimbursed with good old fashioned use-it-anywhere cash. But if you're content with getting four bucks for it because GameStop says that's what it's worth, then power to you.

Fallout 3 is an awesome game. Those were not. Those wouldn't sell for $5 on ebay. Also, this was in September of last year, and those games are old. Besides, even if I could get that much cash, I would have spent it on the same things I did. I feel that I got a good trade, after all, 2 of those games were Sonic 06 and Unleashed. Those games suck. They helped get me one of my sets of extra $20. I basically just traded in all of my bad games that would have never sold on ebay. Plus, Borderlands was coming out soon, and I like doing auctions for as long as I can. I also like pre-ordering. So, in the end, I made a profit. Not to mention the fact that 99% of those games were gifts and the gifters didn't see a dime of that cash.

Actually a few quick eBay searches tell me that all of those games go for around $15-$25 on eBay, with the exception of Sonic 2006, which I admit is an otherwise unsellable bit of garbage. Even subtracting a hefty shipping charge, GameStop is not giving you what the game is worth.

Either way, considering that GameStop expects people to buy used games at 90% the original price, buying them from you at 5% the original price is just low.