Wow... My eyes have truly been opened about Gamestop...

[Therumancer]

In the last few days, I have heard about and subsequently researched horrible things Gamestop has been accused of doing. Now I'm not talking about whether or not the "used games market" is stealing money from publishers, I'm just talking about business practices of the stores themselves. But from what I hear, Gamestop is guilty of acts that are LITERALLY illegal in the state of California, such as not giving employees breaks, forced searches on employees before their lunches and at the ends of shifts, and damn near stealing money from employees with something called a "Comdata" card that the store signs you up for when you're hired. It was also brought to my attention that in some, not all, that employees actually run criminal record scans on customers without notification. Even the police at least TELL you that their doing it. Now this is FAR from everything that I've been told, but I would really like to know if anyone else had heard anything like this. I would especially like it if current or former Gamestop employees would speak up, because those people would have been on the front lines so to speak.

Now I have no idea how "up to date" my information is, but I will be glad to link the videos I was shown that really bothered me.

Please do not misunderstand me. I fully supported and even defended Gamestop until just recently, so this isn't just some "I hate how they steal money from publishers" thing. I am speaking on Gamestop's apparent treatment of employees as expendable numbers that can be replaced in an instant, and customers as walking sacks with dollar signs on them ripe for the pillaging. I am genuinely interested in any information people have about their experiences.

EDIT:
I realize I probably should have included these in to begin with:

Please do not immediately disregard these videos because of the format, these were all done by former employees who were witnesses and victims to these treatments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHVepwrFTLA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh5dGE5eZ0A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxApoyEePfU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FZuneF_Yt0

Most of those things are not a big deal. Searches on employees are pretty routine, at least where I worked, of course I was usually the guy conducting the searches. To my way of thinking people who haven't had to endure this until recently have been spoiled.

I do not care for the corperate attitude in general, but really your not likely to find many businesses that are differant.

The Comdata thing isn't really them stealing as much as them using the cheapest service they can which charges the users (the employees).

In short being a minimum wage, or near-minimum wage work-monkey sucks, and always has.

To be honest at least Gamestop is pretty honest in the way they do things and who they treat that way. I have more of a problem with employers who hire people for more serious levels of work, promise all kinds of benefits, regular wage increases, and other things, and then find ways to fire or lay off the employees and hire new ones before they can collect on the long term benefits. Some guy who signs up for a career, is promised all this stuff for making it 10 years or whatever, and then gets set up/laid off and fired so the company doesn't have to deliver and winds up on the job market 10 years older and with a black spot on their record has a bit more of a legitimate problem.

As far as the criminal checks go, all I can say is "it's about time", one of the big problems with Gamestops has been how they act as fences. The biggest issue I had with their used game business was that it meant that someone who wanted quick cash could break into a house, grab a deck and some games, and then trade them for cash at Gamestop with no
questions asked. It's been a long standing issue, and honestly it's nice to see the company taking more initiative in looking at the sellers and such (which is what this is all about). As far as not telling people when you do a criminal/backround check on them... that's just how it's done. The last thing you need is someone to make a scene in the store about it and drive off business or get violent. Besides part of the point is for it to act as a deterrant, when people get caught.

Basically if some dude comes in and drops off 40 games and you find he has a criminal record, you make a note of that, tell the police, and the police compare it to break ins reported in the area. Then they go see the guy at his house, treating it like a tip.

It's sort of like how when I worked at the casino, all movies aside, when we nailed someone we didn't start these huge brawls in the middle of the casino floor. There was no need for that, we nail the guy, tell the police, and then the police come and get them at their house. You get caught stealing a lot of things, you won't know you've been nailed until after the fact, you may eventually get to see the security videos after the fact however. I'd guess whoeever set up these policies for Gamestop has a brain... and honestly, if you were doing a backround check for your employer, would YOU want to tell the guy your targeting? I didn't think so.

 

[imperialreign]

Wow . . . I guess it's all the differences between states . . . here in VA, all of those practices are not only legal, they're fairly common place. I guess that's from living in a "right to work" state. It boils down to: it's your right to work, not the employers - if you don't like the practices, move on to somewhere else.

Sometimes I think CA has gotten it's ego blown out of proportion . . . almost like they're the only state that matters with all their government organizations and all.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

-snip-

This was thouroughly entertaining, thank you so much for sharing.

I''m certainly glad you found them entertaining.

-snip-

Most of those things are not a big deal. Searches on employees are pretty routine, at least where I worked, of course I was usually the guy conducting the searches. To my way of thinking people who haven't had to endure this until recently have been spoiled.

I do not care for the corperate attitude in general, but really your not likely to find many businesses that are differant.

The Comdata thing isn't really them stealing as much as them using the cheapest service they can which charges the users (the employees).

In short being a minimum wage, or near-minimum wage work-monkey sucks, and always has.

To be honest at least Gamestop is pretty honest in the way they do things and who they treat that way. I have more of a problem with employers who hire people for more serious levels of work, promise all kinds of benefits, regular wage increases, and other things, and then find ways to fire or lay off the employees and hire new ones before they can collect on the long term benefits. Some guy who signs up for a career, is promised all this stuff for making it 10 years or whatever, and then gets set up/laid off and fired so the company doesn't have to deliver and winds up on the job market 10 years older and with a black spot on their record has a bit more of a legitimate problem.

As far as the criminal checks go, all I can say is "it's about time", one of the big problems with Gamestops has been how they act as fences. The biggest issue I had with their used game business was that it meant that someone who wanted quick cash could break into a house, grab a deck and some games, and then trade them for cash at Gamestop with no
questions asked. It's been a long standing issue, and honestly it's nice to see the company taking more initiative in looking at the sellers and such (which is what this is all about). As far as not telling people when you do a criminal/backround check on them... that's just how it's done. The last thing you need is someone to make a scene in the store about it and drive off business or get violent. Besides part of the point is for it to act as a deterrant, when people get caught.

Basically if some dude comes in and drops off 40 games and you find he has a criminal record, you make a note of that, tell the police, and the police compare it to break ins reported in the area. Then they go see the guy at his house, treating it like a tip.

It's sort of like how when I worked at the casino, all movies aside, when we nailed someone we didn't start these huge brawls in the middle of the casino floor. There was no need for that, we nail the guy, tell the police, and then the police come and get them at their house. You get caught stealing a lot of things, you won't know you've been nailed until after the fact, you may eventually get to see the security videos after the fact however. I'd guess whoeever set up these policies for Gamestop has a brain... and honestly, if you were doing a backround check for your employer, would YOU want to tell the guy your targeting? I didn't think so.

I'm sure it's just that those polices aren't the norm everywhere, and a lot of people have a problem with them. I can only speak for myself, but I was shocked when I first heard the accusations.

 

[sifffffff]

Why is the attitude "All retail does this so it isn't a big deal whatevs whatevs I'm going to still pre-order the game guide."

Part of the problem is the apathy. It's not written anywhere that this is the standard way for a workplace to treat it's employees. It shouldn't be the employee's fault they're working retail.

Retail stores like Gamestop that treat it's employees like shit shouldn't be getting a pass just because the treatment is common. You should stop supporting them and force them to change. This is my opinion and its coming from someone who's never worked for Gamestop or any retail job.

Basic employee treatment besides many of you seem to ignore the fact that Gamestop and it's business practices is killing the games industry.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

Why is the attitude "All retail does this so it isn't a big deal whatevs whatevs I'm going to still pre-order the game guide."

Part of the problem is the apathy. It's not written anywhere that this is the standard way for a workplace to treat it's employees. It shouldn't be the employee's fault they're working retail.

Retail stores like Gamestop that treat it's employees like shit shouldn't be getting a pass just because the treatment is common. You should stop supporting them and force them to change. This is my opinion and its coming from someone who's never worked for Gamestop or any retail job.

Basic employee treatment besides many of you seem to ignore the fact that Gamestop and it's business practices is killing the games industry.

That's pretty much what I was going for in my responses.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

Basic employee treatment besides many of you seem to ignore the fact that Gamestop and it's business practices is killing the games industry.

Gamestop and its business practices are keeping the games industry alive. Without them it would be in far worse shape then it is today.

Wasn't the point of this thread at all. I'd appreciate you take it elsewhere, otherwise the discussion will fall apart even more than it already has.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

Wasn't the point of this thread at all. I'd appreciate you take it elsewhere, otherwise the discussion will fall apart even more than it already has.

Oh yes you are right the point of this thread was to hate on gamestop for completely idiotic reasons. Not to provide a legitimate defence against those idiotic reasons.

The POINT was that I wasn't to know if anyone else had heard any of these accusations as well. You're just here to grief. People don't like being treated like garbage, that's kinda why there's a such thing as unions or class action lawsuits.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

The POINT was that I wasn't to know if anyone else had heard any of these accusations as well. You're just here to grief. People don't like being treated like garbage, that's kinda why there's a such thing as unions or class action lawsuits.

Im not just here to grief. Im here to laugh at anybody dumb enought to believe half the bullshit in those youtube videos. If people actually thought about it for a minute instead of just spewing out their hate they would realise how rediculous most of it is. The part about running criminal record scans on customers had to have been the funniest part out of all of it though. Its just so rediculous you would have to be legally retarded to believe it.

That's like saying the world outside your home stops because you're not there to see things happen. These were MOSTLY done by employees and former employees, so don't just disregard things because you haven't personally been affected by them. I don't care about your seething impotent rage, so take it elsewhere.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I dont what makes this a gaming discussion necessarily.

More OT: its probably the gamestop in the article you read. My friend works at a gamestop and he loves it.

now, if you want to see a truly shitty place to work, just apply to walmart.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

I dont what makes this a gaming discussion necessarily.

More OT: its probably the gamestop in the article you read. My friend works at a gamestop and he loves it.

now, if you want to see a truly shitty place to work, just apply to walmart.

I might have? I certainly can't pinpoint anything specific other than seeing a headline for a class action lawsuit against Gamestop for neglecting the legally required 30 minute break. If that was yours, then I suppose it was a factor.

But I suppose it could have elsewhere.

If nothing else, those videos have persuaded me to get an eBay account to sell my games.

...and tell EVERYONE I know how much sense that makes. I can't believe I never thought of it that way...

If it's something you want to do, go for it.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

That's like saying the world outside your home stops because you're not there to see things happen. These were MOSTLY done by employees and former employees, so don't just disregard things because you haven't personally been affected by them. I don't care about your seething impotent rage, so take it elsewhere.

Did you actually read anything you just wrote? Does that honestly make any sense to you at all? Because if you even bothered to think about it you would realise your post doesnt actually make any sense.

I suppose I could have broken those up better, but attacking my sentence structure doesn't make you right.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I dont what makes this a gaming discussion necessarily.

More OT: its probably the gamestop in the article you read. My friend works at a gamestop and he loves it.

now, if you want to see a truly shitty place to work, just apply to walmart.

I might have? I certainly can't pinpoint anything specific other than seeing a headline for a class action lawsuit against Gamestop for neglecting the legally required 30 minute break. If that was yours, then I suppose it was a factor.

But I suppose it could have elsewhere...

Yeah, I think it was just certain gamestops. Go into any thread about gamestop, and people will eventuall say it depends on which one, that there are good and bad ones, and it all depends on who staffs it. The one my friend works at (and the one in the nearby mall) are both two of the "good" gamestops, cause the guy who owns gamestop one (the one my friend works out) is a pretty cool guy, and is pretty lenient with his employees (in that no one who worked at that gamestop after he came in had anything to really say bad about him that wasnt justified), and gamestop 2 (in the mall) had the fewest compliants out of the all the department stores in the entire mall (theres something like 50+) annually and is the most applied for store to work at after the main anchor clothing stores.

 

[sifffffff]

Actually disregard this please. The OP asked me to leave it and I will. I'll just re-iterated that many of Gamestop's business practices are not good for the games industry. Unless you love pre-order bonuses and online passes.

 

[michael87cn]

I went into a gamestop to trade in my semi-new xbox 360 slim for cash, not because anything was wrong with it, (nothing was wrong with it, i had it for like a month and took great care of it) but I needed the money for an emergency.

The gamestop guy took the xbox, turned his back on me and set it up and turned it on, to test it out. Now, before I continue, the gamestop had at least 3 televisions BLARING trailers to new video games, and I had to shout to hear the guy. So here's where it got stupid: the guy turns back and faces me and tells me to my face that he can only give me like $20 for my xbox because he "can hear something moving inside" and that it needs to be refurbished. BULL! not only was he lying, but it would have been impossible for him to hear any such thing in that store without muting the tvs 2 feet from his face.

I told him "nothing is wrong with the xbox, ill take it back please" and he gave it back to me.

My thoughts are he was trying to rip me off and pocket the extra cash. What a sneaky bastard. Probably does it to people all the time.

P.S. btw ive had my xbox now for at least 8 months since then and not only does it NOT make sounds but it has run like a dream.

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

I dont what makes this a gaming discussion necessarily.

More OT: its probably the gamestop in the article you read. My friend works at a gamestop and he loves it.

now, if you want to see a truly shitty place to work, just apply to walmart.

I might have? I certainly can't pinpoint anything specific other than seeing a headline for a class action lawsuit against Gamestop for neglecting the legally required 30 minute break. If that was yours, then I suppose it was a factor.

But I suppose it could have elsewhere...

Yeah, I think it was just certain gamestops. Go into any thread about gamestop, and people will eventuall say it depends on which one, that there are good and bad ones, and it all depends on who staffs it. The one my friend works at (and the one in the nearby mall) are both two of the "good" gamestops, cause the guy who owns gamestop one (the one my friend works out) is a pretty cool guy, and is pretty lenient with his employees (in that no one who worked at that gamestop after he came in had anything to really say bad about him that wasnt justified), and gamestop 2 (in the mall) had the fewest compliants out of the all the department stores in the entire mall (theres something like 50+) annually and is the most applied for store to work at after the main anchor clothing stores.

I'm sure it IS very dependent of which store you go to. But the fact of the matter is, people don't like being treated like garbage. Whether or not your experiences are fine and dandy doesn't mean everyone else has had the same. You may have very friendly people working at your local stores, I can't speak on that. But the point of the thread, at least my initial point that seems to have been entirely missed by most, was to see if other people had experienced anything similar or if they had grievances to add.