This is Round 26 in our Worst Company in America contest, Gamestop vs Monster Cable. Vote which sucks more, inside…
Here’s what our readers said when they nominated these two companies:
Gamestop:
“(ooh i fucking hate Gamestop…)”
“They sell opened games as brand new, mark up the price on most Nintendo DS games by 5$ (hello 34.99 for Professor Layton and the Curious Village, MSRP 29.99) not to mention selling tons of scratched up, used games for 5$ less than the new price of a game. Another thing they do is frequently sell pirated games, especially when it comes to Game Boy Advance games. They have no policy against checking for or selling pirated games, and the employees are not trained to check for pirated games. They do not check or clean games that are traded in, they just put them on the shelf as they get them, so when you buy a used game there, you are basically getting someone else’s junk.”
Monster Cable:
“Can we have a “worst consumer” category, so I can nominate the people who do business with paycheck lenders, buy Monster cables and those horrible Crocs?”
“Monster Cable. People do actually buy their products, they are actually overpriced and mostly worthless. But most importantly, they sue everyone who uses the dictionary word “monster”. My favorite lawsuit? Suing Mike Shkolnik who sold stuffed monsters online in his “Monster Shop” at monster.biz”
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/
STILL OPEN FOR VOTING:
Bank Of America vs Toys R’ Us
Toshiba vs Microsoft
US Airways vs Washington Mutual
American Airlines vs Blockbuster
Time Warner Cable vs Radioshack
Wellpoint vs Charter Cable
Dell vs Home Depot
Sears vs Citibank
Wal-Mart vs TJMaxx
Mattel vs ATT
Capital One vs Video Professor
eBay/Paypal vs COX
Apple vs SallieMae
Diebold Vs Pfizer
MTV vs TransUnion
CompUSA vs DirecTV
Target vs Best Buy
Allstate vs Verizon
DeBeers vs 1800 flowers
Starbucks vs United Airlines
Exxon vs Crocs
Google Vs Sony
Ticketmaster vs Wachovia
Facebook vs The American Arbitration Association
Comcast vs Menu Foods
(Photo: Getty)
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Im gonna have to go with Gamestop here…
You can not buy Monster Cables. There are many cheap options you can buy that are as good or better.
Gamestop however is pretty much the only place to trade in and buy games (around here anyways) so you are pretty much locked into their crap trade in rates and their stupid prices on used games.
The Gamestop opened new games problem would be easy if the publishers would send DVD sleeves to the stores. Empty DVD cases are a dime a dozen in bulk and an employee can easily slide sleeves into the cases for display purposes.
Of course that would require both the publisher and Gamestop to care.
I will go with Gamestop as they ruined EB when they bought em.
you know a company is bad news (gamestop) when their history includes being saved from bankruptcy by barnes & noble.
“gamestop” is an anagram for “pate smog.” that about sums it up for me.
@parad0x360: You’re on THE INTERNET. Do you think Amazon might have competitive pricing, or that you might be able to trade games online?
Gamestop being the “only” place is a pretty shitty argument in this day and age.
Gamestop only does what consumers let it. It’s like Wal-mart: if you stopped shopping there, they wouldn’t make any money.
OK, monster cable’s products are certainly bullshit insofar as their claims to superiority go, but there’s nothing actually wrong with them. If you want to overpay $80, you will get a perfectly fine cable. Gamestop on the other hand is pushing pre-orders, used games marked as new, and general bullshittery.
@Geekybiker: How, praytell?
I voted Gamestop, because the last time I shopped there the guy working there insulted every single game I wanted to buy (even though if I had listened to him, it would have cost them the sale) and pretty much acted like girls shouldn’t be playing video games at all.
If you don’t want me shopping there, I’ll spend my money somewhere else.
Monster Cable. The guys at my local GameStop treat me really well, and they won’t bullshit me into a game if they know I won’t like it. I know that most of ‘em are disgruntled, though, but who isn’t that works in retail?
Monster Cable preys on people who don’t know any better. Ew.
Monster Cable: Suitable Competition
GameStop: Monopoly, overcharges, etc.
Who do you think?
@Blinkman: Nobody is ON the INTERNET. You USE the internet. And by your arguement no companies should be voted on because everything is the consumers fault.
“Gamestop only does what consumers let it. “
I’m gonna have to say… wrong. If you buy something thinking it is something else how did you ‘let’ them do it to you. I’m assuming you have never bought anything before, because thats basically how it works. You buy something. If it’s defective or used, when it’s supposed to work or be ‘brand new’, then you take it back.
Gamestop!!! They’re friggin’ everywhere and forcing mom and pop stores to close just like WalMart. They’ll rip you off, and won’t bat an eye about it.
Will you monoprice people stop shilling for them every time cables are mentioned?
It’s obvious that some if not all of you work for them, and have permanent blog searches set up so you don’t miss a cables discussion.
Sure their cables are cheap, but they’re straight from the Chinese crap factory. I have never heard a noisier RCA cable than the one they sent me, and I’ve heard my fair share. Screw monoprice.
Cheap cables are all over the web — I just got some very good quality cables cheap from PCConnection, but I’ve done fine at ebay, etc.
i agonized over voting who’s worse. I had to go with Gamestop, since i think at this point most people know Monster is crap.
On a side note, I got my cables from Monoprice and was super happy with the build quality. I’d highly recommend Monoprice. Monoprice.com for all your cable needs
/snicker
Seriously, you people hate monster more? Is it because Consumerist have been covering them more recently so they’re in your fickle heads? All they do is sell overpriced cables; Game Stop has a *number* of dishonest, rip off business practices.
prameta1: I wondered when the monster cable company shill would stop in. At least a couple threads ago y’all would identify yourself.
/or maybe you just really need to check out Monoprice, or even Blue Jeans Cable
theodicey: No affiliation here, just mentioning it to piss off Monster Cable.
@rmz: Yah, you’re right, I pretty much do half.com for a game I’ve been anticipating, or Gamestop when I’m browsing. Sometimes video stores sell their stock and I browse there. I tend to get my Sims expansion packs at Best Buy or Circuit City. Dunno why, I guess I just don’t want to deal with the mall when I want to get in and get out.
@prameta1
Just because someone is rich, doesn’t mean they should buy overpriced products.
I can’t speak for everyone, but you said that everyone on this board would buy Monster if they could afford it. Well, speaking for myself, if I won the lottery or something, I still would not buy Monster.
Rich people can stay rich by saving their money, not blowing it.
I voted for Gamestop on the fact that I used to work there, and quite frankly they don’t give a damn about their customers. As a store manager, when I would have to merchandise the store, it almost always involved unsealing EVERY copy I had of a new release. Along with that, Gamestop has a program that allows their associates to bring home new titles and play them, then bring them back. That wasn’t just a “sometimes” thing; there was a page for it in the book where we kept our business records. I think my favorite thing was the constant forcing of customers to buy used products, when well over half the trash we would receive from the home office that was listed as “used” or “refurbished” didn’t work in the first place. I guess pissing people off and making them come back is a great way to ensure repeat customers…
NOOO!!!!!!! This is a terrible match up! Both of these companies deserve to make it to the final round, having them face off this early is forcing an elimination too early. FAIL. As a game dev, I am morally obligated to vote Gamestop, even though I F#@%ING HATE Monster Cable and everything they stand for.
@ MadLinx
I don’t know much about the video game industry, so could you explain what about Gamestop makes you as a develeper so angry?
I’m voting for GameStop. They target kids while Monster Cables target autophillic adults.
Kids are hooked on video games like it’s like cocaine or something. While adults buy into the illusion of better sound/video quality. At least in the adults case it’s a concious decision and they earn their own spending money.
@Mr. Gunn:
I wasn’t saying everyone who recommends monoprice is a shill. Just that I have some strong suspicions about their marketing practices.
I mean, how many forum/blog posters bother to insert a direct link to a website that’s one word anyway? Unless they’re explicitly trying for Search Engine Optimization.
Or is there an organized anti-Monster cable link bomb going on that I’m not aware of?
While I have no personal experience with Blue Jeans Cable, I think their response to Monster’s frivolous patent claims was pretty awesome.
Look, I know all of you anal people out there want Gamestop to stop gutting copies of their games and putting the empty boxes on the floor. The thought was brought up to just put empty dvd cases with game cover art on the floor so you wouldn’t have to open any new copies, but for most stores this simply would not be possible due to the extra space it would require.
I worked at a Gamestop, and our back room was TINY. We seriously had to store things on the ceiling tiles because we had no more room. All of the consoles were kept in our bathroom and when Rock Band came out it was laughable to be able to move around back there.
To have an extra fake case for each game would mean that the stores would have to find a place to store every single new game that they have on the floor right now. At my store at least, that would have meant that we simply could not have as many copies of games.
I do understand that people have objections to employees being able to check out the new games and still be able to sell them as new. As was stated before, yes, this is company policy, it isn’t just some employees being sneaky. You were able to check a game out for 4 days, including the day you checked it out and the day you brought it back. At my store, at least, they were quite strict about enforcing the limit, and whenever a game was brought back it would get checked over by the manager on duty before being signed in. It may not sound great to all you game collectors out there that are pissed that they won’t have their mint condition games, but it does serve a purpose. In order for gamestop employees to be able to tell someone if a game sucks or not, they probably should have played that game. That is the official reason to let the employees check it them out, and it does make sense. At my store there was only allowed to be one copy of a game checked out at a given time. So it really should have only effected one copy at any given time. If there was a used copy of the game then you were supposed to check that one out. Please also remember that this is a great perk for an employee that is making close to minimum wage.
I don’t want to suggest that there aren’t bad gamestops, I would expect that many of them are completely crap, but really it comes down to managment. I had a great manager at my store who never told us to try and sell things that people didn’t need. He never bugged us about our numbers and never told us to keep pushing for people to subscribe to our crappy magazine. If we had someone in there buying 100 bucks worth of used games, we made sure to know that with the included discount card they would get with the magazine, if they spent 50 bucks in the next year on games, then they would be getting the sub for free. I saw people come in over and over and buy used games and trade them back in and they NEVER wanted to get the damn card even though they would have saved money, but we never had to push when a customer said no.
If an employee is rude to you, ask to see the manager. If it is the manager, ask to contact the district manager. We didn’t get many complaints at my store, but when we did, they were taken seriously. If that store sucks, don’t go there, but not all of the stores suck.
I’m voting for Monster. My local GameStop has treated me well.
@Part-Time-Viking: Are you serious? If so that was hilarious (although I’m sure it was terrible for you.)
I voted Monster Cable, because they sue everybody and because at EB Games I’ve found some rare games for decent prices and I have a price limit for myself as far as how much I’ll spend on their games. Monster Cable is just a huge rip off.
epic monster cable medusa image!
monster cable sucks for suing everyone with nonsense lawsuits.
Gamestop is bad, but you can have no problems with them if you know what your doing. When you see something like the simpsons road rage or fifa ’02 crappily shrink-wrapped and sitting with a pile of other ‘no fucking way they’re new’ games, that is a big-assed don’t buy indicator. And, old stuff is gonna give you trouble, too. You can’t just buy an N64 rumble pack expecting it to work, becasue they haven’t been made it 7 years. You can find some good deals though. They were having a firesale of PS1 games a few months back, but no one was interested enough to check the prices. They were about 17 cents a piece and they almost all worked. I have had no experiance with monster cable because they are too expensive.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t let these companies screw with you. You can’t trust used stuff, ever and price /= quality.
I’ve never had a bad experience with Gamestop, the local one here treats me well. Not seen the “used games passed off as new” phenomenon, but 90% of the time I’m buying used games anyways, and they always work (no skips or scratches).
Anyways, I think their shenanigans pales in comparison to Monster Cable suing people for frivolous things as well as being so smug to think their $50 cables are actually higher quality than the $10 stuff you can buy on Amazon.
I do find the relentless sales pitches at Gamestops annoying. I went to buy one cheap used game, said “no” or some variation about a dozen times through all three of their pitches, and the lady still wouldn’t shut up until she was finished despite the fact that I was clearly not interested.
I only go to them for used games since they’re the only place that sells them (and has any kind of selection). For new games, I get them for $5-$10 cheaper at any other store.
I voted Gamestop, because the business model that you in the US have complained about for years has finally filtered its way to Aus. No – I don’t want to reserve Assassin’s Creed. Why? I don’t have a damn PS3, that’s why. I’ll get one when GTAIV comes out, not before.
That, and their trade-in model is a fucking ripoff. Wow, you mean if I trade in 5 of my Wii games, I can have SMG for half price? And I only have to jump through 7 hoops to get the game. Excuse me if I go to JB Music where they have a strict 2 for 1 trade in on all new games, no matter how popular, no matter what system.
remember that study that showed no real difference between monster cables and a bunch of wire coat hangers soldered together?
right.
@StankGunner: let me explain something to you – “new” does NOT mean an employee borrowed it for a few days but it’s not scratched & it’s never been sold. “new” means previously unused, unopened, virgin copy (if you will).
you want to open your games? fine. you want to let your employees borrow them? fine. but don’t think for a minute that as a customer i am willing to pay full price for a USED game. that’s what this is. not NEW. USED. somebody USED it. hence the USED tag.
so, do what is right. play your game & then put it on the shelf with a yellow tag like the res tof the USED games instead of a white one. it’s really that simple.
@Gstein:
Agreed
@rmz: I’d wonder about the specifics of what the salesman was doing and the equipment he was using. Like, was he rigging a scope, or comparing just a plain surge strip to the filtered strip. The power supplies in your equipment filter out noise, and it’s kinda reassuring to put a decent surge/filter strip on your expensive equipment, but not at Monster’s prices.
Monster sells overpriced cables, but you don’t have to buy them. Gamestop is evil in so many other ways.
Monster’s got and pointless lawsuits. Gamestop… aside from what appears to be a monopoly attempt, I’ve gone through three used PS2s. I gave up and bought a new slim one somewhere else. Fuck ‘em.
Let me try that again. That should read “Monster’s got false advertising and pointless lawsuits.”
Meh. Monster is not that bad. They pray on the naive, but in all honesty that is the consumers own fault, not Monster’s. While its true that Monster cables don’t really provide any noticeable difference in audio/visual quality and cost much more than they are worth, the fact is the cables do work as advertised. They are shielded to prevent noise interference, which theoretically does make them capable of producing higher quality video and audio signals (even if the difference in signal quality cannot be noticed by any of the five human senses). Also, Monster’s higher quality does make their cables harder to break. I have had a few A/V cables break in the past, but I’ve never had any problems with the few Monster Cables that I do own.
As for Gamestop/EBGames, I am not a fan of their gutted games, as it is sometimes questionable whether or not you are truly receiving a new game. Gamestop also re-shrinkwraps opened games. A friend of mine ordered a “new” copy of a game from EB’s website, which arrived to him shrink wrapped. However, when he opened he game up and popped it in his Game Boy, it already had a saved game file on it. As for their used games, you can usually find any game at a cheaper price and in better condition through ebay.