Ooooor just sell the GameCube on eBay or Craigslist, and buy Street Fighter IV from somewhere other than Gamestop. I mean, there are tons of stores that sell the game. It's not like it's a rare game.

I have whats known as the Warranty Shoebox - Any captical purchase receipts go in there. That goes double for anything with a service plan or a warranty. I learned my lesson when I lost the receipt for my headphones (2 year warranty on them) though logitech was benevolent and helped me all the same.

Well GAMESTOPSUCKS.net is available.
Any takers?

Why does ANYONE with a working Internet connection shop at Gamestop?

Really.

Half
Amazon
Google Product Search

Three alternatives, only one of which is eBay-affiliated if you're concerned about things like that.

Sure you pay shipping, but you don't pay tax (usually). In exchange for not getting the game immediately, you'll often get a much better price and a much wider selection.

Never EVER shop at Gamestop. Just don't do it.

@Overheal: One reason I love buying online, Amazon in particular, is that whenever I need a receipt, I just sign in and print it.

Once tried getting my copy of Dragon Quest 8 at GS. They had it in the case and everything. Pay for it, get to the car and open it up to smell that fresh goodness and what do i find? No instruction manual and no preview of Final Fantasy 12. Went back in, and they tried looking for either of the missing items. Said they could get it from one of the stores in the next town to send them a copy. Annoying, but not much one can do. Go home, and come back the next day (as told to do so). They tell me that the truck arrived, but the other store didn't have a copy of the game either. Would I like to wait until they get a copy in? At that point I pretty much told them that I wanted my money back. I PAID for a brand new game, and didn't get it. Ended up driving to the next town to Best Buy (of all places) and found a nice sealed copy ripe for the taking. Since then, I get my games from the Net or Best Buy (ours is rather well stocked). Hate to say it, but why do we even need to go to GS or any of the it's many clones? Everything they have can be found on the internet or Walmart for much cheaper.... They'll probably be the next to go extinct....

@TheBursar: I love buying online because it is CHEAPER than the horrendously overpriced b&m stores...

I can't really have any sympathy for the guy.

Buyer beware for Gamestop. There's a good thousand or so stories just like his regarding low-valued tradeins, open merchandise sold as new, and other similar tales.

There are countless better ways to get rid of old games and game systems: Ebay, Craigslist, Goozex, Amazon, and others...

And there's loads of online retailers making sales daily for games. If he wasn't there to buy a copy of Street Fighter IV on the day of launch, he really ought to consider taking his time to shop for better bargains.

I can instantly recommend CheapAssGamer.com as a very reliable place to find good deals on new and used games, as well as another place to dump used games and systems on a very willing and trusting crowd of gamers.

Gamestop's core audience is the uninformed parent/grandparent who buys from there for the kids or for the child not yet old enough to shop online on their own.

A real gamer shouldn't rely on Gamestop alone.

@Juan Camargo: I don't understand why so many people discount Best Buy when it comes to new games. Every one I've ever been to has had a huge stock of new games on release day and you don't even need to preorder.

@Juan Camargo: Sadly, Gamestop is doing just fine:

[www.marketwatch.com]

I think they're sorta in the position Blockbuster was in 10 year or so ago. I'll be curious to see what happens when some disruptive company comes along and changes the rules of the game. Digital downloads, maybe?

I bought my first used game in years from Gamestop a couple of weeks ago and just stuck the receipt inside the case (where the instructions would be if I hadn't bought a used game from Gamestop).

The receipt is still there, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that system works for me!

gogamer.com

end of story

@crazymatt1: That's what I always recommend to people. If you don't lose the case, you don't lose the receipt! And you can't return it without the case anywho.

while I hate gamestop as much as the next person, I wouldnt expect them to exchange a game without a reciept, nor would I expect it from any other store.

At least with SF IV he can send it off to capcom and get a new working copy so he's not completely SOL.

never buy new from Gamestop. although I am annoyed that there is a feature in my new wolverine game that can only be unlocked by a gamestop pre-order code!!!

@Aaron Strader: That's a little elitist. Because someone is a 'gamer', doesn't mean that they're an educated and savvy consumer.

This guy has learned a lesson. He's a smarter consumer now, this has nothing to do with his being a gamer. Sure, it sucks that he doesn't have a working copy of SFIV, but in 5 years it would be a coaster anyway. This way he learns a lesson, and perhaps changes his behavior for the rest of his life.

Kudos to him.

I don't have a terrible amount of sympathy because without a receipt, most stores won't really give you the time of day. Which is a shame because with credit cards and all that fun stuff, you should still be able to trace the transaction. When I worked at Macy's, even when someone didn't have the receipt, I could always return an item with just the credit card they used. But still... keep and store every coupon you get -- especially anything in the realm of electronics.

Definitely purchase from Half.com or used stuff at Amazon. I only go to Gamestop if I want to raise my blood pressure.

Firstly, all the Gamestop stores in my area are fine with trades, but I know firsthand that some stores are run well are some stores are run terribly.

Secondly, Gamestop does NOT TEST their used games! When games are traded in, the employee at the counter examines them visually and determines as best he or she can whether or not the game will work. Some employees are more strict on what they will accept than others are. There is no in depth training on this, just a quick 15 minutes or so with the manager who tells you some of the signs of a bad disc. Outside of that you are on your own. It would be too time consuming to test every game that got traded in. Can you imagine being in line behind a guy who was trading in 10 games and waiting while the employee had to test every single one of them? I know I wouldn't.

Thirdly, yes Gamestop offers crap for trade in values, but they do offer that instant turnaround that you can't get on ebay, amazon, etc. Most of the trades in I've seen done there are by kids anyway.

@dragonfire81: Amazon gives you roughly what you get from Gamestop anyway, so unless you want to deal with eBay (and they are just making it harder and harder for sellers anyway) Gamestop is your easiest bet these days.

@discordance, the goddamn boss: Maybe it's just the store I go to, but I haven't had any problems with Gamestop. The couple of times I bought games that wouldn't play, they took them back and never hassled me. I get the occassional, 'Is there anything coming out that you want to pre-order?', but never the hard sell that some people complain about. And the couple of new games I bought were actually new/sealed games.

Gamestop prices are very high. Extremely high, even for most used stuff. Most employees grace us with that "I don't give a rip about working here" attitude. And of course they ream you when you trade-in used games.

The one thing I love and respect about Gamestop is that the company protects our first-sale rights. The gaming industry has been trying to eliminate used game sales for a long time, but Gamestop, being a 10 ton gaming gorilla, won't let that happen. (Well, at least until all games are delivered via the net!)

And for that I give thanks. But I sure the frick won't shop there!

@Juan Camargo: Sorry to burst your bubble, but they're not going out of business any time soon.

They're basically set up as a big pawn shop. Any of the games that are brought in for trade-in are almost pure profit for them. Sure, you may trade in 10 games and get that new copy of whatever, but they can sell those 10 games at a 150-200% profit for what they gave you in trade-in value, and if that person brings those games BACK to gamestop, well, that's even more profit right there!

There's a reason why they keep doing so well every quarter. It's to the point where 90% of the store is covered in used games, and the new ones are all behind the counter, where you have to ask if they're even available to buy. Even then they'll try to sell you a used copy for $10 off the cost of a brand new game.

New Game = $60
Used Game = $50
Trade-in Value = $30

Profit = $20 each unit.

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@discordance, the goddamn boss: The problem with Best Buy for me is because I live in the West Coast, so there is a one day delay in releases for a lot of games. I usually have to wait an extra day to pick up my game, whereas I can get it sooner elsewhere.

A long time ago, I preordered "Advance Wars: Days of Ruin" (it came out in 07) at GameStop, because I love the Advance Wars series and I wanted to have it day-of (remember that Amazon wasn't offering day-of shipping on videogames at the time).

I showed up with my receipt, and Gamestop told me that their shipment of AW:DoR had gone to another shop in town. I asked if I could pick up my preorder there. They said no.

I went back every day for five days trying to pick up my preorder. In the end, I ended up getting an opened and obviously played copy (it had saved game files on it) and was told I could take that or get nothing at all.

I haven't shopped at GameStop since and I go to a lot of trouble to prevent my friends from doing so.

I realise this was this gentleman's first attempt at writing a consumer complaint letter, but it really seems more like he wanted to blog a rant, rather than have any action taken based on his tone and choice of language.

I understand he's upset, but this situation seems ordinary enough, and generalizing inept staff (even if it tends to be true in many cases) doesn't help his case any.

That said, I eagerly await the day when that damned place stocks more new product rather than relying on trade-in's which lead to situations like this, but unfortunately it's just too damned profitable for them.

As someone who worked at a GameStop if you lose your receipt the store can look up the transaction. They keep all the transactions on the computer for months. You just need to know the date and around what time it was you purchased the products. Now I know most stores wont do it, but maybe by some chance you could get a nice employee who is willing to that for a even exchange.

@dragonfire81 Some stores like the one I worked for use a device called CheckFlix that the employee can run a used disc in to find out if it's playable. I know its not perfect, but it is a little better then hoping the employee will always use good judgement on what to take in as trade.

Maybe Consumerist can run a post about writing effective complaint letters. I understand the OP's frustration, but phrases like "there must be an entire small planet's worth of people enraged with you" and "Be afraid. Be very afraid." do little to help his case IMHO. Well, I suppose it could be cathartic.

You can all bitch and moan about gamestop as much as you want, but what it comes down to is that the company isn't going to shake and tremble because 1 person a month tends to get an article on consumerist or any of the other gamestop hating websites.
Bottom line, even if we take your trade ins or not, if we sell you a game or not, we are still getting paid the shitty amount of money for doing the shitty job.

Now here is my complaint on the human race.
YOU KNOW THE STORE CLOSES AT 6, IT SAYS IT ON THE WEB SITE, WHY DO YOU WAIT TILL THE LAST 10 MINUTES TO TRADE IN SOMETHING WHEN YOU HAD ALL FUCKING DAY!?
To be honest it's hard for me to believe that you are this passionate when you couldn't even get there at a decent time.
ON top of that do you even realize that we don't control the trade in prices, we don't control the purchase prices, so when you show up and are a big asshole and take it out on us, we are just less obligated to filling your request.

See, this is the problem with the human race... you were there on sunday right? ON MOTHERS DAY?! I don't give a flying fuck, but seriously, spend time with your mom and maybe get her something, and if you did, good for you, but the way the human race is going, people are becoming more spoiled and expect everything to be handed to them hand over foot.
For god-sakes, the store closes only 2 days a year, thanksgiving and christmas.

I'm sorry, but I don't see anyone on here talking about how workers are over worked for too little money, it's all about the asshole who doesn't get what he wants right away. I understand the past situations with grand theft auto IV (look it up). Don't you also realize that gamestop workers are people too? Just because you got to spend time at home with your family going out and taking your mom out on a nice mothers day, doesn't mean that we want to have do that too. I personally missed going out having breakfast and cooking dinner for my mom because I was helping out assholes that this guy.

Really not sure why he took all the crap from Gamestop, he could have sold it on ebay and shipped it for probably less trouble than GS caused him. This is really the typical GS shopping experience, IMO. I stopped going to GS when I realized they were jerking me around too much, oh your preorder is not in today, it will be in tomorrow, oh it will be in tomorrow. It was just endless, until it didn't come in a week later. This was on multiple occasions. I would rather order a game online from Amazon and they will ship it to me when it is released and yes I will get it a few days after the release date but it sure beats having to chase down games from GS.

Nowadays I just wait for games to drop in price before I buy them though then I just order from ebay or amazon after the price has dropped.

As far as their used merchandise its the worst of the worst. I would never buy a used console there, because common gamer's sense tells me that whoever last traded in that console was doing it because:

A. It was already broken and they used a quick fix to get it to work just long enough for the GS employee to test it so they could get their trade in value for it.

B. It is on the verge of breaking and the gamer who is trading it in knows this.

C. There is some other nasty problem with the system that doesn't immediately make itself apparent on the initial test.

No gamer is going to trade in a perfectly working console to GS, anyone with any common sense goes to ebay or craigslist to sell their consoles if they are in very good condition. GS is basically the dumping ground for consoles that are about to die. As far as GS refurbishment goes its a lie, they put those used consoles and games on the shelf as soon as they come in and consoles only have to pass a quick initial test then they go right to the shelf in the condition that the person traded them in.

Games: probably 90% of games traded in at local GS's at least here are traded in by kids who beat their games up to the point where they do not work or people who are ahem, desperate for cash for other reasons that I will not mention here. These games are also beat up and smell like a variety of things, again I will not mention it. No sane person with mint condition games will trade in their games to GS.

Even if you use the coupons and promotions its not that good of a deal because the used prices are so high you are just better off converting your games into cash by some other means, then go purchase games you want cheaper elsewhere. If you are pinching pennies for gaming entertainment its just easier to work with cash instead of GS store credit.

That's why I don't shop at Gamestop. And while I find opened games played by employees sold as "new" annoying, having games that are opened and COVERED with stickers that are impossible to get off for no reason is why I detest them.

Not blaming the customer whatsoever, but I will echo the "Avoid GameStop at all costs" posts. Don't shop there. If you already do, stop it. Stop it right now. All you are doing is perpetuating the existence of Yet Another Terrible Enterprise (YATE(TM) Sean Masters 2009 :P).

Also, for the love of Pete, STOP PREORDERING GAMES. Preordering has little to do with ensuring a store gets enough copies to serve its customer base, and everything to do with handing them money that they can then gain interest on. Stop it! Stop it right now!

Can we make sure they make it onto the Worst Company in America bracket next year? They are openly hostile to customers and video games are no less frivolous a purchase than cable.

I'm not a big gamer anymore, but i always used to shop at gamestop and still do on the rare occasion i buy a game, and I have always had great experiences there.
Once I bought a game at a different store and hated it right away. I gave it a chance, but it was an awful game. So i tried to return/exchange it at the store, but they didn't let me...I wasn't pissed, I was expecting to be SOL. So I went to trade it in at gamestop, told them my story, and they gave me store credit for the full price of the game.
They've always treated me really good and I didnt have any idea people had so many bad experiences with them. It makes me think alot of people go in to the stores expecting too much or go in there with the intent of causing a confrontation.....or maybe i'm wrong and happened to luck out with having a really good branch near my house.

To summarize his rant:

1) The store closes and the customer is told to come back when it's open. No biggie.

2) Employee forgot that the location doesn't take gamecubes. The employee probably didn't even see that the guy had a gamecube the night before. Minor inconvenience of going to another store.

3) Employee has a "credit card" only lane open. This is common in retail stores. It help moves the line along. Customer gets taken care of by another associate in another line.

4) He buys a used game and it doesn't work. That's gamestops fault and all he has to do is request an exchange of refund, simply by going back to the store.

It's not that bad of an experience if you take out his attitude and demeaning language towards the employees.

@Juan Camargo: The problem is that GS has the soccer mom, grandparents buying anything their kid wants from the shelves crowd. That and they have all the kids trained to trade in their games when they are done with them, if the parents aren't smart enough to teach their kids to use ebay which is most of the parents in this area. This means they are selling the same copies of the same games over again (as explained above). Most trades done in my area are from children who don't know any better and parents who don't know any better. All the people who are smart consumers have headed online for video game shopping.

@Overheal: At the Game Crazy I work at we tell pretty much all the customers to put the receipt in the box with the game.

@W10002: that is easy to say now.

@crazymatt1: Indeed. The folks at my local Gamestop always remind me I need my receipt for refunds or exchanges. So, it seems like a no-brainer to just stick it in the case.

@SteveZim1017:

We'll sson see that code on the interwebs... get it from there.

This, of course, comes during the week where Best Buy has SFIV on sale for $40. Shrink-wrapped and all.

I kind of hate gamestop because some jerk behind the counter told me the PS3 GH:WT drum peripheral worked with Rockband 1 and 2.

Lies.

All lies.

@Steven Esposito: You agree to do the job, no? You sign the paychecks, no? You know you've got the crappy hours when you apply, no? You gotta start at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole with the crappy college student job like everyone else, no?

Quit Whining and Dance, Retail Minion.

Welcome to the American Dream.

I agree man, it's just so dumb to purchase and then resell your games back to Gamestop. The biggest problem is that now games are more expensive, like everything else, so people think "If I buy the game for 60 dollars plus tax, I might get something back in the future when I send it back to Gamestop." That mindset is what Gamestop lives on. I remember when you bought games and kept them or traded with friends.
When I buy games, they go directly to Amazon marketplace if I want to sell it. I get more money, and at least when Amazon takes a cut, it's a good reliable company. @discordance, the goddamn boss:

Gamestops fist priority is to make money. They don't have to appease to Video gamers. It's the same idea behind Petco. Petco doesn't care that they have dead fish and mice in their cages, they are just a business trying to make money. They just have to build a business plan that makes money, not one that makes us happy.

@AshleyKeen: He's not complaining about the actual job, but the people that come in and expect us to bend over backwards for them or complain about shit that is out of our control.

@Overheal: I have a drawer filled with bags that have receipts in them. It's not the most organized setup, but I haven't lost anything yet.

When it comes to Gamestop, I keep the receipt in the game box as Woden suggests his customers do.

@FnordX: Heh, new games go for $55 in my neck of the woods. That's only five bucks off the price of the game if you were to buy it new. I always buy new unless the game is pretty old and so heavily discounted.

@AshleyKeen: According to the allmassive Joystiq.com Instrument Compatibility Matrix, it is compatible with RB2. You just need to download a patch for it. Hence, then you can use it with most of the RB1 songs. [playstation.joystiq.com] So no, he's not a liar.

And for that matter, why are you using a drum peripheral designed for a totally different game!?

@exploded: Amen bro. Besides, when did feeling that someone ought to know better preclude being able to have sympathy for the person? Why can't you feel both ways about the situation?

By the way, I'd be pretty careful about doing business on Goozex. The system is nifty when it works, but it's set up in such a way that it's almost inevitible that you'll be scammed sooner or later.