Game Crazy Cashier Caught Sneaking Gameguard Fees Onto Sale
Lu tried to buy "Dead Space" yesterday at a local Game Crazy because it was on sale. The cashier, however, added two fees for $1 and $2 for "Gameguard" insurance without Lu's permission—then tried to explain it away by saying the price was higher than marked and he'd actually had to give discounts to bring it down to the sale price.
I went to my local Game Crazy today (7/12) in Redmond, WA to get in on their Dead Space sale, which is valid from 7/6 to 7/12. I bought 2 copies of the PS3 version: one new for myself, and one used for my friend. Of course, the only last new copy is gutted (opened, but sold as new), and while I hate gutted games and the practice in general, I figure the game was cheap enough for me to let it slide this time.
Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from there.
I look at my receipt, and there are two additional $1.00 and $2.00 charges to me. I ask the cashier what the charge was for, and HE CLAIMED that the game was actually $25 and he gave me a $2 discount and a $3 free insurance on both games. I say, "umm, no. That's not right." I told him the sticker on the new game itself says $19.99, and that's what their ad says. Defensively, he repeatedly claims that his screen showed $25.
I ask him to show me the screen. He refuses of course, only replying now, "Ok what do you want? A refund?" No, I want to see the screen. But he never shows me and so I just tell him to give me a refund.
Now it gets worse. I must've spent at least 15 minutes standing there, while he "attempted" to refund the game back to my credit card. It's not that hard. He mysteriously prints out SEVERAL (must've been 7 or 8) receipts saying he was doing it wrong. I did check the receipts out, and it did look like he kept refunded it to me as store credit instead of on my card. But I am still concerned, as that's a LOT of transactions. I have the "final" return receipt with me, and I'm prepared to make a call to my credit card company later this month.
When I see the receipt, it says "$22.99" which is exactly $19.99 + the $3.00 BS insurance fee that he charged me earlier. I guess all that typing and re-trying on the computer must've been him attempting to adjust the price on the game.
Yes, I know it's stupid to get mad about two [three? -Ed.] dollars. But it's not really about two dollars any more. It's about the RIDICULOUS customer service that game specialty stores have. I'm already not a fan of Gamestop (to say the least), but I thought Game Crazy was "ok." I guess not. Given the option of not buying the game versus supporting an illegimate practice... I'll live without the game.
To the Consumerist: I would love to get ANY help or advice on getting in contact with the store's manager or district manager. I looked on the Game Crazy site, but there's only a single customer service line and I'm not sure that's going to be worth my time. Is there any other way of obtaining their contact information?
We suggested Lu try our advice in the post "Be A Customer Service Ninja," but if anyone out there has some real Game Crazy contact info, please post it.
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Comments:
You should be able to just ask for the store manager/district manager's contact information. If the Game Crazy employees won't give you that information, try getting it from the Hollywood Video employees (assuming this isn't one of the newer standalone GCs). Having worked there for 4+ years and been through my fair share of district managers, all of them took customer complaints pretty seriously and always did their best to make customers happy.
What about contacting EA Games instead? I think they may be interested in knowing that a vendor ruined a two-game sale for them by trying to tack on an unrelated "game insurance" without customer permission.
This kind of treatment could put Game Crazy in the position of having to tell a major publisher why it's okay to alienate gamers over $2 - and why they could potentially have to explain why they aren't able to stock a major publisher like EA in the future. I'm sure that their sales agreements probably cover things like forcing the sale of those "insurance" deals on customers.
Gamestop does this too sometimes. Officially you can be fired for it, but nevertheless it happens all the time.
There's a lesson in this - when checking out do some simple math before you sign the credit card gizmo. 2 games worth $35 combined ring up at $41 and change - red flag. It's easier to fix the transaction before it's complete.
I would mail a complaint to the FTC, with copies to EA, Game Crazy,Your credit card provider, your local press and the better business bureau. Make sure you add the appropriate cc: at the bottom before you copy them. Each entity, aware that a bunch of other entities is potentially aware, is likely to get action from all of them. :)
I'm not familiar with the term "gutting" I was under the impression that it's illegal to sell something as "new" if it's been opened. How do they skirt that rule?
@Stephmo: Actually, it only ruined a one game sale. EA Games gets nothing from the sale of a used game.
@Stephmo: Probably not, EA has a pretty good track record of not giving a shit what it's customers think.
Just a question if you note both games were sold as new which was $19.99 then your total would be $39.98... As I see he charged you $19.99 + $14.99 then gave you the $3.00 of insurance totaling $37.98+ tax $2.00 LESS then you expected to pay... Am I missing something?
Seems like the associate gave a $2 discount overall and you got insurance.....
Can you explain?
@Stephmo: I would guess their sales agreements do NOT cover things like forcing the sale of those "insurance" deals on customers...
They cannot write everything into these deals.. I don't see that being in any deal in any way shape or form.. They cannot regulate how the reseller does business.
funny you should say that, because a bunch of lawyers are wondering the exact same thing:
@jblack: I would do a complaint to the corporate office first.. You should ALWAYS give the company a chance before going over their head.. It is a common courtesy and if you extend a courtesy to them they are more likely to give it back.
@Hooray4Zoidberg: GameStop does it all the time. Technically they're selling you a display copy that is still new but not shrinkwrapped... but a lot of people (myself included) find it dodgy.
One Xmas I got a copy of Final Fantasy IX that had no disk in it -- the display copy hadn't been filled before being sold to the friend who bought it for me. They forked over the disk when I went in and asked for it, but they [GameStop] gave me a hard time.
Kudos for noticing it and saying something right there on the spot. Also for sticking to your guns and getting a refund, to many times I've been home before I noticed being charge more for something than I should have. I try to watch as they ring items up but if the wife isn't with me and I have to bag and/or put the bags in the cart while getting rung up its tough to do.
@sharkzfanz: It pretty clearly says he bought one new and one used, even though the "new" one was already opened.
Game Crazy? Ugh.
The best way to deal with them is to walk out the door to the Panda Express in the QFC next door and get yourself some tasty orange chicken.
Then buying your game off eBay.
You'll get more for your money and have just as much of a guarantee that you're getting your game in decent condition.
After working at a Game Crazy for the better part of two years I can attest that the sale prices hardly ever work in the actual computers. Almost every single time something was discounted for a weekend the coupon code that was given to us just wouldn't work at all.
Then we would have to manually price the game down to the correct price and hope our DM wouldn't question why we were doing this, even though we had a perfectly reasonable explanation.
As for adding the Game Guard fee, that's ridiculous. Should not have happened, definitely report it. There's that 1-8SPEAK-TO-US (1-877-325-8687) phone number and trust me, complaints get back to the District Managers pretty quickly.
@sharkzfanz: Okay so it was used.. Why not buy the game and dispute with credit card company.. Seems a huge waste to leave store with nothing after driving their.. Whats $3.00 anyway.. You can always get it back in the end.... Come back ask for manager if not done then call credit card company...
I agree with Chris Martino above. My best friend worked in a Game Crazy for two years (which resulted in me practically living there for two years) and I never saw these kinds of practices. I have chosen to never go to Gamestop/Software Etc./EB Games again which leaves Game Crazy (who I am usually happy with) and independent shops. I would complain about this employee since he is definitely an exception and not the rule.
But really, if you've got a local independent shop, I'd support them if you could.
@Hooray4Zoidberg: There is a store policy of "try before you buy." At any time a customer can ask to play a game in the store before buying it and the store will happily provide a copy for the customer to try. If the customer decides to not buy it then it goes back on the shelf.
Now, Dead Space is Rated M which means technically it should not be tried out in the store. (Not sure if that's part of the policy, but it's a rule I used to follow.)
Beyond that, the employees are empowered, if asked to, to give a 10% discount on a new product that has been opened at the customers request.
I'm a big fan of Game Crazy, my local store has never done me wrong and it saddens me a bit to see this happening in one of their stores.
@Hank Scorpio: That's one of my fav movies. "Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that."
Why does anyone even buy games at stores anymore? You can get them severely discounted online, if it's an old game, and maybe 4 bucks cheaper if it's new.
The last time I set foot in a Gamecrazy, I got the hard sell. The clerk tried to guilt me into purchasing their version of the Edge card by telling me that his job depended on it. I told him that I didn't buy used games nearly often enough to justify buying the discount card. He countered by continuing to push the card on me using every trick in the book, in spite of his every attempt being met with a very firm no. It finally got to the point after useless back and forth that I had to threaten to speak to his manager about his inappropriate sales tactics if he didn't just drop it and finish my transaction.
Which I ended up doing anyway on principle. The guy really made me feel uncomfortable. I was just in there to buy a game, and not to be made to feel that the fate of his job, and by extension his well-being, rested on my shoulders. He made it seem like I had some sort of obligation to him, and that's just bullshit on every conceivable level.
So no, Gamecrazy aint free of its own bullshit. If they really hang employee's worth on how many membership cards they sell, then that's not a company I feel comfortable doing business with.
@sharkzfanz: Well, being that the only means of contact seems to be a single customer service line, I think it's fair in this case to bypass the corporate office.
@sharkzfanz: sometimes not but always. sure they may help YOU out but will they actually fix the practice in all the stores so that no one else is affected? that's where the FTC and press complaint will come in. mistakes happen but this just seems too intentional to be a one time thing.
sharkzfanz: So he should pester the credit card company for Gamecrazy's screw up? @_@
Besides, if he didn't bring attention to this, who is to say that the clerk wouldn't have screwed someone else similarly? Hell, what's to say that he hasn't slipped this shit in on other people's orders before?
When I was working in the mall this one mexican food place would automatically upgrade your drink to the large charging you an extra 40 or 50 cents. I went ballistic on them because they repeatedly did it. Some higher up probably told them to do that because people wouldn't notice.
god I hate when this shit happens.
Unfortunately, this seem to happen in retail locations other than Game Crazy.
We went to purchase skin products from a Shiseido counter at Bloomingdales, when my friend paid for the purchases, we see there is a charge on the receipt for $7, and there is an extra bag of cotton pads in the little brown bag.
The sales woman, who happens to be the counter manager, sneaked the bag of cotton pads in while she was bagging the products with her back facing us, and when confronted with "what's this $7 and cotton?", she tried to explain how its necessary to purchase these along with these toners we bought.
We returned our purchase and will never go back to that Shiseido counter at Blooingdales again.
Then people have the nerve to say Oo its only 50 cents. It's the freakin principal. It's the same as stealing in my mind.
I second that. Third parties have to create mods just to make their PC games PLAYABLE.
This is for everyone here.
Check out Amazon. The prices of even brand new merchandise is hard to beat, even when the inevitable taxes on online merch. rolls around. I have been ordering things from multiple sellers on Amazon, including Amazon itself, for over three years, and I have never had a serious problem like this. No "gutted" games; no cheap, unusable merchandise; no retarded upsells and underhanded tactics.
@sharkzfanz: So it's a huge waste to leave without buying anything, but it's a reasonable use of her time to file a dispute with her credit card company and/or drive back to the store to argue with the manager?
It sounds as though she was on the fence about the purchase to begin with, considering that the 'new' game had been opened and all. Maybe that $3 was just her tipping point.
The same things happens at the McDonald's franchise at Cape Horn Corner in Red Lion PA. You order two of the two for $3 items and they regularly ring you up at twice the regular item price, not $3. I have complained to the owner and the cashiers. They just keep trying to rip you off. Be careful at McDonald's too.
@spanky: Well as I see it she will probably buy the game somewhere else.. Just the cost to drive to the first location, wait 15 minutes for refund, drive to another location, inform friend why you did not buy the game.... Im sorry I would email a complaint but it make more sense to buy the game, spend the $3, email a complaint, more then likely be given a GC for the trouble, and move on... Odds are they would compensate them for the trouble and that would more then make up for the $3.00... I see them spending more the $3.00 in 2 trips and time wasted... Sorry.... Just dont see it...
@Sean Young: Agreed, it is principle. No one wants to get nickel and dime'd by pushy reps trying to meet quota, whether its a cup of coffee or a weekend sale on a video game, tacking on a miscellaneous (and unrequested) charge to the final bill is just shady.
Here's the direct line to that store: (425) 861-7522. I am assuming it's the one on 161st, cause that's the only one actually in Redmond. It's good to remember that corporate websites usually don't have direct lines to their stores but that the yellow pages usually does. If it's a different location look it up on www.yellowpages.com. Just call and ask for the manager, if the manager isn't there ask when they will be there. Don't say why you are calling, just act very calm and professional. Most retail workers won't bother someone calling directly for the manager cause they don't know if it is from corporate or something. If say something like "is there anything I can help you with?" just say "no" and say you'll call back when the manager is there.
New Copy = $22.99 - $3.00 = 19.99
Used Copy = $17.99
Both together equal $37.98 plus tax (8.80%, I believe...)
which comes out to $41.32. So... about 27 cents difference.
He probably told you that it said $25.99 because the original price of the NEW game was $22.99 and he still had the $3 added on. Keep in mind that he only rang up the used copy at $14.99 instead of $17.99 which is the $3 difference. The USED price is typically $5 less than the NEW price.
Basically, he got the total amount correct. From what I read, Gamecrazy's computer system is really outdated and they have to ring stuff up differently to reflect the correct sales price.
@Riff-Raff: I bought a DVD set on Amazon that arrived with some of the disks broken clean in half. That wasn't likely their fault, and Amazon made me whole, but ordering online can come with its own share of issues.
Really though, it comes down to whether or not you're out for instant gratification. If you can wait, then Amazon isn't a bad way to go. Newegg is another great shop too, but it's more for up and coming computer geeks like me. :P
@Omar Elizondo: Several reasons I can think of. Convenience, no waiting, and most important of all, not every store is there to rip you off.
I enjoy my local GameStop because I'm a regular there and they have never tried to jack me around, yet people immediately jump on the frankenstein mob because one employee at a store on the other side of the country was a douche.
*sigh* I really HATE it when you people read 1-2 stories a week about stuff like this and think it happens EVERY TIME someone walks into a gamestop, EB, game crazy or (insert game store here). These stories represent maybe 1% of transactions. MAYBE, and that's taking into the account I suck at projecting numbers in situations such as this.
Suck it up and find a different store, like mine. Over the past year and a half of working at a gamestop, yes I like it there, I've had less than 10 bad customers or experiences.
TWO DOLLARS!! I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!!