GameStop opens game cases, steals the coupons inside

[Martinussen]

It says GameSpot in the second last line.

[JustintimeSS]

There are multiple Gamestops in my town. Two of them (the mall variations) sell you opened "brand new" games, which I never liked and stopped shopping at them. The Gamestop I do shop at is in a shopping plaza and is fucking awesome. The people there love games and remember you. It has a very gaming community feel about it (minus the douchery). That Gamestop does not open the games they sell when they are brand new.

[Davlin]

I've had a dissenting opinion of Gamestop for quite awhile now. This whole tidbit just affirms my beliefs. Just this past year, I purchased a used copy of Madden 2011 that supposedly still included an active EA Sports online pass. Apparently, Gamestop inquired into each return, and placed a new, functional code with each case that contained a previously used pass code. As soon as I attempted to use the code however, I received an error that it was already in use. I promptly contacted Gamestop who informed me that "all sales are final", and that they didn't believe the code wasn't functional. Interesting, no?

That was simply the juicy first bite. The rest of the meal comes earlier than that. Why I even returned to Gamestop after this incident, is beyond me, honestly. Roughly 2 years ago, my current Xbox 360 console decided to flash me the infamous RROD. I immediately drove to my local Gamestop, with my 360 in tow, along with a handful of games and older controllers that I no longer used. I traded all of those items in for less than $40 (sadly), and purchased a used 360 Elite console.

Now you may be questioning why I would purchase a used console. The reasoning behind it was, that one of the employees said that another employee returned their console after only having it for roughly 2-3 weeks, and decided to switch to PS3. I figured that since the console is essentially brand new, plus a current employee returned it, how bad could it get? In less than a week, the console burned up on me from less than 12 total hours of play. I contacted the same store, and they instructed me to remove the faceplate and look for the warranty sticker. Oddly enough, it was not there. I was then informed, that Gamestop no longer accepts "defective" merchandise, and my best option would be to contact Microsoft and pay for repairs or a new console.

Granted, my issues could have simply been just the store I chose, or possibly this area in general. But after contacting their district supervisor who declined to offer assistance, I decided that Gamestop is one of the worst gaming retailers in today's market. Now, I choose to go through Steam, or even BestBuy.

As for the poll, obviously I voted that Gamestop should not have opened the box. I can't place road cones in parking spots at WalMart, today, just because I intend to park there later this week. It's still the same fallible logic behind eliminating competition.

[Pendulous]

I promptly contacted Gamestop who informed me that "all sales are final", and that they didn't believe the code wasn't functional. Interesting, no?

Whoever told you that is full of shit. Gamestop's Used return policy is admittingly very lenient. It's 90 days, money back, really no questions asked

That was simply the juicy first bite. The rest of the meal comes earlier than that. Why I even returned to Gamestop after this incident, is beyond me, honestly. Roughly 2 years ago, my current Xbox 360 console decided to flash me the infamous RROD. I immediately drove to my local Gamestop, with my 360 in tow, along with a handful of games and older controllers that I no longer used. I traded all of those items in for less than $40 (sadly), and purchased a used 360 Elite console.

Now you may be questioning why I would purchase a used console. The reasoning behind it was, that one of the employees said that another employee returned their console after only having it for roughly 2-3 weeks, and decided to switch to PS3. I figured that since the console is essentially brand new, plus a current employee returned it, how bad could it get? In less than a week, the console burned up on me from less than 12 total hours of play. I contacted the same store, and they instructed me to remove the faceplate and look for the warranty sticker. Oddly enough, it was not there. I was then informed, that Gamestop no longer accepts "defective" merchandise, and my best option would be to contact Microsoft and pay for repairs or a new console.

Also bullshit by them. How do you think they get the refurbished consoles that they sell? They accept broken systems, for a lot less than a working one. Also I believe that used systems come with an automatic warranty, at the very least is one month.

Edit; According to this PDF , their used return policy is stricter nowadays, but still well within the limits of your issues.

[noteworthynerd]

Yet another reason I refuse to shop at Gamestop...

[Davlin]

Whoever told you that is full of shit. Gamestop's Used return policy is admittingly very lenient. It's 90 days, money back, really no questions asked

Yeah, I thought that was the policy as well. But according to the employee I spoke with, since I opened the game and attempted to use the code, the product was "compromised". Never heard of that, with the exception of WalMart's strict return policy.

Also bullshit by them. How do you think they get the refurbished consoles that they sell? They accept broken systems, for a lot less than a working one. Also I believe that used systems come with an automatic warranty, at the very least is one month.

I already knew that. Note the part of my post where I mentioned that I traded in my RROD console, along with a few games and controllers for less than $40. And as for the warranty, they claimed that since the warranty sticker was removed, they wouldn't accept it either. I even told the employee that it was apparent that the original owner, who just happened to be a current employee, had to have removed the sticker. The guy just laughed, said "have a nice day" and hung up on me.

[Deleted]

This is rather strange... I kinda understand why Gamestop did it but I don't think it's fair for customers and at the very least they should return money to customers who paid for it thinking they are getting something else. That should definitaly be suable.

[bloodwulf]

I am not supporting what gamestop did, because i think they could of handled it better, but at the same time would you expect walmart to sell coupons to target? because that is the same situation here.

Gamestop owns the platform Impulse which is a direct rival to Onlive...so it is not surprising that they did not want to support a competitor.

[Pendulous]

I already knew that. Note the part of my post where I mentioned that I traded in my RROD console, along with a few games and controllers for less than $40. And as for the warranty, they claimed that since the warranty sticker was removed, they wouldn't accept it either. I even told the employee that it was apparent that the original owner, who just happened to be a current employee, had to have removed the sticker. The guy just laughed, said "have a nice day" and hung up on me.

You talked to them on the phone? Hell, you could have been talking to the original owner of the system!

[VenomousCarnage]

It's ridiculous the society we live in, corporations think they can just do whatever they want. It's all about $$$$

*cough* Blizzard *cough*
Really though Gamestop should of just pulled the game from their shelves and tried to take action if they were "tricked" by not being told about the coupon. Instead they opted to do the greedy thing and screw people over by taking away something that by all rights should be free (like blizzard does with anything it can) or at least included in the original package.

[zaoly]

*cough* Blizzard *cough*
Really though Gamestop should of just pulled the game from their shelves and tried to take action if they were "tricked" by not being told about the coupon. Instead they opted to do the greedy thing and screw people over by taking away something that by all rights should be free (like blizzard does with anything it can) or at least included in the original package.

Why do people sneak in all sorts of Blizzard bashing comments whenever they can? Even when the thread clearly has no relevance to Blizzard whatsoever.

On topic: I do agree pulling coupons out was shady, but what would have been the best approach for Gamestop? Pulling the game off shelf right away when there are customers coming in demanding for the game? Most people dislike Gamestop practices, but in this case, Gamestop is the victim, Square Enix is the responsible for not informing Gamestop ahead of time.

[Pendulous]

On topic: I do agree pulling coupons out was shady, but what would have been the best approach for Gamestop? Pulling the game off shelf right away when there are customers coming in demanding for the game? Most people dislike Gamestop practices, but in this case, Gamestop is the victim, Square Enix is the responsible for not informing Gamestop ahead of time.

That's what they ultimately did anyway. If they had just started by taking the game off the shelf, there wouldn't be so much controversy.

[Deleted]

Whether or not you like Gamestop isn't the issue here. Quote from the story:

As Square has not yet commented about it or made any legal action, there's a good chance that this is accurate. What if you were running, say, a Smith's grocery store, and Pepsi, without your permission, decided to stuff coupons that only work at a competitor's grocery store into all of their soda 12/24 packs?

For the exact same pack of soda? Because that's what this is. It's a game, which has the game in it's case and a code for that same game, but then as a streaming service, it's not costing GameStop a sale they other-wise would've made - and since they don't have a streaming service, it's not cutting in on their market by promoting a direct competitor.

[Doirdyn]

For the exact same pack of soda? Because that's what this is. It's a game, which has the game in it's case and a code for that same game, but then as a streaming service, it's not costing GameStop a sale they other-wise would've made - and since they don't have a streaming service, it's not cutting in on their market by promoting a direct competitor.

I laugh that they're trying to promote their "future" streaming service by further making a huge deal about their "future" competitor OnLive, thus making what they're doing, redundant.

[Event Horizon]

I don't see what square did is any different to valve including codes for steam in their games

Will gamestop ban valve games because you're able to register and download hardcopy games electronically?

[Pozz]

I don't see what square did is any different to valve including codes for steam in their games

Will gamestop ban valve games because you're able to register and download hardcopy games electronically?

If there was/is an agreement between the 2 companies, then they did wrong in breaking it. We've only heard Gamespot mention this agreement, though silence doesn't really speak against it's existance.

Them breaking an agreement in no way makes it okay for Gamestop to steal from the customers, nor 'compromise' the object by having it opened.

[Tzzentch]

Found this story:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/24/tech...bin&hpt=hp_bn3

Apparently a new game Deus Ex comes with a coupon to download an online version of the game for free, similar to the Digital Copies that some DVDs come with. GameStop decided to open the games, remove and destroy the coupons, then sell the opened games as new.

Personally I think this was underhanded and despicable, customers were buying the game from GameStop anyway, so the coupon wasn't costing the store any money, but GameStop decided to tamper with the product and still sell it as new.

What are your thoughts?

Gamestop are perfectly within their rights to open the cases, removing the coupons depends on how it was done.
With Portal 2 a digital copy of the PC version was included with the PS3 version.
hence Gamestop lost thousands to people abusing the returns policy.
buying the game, using the digital copy, then returning it.

by removing the coupons the returns policy can be used as intended.

Anyway if they left them in their everyone would buy a copy, use the coupon, return the game.

then you'd buy it and GET the coupon that wouldn't work anyway.

Personally i think it's a stupid idea to include a free copy of the game you just bought anyway, why would you want a second copy when you've just bought it.
if the coupons were scratch to use like "scratch an wins" or something then it would be fine because Gamestop just wouldn't return it without a unscratched coupon.

basically Gamestop are within their rights to do what they want with the coupons because it's not part of the actual game itself, it doesn't lead to a defective product and any extra bonuses included with the game are an agreement between the supplier and the stockist.

if you want 2 copies of the game you just bought then go to best buy or some shit, and run the risk of being stuck with 2 copies of a game you hate.
if you want to be able to return the game if you hate it go to gamestop.

---------- Post added 2011-08-26 at 06:27 PM ----------

If there was/is an agreement between the 2 companies, then they did wrong in breaking it. We've only heard Gamespot mention this agreement, though silence doesn't really speak against it's existance.

Them breaking an agreement in no way makes it okay for Gamestop to steal from the customers, nor 'compromise' the object by having it opened.

the agreement is for the supplier to offer an option to the retailer, all bonuses are organized between the supplier and retailer, hence some companies having access to bonuses and DLC that others don't.

Codes for steam are the reason the returns policy doesn't extend to PC games, because we as Gamestop employees can't vouch that the customer returning the game isn't going to play it for free when they get home.

Gamestop did not "compromise" the product by opening it, your game was not a virgin to be violated in fact it had been open several times before.
if we didn't open the games then we wouldn't be able to put them on the shelves without those stupid alarm cases, the boxes that we do put on the walls include the manual so you can understand the product better before you fork out money for it.

Honestly I've worked for many retailers and Gamestop is one of the better ones, the policies they enact are only there to help the customers and we get told often by our bosses that if we don't believe in a product then we shouldn't sell it.
but still gamestop come under fire more than any other retailer because the very policies that help the customer also leave us open to exploitation, then whenever we say "no" to something people act like we've butchered an infant.

if you want good customer service then we offer it, but we aren't handing out freebies if you aren't going to keep the game.

---------- Post added 2011-08-26 at 06:37 PM ----------

One issue with this that popped in to my mind is the return of product policy with physical retailers. If the PC version of a box that you purchased is open, you can't return the software. Are all return policies with DX PC now void? Are all sales final? I'd be interested to see if they can be held to those policies as they are the ones who opened the boxes themselves.

The policy actually states that all PC version sales are final regardless of the box being opened, however most gamestop employees will just do it if you are nice enough, we just put it through as defective and say it didn't load.
This return policy thing is something that retailers do not have to offer.
in fact i think most don't, Gamestop chose to offer this policy to help the consumer get the right product.
however if you are nice to retail employees they will do backflips for you,
if you want we can put a "security seal" over the opened box that will allow us to return PC games with steam codes, so long as the seal isn't broken.
the problem is we get so many people trying to scam us we can't trust anyone...

its a sad state of affairs when the retailers trying to help are just getting taken advantage of...

[Thornstar]

Pretty sure something like this would not be allowed. It seems rather shady as well. Dunno why they would even do that. =/

[Pozz]

Gamestop are perfectly within their rights to open the cases, removing the coupons depends on how it was done.
With Portal 2 a digital copy of the PC version was included with the PS3 version.
hence Gamestop lost thousands to people abusing the returns policy.
buying the game, using the digital copy, then returning it.

by removing the coupons the returns policy can be used as intended.

Anyway if they left them in their everyone would buy a copy, use the coupon, return the game.

then you'd buy it and GET the coupon that wouldn't work anyway.

Personally i think it's a stupid idea to include a free copy of the game you just bought anyway, why would you want a second copy when you've just bought it.
if the coupons were scratch to use like "scratch an wins" or something then it would be fine because Gamestop just wouldn't return it without a unscratched coupon.

basically Gamestop are within their rights to do what they want with the coupons because it's not part of the actual game itself, it doesn't lead to a defective product and any extra bonuses included with the game are an agreement between the supplier and the stockist.

if you want 2 copies of the game you just bought then go to best buy or some shit, and run the risk of being stuck with 2 copies of a game you hate.
if you want to be able to return the game if you hate it go to gamestop.

I'll ask you the same question I asked another person making this argument... How come only Gamestop needs to do this ? Why don't all other stores do the same ? Is Gamestop the only store that imoral people shop at ?

[Littleraven]

this right here is why i only buy things from gamestop if absolutely necessary. thats pretty damn ballsy on their part....