I am now on the GameStop hate bandwagon

@Torrim: If it literally was the same exact spiel from different people, it was likely a district based incentive, not a store or corporate one. the District Managers in that company are power-hungry control freaks that think they can do whatever they want to succeed. It's actually pretty creepy.

I read the title as gamespot. Doesn't matter I'll hop on a gamestop hate train too chooo chooooo

Seems like a pretty minor thing to hop aboard over but whatever.

@allworkandlowpay said:

@Torrim: If it literally was the same exact spiel from different people, it was likely a district based incentive, not a store or corporate one. the District Managers in that company are power-hungry control freaks that think they can do whatever they want to succeed. It's actually pretty creepy.

District Managers are some of the strangest people I've ever met. I feel like when they visit they have this utter disdain and contempt for every store worker there. They're pretty fickle too. Working at this upscale grocery store in college we had one that was a nice guy when talking to him, but had some of the strangest complaints about displays we would make on the floor. Once we had a pyramid of nacho chips that he claimed was too ethnic. Not that it was an ugly pyramid of nacho chips, but that it was apparently too ethnic to have nacho chips and salsa in the same place?

I've never had any crazy horror stories though, but I've always worked in grocery stores when braving retail. They're pretty hands-off but they have their moments.

but did he died?

@MordeaniisChaos: You know they came up with this neat-o thing a few years ago called the "internet". Maybe you've heard of it. Anyways, it's this really cool thing where you can shop at stores and sometimes even get reviews and previews of items (!) without even leaving your armchair. That way you don't have to rely on the minimum-wage store clerks to know what they're talking about.

All the GameStops around me have good service and fairly knowledgeable employees. I have in fact been talked out of buying some pretty shitty games by them. The service is certainly of the quality I'd expect from a retail outlet, and the only time I've run into bad smells is when the hardcore gamers come out of their closets to browse the sales (which thankfully doesn't happen very often anymore). However I realize the prices on many things can be a bit high compared to a bunch of online places, so while I buy games there occasionally, I make sure I'm not getting ripped off. Most new games cost $60 anyways, so I don't mind paying $60 to a place that has always given me good service to walk out with the game and be able to play it right away. Maybe it's the district manager around me or something, but I bear no ill will towards the GameStop.

@Example1013 said:

@MordeaniisChaos: You know they came up with this neat-o thing a few years ago called the "internet". Maybe you've heard of it. Anyways, it's this really cool thing where you can shop at stores and sometimes even get reviews and previews of items (!) without even leaving your armchair. That way you don't have to rely on the minimum-wage store clerks to know what they're talking about.

All the GameStops around me have good service and fairly knowledgeable employees. I have in fact been talked out of buying some pretty shitty games by them. The service is certainly of the quality I'd expect from a retail outlet, and the only time I've run into bad smells is when the hardcore gamers come out of their closets to browse the sales (which thankfully doesn't happen very often anymore). However I realize the prices on many things can be a bit high compared to a bunch of online places, so while I buy games there occasionally, I make sure I'm not getting ripped off. Most new games cost $60 anyways, so I don't mind paying $60 to a place that has always given me good service to walk out with the game and be able to play it right away. Maybe it's the district manager around me or something, but I bear no ill will towards the GameStop.

Indeed. It's the same way with all of the ones around me too. They are all really nice guys and they know what they are talking about. I'm trying to get a job there too.

Now Walmart on the other hand... I've never been more demoralized by people there in my entire life. And I work there. It's fucking awful. You might think Gamestop is bad for fat nerdy guys asking you if you want to pre-order Revelations after you buy ACII and Brotherhood, but try working nine hours a day just to get yelled by some manager because you can't clean the entire lot of shopping carts by yourself in 20 minutes. Fucking four people at a time can't clean the lot in TWO hours. How the hell am I going to do it by myself in 20 minutes? Then some fucking British guy came out of nowhere and yelled at me because he had to help clean the lot too(Which they do every night regardless of how good any of us do). Walmart sucks.

@Example1013: Oh fuck off with that shit. Why the fuck do you feel the need to shove words in my mouth? Did I say a fucking thing about anything relating to that? It is 100% about selection. Gamestop sells games, so they usually have just about any game you could want. At least the bigger ones. Even Best Buy doesn't have agreat selection, and it really only gets worse from there. I never go to a gamestop looking for a random game, I know what I want, I go get it, and ignore everything the idiots working there try to push onto me. I hand them my money, take my game, and leave. I shouldn't have to deal with them continuing to try and try and try to get me to do something I am blatantly obvious about not wanting or intending to do.

And yeah, some places totally do have good service. I certainly never said "ALL GAMESTOP EMPLOYEES ARE PRICKS, IDIOTS, AND SMELL LIKE ASS." However, generally speaking, regardless of why, the employees treat customers pretty poorly. I've had good service from gamestop employees before. But mostly, it's mediocre at best.

I'm one of "those" people who like gamestop, every time i go in there the employees seem like cool guys but maybe thats just me.

The Gamestop employees over here all know me and greet me personally every time I walk in the door. Occasionally they'll ask what I've been playing and we'll start talking about each other's gaming experiences. It's usually a pleasant experience every time. Oh and today they gave me a Dark Souls CE even though I didn't preorder, so they're aight by me.

@MordeaniisChaos: What do you mean shove words in your mouth? If you don't want to deal with the employees, there are a million online outlets for which you will never have to make human contact, ever. I also fail to see how your comment on grooming could be interpreted any other way. And, generally speaking, there are 5 GameStops within half an hour of where I live, all of which have excellent service and employees. The only thing that could be considered even remotely close to "idiots" trying to "push" something on me would be when I check out, and they ask if I'd like to pre-order anything, which is a 3-second conversation at best.

You make statements that, while possibly accurate to your location, can't be generalized to the retail chain at large, making them over-generalizations. If GameStops "generally" have poor service, why do I not have a single bad experience on record, despite having visited many separate locations? It's not "mostly mediocre at best", it's terrible at some stores, mediocre at some stores, and great at some stores.

The quality of the staff kinda varies from place to place really. They're actually pretty good here in Ireland (in Dublin at least) since they actually know what they're talking about (not all but most). They've got a good selection of used PS2 games too. The main problem I have with them is due to their polices regarding used games and such. Not to mention the fact that most companies like to throw their pre-order bonuses over to them despite the fact that a lot of people hate them.

I too dislike Gamestop, especially for midnight launches. I preordered Gears 3 from Gamestop and attended the Gamestop midnight launch for the first time. The mall opened it's doors at 11:30 and began to let us in. I was in the middle of the line by the time midnight hit, and entered the actual store at 1:30am. It took over an hour for them to get to the middle of the line because they were letting 4 people into the store at a time. When someone asked if there was any Gears of War schwag the clerk replied "Nope! Epic didn't send us anything this year."

So I stood in line for 2 hours in a mall, got no scwag of any sort and paid the same price as everyone else. A buddy called me the next day and said "hey man, I just went to Best Buy and grabbed Gears 3, I was in and out in 5 minutes."

At the Future Shop launches for Halo Reach and Black Ops we got scwag and had employees doing contests and games etc. The longest I've waited in line at their launches was around 20 minutes, because they actually let people into the store to shop. The Gamestop midnight launch was 2 hours I'll never get back.

There should be an official 'I hate GameStop because...' thread so we can stop making so many.

@James_ex_machina said:

I'm positive that the typical GameStop employee doesn't want to ask about preorders 10 tines while you are buying something.

Tis is what annoys me. Whenever I go, they try shoving Batman and MW3 down my damn throat. It's irritating.

Since I'm in the UK and Gamestop is barely a thing I can't really have a say. However I did preorder Driver: SF online when it was half price for an hour or something stupid like that. That was pretty cool although Driver is worth £40/$60 I didn't have enough money at the time so I felt like I got a cut a break.

Suck in the good, breathe out the bad.

@Example1013: Sure, if you have the means to purchase things online, and don't mind dealing with shipping costs, delays, possible losses or damages occurring during shipping, etc. I knew a couple folks back where I used to live until a short while ago that didn't have an address that could receive packages.

And "there are better alternatives" is absolutely NOT an excuse for them to be such a poorly run establishment with such poor customer interaction. Especially when the "alternative" is a totally different experience. Online shopping isn't always an option, and often isn't desired.

I've been to retail locations for gamestop all over the country. Most of them are shitty. Gamestop has a shitty reputation. Doesn't take a genius to see the pattern. I understand that there are experiences beyond my own and in order to get an accurate picture of something you need to take all of them in. Gamestop has a generally bad reputation for having poor customer support.

And as it was said, if you haven't left your region, they are all run under the same law. Maybe you're lucky, and you have a good place to be for gamestops. But you are making a sweeping generalization based on your area, without taking into account everyone else's experiences.

And as for the grooming thing, I meant actual grooming. This is just wikipedia, but it should give you an idea of what I meant by it: Grooming in humans typically includes bathroom activities such as primping: washing and cleaning the hair, combing it to extract tangles, andstyling. It can also include cosmetic care of the body, such as shaving. Another suitable alternative to shaving is beard grooming. Growing and maintaining requires less effort than being shaven.

At Best Buy, they are a little more... encouraging towards employees to be well groomed. Honestly, I'd rather go to gamestop than Best Buy, but strictly in terms of professional appearance, I believe Best Buy is a bit better a lot of the time. Not to say that all gamestop employees are poorly groomed, simply that they often lack a "professional" appearance. But many of them also are poorly groomed. Which is likely because of the age difference, gamestop often hiring younger employees, not to mention the culture within which they exist being known for it's neck beards and cheese dust.

But you have fun applying everything I say to every single employee/retail location. And you can blow it out your ass because once again, you're just acting like I'm saying shit I didn't even say. Like I said, for the most part, what I say is true. That could be 60%. But it's still mostly. You're right, there are places with good service. But MOSTLY, that isn't the case. 5 locations is hardly anything to go on with a chain that has over 6000 locations.

I dont shop at GameShit because its shit and they are assholes.

Wait wait wait wait......Someone did not hear you properly the fist time and that's a reason for hatred? You must realize that your question was a bit confusing at the very least. You where, after all, asking for the newest model of an 11 year old console.

Also what the hell is everyone else going about. I fear that nobody even bother reading the OP and used this opportunity to contribute their own mini-rant.

@TheDoorman: Overall the employees are fine. It's the corporate mandated pre-order sales pitches and "opened" new games that turns away customers. The last time I bought a new game (PRICED and labels as new but opened) it had greasy finger prints on the disc. F that.