Shady practice in Game?

markyboy

Went in to buy a PSP on Patrick St., Cork today and found they had some in stock.

I asked for two, consoles only, and was told I would have to buy an accessory for each to complete the transaction (cost me an extra €30 for this privilege).

Normally I would have gone somewhere else but you can't get these things anywhere.:(

In addition, after I asked if I could return them unopened for a refund, I was told that this wasn't possible.

Any comments?

Matt Simis

They also claim you cant return PC games at all, which is definately against consumer rights. However they dont really enforce it too much.

If you had said that forcing you to buy the accessories was illegal (whether it is or not) and made a bit of a stink they probably wouldnt have pushed the matter.

Either way, I too wonder about the real legality of their business practices..


Matt

Guy:Incognito

Matt Simis wrote:

They also claim you cant return PC games at all, which is definately against consumer rights. However they dont really enforce it too much. Matt

How is it against consumer rights? nowhere is obliged to take anything back unless its broken.

Matt Simis wrote:

If you had said that forcing you to buy the accessories was illegal (whether it is or not) and made a bit of a stink they probably wouldnt have pushed the matter.Matt

It's their store, they can do what they like. If they decide you have to buy an elephant or they wont sell you a psp, thats their porogative, they aren't obliged to sell you anything.

Crucifix

Stekelly wrote:

How is it against consumer rights? nowhere is obliged to take anything back unless its broken.

He said at all, so I assume they're claiming a simple "No refunds", which is illegal.
As for the accesory thing, I haven't a monkey's.

xha1r

Matt Simis wrote:

They also claim you cant return PC games at all, which is definately against consumer rights.

always wondered that myself...

gerrycollins

Stekelly wrote:

How is it against consumer rights? nowhere is obliged to take anything back unless its broken.
that is the law they can refuse unless its broken most do it for good customer service

gerrycollins

Matt Simis wrote:

They also claim you cant return PC games at all,

again unless its broken they can refuse to replace or refund it plus what are the chances guys and girls are copying games and then getting refunds not good business sense for the retailer, most might offer exchange tho??i stand corrected on the exchange thingy

Guy:Incognito

gerrycollins wrote:

again unless its broken they can refuse to replace or refund it plus what are the chances guys and girls are copying games and then getting refunds not good business sense for the retailer, most might offer exchange tho??i stand corrected on the exchange thingy

They dont do exchanges because of the above. People were downloading the game or else buying and copying it. Its the cd key they bought it for and once they have it it's useless to anyone else.

gerrycollins

Stekelly wrote:

They dont do exchanges because of the above. People were downloading the game or else buying and copying it. Its the cd key they bought it for and once they have it it's useless to anyone else.

thanks for that

rondjon

Just to confirm some of the comments separately made above, none of what Game did here was illegal, shady or anything else. Everything they did was entirely within their rights to do.

markyboy wrote:

I asked for two, consoles only, and was told I would have to buy an accessory for each to complete the transaction (cost me an extra €30 for this privilege).

Nothing wrong here. They are offering for sale a package that includes a psp and an accessory. You are invited to purchase that. If you don't accept this invitation, that's up to you. They decided to not offer for sale the psp on it's own, so therefore, nothing you can do.

It may smack a little of profiteering, but there's nothing illegal in what they're doing here.

markyboy wrote:

In addition, after I asked if I could return them unopened for a refund, I was told that this wasn't possible.

Unless the products you bought were broken, you're not entitled to a refund. And if they were broken, they would be entitled to offer you replacements or offer to get them repaired before offering you a refund.

You can't get a refund just because you don't like/want something you've bought. Sometimes you can, but that's at the discretion of the shop itself.

MorningStar

Why did you buy them there then? If you weren't happy with the price or package why not just walk away?

gerrycollins

rondjon wrote:

You can't get a refund just because you don't like/want something you've bought. Sometimes you can, but that's at the discretion of the shop itself.

English was never my strong point but couldn't have put it better myself

TheMonster

Was the PSP priced independently? If so you have cause to complain if not as above they can sell whatever packages they like.

Sponge Bob

TheMonster wrote:

Was the PSP priced independently?

On their website they advertise a series of psp+game+controller packages (bundles) called Sony Giga Packs , see http://shop.game.net/lowdown.aspx?lid=5201

I cannot find them offering a PSP ONLY on that site so unless they advertised a PSP only deal in the media and never seem to have it in stock , ever, then Game are not acting illegally or wrongly in MY opinion.

Had Game advertised a PSP for "Only €199", for example and tried to peddle you a bundle in its place for €300 then you could have a justifiable complaint.

rondjon

Sponge Bob wrote:

Had Game advertised a PSP for "Only €199", for example and tried to peddle you a bundle in its place for €300 then you could have a justifiable complaint.

Yes, a complaint for false advertising which would go to the ASAI. And if found to be false, they would be censured and told not to do it again. Nothing illegal still.

Lemlin

Gamesworld were doing the same. I went to buy a PSP off them at launch and the deal was that they had limited stock so you had to spend at least 319.99 (that was for a PSP with a UMD movie and game). I didn't mind anyway because its not much good buying the console without a game anyway.

DID were charging something like 389.99 for their PSP with three games and would only sell it in that package.

GAME were doing packages at 289.99 with one game though so you probably should have just got two of those instead of having to buy the accessory.

Fact is that shops make feck all margin on these products so they have to try and bundle them with games and accessories.