the retailer called Game thread

steviec

I don't normally shop in the evil empire but an unknowing relative bought me Game gift vouchers for Christmas and I wanted to get the ordeal out of the way.

So I arrived in Game on Henry St. to get Need for Speed on Xbox 360, having loved the demo. I did my homework and was going to ask them about price matching since they were charging 79.99 for it and Gamestop and Smyths were charging 69.99. Argos are charging less I believe but they weren't open and like I said I was using vouchers so 69.99 would do.

So, I queue up, arrive at the counter box in hand and am being served by the obnoxious manager there, the same guy who once told me I was living on cloud cuckoo land when I quoted Sony tech support to him, and who physically restrained a staff member from selling a 360 on launch day without forcing a bundle on the customer, the horror! So he's about to serve me when the phone rings. I worked in retail for 4 years and one thing I was always told was when on till the customer facing you always takes precedence over the phone, but that's a small matter anyway.

This is where it got fun, I was left waiting while he talked on the phone ages, but it was an interesting conversation:
'yes I know'
'like I told your son, there's no way that could have happened here'
'it's not our responsibility if your disc is damaged'
'those boxes are sealed we couldn't have tampered with it here'
'I'm sure if you call Microsoft they'll change it for you'
'like I said, it's not our problem'
'so do you have proof that it was damaged on our premises?'
'yes I am telling you that we will not exchange damaged goods'
'yes and I'm aware of my rights too. Goodbye.'

I was so tempted to tell him I'd go buy my psp gigapack in a shop that respected statutory rights when he hung up the phone, but like I said I'd vouchers to get rid of.

So, the price matching, like blood from a stone. He informed me first of all that they won't match argos(nice deal, we'll match any price except the cheapest one), then he told me he wouldn't match any kind of special offer or sale price, then he informed me he would only match the price of a shop that had the game in stock. So having gone through all that, and me having explained to him that he's charging a tenner more than every other shop, he actually rang Gamestop to make sure I wasn't lying, like he wasn't aware his prices are a rip off. Then, when he gets off the phone(after asking for a price, asking them if that was a special offer, and making sure it was in stock) he finally agrees to price match, before checking and finding they didn't have it in stock! AGH!

Anyway thought I'd share that story, there's so very many reasons to avoid Game, unfortunately I'll have to try and get rid of those vouchers at some point!

KTRIC

I used to be a loyal Game frequenter, but after seeing the rip-off prices they are charging now and this really p!sses me off. If I'm going to buy a game in a bricks and mortor store it will be in Smyths. If they don't have it I'm getting it online.

The only thing that annoys me about Smyths is that their staff know nothing about new products or the ones they currently stock. At least they don't lie like Game do.

cormie

Why don't you float around the shop and wait until you see somebody go up to the counter with what looks to be an expensive purchase and ask will they take your voucher for €5 cheaper? Just explain you don't actually want anything that you got it for Christmas:) They save a fiver you get cash to spend somewhere else.

Gummy Panda

Game on Henry st are terrible. I will never shop there again after they tried to flob off a faulty DS to me, even though i brought it back one day after i got it. Even had a security guard telling me there was nothing wrong with it.

Stick to dawson st. Manager is much nicer.

cormie

I remember I had a dodgy N64 controller, rang up Game and they said yeah no prob, bring it in and we'll replace it no problem. I brought it in to the Grafton Street one and the manager said that nobody said that to me and he wasn't going to replace it. I stood at the till for a while saying he should, trying to make him look bad in front of other customers, when I was actually about to break out crying (I was only a wee lad:D). Anyway, I eventually left and got onto the game website and sent them an email, got a nice email back which I printed off, went in and got a brand new controller.

qz

cormie wrote:

I remember I had a dodgy N64 controller, rang up Game and they said yeah no prob, bring it in and we'll replace it no problem. I brought it in to the Grafton Street one and the manager said that nobody said that to me and he wasn't going to replace it. I stood at the till for a while saying he should, trying to make him look bad in front of other customers, when I was actually about to break out crying (I was only a wee lad:D). Anyway, I eventually left and got onto the game website and sent them an email, got a nice email back which I printed off, went in and got a brand new controller.

Fair play!

sprinkles

You should have gone around the store and told everyone there in a mildly loud voice that EVERYTHING is cheaper across the road in GS or in Argos/Smiths.


My loathing of Game is growing by the day. As regards the phone call, he clearly doesn't know his rights or manners. I used to work in retail during my college days and if I was caught talking to a customer like that I'd be sacked in a heartbeat. What a toss3r.

KTRIC

Are the in any way connected to Maplins ?? Their customer focus seems to be the same. Both lie to the customers and treat the like sh!t.

Call Me Jimmy

aye game is in a sad state. i buy nearly all my computer related stuff online. why pay more? if more irish people bought online then the stores would be forced to compete and lower prices.

Ri_Nollaig

the manager sounds like an as.shole alright but i wont b too hard at game in general over it
they do overprice alot of new releases and the 360 stuff really was a joke but u can get some good bargins for older stuff

Jammer

That price matching thing is standard accross the board, any shop who does it, does it in that fashion.

Don't go anywhere near GAME anymore. Its gone to overpriced (a la HMV) heaven.

Smurfpiss

That manager is an arsehole alright. but i got splinter cell: chaos theory (pc) for 15 euro today, nowhere advertised it was half price so that was a nice surprise! Their pricing system is dreadful. call of duty 2 was priced at 55 euro on dawson street, but the special edition was 30 (wtf??) still no worse than any hmv, virgin etc.

projectmayhem

yeah game is a disgrace at this stage. staff are nice enough but, as was said, management tends to be a complete joke...

if you HAVE to shop in game, dawson st ftw

columok

GAME are a funny bunch.

You get some cracking deals of the week and some great special offers sometimes. I picked up RE4 today for €39.99 new.

Then it comes to there pre-owned games where you've loadsa games more expensive pre-owned than new. I never trade in at GAME anymore as I always find that I get a better deal at Gamestop.

qz

columok wrote:

GAME are a funny bunch.

You get some cracking deals of the week and some great special offers sometimes. I picked up RE4 today for €39.99 new.

Then it comes to there pre-owned games where you've loadsa games more expensive pre-owned than new. I never trade in at GAME anymore as I always find that I get a better deal at Gamestop.

Play have (well, had) the limited edition for €29. It must have only sold out recently

rainbow kirby

Gummy Panda wrote:

Game on Henry st are terrible. I will never shop there again after they tried to flob off a faulty DS to me, even though i brought it back one day after i got it. Even had a security guard telling me there was nothing wrong with it.

Stick to dawson st. Manager is much nicer.

Ah Mick the security guard... thinks he's a manager, no matter where he works... what a 'tard.

To the OP: That's horrible how you were treated... and I'm so surprised that the manager actually bothered going through all of that on one of the busiest shopping days of the year... *sigh*

Laguna

rainbow kirby wrote:

Ah Mick the security guard... thinks he's a manager, no matter where he works... what a 'tard.

To the OP: That's horrible how you were treated... and I'm so surprised that the manager actually bothered going through all of that on one of the busiest shopping days of the year... *sigh*

Come on, I'm sure you've worked in retail at some stage (we all have). We all know what I like to regard as 'lifers' (people who aren't doing retail work part time as a means to an end) and 'managers' are like, they're angry and petty over anything and everything, managers in retail preach to staff to treat the customer well etc. In my many **** part time retail jobs through the years, I've seen managers speak to customers with absolute contempt as if they were absolute **** they just stood in. When he conceded and gave the guy the same price, I'd have rubbed it in for the laugh, like "HA!, I win GAME-BOY!"

sprinkles

Hehe, no offence to anyone that works full time in retail but I think your right. There is a certain lack of respect by some of the "lifers" as you call them for the part time staff and the customers. To rub their livelyhood in their face after they back down would be the proverabial icing on the cake. They'd have to be a right prick to deserve it though.

LegacyUser

All i know is if i was treated in that way by any staff employee in any chain. I would make a fool out of them easily.

flogen

The manager I think you're talking about is a bit of an asshole. Actually, he's an asshole, full stop.
He treats all customers like crap. Now that's what years of working on Henry St may do to some people, but I always made a point of not letting some customer affect the way you deal with others. If someone wanted to be an asshole to me, I'd throw it right back, but if someone was being nice, I'd help them as much as I could.
That manager acts like people owe him something, and if he has to do any more than ring an item up he makes it known that he's going out of his way (Even when he's not, general customer service is going out of his way).

There's also a big thing about consumer rights going on there too, I would say this, if you want to challenge him, know your rights 100%. I'm not sure what he actually knows but once you say "i know my rights" he will challenge you to go with him to the nearby consumer rights shop on O Connell st to see if you're right. It's a great tactic to get rid of people that don't know sh1t, mind you.

Jazzy

Gummy Panda wrote:

Stick to dawson st. Manager is much nicer.

true... very nice guy and quite understanding. he even told me to go to HMV to look for DoW:WA when he didnt have it, knowing i had their value card.

but yet the fact remains that game are incompetant AND ARENT A SPECIALIST GAMING SHOP

JacoStanley

Does the manager have red hair?

CiDeRmAn

I worked in gamesworld, as it was known, on abbey and liffey street and can honestly say we did our best to provide customers with the best deals possible, there was great competition with Game, Eb and Smyths, waiting for the release dates of Perfect Dark or Ocarina and seing if one of the other stores tries to jump the gun and stick it out early on the shelves.
Things were more personal then, 97-99, but now things are different, I still stand by Gamestop as a great shop but do acknowledge that the larger a chain gets the more impersonal the service, certainly in Game they just push whatever the Sony/Ea/Microsoft rep tells them to push.
The best store to capture the type of service we used to get is Gamestop in Santry, they are always ready to come out fron behind the counter and help someone choose the right game, especially if they are a parent buying for a child, a nice bunch of folks who overall know their stuff.

KTRIC

CiDeRmAn wrote:

I worked in gamesworld, as it was known, on abbey and liffey street and can honestly say we did our best to provide customers with the best deals possible, there was great competition with Game, Eb and Smyths, waiting for the release dates of Perfect Dark or Ocarina and seing if one of the other stores tries to jump the gun and stick it out early on the shelves.
Things were more personal then, 97-99, but now things are different, I still stand by Gamestop as a great shop but do acknowledge that the larger a chain gets the more impersonal the service, certainly in Game they just push whatever the Sony/Ea/Microsoft rep tells them to push.
The best store to capture the type of service we used to get is Gamestop in Santry, they are always ready to come out fron behind the counter and help someone choose the right game, especially if they are a parent buying for a child, a nice bunch of folks who overall know their stuff.

I found that myself with the guys in Santry, is it still like that ?? It reminded me of the game shops when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's.

srdb20

The best store to capture the type of service we used to get is Gamestop in Santry, they are always ready to come out fron behind the counter and help someone choose the right game, especially if they are a parent buying for a child, a nice bunch of folks who overall know their stuff.

Agree 100%!!!!!!!!!

yawnstretch

I've been abused by Gamestop a couple of times too.

The most recent was Gamestop on Liffey St. Id been in the day before (work close by) and had seen I-Robot on UMD for 24.99 so I came back the next day with the cash and picked it up from the shelf (which had about 6 other copies there with the same price).

I bring it up to the counter, the person at the till starts ringing it through when a manager comes over, tells me the price is wrong, tells me all the ones on the shelf are 5 euro too cheap also and tells me "I cant let you have it".

Smyths for the win - every time.

evad_lhorg

ive said it once ill say it again.... how does one dickheads actions mean that the rest of the company is the same???? the majority of people who say "thats against my statutory ights" havnt a notion of what their rights are they just think a refund is theres no matter what. he should have price matched, yea.... no neeed to argue there its something the company provides but it can only match if a game is in stock and they cant go price matching some random shop on the other side of the city.(ie town-blanchardstown or somthin). I have traded in in gamestop plenty of times and they do NOT give better prices at all. some games yea ill agree but are those games the only ones people trade? no!

people whine and whine about game but when one of the shops closes its all "oh why did they get rid of that shop?".

the only shop i can say is consistantly better than game , on new releases anyway, is Smyths because they have the discount card.


sure just go to dawson st anyway. henry st in general is a shíthole. very sexy members of staff too

Ri_Nollaig

y do u defend game so much ?
every place ive worked part-time i cudnt give a sh.it about
on topic... game will screw u over if they can but so will all the rest virgin, hmv etc
so fu.ck them all and buy online as much as u can

evad_lhorg

im not so much defending game but more calling the "game bashers" a bunch of hypocrites. i dont give a crap about the company once i get paid im ok.

Lifeguard

I suppose you can't brand a whole gaming franchise on the actions of 1 manager, but what about 2?

I haven't been in Game for years now, but I do remember the old manager of Henry St., Andy. He was just as bad as the new guy.

I don't think it's a case of the current manager being an asshole, I think it's all down to a policy game have with their customers.

steviec

CiDeRmAn wrote:

The best store to capture the type of service we used to get is Gamestop in Santry, they are always ready to come out fron behind the counter and help someone choose the right game, especially if they are a parent buying for a child, a nice bunch of folks who overall know their stuff.

I'll agree with that, was in the other day and the guy was asking me if I managed to get my 360(I'd inquired there about pre-ordering a couple of times.)

I know you can't judge a whole chain by one manager or staff member, but I've had consistently good experiences in Gamestop in Santry, town, Clare Hall and consistently bad experiences in Game, although Henry St. is the only one I really go to. I went to Dawson st. today and got the game price matched no problem, their base price was already a fiver cheaper than Henry St. too.

I could be completely wrong here, but I get the impression that Gamestop have a hiring policy that makes sure their staff know what their talking about when it comes to games while Game just hire sales people and knowing something about games is just a bonus.

xanthor

steviec wrote:

So, the price matching, like blood from a stone. He informed me first of all that they won't match argos(nice deal, we'll match any price except the cheapest one), then he told me he wouldn't match any kind of special offer or sale price, then he informed me he would only match the price of a shop that had the game in stock. So having gone through all that, and me having explained to him that he's charging a tenner more than every other shop, he actually rang Gamestop to make sure I wasn't lying, like he wasn't aware his prices are a rip off. Then, when he gets off the phone(after asking for a price, asking them if that was a special offer, and making sure it was in stock) he finally agrees to price match, before checking and finding they didn't have it in stock! AGH!

The Argos thing is 'standard practice' in Game. The official reason is becasue 'Argos may not have it in stock.

Ringing the shop to check is standard practice too. As for the checking if it's a 'special offer' that speciffic bit is new to me.

Gummy Panda wrote:

Game on Henry st are terrible. I will never shop there again after they tried to flob off a faulty DS to me, even though i brought it back one day after i got it. Even had a security guard telling me there was nothing wrong with it.

Yes, I've seen him giving people product advice before....... wasn't awate that cross training was part of the policy in Game....

Gummy Panda wrote:

Stick to dawson st. Manager is much nicer.

I've wrangled with him about one or two things, he did the right thing in both cases.
I
n Henry St... I can't quite put my finger on it........ but several of them don't seem to be happy to be there.

I remember when the last Splinter Cell game came out, there was an advert for a free poster. They didn't have them at the counter, and the guy behind the counter seemed suprised that I should ask for it.

He did fish it out for me, but he didn't bring any others to the counter with him.

Now, I know a job like that can be utter crap at times, but the staff in Henry ST seem rather more unhappy than in Dawson ST.

Perhaps it's reflective of a difference between the average customer of the two brances.

tman

checked out the sale in Game, Galway earlier on today out of boredom.
after wandering around downstairs for a couple of minutes, wondering what the **** had happened to the Gamecube section, i decided to check upstairs.
believe it or not they'd actually expanded the Gamecube section!

I was tempted to buy another copy of Billy Hatcher from them out of principal (I haven't bought anything from Gamestop ever since they stopped stocking cube games)
given the size of Dublin, it's perfectly fair for you guys to knock them.
but seeing as they now have the largest Gamecube selection in Galway, i say kudos to them:)

monument

evad_lhorg wrote:

and they cant go price matching some random shop on the other side of the city.(ie town-blanchardstown or somthin).

Why? Is Blanch out side the pail or something?

And isnt the whole 'there's no-one better, so there's no point giving out' idea a bit old?

To add, one of my recent experiences with game was on the 360 launch day, a friend was trying to get a 360 for my off Game [I'm not saying where]. They admitted to having at least one in stock which was not pre-ordered, but a staff member was stopped by a manager from selling it ‘until all pre-orders were sold’, noting again this was an extra console not reserved for pre-orders. If I was there at the time, I may have been making a complaint to the Competition Authority, and most certainly the Advertising Standards Authority.

Maybe this manager and the manger in the opening post are just single cases. But there’s a lot to suggest they are more then isolated cases for Game, and the retail industry.

flogen

monument wrote:

Why? Is Blanch out side the pail or something?

And isnt the whole 'there's no-one better, so there's no point giving out' idea a bit old?

No, but the price match policy is any store within a 3 mile radius, or something like that.

Game Dawson st (as an ex-employee) is a good shop. I know some of the staff there now and they will do their best to help wherever they can. I don't know some of the other ones so I can't comment on them.
There was a worrying trend in Game that saw some sales assistants being hired for their ability to sell rather than their knowledge, naturally a nice balance is what suits the company perfectly but it was always my case that a person who is passionate about games will deliver great customer service (warn against bad games, for example) and will ensure a returning trade because people will learn to trust the guys at store X.
I can also promise you that the reps of EA, Sony etc. don't have any direct sway, but Game usually has deals with them (like the deal of the week), and each store is told to push a certain product(s) each week, usually in return for something free for the highest seller.
I would never, and I've never known anyone to pimp up a game over something else just for this reason, though. I would suggest it only if I thought it was a good game, or if it suited the buyer. I might also point it out just because it was on special offer (so they were buying something else, and I'd just say, you can get this for half price if you want). That would usually only be when the manager was around though, a well priced game speaks for itself in a place like Dawson St.
That's not to say people don't do that. Some get some caught up in a promotion that they say anything to sell it, and that pisses me off. If i sell someone a sh1t game just to get an extra sale under my name, what do I get? A reputation with that customer and their mates that I have sh1t taste and I'm not to be trusted with suggestions, a returned game within days and a load of hassle because I have to write out the return slip

Cake Fiend

OP, might be worth sending an email to Game management about this muppet if you can be arsed, particularly seeing as you've had recurring problems. Assuming they don't want to employ a manager who drives away customers, if they get enough complaints about an individual, hopefully he might be disciplined/sacked. I'd personally do it just to sort the fuxor out, even if I never intended to set foot in Game again :v:

Lemlin

evad_lhorg wrote:

im not so much defending game but more calling the "game bashers" a bunch of hypocrites. i dont give a crap about the company once i get paid im ok.

See my other post about this. You seem to give a good deal of crap if your posts are anything to go by. Why bother sticking up for them if you couldn't care less?

Oh great...I have a Game voucher to spend too. Guess I know to avoid henry st.

Why? Is Blanch out side the pail or something?

outside a bucket...?

monument

Correction: the pale

monument

monument wrote:

Correction: the pale

*nods*
Precisely.

evad_lhorg

Lemlin wrote:

See my other post about this. You seem to give a good deal of crap if your posts are anything to go by. Why bother sticking up for them if you couldn't care less?

i dont care but i just hate hypocrites.

and having worked with flogen for a fair while and having seeing him fight about pushing ****e I agree but i agree anyways. Ifsomeone tells me to sell somethin because its a promo illl let it go in one ear and out the other and give my own opinion about how good something is. I couldnt care what we sell or how much i sell cause im not on commission.

I just love seeing the smiles on childrens faces(heheheh )

Jammer

They are charging €10 - €15 euro's more then Smyths/PCWorld/Dixons for everything to do with the 360. Games, peripherals, everything. Scumbags.

[offtopic] PC World are doing a nice deal on PC Games. Any 3 for price of 2. Thats incl Fear, COD2, FM2006, Q4 and a few more being reduced to €29.99.

Guy:Incognito

columok wrote:

Then it comes to there pre-owned games where you've loadsa games more expensive pre-owned than new. I never trade in at GAME anymore as I always find that I get a better deal at Gamestop.

I was looking for MArio Kart dd and resigned myself to the fact thta no shops in dublin seem to sell new gc games anymore. So i went in to Game in the square and the had a few preowned copies of it............for the princly sum of €49.97. WTF.

evad_lhorg

Jammer wrote:

They are charging €10 - €15 euro's more then Smyths/PCWorld/Dixons for everything to do with the 360. Games, peripherals, everything. Scumbags.

eh thats not true. youre saying smyths and the other two have games like perfect dark at 55 or 60 euro and the other games for the same price? and the controllers are 25-30 with wireless controllers at 35 or 40?

i think you may have made some rubbish up there

Laguna

I tend to avoid shopping in Game altogether as, in the past, most things I've bought from there have been scratched/scuffed/damaged in some way (finding this out when I get home), poor stock handlers IMO. Something else which really irrittates me (which all high street retailers do) is open the sealed games that have been shipped to them from the suppliers, stick the games in cardboard sleeves and fire the boxes out on the shelf for everyone to maul and **** around with. Call me traditional, but if I'm paying full price for a game, I like to have it *sealed* and *untampered* with.

Kintarō Hattori

Well I got €120 worth of vouchers for game and I'm NOT going to complain! I've always found them to be cheaper than the likes of HMV, and for myself who doesn't have a credit card, buying online isn't an option. I've never had a problem in ANY of the game stores and I don't have a problem with their pricing on new games. In fairness, their second hand games are over priced, but as a result, I just don't buy them. While they are over priced I do realise that it is an area where they can actually make some decent margin.

Also if you want to buy PC games, Smyths and GameStop have a WOEFUL selection of games, while I have always found GAME to have a large selection. Great! Sometimes I just wanna play on PC and not a Console. Smyths and Gamestop seem to supply mainly console games and usually just have a handful of the new PC titles.

I'm not a GAME lover or fanboy. I've been buying for years all around town and found them to be the best. I've never had any problem there, or with the staff. But I would agree that staff in Dawson Street are friendlier than in Henry Street, but then is that really surprising?

Finally, look at their demograph of customers? Could you say you'd really be happy each day knowing what's coming through your doors?

Over and Out.

Laguna

I take it no ones ever heard of www.Play.com ?, their selection of DVD/Games/CD's laughs at any high street retailers and costs half the price.

parsi

monument wrote:

If I was there at the time, I may have been making a complaint to the Competition Authority, and most certainly the Advertising Standards Authority.

What would the Competition Authority and the ASAI care about Game not selling you an Xbox360 ?

FWIW Game in Mahon Point seem to be decent enough though my memory of the one in Patrick Street was that it was staffed by snotty nosed gits...

Jammer

evad_lhorg wrote:

eh thats not true. youre saying smyths and the other two have games like perfect dark at 55 or 60 euro and the other games for the same price? and the controllers are 25-30 with wireless controllers at 35 or 40?

i think you may have made some rubbish up there

On launch day ...this is what i remember (clearly, blanch btw)...

Wireless adapter - 99.99 in game, 84.99 in PC World

COD2 - 79.99 in game, 64.99 in PC World

PD0 - 74.99 in game, 64.99 in PC World

EA Games - 64.99 in PC World, prices from 75-80 in Game

Wireless Controller - 54.99 in game, 44.99 in PC World

Play and charge - 29.99 in game, 19.99 in PC World

Never going in again after that.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

GrumPy

Game suck imo, nvr had a good experience, best places smyths, xtra vision, or online.