Gamestop - False advertising??

Y2J_MUFC

Perfect fit wrote: »

shop around as in ASK in differnet places the value of the games or the offers that are on!!

When i see the word any as part of an offer, i generally take it to mean, any. Not some.

Also:

jill_valentine wrote: »

Do Not bother asking the employees what games are in the offer, because they won't know until they scan the games in on the till.

Thats probably sound advice.

jill_valentine

Yeah folks, ask. And if you do ask, and you're not impressed, by all means go elsewhere. Staff really, really don't mind if you don't go through with it, so don't feel embarrassed or obliged to go through with a purchase or trade just because you've gotten as far as the till.

The trade in value of a game is dictated by how much it can be resold for - not how new it is, or what kind of condition - and that varies from store to store. One shop might be able to sell a dozen copies of a game that might sit on the shelf for months elsewhere; Smyths has a different customer base than Game, Game has a different customer base to Gamestop, etc, so . In the centre of Dublin at least, the Big Three are all within five minutes of each other, so plan to shop around and allow for it.

And hey, you can still phone them and complain.
01 813 5350

Helix

Y2J_MUFC wrote: »

Yes, and saying nothing is exactly we're known as rip of Ireland, because nobody ever says anything about rip off's or scams and just gets on it

That's a ****e attitude, sure how about we continue to let people rip us off, eh? Lets say nothing. Sure why would we want money? It'd be much better is some scam artists pocket if you ask me. That's completely solid logic, isn't it? FFS

no, YOUR attitude is the **** one here. and YOUR attitude is why we're known as rip off ireland

Helix

also worth pointing out, the ads DONT say any 2 games

they say 2 games

Kurtosis

Y2J_MUFC wrote: »

Even if it says T&C apply on the sticker, they aren't posted up in the shop, and they aren't on the website. I mean, where do we find them out???

Having just checked their site, a quick click on the special offers button yielded this:

Xbox 360 Trade-In Offer

Trade in two 360 games and get a new one for €9.99. Total trade in must be over €40.
Terms and conditions apply.

There you go, minimum trade in value publicised.
/thread

Y2J_MUFC

Helix wrote: »

also worth pointing out, the ads DONT say any 2 games

they say 2 games

No. The ones in my local one say any. I swear you'd try to tell me black was white.

Fair enough, it says on the wrong 40 quid. I stand corrected on that one. There is still no mention in store however. Also, i was given the wrong info in the store then, as they told me it was 37, not 40.

Y2J_MUFC

Helix wrote: »

no, YOUR attitude is the **** one here. and YOUR attitude is why we're known as rip off ireland

Please explain. I'd love a good laugh... :P

I've popcorn at the ready. Don't disappoint

Helix

youre the one who walked into a shop, was given a price you didnt agree with and thought was a rip off, and STILL paid it

youre exactly the person the rip off republic thrives on

CiDeRmAn

Why is it these types of threads, and there have been many, always descend into Gamestop bashing after the initial *injured* party has parted with his money?
Does he/she feel like such a fool that they have to then turn GS/XV or whatever into some demonic corp. that exploits their hard earned resources and lies to them at every turn?

Well, of course they exploit you for your money, that's what business is for, and no they are not lying to you, just posting an attractive carrot to get into the store and presenting you with a choice, both if the games are of the value needed or not.
No one is making you take part in a transaction against your will, you are free to leave and shop elsewhere, and yet, in this instance your desire to have a copy of FIFA made you, and only you spend more cash than you had intended.
So, all the decisions were yours and you made them and in hindsight you now feel it was the wrong one to make.

You know what, tough.
You are an adult, or approaching adulthood, and as such you are responsible for these things.
And if you feel hard done by in this instance, the future is full of far more important things to figure out and far more hurtful moments of "Why did I do that" and "If I could do it again I would have said this or that".

Live with it, learn from it and for heavens sake stop whining about it!

Y2J_MUFC

Helix wrote: »

youre the one who walked into a shop, was given a price you didnt agree with and thought was a rip off, and STILL paid it

youre exactly the person the rip off republic thrives on

So what you are really saying is that you haven't been reading earlier posts where this was explained then? No point going around in circles yet again.

Judging by the initial response, I'm not the only one who dislikes Gamestop, awareness raised, job done.

VinLieger

Its simple gamestop are a shower of *****, they rip you off left right and centre. They are the only major retailer whio still require a deposit on any game pre-ordered, they are generally acknowledged to have the most expensive games across the board, apart from the little one time deals they do which surprise surprise nobody can ever avail of because the terms and conditions, which they dont advertise or publish, pretty much require you to sell your soul to them.
Its simple if your looking for value and a company who doesnt try to **** you over at every turn dont shop at gamestop they are a big pile of ****

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

F-Stop wrote: »

Well every where does this sort of thing. It's sneaky, but not a big shock and your best bet is to actually ask before hand what sort of games would be valid for the offer. You' hardly expect to get the offer for, say, PGR3 and Prey, would you?

Anyway, I hate Gamestop. I hate most of the bricks and mortar retailers. Gamesnash is the only seller I have had consistently good experiences with, but it's not always practical buying online. They do fairly decent trade ins though.

Thank you for the vote of confidence We are working out the logistics of doing a similar offer ourselves but with a clearly defined list of games up on display - as per the current PS3 game trade in deal we are running. The problem with the XBOX console is that there are a lot more pre owned games floating around which brings the value down making it quite difficult to get a viable offer running.

Deliverance XXV

Gamestop are out to make a profit. End of.

Julez

Was in today, it says on the sticker any two games, it did however say terms and conditions apply. To be fair, it shouldn't say any two games really, its quite misleading.

I'm sorry, but if you are so apparently annoyed at it, then why did you pay the money? Wouldn't it have made more sense to just go to a different shop and see what trade-in value you can get there, instead of paying the extra and complaining about it afterwards?

I have to agree with other people; shop around. Was trying to find Bioshock for cheap around Galway - Game.stop had it for 28euro, Smyths had it for 20euro and then hey presto, I found it in Game for only 12euro. Happy days. And as another poster stated- they're out to make a profit.

Actually I was discussing with someone that works in a Computer Games shop about the trade-in value. Xbox 360's/PS3's are the worst for holding on to their value. Which is why the COD4 you spent 60euro on, is only worth maybe 12euro a month later. However Nintendo DS games hold on to it for a lot longer.

Oh, and if you believe that they are being misleading or false advertising, do something about it. Report them.

hottstuff

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm sorry, but if you are so apparently annoyed at it, then why did you pay the money? Wouldn't it have made more sense to just go to a different shop and see what trade-in value you can get there, instead of paying the extra and complaining about it afterwards?

I have to agree with other people; shop around. Was trying to find Bioshock for cheap around Galway - Game.stop had it for 28euro, Smyths had it for 20euro and then hey presto, I found it in Game for only 12euro. Happy days. And as another poster stated- they're out to make a profit.

Actually I was discussing with someone that works in a Computer Games shop about the trade-in value. Xbox 360's/PS3's are the worst for holding on to their value. Which is why the COD4 you spent 60euro on, is only worth maybe 12euro a month later. However Nintendo DS games hold on to it for a lot longer.

Oh, and if you believe that they are being misleading or false advertising, do something about it. Report them.

Totally agree.
Which is why some games end up on the pre-owned shelf , literally hours after release.

ROC1977

Gamestop is expensive to buy an rubbish to trade in. Rockband 75 euros in gamestop and 60 in Argos. Pre owned COD4 in gamestop is 60 euro. And all you'll get on a trade in is 25 at best. Trade in is massive business these days. Imagine by COD4 new 70-75 euros. Trade it in 3 months later get 20 back, and buy it again for 60. Thats 110-115 euros gamestop just made for one game. So even if you trade in 2 games to get one for 10 euro. Those 2 games you traded will make over 100 on resale plus the 10 you gave for the new game. Win win for gamestop, loose loose for you. Video games are too expensive anyway, 70 odd euro for a dl dvd. 30 -40 euro would be reasonable. But prices now are getting to be a joke. I could understand when DL DVD's were expensive, and can even understand way BR is expensive. But come on game prices need to drop, profits in gaming are higher than almost if not most forms of media. No wonder people pirate.

FutureGuy

Kinetic^ wrote: »

I went to Smyths with Call of Duty 4 today. They offered me €12!! :eek: I went to xtra vision and they gave me €30. Shop around.

/thread

Xtravision are usually the best place for trade-ins. Traded in 2 games for 54 last week, compared with about 40 for the other stores.

Wen't into Smyths one day and they told me I can get any game for free if I trade in two games and 10 euro. :rolleyes:

L'prof

Y2J_MUFC wrote: »

So what you are really saying is that you haven't been reading earlier posts where this was explained then? No point going around in circles yet again.

Judging by the initial response, I'm not the only one who dislikes Gamestop, awareness raised, job done.

No, I'll never buy a game in there again! I bought Fifa 09 on release day in there for €60 as I thought the best I would get it for anywhere would be €55 and I just wanted to pick up the game. Later on, I was in HMV and the same game was €48...wish I hadn't thrown away the receipt, I'm pretty sure Gamestop will match any price in town, but I bought Tiger Woods 09 while in HMV for €38, which was priced at €60 in Gamestop.

Basically, I don't have time to shop around and usually buy games online for value (just didn't want American commentators on Fifa).

ROC1977

Still Andy Gary and Martin Tyler on US Fifa.

L'prof

ROC1977 wrote: »

Still Andy Gray and Martin Tyler on US Fifa.

Really? I wasn't sure and didn't want to take the chance...not that it's changed much from last year anyway!

thebman

Perfect fit wrote: »

or dont be so niave, wake up and use a bit of cop-on to not get ripped off in the first place!! realistly did you honestly think you could stroll in with any 2 old games and get a new one. Gamestop are a big company do you not think they have more than likely spent millions on there policies and procedures to make sure what they advertise is 100% within there rights and not misleading rather than risk a lawsuit from every customer that walks threw the door.

its people that think they can get such deals with out using there head that allows for other companies to rip people off, theres one born every minute!!

Gamestop operating in Ireland most likely have an Irish manager and are prone to all the mistakes every other Irish business makes. A lot of these companies do advertise illegal offers on the basis that it'll take ages for anyone to report them and when they do get reported, all that happens is they get a slap on the wrist and told to change it by our toothless regulators. You can't sue someone for false advertising, you can only get your money back through the small claims court in most instances and these companies usually don't turn up and just give you the money back and then they'll come up with another illegal advertisement to entice other people in.

Being a big company is not to be associated with being a legal company. They didn't get big by playing fair all the time.

jill_valentine wrote: »

Being the high flying captain of industry that I am, I've worked in quite a number of game shops, and can say that actually, all of the big three game shops have a minimum value policy, specifically designed to keep out games like PGR, Halo, Perfect Dark, Kameo, Brute Force... etc, all the crap they'd never, ever sell.

S_myths might be a bit slapdash about enforcing it, but that's because they're horrible employers and have the staff turnover rate of a Chinese gold mine. They do have a minimum value policy of 30 quid per game.

Do ask for the terms and conditions.

Do Not bother asking the employees what games are in the offer, because they won't know until they scan the games in on the till.

Do have the games you're thinking of trading in with you to value, and tell the employee in advance whether you're looking for cash, credit or both.

Do Not be rude to the employees either, they can get the heads eaten off them at the end of the day if they've taken in undervalue games, and have to abide by their employer's rules regardless of how much sense they do or don't make.

See its a load of bollocks that the staff can't query the system to see if a game qualifies. That makes this entire system unimplementable IMO. If it depends on the quality of the box and whether it comes with a manual then these things need to be stated. They could have a clear list of game values and a standard amount that gets taken off if it is missing a manual or if the case or disc is battered. I imagine such policies exist but the consumer isn't told them (maybe not even the staff at the counter).

Of course its much easier to stay with the system that ends up with a few sales like the OP's being made instead of actually clearly stating the terms of the offer to the consumer.

It is quite simple, this is a scumbag move and of course not on the part of the staff but the actual company needs to get its act together.

Patricide

In the Tralee gamestop they have the offer advertised as trade in ANY 2 games and get fifa for 9.99. theres no * above the lettering and no smaller writing to say terms and conditions apply or anything.

So therefore that is Technically Illegal, false advertising etc. If theres an * or small print your fair game though.

jill_valentine

brim4brim wrote: »

You can't sue someone for false advertising, you can only get your money back through the small claims court in most instances and these companies usually don't turn up and just give you the money back and then they'll come up with another illegal advertisement to entice other people in.

Ah, here's a point. Yes, most retailers will not send a representative to Small Claims, they just write it off as an acceptable loss.

See its a load of bollocks that the staff can't query the system to see if a game qualifies. That makes this entire system unimplementable IMO. If it depends on the quality of the box and whether it comes with a manual then these things need to be stated. They could have a clear list of game values and a standard amount that gets taken off if it is missing a manual or if the case or disc is battered. I imagine such policies exist but the consumer isn't told them (maybe not even the staff at the counter).

No, hang on, to clarify:

If you have the game with you, yes, the staff can query the system to find out what's it's worth. But every game has an individual price, so they won't know it off the top of their head, they will need the barcode to check. That's also why they can't value games over the phone, they almost always need to run the query.

This is which is why it drives them nuts when somebody asks "How much would I get if I traded in 5 games?" Do not ask them that. Ever. It makes them want to cry. Just bring in the games you want to price, and the staff can run all of them through the till and tell you what they're worth, although once again, I'd stress that you should let them know beforehand whether you're checking for cash/ credit or both. It would be nice if you could wait until their isn't a massive queue to do this, but they really, the staff don't mind doing this at all.

That price you'll get for a game is dictated by head office, who decide it based on what that chain can sell that game for. This is important.

What it means is, so long as it's useable, it does not matter what condition it's in. Nor does it matter how much you paid for it originally, or how new it is, or what the other stores can sell it for. What matters is a) how likely that title is to sell quickly and b) how much they can that title for. That's all.

Smyths will not accept a game without a manual. Game and Gamestop will accept games without the manuals, but will offer a reduced value for them. Smyths will turn away badly scratched games, as will Gamestop, but Game will accept fairly messy ones at a reduced value because their disc repair machine can fix practically anything.

All three chains will slap their forehead in disbelief if you try and sell them the following: a laserburned disc, a UMD with a cracked or broken casing, American/ Polish/ etc games, porn in PS2 cases, pirated DVDs, PC games, ActionReplay, original Xbox/ Ps1 games, free demos, empty boxes or boxes with the wrong games in etc, so please double check everything first. It's also not uncommon to find another disc hidden under the traded-in game, and by then the staff have no way of returning it to the owner, so make sure you don't accidentally sell something you want.

All chains, as far as I know, offer either cash or credit, usually in the form of a voucher. Contrary to popular belief, however, they cannot put your credit onto your loyalty card for later use. When spending your voucher, please insure that you are in the correct shop.

DS carts tend to hold their value better than disc ones, because they're practically invincible, but remember that games decrease in value all the time; if you want to trade something in, trade it now.

Y2J_MUFC

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm sorry, but if you are so apparently annoyed at it, then why did you pay the money?

Read other posts, I've explained the situation more than once......

thebman

jill_valentine wrote: »

No, hang on, to clarify:

If you have the game with you, yes, the staff can query the system to find out what's it's worth. But every game has an individual price, so they won't know it off the top of their head, they will need the barcode to check. That's also why they can't value games over the phone, they almost always need to run the query.

Need a barcode seems kind of ridiculous. Why can't you just query by name? It seems ridiculous to force people to bring the game to the shop to check how much its worth as a trade in.

It would be far easier for the same person to put the game up on adverts IMO an they'd probably get more for it.

That price you'll get for a game is dictated by head office, who decide it based on what that chain can sell that game for. This is important.

What it means is, so long as it's useable, it does not matter what condition it's in. Nor does it matter how much you paid for it originally, or how new it is, or what the other stores can sell it for. What matters is a) how likely that title is to sell quickly and b) how much they can that title for. That's all.

Could still have a list of some of the in demand games up that they don't have much stock for so people know they'll get good value for them. Of course good value isn't good value so maybe they don't want people knowing anything about the system.

IMO it just pays for them to leave this as obscure as possible so nobody knows what anything is worth until in it is in the store. When nobody knows that nobody has ever gotten a decent price for a traded game then people are more likely to trade them in.

Again just use Adverts and get more for your money IMO.

original Xbox/ Ps1 games

So Gamecube games are okay

remember that games decrease in value all the time; if you want to trade something in, trade it now.

Or just use Adverts or Ebay and get more for it.

I was in a shop previously and when asking for the trade-in values, they scanned another copy of the game they had lying around. So simply choose which games you want, ask them to check if they have it in stock, then get them to scan it to see the trade-in value.

No more shocks.

MURDO

Y2J_MUFC wrote: »

I went into Gamestop yesterday to buy FIFA'09, I seen that sticker on the cover "Trade in any 2 games and get this for 9.99.", so I went off and decided to trade in 2. Went up to the counter and handed in the two games and FIFA and your man told me, oh, the offer won't work with those two games. I told him the sticker said ANY two games. Yes, any two games once they will give you 37 euro for them. Thats not ANY two games, at which point i should have said, actually, screw it so, I'll just go to Xtravision.

I ended up trading in two, and still paying 37 quid in Gamestop, 27 more than i had anticipated, and 27 more than advertised! Now unless i missed some fine print on that sticker, this is false advertising. Anyways, I hope they enjoyed the extra 27 quid, because that is the last time I will buy a game there. I'll be taking my money for Gears 2, COD 5, Saints Row 2, Pro Evolution 2009 else where.

I'd og gave you 40 for the 2. Just starting out.
Is there a thread on here anywhere that would facilitate that sort of thing.??

thebman

MURDO wrote: »

I'd og gave you 40 for the 2. Just starting out.
Is there a thread on here anywhere that would facilitate that sort of thing.??

Adverts facilitates this kind of thing. It might be an idea for a mod to create a sticky to the relevant section on adverts to try to encourage this a bit more.

Rev. Kitchen

FutureGuy wrote: »

Wen't into Smyths one day and they told me I can get any game for free if I trade in two games and 10 euro. :rolleyes:

Ha ha im waiting to see the offer that says trade in your old 60euro's and get this game for free