Worst Advice Retail Ever Gave you

runawaybishop

When the xbox one launched gamestop told people not to update over wifi as that could brick the console. They claimed they got that info from MS.

Calhoun

Gandalph wrote: »

I bought Lemmings CD-ROM and asked the guy at the counter would it work on my computer, the guy at the counter told me it had pretty low specs so it should work on any computer. Went home, put it in my xbox and it didn't work!

A lot of negativity towards the Gamestop guys, have to say the guys in my local in Drogheda are fantastic, no pressuring into buying anything, no cheap salesman tactics, none of this "You simple HAVE to buy x,y & z", it's all about "Well what do you like to play? I liked X but it's not for everyone, it's similar to Y if you like that etc etc". The only thing that did get me on that though is when I was pretty conflicted between a Nintendo 3DS & a Vita, I would of loved for one of the employees in the store to have told me to buy a 3DS instead when I asked about the 2 of them

I think on the first item unless you specified that you intended to play it on an xbox i would have made the mistake of giving the same advice.

As for GS, a company that large is always going to take flak because there are varying degrees of people that work there. The trick is to find a decent shop and take your custom to that one, as i said in a previous post i have 3 near me and i choose one in particular because of the staff being brilliant.

Cienciano

Nothing I hate more as a customer than going into a shop knowing what I want to buy and the sales assistant tries to convince me to buy something else instead. If I want a wii, don't try and sell me an xbox!
Same happens in car dealerships. Very annoying

jasonbourne.cs

had a sega gamegear as a young lad and wanted Micro Machines , guy in the shop convinced my mother to buy F1 racing instead , later when she tried changing it all the copies of MM were sold out ......best birthday ever ...:rolleyes:

Cravez

jasonbourne.cs wrote: »

best birthday ever ...:rolleyes:

And the glorious 10 minute playtime until the battery needs charging again.

jasonbourne.cs

yeap 6xAA batteries gets about 30 minutes if you were lucky ( and they were duracell )

snausages

cherryghost wrote: »

I remember years ago I was in the shop, my happy little head as I was about to purchase an N64 I was saving up for (console was almost 2 years out at that point). The guy behind the counter almost refused to sell it to me as 'The N64 is a bad console with no real good games on it'. I still remember it because I was ready to punch his dopey face.

Another one, I used to work in Smyths years back and the guy I worked with was a real fanboy of Microsoft, real idiot. Anytime customers came in and asked for a PS3 or a Wii, he's persuade a 360 purchase instead. He put other customers buying a console altogether, I ended up reporting that tidbit to the manager and he went beserk, and the guys only response was 'Well, I AM right'. tool.

Anyone got some gems?

That second guy reminds me of people with aspergers. They're kind of obnoxious without realising it.

GarIT

snausages wrote: »

That second guy reminds me of people with aspergers. They're kind of obnoxious without realising it.

So do a lot of people that are just assholes, it doesn't mean we need to label them all.

the_syco

Gandalph wrote: »

I bought Lemmings CD-ROM and asked the guy at the counter would it work on my computer, the guy at the counter told me it had pretty low specs so it should work on any computer. Went home, put it in my xbox and it didn't work!

Aye, Lemmings pretty much plays on any computer. I'm unsure how you didn't see the "PC CD-ROM" (or the "for Windows") on the box, though?

marko93

Worst advice for me was definitely when I was younger, "wooaaah dude, you mean you DONT trade in games??"

Jesus how I regret listening to that

D

Unrelated to gaming, but I remember having a look at some of the early mp3 players and being told by a Sony rep that "mp3s will never catch on, mini-disc is where its at". I walked out.

Retr0gamer

D wrote: »

Unrelated to gaming, but I remember having a look at some of the early mp3 players and being told by a Sony rep that "mp3s will never catch on, mini-disc is where its at". I walked out.

I got a mini-disc instead of a mp3 player. In that case it was my own idiotic fault.

thebostoncrab

My wife loves the Professor Layton series, and it normally comes out around her birthday so it's a great present for her. Last year I didn't realise one was coming out until I spotted an ad online. I went into GameStop to pre pay it (I get paid monthly so it's easier for me).

"Professor Layton? Never heard of it, are you sure that's the name?"

"....yes, is a series of games, the full title is blah blah blah(Can't remember the name now)"

"Hang on let me check...no dude that games isn't appearing, are you sure it's for the 3DS?"

At this stage I was getting annoyed but I wanted to pick it up as a gift so I explained it again. He called his manager who straight away told me it wasn't coming out until December "because Nintendo want to be big for Christmas."

Fair enough I thought, I'll get it for her at Christmas instead. The next day I pass by and sure enough there is multiple boxes of the game for sale. The game doesn't excist and it's not out until December my hole! Was the last time I ever set foot in a Gamestop, Smyths and Amazon have been getting my business ever since.

Retr0gamer

It's quite embarassing asking for something obscure when the guys behind the counter haven't a clue about it (and I wouldn't expect them to know much about it). Going around dublin trying to find somewhere that stocked Ikaruga was a nightmare.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's quite embarassing asking for something obscure when the guys behind the counter haven't a clue about it (and I wouldn't expect them to know much about it). Going around dublin trying to find somewhere that stocked Ikaruga was a nightmare.

A friend of mine worked in a game store and has never played a game in his life. According to him all gaming is a waste of time yet he would on a daily basis be recommending games to people and telling them why such and such was great.

RobbingBandit

Retro shop over in Halifax in England 11 years ago guy had a sealed weird N64 game to this day I have never seen again, Aidyn Chronicles for £20 guy selling it said it was ****e, why did I listen it will join Symphony of the Night as the one that got away.

Retr0gamer

Deleted User wrote: »

A friend of mine worked in a game store and has never played a game in his life. According to him all gaming is a waste of time yet he would on a daily basis be recommending games to people and telling them why such and such was great.

Gamestop hire people to sell games. Knowing about games isn't a pre-requisite. I'm not surprised by that and if I was Gamestop and he was selling games I wouldn't care.

Jet Black

I went to xtravision on launch of san Andreas to pick it up. Get to the counter with it in my hand and the guy siad if I didn't preoder ive no chance of getting it anywhere. Told me come back in a week and I might get it. I wasn't the only one that left disappointed. Headed to smyths to try anyway. Asked the guy did they have any, he said 'eh yeah we have loads' Got it cheaper. Felt like going back to xtravision and telling the guy Smyth's have loads and its cheaper so send them down there.

danthefan wrote: »

I don't really buy stuff in shops anymore really but I needed a HDMI cable for my PS3 a while back so went to my local PC World to get it. The guy was trying to sell me the most expensive one in the shop obviously, I just wanted the cheapest one. In a last ditch attempt to get me to buy the expensive one, he proceeded to tell me the cheap one may not be able to carry an HD signal.

Those monster HD cables. Cost around €60 for one. They tried that on me saying I needed to have it.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Gamestop hire people to sell games. Knowing about games isn't a pre-requisite. I'm not surprised by that and if I was Gamestop and he was selling games I wouldn't care.

We know that but he worked in Game and would repeatedly sell Xbox games to people looking for Playstation copies

jaykhunter

It's 1991. 8 year old Jay heads to Peats (Parnell St I believe) with weeks and weeks of saved pocketmoney. I ask the shop clerk what's a great game for the Commodore 64. He recommends this.

Harvery Headbanger. He says he can't show me the game because "all of the computers are down". I buy it and take it home. I play it. It's a ^&£($ awful broken piece of &£$*£ and I flip out. I return the next day saying it's horrific but the guy says they don't do refunds on games. So I'm stuck with this turkey. I vow to never, ever give Peats a damn cent again. Over twenty years later, I still haven't.

Gunmonkey

Jet Black wrote: »

Those monster HD cables. Cost around €60 for one. They tried that on me saying I needed to have it.

Happened to me in DID Electrical, looking for a HDMI and only one they had in stock was the €60. I politely declined. Had a look in Tesco after, €4 for a 1m cable

snausages

GarIT wrote: »

So do a lot of people that are just assholes, it doesn't mean we need to label them all.

Wow, touchy. :rolleyes: I'm not labeling anyone, I've just noticed that people with actually diagnosed AS as opposed to just the socially maladjusted can be blunt in a way that can seem totally justified to them but extremely rude to just about everyone else.

Whatever, it was just an observation.

iColdFusion

sheehy83 wrote: »

Queuing up in Gamestop before, adad was buying an xbox game for his son. The GS guy asked the dad if he wanted the game insurance. The dad says aaaaaahhh no thanks. GS guy says he should get it as the xbox discs damage easier than the ps3 ones. Now maybe thats true but sounded like shyte advice to me.

PS3 discs are blurays which have a tougher coating than 360 DVD's so technically true but yeah not really relevant to buying insurance!

gaynorvader

When I was about 16 and upgrading the RAM on my PC, I went into PC World. My RAM was PC-3200 DDR2 RAM. I picked up some PC-4200 DDR2 RAM and went up to pay. Got chatting to the guy at the desk and told him what my RAM was currently (512MB PC-3200 DDR2). Whoa! says he, that's the wrong RAM PC-3200 only comes in DDR, your DDR2 won't fit! I didn't have internet at the time, so I believed him and forked over €80 for 1GB DDR RAM and went on my way. I got home and it wouldn't fit (obviously).
So I had to wait a week to go again (needed a lift) and brought it up to the desk. This time I'd brought my RAM with me. I asked if they could swap it for the RAM I'd asked for in the first place. At first they told me no, they couldn't replace it as I'd taken it out of the packet, but my Dad stepped in and told them they had to take it back as it was sold under false pretences and if they didn't he wanted to talk to their manager. So after a lot of hemming and hawing I was told I could swap for 1GB DDR PC-2800 (or something) RAM which was "only" €10 extra. Not only did I not have another tenner, I could clearly see that the little gap was in the middle of my chip but 3/4 of the way along on their chip. I pointed this out to them and they told me that it wouldn't matter. Again my Dad (who knew nothing about computers) came in and told them that it clearly wouldn't physically fit and that he'd like to speak to the manager. The manager came over eventually after about 15-20 minutes and allowed me to swap the 1GB DDR 3200 for the 2GB DDR2 4200 RAM, but told me that as the DDR2 was €40 cheaper I'd have to buy something worth €40 as they couldn't give me a refund. I picked up Heroes of Might and Magic V and they rang it through. The manager informed us that if the DDR2 RAM didn't work they wouldn't be able to change it again.

I've shopped at PC World since, but never listened to a word their staff say and have cut across them when they're trying to rip someone off and give the customer helpful advice (you don't need a 1GB dedicated graphics card for Facebook games on a laptop).

Glico Man

Went into Smyths in Cork with my birthday money in hand when I was 9/10. Went to look at the PS1 games stand and there was a vast selection of games I COULD'VE gotten, but the guy stocking shelves recommended Independence Day to me. Massive battles in space! Planes vs Alien ships! Best game ever! I still owe him an asswhoopin' for that.

cherryghost

I remember another one now.

Preordered Vib Ribbon in Smyths in Bray back in the day, first game I ever preordered. Game was due out sometime around my birthday in September and they never got the game in. Grand so, come back next week. It never arrived until a month afterwards! But at about the 3th/4th try of getting the game, I was recommended to cancel the preorder and get FIFA 2000 instead.

Cienciano

sheehy83 wrote: »

Queuing up in Gamestop before, adad was buying an xbox game for his son. The GS guy asked the dad if he wanted the game insurance. The dad says aaaaaahhh no thanks. GS guy says he should get it as the xbox discs damage easier than the ps3 ones. Now maybe thats true but sounded like shyte advice to me.

Insurance on anything like that is a waste of money. Argos went through a phase of trying to sell insurance on almost everything.

the_syco

D wrote: »

Unrelated to gaming, but I remember having a look at some of the early mp3 players and being told by a Sony rep that "mp3s will never catch on, mini-disc is where its at". I walked out.

Have a Sony MP3-CD player somewhere. Still works. It's awesome! Never got a mini-disc.

Jet Black wrote: »

Those monster HD cables. Cost around €60 for one. They tried that on me saying I needed to have it.

Remember Peats did a clearance sale? There was one of those going for €40

I went to Dealz down the road and got 10 such HDMI cables for €1.50 each. Most of Pears staff knew their sh|t, but at the end of the day, their job is to still stuff, thus once I knew what I wanted, I found I could get good service. I still have (and use) a Yamaha receiver that I got there a few years back.

Gandalph

Amazing the amount of people that have had one bad experience with a single staff member and then refuse to give the whole chain any business as a result.

Potential-Monke

I don't think i ever got bad advice (or any that i can remember anyway). I always more or less know what i'm looking for, so i rarely have to look for a recommendation. When i worked in GameStop in the Parkway in Limerick, i used to cringe when the other staff members, specifically the female manager, used to get approached for recommendations. The manager did not have one iota of an idea on any game, console or accessory. Christ, she couldn't even manage to take the games out of the boxes, put the same number from the box on the sleeve for the disc and put it in numerical order in the drawers!!!

Had a repeat customer, she used to go to the manager but kept coming to me after she knew i knew my sh!t. Her son had Autism, so she was in nearly twice a week for a new game. Told me i was a Gods send, as all i needed was 1 minute asking her son what games he liked, and i always had a good recommendation for her. Was actually a bit of a challenge as this young lad used to fly through the games!

Also, GameStop in Waterford is brilliant. Every staff member seems to be into gaming. I know them all by name at this stage, and they don't try and sell me insurance anymore. Always have a great chat with them too. Great shop! Although building a gaming PC has more or less stopped me going in there. I feel guilty, and i'm seriously considering buying Steam cards in there just to give them business!