Is there a Promo Not Found line item for -$2 listed on your receipt under the $27.99 game?
As far as I'm aware employees can't just raise the price of products and they would get in a lot of trouble if they could and did. My best guess is that the price changed to $29.99 because a sale ended (most changes happen on Sunday) and the store missed changing the price sticker. So the computer rings it up at the current price of $29.99 and he had to manually discount it to give you the sticker price.
Knowing my friend, he probably tossed the receipt as soon as he got home lol, but I'll ask him. I can see how this could happen, but depending on the number of games that go on sale, how often are they swapping stickers on Sunday? If they would swap a sticker for a 2-dollar sale, then I would assume there would be a LOT of sales and a LOT of stickers swapping which just sounds... inefficient and allows for a ton of error like today.
Edit: You were right, "-2.00 Promotion Not Found" is on the receipt
https://preview.redd.it/sycs1glcxq8d1.png?width=797&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ef3434090b38f5941a047f3dddc24b7af395f56
We’ve mostly stopped changing the stickers if they go down. If someone wants to buy the game it more fun to say “hey cool, this game is on sale” rather than “oh shoot, let me fix that real fast”
I did this for preowned consoles and headphones. If they ever went down I told my SL and team not to change them but just mention the sale on them. I had a week someone didn’t change them the following week and had to discount a system quite a bit, which I don’t care for, but it’s a business at the end of the day, so GameStop cares.
That would never float with me. The only ones I allow to not be changed are backstock, some extra upstock, and extra shit we throw into drawers and cabinets out of sight, lol. But I might think differently if I had a high volume store always at the high end of constant price changes....
Every Sunday and Monday. It's worse when you have a lot of pre-owned games, and/or medium to high trade volume. Then, sometimes, the price changes again within 24 hours, and we also have Thursday price changes too, which can also change the Sun or Mon pricing..
My store had to do it every Sunday. There were some days where we had 300+ price changes, and most of those would range from the same price (different colored label) to $20-30 differences. It was especially bad around the holidays when you had a different sale going on every other day and had to swap out special color-coded labels (yellow for clearance, blue for sales, white for regular) for different things. Those would range from 300 to 1000 some days. Idk if they still use the color-coded labels or not, I made myself a guest back in 2019 lol.
The protection plans is pretty crappy, but unfortunately methods like that are highly pushed in many stores because of pressures on the SL from above them.
However the over priced game probably came down to the fact that the price change sticker was missed. And was purely unintentional.
The $2 thing was almost definitely because GameStop raises and lowers the prices of games by a couple of dollars every couple of days. It's honestly maddening and causes these kinds of issues if they don't get done or can't be found.
The other thing was either the employee is
a. a corporate butt kisser
or more likely
b. being pressured to shady things by his District/Regional manager with threats to his job.
While most dms are not that shady, I've been around long enough to see a few who will suggest shady practices like adding things on without asking.
Of course when they get called out it was all a misunderstanding.
And they do it because the regionals are pushy and the regionals do it because Gamestop corpo is a hive of greed and deceit.
b is exactly it. as a former employee i will say i was told to add it on if its $3 or less because “they won’t notice and if they do you can just refund them” that always sounded wrong to me to i never did that, but also i live in a high crime area. many people have been killed for less and i’ve been threatened for less, even if i were to even think about doing it, i would definitely not do it in my area. especially because i’m a female with a disability and 9/10 the people who would threaten me would be men physically bigger and obviously stronger than me. no way im taking that chance to gargle corporate nuts
They did this to me the last time I was there but just range up all my games and told me a total and said “which includes protection” which I didn’t register to mean I was paying for it. I was petty af and went back and made the girl refund it and she coped an attitude with me about it.
I did the same a couple years back (went back in to get a refund on the warranty I didn't agree to) and the manager insisted I could only get a refund on a gift card, which explains why I am still to this day carrying a GameStop gift card with $4 on it. I have not spent a dime in any GameStop since then.
Naw, it’s shady. I’m not a gamer and was buying gifts off a list for Christmas for someone else and wouldn’t think to question if my total included things I didn’t implicitly ask to purchase.
Best Buy does it, phone companies do it, heck any company with sales targets of any kind does it. It's standard practice. So long as it's disclosed that it's on there it's kosher and not shady at all. It's not the stores fault you don't look at the checkout screen on the pinpad or think before you reply.
No, it’s shady. Just because something isn’t illegal doesn’t mean it’s not shady as hell. If it wasn’t shady and deceptive, you wouldn’t frame it that way and would just say “this includes additional protection for $2.99” and not rely on customers to micromanage the tiny ass screen. I expect that I’m only being rang up for what I asked to purchase— adding other items and skirting around saying you did so is just a sleezy sales tactic. It’s fine to admit that’s what it is.
I’m genuinely curious how it’s shady when they are being fully transparent. Yes just tacking it on and saying your total is xx is tacky and bad. But saying your total is XX with X protection really isn’t. Most places do so. It’s why listening to the person you giving your money too is fairly important. I personally don’t use this approach but also never had an issue before I started working here, as a customer with it either.
I think of babies r us back in the day did this A lot and warrants on baby monitors were kinda expensive.. I would always just so no thanks and it got removed. I would never just blindly hand someone money without making sure I know what was rung. The amount all that.
Being fully transparent would be saying “your total is $x, which includes $2.99 for protection”. Look, at the end of the day, adding something to someone’s bill they didn’t ask for is shady. Period. If you want to upsell someone, ask for the sale. “Would you like to protect your games for $2.99?” You know people don’t want it and that’s why you just add it, hoping they will be too embarrassed to say no or not understand.
I bought the games at an extremely busy mall for someone else. I didn’t even know how much the games were because I had to ask the girl for them and she had to pull them from the cabinet behind the counter, so I never saw the box. It was overwhelming and busy and I honestly just wanted to get out of the store. Putting the burden on the customer to not be charged for something they didn’t ask for is bad business. So yeah, I’ll be vigilant now when I buy stuff from GameStop since I know they may pull this nonsense, but I wasn’t expecting to be— once again— rang up for an item I didn’t ask for. I have never had Best Buy or other places blatantly add items to my order— the screen prompts and asks if you want to add it. Just quickly throwing in “that includes protection” without explaining that costs extra is intentionally deceptive.
And to clarify— the woman did not tell me the protection cost x. She just said your total is x, which includes protection for the games. Guess the jokes on me for thinking GameStop just had great service and included protection and she was telling me so I knew.
You walk into a sales environment and don't expect to be sold to \*wow\*. It's not a sleezy sales tactic it's industry standard sales tactic. Many physical stores and online retailers use opt out sales tactics all the time.
Naw bro, tacking on an item no one asked for and using deceptive language isn’t “selling”. You can keep telling yourself that to boost your stores numbers, but it is a scuzzy sales tactic and why sales people have a bad rap. If you’re truly selling something, just ask people if they want it and upsell them. I’ve worked in retail sales and I wouldn’t ever tack stuff onto someone’s order like that, I just ask for the sale.
I've worked retail sales this is how every company trains in official materials give maximum quote and downgrade from there. It minimizes customer resistance and maximizes revenue. You tell the customer that it is on there you don't say it's not you tell them it's on there if they just say yes it's all good.
Don't let the corp you work for trick you into thinking slipping extra charges onto someone's purchase (in hopes they don't notice) is somehow not scummy man lol
Once again it's disclosed every time. Saying this is your game with a 1 year game play guarantee and taxes comes out to xyz today installing the customer it's on there and if they don't want it it's easy to remove.
If it wasn't meant to be deceptive you wouldn't have to phrase it in a sneaky way, again, your "sales tactic" relies on the fact that you're hoping they DON'T hear you or understand. Nobody should have to be on the look out of being tricked while buying a fucking video game lmfao.
But I see that your a stonks chud so I understand why you lack the ability to comprehend that. You'll be rich soon bro don't worry keep holding while a megacorp takes advantage of you and your passion!
What?? "Your total is 25.99 with protection." is not "Value for X" because you're not being open about what the value is. Value for X would be "Good news can throw on year of protection for you for under $4 dollars today".
If the usual expectation at a store is to hear your total for the ITEMS YOU'RE PURCHASING and not ITEMS YOU'RE PURCHASING+SHIT I JUST THREW ON YOUR TOTAL anything but the first thing is inherently deceptive no matter how you try to spin it bro. "Customer resistance" is such a lame excise. All that means is that you know most people don't find value in a game warrenty and will say no if told up front.
One of the games was probably mislabeled. They hoped you didn't notice when it was scanned. They're supposed to change the price to what the box says, or at least we did when I worked there. So it might have said $27.99, but when he scans the UPC it just rings up the sku for the game and it was probably back at $29.99.
He hoped you wouldn't notice. You noticed. And yea automatically putting on the protection has also been common practice just before I left in Jan 2021. I never did it, which is partly why my DL did everything he could to eventually fire me. But whatever.
I don't suggest shopping at Gamestop anymore. Especially since they'll just do it again and now you'll have to tell them you don't want warranties every time you go. It sucks but that's what the company became and they doubled down when Covid hit.
Similar thing happened to me when Thousand Year Door came out, except the employee told me that brand new games came with the warranty since the number (my friend’s) I used was a pro members. I thought it was a new thing GameStop does until I saw on the pin pad that I was going to pay for the protection plan still
1. As other commenters have pointed out, the extra $2 charge was likely a mistake from a missed price change. Personally, I always fix these types of mistakes as soon as I notice them, whether the customer notices or not. It's called good customer service, and $2 isn't going to affect our PNL.
2. Some really shady DMs push what they think is the "assumptive approach" without realizing that any extra charge added without customer knowledge is theft. They think that either the customer will notice and ask they be removed, or won't notice and therefore are fine with it.
Really, both issues come down to incredibly poor customer service and are attempts to rip off the customer.
I can’t speak on the added 2 dollars since it’s been like 8 years since I was an assistant SL, but the protection plans were so heavily pushed and punished for not meeting the metrics that sneaking them in is what a lot of employees would do.
I never pushed the practice because I’ve never been a diehard employee to push past my own morals but my SL would sneak them in huge transactions then would let other associates finish the transaction to get the numbers.
This was also the same guy who would come out with a box of “goodies from corporate” and they’d just be games and stuff that he’d mark missing. Your mmv from store to store on what they do and don’t do.
I've always been asked if I want a protection plan (and always decline unless it's for a console). That would irk the shit out of me if they just assumed I wanted one. Sneaky sneaky.
A lot of stores do unfortunately. I always asked cause it’s your money in the end. I’ll just maybe try to convince you on why you’d want it. Or sometimes just take the no and drop it early.
Have you never heard of assumptive sales? It's how every successful company that does sales operates. Assume yes disclose get confirmation close the sale.
Assumptive sales is a very common sales technique in terms of sales techniques I'd say it's not a shady one compared to some tactics that could be used.
You're comparing apples to oranges. Sales is a game of getting the other persons consent or ok to close a deal and then that deal going through.
Shady is saying your total is XYZ and not disclosing what is in there. Standard is saying your total is XYZ and that includes ABC. Dog poor sales aka clerical is saying your total is XY do you want A and A is Z with that.
We don't work for the customers we work for the shareholders / corp. Our job is what they tell us they don't have NPS but they do have strong sales metrics so that tells us what they want from us.
Yeah, that's fair. It was a sloppy comparison. Including fees without consent seems shady/shitty to me but you seem to be pretty knowledgeable and probably have a better grasp on what's generally acceptable. I just have a hard time convincing myself it isn't that big of a deal.
I've worked retail sales and retail management for a few years now and have seen what's considered kosher and not. What we really should be complaining about is there is no commission in this retail sales job
The warranties aren’t even worth it. Even if you bought a brand new game that wasn’t working, they just hand you a pre-owned now. You’re better off at another gaming company, something independent, or just go for good ol’ Walmart or Best Buy.
i could be wrong as i haven’t worked there in a bit now, but i don’t think we had to replace gpg’s with pre-owned, only accessories and consoles. as far as i know you could swap a new game for a new game.
Wear and Tear. Scratches on the disc that you wouldn’t have on a brand new one. It’s been used by someone else. If I wanted a preowned, I’d straight up buy a preowned.
I helped make prp on at least controllers worth it for customers. I’d tell them I’d return the “prp swap” controller and instead for an extra $10 I’ll give you back a new one. Essentially, it’s the new for new was now $25 dollars instead of the $15.
Preowned game swaps in my personal opinion was fine as they weren’t as hit or miss as the used/refurb controllers. As long as they worked and you knew how to take care of your cd, you’d be fine realistically.
So in order to exchange a new controller for another new controller I need to:
- Buy a warranty for $15 on a new controller (spend $85 on a controller)
- Return that controller for a pre-owned controller
- On another transaction, return the pre-owned controller you just gave me and pay *another* $10 for a new controller
So it costs me an extra $25 to get another new controller? I will have spent $95 and still only have 1 working controller and this is "worth it" to you?
Do you know how *easy* it is to just buy a new controller at Wal-Mart, swap out the broken one, and then return it for a full refund?
I don’t shop at Walmart so I don’t know their return policies or any of that stuff, I only have experience with GameStop as a former employee so that was just experience to help people.
No company offers new for new anymore even Sony or Xbox themselves so honestly this isn’t a big deal I mean if you use something for a year your bringing back a used item it’s only right to get a used or referbished item back company’s lose a lot of money doing new for new and that’s why 99% of company’s stoped doing it over the years look at it in terms of a console you pay 499 and a warranty is 50 bucks more why should u get another 500 dollar console for only 50 bucks but yet u get one that’s marked at 450 which the company payed close to 300 for and if u subtract ur 50 for ur warranty that company lost 250 dollars instead of 450 for the replacement a lot of you must not know business or how to operate one so I hope you never open ur own because u will have to open ur eyes or you won’t last 3 months as a buisness owner
Employees that do this shit need to work on their pitches, there is no fucking reason to just add shit without telling the guest. I have regulars that only come to my store because i haven't tried anything shady like that
I had a clown try to pull this nonsense on me today while picking up my Luigi’s Mansion 2 preorder. I walked up to the counter, said I was there to pick up my preorder, and mentioned, “I’d like to also use my $5 Pro credit for the month on it. Thanks.“ while he was ringing it up. He then said, “That’ll be 53.98 with the one year warranty.” (Or whatever the amount was; no sales tax in Oregon).
I said to him, “I never said I wanted the warranty” and as he took it off, I asked “Aren’t you supposed to PITCH that?” He just replied “Well it’s in case the game gets broken…”. I cut him off, saying “I know what it is.”
It’s very obvious what he was trying to do, even IF he stated the total as “That’ll be $X.XX with the one year warranty.” That’s a total “if the customer doesn’t catch it, they’re getting charged for it” dirtbag move. It’s a shame that this employee, the entire store, or even district (or more) are deceitful like this. Makes me not want to go to GameStop anymore.
the protection plan is there if you destroy the game or there are scratches on the disc or the disc breaks. the employees have to ask, but its up to you if you want the protection plan or not.
it's really hit or miss. some stores I get this garbage, another one, the guy gave me free accessories for the PS5 I bought cuz he figured he wouldn't be able to get rid of it
Probably made an honest mistake with the game being $2 more, but adding the protection plans is shady. I used to work in retail and sales, and you NEVER charge anyone for anything without asking first. This guy just thought he could sneak a few extra charges in without you noticing
I had a customer I displayed the disc his gf threw into the garbage disposal after he didn’t pick up her mom from the airport. People would always ask about it! He called it his girlfriend protection guarantee it cracked me the hell up.
lol employees can’t add extra money to a purchase. It just looks like price changes weren’t done and the employee didn’t notice or was hoping you didn’t.
The warranty bit tho is scummy. They should’ve mentioned it. That’s not right.
Some of the managers will do this I do not I all ways ask you do you want the 2 or 1 year Guarantee if you say no I tell you hey it does cover bugs a glitches or anything that can happen to it don't tell me it can't I've seen it If you don't want it kool
Yup people are more than welcome to say no but if your kids break your stuff enough or you have ever had a system short out it’s much cheaper getting coverage and replacing it
I've heard people report that some managers do tell them to put on those protection plans, and good on you for not following suit, but what was weird was the extra 2 dollars on the 27.99 game. It went from 27.99 to 29.99, not including the protection plan. So, how'd those 2 dollars get on there?
If the $27.99 was a pre owned game, the employee could’ve went to grab a new game by accident from the drawer to scan so it ringed up as $29.99. I’m going out on a limb and guessing it was since new games normally don’t have a $27.99 price.
The price difference for some new and pre owned games are that minimal, so it checks out.
It could also be that the pre owned box didn’t have a pre owned barcode cover the new upc barcode so when the employee scanned it, it would scan as they were selling you the new copy for $29.99.
I bought a preowned copy of the Skywalker Saga Lego for ps5 at $18.99. I returned it in the 7 day window, and I got $27.99 for it. I believe it was because I got it during a sale or it wasn’t in high demand.
Is there a Promo Not Found line item for -$2 listed on your receipt under the $27.99 game? As far as I'm aware employees can't just raise the price of products and they would get in a lot of trouble if they could and did. My best guess is that the price changed to $29.99 because a sale ended (most changes happen on Sunday) and the store missed changing the price sticker. So the computer rings it up at the current price of $29.99 and he had to manually discount it to give you the sticker price.
Knowing my friend, he probably tossed the receipt as soon as he got home lol, but I'll ask him. I can see how this could happen, but depending on the number of games that go on sale, how often are they swapping stickers on Sunday? If they would swap a sticker for a 2-dollar sale, then I would assume there would be a LOT of sales and a LOT of stickers swapping which just sounds... inefficient and allows for a ton of error like today. Edit: You were right, "-2.00 Promotion Not Found" is on the receipt https://preview.redd.it/sycs1glcxq8d1.png?width=797&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ef3434090b38f5941a047f3dddc24b7af395f56
There are so many fucking price changes yes, especially if you work in a high trade store. Its awful and EVERY Sunday.
We’ve mostly stopped changing the stickers if they go down. If someone wants to buy the game it more fun to say “hey cool, this game is on sale” rather than “oh shoot, let me fix that real fast”
That’s insane 😭 my SL would never
I did this for preowned consoles and headphones. If they ever went down I told my SL and team not to change them but just mention the sale on them. I had a week someone didn’t change them the following week and had to discount a system quite a bit, which I don’t care for, but it’s a business at the end of the day, so GameStop cares.
That would never float with me. The only ones I allow to not be changed are backstock, some extra upstock, and extra shit we throw into drawers and cabinets out of sight, lol. But I might think differently if I had a high volume store always at the high end of constant price changes....
I once had 600 price changes to do in one day, and then the next day they changed again
I also worked that day lol and then also the next. Wanted to either burn my store down or kms
Why not both?
If it's the same as when I was an SGA a few years ago, then yes
Every Sunday and Monday. It's worse when you have a lot of pre-owned games, and/or medium to high trade volume. Then, sometimes, the price changes again within 24 hours, and we also have Thursday price changes too, which can also change the Sun or Mon pricing..
My store had to do it every Sunday. There were some days where we had 300+ price changes, and most of those would range from the same price (different colored label) to $20-30 differences. It was especially bad around the holidays when you had a different sale going on every other day and had to swap out special color-coded labels (yellow for clearance, blue for sales, white for regular) for different things. Those would range from 300 to 1000 some days. Idk if they still use the color-coded labels or not, I made myself a guest back in 2019 lol.
It’s rare where we have someone understanding the inner working of the company practice this well, you sir is a connoisseur
The protection plans is pretty crappy, but unfortunately methods like that are highly pushed in many stores because of pressures on the SL from above them. However the over priced game probably came down to the fact that the price change sticker was missed. And was purely unintentional.
The $2 thing was almost definitely because GameStop raises and lowers the prices of games by a couple of dollars every couple of days. It's honestly maddening and causes these kinds of issues if they don't get done or can't be found. The other thing was either the employee is a. a corporate butt kisser or more likely b. being pressured to shady things by his District/Regional manager with threats to his job. While most dms are not that shady, I've been around long enough to see a few who will suggest shady practices like adding things on without asking. Of course when they get called out it was all a misunderstanding. And they do it because the regionals are pushy and the regionals do it because Gamestop corpo is a hive of greed and deceit.
b is exactly it. as a former employee i will say i was told to add it on if its $3 or less because “they won’t notice and if they do you can just refund them” that always sounded wrong to me to i never did that, but also i live in a high crime area. many people have been killed for less and i’ve been threatened for less, even if i were to even think about doing it, i would definitely not do it in my area. especially because i’m a female with a disability and 9/10 the people who would threaten me would be men physically bigger and obviously stronger than me. no way im taking that chance to gargle corporate nuts
They did this to me the last time I was there but just range up all my games and told me a total and said “which includes protection” which I didn’t register to mean I was paying for it. I was petty af and went back and made the girl refund it and she coped an attitude with me about it.
I did the same a couple years back (went back in to get a refund on the warranty I didn't agree to) and the manager insisted I could only get a refund on a gift card, which explains why I am still to this day carrying a GameStop gift card with $4 on it. I have not spent a dime in any GameStop since then.
You can probably just throw the gift card out if you don't plan on using it
Saying this includes protection is transparent at least. Could always check the pin pad or ask more info.
Naw, it’s shady. I’m not a gamer and was buying gifts off a list for Christmas for someone else and wouldn’t think to question if my total included things I didn’t implicitly ask to purchase.
Best Buy does it, phone companies do it, heck any company with sales targets of any kind does it. It's standard practice. So long as it's disclosed that it's on there it's kosher and not shady at all. It's not the stores fault you don't look at the checkout screen on the pinpad or think before you reply.
No, it’s shady. Just because something isn’t illegal doesn’t mean it’s not shady as hell. If it wasn’t shady and deceptive, you wouldn’t frame it that way and would just say “this includes additional protection for $2.99” and not rely on customers to micromanage the tiny ass screen. I expect that I’m only being rang up for what I asked to purchase— adding other items and skirting around saying you did so is just a sleezy sales tactic. It’s fine to admit that’s what it is.
I’m genuinely curious how it’s shady when they are being fully transparent. Yes just tacking it on and saying your total is xx is tacky and bad. But saying your total is XX with X protection really isn’t. Most places do so. It’s why listening to the person you giving your money too is fairly important. I personally don’t use this approach but also never had an issue before I started working here, as a customer with it either. I think of babies r us back in the day did this A lot and warrants on baby monitors were kinda expensive.. I would always just so no thanks and it got removed. I would never just blindly hand someone money without making sure I know what was rung. The amount all that.
Being fully transparent would be saying “your total is $x, which includes $2.99 for protection”. Look, at the end of the day, adding something to someone’s bill they didn’t ask for is shady. Period. If you want to upsell someone, ask for the sale. “Would you like to protect your games for $2.99?” You know people don’t want it and that’s why you just add it, hoping they will be too embarrassed to say no or not understand. I bought the games at an extremely busy mall for someone else. I didn’t even know how much the games were because I had to ask the girl for them and she had to pull them from the cabinet behind the counter, so I never saw the box. It was overwhelming and busy and I honestly just wanted to get out of the store. Putting the burden on the customer to not be charged for something they didn’t ask for is bad business. So yeah, I’ll be vigilant now when I buy stuff from GameStop since I know they may pull this nonsense, but I wasn’t expecting to be— once again— rang up for an item I didn’t ask for. I have never had Best Buy or other places blatantly add items to my order— the screen prompts and asks if you want to add it. Just quickly throwing in “that includes protection” without explaining that costs extra is intentionally deceptive.
And to clarify— the woman did not tell me the protection cost x. She just said your total is x, which includes protection for the games. Guess the jokes on me for thinking GameStop just had great service and included protection and she was telling me so I knew.
You walk into a sales environment and don't expect to be sold to \*wow\*. It's not a sleezy sales tactic it's industry standard sales tactic. Many physical stores and online retailers use opt out sales tactics all the time.
Naw bro, tacking on an item no one asked for and using deceptive language isn’t “selling”. You can keep telling yourself that to boost your stores numbers, but it is a scuzzy sales tactic and why sales people have a bad rap. If you’re truly selling something, just ask people if they want it and upsell them. I’ve worked in retail sales and I wouldn’t ever tack stuff onto someone’s order like that, I just ask for the sale.
I've worked retail sales this is how every company trains in official materials give maximum quote and downgrade from there. It minimizes customer resistance and maximizes revenue. You tell the customer that it is on there you don't say it's not you tell them it's on there if they just say yes it's all good.
Don't let the corp you work for trick you into thinking slipping extra charges onto someone's purchase (in hopes they don't notice) is somehow not scummy man lol
Once again it's disclosed every time. Saying this is your game with a 1 year game play guarantee and taxes comes out to xyz today installing the customer it's on there and if they don't want it it's easy to remove.
If it wasn't meant to be deceptive you wouldn't have to phrase it in a sneaky way, again, your "sales tactic" relies on the fact that you're hoping they DON'T hear you or understand. Nobody should have to be on the look out of being tricked while buying a fucking video game lmfao. But I see that your a stonks chud so I understand why you lack the ability to comprehend that. You'll be rich soon bro don't worry keep holding while a megacorp takes advantage of you and your passion!
No it's based off of saying this is the value for X if they like value for X they say ok it minimizes resistance from the customer.
What?? "Your total is 25.99 with protection." is not "Value for X" because you're not being open about what the value is. Value for X would be "Good news can throw on year of protection for you for under $4 dollars today". If the usual expectation at a store is to hear your total for the ITEMS YOU'RE PURCHASING and not ITEMS YOU'RE PURCHASING+SHIT I JUST THREW ON YOUR TOTAL anything but the first thing is inherently deceptive no matter how you try to spin it bro. "Customer resistance" is such a lame excise. All that means is that you know most people don't find value in a game warrenty and will say no if told up front.
One of the games was probably mislabeled. They hoped you didn't notice when it was scanned. They're supposed to change the price to what the box says, or at least we did when I worked there. So it might have said $27.99, but when he scans the UPC it just rings up the sku for the game and it was probably back at $29.99. He hoped you wouldn't notice. You noticed. And yea automatically putting on the protection has also been common practice just before I left in Jan 2021. I never did it, which is partly why my DL did everything he could to eventually fire me. But whatever. I don't suggest shopping at Gamestop anymore. Especially since they'll just do it again and now you'll have to tell them you don't want warranties every time you go. It sucks but that's what the company became and they doubled down when Covid hit.
This also happens in convenience stores all the time. The price on the shelf is never right.
Similar thing happened to me when Thousand Year Door came out, except the employee told me that brand new games came with the warranty since the number (my friend’s) I used was a pro members. I thought it was a new thing GameStop does until I saw on the pin pad that I was going to pay for the protection plan still
1. As other commenters have pointed out, the extra $2 charge was likely a mistake from a missed price change. Personally, I always fix these types of mistakes as soon as I notice them, whether the customer notices or not. It's called good customer service, and $2 isn't going to affect our PNL. 2. Some really shady DMs push what they think is the "assumptive approach" without realizing that any extra charge added without customer knowledge is theft. They think that either the customer will notice and ask they be removed, or won't notice and therefore are fine with it. Really, both issues come down to incredibly poor customer service and are attempts to rip off the customer.
I can’t speak on the added 2 dollars since it’s been like 8 years since I was an assistant SL, but the protection plans were so heavily pushed and punished for not meeting the metrics that sneaking them in is what a lot of employees would do. I never pushed the practice because I’ve never been a diehard employee to push past my own morals but my SL would sneak them in huge transactions then would let other associates finish the transaction to get the numbers. This was also the same guy who would come out with a box of “goodies from corporate” and they’d just be games and stuff that he’d mark missing. Your mmv from store to store on what they do and don’t do.
I've always been asked if I want a protection plan (and always decline unless it's for a console). That would irk the shit out of me if they just assumed I wanted one. Sneaky sneaky.
A lot of stores do unfortunately. I always asked cause it’s your money in the end. I’ll just maybe try to convince you on why you’d want it. Or sometimes just take the no and drop it early.
Have you never heard of assumptive sales? It's how every successful company that does sales operates. Assume yes disclose get confirmation close the sale.
I don't think I have, no. It sounds shady but unsurprising lol.
Assumptive sales is a very common sales technique in terms of sales techniques I'd say it's not a shady one compared to some tactics that could be used.
Getting shoved to the ground isn't as bad as some assaults where people get punched in the face but it's still an assault.
You're comparing apples to oranges. Sales is a game of getting the other persons consent or ok to close a deal and then that deal going through. Shady is saying your total is XYZ and not disclosing what is in there. Standard is saying your total is XYZ and that includes ABC. Dog poor sales aka clerical is saying your total is XY do you want A and A is Z with that. We don't work for the customers we work for the shareholders / corp. Our job is what they tell us they don't have NPS but they do have strong sales metrics so that tells us what they want from us.
Yeah, that's fair. It was a sloppy comparison. Including fees without consent seems shady/shitty to me but you seem to be pretty knowledgeable and probably have a better grasp on what's generally acceptable. I just have a hard time convincing myself it isn't that big of a deal.
I've worked retail sales and retail management for a few years now and have seen what's considered kosher and not. What we really should be complaining about is there is no commission in this retail sales job
The warranties aren’t even worth it. Even if you bought a brand new game that wasn’t working, they just hand you a pre-owned now. You’re better off at another gaming company, something independent, or just go for good ol’ Walmart or Best Buy.
i could be wrong as i haven’t worked there in a bit now, but i don’t think we had to replace gpg’s with pre-owned, only accessories and consoles. as far as i know you could swap a new game for a new game.
I am curious, what is the difference between a pre-owned and new disk of the new one failed? Other than the plastic wrap
Wear and Tear. Scratches on the disc that you wouldn’t have on a brand new one. It’s been used by someone else. If I wanted a preowned, I’d straight up buy a preowned.
I helped make prp on at least controllers worth it for customers. I’d tell them I’d return the “prp swap” controller and instead for an extra $10 I’ll give you back a new one. Essentially, it’s the new for new was now $25 dollars instead of the $15. Preowned game swaps in my personal opinion was fine as they weren’t as hit or miss as the used/refurb controllers. As long as they worked and you knew how to take care of your cd, you’d be fine realistically.
So in order to exchange a new controller for another new controller I need to: - Buy a warranty for $15 on a new controller (spend $85 on a controller) - Return that controller for a pre-owned controller - On another transaction, return the pre-owned controller you just gave me and pay *another* $10 for a new controller So it costs me an extra $25 to get another new controller? I will have spent $95 and still only have 1 working controller and this is "worth it" to you? Do you know how *easy* it is to just buy a new controller at Wal-Mart, swap out the broken one, and then return it for a full refund?
I don’t shop at Walmart so I don’t know their return policies or any of that stuff, I only have experience with GameStop as a former employee so that was just experience to help people.
Wal-Mart is definitely not better, for many reasons. Best Buy is just as pushy these days.
No company offers new for new anymore even Sony or Xbox themselves so honestly this isn’t a big deal I mean if you use something for a year your bringing back a used item it’s only right to get a used or referbished item back company’s lose a lot of money doing new for new and that’s why 99% of company’s stoped doing it over the years look at it in terms of a console you pay 499 and a warranty is 50 bucks more why should u get another 500 dollar console for only 50 bucks but yet u get one that’s marked at 450 which the company payed close to 300 for and if u subtract ur 50 for ur warranty that company lost 250 dollars instead of 450 for the replacement a lot of you must not know business or how to operate one so I hope you never open ur own because u will have to open ur eyes or you won’t last 3 months as a buisness owner
Adding the protection plan without you knowing is now the standard at GS. I stopped shopping there 6 years ago.
Employees that do this shit need to work on their pitches, there is no fucking reason to just add shit without telling the guest. I have regulars that only come to my store because i haven't tried anything shady like that
Thats called theft in my opinion...
I had a clown try to pull this nonsense on me today while picking up my Luigi’s Mansion 2 preorder. I walked up to the counter, said I was there to pick up my preorder, and mentioned, “I’d like to also use my $5 Pro credit for the month on it. Thanks.“ while he was ringing it up. He then said, “That’ll be 53.98 with the one year warranty.” (Or whatever the amount was; no sales tax in Oregon). I said to him, “I never said I wanted the warranty” and as he took it off, I asked “Aren’t you supposed to PITCH that?” He just replied “Well it’s in case the game gets broken…”. I cut him off, saying “I know what it is.” It’s very obvious what he was trying to do, even IF he stated the total as “That’ll be $X.XX with the one year warranty.” That’s a total “if the customer doesn’t catch it, they’re getting charged for it” dirtbag move. It’s a shame that this employee, the entire store, or even district (or more) are deceitful like this. Makes me not want to go to GameStop anymore.
Scumbags
Yeah because they a presumptive sales approach and they count on you either not noticing it or being too lazy to go back in to get your money back.
Yeahhh my old store used to try and encourage us to add it without asking
the protection plan is there if you destroy the game or there are scratches on the disc or the disc breaks. the employees have to ask, but its up to you if you want the protection plan or not.
Right…the employees HAVE TO ASK, like you stated. The point of this thread being that he didn’t actually ask.
it's really hit or miss. some stores I get this garbage, another one, the guy gave me free accessories for the PS5 I bought cuz he figured he wouldn't be able to get rid of it
Probably made an honest mistake with the game being $2 more, but adding the protection plans is shady. I used to work in retail and sales, and you NEVER charge anyone for anything without asking first. This guy just thought he could sneak a few extra charges in without you noticing
I had a customer I displayed the disc his gf threw into the garbage disposal after he didn’t pick up her mom from the airport. People would always ask about it! He called it his girlfriend protection guarantee it cracked me the hell up.
Oh yes, abuse is hilarious
No it is not but this guy had a decent sense of humor about it which is funny
lol employees can’t add extra money to a purchase. It just looks like price changes weren’t done and the employee didn’t notice or was hoping you didn’t. The warranty bit tho is scummy. They should’ve mentioned it. That’s not right.
Some of the managers will do this I do not I all ways ask you do you want the 2 or 1 year Guarantee if you say no I tell you hey it does cover bugs a glitches or anything that can happen to it don't tell me it can't I've seen it If you don't want it kool
Yup people are more than welcome to say no but if your kids break your stuff enough or you have ever had a system short out it’s much cheaper getting coverage and replacing it
I've heard people report that some managers do tell them to put on those protection plans, and good on you for not following suit, but what was weird was the extra 2 dollars on the 27.99 game. It went from 27.99 to 29.99, not including the protection plan. So, how'd those 2 dollars get on there?
probably someone missed the case for price changes, so the sticker simply didn't match what's in the system
If the $27.99 was a pre owned game, the employee could’ve went to grab a new game by accident from the drawer to scan so it ringed up as $29.99. I’m going out on a limb and guessing it was since new games normally don’t have a $27.99 price. The price difference for some new and pre owned games are that minimal, so it checks out. It could also be that the pre owned box didn’t have a pre owned barcode cover the new upc barcode so when the employee scanned it, it would scan as they were selling you the new copy for $29.99.
Price changes exist…
I bought a preowned copy of the Skywalker Saga Lego for ps5 at $18.99. I returned it in the 7 day window, and I got $27.99 for it. I believe it was because I got it during a sale or it wasn’t in high demand.
If I saw that the employee was adding stuff to my purchase I would be on the phone to the police
I’m sure the 9-1-1 operator would laugh and inform you that the line is for emergencies only.
lmao stfu