I went to pick up my DS Lite today with my roommate, Nich. In a show of good faith towards my newly adopted American culture, I preordered it from GameStop. This was probably a mistake.
Nich and I went over this afternoon to pick up the system; Nich was rung up first. The woman behind the counter asked Nich if he wanted to buy a product protection plan; Nich said no. She asked if he was sure, because systems often break, and he said yes. So far, nothing unexpected: a hard, pointless sell.
The other clerk behind the counter, a man, then chimed in that “Nintendo will only fix your system if it breaks during the first 30 days” with the implication that if Nich did not purchase the product protection plan right then and there, he was throwing his money away.
“That’s not true,” I said, because it wasn’t. “Nintendo will fix your hardware almost indefinitely if you send it into them, usually for free.”
“Their warranty is for only 90 days,” he protested. This is three times as long as his first guesstimate, but still short of the actual warranty period of one full year.
“What they have on paper is what they’re legally obligated to provide,” I said, “but their corporate policy is to fix any hardware that’s sent in.”
He brooded for a few moments, then said, theatrically, “Well, I’d better call Nintendo, then, because my original DS broke and they wouldn’t fix it!.”
“That’s a wonderful story,” I said.
He sort of fumed, after that, and my transaction was done in effective silence. He did not ask me if I wanted a product replacement plan.
You know, as annoying as it is, I don’t mind if I’m given a corporate-required hard sell. The modern era is a terrible time to be a consumer, and all I can do is roll over and accept that. But if you lie to me repeatedly? That, is not cool.
From now on, my game store of choice is Target.
CSS 2.0
June 12, 2006 at 7:29 am
You forgot the part where I told the lady who rung me up that I was there to pick up my preordered system, and she said “We’re all out.” I looked at her to say “What?” and she said “Nope, sold out.” I cast an eye toward the TWO DOZEN SYSTEMS there behind glass and she must have known what I was looking at because she said “Ha, just kidding!”
A sales clerk is not my friend, and if she tells a lie, it is not a funny joke.
June 12, 2006 at 8:04 am
There’s a eugene mirman bit on his new CD about jokes like that.
“I’ve never been to Los Angeles… just kidding!” is not a joke, etc
Anyways, yeah I went into target at 9am this morning and had one other nerd there not actually asking for one but just standing hands in pockets by the case waiting for someone to i guess mind meld and transfer ownership to his trench coat. Pretty painless!
My flash cart and passme and minisd card should be coming soon for maximum home BREWIN
June 12, 2006 at 8:16 am
Here’s that eugene mirman bit I was talking about
http://passionbear.com/charlesv/02%20Joking%20And%20Lying,%20Jack%20In%20The%20Box,%20Extreme%20Bowling.mp3
June 12, 2006 at 11:02 am
Just a thought: one clueless employee should not color your experience of that entire chain. Speak to the manager, write in to the company, etc.
If you decided not to spend money at each and every establishment where you had a negative retail experience, I’d imagine that your retail options would be fairly limited.
June 12, 2006 at 11:08 am
But 100% enjoyable.
June 12, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Not to mention that there are literally dozens of other stores for him to have his ‘retail experience’ at. Until such time as the rest of the options have burned him, why would he want to take the time to (essentially) reward the company by attempting to notify them of their failure to satisfy and help them improve? Does he own stock in the corporate entity? I think not.
I hope that the people who run Gamestop and EB and the like know how bad their reputation is becoming among gamers. Yeah, I’m sure mom will still take the kids there, and there are plenty of customers too young (or stupid) to ‘take their money elsewhere’. But eventually, I’m hoping that even these streams of income will dry up if the companies don’t shape up.
June 12, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Working for a retail company, most decisions are made with the dollars. In this case, he paid dollars, but was still dissatisfied. If you really wanted to send them a message, I’d return it and buy from somewhere else.
Write a letter if you think you might get some free shit.
June 12, 2006 at 1:10 pm
And of course, if you paid with a (platinum) credit card, the warranty period on the item would have been automatically doubled, rendering the performance protection plan they were trying to push useless.
I myself don’t mind the upsell in such stores, and if I say “no” once, I expect one *soft* rebuttal. Anything more than that and it’s a hard sell, and I will refuse to buy it from that store.
June 12, 2006 at 1:11 pm
“Write a letter if you think you might get some free shit.”
I like the way you think.
June 12, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Huh. Haven’t really had to deal with that kind of hard sell since 1999, probably because that’s around the time I stopped going to brick and mortar stores for most entertainment supplies, and started pre-ordering stuff online (and have since expanded from buying games online to buying everything but food online =P). It’s a much nicer experience, and while at first you miss the “got it right the minute it came out” feel at first, waiting a day or two is more than made up by free shipping (EB is fond of giving you free 2 day shipping on pre-orders, and they usually ship stuff out before it hits their brick and mortar stores – most other places lag behind a bit, tho’), and not having to deal with any other human being than the UPS man.
June 12, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I’m curious how well you’ve adjusted to shitty American retail service after being in Japan for four years. Are you used to it yet? You seem to have handled this one pretty calmly.
June 12, 2006 at 8:48 pm
Yeah, don’t damn the entire business because of one ignorant, unprofessional person.
June 12, 2006 at 10:21 pm
John TV, he omitted the part where he headbutted the clerk into submission.
June 13, 2006 at 12:02 am
Sigh… yeah that sounds like typical Gamestop/EB. Just wait till they ask you if you like a game replacement plan for an extra 2 bucks. The worst is when you ask for a new copy, and they clearly give you one out of shrinkwrap that they try to pawn off as “new”.
Honestly the best place to buy games in the US… don’t laugh by Toys R Us – they have a decent selection (you’d be hard pressed to find an Atlus title at a Walmart or a Target at least in my experience) and you don’t have to worry about the annoying Gamestop stuff.
June 13, 2006 at 12:43 am
ugh. I haven’t preordered mine, but am going in to see if my local shop (I think its a Game Crazy? Cuz you know how freaking nutso they are over those games).
Now you’ve got me all worried.
June 13, 2006 at 7:40 am
djtiesto…
Actually, I picked my DS lite up at Toys R’ Us, and the girl who rung me up pitched me the warranty spiel. Thankfully I only had to say no twice (she wouldn’t let me interrupt her until she had finished her memorized speech).
I’m pretty happy despite having two dead pixels, and I’m glad I waited to play New Super Mario Bros on the lite.
June 14, 2006 at 3:30 am
Yo’d probabl;y be interested in:
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/18071
The Retail Game
June 16, 2006 at 2:48 pm
I mean, it’s retail. It is what it is. I’m sure salesmen get some sort of bonus for selling the most plans, or some bonus per plan sold, or something. They probably make next to no money and are trying to get some more. They shouldn’t lie (or be uneducated — you can decide for yourself which is the case in every instance), but if you get $50 at the end of the month for selling the most plans, I’d try my best, too. Which puts the blame back at the corporate level.
My response to those plans is that they wouldn’t push them so hard if there wasn’t a ton of profit involved. So I stay away — but each plan is different. I bought one for my first iPod, from CompUSA — it was $60 for two years, but at the end of the 2nd year, I took my iPod in (3G), said it had horrible battery life, and they said I could have either a new nano + $50 gift certificate, or a new iPod video, no questions asked. (I got a brand new nano) Of course, now it’s all Apple Care — which blows, so I didn’t buy another. Some plans make great sense to get, and others don’t — I don’t automatically say no to them. I could see myself getting one for a portable system, depending on the reputation of the system and the cost of the plan. But for a game? That’s just stupid. And like, if the plan is $50 for a ds lite, and you have to ship it off, get it repaired, etc. etc — that’s stupid. The % of the plan to the full cost is way out of whack. Which means big profits for the company.
June 26, 2006 at 8:56 am
I used to work at EB’s and before the whole gamestop merger BS the company was way more consumer friendly. But Gamestop has gone made the EB people bug the crap out of all their customers or get fired. You have so much junk to bug people for in a transaction it is a joke. And if you don’t ask for trade within the first 30 seconds that someone walks in the store oh man are in trouble. And you have to ask for trades again at the end of the transaction. So bascially the customer is so annoyed/ pissed when they are done getting ripped off they don’t want to ever come back. Heh Gamestop is a joke!
June 30, 2006 at 4:43 am
Granted, it sounded like your experience was kind of shitty. You have to remember that all stores are not the same. They may be run by the same corporation, but some stores have educated and honest people running them. These are the people that are passionate about their work, which is video games. In defense of the employee in question, who knows what just happened to him-not to say he should have treated you that way, but the company is run very competitively on a store to store level. And no one likes to be proven wrong either. He shouldn’t have treated you that way, as an employee-I agree with you there. But one dumb ass putz does not properly reflect what the other 3999 stores are doing. And, if it makes you feel better, if that’s the kind of customer service they give, then you had better believe that that store does not rank well in comparison to other stores.
July 27, 2006 at 7:26 am
You guys are the same people who will wine because we didn’t offer you stuff. If your such a hard core jaded gamer go shop at walmart or target were you just a walking wallet and nobody give two shits what your doing there, or know anything about what there selling. You know I would rather not have you shop in my store and lose money then put up with your bitch ass wining.
August 10, 2006 at 12:21 am
I dislike Gamestop as much as the next person, but to be honest with you, the Gamestop warranties are a good deal since they are “product replacement” plans. That means if your new system breaks then you take it back and they give you a brand new one. I bought a used XBOX with a $10 one year replacement plan, pretty good deal especially if your used system craps out on you. I just bought an XBOX 360 about a week ago, and I am considering buying the $40 one year plan on that since 1) some 360’s have been reported with overheating issues and 2) MS will release a version in early 2007 with a new processor which uses less power and produces less heat, so basically I could take it back in 8 or 9 months and say it crapped out on me, and they will just hand me a brand new one.
August 14, 2006 at 11:44 am
“Stop Hatin’” – The article wasn’t about warranties in general, or even particulalry about Nintendo’s nebulously defined warranty. It was about GS employees misinforming the customer and then being… disengenuous about it when confronted.
Hell, warranties are fine things when they are respected. I bought a warranty extension plan for my iPod for five years, but not through Apple — through Joshin because they have been stellar about repairing all my (extended warranty) Sony crap that has been crapping out nearly since the day I bought it.
October 29, 2006 at 1:01 am
Super Mario Bros has to be the best game I’ve ever played. My wife is banned from it cause she can’t stop playing it.
September 14, 2007 at 11:22 pm
What a jack ass, he was just trying to get you to spend more money..Nintendo has one of the best track records with their systems. There is a general rule to all system warranties ONE YEAR! What as dumb ass