Have you ever experienced a particularly preorder-pushy sales associate, a seriously unknowledgeable employee or just a straight-up rude worker? I’d like to hear your stories.
Personally, I’ve managed to skirt any potential social mishaps while purchasing my video games and their accessories by putting all my trust in Amazon, and it’s so far served me well. Robots are far more straight forward and less annoying than humans, but I also don’t live in the future so what do I know.
You can also email, tweet and morse code me your stories if you prefer those methods.
Picture: Flickr
Comments
201 responses to “What Was Your Worst Experience At A Video Game Store?”
Leaving the house
Although I prefer JB over EB, buying my xbox one and ps4 at JB were both frustrating experiences, perhaps someone can clarify for me but under consumer law if something is wrong with your new console you’re entitled to a fix or replacement within x amount of time? JB push this warranty crap which basically means they send the console off for you, and saying “no its alright” leads to a sales pitch of aw cmon man you wanna be safe are you sure etc. If I wanna take a risk regardless I dont want someone hassling me to give them another $100. Both times saying no has caused the salesmens to change their tune from yeah great awesome you’re after a console to a disappointed nagging pain in my ass. I’ve worked in retail and its really easy to not piss people off, just give them space and room to breathe. Despite what a lot of people say about retail its not hard in my opinion. Cranky customers in a store don’t hold a candle to pissed off clients in serious areas like law, building, medical etc.
Pretty sure if you walk into any store, they’ll have their returns/refund policy available for you to read. I know JB’s do. Extended Care services are handy if only to increase the length of the term that’s already on there, but that’s always an optional thing.
Of course the policies are available to read but the extended warranty isn’t that much longer and yeah its optional but saying no 3 or 4 times doesn’t feel as optional as it should. In my experience I was told on both console purchases that without the extended care there was a high chance I’d be out of pocket $600 dollars to get a fix. It wasn’t “just in case” it breaks rather “there’s a good chance something will go wrong” in the future which is rubbish. Its not honest, thus I lose all respect for the sales person, imagine a struggling single mother that has just enough money to buy a console for her child only to be guilted into forking out another $100, sure asking once is fine but after that you’re pushing a person not helping them.
Yeah I can understand that frustration. There’s a right way and a wrong way to sell products, it seems to vary everywhere what kind of customer service you may receive.
My TV died after 24 months of use, I bought JBs replacement plan originally. They offered it to me again, I paid the $100 and was on my way again with another 3 years of cover and a new TV, to be honest sure I paid the extra at the start, but $50 a year ($100/2) and I didn’t have to fork out another $500 made it worth it.
On the other hand I use to get really really sick of having to spend $300 on new xbox 360s when they kept RRD after 16 months.
Sure my current 360 is still going (well on its 3 year) but I wasn’t so lucky with the other ones.
From the ACCC: Retailers sometimes offer to sell you an extended warranty or care package to extend the length of time of the manufacturer’s warranty. Some may tell you that an extended warranty provides extra protections you wouldn’t usually get. This isn’t necessarily true, as you automatically have consumer guarantees that suppliers must comply with, regardless of what they say or any warranties they offer.
You don’t have to buy an extended warranty – it is optional.
Suppliers risk breaching the law if they:
put undue pressure on you or use unfair tactics to get you to buy an extended warranty
mislead you into paying for the rights that you already have under the consumer guarantees.
Yeah mate, you can find refunds/exchange policy on the ACCC’s site – if a product does not work as intended as it is sold you’re entitled to a refund on the spot – to decline this for an obvious fault is illegal; unless that fault is minor – in which case it’s a repair/replacement.
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees/repair-replace-refund
Re: Retail, sorry if this sounds rude, but are you of an older generation? This is corporate life now – the three s’s are huge for most industries now – sales, shareholders, shitkicking. Your happiness does not mean shit if the company/clerk didn’t get their sale and if you don’t ask, you get in trouble. Even if you tell them straight up you don’t want to be up-sold, they’re going to be grumpy – they are fired based on these stats. You could speak to 200 customers in a week, proactively ask them and objection-handle, get 0 sales, and get fired anyway.
Let them briefly spiel you and politely decline.
Im actually in my early 20s and I have been fired for not making sales in a call centre so I do understand. I also understand that culture is slowly changing as it is distasteful, I think progressive approaches will take reign over the sales culture, slowly, over many years. It wont change soon but look at the impact social media alone has, if you have a shitty experience you can name and shame etc. I think it will take a very long time to die out, m’lady, and of course companies want to maximize profits but bullshitting a customer isnt the only or best way to do so.
Depends on the purchase price. No matter what you get at least 12 months but things above $500 you start getting extra under Consumer Law. Also depends on if the fault is deemed as a major fault or not.
That’s not true. The Australian Consumer Law does not kick in at different price thresholds. The protections apply for all sales.
the ACL actually says for a reasonable length of time, having dealt with this trying to get my fathers TV fixed, the ACL cant even tell you what that is 🙁
The ACL is horribly confusing for customers and businesses, because what is reasonable to someone isn’t reasonable to someone else.
This;
Tv’s can be up to five years depending on the price; extended warranties are a joke. My local Dick Smith tried to sell me an extended warranty on a TV I purchased about four years ago, about nine months ago I had an issue, after arguing with a store manager, I gave the ACCC a quick call and what do you know a couple of days later that manager is on the phone again offering to get my Bravia sent away for repair (all costs waived).
If in doubt it is best to call your local office as there is normally a branch in most cities and large towns.
Only time I get extended warranty is if it is a replacement not repair but I agree that a repair extended warranty is a waste.
Yes ACL does cover you for all price points but under $500 it doesn’t cover you for more than 12 months which the manufacturer gives you anyway. That being said ACL doesn’t give exact time frames it only says reasonable amount of time based on price and quality of the item. And if I’d read people’s replies to your comment I would have realized that they answered for me.
Most consumer goods have a relatively high initial failure rate, which then dips for a while before steadily increasing again as the product approaches obsolescence.
Extended warranties are usually timed to coincide with that dip and for the store are almost pure profit; this is why they’re pushed so hard.
On a “rational” basis – i.e. expected loss vs. gain with a neutral approach to risk – extended warranties are a waste of money.
Ive always bought my console from EB games, I know that with in 3 months I can get it replaced on the spot. Hell it might even be a year. I never buy consoles elsewhere for this very reason.
My local EB games was very good with giving us a replacement xbox one. It was bought at launch and a month or so ago it suddenly decided to start eating game discs, completely destroying two games. EB replaced both the games and the console straight away.
I was in line for the Halo 4 midnight release and I was forced to hear opinions about the Halo franchise that were completely and utterly WRONG!
Was some joker saying they are great games? pfft! In that case I agree he was talking utter rubbish. Tell me you straightened him out.
I am only posting this to inform you that I have an opinion on this matter. One that strongly opposes all Halo related gaming.
For the sake of peace on Earth, I will not express my feelings on the matter.
Completely and utterly wrong, or you disagreed with?
COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY WRONG!!! D:
Worst experience is the ebgames sales guy threatening to kiss me if I didn’t preorder what he was telling me to preorder. And that’s how I got a silver Mario amiibo.
What do you have against homosexuals!?
I uuuuh, didn’t say that?
You’re describing getting hit on as a terrible experience! You should be ashamed!!!
So you’re ok with getting unwanted ‘sexual’ advances, even if it’s in a joking way?
Only if it proves I’m not a bigot by showing my support for homosexuals! ]:
Yeah that’s not how things work.
The wonders of tumblr and twitter have shown me that so long as I fight for homosexual rights and for people of colour, it doesn’t matter if I’m coming off as a bigoted moron and the end result is me showing I’m a good person.
I’m pretty sure it was a sarcasm thing >.>
Neo, not everyone here is by default a guy, alright?
Plenty of females play video games.
I think you missed the point, the topic is about people in EBgames. Everytime you walk into EBgames you might see 1 Girl to the 10 or so Guys if you’re lucky. So assuming that pointzeroone was a guy is a high statistical probability. Also he was just joking and bringing up homophobia as that is the number 1 way to get someone to trip over themselves on the internet right now.
I see… hadn’t heard of this new craze lolol.
Anyway, are we sure pointzero is a guy?
? If the guy was gay or not, threatening to kiss someone to buy stuff is not cool and if he was joking it was unprofessional for a consumer environment.
You know I’m taking the piss right? ;P
Many did, at least 3 did not.
Idiot response! Always looking for an avenue to attack a completely innocent comment!
Yeah, I can’t believe these people are attacking me!
You come across in this whole post as nothing but an idiot, digging for a response, pathetic really!
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I’ve never had any trouble with retail, I worked retail for years and know when to approach a sales assistant and when not to. Now, steam is my friend.Yes, but why Morse code?
Because champion!
Well, you absolutely win. Because of the Morse code, but more importantly for reading the article fully.
Up voted, for keeping the ol’ vintage alive.
Worst experience at a game store had nothing to do with staff but customers.
In line behind a stinky woman who was yelling because they would not take a refund on GTA 5 that she bought for her son.
She then tried to say that they sold the game to the son directly, which just contradicted what she said before that.
Her boggle was that she bought a PS4 version and meant to get a PS3 one.
I agre in most bad store experiences I’ve had (and not just for games) the problem is other customers!
Not had a huge issue – although i hate buying anything from EB. I just cant handle the list of questions..
Got an eb card?
Want 5 off if you buy it used?
Want scratch protection?
Anything you want to preorder?
you must struggle at Subway
Genuinely lol’d. Have an upvote lol
Yeh not really, cause when I go to Subway I am ordering a custom sandwich. No questions are needed when I bring a game to the counter
Lol, so they’re not aloud to even try and make money? In this retail-climate they certainly aren’t making any profit on the game that they’re selling you. All you have to do is politely say no.
Granted it’s not a BAD experience, just a mildly annoying/tedious one, but if that’s the ‘worst’ experience you have with retail, then you’re pretty lucky!
What? Have you seen the prices eb charges? If they’re not making a shed load of money with the prices they charge and the way they ripoff their employees (unpaid overtime etc) then there is something seriously wrong with the competence of eb management.
$80 video game, $20 profit, unless you price match than they may not break even. They also have overheads like rent, electricity and wages. Their profit is from used and Warranties not new games.
The people making money off Video Games in this country are the Distributors not the Retailers.
Just on the issue of price disparity in Australia im a bit sick of the sob story from retailers. It seems they are failing to gather and pressure distributors.
Yeah we need more of those Coles/Woolworths strong arm tactics in games retail!
One internet for you.
my first experience at subways.. i didnt know what the big deal was at first.. everyone “loves” subways… i went into the shop, to my surprise i didnt know what the FUCK i wanted, or even felt like…. i approached the counter and the guy asked me what i wanted… i said i had no clue.
asks me what bread though i didnt have a fucking clue, i said what options… he just points at a sign and does the heaviest sigh i have ever heard, in my entire, fucking life.
he helped me pick the worst items, then tries to up sell toasting it..
i agreed to everything he suggested unknowingly. its my first subway experience and everybody ive ever asked about subways just sais “oh you know, its subway its amazing, its the best” fuckoff.
it was the WORST experience ive ever had, the price was fucking big, for a really fucking shit! burnt! to! fuck! piece of crunch with burn.
i will never visit or praise subway ever again. simply because my bad experience demands that i hate them for it, instead of taking a good look at myself.
Work at Woolworths and I guarantee you that the laundry list of shit we have to ask a customer if they have or want at the end of a transaction bothers us infinitely more than it does our customer. Just remember, it isn’t our idea and me personally I would be fine if it stopped at receipt.
*Which doesn’t take anything away from your own aggravation over the issue.
It’s called upselling – and I agree, it’s just the worse thing as a retail assistant.
*hand over EB card* “No thanks, no thanks” *pay* *leave*
Minor annoyance, but it’s like 5-10 seconds of wasted time… I’d imagine it’s be a bit longer if you don’t have a card and they try to push one on you. You just need to anticipate it and squash it, asap. That said, JB is just across from them now, so I rarely bother with EB any more… even though JB has its own quirk of putting the checkout at the back of the store…
And if you want to buy hardware from JB they send you to the back of the store to get a receipt which you then have to show the people at the front of the store… possibly waiting for them to finish dealing with some other customer.
So you wind up waiting for staff three times: Once to get the original bit of paper to hand off at the checkout indicating that you’re buying something, once while waiting at the checkout, and one final time to actually get the thing you’ve paid for.
Whenever I get those “How did we do?” surveys I state to NOT ask these things; if I want to pre-order something or waste my money on scratch “protection” Ill bring it up
Your survey goes straight to the Recycling Bin. That shit ain’t ever gone change man.
Whilst I’d agree with you, it doesnt quite make sense since they give you carrots for completing it, unless there’s some ulterior motive…
Let me assure you that there is indeed an ulterior motive.
The surveys are how they measure staff performance and monitor how many customers recall or even bother to note they were asked all the key EB questions.
That’s quite interesting that it doesnt mean anything. I know in telstra the employees bonus is heavily dependent on the customer score (net promoter score) which compiles the results of every “rate us out of 10” survey.
Telstra’s CTS (at least when I was working there) was very easy to game. It was “voluntarily,” so long as you got x per day. You had to physically push them through to it. You got your good calls and you pushed them through to the CTS and gave 0 shits about anybody else – because no one else did. Then again, at the time, we were all about not enabling willful ignorance and very against giving money out. Your bad, your loss.
They’re designed for two reasons, primarily; trimming the fat and customer engagement. At another couple of jobs we had a thing called CSATs which were NPS/FCR/Agent Score. Agent Score, as in, what the customer rated me on my performance. Which was wholly ignored. At both companies. If their call was not resolved because, say, I had to get them to call ANZ because I couldn’t help, they chose to mark FCR 0, the agent gets the trouble for that.
It’s probably about having the appearance of caring.
See you diss scratch “insurance” but it isn’t a bad thing when your GF knocks over your console accidentally while the disc is spinning and basically rekt your $80 3 day old disc. Of course this was forever ago and right at the time when digital downloads just started up and digital accounts were not exactly that great at keeping records
True, but then I think a scratch disk would be the least of my concerns if my GF somehow knocks of my lying-flat console that’s not near any corner of the TV cabinet :/
An old housemate once upon a time … his fat fat fat thundercunt girlfriend’s foot steps knocked my ps2 off the shelfy thing it was resting on and fucked it. i was so mad.
I swore off EB entirely after a salesperson there tried to convince me, three times, that I needed to buy scratch insurance for the game I’d just purchased. Once, I can tolerate. After three times, that says EB needs to be sent a message.
Oddly, I bought one of the Professor Layton games at GameStop in the US specifically to ‘enjoy’ having shit pushed on me, and they gave me the game and wished me a good day. I was honestly a little disappointed. (For some reason, part of my desired tourism experience is enjoying some of the shitty experiences of other cultures.)
Just got an Xbox One for my wife.
JB had some bundle deal that included games she wasn’t particularly interested in. I thought I’d just go in and chat to somebody and see if there was any negotiating to be done.
“Hi, I’m after a 1TB Xbox One”
“OK. *pause* We have these bundles”
“Oh yeah, I saw those online. Wasn’t really interested in those games. Is there any chance of swapping them out, or maybe just see what you can do on the console and a few games I do want?”
“The bundles are fixed”
He then proceeded to walk off.
A few weeks later I was on the other side of town and had a completely different experience.
“Oh yeah, the only game we can’t change is Halo cause it comes in the box. Work out what games you want and I’ll swap it all out and work out the best price”
so I go off and grab the games that I want and he works it all out…
“Ok, so I swapped X with Y because I can do a discount on Z. I also got the fancy version of Q because it’s the same price as the regular one”
Got everything I was after and walked out happy.
I’m looking to get an XBone next week, but the bundles are terrible. Which JB was willing to change it up?
The good store was Chermside (north side of Brisbane).
You do know that in a lot of instances staff are told they absolutely cannot change the games in bundles, right? And that’s because the store gets reimbursement only if the right things go through the till in the same transaction, otherwise they lose a bunch of money. And sometimes, weeks later, head office would tell you that the games in the bundles can now be changed. So it’s possible something like that happened in the mean time when you went to another store weeks later.
You could have also just got an asshole on the first day.
I worked at JB in games a few years ago. We were absolutely told that we could not swap bundled games. The best we could do was trade the games in straight away, and give the customer store credit which they could put towards games they wanted. I used to knock ten bucks off an extra controller for them as a consolation, but I eventually got in a trouble for doing that.
JB Chermside is probably the best JB in Brisbane.
Thanks. Unfortunately that’s about 930 km further than I can reasonably go to get the bundle, but I appreciate the follow-up. I guess I’m getting the Blue Forza XBone in a couple of weeks, then!
Both employees are right. Bundles are fixed, they can’t just swap games. On the other hand, they can trade in the games that come with it for credit toward other games. The first person might not have been too experienced in the games department.
It wasn’t so much about the bundles being fixed, it was more his attitude that I didn’t like. It was a bundle with three games, and I ended up getting 2/3 of them anyway. If he had of taken 5 minutes to talk to me he probably would have got a sale. Instead of working out what I did want he just walked off.
The second guy helped me find the specific versions of the games I wanted and looked at the margin on each one to come up with the cheapest way to bundle it.
They aren’t meant to swap bundles what they are meant to do is give you current trade in value on the games in the bundle.
So not just walk away?
Yeah they should have said we can’t do a direct swap but what we can do is take the games you don’t want as trade towards the games you do want. Generalisation but I’ve found in my experience quite afew of the people working in gaming retail stores think they are cool for working in a gaming retail store.
I had a sort of similar experience at EB Games recently. Went to buy the console and a bunch of games, asked them to price-match JB a couple of doors down who had the console (with slightly different games) a bit cheaper, and was told no, they can’t price match, it’s a fixed bundle for a fixed price. Was about ready to walk out.
Then I grabbed the manager and asked if I could get a discount on the extra games I was buying equivalent to the discount JB was offering on the console. He thought about it for a minute, said fine, then wound up offering to swap one of the games I was buying for one of the games in the bundle that I wasn’t interested in because I already had it for PS4. Walked out around $700 poorer (and with no extended warranty, don’t get me started on those.)
So that started as frustrating but worked out in the end. Just a pity that I was the one who had to think of a way around their system…
I once had a young manager at EB Games question the temerity of me wanting to buy a second copy of Dragon’s Crown on Vita.
“But you bought that last week.”
“Yes.”
“This is the same game.”
“Yes. I’d like to buy another copy.”
“…OK?”
She then failed to give me the EB ‘exclusive’ art book before I reminded her that it was included, and then had to go out the back and ‘see if they had any left’.
Just the other day, also at EB:
“Do you have Until Dawn in stock?”
“Yeah we should do. What platform did you want it on?”
“…It’s a PS4 exclusive.”
“What? …Oh. Let me check. Oh, it looks like we’re sold out.”
“That’s OK, I’ll go to JB Hi-fi. It’s $20 cheaper but without the special case and DLC scene.”
“Uh, OK.”
Preordered Legacy of the Void CE from EB website. Supposed to get a beta code the next day after pre-order. Email them 5 days later politely asking for my beta code, email response says I ordered it in store I need to go in to the store to collect it. Responded saying I ordered it online, not in store, and even forwarded the email they send when you preorder online. She responds saying well, it doesn’t matter. I need to go into the store to collect my code anyway.
Ah, EB. At least they’re consistent. Just miss the days when there were more alternatives (other chains, locally owned stores, etc) and retail exclusives weren’t a thing.
Internet is my go to now. EB surely only exist because of kids and Mums now, right?
OK now I’m intrigued… why did you need a second copy?
I want to know, too!
@starquake For the ad-hoc goodness, of course (I have several Vitas) but sadly I didn’t realise you needed to play through the entire game in order to be able to play ad-hoc…
Local EB Games taking preorders for CEs of WoW Burning Crusade – guys who ordered 6+ months before were getting phone calls from the store a week before release saying they couldn’t get them a copy of the CE, short supply etc. Three guys I knew missed out.
Then at midnight launch, at about 5 minutes to midnight – the guy who ran the local LAN games business, who incidentally were all WoW nuts and known well by the local gaming community – walks in to said EB before everyone else, and walks out with like 8 BC Collector’s Editions. Walks right past the queue of people waiting, including people who missed out on their CE, with a giant shit-eating grin on his face.
I’ve since had EB try this on with myself and other friends for various titles. They’ll try and cancel preorders of special/limited run games to secure copies for staff and friends. If they ever try it on, fight the fuckers for every inch. Shady shit.
What a load of shit, that’s dodgy as, Yeah I’d fight that for sure!
I have heard of this happening multiple times, multiple stores, multiple people. It’s fucked.
Nepotism, it’s not about right or fairness it’s about who you know.
Remember that happening during those Legendary Dick Stiff clearance sales where staff were grabbing all the good games that were going on clearance before customers could even get in
First, as a salesman, then as a customer… (I’m also going to include my best 😉 )
As a salesman: I worked for a gaming store in Brisbane City:
I was 20 years old, working at a games store in the Queen Street Mall in the late 90s as a sales rep. I walked up to work one morning and saw a guy sitting in front of our store, he had a syringe sticking out of the corner of his eye. His shirt was covered in vomit and blood. Joys of working in the Queen Street mall… I don’t envy the police at all.
When I worked at TimeZone in Brisbane City in 1997(I think it was 97? We’re talking a loooong time ago now lol). I was opening crew. Anyhow, we had an R360. I had to go in and clean it one day after someone had ‘vomited’ in it. It wasn’t vomit. It was sperm. I can’t even… I refused to touch it without proper biowaste gloves etc.
But actual CUSTOMER SERVICE experience…. to be honest, 99% of my customer service experiences were golden, because I generally let people seek ME out. I didn’t bug customers. That was the best way to be. If they wanted advice, they knew where to go, that really helped build up a rapport with customers at Games R Us, people would come in and ask for me, Reubin or Dave regularly, having one of us 3 as their favorites (Reubin was the most popular, he was the most knowledgable, the ‘coolest’ and was there the longest). But if I had to pick one single one…
The 1 percent that weren’t golden? I really don’t remember the specifics. They’re not worth remembering. But shoutout to old Mr Albert Joshi, probably dead by now, who back in 1997, Cash Converters at Canon Hill, bought a 486 computer off me, a young 19 year old kid (had a few part time jobs back then) and was my first big sale. He was around 65 or so, and that name has always stuck in my head. He told me I was ‘very polite’ and ‘very well mannered’ and really made my first major sale something worth remembering, he was the kind of customer experience you just can’t help but love. I guess the thing I’ve always sought to do is remember the good above the bad. Wherever you are Mr Joshi, thanks 🙂
Eww! But seriously, I’d rather cleanup sperm than vomit.
Yeah true, indeed, it was just the ‘ewww gross’ factor of someone jacking off in the R360 somehow…
God… there’s a mental image I can’t get out of my head. Was it all in a neat little pool in one spot? Or splattered all over the interior? Just wondering if the thing was actually in motion when… you know…
splattered all over the seat and joystick, I kid you not. No idea how they hit it man. No idea.
I don’t know what an R360 is; I’m avoiding looking it up because it’s not a mental image I really want to fill out.
If I recall it was a arcade flight simulator (G-Lock or Afterburner style if not actually Afterburner) that can rotate the cabinet a full 360 degrees roll, but not pitch. You had to strap in of course and it all locked into place. I remember a fat kid getting stuck in it once, he couldn’t pull the harness in far enough to get it to go back out.
I played it a few times, mostly upside down to get value for money, I never puked or became “over excited” by the game.
What if somebody swallowed sperm then vomited it up? 2 for the price of 1!
There’s an image I didn’t need LOL
Timezone?? Bwahaha! How old are you, granddad? :p
37 😛 lol! I worked in a videogame arcade WHEN THEY HAD GAMES IN THEM and skilltesters were merely relegated to a dark corner damn it lol
Full disclosure, I’d been going to Timezone lock ins from about 1989 onwards and was involved in a riot when they replaced NBA Jam with that fucking crappy Run & Gun basketball game, plus I remember when fish & chip shops had tabletop games, so I can’t really get away with calling you grandpa. 🙂
Timezone/Top Fun lock-ins were the best. Where they’d just crack open the box and push a button that gave you like… 99 credits so you could suck as hard as you liked at TMNT the Arcade Game and still get to the end. Or that awesome Afterburner clone.
Man, when I was a kid (grampa mode ACTIVATED lol) I had an electric lighter, with a piece of wire extending out from where the spark would come out. The wire was around 4 inches long. You’d slot it in to the coin slot, and click the lighter a few times. Bam. Free credits. Did it all the time lol. I think I rarely paid for credits when I went to Carindale arcades…
Then they put in machines with trip-alarms in them 🙁
THEEEEEF
INDUSTRY-DESTROYER
*bows* Yep. lol
It WAS YOOUUU!!!!
Ok, a little off topic but I have probably bought games from you before weresmurf (including that cashies!). Well I’ve at least purchased from all the shops you mentioned.
I’ve also been to those arcades. Wasn’t really that excited by the R360 either so that was definitely not me!
Did you ever go to the old arcade just a bit down from Timezone called Las Vegas? All the games were 20c!(but usually older games than Timezone)
I used to go to Playtime at Carindale after work when I was a Chef.
And I’m going into grandpa mode here too – I remember when I was very young they had an old arcade up the top with rides and stuff. I remember playing Forgotten Worlds, Altered Beast and a few others. It had a Rocket with a spiral staircase on one side for access.
Good times.
I still go to timezones if they have pinball machines. Their ops are terrible at maintenance but they get new sterns in now and then
Did they have those Mech Pods at TimeZone when you worked there? I remember playing on those for hours with some mates.
No! But I know the ones you mean and we wanted to get those. The first type I remember was release in the early 90s I think but we never got that, I can’t remember its name though? There was another release in the early 2000s that ran on a cut down Mech Warrior 4, seen here
https://youtu.be/y3wZ0m1uxA8
We have VIRTUAL ON though, linked up, that was mad fun.
Firstly, was the guy dead or alive?
Secondly, as a former arcade worker I can attest to gross things being on the machines. I worked at the casino of all places, and jizz on a machine definitely happened. We had one of those Jurassic Park machines with the black curtains secluding the players. Worst thing ever! Eventually the machine got taken away after a ‘drink’ was spilled on it, the technicians swear it was pissed on.
Oh the dude was very much alive and very much high off his brains. He was shooting up through his eye or something, I’ve only ever done weed myself and dabbled in a little ecstacy when I was a young lad, never anything truly hardcore so I dont know WHY you would want to stick a syringe there!!!!!
I think they do that because they’ve run out of veins to inject.
Must be some kinda high to make jabbing a needle in your eye seem worth it!
*shudders* *pukes*
Pre orderd amiibos at EBGames, when I went to pick them up. Woman working at the counter told me she gave them away to people who didn’t and said I would have to wait for the next shipment.
Can confirm. Have had this happen. I preordered for my son and they did the exact same to me. I asked if Staff had theirs on preorder out the back, she said yes. Demanded they give me those from the staffs ones. She said they couldn’t, I asked why, she replied hesitantly ‘They… preordered…’
I literally made her ring head office and demanded to be given the staffs ones lol. I won. 🙂
Yeah that’s terrible! I always make sure I keep the invoices for any Collectors Edition I pre-order from them in-case anything like that was to (and it hasn’t yet) ever happen. The only games I would usually get from EB would be Collectors Edition’s because most of the time they seem to be exclusive to them.
Best thing I’ve heard all week.
Yeah, this was also one of the reasons we stopped buying Amiibos. We’ve got one final one on preorder for me, Ryu. I’m a HUGE SF2 fan, and Ryu’s where it’s at for me, once he’s out, that’s it, done.
I emailed the main building or something along that area, which they contacted the store to investigate. They found out that the store actually had some in the back (except one which I had to wait for next shipment)
So not only did she give mine away, she couldn’t even give me the ones they did have in the back, and all I would’ve had to do there was just wait for the one sold out to be in stock.
I’ve been lucky in that the worst experience I’ve had was just a miscommunication that dragged on.
Two years ago I decided to buy Fallout 3:GotYE for the PS3. I went to my local EB Games and found a cheap 2nd-hand copy. The great thing about the GotYE is that all the DLC is on the disc, so it didn’t matter that it was 2nd-hand. Now when I took it up to the counter the guy who served me informed me that a brand new copy of Fallout 3 was cheaper by about $5. The problem that I couldn’t seem to make him understand was the difference between the original game and the GotYE copy. We ended up having this bizarre back-and-forth of “But this one’s cheaper.” “But this one has all the DLC.”. It actually took another EB employee interjecting when we got a bit loud to make him understand that while the original Fallout 3 copy was cheaper, that it would end up costing more if I wanted to buy the DLC later. I dread to imagine how longer we would’ve argued if that other staff member hadn’t stopped us…
that’s frustrating on another level, the staff member would have got better KPI’s for selling you the preowned one.
Worst episode ever!
Dragon’s Crown is dead-set awesome when played co-op. Vita would not allow local co-op like the PS3 does.
Either that, or because the first copy got worn out, idling on the Sorceress. Either way, legitimate reasons for a second copy.
Got it for ad-hoc before finding out that I had to play through the game before being able to access it. Still haven’t used that second copy but it is sitting in my game cartridge case just waiting to be busted out!
Don’t normally shop in EB but I went into our local a few years back to get the exclusive edition of Starhawk on the PS3. The overzealous staff member hounded me to sign up for an EB card. I was completely upfront and explained that I usually shop elsewhere. He wouldn’t quit and went on with all sorts of sales crap while the other guy stood behind him and gave me an I know, I know look. In the end I signed up to shut the guy up, but to this day I’ve never used the card.
Same EB in our local shopping centre, my son wanted to check out the new Skylanders so we stopped in. I wish we hadn’t. There was an absolute scumbag arguing with the staff who decided it was appropriate to alternately question their sexuality and address them as slang terms for a woman’s genital area. I took my son out of there in a flash.
I have too many stories of straight-up rude people encounters.
However they were the customers and I was the worker.
The best was the guy who almost shattered the counter on boxing day because he didn’t buy a PS2 memory card, and the kids couldn’t save any games on Christmas day. We had competitions for the selling of ad-ons at Christmas time so it’s highly unlikely the sales person didn’t try to convince him to get one. He just thought he knew better, then took it out on us when he found out he was wrong.
I’ve come across this so many times. On boxing day, we’d load up the counter with all those “unnecessay” add-ons (mem cards, controllers, rechargeables, etc) and watch them sell themselves.
I’ve also had the angry man come back in and blame me for not telling him this vital information. “That’s my name on the receipt. You were absolutely told you’d need one. Fortunately, here it is, within easy reach of the POS.”
Not related to the topic, but related to memory cards. I remember back in the good old days of Playstation 1. The final page of the game manual for Final Fantasy VII dares you to play the game without a memory card. Google is failing me for a photo.
Does it? I have the original game at my parents house, should I call my Mum and get her to check? Haha, I don’t recall ever seeing that.
Yeah, I still have my copy, man. On the back of the booklet there is a pic of the memory card and the sentence Try beating Final Fantasy VII without it! Mind you this is the original, im not sure about the Platinum re-release.
Travelled an hour to a game store, that closed 30 minutes early, shut the doors as I approached, and refused to let me in, even though I knew exactly what I wanted to purchase. They then proceeded to sit inside the store and chat for the next hour.
Registers are closed dude! Sorry! 😛 lol
Not exactly a bad experience for the customer, more for the EB staff member.
A number years ago a friend of mine was sick of constantly getting asked if he wanted scratch protection. So he bought it on GTA4 after asking the sales assistant explicitly that if any scratch on the disk makes the game unplayable he gets a new copy. The sales rep responded with a very unmotivated ‘Yes’.
He then proceeded to take his shiny new copy of GTA4 to the carpark and rubbed it into the asphalt.
He then immediately took the disk back as it was “unplayable”.
“I need to replace this game, It has a scratch on it”
“Ummm ok, do you have your receipt”
Hands over receipt and game, the sales rep looks at the game in amazement
“what happened to it?”
“dropped it”
They then handed over a brand new copy of GTA4.
“does the scratch protection cover this copy?”
“yes”
He then did it again…
Reminds me of this one guy who came in while I worked at EB. He complained constantly about seeing prints on game disks he bought so he wanted a ‘fresh’ one. We gave him one that was untouched, which he proceeds to examine it closely by placing his finger on it as he holds it up about an inch from his face, then he turns around and says ‘this one has a print on it too, why not just take 2 bucks off the price’.
Yeah, nah.
I had one of those guys too. Minutely examined the gutted copy of GTA:IV for blemishes, and pointed out the data-less ring around the outside as being a scratch. I assured him the disc was brand new and undamaged. He insisted that I was wrong and that he “knew what we do”. I went out the back and took out a brand new, shrink-wrapped copy, opened it in front of him, and showed him that the “scratch” was, in fact, on every copy of the game. He refused to buy it and walked away.
There’s not a whole lot of confrontation in that story but I remember that dude. I sometimes wonder if he ever played GTA. If his crippling paranoia of data-less areas on DVD’s ever subsided enough for him to buy the game and put it in his console.
What other experiences in life has he missed out on due to his blatant misconceptions?
I kept a cotton glove behind the counter for customers like that. Got called a smart arse on multiple occasions.
Smart-arse!
Wish I’d thought of that. That’s hilarious.
Genius.
As a salesperson, and one thing my manager has taught me, you treat customers like you’d treat people you know and respect. Do that, and they’ll come back to you and treat you the same way. That’s best for both worlds, unfortunately it doesn’t seem to happen often which is a shame.
Not so much a ‘worst’ experience, but I used to not like going to the EB in Glenelg because one of the staff there looked just like Nathin ‘Cap’n’ Tightpants’ Fillion and he would have a schmoozey/charmy effect on any and all women who entered the store (including my wife).
The bastard.
The handsome devil!
I remember storming into an EB the day after buying Homefront.
“How did you let me walk out of here with this, yesterday?! I thought we were cool! I trusted you!”
“Lol, whaaat?”
“This game is garbage! You said it was great! The campaign took like four hours and was complete tripe.”
“Campaign? I only played the multi! Lol, campaign…”
*shakes fist* I switched EB stores to another one of the three in the same mall.
Oh god… I hated the characters in that game so much that I wanted to sell them out to the NKs.
3 stores? Jesus. Why would you cut your own grass like that?
I think they closed one of them? Now I think it’s just two… Still, though.
That’ll teach ’em 😛
Damn straight! I’M TAKING MY BUSINESS ELSEWHERE… to your other business.
Going in and finding nothing vaguely entertaining
I already shared this story in a post about women gamers a few days back: having a staff member at EB assume that the XBox One I was buying was for a guy and not for myself.
That’s about all I can think of. My local EB usually pretty great.
That would annoy me to no end. I’m into motorcycles too and bike shops are very much the same way, I might even say they’re worse.
As a customer, Ive had no “bad” experiences from staff, just a few annoyances. I know at EB its their job to sell the addons, they’re not just a checkout assistant like BigW/JBs/Maccas, they’re sales staff too. Its their job, so I’ve no problem with them asking about the add-ons. I say “no thanks”, life goes on. One time, the rep kept trying to push the sale, I just looked at him “I already no, do you want me to go elsewhere?”, but thats as bad as its been. The best staff don’t ask for preorders, they ask what games I like, if I’m picking them up early, then throw in the bonuses if I wanted to preorder. I still say no, but its a much more pleasing experience than “any preorders today?”.
Other annoyances are human-related. Patiently waiting in line while the solitary salesman tries to deal with difficult customers infront of me, arguing over price or payment methods, while I wait patiently with the game in one hand and exact change in the other. Or the idiot that decides to get on the phone while standing at the checkout to argue with whoever they’re buying the game for. Because nobody else has anything better to do either.
Few times I’ve bought games from EB, get halfway to the car and realise they forgot to put the discs in the cases. When I get back to the store there’s been no trouble getting them back, although the first time I needed to convince them.
—
Put 4 games on hold at JB, staff assures me its good for a week. Wife goes back the next day and they insist they have no holding policy and that all the games were put back, and the deal quoted by the staffer the previous day is void.
—
Oh, and one time I witnessed a fight in the Brisbane Myer EB (must’ve been 5-6 years ago). 2 guys were having it out and getting pushed into the game racks and everything was all over the place.
Once I had a guy at Gametraders follow me around the whole time I was there telling me how “good” the Apple Pipin is…..
Oh and I got my wife to pick me up a copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution when it came out. But I told her it was pronounced “Do Sex”. Apparently she was asking the nice girl behind the counter at EB if she Do Sex. Yeah I’m a bit of an arsehole.
I once pre-ordered Deus Ex: Human Revolution from EB. This came with some bonus missions and a statue/action figure of Adam Jensen with removable arms and hands so he could hold a gun or have his blades out.
When I went to pick up the game they had given away my copy and so I had to wait 2 weeks for another copy to come in. They did offer me the standard edition for free to use in the mean time but they didn’t understand that without the extra mission codes I couldn’t shift over once I obtained my version.
In this time I had the games story spoiled by friends and the internet but then the real kicker happened once my copy came in. Upon opening the box I discovered that my figure of Adam Jensen had only left arms and hands. I had to go back to EB again but they wouldn’t help me and said I had to talk to the publisher. So I rang them and they told me there were none left so I was stuck with my deformed Adam Jensen.
That was the day I gave up on EB, special editions and pre-ordering in general.
I’d have told them they were refunding me right then and there.
It’ll be worth more or something like that =/
Firstly eb games is entirely rubbish with over priced junk and their staff are so robotic given they acknowledged you to begin with. Their shelves are so messy it’s hard to actually find what your after then you find it and discover it’s double the price of what jb hifi have it for. I’d happily pay extra for a decent experience in a store but that hasn’t happened, ever.
Game was amazing with awesome staff, shame their head office was a pile of unorganized crap and ruined it for the staff. I was always happy to pay whatever they were asking because it was clean, organized with knowledgeable staff. Unlike eb
Jb has always been great, I understand they can’t swap a free game supplier funded from Sony for a new release worth triple the cost. So why wouldn’t you trade in a free game towards whatever you were after.
The best part about jb staff is, if you treat them with a bit of respect they can discount everything else in the store.
Obviously I’ve worked in retail before and 7/10 people are obnoxious pricks who crawled out from under a rock with some idea in their head retailers owe them something when they walk through the door. Reading these comments i can tell most of them live on the kotaku page
Not all EB’s are like that.
Some have really good staff.
I’d have to say its EB stores refusing to price match that gets my goat. And also whoever is responsible for the RRPs making digital pricing so high. Complete BS.
Can we as (ex)game retail sales people talk about our worst experiences???
Coz I have a lot of those.
Go for it. Hell, we all know people can be awful on both sides of a transaction.
They never said you had to be the customer, just it had to have happened in a Game store.
Personally the main experiences I have that frustrate the crap out of me is some twit in line at the counter wanting to talk about the lord of the rings trilogy and give a step by step account for what happens, rather than allowing the sales person to get on with their job. Aside from that EB’s policy of answer the phone before serving a customer is ridiculous. They don’t take credit cards over the phone so they seriously aren’t going to be making guaranteed money until the person on the other end of the line actually walks into the store. So it makes more sense to serve those in the store before answering the phone.
From a logical point of view you’re right. From Corporate’s point of view since you’re in the store they already have your money so the focus is on getting somebody elses.
It’s why Maccas take orders as fast as possible no matter how slow the delivery will be, very few people will ask for their money back. On the flip side if you see your order deleted from the screen and they aren’t handing it to you, go ask for your money back because it’s taking too long. They marked your order as served to make themselves look faster than they are. That’s not so bad, but often they will forget your order, which is very infuriating because they gave out the components of it to other orders.
When I went to EB Games looking for a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 (in 2006), and was advised they did not have it… so they tried selling me a Need for Speed game.
I don’t think I’ve been back to EB since.
Bought my xbox one at jb, the salesman kept trying to get me to buy a ps4 instead and kept talking about how much better he thinks it is even after i told him i wasn’t getting a ps4 until more games came out (i have one now). He was a total fanboy and got rude eventually and made some joke about making sure I come back to tell him how it is because no one else will buy one (this was like 6months after launch and this store had been sold out at one point when i went in)
Someone did a stinky fart in the store.
Probably my worst experience was with a salesperson who asked if I wanted the manual for a game I’d just bought. After giving him a funny look and saying “Yes”, the cheeky sod started bagging up a $40 game guide.
Sorry – another EB tale of woe. Bought a copy of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze online so I could avoid the ocular onslaught of 50,000 red and white posters at EB. Disk came and didn’t work – clearly no quality control happening there. Then they wanted me to pop into the store to get a replacement. I declined as avoiding coming into the store was why I bought the thing online. Posted it off to their HQ in Queensland. It’s been weeks and I haven’t heard a thing.
It isn’t a horror story by any means but seeing it ruined my son’s birthday, it’s enough to stop me from ever buying from EB again.
I’m 6 foot 6 so just walking around in an over the top decorated EB store one time and accidentally knocked one of their many low hanging signs that were hanging everywhere off one of the hangers.
It must have hit my shoulder of lower and swung down so that it was only half hanging.
An employee saw this, became extremely upset and asked very rudely if I could please be careful round the signs which I would have had to duck under to go anywhere in the store.
I quickly left and have never gone back into the store but as i work in the centre where it is i just death stare it on my way to lunch as i go past most days .
I went to EB games to buy some xbox360 game years ago. They were selling it for “X”, right next door Big W selling it for “Y” slightly cheaper, and another place, perhaps JB, selling for “Z” much cheaper (I don’t recall the exact prices so just pretend XYZ is the dollar amount). But there was no JB nearby.
Since EB said they’d price match I asked for price “Z’, and then began the whole bullshit process of having to prove it was being sold for” Z”. I could show their price on my phone, and EB insisted on calling them to verify, and since they had none in stock wouldn’t price match. Would only offer “Y” to match Big W next door. This took like 15 minutes (there was no one else in the store).
I told the guy I’d rather go back to Big W to reward them for selling it as cheap as they can without wasting my time.
I think in the end I was put off and didn’t buy it at all from anywhere.
Now I have a xbox one and only buy digitally from the xbox store. Also have a few steam games. Not a single jets experience yet!
my worst experience is they saying the game is too expensive for me he say it like i was a homeless but i am not an homeless,i have X360&PS4 and Powerfull Laptop Motherfuck that guy
This was back when EB only existed in state capitals, and Harvey Norman was the only nearby store that sold games.
Grabbed a CD and a PS1 game (told you it was back when), and went over to the front counter… just in time for a rather aggravated chap to cut in front of me, and he spent a good three minutes berating and cursing out the two people on duty. Because some PS1 ‘platinum’ or ‘best-seller’, whatever the equivalent was, was on the “common” game shelf, and not with the other platinums. He wasn’t the manager or anything, just some incredibly short-fused freak who gave up and marched out of the store when they couldn’t explain the discrepancy of the shelf sorting.
Once he’s out the door, the two of them look at each other, and had some colourful words to describe him. I laughed and added a couple, since I knew one of the workers from school.
“Still waiting to hear about uni, Jess?”
“Oh, it can’t come quick enough…”
“What Was Your Worst Experience At A Video Game Store?”
Working in one. =P
Specifically (And I’ve got a few here);
– Being screamed at about ruining a childs Christmas when they got a DOA DS under the tree. (Yep, because I personally manufacture those puppies right out back.)
– Being abused because I couldn’t work out a customers network problems over the phone. (A 40 minute conversation, the day after the 360 midnight launch, so I’ve got a store full of customers with their own concerns/sales too.)
– After above conversation, getting abused because someone moved their new 360 console while it was on, and ruined their Oblivion disc. (What made you think that was a good idea, and how is it my fault?)
– Almost anything involving a parent and a GTA game. I’m apparently a smut peddler, a dirty junkie and I’m responsible for the poor behaviour of kids these days. (Conversely, these interactions also made up some of my favourite experiences in game retail.)
– Cleaning up the runny shit a child took in the corner of the store (The parent obviously knew, as they rushed out with the child without saying a word.)
– Being sick and passing out in front of a store full of customers, because it was a stupidly busy and hot day, and I was flying solo with no break. (Was made slightly better when a customer abused another customer for being a dick about everything, then came back about 10 minutes later with food and drink for me.)
– Having a few punches thrown at me because I caught someone stealing. (You’re breaking the law, and you’re getting angry at me, even when I tried to let you just put the stuff back and walk out of the store?)
– Having to listen to a teenager spend a solid hour, failing miserably at “Through The Fire And Flames” on Expert on the Guitar Hero demo stand. (Dude, you’re not impressing anyone. Try it once to see? Yeah, sure. A full hour? Do you hate yourself, or do you hate me?)
The messed up part about all this, is it barely scratches the surface of someone of the horrible shit people do on either side of retail. Thankfully, there are at least a lot of good memories too.
I only know one parent who was smart enough on buying her kid a GBA SP to make sure it and all the games worked for Christmas day and to charge the thing up so they could play it immediately.
She was a Genius. She made sure as best she could that everything would go according to plan on Christmas.
I used to work for GAME before it shutdown.
Dont hate.
The store I worked at was one of the middle tier performers. We had a strong customer base of regulars but suffered with foot traffic. So we got creative. Bundles were unchangable unless otherwise stated. So we used to hunt around for price match and trade match opportunities to “create” bundles that suited customers better in order to keep business. It was a win win because you would end up with a bunch of “new preowned” games that would sell fast with high margins and easy upsellability, and the console customer would walk out happy, and a happy customer is more likely to buy more off you.
Long story short – locked deals or not, there are work arounds, you just gotta work the system.
The age of digital download games is making this harder though.
I had the situation where I was in a Cashies and came across a PS2 copy of Shadows of the colossus marked at $2.
Asked the guy to open the case so I could check it out. He does, and its in really nice condition, manuals even all the art cards are in there, cardboard cover is barely marked, its totally complete and I cant believe my luck.
“No I’m buying this” says the sales guy snatching it out of my hand. Argued the point, being in the display case, for customers to buy not sales staff but to no avail, couldn’t even complain to his manager as he was the only one in the store.
Nasty email to head office, with apologetic phone calls, but no real resolution.
I ordered a game off EB games online store, when it was delivered it had a price ticket of $20 less on it. Never bothered with their online stuff again..
Going to EB and seeing MGSV for $110. What?
Yep, it’s currently $69 at Target (PS4/XB1)
Damn, I went to Target on Tuesday and the price was $99 so I ended up going to JB, as out of EB, Target and K-Mart, they had the best price. I’m kind of annoyed at Target now, I wish they had of priced correctly, would have saved me $20.
worst has to be from my local eb games, brought my son and daughter the limited edition pokemon xy 3ds xl in both red and blue, since they were going to be a xmas present i had organised with the manager to keep them in store until December(they were released in October from memory) all was going good, i had the devices all paid up and everything, then the calls from eb head office started, apparently since i had pre ordered them and paid them off in full straight up they were listed as ordered not picked up!!! the kid at the counter had forgotten to move the order to layby pick up. long story short head office had recalled my devices to sell to some guy in brisbane and i was left with 2 normal 3ds xls instead. so i didn’t like this, they’re my kids and they deserve what they had asked for, so i get on the phone and start complaining, and t got pretty far, in the end 1 day before christmas i get told that my red and blue limited edition pokemon 3ds xl have arrived in Mackay and are ready for pick-up!!! Mackay is about 5 hrs drive from Townsville but its my kids presents so i make the 10 hr round trip that day. the manager there in Mackay hearing my story, fully comps a copy of both x and y for the kids and refunds $100 off the price to help cover fuel!! a horror story and a christmas story at the same time. but all my purchases now are thru JB
I guess my worst one was I layby’d no more heroes at EB. I went back like an hour later to pick it up (I layby’d it to preserve my copy) and someone had sold it on me.
I understood that someone must’ve sold it and said I’d just buy it elsewhere as I wanted it now.
Call of Duty / Battlefield – happily walked away from that after COD2 and never looked back
Assassins Creed – too much busy work not enough reward for time put in
MMOs that require a subscription
Indy games with high levels of pertinaciousness
Car Simulators – 1000s of cars and tracks – yawn fest – maybe if I had a force feedback wheel set up
Gears of War – finished gears 3 recently – that was okay but enough to last for a few years
Halo post Bungie – not interested.
Generic open world games where spend more time looking at icons on a map than doing interesting things in the game. Someone should make a game that removes the game and just leaves the map and the icons.
2D platform games that aren’t published by Nintendo
I don’t hate any of these genres just when time is limited you have to make choices.