cartman

I went in today to:

1) get a price match on Resident Evil Zero that I purchased last week.
2) get a price match for Metroid Fusion
3) purchase Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, and MK: DA

The First thing I did was say "I need a price ma...", and the little guy behind the counter informed me that they don't do that any more. I was confused. Apparantly, they completely ended their price matching as of two days ago. He started ranting about how "those stores don't offer trade-ins, so we are cheaper". I asked how in the sam hill my giving them a game for $20 when I could sell it on half.com for $35-40, and then purchase the game I am trying to price match for $10 more from them is any "cheaper". He began to go on about the trade ins again, and I just said "you know, I don't really give a damn about your corporate rhetoric, the fact is the PM policy was removed just for EB's convenience.". Of course, I went on about "don't take this personally since you didn't do it", but I was seriously P'd off!

Anyway, the general manager happened to be there, and he said to go ahead and PM it since I purchased it before the change was made, but I did tell him that EB lost a customer, explained how much I had spent there recently, and that if I was making this change, others were surely going to as well.

Bah. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

J-Dubya

Welcome to the world of no returns on opened items. That's the reason I would buy from EB, if you don't like the game, you can get something else.

Josh H

I simply only buy games I know I'll like, so that's not an issue with me.

I don't have enough gaming time to waste with games I don't think I'll like, and for borderline ones I just read a bunch of reviews and go from there.

I've only ended up with a game I didn't like once or twice and I just sold it.

Kellehair

Screw EB. All their games are full price or more. The only time I buy something from them is if they're having one of those trade-in deals and even those suck sometimes because of their huge exclusion list.

Gdrlv

I buy primarily at GameStop for this very reason...

funkyryno

which is owned by the same company, if I recall correctly

matrixrok9

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=247039

Thread about Eb not pricematching Vice City. I guess after that fiasco they decided not to price match anything at all anymore. boycott eb!

darkside

Gamestop (Babbages, funco land)is a competitor owned by Barnes and Noble. EB is a separate company.

Ralph Wiggum

I dislike all of those mall stores and make it a point to avoid them.

Lastblade

I have worked at an EB once, and it depends on the manager. If the manager sucks, the store sucks. I have met some good people in some EB's (this one guy let me trade in about 5 games for FULL RETAIL PRICE credit for the dreamcast before it comes out, I basically got the system + game for $20), but nowadays, I find most of the people in the stores I frequent, are MORONS.

So I don't bother to buy anything there.

pork-chop123

Went to EB in the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua NH last night to PM Resident Evil and Metroid Fusion with CC. Manager told me CC was all sold out of RE but he would still price match it. He would not , however, PM Metroid Fusion. He told me it was his decision whether or not to PM a game. I told him he was losing a long time customer over $4.00. He told me he didn't care how long time a customer I was and to go buy my games somewhere else.
Went to EB Burlington MA and they PMed both games, no problem. Again it depends on the store. Their PM policy has not been changed at all.

AgtFox

Yeah, this is a pretty store dependant thing. I would guess that Vice City has created this problem in some/most stores. Fact is places like Best Buy can get away with selling stuff for so cheaply (they make a deal with the publisher usually), but EB takes a hit.

I remember when I got Civilization 3 at EB and then a couple weeks later Best Buy had it for $34.99. Of course I wanted my $15+ back, so I went to EB and they said they couldn't price match it because it was a deal at Best Buy and EB couldn't offer that same deal. I went to a few other EBs and got the same line. I just shrugged it off.

The problem with EB/Gamestop is that they can change policy at any point and you wouldn't know because they don't have their policy printed anywhere where you can see it where places like Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. do.

Kainan

I really don't understand the anger here. Show me a Best Buy that will take back an opened game and I'll say that you have a point. I buy almost exclusively from EB because they take opened returns AND because I like that they are a game store only. (the main thing is returns) People can say that they only buy games they KNOW they like but how do you absolutely KNOW until you play it? In the last year alone there must have been 10 to 20 games that I KNEW I would like but DID NOT like. If I would have bought these at Best Buy then I would have had to resort to trading it in somewhere for cheap or selling on half.com. I think you guys are giving these guys a bad wrap. Every once in a while I will buy a game at Best Buy if it is $10 cheaper but I won't do it to save $5.

Fanboy

I dunno, your example sure makes this guy seem like a moron anyway, except that he was a moron in your favour.

spankyj

The open return is good - but their fairweather pricematching policy is suck. You'd think that they'd want to retain long term customers during an economic downturn, but they prove once again that is not the case. I too use EB now specifically for trade-in deals where I get the better half.

Lastblade

Hehe, no, he was a nice guy (even before he gave me this deal). We became friends just talking about our favorite hobby and such... Then new management came to his EB(X) store and he got really pissed at the manager for all the new stupid policies he has to follow. He just decide to give back to some of his friends before he quits

Michael Corvin

I don't see the problem here. Buy the game somewhere else and return it unopened with the first receipt.

BTW, picked up a flyer when picking up Metroid yesterday. Trade in two games and get Zelda for free. Good til Dec. 31.

BoBoish

Thing is, I'm not sure that in the end it would really be to our best interest if a place like EB tried to be competitive with the bigger stores like Best Buy. Think about it, they stock just about every game for every system (in most cases), even the ones that don't sell. We pay to have that selection, to get our games a couple days early, for them to be lenient about returns, and for them to stock more than just a few copies. This is true of just about any retail store that specializes in an item. For the most part, the salespeople actually know quite a bit about games (from my experiences).

Rather than bitch about them not pricematching, go to the store your trying to pricematch and pick up the game. Then, when you need a game that Best Buy doesn't carry, run on down and pick it up from the store that you know will.

Bo.

tonyc3742

While I do find my local EB's to be slightly more expensive, to me, the ability to return a game after trying it outweighs it [price match five bucks on five games, = 25$; get stuck with a fifty dollar game I hate, or beat in one weekend = 50$.] I'm sure there is some cost to them associated with that policy, and by not PM'ing, they attempt to make up some of that cost. Even the 'revised' return policy [only one return of opened item] is ten times better than anyplace else. If PM'ing is more important to you than the return policy, you certainly have the right to express yourself and shop elsewhere. I usually check EB first for games; they have the biggest selection, they offer used games with the same return policy, and the aforementined return policy.

I don't know if it's just me, but I have been noticing a sort of aggressive 'entitlement' mentality toward PM'ing on this forum recently. Not just this post, but others [most obviously in the recent Attack of the Clones DVD threads.] I guess I don't understand the whole concept behind PM'ing, or at least as it's used by many of the board members. I have only pricematched once, and that was to the store itself [had furniture on layaway, later on it was on sale, I asked them to drop the price on my balance, they did.]
To me, at least looking from a business point of view, the PM is either to a. reward loyal customers [You come here all the time, our normal price is XX, we'll price match it so you should buy it here too] or B. draw in new customers, sometimes as a loss leader [We'll PM this item, and as long as you're here, check out this TV where our regular price is cheaper than them.]

But people have been printing out ads, running around looking for ads, and trying to PM an item to a store that no longer has it in stock, then getting mad when it's denied because the advertising store is out of stock. I actually saw someone say, 'I'll take my money elsewhere!' Well, fine, if you are a professional PM'er, like many on this forum, the company isn't losing much by losing you. And I think it's silly to expect a store to PM an ad for another store that is nowhere in the same area [saw that in a South Park DVD thread; someone printed off the ad for SP DVD at Media Play for 9.99 and went to BB or somewhere to PM it; the closest Media Play was like two hundred miles away. I wouldn't have price matched it either; by the time you drive out there to get it, my price is probably equal or better.]

Now, in this situation, I can see a reason for requesting the exception on your scenario 1, but on the others, they certainly have the right to change their policy. They must have determined, or believed, that whatever loss they would take from people no longer shopping there due to the policy change, would be outweighed by the savings they would have by not PM'ing.

Draven

I dunno, the two guys behind the counter who sold me Metroid Prime on Monday were quoting "Star Wars" to each other. I just wanted to say "Could you at least TRY to not be a total cliche?"

But for the most part I have had good experiences with EB. Except for the whole "opening games up before selling them" thing. I had to trade "Eternal Darkness" in twice before I got a copy that didn't skip, and THAT one has skipped once or twice (the others came to a complete halt.) That part really bothers me. So I was glad I preordered "Metroid Prime" because I got it in it's original shrinkwrap.

They did give me $20 each for three PS2 games, included one I got from Blockbuster for $10, so I couldn't complain too much.

Corky Roxbury

lastblade, do you live in NY? The reason I ask is I did the same thing at EB for my Dreamcast, but I got the system all the games on launch day and 4 controllers, 4 vmu's, and 4 sterring wheels( yeah I know that was stupid) but I just traded in like 50 ps1 games and onl;y had to pay $30.

cartman

Interesting... I wonder why the RM that was there was lying, then . I'm still going to be shopping Gamestop now. From what I understand, they've never pulled the "we only PM certain items" thing.

DVD Lamer

Have you guys not heard of places like Blockbuster for borderline games?

Outlaw

I think someone stated before that the Electronics Boutique OFFICIAL policy on price matches and exchanges is:

"We will pricematch and return/exchange any game, no questions, just bring it in and we will correct the price or exchange your game!


only when we say you can"

The store (mine is a babbages) isn't actually all that bad, but the prices for new games ($5 over retail) is ridiculous.

FalconH10

EB not bad? has anyone ever looked at their used game prices, sometimes they are higher than the MSRP (i.e. greatest hits titles). They are a horrible store, screw consumer loyalty. I buy where is cheapest because when it comes down to it the company is not loyal to you, so why should you be loyal to them?

Granted I have never used their return a game policy because I have never wanted to return a game I bought from them, but their prices and service are just atrocious.

I could go on but I will spare you and my brain of the pain.
/rant off