OT: New policy for EB

[BFleming]

Since there are several OT threads about other Pc & console games, just figured I'd give everyone a heads up that Electronics Boutique's return policy is changing as of tomorrow...Starting tomorrow, it's just like everyone else-- you open it, it's yours...I know several people shopped there because there was always that option to return/exchange something truly horrible, but times change I guess...Anyway, just an FYI...

[couriers]

Originally posted by BFleming
Since there are several OT threads about other Pc & console games, just figured I'd give everyone a heads up that Electronics Boutique's return policy is changing as of tomorrow...Starting tomorrow, it's just like everyone else-- you open it, it's yours...I know several people shopped there because there was always that option to return/exchange something truly horrible, but times change I guess...Anyway, just an FYI...

Good heads up. However, not everyone else has this policy in place. GameStop allows you up to 7 days to return an open item for anything up to the value of that item.

[Blackadar]

I stopped shopping at EB when they started refusing to honor the lowest price around.

[BFleming]

Originally posted by Blackadar
I stopped shopping at EB when they started refusing to honor the lowest price around.

I was working there the day we stopped with the price matching as well, I had promised a customer earlier to price match several gameboy games to the Gamestop price, all without knowing (albeit as the manager of one of their stores) that the policy was going to change. When the customer came in, my DM refused to honor the arrangement I had made with the customer and made both myself and my staff look like fools...However, in their defense, it is a business, one in which there were several people who chose to abuse the privliges. The only thing that concerns me is that EB still has a history of dictating policy to other similar retailers, as they did with trade-ins and such. I have a feeling Gamestop will follow suit after they inherit EB's "renters"...just .02 from an ex-EB manager

[Blackadar]

I liked their return policy, but never used it to "rent" games. But the price-matching thing was stupid. I live in a Metropolitan area - my town of 100,000 shares a large border with another town of 200,000. We're all in the same County and really we're just one area. But the EB in the 100,000 town (which is 10 minutes closer to my house) won't honor the lowest price of the town of 200,000.

We're not talking about an hour away. We're talking about next door - you'd never even know the towns were different if there wasn't a sign. So now I buy everything at Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA and Target, which are right around where I work.

[BFleming]

Blacky,

I'm going to guess that the mall in the smaller town doesn't have a Gamestop in it or has an EBX or other EB-linked store. Used to have the same thing right near me. Basically (and this goes for GameStop too), if there's no competition in the same mall-- they don't count BestBuy, etc, you can expect to pay on average $3-$5 more per item. For example, Madden might release in one store at $49.99, yet down the road, it's $52.99...beautiful, isn't it?

[Blackadar]

Actually, it's stupid. Neither mall has a competitor in the mall. That's not the competition here. But if I can drive to another competitor in 10 minutes and you have a "low price guarantee", the store 10 minutes away should count. There's not a marketing department in the world who wouldn't consider that competition. As I said before, they lost my business and I spent a bundle in those stores. I don't mind making business decisions, but don't friggin' lie to me.

[wbonnell]

If you get can past the <b>legal</b> dilemma, acquiring pc game warez is almost as easy as downloading MP3s- a fast internet connection and a full-featured newsreader like Forte Agent are all that you need. <b>Ethically</b>, of course, you are obligated to buy any game or album (or movie for that matter) that you enjoy.

[BFleming]

Originally posted by Blackadar
Actually, it's stupid. Neither mall has a competitor in the mall. That's not the competition here. But if I can drive to another competitor in 10 minutes and you have a "low price guarantee", the store 10 minutes away should count. There's not a marketing department in the world who wouldn't consider that competition. As I said before, they lost my business and I spent a bundle in those stores. I don't mind making business decisions, but don't friggin' lie to me.

Like I said, I agree with you 100%, I feel the entire policy is asinine, and I wouldn't blame anyone for shopping elsewhere, as I have done myself. I was making an attempt at sarcasm when I referred to the competition vs. non-comp difference. I apologize if it came across as me being supportive of it or anything against your points. I agree it's ludicrous, but in an absurd way, EB has the habit of basking in their own ignorance. Seriously, in the minds of EB, Gamestop is their only competition. Stupid? Damn right, especially considering EB and Gamestop combined only account for a relatively small fraction of the market share..When I first started, we were taught to encourage customers to shop with us because we had the best return policy in the business, now I feel for my friends who are still working there because now it's just getting ridiculous. But like I said, I apologize if anything I said came out wrong, I agree with you 100%...

[Blackadar]

Originally posted by wbonnell
If you get can past the <b>legal</b> dilemma, acquiring pc game warez is almost as easy as downloading MP3s- a fast internet connection and a full-featured newsreader like Forte Agent are all that you need. <b>Ethically</b>, of course, you are obligated to buy any game or album (or movie for that matter) that you enjoy.

I may trade 'em, but I don't copy 'em. I save that for music and MP3s.

[wbonnell]

Originally posted by Blackadar
I may trade 'em, but I don't copy 'em. I save that for music and MP3s.

As I said, there's no distinction between these two activities at least in the eyes of the law. Legally, they are both copyright infringement.

[Blackadar]

No offense taken, BFlemming

[Blackadar]

Originally posted by wbonnell
As I said, there's no distinction between these two activities at least in the eyes of the law. Legally, they are both copyright infringement.

No shit. :)

[Scholes]

In my opinion, price matching for a store like EB is a sure-fire way to lose money...
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Best Buy, Circiut City, Target and the like command a little better price from developers on their games... and if EB has to constantly bend over and lose money to match those prices, well, it just doesn't bode well for them.
I shop there for their selection and their service. I pay for that convenience.
And remember, service doesn't always mean getting the best price.

[Draft Dodger]

I've been using gogamer.com recently - and I'm very happy with their prices.

I don't think their return policy is any better, but I'm not one to return a game unless it's defective.

[Blackadar]

Originally posted by Scholes
In my opinion, price matching for a store like EB is a sure-fire way to lose money...
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Best Buy, Circiut City, Target and the like command a little better price from developers on their games... and if EB has to constantly bend over and lose money to match those prices, well, it just doesn't bode well for them.
I shop there for their selection and their service. I pay for that convenience.
And remember, service doesn't always mean getting the best price.

Yea, but that service included being able to return open games. Once that policy is abolished, then there's no reason to buy from them at all.

Besides, my disagreement wasn't that they stopped price-matching, it was that they said they still met the lowest price and really didn't. Being the price matcher isn't that troublesome, but lying about it will lose customers fast.

[dread]

Why should a pc game or video game be any differant than any other product, if the game is a piece of crap or poorly done they should have some obligation to refund your money. I have always been bothered by this horribly one sided policy for a product that usually costs at least $40.00. I remember purchasing NFL 97 for the Saturn which was awful and poorly done and having no recourse, but suck the big one because of the software policy. In most cases when you buy any product and it is inferior, you have the option to return it, but not with pc games or console. I think you should only have about three days to make this decision. I now with the exception of used games have no reason to shop EB. I do understand that basically they have no choice but go with this policy because of the software industry's pressure.

[Blackadar]

I agree with you, Dread. Of course, the flip side is all the copying and "renting" that goes on with games that doesn't with other products.

I only remember once "renting" a game. I don't remember what it was, but I played it for about 10 hours and completed it. I wonder if it was Ultrabots or something like that. Either way, I felt that there was no way I was paying $40 for that, so I returned it.

[dread]

what about Ultraman for snes it was easily completed in 2 hours or less, I did play a pc game called ultrabots which was like a mech warrior type game. Damn how many posts until mascot is gone lol.

[BFleming]

Originally posted by Scholes
In my opinion, price matching for a store like EB is a sure-fire way to lose money...
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Best Buy, Circiut City, Target and the like command a little better price from developers on their games... and if EB has to constantly bend over and lose money to match those prices, well, it just doesn't bode well for them.
I shop there for their selection and their service. I pay for that convenience.
And remember, service doesn't always mean getting the best price.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier, but you do make a good point. The one thing that EB always did to protect themselves from losing too much muney, was they only price matched an item if the other retailer had that exact item in stock. What you would usually find is something more along the lines of a teaser ad-- sometimes advertising games at or below cost. But I would estimate about 90% of the price matching I did/witnessed in my 3 years with them was <$10, making it more of taking a margin hit to satisfy a customer than it was outright losing money...Again, I only represented the smallest fraction of the 1000+ stores worldwide, but I can at least try to offer a little perspective now that they are not signing my paychecks (as employees, we signed an agreement saying we would not identify ourselves to the press, newsgroups, message boards, etc..) :D

again...just adding my .02, think i'm up to about a dime now ;)

BF

[Tarkus]

Well, I used to actually pay more at EB because of the return policy. But what's the point now? Why should I pay more for a game if they aren't going to give me anything more in return? I may still shop there, but only for convenience and only if their price is the same as elsewhere.

Tarkus