Canadian Gaming Deals & Discussion 9: Looking for a Switch in Deals

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I think one thing that happen is also that they can see that they have some in transit, but once that happens delivery can be in the next hour or it could be in 3 days.

The stores don't want to say: "We have X coming in at some time in the future", they only want to tell customers when they actually have the product in hand, hence the "surprise" delivery.

At least that's what we usually use to say at Staples, we were able to indeed check how many products were coming in.
 
I don't know much about the Canadian retail industry, but my impression was that The Source's business model was to put stores in as many podunk places as possible and being everyone's "local" electronics store, and then make it so that shipping stuff between stores was relatively efficient to offset the problems you'd normally get trying to keep every store stocked with everything. That seems like the kind of model that would require an inventory setup that could actually track stock properly.
 
Vinc said:
Idk, I've been calling the store near me for weeks and they always tell me they have no way of knowing what's coming. Maybe they just want to give everyone a fair shot at getting them, but that seems counterproductive. They can also hold a product aside for 3 hours if you call and promise to pick it up within that timeframe. Could just be that only managers get to see what's coming down the pipeline.

Edit: Btw, it was the first time I shopped there in about a decade. I can't believe how dreadful they can be with the upselling. Took 20 minutes at the store waiting in line because each customer took 5+ minutes to check out, just because they had to keep saying no to all the upselling stuff.

"Anything you want to pre-order with that?"
"No thanks"
"You sure? You know a new Red Dead is coming, right? It'll be hard to find at launch, and for just 5 bucks you can secure your copy"
"No I'm good"
"Your loss! But do make sure you protect this controller you just bought, lots of people are returning them for defects"
"I'm alright"
"You sure? For just 10 dollars you can extend the warranty from 90 days to a full year, and the manufacturer is bad at shipping back products"
"Yeah I'm good."
*Visibly annoyed* "Alright, your loss. Do know that we can only accept returns for 30 days."

Not going back there.
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Were they actually saying "your loss"? I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

Also I typically let the CSR know that I am not interested in any upsells right off the bat to save time. If they persist though, I usually just stand quietly until it stops.
 
Iced said:
Were they actually saying "your loss"? I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

Also I typically let the CSR know that I am not interested in any upsells right off the bat to save time. If they persist though, I usually just stand quietly until it stops.
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Yep. And I did say "No I'll just take the controller." right at the beginning. Heh.
 
Sitting through EB upsell talk


giphy.gif
 
Iced said:
Were they actually saying "your loss"? I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

Also I typically let the CSR know that I am not interested in any upsells right off the bat to save time. If they persist though, I usually just stand quietly until it stops.
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This happened to me a week or so back. They were ruthlessly running through upcoming games, at least five or six, and I kept saying no thanks, and they would say "you're missing out", or "are you sure?" after each one. It makes me sad that I have to go in for Mario Kart at the end of the month and face more of it.
 
kevin1025 said:
This happened to me a week or so back. They were ruthlessly running through upcoming games, at least five or six, and I kept saying no thanks, and they would say "you're missing out", or "are you sure?" after each one. It makes me sad that I have to go in for Mario Kart at the end of the month and face more of it.
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And it's not that I don't empathize with the employees, either. I've been in their shoes before. I remember working at Blockbuster and being forced to push LOTR Two Towers preorders on literally every customer that came in. It's soul-crushing.

But if the customer isn't budging and is clearly not interested, you've gotta know when to stop. Running through five or six games is just fucking obnoxious. That's the kind of shit that makes me never come back again.
 
Iced said:
And it's not that I don't empathize with the employees, either. I've been in their shoes before. I remember working at Blockbuster and being forced to push LOTR Two Towers preorders on literally every customer that came in. It's soul-crushing.

But if the customer isn't budging and is clearly not interested, you've gotta know when to stop. Running through five or six games is just fucking obnoxious. That's the kind of shit that makes me never come back again.
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That's absolutely true, too. I feel super bad about the whole situation and since I'm overly nice I just let it happen, but then after I leave I don't want to go back.
 
I don't know why so many people have problems with EB. I've bought things from about 5 different locations near me and I've never had someone aggressively try to sell me anything outside of the usual, "would you like the disc protection for whatever dollars?" I say "no thanks" and that's it. Maybe I don't look friendly.
 
firelogic said:
I don't know why so many people have problems with EB. I've bought things from about 5 different locations near me and I've never had someone aggressively try to sell me anything outside of the usual, "would you like the disc protection for whatever dollars?" I say "no thanks" and that's it. Maybe I don't look friendly.
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Nah. It's just the loud minority. I am always shocked when people treat EB like the plague. They have treated me well over the years. One or two issues but for the most part they have been good. Great even. The upselling doesn't bother me at all but I worked in retail.

Edit: Damn that experience though. Yeah. I think I'd be a bit miffed at that one.
 
I feel bad for the employees as well, but that stuff just makes me irrationally anxious for some reason. It actually makes me dread going there, so I'm just not going back :/ I'm sure it's not always like that for everyone, but this was definitely pretty bad.
 
Vinc said:
I feel bad for the employees as well, but that stuff just makes me irrationally anxious for some reason. It actually makes me dread going there, so I'm just not going back :/ I'm sure it's not always like that for everyone, but this was definitely pretty bad.
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It's most likely management really pushing them on numbers. Sone people don't know when to give up.
 
Proteus said:
Nah. It's just the loud minority. I am always shocked when people treat EB like the plague. They have treated me well over the years. One or two issues but for the most part they have been good. Great even. The upselling doesn't bother me at all but I worked in retail.

Edit: Damn that experience though. Yeah. I think I'd be a bit miffed at that one.
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I just tell them I have every Nintendo game already preordered and I don't preorder anything else. They can call me when they hit 15$.

It usually does the trick. I'm sad to see EB Games in such a state though, it's a Funky Pop, weird collectibles store now.
 
Vinc said:
Idk, I've been calling the store near me for weeks and they always tell me they have no way of knowing what's coming. Maybe they just want to give everyone a fair shot at getting them, but that seems counterproductive. They can also hold a product aside for 3 hours if you call and promise to pick it up within that timeframe. Could just be that only managers get to see what's coming down the pipeline.

Edit: Btw, it was the first time I shopped there in about a decade. I can't believe how dreadful they can be with the upselling. Took 20 minutes at the store waiting in line because each customer took 5+ minutes to check out, just because they had to keep saying no to all the upselling stuff.

"Anything you want to pre-order with that?"
"No thanks"
"You sure? You know a new Red Dead is coming, right? It'll be hard to find at launch, and for just 5 bucks you can secure your copy"
"No I'm good"
"Your loss! But do make sure you protect this controller you just bought, lots of people are returning them for defects"
"I'm alright"
"You sure? For just 10 dollars you can extend the warranty from 90 days to a full year, and the manufacturer is bad at shipping back products"
"Yeah I'm good."
*Visibly annoyed* "Alright, your loss. Do know that we can only accept returns for 30 days."

Not going back there.
Click to expand...

*shrug* EB is terrible because management always puts down tons of pressure for metrics and upsells. But I have yet to find another place aside from local VG retailers that consistently hires salespeople who are actually knowledgable about games and not just a joe shmo salesperson. EB is a specialty retailer (its right in the name, Electronics Boutique), you have to compensate for the insider knowledge somehow (though god knows the staff don't get any of that compensation). When I went to Walmart last night to get Persona 5 at midnight I ended up having a chat with a guy who wanted some game recommendations and I ended up helping him get Doom. No way that would have happened with the two little old ladies running electronics that night. You have to put up with the upsell, but you also get probably the best informed and knowledgable salespeople in video game retailing, thats the tradeoff. Not saying ALL EB sales reps are good, but I think they are above the average kid running 3 sections at Bestbuy or Walmart.

Also its varies from store to store greatly, I find the poorly performing stores always have staff that have to keep the act up for longer because management is on their ass constantly, my old location was one of the best performing in the city so we had more leeway to lay off people we knew would just be annoyed vs keep it up on a gullible layperson. This is because store performance is hardly ever about how pushy the salespeople are and much more about the location and pursuant customers; the demographics, traffic volume, income level, accessibility etc.

Proteus said:
I think most EB employees look at me and know I'm an expert on video games. I have that look.
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Funny you say that, I was shopping the HMV clearance and I kept getting people asking me questions like when the location was closing and I kept having to tell them I didn't work there. I wasn't even wearing anything close to the store uniform. I always wonder what it is that retail workers subconsciously absorb that makes us all look like "person who works here."
 
soultron said:
They get an alert on their POSI screen that flashes your GAF tag, yes.
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At Blockbuster our POS screen kept us well informed with all sorts of shit about customers. Sometimes it would tell us that they were assholes. Sometimes someone was dumb enough to print out this information and hand it to the customer.
 
Proteus said:
At Blockbuster our POS screen kept us well informed with all sorts of shit about customers. Sometimes it would tell us that they were assholes. Sometimes someone was dumb enough to print out this information and hand it to the customer.
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Amazon probably has a folder just for CanadaGAF.

One of them slipped the other day and called me Reddish.
 
I must be the only one who doesnt get harassed by EB Employees?

"Do you want a warranty on this for $3?"

"No thanks"


Thats it. If its not too busy Ill stop for a minute or two to chat about games but never been barraged with upselling like some of you.
 
Bronetta said:
I must be the only one who doesnt get harassed by EB Employees?

"Do you want a warranty on this for $3?"

"No thanks"


Thats it. If its not too busy Ill stop for a minute or two to chat about games but never been barraged with upselling like some of you.
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My ebgames experiences have been chill as well. Heck, the manager and employees were just casually telling us not to get the $3 warranty when we were lined up for the switch and waiting for opening time.
 
Proteus said:
At Blockbuster our POS screen kept us well informed with all sorts of shit about customers. Sometimes it would tell us that they were assholes. Sometimes someone was dumb enough to print out this information and hand it to the customer.
Click to expand...

I can't remember if everyone was allowed to make notes on customers or if it was just management, but I made extensive use of that feature. If only shitty customers knew about the flashing yellow text we were reading as they tried out their latest scam.
 
I don't mind the upsell, but when I keep saying no I'm good, and their mood changes and it seems like they are annoyed and want the transaction to end, it bothers me. Maintain professionalism, I know it's not a strongpoint of EB games, but no need to make it awkward when I don't need to buy your extra shit.
 
Finally got my Switch Pro controller exchanged and it's even worse than before. Now not only is the D-pad failing to register directions I push and entering ones I'm not pushing, it's also making a weird clicking sound, and both my C-sticks are sometimes overshooting the center when you let go and registering the opposite direction. Save yourself a lot of hassle and do not buy this piece of garbage.
 
Bronetta said:
I must be the only one who doesnt get harassed by EB Employees?

"Do you want a warranty on this for $3?"

"No thanks"


Thats it. If its not too busy Ill stop for a minute or two to chat about games but never been barraged with upselling like some of you.
Click to expand...

I've definitely got the "Are you sure? It's super easy to exchange the disc if you need to"

follow up spiel off them more than once
 
iphys said:
Finally got my Switch Pro controller exchanged and it's even worse than before. Now not only is the D-pad failing to register directions I push and entering ones I'm not pushing, it's also making a weird clicking sound, and both my C-sticks are sometimes overshooting the center when you let go and registering the opposite direction. Save yourself a lot of hassle and do not buy this piece of garbage.
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You got it exchanged? For new or a refurb?

Mine was fantastic during my 80 hours with Zelda, FWIW.
 
Hot damn, Best Buy already shipped my Pro controller.

If only Amazon was anywhere near as quick to ship stuff. I mean it's not like I'm paying a subscription fee to Amazon to get faster shipping. Oh wait...
 
antibolo said:
Hot damn, Best Buy already shipped my Pro controller.

If only Amazon was anywhere near as quick to ship stuff. I mean it's not like I'm paying a subscription fee to Amazon to get faster shipping. Oh wait...
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Did you order yesterday or today? Mine shipped a few hours back from last night's! Now I'm all excited that it might come Friday rather than Monday. Also known as definitely Monday.
 
kevin1025 said:
Did you order yesterday or today? Mine shipped a few hours back from last night's! Now I'm all excited that it might come Friday rather than Monday. Also known as definitely Monday.
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I ordered this afternoon.

In my experience any BB order I made has always been delivered to me the day after it was shipped. So it will arrive tomorrow for sure.
 
Dazzler said:
I've definitely got the "Are you sure? It's super easy to exchange the disc if you need to"

follow up spiel off them more than once
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Lol yeah they do that followup sometimes.

Now that you mention it when I picked up my Persona 5 TYH edition I refused the warranty so the guy goes

"Are you sure? Its a $110 game and $3 is where you draw the line?"

I wanted to be like blurays dont get scratched but just said no thanks.
 
soultron said:
You got it exchanged? For new or a refurb?

Mine was fantastic during my 80 hours with Zelda, FWIW.
Click to expand...

New. It was the first restock of Pro controllers at EB since launch and my store only got 2.

Zelda isn't a very good test of the D-pad, because it doesn't depend on diagonals, and you don't use it extensively like you do for a game like Tetris. Go to system settings to test the inputs and try hitting 2 directions simultaneously. If I hit two directions at the exact same time, I only get the up/down component registering. Problems with individual directions usually don't become obvious till I've been using the D-pad for about 30 seconds, and then individual directions start registering as diagonals or just the direction 90 degrees off instead.
 
The funny thing is modern console barely read the disks anymore other than the initial install and the check that you have the disk in.
 
Bronetta said:
I must be the only one who doesnt get harassed by EB Employees?

"Do you want a warranty on this for $3?"

"No thanks"


Thats it. If its not too busy Ill stop for a minute or two to chat about games but never been barraged with upselling like some of you.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the same with me.
 
Bronetta said:
Lol yeah they do that followup sometimes.

Now that you mention it when I picked up my Persona 5 TYH edition I refused the warranty so the guy goes

"Are you sure? Its a $110 game and $3 is where you draw the line?"

I wanted to be like blurays dont get scratched but just said no thanks.
Click to expand...

what an appalling way to frame that question, lol

It's your own business whether you "draw the line" at 110 or not, jeez
 
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