I'll admit that I've had problems with GameRush before, but they've kept me on as a customer because of their great trade in deals. Now that the deals are mostly gone, however, I'm finding it rather difficult to keep putting up with this stuff. After my next two pre-orders (DOA: Ultimate and Taiko) come in, I think I'll take my business elsewhere.
I can deal with the fact that they tend to get the games two or three days later. What I can't deal with is when I go in on a Wednesday afternoon to check if my games are in yet and there's no GameRush staff around. That means I'm helped by one of the regular Blockbuster employees who, where asking if my game has come in turns into a 20 minute ordeal that almost culminated in an argument about street dates.
After fifteen minutes of putzing around the computer and calling people, the guy finally realizes that my copy of Taiko shipped, but hasn't been received yet. Now, I feel pretty bad for this guy, as he's not even GameRush staff and he really went out of his way to help me. But then, "You know, even if we had it in right now, I couldn't sell it to you. It's street dated for Friday."
And then I get a lecture about street dates, and how they can't break them even if there are other stores selling the games. I try to keep calm as other customers join in on this, educating me as to why I wouldn't be allowed to pick up my game.
"What if GameStop or Best Buy are selling it?"
"Nope. We can't sell it until street date, no exceptions."
"You see," chimes in Customer X, "if they break the street date they can be fined, or worse, that distributor will stop shipping items to them."
"But you guys sold me a game two days before your system's street date a few weeks ago."
"I'm sorry, sir, you must be mistaken," says the employee who sold me the game. "I'd lose my job if I sold a game before its street date."
I'm trying really, really hard not to yell at these guys because I know they're just doing their job. They don't know that video games don't have street dates and that the date in their system is an "expected in-store date" made up at the Home Office. I explain this, thank them for their help and go about my ways.
I know if the GameRush staff was constantly around, this wouldn't be an issue - but they're not. There's only two GameRush employees, and their hours seem to fluctuate every week. It's just not worth the hassle anymore.
I can deal with the fact that they tend to get the games two or three days later. What I can't deal with is when I go in on a Wednesday afternoon to check if my games are in yet and there's no GameRush staff around. That means I'm helped by one of the regular Blockbuster employees who, where asking if my game has come in turns into a 20 minute ordeal that almost culminated in an argument about street dates.
After fifteen minutes of putzing around the computer and calling people, the guy finally realizes that my copy of Taiko shipped, but hasn't been received yet. Now, I feel pretty bad for this guy, as he's not even GameRush staff and he really went out of his way to help me. But then, "You know, even if we had it in right now, I couldn't sell it to you. It's street dated for Friday."
And then I get a lecture about street dates, and how they can't break them even if there are other stores selling the games. I try to keep calm as other customers join in on this, educating me as to why I wouldn't be allowed to pick up my game.
"What if GameStop or Best Buy are selling it?"
"Nope. We can't sell it until street date, no exceptions."
"You see," chimes in Customer X, "if they break the street date they can be fined, or worse, that distributor will stop shipping items to them."
"But you guys sold me a game two days before your system's street date a few weeks ago."
"I'm sorry, sir, you must be mistaken," says the employee who sold me the game. "I'd lose my job if I sold a game before its street date."
I'm trying really, really hard not to yell at these guys because I know they're just doing their job. They don't know that video games don't have street dates and that the date in their system is an "expected in-store date" made up at the Home Office. I explain this, thank them for their help and go about my ways.
I know if the GameRush staff was constantly around, this wouldn't be an issue - but they're not. There's only two GameRush employees, and their hours seem to fluctuate every week. It's just not worth the hassle anymore.
