Owch thats rough, I hope the situation is solved quick
I work in a supermarket, and the system will always make sure the transaction went thru - if it doesn't then it stops the last step. Normally with a "Transaction cancelled" or "Insufficent funds" flag
Sounds like their system took the payment but the till actually crashed when trying to print the receipt - the system we use pretty much locks up temporarily if the till roll runs out...can't say that was the case for sure (maybe it really did crash - but still)
I honestly don't understand making up bull about a product. The 3g needs no other selling point other than constant online wherever you go and location pinpointing. Plus if thats still not sweetening the deal, theres the £5 for Wipeout offer Vodaphone are doing.
How many of those 1000 do you think will pre-order from Game again? Pissing off customers is a bad idea at the best of times, but doing it when you are struggling for cash is crazy.
In a odd way you are lucky, if the manager was competent, he would have taken your cash too (I've worked in retail, & during power cuts/till failures we would hand write receipts & process them later).
Here is the thing they aren't struggling for cash as they met with lenders and have enough to run until 2013. They are making strategic decisions based on what they sell. Either this week or next we will most likely find out if and to whom and for how much they got for the international assets.
Went to store, asked for 2 Vita Bundles - one 3G and one Wifi. They came with Uncharted and 8GB sticks.
Assistant tries to sell: Case, Screen protector, insurance/warranty, pre orders for vita games - all before picking up my stuff.
He then tells me the offer is a 4gb card, despite a large sign next to him.... and despite the sign, he has to go ask a manager.
Then he comes back and tries to tell me that I should get two 3g systems as "They have better wireless capacity to stream PS3 games"
okay
then he goes to get my stuff and has a little chat with a colleague on the way.
He comes back and none of the offers work on the till. He has to put each bundle through seperately and get a calculator out to work out the discount. The calculator is like an alien object in his hands and he has to ask another colleague to work it out.
Finally I come to pay £650 for all my items. I put my pin in and the till crashes.
We go through the whole process again and the till crashes again.
Hold on to that for later
They say it's my card that's the problem.. even though i know its fine.... so I go and get cash.
I come back with cash and another assistant asks me all the same sales questions and is really pushy on the warranty sale.
She finally processes my order with cash.. except, yet again their till says 'transaction declined' - it seems there is a fault.
She fetches the manager. He shrugs and says "it's not working"
I say: I have £650 in my hand - are you going to take it?
He says: I can't do anything.
I inform them they have lost a customer and that I will spend my money in another store.
My Game Experience Today:
Last night I needed to pay a bill online - checked my account and thought it was odd how little was in it.... called the bank and there are two pending debit card transactions for £650. The bank says to wait till morning as the transaction may be reverted.
I get up.... low and behold my statement shows two transactions for Game for £650. Their till charged my card for both transactions.
In Short:
Store: No record of transaction
Game HQ: phone number on website connects to an automated message saying you cannot be connected to call centre
Bank: we can help, but you need to wait at least 5 days to see if they return the money and then it could take a few weeks.
Finally got through to game HQ after digging around for a number online.... they say call bank and get authorisation code.
Bank: we don’t give those out.
Call game again: Sorry, not authorisation code, approval code.
Call Bank again: here you are.
Game – hold time 35 mins: ok thanks for those, do you have the number for us to fax this back to the bank?
Me: No you didn’t say you needed it – what department?
Game: It depends on your bank.
Call Bank AGAIN: Not sure what they mean – they need to be specific.
Game.... hold forever again: Ah – we’ll just get it from someone elses form.... which bank?
Me: Will it be done today?
Game: Yes
Me: Can you send an email confirming the transaction is an error and you will give me the money back?
Game: No, we don’t have access to email.
Me: So what assurance do I have that I will get my money back today
Game: None, I guess.
I hope that go bust, get smallpox and burn in hell.
Went to store, asked for 2 Vita Bundles - one 3G and one Wifi. They came with Uncharted and 8GB sticks.
Assistant tries to sell: Case, Screen protector, insurance/warranty, pre orders for vita games - all before picking up my stuff.
He then tells me the offer is a 4gb card, despite a large sign next to him.... and despite the sign, he has to go ask a manager.
Then he comes back and tries to tell me that I should get two 3g systems as "They have better wireless capacity to stream PS3 games"
okay
then he goes to get my stuff and has a little chat with a colleague on the way.
He comes back and none of the offers work on the till. He has to put each bundle through seperately and get a calculator out to work out the discount. The calculator is like an alien object in his hands and he has to ask another colleague to work it out.
Finally I come to pay £650 for all my items. I put my pin in and the till crashes.
We go through the whole process again and the till crashes again.
Hold on to that for later
They say it's my card that's the problem.. even though i know its fine.... so I go and get cash.
I come back with cash and another assistant asks me all the same sales questions and is really pushy on the warranty sale.
She finally processes my order with cash.. except, yet again their till says 'transaction declined' - it seems there is a fault.
She fetches the manager. He shrugs and says "it's not working"
I say: I have £650 in my hand - are you going to take it?
He says: I can't do anything.
I inform them they have lost a customer and that I will spend my money in another store.
My Game Experience Today:
Last night I needed to pay a bill online - checked my account and thought it was odd how little was in it.... called the bank and there are two pending debit card transactions for £650. The bank says to wait till morning as the transaction may be reverted.
I get up.... low and behold my statement shows two transactions for Game for £650. Their till charged my card for both transactions.
In Short:
Store: No record of transaction
Game HQ: phone number on website connects to an automated message saying you cannot be connected to call centre
Bank: we can help, but you need to wait at least 5 days to see if they return the money and then it could take a few weeks.
Finally got through to game HQ after digging around for a number online.... they say call bank and get authorisation code.
Bank: we dont give those out.
Call game again: Sorry, not authorisation code, approval code.
Call Bank again: here you are.
Game hold time 35 mins: ok thanks for those, do you have the number for us to fax this back to the bank?
Me: No you didnt say you needed it what department?
Game: It depends on your bank.
Call Bank AGAIN: Not sure what they mean they need to be specific.
Game.... hold forever again: Ah well just get it from someone elses form.... which bank?
Me: Will it be done today?
Game: Yes
Me: Can you send an email confirming the transaction is an error and you will give me the money back?
Game: No, we dont have access to email.
Me: So what assurance do I have that I will get my money back today
Game: None, I guess.
I hope that go bust, get smallpox and burn in hell.
Here is the thing they aren't struggling for cash as they met with lenders and have enough to run until 2013. They are making strategic decisions based on what they sell. Either this week or next we will most likely find out if and to whom and for how much they got for the international assets.
Here is the thing they aren't struggling for cash as they met with lenders and have enough to run until 2013. They are making strategic decisions based on what they sell. Either this week or next we will most likely find out if and to whom and for how much they got for the international assets.
Why did Sony mark the Vita as their property? It is obvious Sony have concerns about Games financial position (I don't think other retailers stock is marked similarly), & even if you are correct what are they going to sell in 2013?
The company needs to be restructured (far too many retail stores) so if they are transitioning to "just" being a chart store then the cancelling of Last Story pre-orders is fine, but if they have ambitions beyond that they are crazy to cancel said orders.
Here is the thing they aren't struggling for cash as they met with lenders and have enough to run until 2013. They are making strategic decisions based on what they sell. Either this week or next we will most likely find out if and to whom and for how much they got for the international assets.
1 - when you do that sort of deal you don't just get cash flowing in. There are clauses and you don't get the money all at the start. The agreement will be for an amount with more to be released if Game performs better.
2 - the whole thing will be under written by a covenant which states the amount Game has to make in return. They will have gone to the lenders and said that if they can get some liquidity today they can make more money in the long run - if at any point they don;t live up to the covenant the banks will pull out. 2013 means nothing if performance does not improve.
Think about it... would you lend a business money, when they are already failing, without any sort of safety net or clause?
Why did Sony mark the Vita as their property? It is obvious Sony have concerns about Games financial position (I don't think other retailers stock is marked similarly), & even if you are correct what are they going to sell in 2013?
The company needs to be restructured (far too many retail stores) so if they are transitioning to "just" being a chart store then the cancelling of Last Story pre-orders is fine, but if they have ambitions beyond that they are crazy to cancel said orders.
I remember having something similar on a launch Gamecube from themselves, so maybe just launch consoles, dunno maybe they thought certain Game staff would buy it with their store discount and put them up on ebay.
1 - when you do that sort of deal you don't just get cash flowing in. There are clauses and you don't get the money all at the start. The agreement will be for an amount with more to be released if Game performs better.
2 - the whole thing will be under written by a covenant which states the amount Game has to make in return. They will have gone to the lenders and said that if they can get some liquidity today they can make more money in the long run - if at any point they don;t live up to the covenant the banks will pull out. 2013 means nothing if performance does not improve.
Think about it... would you lend a business money, when they are already failing, without any sort of safety net or clause?
How are they exactly failing some games they have decided not to stock is not a cause in alarm, if anything this is most likely what the lenders agreed to with Game. To cut costs.
Also they have only decided to not stock in total about 7 different SKU's really that's not bad.
Game was always the more casual brand to at the time Gameplay.co.uk and now Gamestation.
I remember having something similar on a launch Gamecube from themselves, so maybe just launch consoles, dunno maybe they thought certain Game staff would buy it with their store discount and put them up on ebay.
How are they exactly failing some games they have decided not to stock is not a cause in alarm, if anything this is most likely what the lenders agreed to with Game. To cut costs.
Also they have only decided to not stock in total about 7 different SKU's really that's not bad.
Oh I thought you meant something different, but higher distribution costs, higher wholesale prices, lower margins and lower demand from 2 years ago haven't done Game any favors in the market.
Wow, what an absolute joke. Just say if every store did that, at least once a day. Two 3G Vitas aren't exactly cheap either, it's a lot of money to lose through absolute stupidity.
Honestly, I can't help but look forward to dancing on this wretched company's grave.
Yeah I keep trying to reassure myself that Mass Effect is too big a game for that to happen to but at this point who knows. It's especially annoying when you see that the US offered the CE in multiple places whereas we got stuck with GAME.
EA boss John Riccitiello has voiced concerns about the financial health of a "major European retail partner".
.
.
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"We are concerned with the financial condition of one of our major European retail partners, which could lead to both increased bad debt and lost sales," he said.
I was gonna buy Last Story with my Xmas vouchers I've been holding on to.
WTF GAME. WTF....
Oh God I'm so fucking pissed right now. I've been waiting for this game for months and they pull this shit the day before? I wanna break something....rage rising.
I'd say it depends where you shop. I'm confident in saying service as piss poor as that would never, ever happen in our store. I don't blame you for not wanting to go back, I'd be fuming.
Used that GamePlay £5 off at Gamestation to pick up 800 MS Points (for ME3 DLC, yes I'm part of the problem) and MotorStorm RC for £6.79.
Seems like a pretty good deal to me.
I hope for their sake they can get everyones ME3 copies out, especially mine, considering it is one of the bigger releases of the first 6 months of the year, it would be foolish to not be able to supply what their customers want.
Used that GamePlay £5 off at Gamestation to pick up 800 MS Points (for ME3 DLC, yes I'm part of the problem) and MotorStorm RC for £6.79.
Seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Except Motorstorm is only £4.79 and Gamestation's are wrong and don't work. It was in this thread a few pages back. Did the site let you buy it at that price?
Except Motorstorm is only £4.79 and Gamestation's are wrong and don't work. It was in this thread a few pages back. Did the site let you buy it at that price?
All I can say is sorry on behalf of another store. There is absolutely no way in hell this sort of thing would happen in our store, it sounds very much like the store didn't use any initiative to try and fix things and the staff members also didn't know enough about the console itself. Sadly it's a store specific basis, I absolutely detest hearing people bitching about the entire company for the faults of certain stores as there is no way our one would do that.
The reason you were charged £650 is simply because you were charged for the systems as the transaction completed itself just before crashing, when the crash occurred the manager should have checked the audit to see if they had gone through on the till.
Regarding the issue you had with the console bundles not going through, I came across the same error on the till when selling a Vita as well, the issue was that the company had ran out of £10 PSN voucher codes which was causing an error that then voided the bundle deal - this was rectified fairly quickly and the offer was bumped up to a £15 card in the mean time.
I noticed they were selling Motorstorm RC download codes for £6.49 a few days ago, and now have cards with the correct price (£4.79). Maybe that could have something to do with it?
Regarding Motorstorm RC, it was indeed an issue with Sony sending incorrectly printed cards. We were sent two packs of them, one arrived a few weeks before launch at £6.49, another arrived the day before launch at £4.79. Both had the same barcode and scanned through the till as a non-functioning Hustle Kings code. The Motorstorm RC situation was fixed today, the cards still won't scan as we need to wait for the correct ones to be sent, but we have the correct barcode to enter in the till and sell it at £4.79.
Phew. Anyway I'm curious to find out what other stores got in their delivery today as we received tons of stock. There wasn't much in the way of back catalogue games and The Last Story is not being stocked, but we had a fair amount of the new release titles, tons of queue barrier stock and boxes full of 360 accessories. Our 360 accessories section is now back to full stock level, as are the queue barriers.
You could call your banks fraud department. I'm serious. report them.
I've had something similar happen a couple of times (not from GAME) where transations fail but live in limbo until the bank declines it 3 days later. It sucks having your money tied up like that.
I've never had it go threw though, I would be livid with them and the bank if they stole my money like that.
Phew. Anyway I'm curious to find out what other stores got in their delivery today as we received tons of stock. There wasn't much in the way of back catalogue games and The Last Story is not being stocked, but we had a fair amount of the new release titles, tons of queue barrier stock and boxes full of 360 accessories. Our 360 accessories section is now back to full stock level, as are the queue barriers.
We got a single box with some 360 accessories (which is great as we didn't have any!), some Vita games (Virtua Tennis 4 & UMvC3) and new releases, of which we had 1 copy of Binary Domain on each console, 3 of Fallout and 4-7 of Syndicate.
Then again, no-one ordered Binary Domain or Fallout and we only had one order for Syndicate, so I wasn't expecting much anyway
You could call your banks fraud department immediatly. I'm serious. report them.
I've had something similar happen a couple of times where transations fail but live in limbo until the bank declines it 3 days later. It sucks having your money tied up like that.
This person is correct!
Your bank should have automatically stopped the transaction when it saw that 2 exact same amounts were withdrawn and you then withdrew a similar amount at a cashtill.
My bank would have phoned me to confirm it was okay to proceed.
I feel sorry for the staff on the sharp end at GAME, the staff in the stores.
What was posted was one bad experience in one store. Not all stores would act that way, and it's the stores like that which make bad decisions which tarnish the name.
Although I don't agree with GAME's pricing on a lot of their stock I have generally never had issues with staff in there and I found them helpful.
I am eternally grateful in a way because back in '05 when the 360 launched Choices let me down with my pre-order. I called GAME 3 days before launch and they got a console for me.
I feel sorry for the staff on the sharp end at GAME, the staff in the stores.
What was posted was one bad experience in one store. Not all stores would act that way, and it's the stores like that which make bad decisions which tarnish the name.
Although I don't agree with GAME's pricing on a lot of their stock I have generally never had issues with staff in there and I found them helpful.
I am eternally grateful in a way because back in '05 when the 360 launched Choices let me down with my pre-order. I called GAME 3 days before launch and they got a console for me.
This is the problem with a name like any other store.
Not all staff are going to be helpful people genuinely interested in what they are selling and GAME is no different.
It will be sad to see them go and I think gaming in the UK will take a hit for it, no more midnight store openings but I feel GAME is a victim of its own success.
For me it was when they started pushing trade-in and warranty sales that stopped me going in there anymore.
Unemployment in the UK is bad enough and it will be a sad day to see these workers joining the queue of others although my wife will be pleased to see them closed, she hates those stores with a passion.
This is the problem with a name like any other store. Not all staff are going to be helpful people genuinely interested in what they are selling and GAME is no different.
It will be sad to see them go and I think gaming in the UK will take a hit for it, no more midnight store openings but I feel GAME is a victim of its own success.
For me it was when they started pushing trade-in and warranty sales that stopped me going in there anymore.
Unemployment in the UK is bad enough and it will be a sad day to see these workers joining the queue of others although my wife will be pleased to see them closed, she hates those stores with a passion.
Except to me and the company, GAME is supposed to be a speciality store, they deal in essentially just Gaming, anything they sell on the side is usually related to a system or game and as such they should hire people who like gaming and are willing to help people on the subject, that is the point of the store.
Except to me and the company, GAME is supposed to be a speciality store, they deal in essentially just Gaming, anything they sell on the side is usually related to a system or game and as such they should hire people who like gaming and are willing to help people on the subject, that is the point of the store.
I agree totally and this is were they lost their way.
The interview techniques probably went something similar to,"Do you know the difference between a handheld and a console?"
It would be great to go in-store and have a decent gaming conversation with someone instead of them trying to push the gaming guide onto me yet I still remember my small gaming store doing that 10 years ago.
As everyone says, when you-re at the top you have no need to try and better anyone. Sometimes being second is the better place.
The best thing for GAME right now is to down scale their stores and get back to basics.
Weird but I bought skyrim for 360 yesterday from GAME and they guy just sold me the game without trying to push me to purchase anything else.
Maybe the stores outside the UK but Gamestop show no interest in the UK high street as it is too competitive a market. Given GAME are seen to be uncompetitive I must assume Gamestop means online and the Supermarkets (they are online only in the UK, I think using feeder stock from the Irish stores and also so they can bid was world exclusive editions).
Here is the thing they aren't struggling for cash as they met with lenders and have enough to run until 2013. They are making strategic decisions based on what they sell. Either this week or next we will most likely find out if and to whom and for how much they got for the international assets.
Define run? As "strategically" deciding not to stock titles then not tell anyone until the day after they would be dispatched is not my definition of run.
I'm hoping come December its not a dying animal limping in the desert with vultures circling.
I'm wondering if this down to Nintendo not doing retail returns as Nintendo concerned that if GAME die they will be left having to accept retail returns or the administrator re-selling it which hits market control.
Slightly unrelated by in the USA I recall a story about Toys 'R Us having a rival until the year Super Mario Bros 3 came out. Simply put, the rival didn't receive any copies and was no more after that...
How are they exactly failing some games they have decided not to stock is not a cause in alarm, if anything this is most likely what the lenders agreed to with Game. To cut costs.
If so then the lenders deserve to lose their money. Customer loyalty is the only thing the brand has left for it and spitting in customers faces is well...vote with their feet.
I agree there is a fine line between cutting costs and not being able to climb out of a hole and I can imagine some people now thinking "you let me down for the the Vita launch and the last story. I can't trust you anymore I'm canceling my ME3 and SSX orders".
I also think the Christmas sale desperation cash-grab tactic went a little far as the price cuts went way too deep which is shown by the fact it didn't work. They didn't get enough money but sold most their stock for a song.
Also come to think of it, NinjaFusion have you considered directing tweets at the company? I guess they won't respond though as "you stole £1300" is deadly bait.
For a company that puts so much effort into pre-owned games they need to sort their shit out. I picked up a used game from the shelf, the box looked in nice condition so I bought it, looked in the bag when I got home and the box they gave me was all chewed up, food stuck all over it, fucking discs scratched to bits.
I agree totally and this is were they lost their way.
The interview techniques probably went something similar to,"Do you know the difference between a handheld and a console?"
It would be great to go in-store and have a decent gaming conversation with someone instead of them trying to push the gaming guide onto me but I still remember my small gaming store doing that 10 years ago.
As everyone says, when you-re at the top you have no need to try and better anyone. Sometimes being second is the better place.
The best thing for GAME right now is to down scale their stores and get back to basics.
Weird but I bought skyrim for 360 yesterday from GAME and they guy just sold me the game without trying to push me to purchase anything else.
Ay, there was 2 Games and a Gamestation here in the city center for a while til they ended up closing the Gamestation, the Games are like a 3-4 minute walk apart.
While I wouldn't hope for Game to close and jobs to be lost, they definitely need a kill in the ass to sort stuff out, their prices are generally much higher than pretty much everywhere else, more now that Supermarkets are getting into it, I remember Game complaining that they sell CoD cheaper and that it is unfair to them, you know, after they ran every other game store out of business or bought them.
Hopefully some smaller game stores open up after all this goes down, back in the late 90s you could walk into a Game/Electronic Boutique and the guys there would remember you and there was a ton of little stores dotted around that sold games.
But I guess that is the price of Gaming becoming a more mainstream media these days.
For a company that puts so much effort into pre-owned games they need to sort their shit out. I picked up a used game from the shelf, the box looked in nice condition so I bought it, looked in the bag when I got home and the box they gave me was all chewed up, food stuck all over it, fucking discs scratched to bits.
Ages ago I bought a preowned copy of Kingdom Hearts and made sure to pick up the original release (not the platinum version). Got home and they put the platinum disc in. Really annoyed me.
Ages ago I bought a preowned copy of Kingdom Hearts and made sure to pick up the original release (not the platinum version). Got home and they put the platinum disc in. Really annoyed me.
For a company that puts so much effort into pre-owned games they need to sort their shit out. I picked up a used game from the shelf, the box looked in nice condition so I bought it, looked in the bag when I got home and the box they gave me was all chewed up, food stuck all over it, fucking discs scratched to bits.
Again, depends on the store. We always gut the worst condition boxes, resurface the discs and then only sell them as a last resort when there is absolutely nothing else left.
There's no harm in politely asking "could I please have the non-platinum version?" It doesn't bother most people, so I guess it happens. It would bother me though... always best to check what you have before you leave the shop if stuff like that irks you, IMO.
Again, depends on the store. We always gut the worst condition boxes, resurface the discs and then only sell them as a last resort when there is absolutely nothing else left.
Unless something's changed the cashiers check any discs and their cases that people want to trade in before they accept them, right? So if they're in as bad a condition as the ones you talk about, why would they not just refuse to take them? If they're not going to sell them unless absolutely necessary, and have to give the customer who traded them in money for them, then surely that's just a way to lose cash?
Unless something's changed the cashiers check any discs and their cases that people want to trade in before they accept them, right? So if they're in as bad a condition as the ones you talk about, why would they not just refuse to take them? If they're not going to sell them unless absolutely necessary, and have to give the customer who traded them in money for them, then surely that's just a way to lose cash?
Of course we do, the issue is that you can't be as picky as you'd like. I'm willing to bet everyone here on GAF keeps their games pristine (hell, I keep mine in sleeves to prevent the case getting marked), however the vast majority of gamers don't, if we turned away every disc that is scratched or box that has marks then over 90% of games would be rejected - particularly titles like Call of Duty or Fifa. Generally if the game only has light scratches and the box only shows signs of wear rather than actual damage it will be taken in.
Every store has a resurfacing machine, so what they should do for damaged discs is deduct £1 off the trade-in price and then put that game straight into the pile of discs to be resurfaced. Personally I also keep a small stash of spare cases aside if we do need to replace one as well. Again, it depends on the store. Case also regularly get broken on the shop floor, most customers don't care about putting anything back where they got it from which leads to things getting damaged.
Not many boxes in the delivery today, but the boxes were crammed to the brim with back catalogue titles as well as a fair few copies of Jak & Daxter.
Friend had the Motorstorm RC problem i mentioned yesterday and he called up in the morning to get a refund (I did that yesterday).
He got th refund within 15 mins whereas mine has yet to come. I called again and asked why, and I ended up getting a really unhelpful lady who basically said "its processed so you have to wait still".
