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So I went to EBGames today and bought NewVegas for cheap, as I normally do on games. And while I was there they asked if I had some rewards card or something along those lines. I said no, the girl helping me asked if I wanted to sign up for one for 15 bucks, but it would be free essentially with all the games I took back. I politely said no. So the guy next to her starts in about how I would save 10% when buying used games and lalalalaa the whole speel. Again I said no, and explained that I very VERY rarely goto EBGames and so the money wouldnt be worth the 10%. Then the girl starts in again. No. Then the guy once more telling me how he thinks its a great idea and everyone should just get one (His exact words) So again, no.

Now Im getting irritated with the damn sales pitch they are both throwing at me. Ive said no multiple times and even explained how Im almost never at EBGames. And I swear the guy started saying something else about the fething sales pitch! I just cut him off, and said rather sternly, look if I have to tell either of you 1 more time Im not getting your rewards card, Im going to a total dick about it.

That was that, and they FINALLY just gave me my fething game. But seriously? Do they do this kind of thing often? I was pushed into being an donkey-cave to them, for the simple fact they wouldnt take a simple no. I get it, they have to ask and Im sure they have to get so many cards and all that, Ive worked retail, but theres a line you just dont cross when it comes to things like that. Ask first, if I say no, then explain that itll save me 10% and all that jazz and do the whole you sure? If I say no again, then dammit, stop pestering me! /rant

Gamestop does this to me too, which is why I never go there anymore unless it's to get a wii game for my nephews.

Steam is far better about this kind of thing.. They show you their sales once, and then if you're not interested you go along with your business.

It's retail dude. One of the reasons why I started ordering as much stuff as I possibly can online.

Here's the formula:

- Necktie #1 comes up with idea to generate extra revenue in the form of 'flat-fee rewards program' and implements it.
- Six months go by, Necktie #1 gets promotion or bonus because his idea increases revenue.
- Necktie #2 sees this, and wants a piece of the pie. He goes on to suggest that the idea becomes part of employee objective structure to further drive revenue generation.
- Within 6 months, every employee who's not working at a corporate level office would rather you walk from the store buying nothing and angry than not sign up for the program, because if they let more than 5 people a day walk, they get their balls busted. If it happens more than once a week, they get canned.
- Customer service and overall revenue "improves". Store becomes a vague shell of itself within a few years later.

I might be exaggerating the numbers slightly, but that's how it goes. I used to work at Sears. I saw it happen.

I think EBgames was bought out by GameStop wasn't it?

Either way I got one of those cards for the game informer subscription.

...Actually, now that I think about it, it's really the curse of just about any shop you can go into, chain or otherwise. Video game shop or otherwise. The local computer shop I used to do service for kept getting more and more stupid about service and their 'extended warranties', until it was "You sell a warranty on a laptop or you don't sell the laptop".

I couldn't complain too much until I wasn't allowed to pick up a screwdriver or touch a power button without charging a $40 maintenance fee first. "The laptop you bought from us a month ago stopped connecting to your wifi at home? Well, I see that the radio switch is turned off, but I can't tell you that until you give me $40". I would have been fine with this, except the service department of the store kept blowing away it's monthly goals.

Somewhere along the line, consumer culture turned away from "provide a solid product you can stand behind" to "milk them for all they're worth."

TBH, KC, I would actually get the card. It comes with a subscription to Game Informer (A game magazine. I'd give it 7/10.) and 10% all used things.

It's useful for me, but then again, all the staff know me on a first name basis I'm in there enough.

I signed of to a rewards type thing at Gamestop. It's not bad. Saves me a couple bucks when I get in there, magazine subscription, all the good stuff. Though, as with chowderhead, I'm there almost weekly.

KingCracker wrote:So I went to EBGames today and bought NewVegas for cheap, as I normally do on games. And while I was there they asked if I had some rewards card or something along those lines. I said no, the girl helping me asked if I wanted to sign up for one for 15 bucks, but it would be free essentially with all the games I took back. I politely said no. So the guy next to her starts in about how I would save 10% when buying used games and lalalalaa the whole speel. Again I said no, and explained that I very VERY rarely goto EBGames and so the money wouldnt be worth the 10%. Then the girl starts in again. No. Then the guy once more telling me how he thinks its a great idea and everyone should just get one (His exact words) So again, no.

Now Im getting irritated with the damn sales pitch they are both throwing at me. Ive said no multiple times and even explained how Im almost never at EBGames. And I swear the guy started saying something else about the fething sales pitch! I just cut him off, and said rather sternly, look if I have to tell either of you 1 more time Im not getting your rewards card, Im going to a total dick about it.

That was that, and they FINALLY just gave me my fething game. But seriously? Do they do this kind of thing often? I was pushed into being an donkey-cave to them, for the simple fact they wouldnt take a simple no. I get it, they have to ask and Im sure they have to get so many cards and all that, Ive worked retail, but theres a line you just dont cross when it comes to things like that. Ask first, if I say no, then explain that itll save me 10% and all that jazz and do the whole you sure? If I say no again, then dammit, stop pestering me! /rant

i feel your pain, last weekend i got this same pitch when i was buying a new Xbox (my 360 finally got its RRoD after 4 years, 1 year past the warranty). i was already annoyed when i went to Gamestop as i pretty much yelled at the Microsoft support person about how moronic it was to charge me $119 to fix my xbox when a new one is $199. i also told them that i knew that my refab xbox would not even live past its refab warranty and that they should take their xbox, fix it for free, keep it and let me pay the difference for a new xbox S. that is when microsoft support hung up on me....

so as i traded in everything i could off of my old xbox the Gamestop chick starts on her pitch. she mentions the 10% discount for used games and 10% extra for trading them in. it was at this point i mentioned how low their trade in value was and what they mark their used games up to and that i would be better off selling my stuff on ebay.

she then went on about how i can get a free year of game informer. i stopped her before she could say anymore and i told her that if i wanted guides or cheat codes that i could easily find that online. she started on about stuff thats in development. i interrupted her and told her that i subscribe to Gamasutra, the video game industry development newsletter. i know more about what is going on in the game industry than the mag does months beforehand.

i think these pitches are a sign of the times, the way the economy is and everyone claming down on their cash they have to wine and dine you to buy anything. im sorry i must be the 1% of the consumers on Earth that do their research at home and go to the store looking for EXACTLY what i want. i rarely ever window shop, browse and least of all impulse buy.

so dear sellers of stuff.. TAKE MY MONEY ALREADY and leave me alone... you will save us both time.

Every place has a pitch now dosen't it. It really bugs me after awhile. I mean I already hate game stop for it, but now every other store pulls the same deal out. I just don't want any of your card programs. I never shop here.

Almost exactly the same thing happend to me the last time i went into an EBgames. Add in the female employee using her 'assests' to try and push the up-sale; not that i didnt mind, but still passed.

Never happens to me at my gamestop, but ive been going there for years, they all know me, and the manager even went to school with my girlfriend.

Gamestation in the local town, about 15 mins away, removed the old Gedit cards a while ago. Shortly after I went in to either buy/trade in somethin, cant remember, but they asked if i wanted the fancy new card and said fine, it was completely free though, if it cost somethin I would have declined.

However thats not what was bad. A while later I recieved the exact same card through the mail.... So I was a lil confused, but kept the card already in my wallet. its never been used but its there just incase as I do usually buy stuff there.

It also seems my local GW has jumped on the loyalty card bandwagon, yes my local GW! However they dont offer 10% off or w/e but additional stuff like posters or special events. I dont have any further info than that though.

The problem is that both stores pay employees on commission now. All those annoying things salesmen do when you try to get a car on electronic at Best Buy? Yeah, now you're stuck dealing with it at GS and EBGames too.

I've never seen them be that persistent though.

johnscott10 wrote:Gamestation in the local town, about 15 mins away, removed the old Gedit cards a while ago. Shortly after I went in to either buy/trade in somethin, cant remember, but they asked if i wanted the fancy new card and said fine, it was completely free though, if it cost somethin I would have declined.

However thats not what was bad. A while later I recieved the exact same card through the mail.... So I was a lil confused, but kept the card already in my wallet. its never been used but its there just incase as I do usually buy stuff there.

It also seems my local GW has jumped on the loyalty card bandwagon, yes my local GW! However they dont offer 10% off or w/e but additional stuff like posters or special events. I dont have any further info than that though.

Gamestation have a good system. They ask once, if you're not interested, they shut up.
However, the card is useful. You get points for buying games and trading in games. They also occasionally give out badges that give you £1 more when you trade in.

Wolfun wrote:

johnscott10 wrote:Gamestation in the local town, about 15 mins away, removed the old Gedit cards a while ago. Shortly after I went in to either buy/trade in somethin, cant remember, but they asked if i wanted the fancy new card and said fine, it was completely free though, if it cost somethin I would have declined.

However thats not what was bad. A while later I recieved the exact same card through the mail.... So I was a lil confused, but kept the card already in my wallet. its never been used but its there just incase as I do usually buy stuff there.

It also seems my local GW has jumped on the loyalty card bandwagon, yes my local GW! However they dont offer 10% off or w/e but additional stuff like posters or special events. I dont have any further info than that though.

Gamestation have a good system. They ask once, if you're not interested, they shut up.
However, the card is useful. You get points for buying games and trading in games. They also occasionally give out badges that give you £1 more when you trade in.

Yea I admit they do have a decent system. Never knew what the card was for so yea thats handy to know even though ill more than likely buy stuff from Amazon on w/e.

I've never seen anyone that persistent about it, but I did get the whole spiel when I went to Game Stop last. They asked if I wanted to join, told me that it had a lot of benefits, and I said that I very rarely come in here because I've moved to PC gaming, so it really wouldn't be helpful to me. The guy just nodded, rang me up, and let me go at that.

Kind of sad that product alone isn't enough to keep people in stores nowadays (I'm assuming with the prevalence of online purchasing), that they have to try to make us buy the members-only benefits program or whatever the store has in order to make money/get people in the store.

KingCracker wrote:--SNIP--

But did he try to sell you a Stompa?

LordofHats wrote:The problem is that both stores pay employees on commission now.

Not quite. Each and every GameStop employee has a personal quota of game pre-orders and membership card sales that they must hit each month. Fail to hit your quotas for a couple of months, and you're terminated. If a store doesn't hit its quotas then the store is put on what is essentially probation, and eventually the manager is sacked along with most of the staff. I know that it doesn't make the upsell culture any less annoying at GameStop, but the people that work there really don't have a choice, unless they want to lose their jobs.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

KingCracker wrote:--SNIP--

But did he try to sell you a Stompa?

That certainly would of been weird to offer from there.



But OT yea thats my point as a couple of you also said, I RARELY ever shop there. I usually get my games online or from craigslist type deals. Im only ever in an actual videogame store maybe twice a year, so yea, I spend $15 to save 10% of of what? $40 a year in purchases? Wow, $15 for $4....yep thats worth it. And I dont need the magazines, I too look on line and learn that way. Not to mention my father inlaw spends money for stupid reasons, and so I just borrow his magazines when hes done with them

Screw EBGames and GameStop.

Their "rewards" program is a deal to suckers and parents who don't look closely at the details.
It's far better to order your games from Amazon or buy them at Best Buy. The only difference is you won't get the shiny preorder bonuses that EB/GS demand of the publishers to attract the unwashed masses into their stores.

Yeah, I either buy games on Steam or get 'em at Best Buy.

They rarely actually have any decent PC games these days (Gamestop, I mean). You might find one shelf which has world of borecraft, starcrapped 2, the warcrapped battlechest, medal of duty: call of honor, and whatever the generic new game flavor of the month is.

So I haven't bought from them since I bought Kirby's Epic Yarn for my nephew lol.

They all do that crap. Thats the reason I get everything off of Amazon these days.

Yea Im pretty much done with them I think. It was just a once in an incredibly great while thing, when I was bored one day and figured, Ill take these games in Ive beaten all of them a good 6 times. But I wont do that again. Ill just stick em on craigslist or something like that if that need arises again, Im still thinking back on it and part of me wants to time travel just so I could go nuclear on them. Oh well.

When presented with an annoying sales pitch, I stop them and say the following:

"Listen, I've worked retail. I know you're required to try and sell me on this and you'll loose your job if you don't. But, there's no way I'm buying this, so let's both save ourselves some time and skip it."

It works like 95% of the time. Occasionally, you'll run into someone that actually believes the company's plan to rip off customers is in the customer's best interest, and they'll keep trying to sell you on it. But, most employees know its a scam or simply don't care about the job, so they'll drop it.

Hey you never know, kids in the future might have to find some online retailer near their place of residence in order to have a job while at school! I got friends at gamestop and if the place closed down because of online sales, they would have no choice but to work in the food industry. Send all your money to some distributor several states away folks! Snipe some comments in here if you want, but you are lying if you say you would rather work at Burger King than Gamestop.

As for the OP, they were probably so persistent because it really was a good deal. $15.00 for a 10% off card and a magazine subscription, not too bad.

Yeah, retail is all about cards and what they call 'metrics'. Where I work they take the number of no's and compare them to the number of yes's which can work out good or bad. I've had a week where I had a rating of 200% because most of my customers already had one and were nullified and I had two people sign up, if I had 1 person say no I would still have 200%. because its yes's/no's.

As far as credit cards go, they do it by year and they always talk about it. When it comes to selling warranties on anything they tell us that credits and warranties go directly into our funds for hours which I think is bs because I can make my wages in warranties(about $90 a week for two days) and get fewer hours the next week. Hell I'm beginning to think they lied to me.

Lord Scythican wrote:Hey you never know, kids in the future might have to find some online retailer near their place of residence in order to have a job while at school! I got friends at gamestop and if the place closed down because of online sales, they would have no choice but to work in the food industry. Send all your money to some distributor several states away folks! Snipe some comments in here if you want, but you are lying if you say you would rather work at Burger King than Gamestop.

As for the OP, they were probably so persistent because it really was a good deal. $15.00 for a 10% off card and a magazine subscription, not too bad.

Yes actually...it is. It wouldnt matter if for 15 bucks Id get to sit in a golden throne and watch movies all day that havnt come out yet. If I have to say no THAT many times, something is seriously wrong with the picture. And like I stated already, Im not there nearly enough to benefit the 10% off, AND my father inlaw gives me his magazines, sooooooo waste of 15 bucks.....specially after telling them 5 fething times.

Yeah, that's why I just ask once and try to make it entertaining. I say stuff like its free, gets you stuff, and isn't a credit card instead of its has x beneift and y benefit and z benefit.

If they sign up we get their information and if they signed up without getting info about anything it does for them(we do have people that just sign up) I say stuff like, "well you may be wondering why you gave me all of that information for a piece of plastic, well its magic and...".

If you just explain about the benefits without trying to have fun its annoying as hell and that's what it sounds like they were doing. Of course I stop after the first 'no thank you'. If someone signs up for something, it should at least be entertaining.

Last thing I bought from gamestop was Fallout: NV for $20. I pre-ordered space marine there because it was easy and I wanted the Black Templar skin.

I buy video games from my local Target or Frys more often then I buy from GS.

I used to work at a Target many years ago. Yea.....thats me contributing to the thread



Halonachos - yup pretty boring sales pitch. I still would of said no thanks, but I appreciate that youd of stopped