Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Preorder A Game At Gamestop....Get An Opened Display Copy Of The Game





So I preordered Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for WiiU from my local Gamestop. I called them tonight to make sure it was in and went to get it about 8:30pm. So when I go to the checkout and tell them I was there to pick up my preorder, the cashier goes over to the wall and picks up an open box of the game with a big price tag stuck on it and begins to check me out. The following conversation ensues:

Me: What, you don't have a sealed copy?

GS: Well, I wasn't sent enough copies. I had to go around to other stores and just get whatever I could find.

Me: But I PREORDERED the game. You should know exactly how many copies you needed.

GS: Well, what could I do? They didn't send me enough.

Me: I don't want an opened copy. Why did I even preorder this? Does the Gamestop down the street have a sealed copy? Cancel my preorder. I'm very annoyed. If I preorder a game, I want it sealed. I don't want a display copy!

GS: Well, thats my last copy.

Me: So you're saying everybody else that walked in here today got a brand new sealed copy except ME?

 (He declined to answer that. He calls the other store. They have one. I go to the other store, and after the employee states that it was "weird" that I preordered from the other store and was not reserved a sealed copy, he asks the manager to approve the sale)

The manager at the other Gamestop is a complete jerk. I had a run-in with him about the trade-in value of my 3DS towards the Wii U preorder about half a year ago. He disputed an offer on the Gamestop website because it wasn't in his system. Suffice it to say, I don't shop at that store, but to get this game I was willing to swallow my pride for a bit.

The following conversation ensues with the store manager after I bought the game:

Me: So if I bought this from you, will I still get the strategy guide preorder bonus code?

GS: No, you have to get the game from the Gamestop you preordered from.

Me: Well, that's not right. I DID preorder it.

GS: HEY, I'M DOING YOU A FAVOR. You know what's gonna happen? I'm giving you someone ELSE'S preorder, so when that person comes in for their game, I'M gonna have to scrounge one up from another store.

Me: It's not MY fault. I preordered it.

GS: People think that just because you preordered a game, it's gonna be sealed. That's not true. We use some of them as display copies.

Me: Well, I just don't think it's right that everyone that bought Monster Hunter 3 at that store got a new sealed copy except ME.

GS: Well, first come first served.

Me: Whatever.

So, the moral of this story? Just because you reserved a copy of a new game, that doesn't mean you reserved a new game. I don't want an open copy of a game. Supposedly, Gamestop should have reserved a copy JUST FOR ME. Not one that a grubby Gamestop employee stuck their paws on and have been playing for a week at their house. And that multitudes of people have picked up with their germy hands all day and coughed on etc. I want a NEW SEALED COPY.

It would be like if I bought a new TV, went to the store to pick it up, and they said "Um, we only have an unboxed display model."

The thing that really pissed me off was the attitude of the employees at both stores. Like I was putting THEM out by thinking that I deserved a brand new copy of a game that I had preordered. And the fact that you know they gave sealed copies out to people that had not preordered the game last night at the midnight launch of Gears of War and had sold new copies to customers all day that had not preordered. BUT I GET A DISPLAY COPY???

So if the policy is first come, first serve, why did I even preorder it? I'm gonna take this up with Gamestop corporate.

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