UK Retailer GAME Is Cancelling Nintendo Switch Preorders Days Before Launch

I always avoid preordering from GAME where possible. Too many stories like this. However, according to the statement, isn't this happening because people don't have the funds in their accounts, in which case it's their fault? Not sure if I've understood this correctly

EDIT: Just seen the tweet from the guy saying their bank thought it was fraudulent. Seems weird! Unless GAME tried taking payment 100 times which does look dodgy. There is precedent from them!

I pre-ordered from my local Game shop and last Monday went in to fully pay up so I am all good to go... actually no, scrub that - don't want to jinx it.

This is why you preorder in store where possible.

Good ol' GAME. Never change. Haven't ordered anything from them in years for precisely reasons like this. They're DIRT!

Bank flags the charge as fradulent. Customer contacts bank to clear the hold, then contacts the retailer to retry the card. Amazon had a preorder get denied last fall because I lost my wallet and had to cancel the card. Later that same day I lost the card, someone returned my wallet to me but the bank already issued a new card...

Anyway when the charge got declined, they gave me a 48 hour grace period with which to update payment info prior to cancellation, and got it fixed. In the case of a preorder item, a card processing error could cause a delay in shipment but I like to think a reputable business would contact the customer first rather than autocancel the order.

In this instance, it really isn't GAME's fault. Most banks these days monitor your account activity, and if they believe that withdrawal requests appear fraudulent, they halt them. The store then has no other option but to cancel the order, as on their end the message is that the card in question has been declined.

If you've had experiences like this in the past, it's best to simply contact your bank and make them aware that a particular amount of money is indeed going to be withdrawn within a certain timeframe, and that it's legit.

I never had a preorder cancelled, but I can imagine how it feels... and only two days from launch... ouch That's bad business

@FragRed There has been one case of a guy being shunted to a queue system, but I presume that's a case of the store being run by dimwits and not informing their customers of the situation. It was one of the larger stores IIRC.

I think this may have something to do with Game originally listing the Switch at £999 - remember when they did their whole placeholder thing. certain banks might be confused by that unusal practice. With the £999 the thing raising the red flag. Just a thought. Or it could be GAME being GAME as usual. Ordered off Amazon for the exact reason that I have zero faith in GAME. hoping they pull through for me

Would not surprise me, at all, if this was another Super Mario Maker situation, and their godawful website managed to charge people multiple times; because that seems to happen with depressing frequency. From now on, if I want a GAME exclusive pre-order goodie, I just go in-store to handle it, because it's better than having to deal with their shoddy web presence more than I have to.

RIP Bill Paxton. Too soon.

My order has gone through fine. I do have two coming as a friend is buying my second one, the other order is with Amazon.

This headline wasn't click baity at all...

@Shiryu Are you lost?

All paid up in advance for 2 Switch. Picking up without queuing at GAME midnight launch...

Why do people order still buy things through Game? Something like this happens every damn time. Stop it, people, and let them go bust as soon as possible.

Someone mentioned this might be because of the moronic £999 price tag they initially implemented. There was absolutely no reason for them to do that in the first place. Stupid, abhorrent company.

:/ I pre-ordered Zelda from GAME. Hope it's there for me on Friday. I did order in store.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE It's a shout out go the "Game over man" subtitle, it was his signature phrase, and very apropos here.

Dunno why people preorder anything from them anyway. Even if you do get reward points, the cost of their games are crazy.

Breath of the Wild on Switch is £59.99 at GAME. But ShopTo and Amazon are able to sell it for more than £10 less.

Makes me think GAME buy from distributors at a higher cost possibly. They had issues with distributors in the past: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17336697

@cfgk24 No, Instead you'll be in another queue with other people that are currently queuing who have have also pre-purchased their nintendo switch so that they wouldn't have to queue but in the end still have to join the queue.

I preordered in person at my local store. They hold stock for 48 hours after release, and stock is shipped to store for that purpose.

They also have phases to pre ordering of limited stock, so phase one is guaranteed for realease day, with other phases fulfilled in order. If you ask in store they can easily tell you which phase you would go into and usually with an idea of the effect that would have.

My in store experience has always been near flawless with them, so I wouldnt normally go elsewhere

HOWEVER - The website and their customer service is another matter entirely. 90% of horror stories with them come from those 2 sources, both of which I've run fowl of.

Stick to working with them in person where possible. Their stores and website are not joined in the way they were before they almost closed, their 2 seperate entities now under one banner. Their in person policies are much more reliable, and generally much less hassle.

Just don't let them up sell you into £100s worth of extra sales. We gamers can be an excitable bunch 😉

@G0dlike I have a family member working at GAME and I seriously do not appreciate your disgusting words because he is actually passionate about gaming and goes above and beyond for customers.

I can say with confidence that you're no better than those 'disgusting ignorant employees'.

I have never once been able to buy online from Game. Forget pre-ordering. Things that are already available.

Every single time I get a message saying they'd cancelled the order due to issues with my card. No messages from the bank. Try again. Still failed. Try another card. Failed again. Different bank. Still fail.

I just don't use their website anymore. It's a shame because they are really the only place on the high st to buy games near me, and it's only the stores that will suffer in the end

@phoenixology amazon won't let you preorder it anymore for wii u and it's been like that for a few weeks now

@Emperor-Palpsy Only they're possibly lying. My mum preordered a Switch carry case I could only find at GAME for me for my Birthday (The Switch Launch Date), and received an email yesterday telling her that PayPal had refused the payment. She phoned PayPal, who told her that they had done no such thing, and that the payment was still clear to go, and was just sitting there waiting for GAME to take it. And when my mum tried to phone GAME, she couldn't get through.
Feels like they have not had enough stock of stuff, and are coming up with excuses to cancel preorders.

@LukeNI bygones! My personal opinion of my own experiences with GAME wasn't reflective of your family member. Apologies for any offence I may have caused you or your own.
Anyway, it's almost Switchmas, a time of coming together and celebrating!

From GAME I ordered the switch, zelda, screen protector, and a carry case thing for the whole console.

Yesterday I got notification that all four items have been packaged...

The system itself will dispatch by next day courier service, but I'm waiting to see that the other items are sent today, otherwise I won't get them for Friday...

@FragRed Exactly what I've done. I'll be waiting outside my local store tomorrow night after a gig, comfortably knowing I'll only have to pay something like £30 to pay off the rest of my Pro Controller

@FragRed I ordered from my local shop back in January and I'm good to go as well. This is one of the reasons I always order in store instead of online.

GAME has an INCREDIBLY HORRIBLE order / payment system in place. Whether they are charging people 6 times for an order, canceling preorders, etc, they always seem to screw their customers.

I pre-ordered consoles with Game, Amazon & Smyths and Game were the first to come through and let me pre-pay for all my bits and I can just walk in midnight tomorrow and pick-up no hassle.
In -store service is often very good unless they are turbo-busy, but as some have mentioned their online & customer service is nothing short of atrocious.
(And yes, I did cancel the other two pre-orders to let two more play on release day before I get abuse!)
....and because of the amount I spent, I'll also be able to get SnipperClips for free because of their loyalty programme

I know stores arent really effected but if my local game store cancels my preorder i vow it will be the last time i ever use GAME

@tudsworth That and the fact that if people don't shop in store, staff lose their jobs.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
Nah he's okay, it's just Bill whose lost.

@Antray1984 No profanity, thanks.

My reorder was flagged as fraudulent by my bank. Luckily reorder wasn't cancelled. I blame the banks. They are far too keen to flag transactions as suspicious.

Never order stuff from them.

This doesn't come as a surprise... Whenever I want something on launch day, and want to make sure my pre-order stays safe, I use a specific website that hasn't let me down ever. Unfortunately it took a while to find, so I've been let down multiple times by several other shops.

My "never-preorder-here" list:
Gamestop
GAME
Amazon
Komplett

@gcunit Ha ha no worries, wasn't thinking. Liking how you changed my swear word to 'GAME' some would say thats more offensive

@GrayFox-Bez funny, because I've only ever had negative experiences in Game.

Last time I went to a store was two years ago when I brought my PS4. Found an nice bundle online, said was available in-store, called local store to check, then went to said store.

Arrive; join the massive queue. Waiting for twenty minutes, get to front. 'I'd like the Battlefront PS4 bundle that also comes with last of Us and Dying Light please'. Sorry mate we don't do that bundle here. I point to the big, electronic display that shows the bundle. 'Oh that's just a generic screen that every store displays. If you like I can do you a PS4 with these other games and a preowned copy of Last of Us for only £10 extra'. Told them I had called and spoken to someone at the store who had confirmed they did the bundle here. Manager came out, asks staff who's causing problems. 'I'm not causing problems I just want to purchase the bundle that you have advertised and your staff told me you sold' etc etc.

Anyways, after about thirty minutes of back and forth turns out they do sell the advertised bundle but they had actually sold out. Still offering me the same bundle but with pre-owned games for £10 more. No chance, leave shop and go and give my money to Amazon instead.

I was going to report them to trading standards and BBC Watchdogs as I had taken photographic evidence of their advertising displays but in the end I couldn't be bothered. All their stores and staff are horrible, trying to rip you off and mislead you everytime. Never again.

This just happened in America on Saturday with Best Buy. They cancelled hundreds of pre-orders then the next day, announced that they would have units to purchase in store on launch day without a pre-order

I pre-ordered from GAME this time around, but in-store; I'd never do online for a large purchase. I actually had pre-orders at a few places, but GAME rang me up after the January presentation to confirm everything when I was in hopsital and unable to do so in person. Decided to keep my order with them because of the service I had received.

So Game processed my switch pre-order and have cancelled my Zelda order (I did them at different times as amazon was cheaper but then couldn't deliver until 3 days after release ). I have rung game CS the have advised me some one from dispatch will call me today and re process my payment they have told me I will have it for day of release. I think to be fair its my bank that is at fault here not Game. If I get the call back and the game on Fri I ll be happy with how they have handled it. If not I ll download it.

@Monkeyofthefunk I'd hate it if the people at my local lost their jobs - they all know their stuff and actually care about games, which is supposedly a rarity. But when I go in for Pokémon cards and spend a whole hour talking about Neo-Geo stuff, I think it'd be a shame to see that store go.

I had pre-ordered with Game but cancelled it at the earliest opportunity, i.e. when I managed to get pre-orders with Amazon and the official Nintendo store.

@Sean161 personally, the reason I chose GAME over Nintendo is that it added £7.60 credit to my loyalty account...

But now I think about it... if some of the bits don't arrive on Friday, it won't have been worth it.

Has anyone who's preordered from Nintendo UK heard anything yet? I've got confirmation on Amiibo, but nothing on the Switch

I don't trust GAME for most things Nintendo-related to begin with... my local stores treat Nintendo stuff terribly... they've been giving it next to no shelf space for years, and usually have it hidden away in the corner where most people wouldn't even notice it.
I've also had a couple of friends who've worked there at different times... both commented on how they operate in-store pre-orders... taking the deposits from as many people as possible, while only letting people collect their preorders once released on a first come first served basis, while still offering a certain amount on the shelves... so someone could walk in early enough on release day and buy the item off the shelf, but if you get there too late, then you won't get one even if you preordered.

@Ootfan98 I bought some accessories from Nintendo and they've been dispatched already... and I've received accessories from them early before now as well... but they are very particular about things like games and consoles, only dispatching them the day before in order to ensure they don't arrive before release.

I never got my hands on a pre order, I will try for a midnight launch tho

I ordered both colours as I couldnt make up my mind at the time what I wanted ( decided on Neon ) So I now have a spare Launch Day preorder Grey console from Amazon.
I don't want to scalp it on ebay ( doesn't seem to be a huge market for it anyway ) So I guess I'll cancel it, but it seems a waste when all you guys are having these issues and missing out

Yep, happened to me yesterday...

There I was, blissfully looking at Switch related YouTube vids - to heighten my excitement for Friday - when I get a text message from my bank (Halifax) letting me know that GAME just tried taking £279.99 from my account and asking if it was me "yes or No"? I obviously replied "YES"......
Two minutes later I receive an E-mail from GAME to let me know that they have cancelled my Nintendo Switch order because of my bank and I needed to call them (GAME) if I want to get it resolved.
I immediately called GAME in a cold sweat and I was in a queue for 58 minutes (every minute that went by I felt my Switch slipping away)!!! At the same time I went online and placed myself in a queue to chat with a GAME rep online - I was number 33 in the line to chat with someone!! Aghhhhh!

Eventually, I was able to chat with someone online and I was halfway through explaining everything to them when I was also (finally) put through to someone on the phone! The funny thing is, the person I was talking to on the phone was sat right next to the person I was chatting with online.

It was finally resolved by them setting up a new order and linking it to my previous order and I was promised I'd get it delivered on Friday.

Totally messed with my hype mojo...

Game have done this with so much stuff in the past canceling a day before they never change and their points system so so stingy for customers don't bother. Not only that if you trade mint games in they give you £2 or less they really respect gamers lol

@Ootfan98 got a confirmation for amiibo and the colour Joy Con grips I ordered, but no Switch or Zelda yet!!! Should have gone with GAME 😂😂😂😂

Maybe stories like this are the reason why GAME Sweden has gone bankrupt...

Can someone please tell me why people even do business with GAME?
I'm Norwegian, but even I have heard of a dozen occasions over the years when GAME has messed up pre-orders.

Glad I pre-ordered with Gamestaar.com! Their prices are the same, but they gave me more on my PS4 and Vita trade-in's than Game! Woot woot

I'd laugh - but I know that some people have been quite upset with this. That being said, I'm glad I preordered through Nintendo UK themselves. Ever since that Splatoon fiasco (truck being high jacked) I've never purchased anything from GAME online. The service in physical stores is phenomenal, but the online service is the exact opposite. Didn't even inform me that my copy of Splatoon had been affected back then... What the heck?

Anyway yeah, I've had good experiences from Nintendo UK's online service - shouldn't be any different this time.

Only problem I have ever personally experienced with them relating to pre-orders was the whole Super Mario Maker debacle.

Pre-ordered my Switch in store purely because I have over £400's worth of Gift Cards and Reward Points to use, and you can't use them on pre-orders online.

Hope everyone gets what they want on Friday

buy from the Nintendo store folks, these buffoons have screwed up too many times...leave them selling FIFA and Pokemon to the casual audience/ill-advised parents. That's what they want to do anyway.

Safe to say....I'm never pre-ordering anything with GAME online again!

@rjejr r.I.p. bill

I'm so glad Game is not here in the US, all I read about that company is bad and they are pretty much crap.

Game being Game no surprises here .

@Sean161 @DragonEleven @G0dlike
Thanks for your feedback guys. Will be gutted if it doesn't arrive by the weekend

Wow, that's horrible. That's the exact kind of thing I've been afraid with with my preorder at Gamestop...... stuff happens....CC's have random glitches that for 40 minutes it declines all charges because "reasons" - I've had a number of times where Amazon shows a charge failed (and it may/may not coincide with a time when my bank's ATMs are also down) and then I tell them to retry the next morning and all is good. Only 36 hours left to know for sure everything goes through well......

At least in the UK you can just get another one somewhere else easily enough. Here in the US we'd be out of luck 'til 2018

When I went to place my pre-order just after the presentation, they had a security thing in place that required the bank to call me and confirm it's me making the purchase. Seeing as it was stupid o'clock in the morning and the number was the house phone, I didn't want to risk waking the house with an ominous ringing at that time of morning which always spells bad news. Plus we have call blocker so the automated system probably wouldn't have gotten past it. So I backed out of the purchase and waited for Amazon orders to go live.

Anyway, since that day the Switch has been in my shopping basket on GAME and I've been unable to open the basket and delete it because an error pops up (probably related to me backing out at the payment page for Switch) and I can't order anything else for this reason. Long story short, this extra security they had in place that day, which I'd never encountered anywhere else, seems to have caused a lot of problems with the site and their order system. I used to be a devoted pre-order customer with GAME but in recent years they've started screwing up. Shame, they used to ship the day before release as a routine. I'll be using up my (quite sizeable amount of) reward points as soon as I can and probably avoid them in future, after this. Sadly I think they'll be back in administration in a few years unless they sort themselves out.

GAME, along with gamestop are the cancer of the gaming industry. I hope they go bust because they simply dont know how to run a business. Go super market or independent. GAME are just too untrustworthy.

Same. I've taken a long weekend off of work so she better come quickly!! @Ootfan98

I just paid for 3 of my 4 pre-order items at GAME, so I can pick them up tomorrow night. The fourth item didn't show up, so I didn't give them the money for it - as if you cancel a pre-order, you don't get your money back, only in store credit. That's not cool.

I get the criticism. But why did I pick GAME over Nintendo UK? Because I want my Switch on the 3rd, not the 4th, or 5th, or whenever they manage to deliever it to me. I just like knowing I can walk into the store and pick it up.

TOMORROW(TM)!!! Dude I can't believe I'm getting a Switch.

@Sean161 my same... Pro controller dispatched. Switch and zelda still processing... what I think switches deliviery do not arrive in their warehouse yet. And they will start dispatching them straig away... Holidays booked for Friday and Monday. I hope they will not disappoint me.. I contact them and they answer about keeping money on account and u should to get system day before or lunch day.

I am sorry that this is happening to people. I hope everyone will be able to get the system from another retailer.

I've ordered online from game. Was super worried after reading this. But I've checked paypal and the funds have gone though this morning, so I should be okay. Still waiting for the status to change from unshipped. Still time for GAME to screw me over though.

It's better to preorder in store

Gamestop is a mixed bag, at least in the US. There's some things they're actually really good with, and few stores do what they do with special releases and gear. And they're the last of the dedicated video game stores, so if they go down, we have none. But their policies can be horrible. Selling opened games, their gross misuse of the trade-in pricing. So many of their practices are shifty, and yet their staff is always very professional and lends a nice presence to video game retail that would be lost in the back alleys of Best Buy between wahser/dryer combos and iPhones otherwise.

Game, however, does sound pretty dismal. I'm guessing it's the difference between a growing, profitable company and a shrinking indebted company.

That's absolutely ass!

My grandma passed away and I was able to to take Friday off work to mourn. But I will be playing the switch all night in memory of her. Thank you grandma for sacrificing your life so I could play the switch. <3

@walrusballs
Oh, my...
I'm so sorry to hear that.
May your grandma smile from heaven.
May your Switch become your best buddy.

Anyway, ever tried playasia, guys ?
Especially if you live on Asia region, the delivery is quite fast and no fake promise.
If you live on USA, getting your games from Hong Kong to USA will take longer time.

COR BLIMEY!

@tudsworth I agree. I prefer going in and chatting about games than saving money and ordering online, I prefer the experience.

The dude at my local Game sent me a text today to say that my Switch was in but that if I didn't pay for it within 48 hours after launch it would be allocated to someone else. I marched straight there and handed over a wad of cash. It's all bagged up with my name on it so I'm safe.
Apparently they're completely sold out of Zelda. Some folks have preordered the Switch but no games so they may be disappointed on launch day. Demand is high!
Also I got to hold the Switch for a bit - it's really light and that neon red joy-con is really, really neon!

@Shiryu Yep. A very unappreciated gem.

He made the whole Aliens movie even more watchable with two quotes that stand the test of time.

This happened to me at Best Buy in the US. I went online to Switch (ha) who would be picking up my order at my local store and a few minutes later i got an email saying my order had been cancelled because they couldn't verify the information. I spent around an hour on the phone with them and they're still "looking into it". I'm still waiting to hear back from them to know if I will still be able to get my Switch.

@PortgasDLuigi Best Buy has what is possible the very worst shopping cart system ever designed. They show items (not just pre-orders) in-stock that are not in stock. They let you add it to your cart, and then during checkout it kicks the order as a random error.

I've learned this isn't just their online store. Their actual in-store ordering system does this as well. I was ordering something and they got the same kind of random errors for the in stock item in-store. they checked some terminal-based inventory system, spent 50 minutes on calls to distribution centers only to learn "oh they don't have inventory that's why it won't let you order it, we'll have to get it from the MFR in a month or so"

Tesco cancelled my Neon yesterday & said there is NO stock going to stores!

But don't worry they r still sending me a copy of Zelda & a pro pad 😤

Best Buy canceled my order, but last night I managed to order a Switch from Wal-Mart. 😃

I pissed that game are charging £59.99 for wiiU version of Zelda I could get it cheaper elsewhere but I have £20 credit with them

@LukeNI Lol, probably true!
Also, I found the GAME staff at Woking branch to be truly helpful and very patient in trading in my stuff. The lass working in there even was wearing a Pikachu onesie justy because she could lol.
They have to deal with difficult ignorant parents buying CALL OF DUTY and FOR HONOR for little Johnny so I'm always super polite when I do rarely go in there....

@Danglybits How are these UK stores running out of stock when everything has shown that there's no stock shortage in the UK?

@cfgk24 LOL, it's so sadly true....

I dont know why anyone would order anything from these people anyway. They are usually at least £10 more expensive for games.
Ive ordered my switch and zelda from gameseek for a total of £243.50
Ive also order £25 eshop credit from CDkeys for £22.80 so I can buy FastRMX

£266.30 for a switch and two games aint bad.

Luckily I pre-ordered my switch in store so I shouldn't be effected

Luckily mine was confirmed and the credit has been taken I'm always dubious about ordering from GAME(last time I even bought anything from that shop was Bayonetta 2's special edition like 3 years ago) . I tend to try to avoid it, but when I was pre-ordering Amazon wasn't showing the Neon at first so I'd ordered from GAME.

This just sucks for people. I wish companies didn't do this

Been on live chat and on the phone to them no further forward someone was ringing me today...still waiting! Not looking good, on the plus side my special edition Zelda is on its way....now to just find something to play it on

I've had my Breath of the Wild Limited Edition cancelled, no reply to tweets, 45 mins on hold to be told someone will call back to take payment and secure my order - still nothing. Ordered with Shopto now and would've moved my Switch pre-order but they've already taken payment for that. Very disappointed with Game.

@Anti-Matter thanks and ya I'm sure she would want me playing Nintendo and enjoying my life instead of looking at her dead old body and being sad lol

I also use play-asia and have only had excellent service from them. You can also go through the Japan Amazon to import to the U.S. not sure about other countries tho...

@NEStalgia Ok I'm going to put on my gamestop defense force hat for a second.

Gamestop guts games because of anti theft issues. Loss Prevention went through heck and high water over a decade ago because games were being stolen. They are putting in the mag lock systems for accessories and the glass cases for high profile items or items that don't have display cases but they are a mixed bag. They take away time that a GA could use to sell, wall check and answer questions...and it is a nightmare during the holiday season. However it allows product to be seen...and thus sold more quickly. As for the guts, publishers don't send enough display art (or any depending on the game) so something has to go on the wall and company analysts have shown that game cards don't produce the same consumer attach response and it isn't feasible to lock everything behind a case the way Big box stores do.

Granted the fact that gamestop allows employees to check out the guts is probably not a good thing but it is done to ensure GAs can talk about a game intelligently. I'll admit I got through college off of that policy. Just ask for a sealed copy. That's what I do. Also inspect the disk if you can't get one. GAs are supposed to return the game in mint condition.

Trade in? Yeah I can't defend that except for sports games. You have no idea how much Fifa and Madden gets traded back in. Also people treat their games and systems like crap...I have horror stories. So a GA will get stuck cleaning filth off of a console for resale. Stores that are run properly don't just pop it back into a box.Their return policy is pretty standard and the used policy is very generous. You get a week. I've beaten games in that time and not lost a cent.

Their sales policy especially now that they have the credit card is HORRIBLE though. That is why I quit.

Disclaimer: Former Employee.

@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah, I know it's due to loss prevention (and got that same song and dance from the staff at the time when they started it (the belligerent jerks at that location didn't help my opinion of the policy...they were channeling Don Mattrick's attitude long before it was momentarily cool to do so) but there's no legitimate excuse to open factory sealed products and sell them as new. Other stores use magnetic alarms, security staff, locked cages. They've been doing that since the 80's. Gamestop was cheap, decided to pass the burden of their loss prevention onto their customers, and decided that the could do so and get away with it because their clientele was young and stupid. If they didn't believe their customers would just "deal with it", they would never have attempted it and found another way.

The dismal fact that the management was right, that their young and stupid clientele did simply accept it, rather than taking their business to any of the multitude of competitors that will sell the same product for the same price and NOT tamper with it, is possibly more depressing still. I used to shop there often. After they started that, I went across the parking lot to Best Buy, and eventually to Amazon unless it's some special edition item. I'll buy swag or guides or accessories, or on occasion even preorder (which they DO sell sealed copies out of the carton) on occasion, but that's a policy born of management's (dismally accurate) assessment that they could abuse their customers and get away with it without harm, and their customers volunteering for abuse that no competitor would force upon them.

I mean imagine a cosmetics store (I'm thinking cosmetics only because there's a cosmetics store between the Best Buy and GameStop in question) opening all the expensive perfume and makeup boxes, displaying the empty boxes on shelves, and stuffing the bottles back in the carton before checkout? They'd be out of business in a month and Macy's stocks would skyrocket. Loss prevention is THEIR problem, not their customers. But "they could get away with it with their customers"....which is why they don't get a pass on that policy.

Perhaps they'd let me put my used games in a plastic baggie and return them as "unopened"

And while I'm sure your store was the epitome of efficiency, from what I'd seen (this was years ago when I last shopped there regularly) all that time saved from not unlocking cases was spent flipping through folders in the big file drawers behind the counter looking for discs they couldn't locate. It would take 5 or more minutes standing at the register before they'd locate the game (sometimes after they had to check in the back, too.) I think the locked cases would have sped things up!

Probably the best policy I've ever seen for that (other than best buy that just puts them on the shelf like boxes of cereal, yes, I know they have the budget to write off more shrinkage), was Toys R Us and Kiddie City (wow, I'm dating myself....anyone else remember Lionel Kiddie City? I remember that's where I got the original Metroid!) where the games were in locked cabinets (with more in the warehouse backend) with a cardboard printout of the game box on a flip card, and a sheet of paper with a barcode and SKU that you took to the front at checkout. That would have worked well at GameStop AND made customer interaction a priority (and added an appeal of buying expensive goods), but the management wasn't creative enough for that (and of course, knew their customers would accept mistreatment.)

Yikes, what is it they do with the credit card these days?

Nintendo uk just emailed me about issues with payment and I've got the money there, never had a problem in the past and why I went directly to Nintendo and not GAME,
Nintendo better sort it out because what I ordered is sold out !!
I'm totally gutted

The bank's fraud detection software needs parred down a little. I've had too many purchases flagged as 'suspicious'.

Did nintendo UK send switch to anybody?

@NEStalgia Security staff? Security alarms? Woo boy payroll would hang themselves. I can say that glass on the floor was vetoed for the reasons I mentioned earlier, customers respond better to touching the product and it is easier to get to. You have to remember that not a lot of GAs are allowed to hold keys. Just the SM, ASM and SGA. And there is usually only one MAYBE two of them on staff at a time depending on store traffic and payroll hours. Like I said, publishers don't send enough display product so Gamestop has to "Make" some. Plus the morning label changes would be a nightmare with the model you described.

I'm not saying it is perfect, by any means, but until they get better display boxes I do think the gutting process is the best compromise to keep shrink down and still give the customer access to the product.

As for the credit cards... At least at the last store I worked (I was doing part time there and had stepped down from management since my day job paid more) they were tying attach rates to payroll hours. I don't like pushing extra stuff on people or watch young teenagers get into CC debt because they want a ps4 right now so I actually EXPLAINED how credit cards worked and didn't get a ton of reservations. So despite everything else being great on my stats...my hours got cut. Now that was the SM's choice because he was trying to become a DM and he wanted to fudge his number anyway possible. He threatened to fire me once because I used Amazon to buy amiibo. I don't really shop at gamestop as a consumer in general because of the prices...I can get it cheaper at Amazon or best buy and he felt I wasn't loyal to the company. I would think my five years of excellent service spoke for that.

@Ryu_Niiyama Hah, I don't think you're helping their case You're describing a very mismanaged company to the point of dysfunction. They can't employ security measures because it would cost too much, it doesn't present well to customers, and they're unwilling to risk shrink on a single display unit for each title (can't let a single dollar escape the company, customer treatment be darned!), and their management structure doesn't trust their own employees, so general employees can't be trusted to unlock product cases, yet CAN be trusted to remove customer products from their cases and place them back in? Check. Yet selling opened versions of factory sealed products to customers presents well? It kind of all goes back to not thinking very highly of their own customers, and treating them accordingly (and being right about it.)

Their problems are very much internal and organizational. Passing the buck to the paying customers isn't a solution that would be viable to any customer base but the one they identified correctly as foolish. If anything their current model is a big white flag announcing that physical games aren't worth the associated costs, and a promotion of digital distribution. Yet their competitors don't seem to be struggling with this.

They're an electronics store. And a media store. Even independent record stores had magnetic alarms back in the 80's. Gamestop Corp. can afford less security than my local mom&pop House of Music with the hand-painted sign did 25 years ago? Do their shareholders know this?

Heck, the local independent camera store kept everything in glass, even film. It added a mystique to buying from the boutique stores, which is really the only reason to shop at GS to begin with. The difference is the photography hobbyists wouldn't take kindly to rolls of film being dumped back in the empty box at checkout. Film's not exactly high margin either. (The camera store is of course gone, after having been around for 40+ years, not due to the cost of sales but the decline in photography as smartphones took over.)

Of course I can't speak for their current policies, and it's possible they've widely improved upon this policy since that time. They lost a lot of my in-store business with those antics long ago, and I was a weekly customer for a good while. Though I try to support them now and then and have purchased a fair amount of Nintendo stuff from their online store. But when you're the one store that's selling open products full price, and you have no less than 4 major competitors selling the same product for the same price without modifying it, and a dozen online competitors (including your own web store) doing the same....how low will your customer base go if they still shop with you at all?

All the correct business reasons aside, they do it "because they can." If their sales plummeted after implementing it you'd have seen them buy those security tags mighty fast. But their sales didn't plummet, as they accurately predicted, because their customers are as indiscriminate as management believed, and their cost savings benefited from it. That's what makes the practice so offensive. Not only are they selling you an inferior product, but they're doing it, openly stating that it's for the benefit of the company's costs at the detriment to the customer. They don't even pretend there's a customer advantage to it. I should be more frustrated by their customers for being so tolerant of it than the company who's not under any obligation to pretend to be about anything other than maximizing profits.

Ahh, lovely credit card policy. And lovely employment policy. Yep...apparently they think about as highly of employees as they do customers, and don't mind exploitation in either case.

They're not some mom&pop local chain struggling to survive against the onslaught of big business where customers should feel sympathetic to be willing to make sacrifices to keep the little guy afloat like it's a big 'ol family. They're a publicly traded multi-national who shut down their direct competitors by hostilely buying them out. They get no more sympathy points than Walmart, Target, May Company, or Cosco in how they operate. The problem is they've made a lot of bad choices, bought chains they shouldn't have bought, and between flipping off their loyal customers and the decline in physical sales, have boxed themselves into a bad position, and as a result, we gamers are stuck with supporting a company that makes Walmart look angelic, or losing the last of the dedicated physical retailers for our hobby.

My constant hope is that they can float by enough to not go asunder, but also force them to make a lot of changes for the better. Maybe they'd be better as a hardware & swag store than a game store. They're making some moves in that direction last I saw (commitments to make a sizable portion of revenue from non-software sales. Then again, maybe that means debt sales...)

@NEStalgia hah! I'll conceed a fair amount of your points as I can see both sides of the argument. Never said gamestop cares about its employees, lol (HR is a burning train wreck). Ah well, I still use them for certain purchases and I would work for them again (part time of course...you can't pay me to go back into management with them) but agreed that changes do need to be made. It was much better back when I was with EB Games. (I came in right before the merger went through and then left for a bit).

@Ryu_Niiyama Haha, all fair. I sometimes forget the good old days of EB. EB was a wonderful, wonderful store. And the stores looked nice and professional, as though they were selling premium specialty products ranging from $50-600.

Babbages, too. They were mostly PC oriented, but looked almost too much like a productivity software store (I'll take Baldur's Gate, Starcraft II, and Office '97 please!) Then Gamestop came in, bought them out, and turned it into the ugly yellow high school gymnasium layouts, and a culture to match (which sold used goods as new ) Yeah, now that I think about it I suppose I was a weekly regular back when it was still EB and into the transition period, and quickly ran screaming across the parking lot shortly after it became Gamestop. I also suspect the loss of my order history I mentioned last week had to do with the fact that all my old orders (and my original account creation) was on ebgames.com.)

Those old stores are a fond memory! I do believe, if I'm not mistaken they've had major management shakeups at the top in the past 4 or 5 years, so there's hope for improvement.

@FragRed did you receive your console today? I ordered with game and did not.
P.s new to this forum so I may have replied to the wrong person?

Has anybody else ordered from game and not had an email saying it is delayed etc but not received it? Obviously tried to ring them but being in a que for over an hour.. sort of have up. They best get us compensation . Either that or I'll just cancel and order with someone else and they'll loose my custom FOREVER.