Adding to my list of places to avoid shopping.... GAMESTOP

Anyone with kids in school is probably exposed to the want for an Xbox 360, a wii, a Playsation 3, a dsi, dsiXL, gameboy, etc etc etc 2 yrs ago for Christmas we bought a wii. Later that spring 2 of the kids bought their own dsi's with their own money. We had already done the PS2, game cube and game boy deal.

We shop Gamestop for games both new and used, sometimes pre-ordering, sometimes just a whim while out and about. Adding up my receipts from 2009 I spent $1400 at Gamestop. 2010 was just at $1000. 

Enter Christmas 2010. My 15 yr old is a good kid. A really good kid for being a 15 yr old boy. His birthday is in December as well.  The only thing he wants is an xbox360. I searched high and low for a good deal, the closer Christmas got, the worse the availability was. I could not find a new one that wasnt the 250gb with the kinect. With so many to buy for, spending $300 wasnt an option.  So we talked about it, my 15 yr old and I... and decided to buy the 20gb pre-owned from Gamestop.  Now we have purchased used games from them, and any time there was an issue they were more than happy to remedy the situation.  But not this time.

This time I spent $230 on games, and a pre-owned guaranteed xbox 360. I ordered online, because no local stores had them in stock. First it took 2 WEEKS from the date of the order to the date it was delivered. Making his gift arrive January 5th. 6 wks later, the xbox 360 got the RROD. I contacted the local store, who told me to contact the corporate number. When contacted I was told the guarantee is that it will work when it arrives. PERIOD. END OF STORY. There is no other guarantee, warranty anything.

Now I understand that it is their prerogative to have that sort of policy, however when ordering, looking online, and asking via telephone they do not say this, tell you this, or have it in writing anywhere.

The lady at the customer service office didnt seem to care when I said we wouldn't shop there again. I guess I failed to tell her that I would blog about this, and tell every person I know. Whether others choose to boycott Gamestop is their option. However they won't be getting the $1000 or more a year from my pocket for games and accessories anymore.  Will this hurt them? No probably not. But if each person that feels screwed by Gamestop does the same thing, eventually YES it will hurt them.

I will be shopping Amazon from here on out.