Dear GameCrazy, Please Stop Abusing Non-Gamer Customers

If it counts for anything, I will never shop at GameCrazy in solidarity.

Your decision is a bit harsh, yet I feel your pain, I had the same issue with Applebees, my wife had a horrible experience a year ago, since then I refuse to eat at such restaurants. I love my Gamecrazy, very nice people. Yet its hard to see how a few of the employees manage to give such awfull customer service. It ruins it for everyone, for the customer and for those employees that actually do their job with the biggest respect, no one wins.

Your post is on digg.com

Vegas GameCrazy verbally abuses Gamer’s wife. Gamer is editor of Portagame

I applaud your decision not to shop there, and also the care with which you wrote this. It’s a really horrifying experience

Very well written my friend. We don’t have GameCrazies here, but based on this I won’t be shopping at one. Stores like this really underestimate just how much money people like you and I spend on game systems & games over time. I just called GameCrazy’s corporate office (503-570-1600) and let them know about your experience, and that it’s a rising story on digg.com.

I have never been to GameCrazy and have always been going to GameStop, and EB Games, they will treat non gamers better, like my brother did not know what blocks meant for gamecube memory and they took the time to take games off the shelf and show him what blocks where and then they showed him the diffrence in amount and recommended a 12 Dollar card over a 20 dollar one, even though they could have made more money. That does sound evil of GameCrazy though, they can be jerks.

What insolent people! If it were me that was dealing with this, I would have probably go in contact with the store manager and taken it further. Just because some people do not know much about gaming, it is not right to treat them like idiots…. Its just not fair. Well writen letter though, I back you 100%!

I second that because i to have been verbally assaulted by the empoyees at game crazy and i actually knew what i was talking. Same thing happened to my brother and he even works for bungie and he used to work for E.A. Big.

Well done. The Consumer Industry, especially in electronics, has been a downspiral in customer service. Take a look around you: most electronic specialty stores are filled with young, adolescent workers who, no doubt usually know a lot about electronics or games, but are too immature to understand the importance of the business itself and the importance of the customer. They have absolutely NO CLUE about the business aspect of things. They are working in Best Buy or EB or, in this case, Gamecrazy merely because they think it’s cool to sell video games and get paid doing it. I myself, being a 30+ old gamer, sometimes get the cold shoulder from young salespeople in EB or Best Buy simply because I look too old to be buying video games and probably just there to buy it for my kids. Little do these idiots know that: 1) the average gamer is now 25 years old, 2) I am not only a gamer, but a collector, meaning I spend big dollars on video games new and old, 3) I own consoles made before their parents even had unprotected sex and concieved these dick heads in the back of their Pinto and 4) this particular Gamecrazy store probably is owned by someone who has no passion whatsoever about the gaming industry and hired a bunch of lonely jerk-off boys who know every game in the book but couldn’t score a hicky from their own sisters!

Don’t get me wrong - it’s not all stores, and there are some very reputable workers out there who understand that it’s not just a job, but a passion. I feel your wife’s bitterness and no matter what store it is, that kind of behaviour is absolutely uncalled for, unprofessional and just down-right stupid. That guy probably doesn’t even understand that not only did he lose a customer, but lost at least another ten (basic marketing, oh yeah - look it up).

It seems you have started a boycott, no matter how big or small it affects the company, it has made an impact.

This isn’t the first story like this I’ve heard of. Several non-gamers prefer to simply get gift cards for their gamer friends and family members only because they aren’t respected in gaming stores. It’s sad really! Grandma doesn’t know a thing about video games, but imagine the amount of money she has to spare compared to her unemployed, or minimum wage paid grandson.

I’d like to think that if I worked at a store like gamecrazy, the non-gamers would be my favorite customers. All you serious gamers out there consider this: How many of your non-gamer friends and family members have you tried to convert to gamers? To me a customer like Jason’s wife would be a goldmine! Like a curious atheist walking into church on a Sunday morning. Most non-gamers, wether they admit it or not, are curious, but tend to stay away from video games because they seem complicated and can be confusing at first. They also experience that “better than thou” attitude knowledged gamers, like those at gamecrazy, have. It’s a horrible attitude, and they should be fired. In my opinion the non-gamer customers need and deserve extra special attention! The Ideal gaming store would be one where non-gamers are not only respected, but treated in a way to get them excited about video games! That would be great.

Jason, I sincerely hope that this experience has only turned your wife against gamecrazy stores, and not against gaming itself! When I was dating my wife, I was able to convert her to gaming, and I kid you not, she now spends more time playing games than I do. We have had several fond memories playing games together over the years, and I hate to think things might be different if she had had a similar bad experience early on.

Jason,
I happened to stumble upon your article; let me first introduce myself. I am a Gamecrazy store manager… in San Diego. I have read your article and read the thread; I think JazzyG’s post pretty much nails the issue on the head. This isn’t an attempt to blast out some MiniSpeak; I have worked at both Gamecrazy and Gamestop, and unfortunately, some stores, regardless of which particular corporation do make errors in hiring the wrong people. The experience for most gamers, if negative, is exponentially impactful since we come to assume that a specialty retail gaming boutique, would understand the passion that gamers have; we expect “Electonic Stop Crazy” stores to completely understand and respect this issue. However, these are retail stores and unfortunately, there are instances, clearly as in yours, where the service is unacceptable because of a lack of managerial oversight. As gamers, we may experience poor customer service at at a bar, a drive through, or mechanic shop… but not tend to take it as personally because it is in an industry that we may be a little more indifferent to. Having said that, this issue should be forwarded to the right people within my organization; on behalf of my entire organization, I appoligize to your wife and to you; please hit me up if I can be of any assistance in taking care of any issues, if they have not been properly addressed. Yes, I am Japanese. No, I do not have any Yakuza ties in Vegas that can “take care of it.” Regards.

Shin Taira shintaira@gmail.com; 619-429-8063

By the way Jason,

This Billy fellow in the store that was so rude to your wife clearly thinks he can get away with staging a “PopCopy” from Chapelle Show. As I said, please get back to me on this issue.

Shin

Shameful at best. As a former retail manager, I sympathize with you. It’s amazing that these people, able to work so closely with the community and the games they so love, don’t take more pride in the quality of work they do for gamers. It is one of my aspirations to open a game store. This certainly would never have happened on my watch. I hope you’ve contacted the corporate office, as no respectable American company would permit such flagrant insult.

I think it also has to do with they treat women as if they are ignorant shoppers, gamers or not. =(

Jason,

I apologize about the rude behavior of that staff being that I work at Gamecrazy myself. I just want to let you know that we as employess deal with the same things from behind the counter just like anyone else in retail. I had a customer that asked for a game that I was holding for someone and the customer persisted on buying it himself. I told the customer “I am sorry I can not sell you this item.” He then later lied on me to the coporate office telling them I called him a liar, and it caused me a write -up. Listen their are jerks behind the counter and in front of it. I just apologize that a jerk insulted your wife.

your right hese game crazy workers like to pick their favorites. If your smaller or younger they like to abuse their authority. I am starting not to like them as much as i used to. i will stop going there as frequent as I go now.

I used to use gamecrazy as a backup store to find games, but after they sold me a broke game, i never returned again. I had bought a used copy of “Prey” from them and started playing it when I got home. After every two levels the game would freeze. Then I finally got the the level “Jen” and it never got beyond the level. Since I didnt have the reciept, I had to use their service of disc repair. The first time I went, the guy left this werid circle thing near the edge of the disc, saying that it will come off when I play the game. The game still didnt work. I brought it back and the store mangar said it was my 360’s fault, after telling her I was their the day before and it was one of her workers faults.

I totally agree with your decision not to shop there. If that happened to my wife I’m not sure if I would not go down there and punch Billy in the mouth for being such a jerk. I will be talking to them at the stores I go to about this in California. If I don’t just 86 them for the treatment of your wife. I will be sure to get it clear to any store I go into that non-gamers are customers too. Great job on the story.

Cmdr_St gamer of 20 years

I sympathize with your plight, and I understand that it can be frustrating that a store that you came to depend on let you down. But don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. I guarantee that if you were to go back in there, the manager has already taken action against Billy. As a retail manager, I know what a pain it is to find out that you have some little punk working for you acting out like that. As a manager, your work is dedicated to bringing people into your store, so when someone is counter-productive like that, it’s infuriating to everyone involved. I would recommend talking to the manager, if action has been taken against Billy, then let it be water under the bridge. If not, THEN you know that you’re not just being rash.

ps - Trisha, I don’t think that it has anything to do with his wife being a woman. Female gamers aren’t really all that rare anymore.

Similar experience here. I went to the local GameCrazy outlet here in Rochester, MN to purchase a refurb PS2 console for my Father-in-law who really loved the old GT titles but after his old PS2 shut down has not been able to play for a while. I really like the guy so I bought him a refurb since he already has the old titles he enjoys. Well I dont want to get into the whole Ps2 vs. Xbox, PS3 vs 360, This was the first PS purchase I have made since PS1. Wink Wink, XBOX Fan. Anyhoo while I was there I picked up Lost Planet for the 360 but when I got to the service counter and requested the refurb PS2
I could tell this kid was just itching to say something about the purchase. He was barely 18 (maybe).
I am 31 and many probably would not guess that I am a game freak. He placed the refurb box on the counter and said with a smirk “You sure you want to buy this piece of junk?” I could not believe those words came out of his mouth. My G-friend looked at me sideways. On the spot I decided to play him up a bit and asked, “I dont know. I have heard good things about Lost Planet. Should I buy a new PS2?” haha wink wink. I pushed the title toward him on the counter. Oh man now, I could see his gears really turning. He stammered. “This is a 360 game…..” I cut him off. “just ring it up” I paid and left the store. Hindsite: I have a Gamespot membership. Next time I will drive across town instead of going there just because its closer to walmart.

Gamecrazy is populated by a bunch of stupid ass out of high school teens for employees(excuse my language)I support your decision on not shopping there anymore

I fully support your decision, seeing as how this event happend awhile ago I hope it has been resolved by now. This must of gotten pretty popular. If you google gamecrazy this is currently the 4th or 5th link down.

I myself am also not shopping there any longer. About a month ago I went in to pick up Project 8 for the PS3 and had a employee bash on the PS3 and attempt to get me to trade in my PS3 for the 360 Elite.

Although their store manager is a professional and a nice guy, the other employess are defiently sub-par. The guy even tried to tell me the 360 is coming with a built in HD-DVD drive.

I personally will do my video game shopping at a local game store.

I’m sorry that this happened to your wife, but don’t be so biased to assume that ALL GameCrazy employees are like this. You’re taking the low-road here and just coming right back and insulting the rest of us. If one Shift Leader was disrespectful, then don’t shop at HIS store.

And by the way, shopping anywhere but GameCrazy for used games is just throwing your money away.

Your wife’s experience at GameCrazy was awful. However, as someone previously mentioned, the best thing to do would be to contact the rude little bug’s manager and the corporate office. Maybe this is not the first offence for this idiot. The best punishment for him would be to be fired and sent away from his little kingdom.
I shop at the Gamecrazy on S. 4th St in Allentown, PA. When I first went, I was a novice gamer yet the employees were all very helpful and nice. Since then I have taken my kids (young) and husband and we have all been treated very well. Don’t let one bad apple spoil the whole barrel. Some people just should not be placed in positions of authority.
Sorry about your wife’s experience.

While I’m sure this issue has been more than resolved by now, I thought I’d offer my take on the subject.

I am a manager of a GameCrazy in New Jersey. I believe that you have every right to be angry with how your wife was treated, as I think anyone would, but I am also confused by everyone’s reactions here. I have experienced shoddy treatment in nearly every GameStop, EB, and (when they existed) FuncoLand I have ever been in, as has nearly every gamer I have ever spoken to.

Now I can’t speak for the particular GameCrazy you shopped in, but the only thing my employees are elitist about is how we are the ONLY option for specialty game sales worth frequenting, despite a GameStop a block away. My customers swear by the store, as I did before I worked for the company.

So as not to be a jerk who criticizes your choice of action without at least giving an alternate choice, I suggest calling our corporate line at 1-8-SPEAK-TO-US. And I would ask you how you could possibly be such an avid shopper of GameCrazy without already knowing why it was that you were… because you were forced to by the shoddy treatment elsewhere.

I apologize on behalf of the truly passionate GameCrazy employees who populate many of the stores in our little company and, at the same time, am insulted for them.

I echo G’s final sentiment.

So long as these stores hire gamers and not salesmen and offer shit rates for their employees, the customer service will reflect that.

What you get left is a guy like Billy: A manager that has work to do and plays games and probably expected one of his associates to drop the work they were doing for him and deal with the customer. His irritation no doubt manifested when he was interrupted from his busy and important work of ‘product testing.’

Yes, I used to work in Gamestop, and the mentality flourishes there too. All these big chains of small stores pay diddly, overwork their employees and tend to promote the sort of people to manage who learn the cardinal lesson: To hell with getting the work done, just make sure your personal statistics look good.

End result: Billy.

No doubt he had a hair up his ass because the author’s wife was asking too many questions and wasn’t going to reserve anything or subscribe to something.

PS: My advice. Don’t go to any of these specialty chains. Even if you find one with a manager and staff you like, they’re leaving or getting fired for some reason in the next three months.