Yeah, I bought Daggerfall with my allowance. Saved up a long time. Bastard didn’t work, was buggy and broken, and Best Buy told me to go away. Not cool.

Thanks
Linda

When I worked the return line after Christmas it was a blast, aside from a few real cranks. We would genuinely try to help folks, and the way that was done was having department managers and senior associates working the lines for the first several days.

Return policies have tightened considerably – but look at the path of destruction as low-cost stores have risen to dominate the landscape. America has indeed voted, and the cost of stores looking to compete is to tighten anything that messes with their cash flow, from Gift Cards to returns to anything else.

As I mentioned elsewhere, Barnes & Noble tightened theirs to the point where I had to dispute with a manager to return something that was still shrink-wrapped with a receipt that I had bought only 3 weeks before.

I understand the reasons to not accept open games / movies / CD’s, as copying is definitely an issue … but I think that there needs to be something to deal with addressing content when there is no demo available. Songs have samples, movies have clips, and the only equivalent for games is a demo. But since it is pretty accepted that you can’t return a movie / CD when it is opened just because you decide that the content is not appropriate … so why should it be different for games?

I bet your perspective has changed as much as shopping has changed.

I love a good return policy. CostCo had a great one on their TVs, but like anything too generous it will eventually be abused. And so CostCo dropped their generous policy on TVs and now its only 90 days instead of years or forever or something like that. Too many of their customers returned their TVs because they could not because they needed too.

They used to let you return videogames opened or not without a receipt or not too, but eventually that got abused and it stopped.

It’s human nature. First it’s just the rotten apples spoiling it for everyone, but then the other folks start to abuse it too because they can and it doesn’t seem to cost them anything. They don’t learn the cost of their behavior until the generous return policies are canceled years later.

You don’t have to buy cheap goods either. I actually made it a point of buying less more expensive presents for my 7 yr old this xmas. I resisted buying the cheap crap.

If most of America is tired of cheap crap then eventually stores will cater to them. I’m skeptical though because I think cheap prices are America’s #1 love.

WE basically have a “well it broke but it was cheap” mentality.

There’s a small toy store not far from me which generally sells higher quality and more “though provoking” or unusual toys. They also have a knowledgeable owner/employees. You pay a higher price for that though.

The problem is most folks would rather buy 20 cheap things at Walmart than buy 3 or 4 quality items at this store.

America has voted.

It would be “abused” because people would figure out a way around Gamestop’s ridiculously low values when trading games or systems in there.

I agree that parents should resell elsewhere, but I really do think Goozex is the best option for game recycling. The majority of my current gen library has been built up by getting rid of old PS1 and PS2 games, games like The Dukes of Hazzard that would be practically worthless on the open market so even a Goozex value of 100 points is a good deal.

Today’s view is that customers have to be managed, guided and manipulated into what they don;t want or need. Mind-bogglingly cheap goods shoddily constructed (how many toys have broken at your house last week?). Lines are long, stores peromanenty understaffed and filled with the least qualified people you can find. Modern shopping just makes me never want to go shopping again,

PS: I LOVE the new trend that makes it imposible to buy a kite anyway in February or a heavy coat in the winter.

IMO that policy would just be abused. And that’s the reason they do not allow returns without a receipt.

I would recommend a parent resells the game on Ebay or Half.com or Craigslist, etc.

You might not get full price, but you can turn around and buy opened games from those same channels and not pay full price either. So imo it’s a wash.

2 big chains (and probably more) allow limited returns without a receipt which also applies to unopened videogames. Target, for example, allows 2 returns without a receipt a year, but the returns can’t be more than $35 or so says the Target cashier I talked to the other night while I returned 2 kids toys (gifts from grandma) that were around $30 each. (I had to use up my 2 returns without a receipt for the year already because the 2 toys were more than $35 together.) So actually not sure Target even allows returns of unopened videogames anymore given most new ones cost $50+.

Walmart also has a ~2 returns/yr without a receipt last time I checked. With no price limit afaik.

The reason these stores are cracking down is because too many consumers abuse the return policies. It’s probably gotten worse because of online shopping. Consumers buy online and return the product to local shops if not satisfied or changed mind.