GAME in serious trouble

Zero-Cool

Even though I havn't shopped there in years, I remember seeing Resident Evil 1 for the 1st time in there. Load of people huddled around the telly wanting a go but the guy working there wasn't handing over the controller (neither would I). He was looking well smug until the dog jumped through the window :pac:

airgilbert

game is **** anyway, so many times I pre-ordered something and never got it

steam ftw

MrVestek

I traded in 12 games in GAME Ilac centre and yer man even went out of his way to give me more than the games were worth. Didn't have ID on me at the time so I opted for store credit.

I was only in GAME in Blanch on Friday night mulling over what to spend the credit on but thought that I'd leave it to pay day... which is tomorrow.

Now they're all closed and I'm out nearly €100. I'm ****ing livid.

Andy!!

I dont feel very sorry for staff working there. I would if they were helpful, and gamers, but in my experience this is not the case. You can't work in a camera shop without knowing something about photography etc. so because GAME had a policy of hiring non-gamers to avoid staff discounts being used, tough luck really.

Doodee

Achilles wrote: »

Now they're all closed and I'm out nearly €100. I'm ****ing livid.

Me too

MrVestek

I'm of the opinion that as they only did this last Tuesday that they have effectively stolen my games... if anything that's all I want back.

Bastards...

cloud493

Game head office?

MrVestek

cloud493 wrote: »

Game head office?

Got a number for them?

Surely I'm due something back from the agent in charge of liquidating them if anything else...

Nonoperational

You'd be miles down the list of people owed money. In all likelihood your money and games are gone. Sorry.

FutureGuy

If I get so much as a sniff that Game knew they were closing today and yet kept asking their staff to take trade-ins at exaggerated prices as late as yesterday, I will be causing a ****storm of epic proportions.

It's effectively stealing.

EDIT: When I say Game, I mean Game as a company, not the staff in the stores.

MrVestek

FutureGuy wrote: »

If I get so much as a sniff that Game knew they were closing today and yet kept asking their staff to take trade-ins at exaggerated prices as late as yesterday, I will be causing a ****storm of epic proportions.

It's effectively stealing.

That's exactly what happened to me mate. The bloke in the store even went out of his way to extend a limited offer to give extra value to the games I was about to trade in... he extended this for an entire day just because he was expecting me to come back into the store.

As far as I'm concerned GAME just stole 12 of my games. If I had known whilst I was in blanch I would have used all of my credit there and then. It's deceitful of the company to have allowed this to happen tbh.

cherryghost

Good to see some people have common sense here regardless of the situation.

LoganIn

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

To be fair, staff probably weren't allowed discuss anything regarding the impending administration with anyone.

And whats the worst that could happen if they let a customer know GAME was closing? they get sacked? :pac: lol.

They should of let people known. I would have in their shoes. Fact is, company is going under, my job would be gone, who the hell cares. Even if the manager says "not too" - his/her job is gone too.

calex71

From their facebook page. Seems anyone with outstanding business with them like pro orders, gift cards etc will be shown the middle finger.

Nothing unusual in what they say though, happens whenever a business goes belly up really.

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150774075271000

Here’s some important news about us. GAME Group plc (the parent company of GAME in the UK) is now in administration. We want you to know that the Administrators aim at this time is to continue trading while they seek to find a new owner for the business.



In the meantime, we’ve had to make some changes. We’ve summarised them below. Some of them are temporary, some are permanent.



1.Online Sales: We expect some disruption to our online services over the next few days while we make some changes. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

2.Refunds and Exchanges: Until further notice, we will not be able to offer refunds or exchanges for products purchased either before the administration or for products purchased from the date of the administration.

3.Pre-Orders: No new pre-orders can be taken until further notice. No refunds can be given for any pre-order deposits which have been paid. We are reviewing this over the next week.

4.GAME Reward card: We have had to suspended use of GAME Reward Cards. This means that points can be earned but NOT redeemed until further notice.

5.Gift cards: We have also had to suspend GAME gift cards. The value on these cards cannot be redeemed. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

6.GAMEWallet: the value stored in GAMEwallet accounts will be suspended until further notice following the appointment of administrators.

7.Pre-owned Software: You can still buy pre owned products at great prices in your local store or online. If you trade in a pre-owned software item then you will still be able to accrue reward points and use your trade in to exchange for another item. You will not be able to trade in pre-owned software for cash. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

8.Pre-owned Hardware: We have had to suspend trade in for pre-owned hardware at this time. If this changes, we will let you know. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

9.Click and Collect titles: We have had to suspend this service. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.



MJA Jervis and SD Maddison have been appointed as Joint Administrators of The GAME Group plc, Game Stores Group Limited, Gameplay (GB) Limited, Game (Stores) Limited, Games Station Limited, Game (Retail) Limited and Gamestation Limited on 26 March 2012 to manage their affairs, business and property as their agents and without personal liability. MJA Jervis and SD Maddison are licensed in the United Kingdom to act as insolvency practitioners by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.



If you have any questions please feel free to email us at: customerservices@game.co.uk

cloud493

Apologize for the inconvenience? Are you joking like?

MrVestek

cloud493 wrote: »

Apologize for the inconvenience? Are you joking like?

'We're sorry for stealing your money... we have none left and we're going to use it to pay off our creditors. **** you.'

LoganIn

I honestly can't believe people got stung with GAME :rolleyes:

I'm not being a dick but its been known that they were going bust the last few weeks now. So why on earth would somone trade something for store credit? (obviously greed is at play here. trade in a few games, get store credit, go down when sale is on :rolleyes:) But what happens if they suddenly closed their doors? which they did.

I suppose greed rules out common sense.

cloud493

Well I didn't, since the shops were nearly bare of stuff I wanted, went to symths instead. Still, its awful for the people employed there, and the people ripped off.

MrVestek

Actually no I was trying to be a smart consumer.

I had a few games that I wanted to trade in and I gave them to GAME as they were offering me the best trade in price over Gamestop and CEX.

How's that my fault for being 'greedy'?

FutureGuy

LoganIn wrote: »

I honestly can't believe people got stung with GAME :rolleyes:

I'm not being a dick but its been known that they were going bust the last few weeks now. So why on earth would somone trade something for store credit? (obviously greed is at play here. trade in a few games, get store credit, go down when sale is on :rolleyes:) But what happens if they suddenly closed their doors? which they did.

I suppose greed rules out common sense.

Oh wow, new reg doling out advice :rolleyes: Before you start judging people, I was going to get a PSVita from them. That's the same PS Vita that I could get way cheaper online.

And I even told staff on Friday that I was trading ME3 in with them so they could have a copy to sell on.

So take your :rolleyes: and move on.

NTMK

FireballPitcher wrote: »

It's incredibly sad (and somewhat pathetic) that some people are heralding the closure of GAME. If you don't like GAME, don't shop there, but please remember there may be people on boards who may be facing unemployment now or have lost money to the closure so comments of "good riddance" "they had it coming" etc are pretty stupid things to be saying. You wouldn't appreciate it if your company closed and idiots were celebrating it because they had some ridiculous gripe with a company because of prices you were never forced to pay.

The less competition there is in the market, the less the consumer benefits. People seem to keep going on about how HMV etc sell products cheaper, but now with less competition, there's no need for them to sell the products cheaper so in essence we, the consumer lose out here, even if we don't purchase in game. HMV etc now have less reason to undercut higher prices, so yeah its hardly great news that we're going to have to pay more for games now.

I hope the shop comes alive again as so many jobs will be lost from this.

I dont think people are celebrating the loss of jobs far from it. the celebrating the collapse of a company that has done some pretty crappy things to their customers and the gaming industry. It is of course very bad for competition especially in Ireland as those are less likely to be picked up buy a future buyer. but their history of actively pushing preowned games on people who want to buy new their attempts at price fixing Digital distribution (e.g steam games),the way they treated they're staff and the current fiasco of allowing games to be traded in last week when the senior managers(not shop managers) were closing meant that when they looked for a favour from the industry they were told where to go

Hopefully they find a competitive buyer and those jobs at risk can be saved but as a company with how they've treated the industry good riddance

HMV have been raising prices since before game went into trouble. some games in hmv were being sold at 47.99 and 50.99 since last summer because they're in trouble as well as sales are slowing

Game stores pricing wont fluctuate much they still have to compete with Online stores and DD. trade in prices will suffer no doubt as GS wont have strong competition

As I said i feel sorry for the staff and the consumers who lost money but as a retailer they're downfall was deserved

caspa307

Deano7788 wrote: »

The store in Limerick is closed with a sign on the door saying, "This store is now closed. For further information please contact Game head office."

horgan_p

So have people lost their jobs , or is it they've been sent home ? redundancy isnt always that fast to get sorted out.
what i mean is they'll be doing a stock take over the next few days and then there's a big firesale ?


I worked the Cork branch when it opened first. Sad to see it go.Good times winding up Smyths toys telling them the Saturn had launched the week before it really did.
Which nearly prompted their (over zealous) manager to REALLY break the release date.

LoganIn

FutureGuy wrote: »

Oh wow, new reg doling out advice :rolleyes: Before you start judging people, I was going to get a PSVita from them. That's the same PS Vita that I could get way cheaper online.

And I even told staff on Friday that I was trading ME3 in with them so they could have a copy to sell on.

So take your :rolleyes: and move on.

ah yes, because my boards post count is low i have no clue, but you having many means you're more shrewd. yes thats how the real world works

but ok i'll take my small post count,therefor small common sense and move on.

caspa307

Achilles wrote: »

I traded in 12 games in GAME Ilac centre and yer man even went out of his way to give me more than the games were worth. Didn't have ID on me at the time so I opted for store credit.

I was only in GAME in Blanch on Friday night mulling over what to spend the credit on but thought that I'd leave it to pay day... which is tomorrow.

Now they're all closed and I'm out nearly €100. I'm ****ing livid.

yeah im sure the staff that lost thier jobs are ecstatic

cherryghost wrote: »

I'm sure they didn't know. Sure my friend works in GAME and he didn't have a clue until this morning. I haven't heard from him since though.

i was in the limerick store this morning and i know 5 of the guys working there from when i worked there, they knew diddly squat about this, they knew it would be decided today and thats it, then at 2pm they got an email to say close the stoe and go home

horgan_p wrote: »

So have people lost their jobs , or is it they've been sent home ? redundancy isnt always that fast to get sorted out.
what i mean is they'll be doing a stock take over the next few days and then there's a big firesale ?

no theres no firesale, yes everybody LOST their jobs

FutureGuy

LoganIn wrote: »

ah yes, because my boards post count is low i have no clue, but you having many means you're more shrewd. yes thats how the real world works

but ok i'll take my small post count,therefor small common sense and move on.

You stated that anyone that traded in for credit with GAME in the last few weeks was greedy. That is untrue. If your future posts are equally uninformed and equally incorrect, then it's best you don't bother posting.

Exclamation Marc

LoganIn wrote: »

I honestly can't believe people got stung with GAME :rolleyes:

I'm not being a dick but its been known that they were going bust the last few weeks now. So why on earth would somone trade something for store credit? (obviously greed is at play here. trade in a few games, get store credit, go down when sale is on :rolleyes:) But what happens if they suddenly closed their doors? which they did.

I suppose greed rules out common sense.

If you were offered for example €100 by one store, and €80 by another store even if the first store was having financial difficulties but with the assumption they'd still be there after the weekend, you'd take the first option. It's not greed, its called taking the better offer. Nobody would have assumed they'd suddenly close their doors.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

Beefy78

FutureGuy wrote: »

You stated that anyone that traded in for credit with GAME in the last few weeks was greedy. That is untrue. If your future posts are equally uninformed and equally incorrect, then it's best you don't bother posting.

Greed was harsh but anyone trading in for credit was being a tad naïve I'm afraid, especially if they knew that GAME were in trouble. Credit and vouchers are always the first things which get stopped in these types of cases. It was exactly the same with Zavvi a couple of years ago.

FutureGuy

caspa307 wrote: »

yeah im sure the staff that lost thier jobs are ecstatic


i was in the limerick store this morning and i know 5 of the guys working there from when i worked there, they knew diddly squat about this, they knew it would be decided today and thats it, then at 2pm they got an email to say close the stoe and go home

ugh, as much as it pains me to say it, if they knew there was a good chance of them closing today and they told me it should be fine to put my trade in value on a gift card only 3 days ago, it's very VERY disappointing.

LoganIn

FutureGuy wrote: »

You stated that anyone that traded in for credit with GAME in the last few weeks was greedy. That is untrue. If your future posts are equally uninformed and equally incorrect, then it's best you don't bother posting.

ah yes the 'i dont agee with you so i'll say you are uninformed, don't bother posting blah blah' spiel

coming from a man who just said he traded in his copy of me3 so 'they could sell on' lol. like what you were doing them a favor? lol as they what gave you 20 euro for it? and for them wanting to sell it on for 45....

then they go bang. you lost your store credit. real shrewd man. question tho why didnt you get a vita there and then?

caspa307

FutureGuy wrote: »

ugh, as much as it pains me to say it, if they knew there was a good chance of them closing today and they told me it should be fine to put my trade in value on a gift card only 3 days ago, it's very VERY disappointing.

sorry should make this clearer they knew the it would be decided today as in if they were going into administration or if they were being bought out, nobody expect to be sent home today

MrVestek

FutureGuy wrote: »

ugh, as much as it pains me to say it, if they knew there was a good chance of them closing today and they told me it should be fine to put my trade in value on a gift card only 3 days ago, it's very VERY disappointing.

Yes absolutely this.

Also can people on boards and ****facebook please stop telling me that loads of people have just lost their jobs? I realise that but unfortunately that's no my concern at all.

As a consumer I've just been robbed of games I handed over in good faith - end of story.

Krieg

Achilles wrote: »

'We're sorry for stealing your money... we have none left and we're going to use it to pay off our creditors. **** you.'

QFT

Glad I used up all my reward points and gift vouchers last week.

MrVestek

Krieg wrote: »

QFT

Glad I used up all my reward points and gift vouchers last week.

I wish I had done that also. I wouldn't mind but I was in GAME in blanch eyeing PSVita games with my new store credit thingy and was wondering wether to get them or not.

This has been the first time I've ever traded in games in a store and I can safely say it'll be my last now. I'd rather hold on to the games and never them again than to be shafted like this.

LoganIn

Krieg wrote: »

QFT

Glad I used up all my reward points and gift vouchers last week.

exactly what people should of done. fair play dude.

Orim

Achilles wrote: »

Yes absolutely this.

Also can people on boards and ****facebook please stop telling me that loads of people have just lost their jobs? I realise that but unfortunately that's no my concern at all.

As a consumer I've just been robbed of games I handed over in good faith - end of story.

And Game took them in good faith. The decision to close shops was taken today.

Also it doesn't appear that this was a decision by Game, it seems to have been a decision taken as a part of the administration process by the administration team.

I realise this doesn't really help you but this isn't a great situation all round.

FutureGuy wrote: »

ugh, as much as it pains me to say it, if they knew there was a good chance of them closing today and they told me it should be fine to put my trade in value on a gift card only 3 days ago, it's very VERY disappointing.

As above, the only knowledge that the staff may have had was that the company would go into administration today. The closure of the shops is something of a shock to everyone I would imagine.

FutureGuy

LoganIn wrote: »

ah yes the 'i dont agee with you so i'll say you are uninformed, don't bother posting blah blah' spiel

coming from a man who just said he traded in his copy of me3 so 'they could sell on' lol. like what you were doing them a favor? lol as they what gave you 20 euro for it? and for them wanting to sell it on for 45....

then they go bang. you lost your store credit. real shrewd man. question tho why didnt you get a vita there and then?

I could have sold it on adverts for 35 cash. I could have traded it in at gamestop for around 37 against a preorder of my choice. GAME were crying out for newer titles so they could get some business. Heck I even thought about buying 5 copies of ME3 with my credit in CeX Dublin and trade it back to Game for equal value just to help them get stock.

I traded it in at GAME to help a store I have supported for over 15 years. A store that have been very good to me over those 15 years. A store where I consider many of the staff to be friends.

I didn't get a vita as I hadn't full credit for it there and then.

Yes I do disagree with you. However, I'm not backing my view up by saying you are incorrect and uninformed. Those are facts independant of my views.

MrVestek

Orim wrote: »

And Game took them in good faith. The decision to close shops was taken today.

Upper management would have known that they were closing soon this is why I'm so ****ing angry.

As I said I don't really care about the credit all I want is my games back.

Lucious Sweet

FutureGuy wrote: »

ugh, as much as it pains me to say it, if they knew there was a good chance of them closing today and they told me it should be fine to put my trade in value on a gift card only 3 days ago, it's very VERY disappointing.

That was my original point. Much as we all, well most of us lament the passing of Game and reminisce of the good ol days I find it hard to believe that this came totally out of the blue to even the guys on the front line.
A heads up to loyal customers who have been going there for years like "why dont you trade this lot on Monday wink wink" wouldn't have hurted.
Very dissappointed.

FutureGuy

Orim wrote: »

And Game took them in good faith. The decision to close shops was taken today.

Also it doesn't appear that this was a decision by Game, it seems to have been a decision taken as a part of the administration process by the administration team.

I realise this doesn't really help you but this isn't a great situation all round.



As above, the only knowledge that the staff may have had was that the company would go into administration today. The closure of the shops is something of a shock to everyone I would imagine.

I'm basing the comment based on a comment from Caspa307that has now been clarified. As I said earlier, my gut was that had they known earlier than today, they wouldn't have taken my game. Also, it was my decision to put it on a card. They spent ages telling me what was available to buy in store right then.

I'm hoping all the lads in the Limerick store get a job asap. If their rivals had hald a brain, they would given them all jobs

Orim

Achilles wrote: »

Upper management would have known that they were closing soon this is why I'm so ****ing angry.

As I said I don't really care about the credit all I want is my games back.

Upper management in MJA Jervis and SD Maddison may have known in advance but as far as I can see the management for Game have tried to keep everything running for as long as possible. If they were going to close the shops they would have closed them while they still had control of the company.

As I said this decision was taken outside of the Game group.

Beefy78

moz wrote: »

That was my original point. Much as we all, well most of us lament the passing of Game and reminisce of the good ol days I find it hard to believe that this came totally out of the blue to even the guys on the front line.
A heads up to loyal customers who have been going there for years like "why dont you trade this lot on Monday wink wink" wouldn't have hurted.
Very dissappointed.

Even if the staff there knew that this was a possibility, if they were still holding out hope that the business could survive and they'd thereore keep their jobs then why would they try to put people off? GAME's problem is cash. Trade-ins for credit boost that cashflow and I'm sure the importance of generating cash has been drilled into staff as GAME's problems have come to light.

The one in Galway is gone too, apparently. This makes me really sad, because I loved the people in there. They were always really pleasant to deal with and great to chat to. Even if another shop offered a better deal, I would go to them just because of their employees.

jill_valentine

Staff had no idea it was happening today. The stores got the call literally mid-transaction.

FutureGuy

jill_valentine wrote: »

Staff had no idea it was happening today. The stores got the call literally mid-transaction.

Thats very very sad.

LoganIn

FutureGuy wrote: »

I could have sold it on adverts for 35 cash. I could have traded it in at gamestop for around 37 against a preorder of my choice. GAME were crying out for newer titles so they could get some business. Heck I even thought about buying 5 copies of ME3 with my credit in CeX Dublin and trade it back to Game for equal value just to help them get stock.

I traded it in at GAME to help a store I have supported for over 15 years. A store that have been very good to me over those 15 years. A store where I consider many of the staff to be friends.

I didn't get a vita as I hadn't full credit for it there and then.

Yes I do disagree with you. However, I'm not backing my view up by saying you are incorrect and uninformed. Those are facts independant of my views.

you were going to buy 5 copies lol.
dude, its a business. game dont care about you. as long as you kept buying games thats all they cared about ... your store credit as well as everyone elses dont mean jack to them now.

look i dont mean to come off as rude but countless companies have gone bust shafting people. stuff like this will happen over and over again. you cant trust a company thats going under.

FutureGuy

caspa307 wrote: »

sorry should make this clearer they knew the it would be decided today as in if they were going into administration or if they were being bought out, nobody expect to be sent home today

Thansk for clarifying that, i couldn't believe it when I read it tbh.

LoganIn

LoganIn wrote: »

you were going to buy 5 copies lol.
dude, its a business. game dont care about you. as long as you kept buying games thats all they cared about ... your store credit as well as everyone elses dont mean jack to them now.

look i dont mean to come off as rude but countless companies have gone bust shafting people. stuff like this will happen over and over again. you cant trust a company thats going under.

But you're not dealing with the company, you're dealing with the staff. I can actually understand FutureGuy's thinking.

FutureGuy

LoganIn wrote: »

you were going to buy 5 copies lol.
dude, its a business. game dont care about you. as long as you kept buying games thats all they cared about ... your store credit as well as everyone elses dont mean jack to them now.

look i dont mean to come off as rude but countless companies have gone bust shafting people. stuff like this will happen over and over again. you cant trust a company thats going under.

OK now you're you really beginning to piss me off. You were rude and yet I answered your questions openly and honestly.

I couldn't care what Game as a company think about me, and I wouldn't expect them to. I care about the fact that alot of good people were in danger of losing their jobs, and that there might have been a chance that store closures were on a location-by-location basis.

Thanksfully, I'm in a financial position that I don't care about losing a fiver in trade-in value or placing preorders at my local store even though they are a little more expensive (like I did with MW3 Hardened Edition and Street Fighter v Tekken Limited Edition with GAME).

The fact that you think my actions were driven only by greed is fcuking pathetic tbh.

LoganIn

Deleted User wrote: »

But you're not dealing with the company, you're dealing with the staff. I can actually understand FutureGuy's thinking.

but its the head office, not the staff they are just doing what head office says.
H.O. had no issue with stores giving people credit. whilst they try to solve their debt. but equally have no problem if people get shafted if it went bust ... 'sorry dont have the money to honor your credit, but we're going to sell on your games as assets. cheers'