Returned faulty PS3 and was given a pre-owned one in exchange

asbokid

oh well.. all's well that ends well.. though maybe don't shop there again.. to be honest i've never heard of the place. is gamestation a chain of pawnbrokers then?

edit: ahh.. i just checked.. there's a store in town. must have walked past it 1000 times without noticing.. hmm..

ezio

They are a chain store selling games/consoles etc. and also buy and sell pre-owned games/consoles.

That's the first real issue I've ever had with them and it was more the individual than the Store as a whole.

The guy from Customer Service was excellent and even if it had been a different issue and i was in the wrong the fact he stuck to his word, called back when he said he would etc. would have gone a long way towards keeping me as a customer.

I've shopped at Gamestation for years and at that particular store for over a year. It used to be my go to store as i always found they had the best prices, especially on pre-owned games, and also the best by far selection of pre-owned games and games for older consoles.

Off topic, the increase in prices for pre-owned games and consoles in general has been shocking.
A short time ago i would expected to pay no more than half price for a pre-owned console/games now your lucky to save £5 or £10.
I can understand that on games, its the software your buying etc., but on consoles? That's not right. A pre-owned console may work at purchase but for how long? There could be extreme wear and tear internally and that should be reflected in the price.

Trade in prices are bad too. Gamestation currently, and IMHO shockingly, only give £15 for trading in a core XboX 360 but re-sell them for £109.99. They need to make a profit but not by ripping off customers.

Anyway, sorry for the rant! I'm more than happy with the outcome and am enjoying KILLZONE 3 and all the free PSN content from the network being hacked/down!:)

NeilF3485

Congrats Ezio, am pleased you got the outcome which was warranted.

Just thought i'd say for the record that i've never had any problems with Gamestation, and they are still my shop of choice for gaming stuff (if i'm on the high street rather than on t'interweb).

I also think that this thread shouldn't put people off Gamestation (although I accept that it will) - this seems like the entire situation was caused by one disgraceful member of staff, and from what Ezio has said, both Customer Services and the Assistant manager etc. did everything they could to resolve the situation quickly and amicably. I've never had an issue with them, but am glad to see that if something did go wrong it would be sorted.

Anyway, here is my round of applause!
:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

ezio

NeilF3485 wrote: »

Congrats Ezio, am pleased you got the outcome which was warranted.

Just thought i'd say for the record that i've never had any problems with Gamestation, and they are still my shop of choice for gaming stuff (if i'm on the high street rather than on t'interweb).

I also think that this thread shouldn't put people off Gamestation (although I accept that it will) - this seems like the entire situation was caused by one disgraceful member of staff, and from what Ezio has said, both Customer Services and the Assistant manager etc. did everything they could to resolve the situation quickly and amicably. I've never had an issue with them, but am glad to see that if something did go wrong it would be sorted.


Anyway, here is my round of applause!
:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

Thanks.:)

And i do agree, i think it was the manager, and ONLY the manager who was at fault.
Both Customer Service and the Assistant Manager were faultless, as i noted above.

I put the poll in out of sheer curiosity and because i frequent a lot of gaming forums and there is a huge number of people, on totally separate forums, who have had every sort of problem you can imagine with them, from huge to small annoyances.

A lot of these problems were with in store management, like mine, which is why i mention it. More "bad individuals" rather than "inherently evil company":), and a fair few did date from 2008 and concern the website side of things, which, although the same company, can be a different experience all together!

I hope it DOESN'T put people off shopping there as despite my experience it was sorted out extremely quickly and to my advantage.
You couldn't really ask for more

My only other problem is with pre-owned prices but that's with the industry as a whole!

To sum up, shockingly bad experience which was swiftly and satisfactorily sorted out and a horrible individual rather than a horrible company (in my experience)

Just hope this shows anyone who has a similar experience with ANY company to stand their ground!

Thanks again to all who replied.
Although i basically knew i was right it was nice to have that bit of confirmation and support from you guys:)

Olokia

I'm thinking that he knew it was a faulty console and wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible rather than having to "retire" it and lose him money.

With the stolen thing, I think that is unlikely because when the police come round with the serial number, they will check to see if has ever been in gamestation and follow it from there.

From my experience, I would never get a second hand console from Gamestation because I know that my local one doesn't check properly. I had a friend who had a faulty console and knew that they didn't check so tried to chance her luck and sell it there. She left it there for an hour for testing and when she came back they gave her the money for it. The console didn't even turn on.

Btw, I don't agree with what she did. I used to work for CEX and hated it when people tried it on with us. It never worked though because we always checked thoroughly. Even worse were the people who sold their working phone to CEX and then reported it lost. The phone would get blocked and the next person who bought it would think badly of CEX for buying in a stolen phone when it was only reported afterwards.

fozzeh

Not much more to be said then has above. Good to see the right outcome!

ezio

Just before i let this die i thought you would all like to know this.

As I'm running out storage space for discs i thought i would go down to Gamestation and buy one of the small disc racks they sell for £6, using the refunded money from my returned console, that had been put on to a gift card for me. . I'm only about 6 disc spaces short so I've no need for a big expensive one.

As i was getting served the guy said "thanks to you our manager is on a leave of absence". I thought he was going to have a go at me when he suddenly said "thanks mate, he is a b****rd to work for!"

I just laughed at that and said no problem!:)

Apparently the staff were informed this morning that the manager would be absent for the next few days. Not on holiday, just absent.

The guy who served me then said he later asked the assistant manager, when he was on his own, and was told the manager was on forced leave but he couldn't really say anymore.
I didn't realise i would cause all this trouble by trying to sort out my PS3!

I only went to the shop, as they know me a little, to ask them if they could possibly test it on one of their high def monitors, just as a favour, to help me find out if the PS3 HDMI port was faulty or my new monitor as i had no easier way to test it, having tried everything else.
I had thought all along i would have to send it to Sony for repair and was resigned to do just that when the manager did what he did.

Even though the Manager ripped me off, and has the attitude of a complete p***k, i can't help but feel a little sorry for him if this has jeopardized his job as that was never my intention.
I just wanted my PS3 fixed and to not get conned.

I did want him reprimanded as he acted appallingly, and maybe that would stop him doing it to someone else, but this is a bit more than i really expected.

Damn my stupid conscience!

EDIT: Meant to say, Olokia, i thought about that one (him knowing it was faulty) as well. The whole "stolen console theory" was just one of many me and my partner came up with to try and understand what the guy was up to.

While what your friend did was obviously wrong it does show, along with what happened with me, that not all of the stores are as stringent in their checks and tests of pre-owned goods as they claim to and should be.

I was told the one i got was fully serviced and tested for quality and safety. Yeah, right!

Apart from being ready to break down totally, every piece of the original owners data, and that of his friends and whoever else used the console, was still on it despite me being told the servicing nonsense and also that all pre-owned consoles were "formatted back to factory specs"

For those who don't know, the amount of information i could have gotten from that console was enormous.
It would have included full names,aliases, email addresses, passwords, access to any card info linked to the PlayStation network from which i could have bought movies, games, extra game content, music, etc. plus access to all the outgoing and incoming messages logged on the system, for every user, and everyone they had ever spoken to that way.
There were HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of messages on it.

Being just as curious as anyone else i looked at a few. Some of the ones i saw just said thanks or OK but some held a lot more personal info. For example, due to a friend of the previous owner asking when his friend was moving to Glasgow, i know what street in what city the guy lives. That, coupled with some of the other info, could have been like winning the lottery to a criminal! I could have stolen any of their identities and did a lot of damage.

A lot of people wouldn't think to format their console before trading it in, not realising what an info goldmine it is for people with less than honest intentions, and Gamestation don't help by lying about clearing this sort of info.

EDIT: one day i promise to make a small post!:)

bluenoseam

You're complaining about a location in the busiest city in Scotland here - your point "A lot of people wouldn't think to format their console before trading it in, not realising what an info goldmine it is for people with less than honest intentions, and Gamestation don't help by lying about clearing this sort of info." is easilly explained. Gamestation's policy was all consoles had to be formated prior to resell, however that doesn't always happen - mistakes can be made, that doesn't mean they're lying about something.

By the sounds of it the manager was a muppet, but i tend to think that swearing at someone isn't exactly pleasant either - but happy you got it sorted out in the end.

NeilF3485

Even though the Manager ripped me off, and has the attitude of a complete p***k, i can't help but feel a little sorry for him if this has jeopardized his job as that was never my intention.
I just wanted my PS3 fixed and to not get conned.

Don't feel sorry for him, he has been the architect of his own downfall.

For the business to not have simply reprimanded him as you proposed and suspended/fired him instead, would suggest that he has form and this is not the first incident he has been involved in.

It is better if he is out of a customer facing role; if he treated you that way I imagine you are not the first, nor would you have been the last. Rather than feel sorry for him, feel good about the number of people who may now have avoided this kind of issue in that store in future.

misssarahleigh

Just wanted to say congrats.

People like this should rightly be sacked from the sales industry. Like I always say, i will make a song and dance about anything and stand my ground. Other people don't have the same determination or knowledge to do such things and I believe those who do should stand up for themselves and others who may be taken advantage of in the future.