Gamestation and GAME likely to go into administration, huge firesale on!

dizziblonde

Fished this off my FB - may be of use in clarifying what is/isn't being accepted to someone.

Important news about GAME


by GAME on Monday, 26 March 2012 at 13:59 ·

Dear GAME customers,

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

From: http://www.facebook.com/notes/game/important-news-about-game/10150774075271000

Somewhere in the comments is a list of stores being closed this week/today under both the Game and GameStation brands.

I've expressed before my dislike for the Game-branded chain in terms of the staff attitude, particularly to women gamers, and I've had pre-order problems with them lately myself (and wasn't impressed with their "suck it up and !!!!!!" intitial response) - but our local GameStation store bods have always been bang-on in terms of knowing their pet genres well and I'll be sorry if that store goes.

Mr_Toad

Game have been doomed for a while. They haven't been competitive and their sales model is being undermined by both on-line sales and the supermarkets.

On-line sellers who have got their act together don't have the shop overheads and as long as they can deliver quickly people will use them at the expense of Game and other stores.

I haven't been in a Game store for several years.

I buy all my games from the supermarket with the weekly shop. It's a no brainer really, pick up the game in Tesco or Asda, where it's either cheaper or the same price as high street shops, or drive into town, pay to park then walk from car park to shop and back.

Going into town requires a special trip and by the time you've added the cost of parking the game works out more expensive.

Using the supermarkets and On-line sellers is the way many people shop these days and our high streets are changing forever. It's what's killing the likes of HMV. Either stores can't afford to compete or they have senior managers who are still convinced that the Internet is just a passing phase that won't catch on.

I old enough to remember when shops knew they were the only place within miles selling certain things and you either paid what they wanted or went without. Mail order was rubbish, anyone my age will remember "Please allow 28 days for delivery". These shops they know you can order on-line, save a fortune, and have it the next day and that they are running out of older, loyal, customers willing to pay over the odds.

Even my parents who are in their mid 80s shop on-line using eBay, Amazon and having Tesco deliver their shopping.

TeacherMia

I think its a shame, more people without jobs.

dizziblonde

masonn wrote: »

Game have been doomed for a while. They haven't been competitive and their sales model is being undermined by both on-line sales and the supermarkets.

Pretty much - the duplication of stores was a massive issue as well for them. I was looking at the closed stores list this morning and in one town they had unit 28 and unit 30 in a mall - both as individual stores... that's a ridiculous rent bill - especially considering the stock was so standard across stores (apart from the odd pre-owned obscurity).

Have to say that some of their staff didn't help the situation - I used to avoid one branch because of their attitude to girls who bought games, and their ridiculous upselling attempts - you go in buying Alien Death Zombiegeddon... and get pushed to pre-order Cooking With Barbie Dance Mat Party!

I think I used them (as in Game, I used to pop into Gamestation a lot more frequently) once in about the last 3-4 months - to pre-order something they had retailer specific pre-order bonuses for - they managed to screw that up so spectacularly that for the 30 pre-orders the branch hat, they got 3 pre-order bonus codes sent through and the staff really didn't give a stuff about it... took a good couple of weeks of me pushing customer services to get the pre-order content I'd essentially paid for (because I could have got the game for at least a fiver less -plus no parking costs - in the supermarket, or probably nearer a tenner less if I'd gone around online). Still, it's better than a friend to whom they sent the pre-order bonus pack, and forgot to send the actual game he'd pre-ordered!

But while I'll not mourn the loss of the city centre branch, with staff staring blankly into the middle-distance, or looking at girls in the shop like they've got two heads - I WILL mourn the local market-town Gamestation one where the staff knew about more games than Call of Flipping Modern Warfare and with whom I've had some good conversations over the years about various different obscure games.

Mr_Toad

TeacherMia wrote: »

I think its a shame, more people without jobs.

I agree but they could have done something about that.

Unfortunately the senior management were the type that think customers are mugs to be fleeced or parents who'll pay anything if their precious child stamps their feet demanding the latest game.

They were wrong.

People sneer at Apple but they certainly have the right idea, as both their customer base and their share price proves.

Then there are the likes of Games Workshop. When my son was playing with their stuff we'd take him into the Nottingham store and leave him there while we went shopping. They ran games in the shops as well as demos on how to make and paint your models and figures.

He used to take his figures in and they'd not only show him how to paint them properly but provide paint and brushes to do it!

For high street shops to survive you either need a product nobody else is selling or to give something extra that you can't get on-line, Game did neither of these things.

kitschkitty

A bit late in adding to this post, but I wanted to thank the OP & those who added info on likely dates for the administration, as OH had been considering buying a game, and I managed to get it him by using up my 750 points so the game only cost us 48p. If it hadn't been for this thread I would have lost/wasted all my points& he wouldn't have got his game so cheers. :beer:

JamesK10

Thankfully now that the administration is over, the gift cards have been re-activated this weekend, just bumping this thread as well so people can see the news in two places.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/full-reward-and-gift-card-services-resume-at-game-this-weekend/093993

That's good news for any kids with hundreds on their cards saving for consoles.