GameStop reportedly pestering customers to trade in games

By The Gamepros
February 16, 2007 11:46 AM PST
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GameStop's new automated calling system zooms past "doorbell going off while you're in the shower" and into "fingernails screeching on chalkboard" territory.

Has GameStop crossed the line?

Reports from several sources have indicated that Aeris, GameStop's "lovable" auto-dialing machine, has started to make unsolicited phone calls to people whose only crime was being gracious enough to buy their games. A blogger from Ars Technica writes:

"I preordered Zelda: Twilight Princess a while back when I was waiting for the Wii. I picked it up and never thought about it again. Then, at dinnertime last night, my phone rang."

We hope you're enjoying your copy of Twiliight Princess, but if you're finished with it, why don't you bring it to the store and trade it in?"
--GameStop automated message

"'We hope you're enjoying your copy of Twiliight Princess, but if you're finished with it, why don't you bring it to the store and trade it in? We're willing to give you $35 in trade for your copy of Twilight Princess....' I hung up at this point, and try[sic] not to curse. I really don't like this sort of phone call, but I'm almost willing to tolerate it when they're telling me a game I want to buy is coming in."

A similar story appeared recently on The Consumerist, with the customer going as far as calling the customer service line to remove his name from the list:

"[I] waited on hold for a few minutes, got a CSR and asked that my name be removed from the solicitation list. I said that I don't mind the calls telling me my reserved games are in, but that the solicitations needed to stop. He said that the two systems are linked, and that I couldn't be removed from one without being removed from the other."

The customer then complied to be removed, but the operator did not confirm his deletion from the list, merely telling him that he had "put in a request" to the system. And as far as the customer knows (or any customer, for that matter), not once was he notified by a GameStop employee that his presence on the pre-order list would lead to possible sales calls.

A call to a local GameStop store revealed that this is, in fact, company policy. Not punishing gamers for pre-ordering their games, of course, but using the same phone number database for two separate purposes: one moderately helpful, the other completely irresponsible. One doesn't need a degree in brain surgeon school to figure out that GameStop needs to change this system, and fast.

This is absurd. What's really awful is that used game sales drastically hurt the sales of new games to publishers, making it even harder for them to earn a buck. GameStop pushing customers to trade in old games will affect everyone: less games, higher prices, and more licensed-movie crap.

I actually believe that a percentage of used game sales should go directly to the publisher and developer. What GameStop and EBGames do to convince people to trade in old games, for awful prices may I add, is downright sleazy.