Video game retailers

[new member]

Dude, stop that

I didn't even know it was doing it I'll switch it off later if I can remember (assuming it can be switched off).

[Dudley]

Well, if they don't accept it, I won't be darkening their doorstep until the end of time, let alone for another 4 months.

That would be somewhat petty, legally they have no debt to you whatsoever. You lent money to a business which failed.

They will be accepted again.

I hope so but you'd think they'd have wanted to announce that straight away.

[new member]

Maybe, there could well be something bigger to announce though than just the reintroduction of giftcards.

[Oh Danny Boy]

That would be somewhat petty, legally they have no debt to you whatsoever. You lent money to a business which failed.

Screw all this legal crap, he spent money with them and he expects a service in return. If they refuse his gift card then he has every right to be pissed off i would be. And if GAME have any common sense they wouldn't as they would be pissing off many potential cutomers at a time when they need their continued support

[Dudley]

He didn't spend money with "them". He lent money to a business that no longer exists.

And as for them having common sense I guess that depends entirely on how much money it represents. If it's a million or two, sure. If it was £100m?

[Transient Curse]

As Danny Boy says, screw all this legal crap. Saying the company doesn't exist when it's got the same name over the door and the same staff and the same stock is going to be pretty difficult for people to get onboard with. People are going to feel resentful.

As you say, Dudley, the amounts involved are difficult to estimate but I don't think anyone, least of all the company (Game2?), shouldn't expect people to not be pissed off and unwilling to continue offering them their business if they're going to make their first action as a new company one that stabs their loyal customers (there must be some) in the back. If they want to buy the name and goodwill they should pay attention to what that might mean to a lot of people.

[Dudley]

Really my whole interest in the thing is a desperate attempt to stop people keeping credit of any kind with retailers. Just don't do it.

[Red Alignment]

Noticed yesterday evening that my local HMV (now the sole remaining games retailer in the town centre) has severely shrunk its games section in the last fortnight. Great timing, guys.

[Monkeyboy]

That would be somewhat petty, legally they have no debt to you whatsoever. You lent money to a business which failed.

It was a gift certificate from my brother, bought in good faith, as a Christmas present.

[Camel]

It was a gift certificate from my brother, bought in good faith, as a Christmas present. I personally have no credit with Gamestation. Nor have I ever.

You should have refused the gift and given your brother a lecture on the legal ramifications of such a transaction.

[joffocakes]

So are they not going to accept gift cards with credit on them then? A genuine girl just asked me if I knew as she has £22 on hers.

[Camel]

A genuine girl

haha

[Monkeyboy]

You should have refused the gift and given your brother a lecture on the legal ramifications of such a transaction.

He thinks he's above the law. Always has. And now look at what's happened. I'm paying the price for his life on the edge, on the dark fringes of gift certificate law.

[MalevolentPanda]

It's perfectly understandable that people would keep outstanding credit with GAME anyway, isn't it? People trade stuff in when they're done with it, because if they wait it decreases sharply in value. But GAME usually had fuck all worth buying, because their prices were comical. So people would keep the credit either for when they wanted hardware, for which buying in GAME made sense, or for a blue moon to appear in the form of a GAME bargain.

I mean, obviously these people are stupid for not spending loads of time on an internet forum that would have given them day by day updates and supposition as to the financial health and likelihood of adminsitration for said retailer, but I guess some people are just idiots.

[Superunknown]

It's totally understandable that people have got store credit and gift vouchers with Game - has anyone said they were stupid though? All I've seen were posts from people advocating getting rid of it as fast as possible in the weeks before they went into administration.

I guess the question is whether the new management will see the goodwill lost if they don't honour giftcards as greater than the actual cost of doing so. As those decision-makers aren't going to be the ones facing off to upset customers, and will be coming into the role with a view to minimising costs, the outcome might not be the no-brainer we'd imagine it ought to be.

[MalevolentPanda]

It's totally understandable that people have got store credit and gift vouchers with Game - has anyone said they were stupid though? All I've seen were posts from people advocating getting rid of it as fast as possible in the weeks before they went into administration.

Well, Dudley has certainly been saying that no one should ever leave any outstanding credit with retailers. I was just pointing out that, particularly in the the case of GAME, there were very good reasons for doing so. I probably over did the stupid bit. Maybe I was reading in a tone that wasn't intended.

[StumpyJohn]

I guess the question is whether the new management will see the goodwill lost if they don't honour giftcards as greater than the actual cost of doing so. As those decision-makers aren't going to be the ones facing off to upset customers, and will be coming into the role with a view to minimising costs, the outcome might not be the no-brainer we'd imagine it ought to be.

It's not so much goodwill lost though is it, more like badwill gained.

The vast majority of people will see Game before and after administration as exactly the same entity irrespective of the legal distinction between the two. If they don't honour giftcards then they will be generating negative publicity, honouring them will be seen as 'normal behaviour' by many rather than as goodwill. In many ways this being seen as normal behaviour could be good as people will more quickly forget the short period where giftcards/ credit were suspended. The 'new' game might be able to limit their exposure a bit without too much negativity; so old credit must be redeemed in a short time period or only against pre-owned etc but unless they are going to kill the brand and start over I think they pretty much have to at least appear to honour giftcards.

Put another way; if little Johnny's £30 birthday giftcard from Granny gets refused I can't see the mums and grans buying from them again.

[Superunknown]

I agree that they should honour them - I guess it depends on what management considers the potential bad will to be worth in their grand scheme.

Does anyone know what happened with Zavvi giftcards etc post administration? It's slightly different though, as they did disappear from the high street, so Granny probably thinks they're utterly dead.

[deerokus]

They are dead, the 'Zavvi' that exists has nothing to do with Zavvi, The Hut just bought the brand to stick on a website. The company itself was liquidated.

Here's an (outdated) bit from wikipedia about Zavvi giftcards http://en.wikipedia...._administration

[Dudley]

So are they not going to accept gift cards with credit on them then? A genuine girl just asked me if I knew as she has £22 on hers.

They haven't announced yet.

Legally they have absolutely no compulsion to but there are indications they will take the hit and do so. (and it would be a hit, the company redeeming said card would never received money for them).

I'd say there's a possibility of them accepting them for preowned only.

[new member]

The hope is to be up and running for the weekend as long as its achievable. You should be able to use the cards for anything but there will hopefully be some changes that everyone will be happy with.

[Creamstick]

Does anyone know what happened with Zavvi giftcards etc post administration?

There was a riot in the store at the Fort in Glasgow where I worked. Easily about 2000 people. Utter, utter chaos. Staff getting battered, the manager pulled over the counter, the place was ransacked, Just torn apart. One girl I worked with was brained by some arsehole with a basket full of DVDs. It was horrible.

The administrators released the news of them no longer accepting the giftcards on the radio that morning, and nowhere else, probably thinking that not many people would hear it, and hey! they put the word out there. The mall security, our security guy sand the police cleared the store and we closed the shutters. At that point I hadn't been paid for five weeks. A few people just didn't bother showing up for work after that day.

[dayte]

2000 people? Sounds more like any excuse for violence and disorder, rather than getting angry over irredeemable giftcards...

[Creamstick]

2000 people? Sounds more like any excuse for violence and disorder, rather than getting angry over irredeemable giftcards...

Pretty much, it was about 8.30/9am, and there was a horde waiting outside when we were just getting to work. We were scared to open the store to be honest. It threatened to kick off at least once a day for the next week.

[new member]

Giftcards are back online guys.

[Dudley]

Yep good to see, I'd be interested to know how much it will cost them.

[SozzlyJoe]

new member, do you work for GAME? Dunno if you have said so already or not, just curious.

Do you have any insight on when they are going to start stocking EA/Nintendo/etc. games again?

[new member]

new member, do you work for GAME? Dunno if you have said so already or not, just curious.

Do you have any insight on when they are going to start stocking EA/Nintendo/etc. games again?

I haven't said But yeah, I do. Unfortunately I have no idea on EA and Nintendo etc. New stock should be coming in now and over the weekend but I don't know what stock or from where. I have no doubt GAME will be back onboard with all publishers pretty quickly though but that is just my personal opinion of course.

[mushashi]

The statement about the takeover did mention normalising of trading, otherwise OpCapita just wasted their money on a business without access to suppliers, which I highly doubt.

[Dudley]

There's literally no reason for people not to supply them now so they will, just it takes time to get people sufficiently high up in both organisations to sign the right things, especially as GAME basically HAD no higher up people for 2 weeks.