EB Games

Full review
If you like being mistreated, be sure to shop here (EB Games/GameStop). Initially, I went to two of their stores (Inglewood, CA and Fox Hills in Culver City, CA) to purchase several used games and two new sets of dance pads. A clerk at the Inglewood store (Rolland) tried to charge me over $50 (the price of a brand new game) for a used DDR Mario Brothers Mix (with no dance pad) that was listed on GameStop.com at $24.99. The packaging and inserts were badly damaged, and the software was already opened with a great big "USED" sticker on the envelope! When I protested that this was obviously used, not new, merchandise, Rolland proceeded to argue loudly with me that, no, it was new -- the ragged packaging, opened software and "used" sticker didn't matter, it's new! -- until I just gave up and left.

That should have been my clue, but -- silly me -- I went to the Fox Hills store to give it another go. Although the clerk wasn't blatantly rude, he wasn't helpful either, and pretty much brushed me off instead of helping me locate the items I went there to buy. It seemed almost like these people were determined that I should not buy from them! So I left.

It gets worse. Glutton for punishment that I am, I went to GameStop.com to order the items, which included Game Cube-compatible DDR dance mats. The website indicated the pads were in stock along with the rest of the merchandise I ordered, and everything seemed to proceed okay. I waited nearly a week for my order to be delivered, only to find that GameStop.com had shipped me the wrong dance pads (PS2 compatible). I called because I wanted to send them back for a refund, but the rep insisted that wasn't necessary because they had the correct pads. The phone call took nearly a half hour, while I sat on hold waiting for him to verify that the correct dance pads were in fact in stock. He claimed that one of his warehouse people had physically checked and determined that the correct pads were definitely in stock, and he promised to send them out to me that day, promising further that they would arrive no later than 7 days. It's now 8 days since then, and I've still received no dance pads.

My original order was placed on 8/6. It's now 8/17, 11 days later. I called GameStop.com today and was told that they just discovered TODAY that Game Cube compatible dance pads are not available after all and never have been -- they thought they were, but that was a mistake. To remedy my problem, I was told to go to the nearest EB Games or GameStop and TRADE IN my PS2-compatible pads for something else!!!! Are these people kidding??

I'm learning, though. I'm going to contact my credit card company directly to have them stop payment, instead of trusting this company to refund my money. I would never be bothered with this kind of nonsense, but the games were a gift for my grandsons, due days ago. Actually, they could have had them days ago if I had only ordered directly from Nintendo, as I had originally considered. But I thought GameStop would be faster. Hah!! And I'm going to end up ordering from Nintendo after all. (Also, I ordered some other games from Amazon the same day I placed my order with GameStop, and those arrived over a week ago.) Live and learn.

Anyway, it's just a warning that these people don't have it together, and you'll waste a lot of time dealing with them. If you don't mind putting up with this kind of discourtesy, unprofessionalism, and irresponsibility, then at least be forewarned about the prospect of never getting your stuff -- and possibly never getting your refund either, absent a court order!