Did I get ripped off at Gamestation? Please can anyone answer me?

[phillai]

Today, I went to gamestation as my sister asked me to trade her various xbox stuff in for a nintendo wii.

Now to cut a long story short, I'm aware that Gamestation match CEX price's and beat them by ?1 (I printed off the proof in advance and showed them CEX exchange prices from their website).
But I was very surprised when I traded in the xbox 360, hard drive, wifi adapter, extra controller and 20 games that they ONLY matched CEX's exchange price and beat it by ?1.

Is this correct?

I thought they match and beat each individual item by ?1.

Please can someone let me know as I am sure I got ripped off and I'm sure that this has not occured to me in the past at a different gamestation store...

[chopemon]

I was under the impression they did it for each item but I'm sure they'd have got snotty about it if you asked them as part of their constant campaign of hating their customers.

[phillai]

I explained whats the difference if I just came in and out trading one item and he said it's to stop people abusing the system and that I can only do it once every 24 hours... I am sure this is utter bolox.

The thing is, I didn't even want a cash price... I wanted a trade value to buy a brand new Wii, something that CEX don't do cause they only do 2nd hand.

Anyone else had **** like this before?

[shiffy]

I've only recently started to use Gamestation's "Price Match" relatively recently. On every occasion I've used it though, they've always beaten the price on every individual item by ?1 rather than in your case where they've beaten the "basket value" of your trade-in by ?1.

http://www.gamestation.co.uk/gs/info/Trade-in

You may want to look at this (or take a copy into the store with you) when you go back to complain. I can't see any mention of a limit to the number of trades per person in a 24 hour period. And you could also explain that you could have bought a whole group of people down to exchange each individual item.

From what I have noticed, I think the Gamestation staff have to override the trade-in price of each item manually to beat the competitor's price by ?1. You mention that you traded in 20+ items. To me, that smells of complete laziness on the part of the Gamestation staff of not wanting to override every single price. (To do this would have taken a little time)

If this were me, I'd certainly be inclined to go back to the store & take it up with the manager. (Unfortunately, the terms to state that trade-ins are at the discretion of the manager & their decision is final). Be prepared to ask for his superior's details (head office address + phone number / area manager's details ... etc). This might convince the manager that you're prepared to fight & he may back down & give you back the difference.

Sorry I can't be of any more help, but to answer you're initial question .... I think you've been ripped off. And I do believe that you should at least try to get the money difference back.

[phillai]

The guy next to the guy serving me was the manager.

From the terms and conditions, it does seem like I got shafted.

When I signed the slip for the goods, I did also mark it like this (so I do have some come back)...
* to look into further

When I came back into the shop 5 mins later, I could definitely hear them mumbling about what I did (as in how I signed for the exchanged goods) and they quickly shut up when they saw it was me again waiting at the counter to be served again.

I really wanna make a complaint but I have no idea how to.

I reckon I should call their head office up after bank holiday...

[Jay]

Phone their customer services department and take it from there. The fact that the manager was nearby and allowed this to happen suggests that going back to the shop to fight your cause is going to result in little more than an argument at the counter.

[teddymeow]

Yeah. It should be for each item if the CEX price is more. We ask customers to bring in either a printed copy of their CEX basket from the website or show it to us on a smartphone and it's job done!

[egparadigm]

I think you got shafted. While it sounds like they may have lived up to the letter of the rules, it doesn't sound like they lived up to the spirit of them. That is to say, you still got a better trade in price, and it's manager's discretion, but I'm sure GS intends, and most other people get, ?1 per item.

[phillai]

Made a phone call to Gamestaion HQ to complain about what's happened to me and the custie service guy says the beat ?1 thing is on the overall trade in price... I told him I'm not happy and he was having a go at me saying why I signed for it and left the shop!!

He's getting his superiors to call me back in an hour... How should I react?

[dataDave]

Use the race card?

Seriously though mate, I don't know. The dude you just spoke to was right, if you didn't like the deal then you shouldn't have gone through with it.

It'd be the same as walking away after getting the wrong change.

[phillai]

You funny dude!

I signed it not happy!! Lets hear what they have to say later...

[bash]

datadave is right, never sign if you're not happy with the deal.

[egparadigm]

I can understand signing for it. The price was still beaten, so you're not going to get better elsewhere, and you can't debate with the staff of the shop.

[phillai]

I signed for it not happy and left as I was in a rush as parking nearby was a nightmare. I had to check that I not got a parking ticket as it was 30 mins tops and they already took long enough to scan all the stuff thru and test the 360 console.

But this has been on my ever mind since.

[phillai]

Get in!! I've won my argument...

I've just spoke to top team leader bloke called Andrew and he's giving me back ?1 per item THAT I knew was owed to me.

Moral is, it doesn't pay for sucky Gamestation staff to rip honest custies off!