Need a Kick Up the backside (Game)

Member Name: robertjb

Product:	Game
Date:	14/09/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Broad range of titles, good bundles

Disadvantages: Lack of customer service, arrogant staff, small cramped stores, over-priced pre-owned

Being a massive video game fan, it would seem pretty obvious that I would spend significant periods of time in Game, the biggest and s'pposedly best games retailer in the UK. Well I used to...not anymore.

Game may have a very extensive range of products available on their shelves and fair play to them for bringing a whole lot of variety but this is not simply enough to encourage business. What really matters to me is customer service and I feel that this is an area where they struggle. There just seems to be a lack of spirit in the stores and no-one tries to be friendly and pleasant to the customers.

My brother and I used to be the shop every week just having a nosey round seeing if there were any bargains but this seems to count for nothing. When purchasing anything the staff seem very arrogant and in particular senior staff in the store are quite rude and seem to look down if you ask them a geniune question about any products they supply. This is not okay in my opinion especially when I've been a loyal customer over the years and spent hundreds if not thousands of pounds in their shops. I feel that a bit of respect or even just acknowledgement would not be much to ask for.

My other personal pet-hate would be that you can't be in the store five seconds without being approached by a member of staff and then another and then another checking to see if you need any help. I understand that the staff work on a commission basis but there are only so many times that I feel I should have to say "No thanks, I'm just having a look" during one visit to a store.

Stores often are quite small and feel very cramped particularly when busy and this tends to put me off shopping instore. My final complaint about Game would be that their pre-owned prices are ridiculous, they will offer you barely any money for a lot of games yet you'll see that they are selling the same game for around £20, talk about taking advantage.

I think that the main issue that has contributed to this problem is the fact that there is not a lot of competition in the games market. HMV is starting to pick up bits of the market and the supermarkets are also gaining share so hopefully this will give Game the kick up the backside to turn the focus back to retaining customers because I know that I won't be back in the shop!

Summary: I avoid Game because their service and manner are poor, try someone different for your video games!