PriceMatch
Gamestation offer a PriceMatch policy on their trade ins.
As advertised in store – they “Wont Be Beaten On Trade-Ins”.
This essentially means that whatever price anyone else is offering – they will beat it by a clear £1.
You can read the full details of the policy here:
http://www.gamestation.co.uk/gs/info/StaticPageDisplay?langId=45&storeId=10651&categoryId=12102&brdcrmb_trail=Help%7CProducts-Services&catalogId=10202
The only thing they will rarely commit to paper is the ‘actual’ terms and conditions of the PriceMatch.
They (on the website) loosely say that they will PriceMatch a “local competitor”. Now in our time as serial PriceMatchers, this has come to mean 1 mile, 3 miles, 5 miles, 10 miles (you get the picture). It will be different from store to store, from manager to manager. It *REALLY* helps if you have a CEX store in your local Town/City Centre (or HMV/Argos).
They issued an internal memo to each store in September 2011 stating that they will no longer PriceMatch ‘SuperMarkets’ (as Tesco/Asda now offer a Trade In service) – however this memo is sometimes ignored and sometimes remembered. Fear not, we rarely PriceMatch a supermarket.
They will also sometimes throw you the nonsense of “We don’t PriceMatch if its above what we sell it for”. Again – this is *NOT* in the rules on their website. But if they have something on their shelves that they sell for £19.99 and we are trying to PriceMatch CEX’s £25 (i.e. get £26 for it) they *may* refuse the trade – or they may say – “We’ll only give you £20 trade because we sell it for £19.99”.
This is utter nonsense and *WILL* be a manager-to-manager basis. Some managers really will “flex their muscles” when it comes to showing off the power they have. At this point, you can either walk away and wait for a different manager/staff member – or simply accept the reduced price (sometimes it’s only a pound or two off the desired price).
The rules we have learnt from our PriceMatching past are these:
Golden Rule: “Prove It”
You need to have proof of the price you have found. CEX offer an upto date price list on their website – which is updated every 5 minutes. So if you can show them this price – it is as current as its going to get! Some sites (Gamestation etc) will allow you to simply call up the site on your mobile phone/device and show them the price. Others wont (I think it depends what mood they are in)
Failing that – you can do a print out. Each CEX store does have a printer in it – but this is specifically used for stock-keeping and daily report running for their head office – so unless you once saved the manager’s life – don’t bother asking – as refusal may offend. The best bet is to use a computer and printer (your own, your works, your local library) and print out a copy of the page on the website with the price on it.
We will always provide a PDF of the price page as often as we can – so you can simply click this and print. Some sites (and only when they are being ESPECIALLY douche’esque) will ask that the page is dated. This is the dumbest rule we have ever heard – as when you print from the internet – you can access the Header/Footer and type in whatever date you want – so having it on there (and having it as a rule) is plain dumb.
Some Gamestations (again, depending on mood/manager/full moon) will say they *ONLY* accept print outs direct from the CEX system. See prior statement, as their printers/ink/paper is like gold dust and they wont print out things from their system (what company will let a customer come in and print from their internal computer system!?!)
For price matching other venues like Tesco/Amazon, they too have websites with current prices – so these can also be printed out.
HMV don’t have an online system (and again – trying to get them to print from store will be an uphill struggle) but they do have an ‘App’ for their trades (called “Re/Play”). You can try and show this screen on the app to the store (its worked before) buy many will argue the point that it needs to be printed out – again – how they can make a statement like “we wont be beaten” but then say only upon production of a print out – when a store (like HMV/CEX) cant directly print out things for the customer – is beyond me.
Its like a store advertising that “Everything in Store Only 10p” – then having it in the rules that to have any item at the 10p price you have to produce the horn of a unicorn. Its ridiculous.
Rule Number 2: The Store (Being Matched) Has To Be Open (?!?)
We have had it before that during – for example “Midnight Launch” – of a game, when we’ve tried to PriceMatch a game – they have refused and said something smarmy like “They’ll give you £20 at CEX…? Okay, go and trade it there – oh yeah – they’re closed – its midnight!”. Yes. Incredibly rude (you’ll get used to that dealing with Gamestation) but they do technically have a point. So if you plan to PriceMatch whilst queuing all hours of the night for a Midnight Launch – then you need to trade your gear in during the day/weeks before.
Rule Number 3: UnShrinkWrap The ShrinkWrap
Gamestation & CEX both have refused Trade’s before based on the fact the games have been sealed. In the argument that the games are brand new sealed and therefore technically “Untested”. You (the seller) can prove they work – because you haven’t opened it to test them!? The only exception to this rule is when trading your games/goods at CEX. Some prices on their website are for games with a “(S)” in the title. The ‘S’ in brackets denotes that the game must be sealed. This is mainly for games with DLC or codes to work (i.e. PC games) but always make note. With Gamestation 99.99% of the time the game must be ‘unshrunkwrapped’.
Rule Number 4: Steal Everything From the Box Prior To Trade.
Gamestation trade rules have nothing to do with the condition of the manual/contents (excluding the disc of course). They state “All games must be in original packaging, in good working order and of satisfactory quality”. This means that if there’s a particularly nice Map in the box (like most Elder Scrolls/GTA games) then keep it! A LOT of games nowadays come with some sort of nice DLC (aka “Download Content”) and again – if you are trading in a game to Gamestation – even if it’s the ‘Limited Edition’ of the game that *COMES* with DLC, then you don’t have to give it to them. They will simply sell the game as usual with a sticker on it saying “DLC Might Be Used” – which in our case it will be.
You don’t even have to include the Manual – so for games like “40k Space Marine” the online code was printed on the back of the Manual – so we simply removed all the manuals from the game boxes! The box (usually has to be the right colour – i.e. Green boxes for trading Xbox games), the disc must be unscratched and the artwork must be English and Original (no imports or printed copies).
If the disc is scratched (which they shouldn’t if we are buying to move on) then they sometimes reject the trade – and sometimes they’ll offer to take the disc but knock off £1/£2 to have the disc cleaned in their machines.
Although you will no longer have the game – the Manuals, Maps, DLC, Extras can be worth a lot of money on eBay. With “99p Auctions” now being free to list (for certain sellers) or super cheap – why not throw them on and see what you get. Gears of War 3 Download Content sold like moon dust – Saints Row 3 made serious money… They all have a worth – just need the patience to sell them! (all those £2s, £3s, £8s all add up in your PayPal account!)
If you encounter any other super ridiculous caveats to the rules – then please – drop us a message here and let us know. Its always good to keep the public informed of more magical excuses to renege on their “Wont Be Beaten” rules.
