I think I am out of $600 and counting for who knows how long… (Beware rant within.)
Updated on 5/5/17: After such a long time, they have finally issued my refund.
I originally ordered the $599 Nintendo Switch bundle from GameStop to be delivered to my apartment. Supposedly the postman attempted to deliver it 3 times. It was odd that it didn’t go to my front office when all packages at my apartment complex go to the front office, and I’ve never had issues. When I checked the final order status it was attempted at nearly 9 PM, but I never heard any knocks at the door and only got 3 little notices attached to my door. After the 3rd notice it said it was the final delivery attempt and would be kept at the shipping center nearby.
I called the facility the next morning (note that I didn’t even see this notice until the morning) to make sure it was there before I would leave my apartment, and they informed me that I couldn’t stop the shipment and it was already on its way back to the sender.
…What?
I called GameStop to ask what was going on and they said that they could not cancel the shipping back. I said okay that I’d pay for the shipping to send it again since I still wanted the product. After being on hold for 10 minutes they told me that I would be getting a refund for the product instead.
…What?
After an extensive questioning, I eventually found out the reason they couldn’t send it back to me was because they had already released it to another person on the wait list for the console. So then they said I would be given a refund and then hung up on me when I protested again.
So I was like okay, fine, I’ll just take the refund and buy the Switch from another source. I go out and buy the Switch from 5miles and wait patiently for my refund to go through.
2 weeks later, still no refund. But I do have a $32 restocking fee added to my credit card for a refund I did not request.
So I call customer service again and, after being put on hold for 15 minutes, speak to another customer service representative. He tells me he needs to check the status of my refund and puts me on hold for another 5 minutes. Then he comes back to explain to me that they cannot refund my money until all components of the bundle have been sent back.
I said that all components have been sent back. I received two order shipping confirmations and both had already been sent back. The memory card had been shipped separately and was similarly sent back after a single delivery attempt (supposedly there was an issue with my apartment number, so they total 3 delivery attempts on the website, but there was only one note at my door). The representative asked me to hold on while he figured out what was going on.
Apparently one more piece has not yet been shipped to me–the charging dock. He said that it would be shipped out on April 6th and should arrive in 5-10 business days from then. That means roughly April 17-20th. In the meantime, they cannot process my refund. I asked if they could just not ship it and process me the full refund right now. They said they have to attempt all parts since they are part of a bundle. That means that I am A) out of $600 for the cost of the bundle until at least April 20th (I originally ordered on March 6th) and B) am going to be charged restocking fees for all shipments, including this one that I do not even want to be attempted, because I was forced into a refund that I did not request.
I mean, I feel like everything about this experience was shady. The odd hour deliveries that nearly guaranteed I wouldn’t be there to open the door and receive my product. The long wait to ship different pieces so that they can’t process a refund until months later. The restocking fees for a refund I didn’t request. I don’t have any issues with deliveries for anything else I order. GameStop told me it was my fault for not being able to accept the delivery and that they did their due diligence.
So I guess GameStop gets to keep my $600 indefinitely depending on when they’d like to send me the rest of my bundle and charge me restocking fees for all the parts that they have to ship to me. On top of that, I never received their product. Also, who knows what will happen if a piece mysteriously disappears in the mail? Do I not get a refund at all because the bundle has to be complete?
When I asked the customer service representative to be connected to a manager, I was promptly hung up on.
I mean, I’m civil when I dispute and I don’t ever cuss at a representative. Nor do I believe its the representative’s fault. He’s just following directions. But I don’t know what else I can do at this point :(.
March 31, 2017 at 7:08 PM
Oh wow! You have every right to rant after that. I really hope you get things straightened out. 😦
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March 31, 2017 at 11:18 PM
Hopefully soon…
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March 31, 2017 at 9:41 PM
Oh my, I would be screaming from the rooftops if I was you. And then attempting to get everyone involved fired. Also reporting them to BBB or something. Since you have never received the product, I don’t see why they should hold your money. 😕
I hope you get your money back soon.
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March 31, 2017 at 11:17 PM
Yeah…so it’s been long enough that I’ll have to pay a credit card statement before they refund me (if they do). Sigh. 😞
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March 31, 2017 at 10:52 PM
Damn, they must be getting pretty desperate in their fight against digital distribution platforms if they have to resort to something like this. It’s not a fight they can realistically win in the long run. I’ve never had a bad experience with GameStop, but if your experience is any indication, this is why I only conduct transactions with them in person.
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March 31, 2017 at 11:16 PM
Yeah… I can only guess they’re holding onto my “sale” so the numbers look good. But I think they’ll ultimately squeeze about $50 out of me for restocking fees 😕. And I never even got to see any of the items.
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March 31, 2017 at 11:29 PM
I would be raging. Is there anyway you could contact them by email? I ask this not because I’d expect much else, but you’d have an electronic account of what occurred, because this is beyond shady. You never received the product nor did you even have the chance to handle the product, they just sent it back. Something is very wrong with this situation.
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March 31, 2017 at 11:56 PM
I’ve sent messages through the site too and haven’t gotten a response. Also gave them 1 star when they emailed with the standard how my customer service experience went survey lol 😕
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April 1, 2017 at 7:28 PM
That is absolutely abysmal customer service. I hope you get a response soon and can somehow contact corporate, because this is unacceptable 😡
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April 1, 2017 at 10:01 AM
I’m guessing the problem arose due to them wanting some time of signature confirmation? Depending on who is delivering, some workers can be very… “casual” about how hard they try to get your attention.
Try contacting them on social media if you haven’t already. I don’t understand why they can’t cancel the part that hasn’t been shipped.
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April 1, 2017 at 10:01 PM
Apparently their policy is to send every part, so until that is complete they adhere to their contract. However, I believe they violated the contract by releasing my Switch to someone else before I got all parts because that Switch is effectively still mine until my refund has been processed. I have tried contacting them on social media and haven’t gotten any responses there either.
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April 3, 2017 at 7:18 PM
How frustrating. 😦
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April 1, 2017 at 10:44 AM
I’m confused… why didn’t the post office/shipping facility not leave the package at the front desk? GameStop can’t tell them to purposefully fail to deliver something. And the automatic shipping back to the seller is unfortunately something carriers do if a package is “undeliverable,” so that’s the delivery service (it took me three weeks to track down a package through the US Postal Service that was deemed “undeliverable”…). And I agree with Krystallina that delivery workers can sometimes be lazy about how hard they try to get to you. Also, Nintendo is notorious for not making enough product to meet demands, creating problems like this.
This isn’t to excuse GameStop. That customer service is absolutely terrible and they can’t afford more bad publicity, since they tend to be the whipping boy for the games community already. But I don’t think GameStop is the only person to blame here. At any rate, I’d try contacting them again and asking to talk to a manager, or reaching out to them via social media. Or you can try call corporate offices…
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April 2, 2017 at 8:37 AM
Oh wow, this is horrible. Serious money, $600! I sure would have sleepless night about treatment like this. One of the commenters suggested reaching out though social media. Maybe you should do that, if others seee how badly they’ve treated you they might try to solve it sooner
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April 2, 2017 at 4:21 PM
Oh wow… just reading about your experience really annoys me! I cannot stand stuff like this. It’s beyond frustrating and the “attempted” deliveries sound like a bunch of B.S. And the fact that they already “gave” your order to someone on a wait list… just wow. I really hope you get your money back soon 😦
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April 4, 2017 at 10:28 PM
That is just horrible. I do hope you get this sorted out. Know your consumer rights, talk to a consumer rights group and see if they can advise you on how to take it further, if this does not get resolved. This shouldn’t affect your consumer rights.
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April 5, 2017 at 9:39 AM
Yeah I’m trying to see if my bank can help me out now 😣
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