Halo 3: Why I will never pre-order from Gamestop again
By Danny Mendez
Like any other good, upstanding Halo playing citizen, I pre-ordered Halo 3. I chose Gamestop because, well, I was at the mall, I walked into the store, and a store rep convinced me to reserve it. This was a terrible mistake, and, by the time I finally got Halo 3 into my hands, all I wanted to do was go home and sleep.
A few days before September 25, a day that will live in infamy, I got a call from a Gamestop automated machine telling me to show up at 9PM to pick up Halo 3 on Monday night. I was thrilled. My thought was “Gamestop is going to be very convenient and allow me to take home the final Halo game early without waiting in line too long.”
No, Gamestop was not going to be convenient at all. I show up sometime around 10:15 PM after finishing up a break dancing session with my friends. I wanted the line to die down a bit before I got there but it was in full force and Gamestop’s doors were closed. Dammit.
So I waited in line with a friend of mine, and a Gamestop rep announces that she’s going to ask us questions for a CHANCE to be in a raffle in which one person gets to take home a Halo 3 Xbox 360 controller. The first question asked was, “What three enemy forces fight the humans in the Halo story?”
I answered, “The Forerunners, the Covenant, and the Flood.”
She said, “No, that’s incorrect. I was looking for the Sentinels not the Forerunners.”
I then proceeded to correct her, “Um, actually, the Forerunners built the Sentinels to defend the Halos, so the Sentinels fight on the behalf of the Forerunners.”
Gamestop would never hire someone who knew Halo to do this Halo quiz thing, so naturally she had no idea what I was talking about. The questions was thrown out.
Frustrated from waiting in line, I and many others decided to come back closer to midnight. We had pre-orders, we’re guaranteed a copy today, there’s no reason to wait in line.
Upon my return, I got back in line, which was significantly shorter. The doors were open, and people were going inside. I was excited since it was only 11:30. I guess the Gamestop pre-order experience wasn’t that bad. Someone told me that another line was forming on the other side of the store entrance for those that were just looking to buy the game without a reservation. I thought, “Suckers have to wait a long-ass time.” It turns out I was the sucker.
Sometime around 12:05, I entered the store. Yes, I’m finally getting my copy! I handed the cashier my credit card, he handed me a receipt, and that was it. I was then told to stand in the other line outside which was for those looking to pick up their copy of Halo 3 tonight, not for those looking to buy it without a reservation.
That is not the way things are supposed to work. Normally, I hand the cashier my money, he hands me a receipt and whatever I bought, and I leave. No, this time I have to wait in line to come back into the store to get my Halo 3.
So I waited along with every other disappointed soul making the walk to the end of a second line. Sometime around 12:45 I finally got back into the store. I handed the lady my receipt and got my copy of Halo 3.
At this point all I wanted to do was get home and sleep. I didn’t even care about getting Halo 3 anymore. I had been exhausted from school, break dancing, and waiting in the most pointless lines ever. On top of all that, I had to get up early the next morning.
Gamestop made the pick-up process so much worse than it had to be, and that’s why I will never pre-order from them again.
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September 27th, 2007
dude that sucks, u should send them a complaint. Well i got my copy from bestbuy and its great.
September 28th, 2007
actually ur the moron. the way halo preorders were done it got everyone in and out faster. i work at one. and ive done midnights before and with alot less people than for halo took twice as long. are u retarded gamestop would never give out the copies early. theres a thing called a street date for a reason. if the pre-ring process wasnt completed. then depending on how long the line was u would have been there atleast 2 hours. with about 100 people at my store we got everyone out of our store and on their way by 12:17 all with their games in hand. so ur wrong. the way halo was handled was alot better than how other midnight openings were handled. as for the trivia. that employee must have been retarded. either way i would have accepted that answer. thats why at my store our big halo fans handled anything that involved it except pre-ringing. i handled the tournament and such.
September 28th, 2007
My experience wasn’t that bad. I showed up to the store at 12:15AM and the majority of the crowd was already gone. I strolled up to the counter, handed my receipt, got my copy and left. All-in-all, I was out of the store in 5 minutes. Sorry to hear your experience sucked. I bet it has a lot to do with individual stores.
Besides long lines, my overall experience at shopping at my local GameStop has been very positive.
September 28th, 2007
That does sound pretty stupid. But im not completly sure how it works from your description. It took my loval store like 10 minutes to get the 100 somthin people out.
September 29th, 2007
I didn’t wait in any lines, I ordered the Legendary Edition from Newegg on Monday and got it Thursday, so I didn’t get it on launch day… big deal and did I mention I got the Legendary Edition after most retail stores sold out of them? Yeah…
September 29th, 2007
Yeah.. Sucks you had that happen to you. Assuming the store manager was new, he or she must have been overwhelmed with the crowed and was confused with the process. I have run many midnight release parties and have always had all of my customers out within the first 25 minutes. (reserves being priority!) By the time 12 hit all they had to do was walk in and claim their product. Plus we had tons of Halo3 Game Fuel to keep the energy flowing.
September 29th, 2007
Yeah.. Sucks you had that happen to you. Assuming the store manager was new, he or she must have been overwhelmed with the crowed and was confused with the process. I have run many midnight release parties and have always had all of my customers out within the first 25 minutes. (reserves being priority! NO EXCEPTIONS!) By the time 12 hit all they had to do was walk in and claim their product. Plus we had tons of Halo3 Game Fuel to keep the energy flowing.
October 20th, 2007
[…] http://gamer.blorge.com: Like any other good, upstanding Halo playing citizen, I pre-ordered Halo 3. I chose GameStop because, well, I was at the mall, I walked into the store and a store rep convinced me to reserve it. This was a terrible mistake, and, by the time I finally got Halo 3 into my hands, all I wanted to do was go home and sleep. […]
October 20th, 2007
This is why I just walked into my local Hastings on launch day and walked out with my non-reserved copy a few minutes later.
Though my Halo 2 experience at EB Games wasn’t quite this bad. I lined up at 11 PM for it and I was home and booting up my Xbox by 12:15 AM even though there was a bit of confusion about my reserve which was paid in full but their records didn’t show that. Luckily my receipt did.
November 5th, 2007
“Gamestop would never hire someone who knew Halo to do this Halo quiz thing, so naturally she had no idea what I was talking about.”
Maybe you shouldn’t be such a nerd.
“I then proceeded to correct her, “Um, actually…”"
What are you, 12? Grow up. Seriously.
November 12th, 2007
Hey DiRT, Gamestopoly employee much?
June 16th, 2008
Nope, jackass. I don’t work retail. One Christmas season at Best Buy was enough for me.