Minnesota Gamers - Something You Should Be Aware Of - (LGS Rant)

[DM_Jeff]

It's a shame, I guess, but for me too it really is all about service. And when my unfriendly local game store began their spiral downward (never to recover) I happily saved my money and FRP Games and Amazon are now my FFGS (Friendly Faraway Game Store). I get better service, and they've never failed me. Even the occassional email tranaction is friendly and professional.

Service, so simple a concept, is lost to some who appear to think you're better dropping a buttload of money at their store rather than online just because they're there.

-DM Jeff

 

[WayneLigon]

...and this policy is NOT clearly posted.

At that point, I'd ask to speak to the manager if I was a well-known customer, just to see if we could work something out. Otherwise it is a reasonable policy to discourage shoplifting, if it's cash. For it being a credit card purchase, I dunno.

The major reason that most small businesses operate this way is that unlike a big-box retailer they can't send back unsold merchandise for credit. If he's keeping one copy of the game and has already ordered a replacement, then the return is money out of his pocket.

 

[pogre]

Call you credit card company. Explain the situation and they will cancel the transaction if it happened in the last 30 days. Almost every credit card agreement requires stores to accept returns like this.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Call you credit card company. Explain the situation and they will cancel the transaction if it happened in the last 30 days. Almost every credit card agreement requires stores to accept returns like this.

Good advice.

 

[Zaukrie]

The Source is one of the biggest gaming stores in the nation, not just in MN. I can't believe they wouldn't debit your credit card. I might stop shopping there now.

You have other choices in the Twin Cities:

Phoenix games in uptown (still has a huge gaming selection, though they are mostly minis people)
Dreamers (little RPG stuff outside of WotC still being sold there) in St Louis Park
Misty Mountain Games just opened a store in the southern suburbs I'm told
There's a store in Anoka that just moved to a new location last year
Monster's Den, now owned by the owner of Dreamers - not much RPG stock

that's just off the top of my head.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Call your ninja. Explain the situation and they will cancel the transactor if it happened in the last 30 days. Almost every ninja agreement requires stores to accept returns like this...

Or else.

 

[JesterPoet]

The Source is one of the biggest gaming stores in the nation, not just in MN. I can't believe they wouldn't debit your credit card. I might stop shopping there now.

You have other choices in the Twin Cities:

Phoenix games in uptown (still has a huge gaming selection, though they are mostly minis people)
Dreamers (little RPG stuff outside of WotC still being sold there) in St Louis Park
Misty Mountain Games just opened a store in the southern suburbs I'm told
There's a store in Anoka that just moved to a new location last year
Monster's Den, now owned by the owner of Dreamers - not much RPG stock

that's just off the top of my head.

I appreciate that. I will definitely look at these places. There's some other place out in Oakdale that I went to once that was a little creepy, but pretty good. Can't remember the name, though, and Oakdale is pretty far away from me now.

 

[XCorvis]

I think you are overreacting. I'm not about to stop shopping there just because I can only get store credit. That's true of almost every store I know - NOBODY gives cash refunds around here. With the Source's copious shoplifting problems (thanks teenage gamers), you can't honestly expect them to be facilitating shoplift/return scams. Before you go recommending other gaming stores, you might want to check their policies - I bet they're the same.

I'm sorry you got burned by this, but if both you AND your wife were willing to each drop $60 on a game there, wouldn't you be willing to spend it again in the future? I just don't see the big deal...

 

[Mark CMG]

As long as you are in email contact with them, and provided that you are sure they did not have any such policy prominently posted, you might want to email the link from Echohawk back to them and see if they'd like to handle it in the manner you previously requested or if they would rather deal with whatever hassle comes from you having the credit card company cancel the purchase. They might deal with you more favorably but I am sure they will also make sure they have a prominently displayed sign in the future, too.

Ultimately, you are cutting yourself off from an otherwise very excellent game store, by all accounts I have heard. You'll have to live with that, too.

 

[JesterPoet]

As long as you are in email contact with them, and provided that you are sure they did not have any such policy prominently posted, you might want to email the link from Echohawk back to them and see if they'd like to handle it in the manner you previously requested or if they would rather deal with whatever hassle comes from you having the credit card company cancel the purchase. They might deal with you more favorably but I am sure they will also make sure they have a prominently displayed sign in the future, too.

Ultimately, you are cutting yourself off from an otherwise very excellent game store, by all accounts I have heard. You'll have to live with that, too.

I'd love to just have the credit card cut them off, but I took the gift check, because it seemed like the only option. Since I received something, I can't imagine that the credit card company will do anything about it.