Gamestop.com delivery farce

[Kliemann]

I finally received my copy on Thursday and should be deliriously happy to have a mighty fine game to play, but something left a truly sour taste…

I live in Ireland and had pre-ordered my copy with Gamestop.com from the US in April: $40 for the game and $16 for “handling & shipping” – fine; I also opted for “regular” 3-5 day delivery (as opposed to “express delivery”) and assumed, that that would be it.
On Thursday now UPS came to my door to deliver the game but insisted on instant payment of EURO 32.51 (which is in around the same amount what I paid for the game AND the “shipping & handling”) for duty, VAT and “other charges”.

To make the long story short, I contacted Gamestop immediately with details of this situation to which they, also immediately, replied that they cannot be responsible for taxes and duties of other countries – so far so good, I can accept that.
Not quite satisfied with that answer, I sent another (this is still Thursday evening – their response time is extremely good) much more detailed mail, explaining my situation at lengths and politely requesting clarification on a number of simple questions:
1. why is there no indication on Gamestop’s website, that an amount very substantial relative to the value of the actual order will be due on delivery to an external party (such as UPS)?
2. why couldn't Gamestop simply send this order per post?
3. how are those extra charges, taxes and duties on the UPS delivery invoice calculated?
4. what does the customer get in return for the $15.99 indicated by Gamestop as "shipping and handling"?


I would have liked to know in advance that I shall incur extra costs, that make the game more than twice as expensive as it would have been in their shop in the US.
I do not believe, that the import costs of such a simple and regular item like a PC-game here in Ireland amount to such heights – otherwise every new game in the shops here would cost at least EURO 80 in contrast to the regular actual price of EURO 39.99.

I received another fairly standard reply from Gamestop this morning, sent by the same customer service rep:
“Dear Gamestop customer,

Unfortunately we do not have access to the charges that the local governments will apply. The information is posted on the website regarding this type of charge. The shipping and handle charge pays to have it shipped to the country.

Sincerly,
Your Customer Service Agent, {name}”


You might be able to imagine, that I fairly miffed about such practices…

[moondrift]

me too. normally if you import something from around the world you get an invoice from the shipping company to cover taxes as charged at the airport of delivery. How ever I was charged an extra £16.11 on the total value of $55.98 which at 1.9 currency conversion should be £29.46 and the VAT on that should be @17.5% £5.16 So i'd like to know where the extra charges came from. I'm guessing to keep their delivery costs low they make you pay an extra one COD so when UPS come to your door, they then expect you to pay on the spot. SO UPS and Gamespot must have come to an arrangement to make it seem like import taxes, but I have had no invoice detailing that. I will NOT be using Gamespot again as they are ripping people off, not giving the bonus material as stated in there pre order web order and their customer services are the worst I've EVER encountered SO be warned people, they might look like a good deal but if you live outside the US you'll pay through the nose for it!!!!!!!!!

[imnotthatwierd]

so where does the $15.99 that gamestop charge go. seeing as you are forced to pay UPS

[Kliemann]

Should I say "good to see that I'm not the only one getting ripped off by Gamestop" ?

Joke aside, there seems to be no reasonable explanation on how those charges are calculated.
What are "other charges" ? Also, I have been charged VAT twice; the amounts are yet unclear to me as I know the VAT rate here and it doesn't relate to any of the amounts on the order invoice - something is definetly wrong somewhere...

[bigbog]

Unfortunately, the problem of getting Supreme Ruler is not unique to Ireland/UK.

I tried in Salt Lake City all available game stores yesterday (20 MAY) and came up empty. I refuse now to give them business on this item, as GameStop, EB Games in the area continue to mislead me---one guy finally did give me something definitive. He told me that for PC strategy titles, especially, "we will get it whenever, maybe...."

One guy at GameStop--all he was interested in was me putting down 5$ to reserve the title--this he has asked me every time I have gone into the store (3-4 times in last few days). Finally I said "hey I wouldn't mind doing that if I thought you were ever going to actually get the thing in!"

I finally ordered from Chips & Bits and will have it shortly.

The distribution network on Supreme Ruler has been supremely rancid....unfortunate because this is one title that I have actively sought out in the stores. I guess I'll go back to my normal buying pattern of ordering online for the ones I care about...

BigBog

[bigbog]

So I forgot the punch line---its early here---

I wound up paying $14.99 USD for 2nd day UPS service. Unfortunately I did not have to pay for shipping twice as many of you had to.

BigBog

[George Geczy]

Yes, I think "rancid" is the right word for the SR2010 distribution status, unfortunately We've been pushing on this issue every day, and will push twice as hard next week now that E3 is over and retail buyers return home.

And we are also pushing very hard for European distribution - especially in english-speaking areas where no 'localization' is required.

Being from Canada, I can certainly appreciate the customs charges issue posted at the top of this thread, I've had that happen to me more times than I can count in shipments from the US. Given the fact that Gamestop is no small operation, I don't know why they can't get a better grip on this.

For the record, my solutions have been to do one of two things: either pay extra for a courier service level that "includes customs brokerage", ie Fedex from US to Canada does this, or else ask for it to be sent by Postal service - they have some half-decent courier options these days. Both of these methods avoid the extra "brokerage" fees, so you only pay the duty (which should be minimal), the VAT (that you would have to pay in the stores anyways) and the shipping stuff.

Sorry for your unpleasant experience with Gamestop, I'll pass along your sentiments if I get the opportunity to.

-- George.

[bigbog]

Hey George---I always use you as my economic minister (in the demo, anxiously awaiting next week's UPS shipment !!---but you really need to do a better job or I'm going to have to (Donald) Trump" (fire) you---!
Please see to beefing up your numbers in the next update!

BigBog