GameStop finds itself in the list of “America’s Worst Companies to Work For”

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   August 16th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

For a gamer, there probably is nothing as appealing as working in a video game store where they get to see and talk about their obsession all day long and in the end walk away with a salary.

On the contrary, working for video game retailers is not as charming as it appears to be, as revealed by the financial analysis and commentary website 24/7 Wall Street. It gathered reviews of employees through the online job and company community Glassdoor to eventually build up a list of “America’s Worst Companies to Work For.” Sitting on the 10^th spot in the list that comprises of 11 companies is GameStop.

The America-based video games and entertainment software retailer received poor reviews from employees, with the chief complaints revolving around low salaries and the company’s strategy that made generating sales a much greater priority than providing good customer service.

People working at the specialty store revealed that every customer entering the shop is looked upon as an opportunity to milk money instead of a chance to show off good service and make their experience satisfying.

The moment a customer walks into the store, one of the employees working at the store is expected to attach himself to them, constantly asking them questions about what additional game they would like to have, or if they would like to sign up for power-up rewards or if they would like to pre-order a game.

Not only is this seen as a real nuisance by the customers, the employees themselves understand what they are doing is indeed ruining the customer’s experience of shopping at their store. However, there is little they can do about it as the company is clearly concerned about the numbers instead of customer satisfaction. For this reason, the people working at the store are left with no choice but to push hard and press the customer for spend more than he intended to. Additionally, they are also compelled to nag the customer with details of other games on offer even if it is clear that he has his mind already made up and has no intention of walking away with anything additional to that.

This is not the first time GameStop has found its name appearing on a list that it would definitely not be flaunting around. Last year, Consumer Reports added the name of the specialty retailer in its “Naughty List” because of the company’s return policies that do not exactly go down well with the customers.

24/7 Wall Street’s list of “America’s Worst Companies to Work For” also include OfficeMax, Sears and Radio Shack. The company topping the list is none other than the satellite broadcaster Dish Network, a name that hardly comes as a surprise especially for those who have had an experience of working in call centres.