GameStop has always had a 48 hour limit on pre-orders. :|

Gamestop defender here:  Get him!

Anyhoo,

I don't like GameStop at all... I just buy new games from the store, and don't pre-order anything, since I don't give them money to make off of me in the bank when I could go to a BB and buy it the same day.

I don't support glorified pawn shops.

I stopped shopping in pretty much all B&M stores with the advent of Amazon Prime (pretty much the best business move a retailer has made in the past decade and the best one ever by an online-only one), but I will say that I had given up on GameStop much earlier than that.

Due to their asinine pre-order policy (not being able to actually walk in and purchase a game on the first day of availability without a pre-order) was the final nail in that particular chain's coffin (abetted by the constant Game Informer/strategy guide sales push).

And now they've taken it one step further and decided to sell those pre-orders to others because you didnt' get there fast enough? Tell me: why does anyone shop there at all?

Wow. That's incredibly rotten, especially about the call. Gamestop does make automated calls if you have something pre-ordered but I've never heard of the 48 hours thing. They really need to make that right.

I've only pre-ordered 1 game from Gamestop and they called me twice to remind me about Mario Kart Wii. I'm pretty sure Gamestop has a 2 or 3 day policy. Oh, and asking for gas money is just silly unless you thought that is you ask for a ton of stuff it may help you get just a little bit.

I had a similar situation with FYE.

I had pre-ordered the wii at FYE (cause GS ran out of orders) and so i waited and waited. Then when it was time i didnt get a call , i found it fishy so after doing some grociery shoppin i stoped by at FYE at the mall and then they gave me the bearer of bad news. They didnt get any stock and they werent sure when they were going to get any at all so i canceld my order.

I never pre-order games period. If you pre-order games months in advance these stores make interest off the pre-order money.

I buy a game on the first day, there are always plenty of games in stores on launch day. I am not interested in Limited Edition games so no need to pre-order.

48 hour limit for pre-order pick ups is a crap policy they should give you a week minimum. I would not return to the store if I was in your shoes.

Funnily enough, I used to go to GS strictly for pre-orders.  They're the only company guaranteed to get pre-order bonuses, and they often have LE exclusives like the MGS4 artwork.  For everything else I avoided giving them my money.

Until I got a job there, that is.  Now I buy everything from there. :P

Actually, no they didn't call us.  We recognized every number on our caller ID from this past week so they could not have called unless they hung up after the first ring. 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm probably going to check out Amazon.com from now on. I use them for movie purchases, so perhaps it's time to use them for game purchases as well.

I've always tried to support local brick-and-mortar stores... I like being able to walk into a place, ask questions from the sales staff, etc., but this experience has really soured me on the value of local stores. One of the primary advantages was being able to find someone you could trust, and this fiasco has shown me I can't trust Gamestop. All I needed was an apology, but I was basically told I had to get to the back of the pre-order line. Heck with that... I'm going online except for major hardware purchases.

How does the old engineering motto go? "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger."

Or was it "that which does not kill us, weakens us for that which will?"

At least I still have my sense of humor.