It was a year and a half ago when I went into an EB-Games (now a Gamestop) and found a copy of Gran Turismo 4–used. It was $14.99. I said, great, I’ll save $5, and It’s in perfect condition! After getting home and trying out the game, I wished I paid the extra $5.

Why? Well, I’m sure you’ve been through this before. After inserting the game disc in the system, I get an disc read error. There were no scratches on the DVD. I did wipe it off gently with liquid that I have always used on my other game discs [and they still play alright]. To make sure it wasn’t the Playstation 2 that happened to kick the bucket right then, I inserted other games I had near by. They played on the system with no problem. I was disappointed and returned it to the store the next day.

I returned the to the EB-Games I brought the game from. I went up to the cashier, who looked like she had played only one game in her life. I didn’t see a gamer face. She didn’t look like she was into anime or similar niches. She was just a bored looking cashier just there to make some quick cash. I doubted her. I explained to her what happened. That it didn’t play the game, but the other games did play on the same system. She didn’t know what I was talking about. Since she didn’t have time for me to explain what was going on, I requested an exchange of the game, and that I would pay the extra $5 for a new copy of the game.

She shook her head in confusion–to me, it looked like disgust.

After she rang up a new copy of GT4, all sales were final. What?! I was furious. That didn’t make any sense. If a used copy of a game didn’t work, they will be glad to give you store credit. I am always told that (from the employees who know their games) when I buy used games. Well, the non-gamer didn’t read that line or ignored it just to give the customers’ hell.

Before leaving the store, the same cashier had the nerve to explain about the disc read error, when I told her the exact same thing!

I made the mistake of having a non-gamer taking care of my business. She was horrible. I never had trouble at this EB-Games before. Fortunately, this store is now 700 miles away from me. I shall never again go back to the same store, even if I came back in town for a special occasion. I learned something from this bad experience: never do business with someone who doesn’t know the niche.