Grainger Games- Dodgy Bastards

[Monkeys Fist 42356]

Bought a new copy of FIFA 12 for pc for my nephew's Christmas present.

He tried to play it today, entered the code for online registration, only to find its already registered.

 

This means they've sold me a used disc as new, doesn't it?

 

I've got the receipt which clearly states I bought it as " new", so I'm in there tomorrow to have a word and get it changed.

 

Anyone ever had similar problems with them, and was it resolved?

 

[Andrew 4747]

yes it does

 

also, company as a whole aren't up to much

 

How an Unknown Games Retailer Committed Suicide at a Gaming Awards Event

 

Last night was the occasion of the Games Media Awards 2011. This is a special night for games journalists, travelling from across the land (well, mainly Bath) to gather in one venue and clap each other on the back. This is a rare occasion where we get to celebrate our hard work championing the most progressive entertainment medium in the world. Except, things didn’t go precisely as planned.

The first warning sign was at the entrance to the venue: Vinopolis, near London Bridge. Parked outside was a giant, orange-coloured Humvee, the words “Grainger Games” splattered all over it. Who’s Grainger Games? Why, they appeared to be the main sponsors of the evening’s festivities.

What does Grainger Games do, exactly? They’re a national games retail chain. Given that we’ve never heard of them before, sponsoring an industry event is a pretty savvy move, right? Everyone will have heard of them after this little affair.

 

Booth Babes and Dwarves

Walking around the Humvee we saw that the boot was open, where a flat-screen TV and home entertainment system had been installed. How very Pimp My Ride. Also tumbling out of the boot were two booth babes and two dwarves, dressed in orange hot-pants and orange shorts, respectively.

It’s October. It’s bloody freezing. Scantily dressed booth babes with chattering teeth is heart-rending enough. But scantily-dressed dwarves as well? That’s downright cruel.

But it gets better (or worse, depending on your viewpoint). Inside the venue, everyone checked in their coats, found out where they were sitting, and grabbed a beer for a bit of hobnobbing before the main event. Some nominees were visibly excited, some downplayed their chances. I was hopeful that someone would reenact Jack Palance’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar acceptance from 1992 and do press-ups on the stage, but alas.

A gong was sounded, curtains were drawn, and we were directed to our seats. There, the second warning klaxon went off. Condoms had been scattered all over the table, emblazoned with the same hateful orange hue from the Humvee and the hot-pants. It’s Grainger Games again, making their presence felt in the best way they know how.

Even the journalist from Zoo magazine was puzzled as to why condoms should be distributed prior to a fancy sit-down meal.

 

Bus Wankers

Dinner was quickly served and wolfed down (along with copious amounts of booze), and before we knew it, we were on to the main event. Our compere for the evening was Greg Davies, who played the scary teacher from The Inbetweeners. He’s pretty funny, in a working men’s club kind of fashion. Jokes about oral sex were the order of the day, natch.

What really got everyone’s attention though was the table down at the front. Everyone on this table was pissed out of their heads, repeatedly interrupting Greg’s routine for their own amusement. Someone shouts out “BUSTOP WANKER!”, in reference to a gag from The Inbetweeners. Who are these tossers? Why, it’s none other than the folks from Grainger Games.

Greg got on with his act though, and slipped in a few digs at Grainger Games while he was at it. This only seemed to encourage them, unfortunately. When Greg was about to start dishing out the awards they started chanting “TOON ARMY, TOON ARMY” for no discernible reason.

The awards were given out. The awards were given out by the dwarves. Speeches were uncharacteristically short, for games journalists. This was their moment in the spotlight, but no one spoke for longer than 30 seconds. Perhaps it was something to do with the jokers from Grainger Games, who at one point had invaded the stage to do a silly ‘dance’ just as someone was receiving an award. Did they think they were Jarvis Cocker, taking on the gaming equivalent of Michael Jackson?

 

Slow-clapping the Ceremony

The pinnacle, or nadir, of the evening, came as Patrick Garrett stepped up to present a Games Media Legend Award for Colin Campbell. His speech, designed to honour and celebrate his colleague’s achievements, was slow-clapped and booed by the drunken morons from Grainger Games.

End of the ceremony reached, everyone broke off for photo-ops with their trophies, or to commiserate at the bar. And, oh yes, to openly discuss how ridiculous the behaviour of Grainger Games had been. The general consensus was not good. Not good at all.

After they sensed that they were no longer welcome, the offending party hurriedly left in two cabs, their boorish antics continuing in some other venue elsewhere in London. I watched in disbelief as they made gang-signs to each other from their respective cars.

What they had left behind was an absolute shambles. They’d sabotaged months of planning by the event organisers, they’d pissed off the entire games media community, and they’d wasted their own sponsorship money in painting themselves as a gang of selfish arseholes. Well done, Grainger Games. We didn’t know who you were before, but we do now.

Any publicity is good publicity, right?

 

http://www.gizmodo.c...g-awards-event/

[Monkeys Fist 42356]

Googled them earlier and saw that- daft bastards.

 

Maybe they're trying to recoup their sponsor money by palming off used games as new, fuckers.

 

Shame, I'd used them fairly regularly until a few years ago without any bother.

 

Called in last week for the first time in a couple of years.

 

Won't be using them again.

[Monkeys Fist 42356]

Will do Ant.

I would swear the one I bought was sealed mind.

[Andrew 4747]

...thats something youre gunna need to be sure about I think mate

 

could be EA afterall, they are a bit shit too

[Monkeys Fist 42356]

Says on the receipt it's a new game, and thinking on, it was sealed as I remember taking the price ticket off very, very carefully before I wrapped it.

 

Seems they make a habit of it judging by the comments on here…

 

http://m.hotukdeals.com/deals/batman-arkham-city-new-sealed-today-only-30-grainger-games-1071804?mforwarded=true

[Monkeys Fist 42356]

So, took the game and receipt back to the shop today, asked to speak to the manager to be told they weren't in.

Explained the problem, pointed out the dints on the box and marks on the disc , and asked for a new, sealed replacement.

Not an unreasonable request, I'd say, to put to a company who's business is selling games.

They said they didn't have one in stock.

I asked if any of their other N.E. branches did, their reply was that each store only had 1 copy , which meant the case would be on display and the disc stored behind the counter- i.e. Unsealed.

What a coincidence!

I then asked when their next delivery was due and could they put an unopened copy aside for me to collect.

This relatively simple request was also, for some unfathomable bullshit reason, impossible.

By this point, I was thoroughly fucked off and could feel the red mist hovering, so got my money back ( after having to explain that I was perfectly entitled to do so, and no, I didn't want a fucking credit note for a shop which had already tried to defraud me).

 

I left the shop , and realised that the Head Office was next door to the store ( the Benton one), so invited myself in and spoke to someone who was unwilling to give their position in the company.

His explanation was that he thought it had been hacked and I could've requested a new code from EA Sport, the manufacturers. "Ok", says I " Can I have the £10 they charge for that then?"

 

 

Long story long, I'm ordering it off Play.com, and I'm putting a complaint together for the Trading Standards Inspector.

I've kept the original receipt , and the refund receipt.

 

Fucking Del-Boy Wankers.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Monkeys Fist

[Monkeys Fist 42356]

Tried the Asda across from Grainger Fraud Specialists, no pc versions in.

 

It's on Play for £12.99 for pc tonight

[Andrew 4747]

PC can be tough to get hold of, we don't even stock it (though we're not a dedicated game store)

 

I can understand them to an extent but its the whole "managers are out, no I wont tell you who I am" side of it that I find distasteful, every shop has a few unhappy customers who ask for managers or higher ups contact details and youve nothing to gain by not giving them, we do, soon as anyone asks we'll hand out the regional managers number as we know, unless we're genuinely wrong, that he'll come down on our side so what've we to worry about unless we're actually trying to fuck customers over

 

just looked and am surprised to say our website has fifa 12 on the PC in stock http://www.bee.com/games/pc/sport/fifa-12-6/

 

though its more than play are offering it for so go there

[CleeToonFan 1]

Bought nba 2k12 from there and they gave me the 2k11 disk... what an awful shop

[Ayatollah Hermione 13856]

Aye, used to be canny for a while but I remember them just starting out in Grainger Market and their pre-owned games used to be taken in any condition and their return policy was to take owt back and not test it.