Consumer Reports: GameStop Is Naughty; Microsoft Is Nice

Some unsurprising news in regards to the retailer you love to hate.

There used to be an embeded media player here, but it doesn't work anymore. We blame the Tumbeasts.

Consumer Reports has somehow managed to stack one more brick of GameStop-fueled rage onto the teetering Jenga pile that towers over the MTB executive offices and threatens our very existence. The agency has released a new “Naughty and Nice” video (above) and good ol’ Trade-ins-R-Us made the naughty list.

In describing why GameStop (GS) landed amongst such ne’er-do-wells as Verizon Wireless and RadioShack, Consumer Reports said that the retailer is “a Fortune 500 company with more than 6,500 stores worldwide,” and that the “video game software and hardware merchant has a laundry list of conditions governing returns and exchanges.”

On top of that, they cited the following GS policy as being a big part of why the retail giant’s executives might be greeted with coal in their stockings on December 25th: “We reserve the right to refuse any return.”

More surprising was the fact that the mega-company that brought you such unpopular innovations as the “Red Ring of Death” made it onto the “nice” list. Along with such popular online retailers as Amazon and Crutchfield, Microsoft has been a good little mega corporation this year. There’s a feather in its cap.

If someone buys and installs software on his or her computer, most retailers won’t give out a refund, no matter how much the customer hates it. Not so with Microsoft. Consumers dissatisfied with a Microsoft software or hardware purchase from any retailer can send it back to the company within 45 days for a refund and reimbursement of shipping costs up to $7.

In response to our inquiries as to whether or not this would affect the official list, a North Pole representative informed us that they are currently investigating whether or not the power is actually given to the players and that they will not make a final decision until the matter can be cleared up.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

[Video via Consumer Reports.]

[Image via PlayStation Lifestyle.]

Nick Santangelo
Nick Santangelo
Nick Santangelo

MASH Veteran

Nick has been a gamer since the 8-bit days and a member of the MTB editorial team since January of 2011. He is not to be interrupted while questing his way through an RPG or desperately clinging to hope against all reason that his Philly sports teams will win any given game he may be watching. Seriously folks, reading this acknowledges that you relieve MTB of any and all legal liability for his actions.

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