Earlier today, I received an email from Best Buy, telling me that the Gamers Club terms had been updated. After looking over the terms a few times, I didn’t really see the change. Eventually, I was able to pull up an older version of the terms, and I was finally able to see what had changed, and it definitely wasn’t for the better.
20% discount off new physical video games (excludes pre-owned video game software and digital gaming). Benefit does not combine with promotions advertised in Best Buy’s Thanksgiving Day physical ad or expanded digital ad. Limit 3 copies of each title per platform per year per member. Valid on in-stock items only. No rainchecks. No dealers.
While that may not seem like a big deal right now, Best Buy has effectively curbed the number of discounts on games that will be sold on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. So if that new copy of Forza Horizon 3 (Not it’s not a thing, yet) is advertised in the ad for that week, you won’t be able to get a discount on that. On top of that, 20% only applies to games in stock only now. Though this doesn’t apply to pre-orders, I chatted with today per the two Best Buy reps. Now that this was done, I fully expect Best Buy to put just about every new and best selling game into that ad, mark my words.
However, I have an issue with this. See, I paid for my membership into the Games Club, as did many others. A paid membership that did not have any stipulations when we got it, now Best Buy is telling us that it won’t work on one day of the year. How exactly is that fair? Sadly I don’t see how this will be removed, nor do I think that complaining about it will change it. Still, I think it is pretty rotten on Best Buy’s part to change this suddenly.
I also don’t think Best Buy clearly thought this through, as their competitor, Amazon, will still honor discounts on Black Friday sales. And now that they offer 20% of all new games and pre-orders, Best Buy is potentially looking at losing sales due to this drastic change. I think they need to revisit this change before the upcoming shopping holiday.
What do you think about the matter?