Game 3 TCG & Hobby — Local services in Oakville

Nice of you guys to take advantage of everyone for prismatic evolutions with your “unbeatable prices” “lowest in the industry as the owner states” but yet somehow. 70$ for a tech sticker pack. Seems pretty steep when I just got one for 30$ at my LGS. Or jacking the price of the PE ETB the night before it launches. Another stellar business move. Im not a student but I know many that are in the hobby and when money isn’t super flexible It sucks to have to miss out on a hobby because you have stores taking advantage of the hype and soaking the people that literally keep the lights on. I’ve done lots of digging and there are other options in Oakville that carry par none the best prices in the industry. (Even beating out pokemon centre in many cases) so if you’re on a budget. Or if money isn’t an issue and you want to get good value I highly suggest doing some research into other locations for your LGS because game 3 is running their business like a brick and mortar scalper spot. Cause there’s honestly no excuse for this. Other than greed. I have photos as evidence to back my claims. Get back to enjoying the hobby and don’t waste your money here.

Edit: the initial review regarding your gross overcharging for common jp booster boxes easily obtained for 50-70$ elsewhere but listed for 100-250$ on your website with the excuse I was given at the time “testing a new system” well if that’s the case adding the product to cart and proceeding to go to checkout. That price should change no? I decided it wasn’t worth it I removed the review. But with the launch of PE and obvious proof that exists online that’s very easy to google. Charging what you do for these products is gross and I hope thousands of people stumble across this review and think twice. It’s not defamatory if it’s factual.

The proof is in the photos provided. A copy of my e receipt with the business I give my money to and a copy of the listing in game 3s website. Not sure how 70$ = 30$. I just think more people should know that they can get better use of their money with an easy google search because if I just got into the hobby and this is what I was greeted with I’d have dismissed it immediately. Long time collectors are missing out. New collectors are missing out. People that just want to rip are missing out because of shops like this. Enter the battlefield, hobbiesville, 401 games are taking advantage of the people that keep them in business. I’m not taking my review down this time by this way. Clearly based on all your 5 star reviews you’ve fooled a lot of people into thinking you’re community driven. Soaking people for over 2x msrp is not community driven. I have no interest in reaching out to discuss anything or give you any of my business. I’m leaving this review here for others to see that they can do a little research into other options and still enjoy the hobby without getting soaked. Good luck with your business.

Last edit: I thankfully haven’t purchased anything from you guys because one stop on your website is an immediate turn off. And if the people are happy to get soaked then lucky you guys I suppose. Your comment about you grew the business from the ground up community first ect ect so when a big set comes out. I guess your customers owe you big time for being able to give it to them at scalper prices (cough I mean market). I understand the cost of business. I also can understand wanting to maintain a positive reputation, but when I can find an alternative store that’s basically the same distance for less than half what you guys are charging where do you think I’m going to peg my business with? Is it my job as the customer to pay grossly over inflated margins as a thanks for being in business. Or am I going to use my money to the fullest amount I can achieve from it by finding the products closest to msrp that I can. Things are tough. The markets hard. But what’s really challenging is trying to enjoy a hobby but knowing that you basically don’t get to touch new sets because businesses feel that the people that keep them as such...

Original review:

Not very good at communicating with customers and unusually high prices for a store with such limited stock

Edit 1:

With respect to your comment on my review. I placed an order for about 40 singles about 2-3 weeks ago and called when there was a significant delay with my order (Order # G3-26570). The individual I spoke with admitted to the wait time being longer than usual due to issues with your system. There was 0 communication on your end with my order due to issues with cards not being in the same condition as advertised. Maybe that will help you remember.

With respect to your prices being competitive. I will fully admit I am basing this observation off of cards from Lorcana and Yugioh, so maybe your other TCGs are offered at a more competitive price. My comment about your higher prices still stands for the two above mentioned TCGs.

I'm not quite sure what your third paragraph is supposed to do for your argument with me. I guess you wanted a pat on the back or a gold star.

Just because I had a bad experience at your store doesn’t mean that I’m trying to make other stores look good or that I am “working with one”. I actually have been in your store several times, so bad on you to make an assumption that I haven’t. I highly suggest you get your facts in order before coming guns blazing in a reply that is clearly more personal than my review intended to be. Have a great day!

Edit 2:

Upon looking at my order history deeper, it seems like it was YOU I was communicating with about my order back when I originally placed it (unless, of course, there are two Karl's working at your location).This was via the online chat. Notice how you stopped replying to me, which resulted in me calling the store for further updates. Please see the attached screenshots for further information :-) Maybe next time when searching for inquiries tied to my name in your system you should look “higher or lower”.

Your reply to my review shows a clear lack of being able to take accountability, or to locate all of the facts behind a situation which clearly proves you to be in the wrong. A second chance would be silly to ask of me, since a first one was clearly never deserved. I highly suggest you do better as the founder of this company. Obviously my continued business here is quite meaningless to you, I just hope you offer better service to your customers in the future.

Edit 3:

Quite frankly, there are tons of LGS options now, and consumers shop with their dollars. If you feel as though these guys are practicing scummy business moves (spoilers: I do), just buy what you need somewhere elsewhere (spoiler: I DEFINITELY do). It sucks having to go farther or get something shipped, but in the long run, it will help promote pro-consumer business practices from game stores like this.

Edit 4:

Tried to give this place a chance by buying a card they said they had in stock. Went in and was told by the staff after briefly glancing at their binder wall to just place the order online and hope it’s picked by the next day (keep in mind, I went there in early afternoon). This is just abominable service you guys...

Are you a MTG commander player? If so, I don't reccomand going to game3. Game3's commander night overlaps with another (seemingly unofficial) event - Beyblades. This has inherent issues, of course. Metal spinning tops smashing into one another are inherently loud, of course. But that alone would maybe be tolerable. The issue is with the behavior that the employees (and owner, I believe?) have allowed, if not encouraged at times from these beyblade players. I am talking about screaming at the top of their lungs, shouting, yelling, CONSTANTLY, for hours on end. And not just one or two people - I mean the entire gaggle of folks are screaming like banshees over every little thing. At my most recent visit, a few weeks ago, someone even threw their headphones across the room before roaring in triumph. This meant myself and other players were constantly flinching at the extremely loud noises, and leaving with headaches more often than not. No LGS is quiet, but come on! The employees and owner seem to see no issue with this, for some godforsaken reason, often even joining in with the shouting. This makes it a completely hostile environment to anyone who wants to enjoy a Thursday night playing with some friends. Having spoken to several other patrons, they agreed that this was an issue, and told me that they had repeatedly discussed this with the owner, who attempted to assuage their concerns but never actually made a real effort to fix the issue. The first time I visited, when the Beyblades were more reasonable, there were easily a dozen or more people here for magic. The last time I visited, I could barely get a single 4 player game going - for most of the night, there was only myself and two other people. It seems I'm not the only one who values their hearing over continuing to patronize game3.

Also, their selection of singles is horrendous. When searching 40+ cards for some commander decks, only a single card I needed was in stock, compared to 20+ at the two LGSs in the area that actually care about their...