Consumer Reports: Microsoft is Nice, GameStop is Naughty

Uh oh!  Looks like one popular games retailer may be getting a lump of coal in its stocking this Christmas.

Consumer Reports has released its 2011 Naughty & Nice Holiday List.  First introduced last year, the list examines various companies’ shopping policies and gives them a thumbs up or thumbs down depending on how consumer friendly they are.  Consumer Reports notes that the list merely comments on specific policies, not “everything else the company does or how it treats its customers.”

Xbox 360 manufacturer Microsoft managed to make the Nice list.  “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.”

Meanwhile, video game retailer GameStop landed smack dab on the Naughty list.  “A Fortune 500 company with more than 6,500 stores worldwide, this video game software and hardware merchant has a laundry list of conditions governing returns and exchanges. And in the end, GameStop proclaims, ‘We reserve the right to refuse any return.’”

The full list is below.  You can watch the embedded video or check out the report for more details.  

Nice:

Bi-Lo supermarkets
Cablevision
Live Nation
American Express
Orvis
Crutchfield
Costco
Amazon.com
Microsoft
REI

Naughty:

AirTran
RadioShack
American Apparel
Verizon Wireless
Liberty Travel
The Swiss Colony
Southwest Airlines
SiriusXM satellite radio
GameStop

Source: Consumer Reports

-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics Contributing Editor Andrew Eisen has been extra specially good this year...