Claiming a refund - Look here

By brazzeh on May 6, 2009 1:06:04 PM from

brazzeh

Join Date 04/2009

I paid a fairly substantial amount ($69.99) to have a boxed copy of Demigod shipped to the UK since, understandably, I was excited to play the game, and would have been happy to pay the price, if the game worked well enough.

However, it doesn't.

Therefore, I contacted [email protected] about my dissapointment, and got a reply saying that a 75% refund would be issued, within the same day, Ed: WHICH I AM HAPPY WITH. I strongly urge anyone who has had a similar experience to do the same, and I have enclosed a modified version of the email I sent as a template if you have trouble with that sort of thing.

Ed: Just to clarify, stardock did not refund any of the shipping fee.

Hello,

I would like to request a full refund for the amount I paid for my copy of Demigod, the reasons for this are two fold:

- The multiplayer aspect is more or less unplayable for games of 4 players or more, and even smaller games than that are extremely difficult and frustrating to achieve; for a multiplayer centric game, this is just not acceptable. Considering I bought this game to play with a large group of friends whom I actually persuaded to get the game aswell, I'm sure you can imagine the embarassment and frustration I have felt, as we can't even play it together.

- The AI is broken and the single-player element is too underdeveloped to make up for the multiplayer's shortcomings; whilst I know that a fully fleshed out singleplayer campaign was not advertised, if the singleplayer aspect had at least passable AI, it would have made the mutliplayer problems less dissapointing.

I'm not sure how you go about making refunds as I paid via PayPal, but I have provided all the information you should require below.

I hope to hear from you with 48 hours before I am forced to take further action.

Yours faithfully,

<Name>

Impulse ID: ************
Demigod key: ########################

Quoting vindKtiv,

reply 22

They could ban whoever the hell they want. They are under no obligation to ban only the people who annoy the hell out of everybody. And openness? Don't give me that. All I read from him was "THIS GAME SUCKS!" Not only did he fail to factor in the fact that they still do provide %100 refunds, he blatantly belittled Stardock's man hours of commitment to the game. Understand, that Stardock is under NO OBLIGATION to give you any refund at all. In fact, with any other company that Warskull would have been told to go screw himself. He should be happy that he got a refund.

Well I thought one point of the Gamer Bill of Rights is to have a guideline that doesn't allow a company to do whatever they feel like at any given moment, you know, suggest that gamers have rights. It won't work well at all if Stardock doesn't follow through itself, not that I am saying they aren't at this point. I think that there is a refund available at all, is great. That it's 100% is unheard of. Even if you can't get the game to run, most companies just shrug if they respond at all. I am also used to games having issues until the first patch which can easily be a month or two out, which is a reason I rarely buy them during the opening months. Hey, if I really like the idea and concept of a game, I would rather have it working than a refund anyway.

This guy they banned looked very unhappy about the game and refund status, although the refund issue might not have been about himself but what other people are saying, as others said, it doesn't look like he wa asking for one. It is possible to be angry for someone else after all. His post was actually rather calm, not vulgar but yeah, angry... it's a rant. Since when were rants not allowed on this forum? Hey, other companies will filter their forums to the point you can't even use the word DRM or pirate and not be moderated but here...? That post hardly looked extraordinary, assuming the decision was based on this post alone. I've since been told the other one banned had been an issue for awhile, which I didn't know.

I only care about how Demigod is handled really because of interest in Elemental.

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damn, stardock sure is the most awesome game company ever , hope you get the problems fixed.

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Quoting kryo,

reply 25

If you simply mail sales and request a refund, no, there is no reason you would get banned. We've acknowledged the issues and if they're too much for you, we don't begrudge you wanting to put your money to better use.

But in the above example, a user insulted our support and dedication to Demigod and its users, and as a result was basically given his money back and shown the door; this is an exceptional case. We have no problem tolerating criticism, but if someone makes it personal like that we're not under any obligation to take it sitting down. Just as users can opt not to buy stuff from us if they like, we can opt not to *let* them.

Are you referring to warskull or chaos? I want to know if warskull was banned for his comments.

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Quoting Tidus1492,

reply 3

Are you referring to warskull or chaos? I want to know if warskull was banned for his comments.

yes, he was.

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Quoting Warskullx,

reply 13

Sounds to me like you aren't willing to stand behind your product, which is clearly broken. It was released with a large number of bugs, many of which still aren't fixed. People still can't really reliably play 4v4s and 5v5s (evidenced by the fact that you only recently dared to make pantheon 3v3.) You promised you would get these bugs fixed and its been over a month. What do people get for trying to support you and stand by you while you attempt to fix things, they get screwed.

People who pre-ordered the game paid more for it and Frogboy backed out of trying to remedy that. People who didn't immediately return it at release aren't getting full refunds now. Since when is Demigod satisfactory? Favor is still broken, the game still desyncs, the game still crashes, and the patches that were susposed to fix these issues and many others didn't.

Worst of all, you guys are giving us a 50% coupon for another copy of a defective product (which was never actually sent out.) So people who supported you early get screwed again.

Not giving people a full refund because they can technically play online in this trainwreck is against your Gamers Bill of Rights, releasing a game unfinished is against the GBoR.

You get rage refunded for this?? Look at this guys other posts, he posted a lot of good beta feedback and an intelligent post on why some helmets are overpowered and others are useless (bang on by the way). This is the kind of feedback that GPG could use to improve on the game, and its obvious he put some effort into it. This post here is obviously made in anger, and he uses an accusatory tone, but his points are all good, and I agree with them. I enjoy the game, but denying that it hasn't had frustrations, and doesn't still have major issues, by rage refunding a frustrated but devoted customer who points them out, is unprofessional to say the least. I better end my message there, because despite my frustrations with this game, I still look forward to playing it in the future.

And while I'm here, the game is over a month old, get favor working for frak sake.

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Quoting MeliBee,

reply 10

Our refund policy on Demigod was just unrelaxed. It's a little complicated, but I'll do my best to explain.

If you request a refund but have been able to play online for more than a few hours, we will be able to provide a 75% refund only.
Our normal refund policy timeframe is back in effect for those customers that fall under Number 1. If you paid with PayPal, we can only provide a refund within 60 days, for credit/debit cards, 90 days.
All refund requests for games purchased at retail must be received within 30 days of the purchase. Number 1 applies here as well. We will not provide any refunds for retail copies beyond this timeframe.
So basically, if you've been able to play online and simply don't want the game anymore, a full refund is not possible. If you haven't been able to play online and have been sticking by us, you will not be penalized should you request a refund.

It's complicated, so each refund request will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Quick question....

Why only 75% or why 75% even?

In my view by refunding any amount after play you are admitting that their is possibility of the consumer not being able to enjoy the product at full potential... Most companies dont agree to do a refund unless they believe that their is possibly some fault with them.

I had an issue with blockbuster where someone managed to rent a copy of halo and not return it since I had lost my card. They did this at a different location, and can only do so with proper ID. Of which must of not happened since he cant look exactly like me, nore did he have my ID I assume. Blockbuster charged me with the full price of the game, I argued, and they said they'd let me pay 50% thereby possibly assuming some fault on their end. After some hard talk using my father

, the issue was dropped, and luckily I like blockbuster so I still use them.

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Quoting DantesFire,

reply 8

So fanboys stop taking a dump on every thread that complains and offer a little support.

When you learn to express yourself in a manner befitting discourse, absolutely.

/fanboy off

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[yeah, its cross-posted from another thread. i copy-pasted myself. i wanted to say exactly the same thing in this thread too.]

regarding "fanboyism"

if you're not a fan of Stardock what the hell are you doing here? what kind of person has so much built up aggression and so many anti-social tendencies that they have choose to spend their own time participating in a community that they don't actually like?

there's a huge amount of immaturity in this attitude. why would you dislike a "fanboy". what kind of person are you that you don't like people who like things. "liking things sucks man, its totally uncool to like things, showing support for the people who make things you like sucks even worse." do you even listen to yourselves?

this is one of the strange dark sides of the internet, the way it brings out the sociopathic tendencies in so many people. if you don't like the company or the community what the heck are you doing here? it makes you feel better to talk trash right to their face? would you do that in a school cafeteria? sit down at a table full of kids you dislike and insult them to their face? would you do that?

and don't get caught up in hysteria. exactly 2 people have been given "mandatory refunds", both of them for saying things that were beyond the pale insulting towards the Stardock professional team. imagine the car dealership situation again, what if you walked into the dealership and started shouting insults at the salesman and everyone on the show floor. would you expect to be treated nicely or would you expect them to call the cops and have you taken away?

use your head and understand that this is one of the most open and lightly moderated forums you'll find anywhere. also learn to appreciate that the level of service and good faith communication you get from Stardock is miles ahead of any other games publisher.

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Whatever constructive use this thread has is certainly gone now.

I'm closing it.

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The Forums Are Now Closed!

The content will remain as a historical reference, thank you.

Claiming a refund - Look here

brazzeh