veraxus

Join Date 12/2005

Customer Service Un-preordered Me

...or why I'm not going to bother buying the game again.

I preordered Elemental months ago, the moment it became available for preorder. I love StarDock. Even when I'm not totally gaga over their games (Sins of a Solar Empire), they're still the underdog making original, interesting, games that run great no matter if I'm playing on my dedicated gaming computer or my feeble Asus netbook. I love their stance on DRM and copy protection... I love being able to re-download my games without having to dig up old CDs and patch up the wazoo (although I like having the option)... and I love the tons and tons of free updates you always give your loyal customers.

So when I pre-ordered Elemental for $39.99, I didn't even have to consider it. It's a StarDock game, and I would support them whether the game tickled my fancy or not.

<rant>

Last week they tried to charge my card... which didn't work since the card has just expired. Now why I was being charged for a game that doesn't come out till next year, I can't figure... but instead of giving me the option of updating my expiration date, they told me to place a new order. So I emailed customer service asking if I could just update my CC expiration date, as I had gotten a $10 discount when I originally ordered and didn't want to order again. This was the reply:

Hello,

I am afraid that we cannot apply expired coupon codes to new orders. Had we been notified when your credit/debit card information changed, we may have been able to do something.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Regards,
Melissa
Stardock Sales Support

What does that even have to do with my request? I did reply, emphasizing that I didn't want to re-order, but I wanted to keep my current order and update my CC info, but apparently I'm being ignored as I haven't heard back in over a week. So StarDock, you can forget about my business and support. It's not about the earth-shattering (*sarcasm*) amount of $10, but principal. Condescending, curt, unhelpful customer service is unacceptible in any situation... and trying to charge my card for a game that isn't out yet, then refusing to update billing information that was entered months ago and telling me "oh well, your fault" with absolutely no effort to fix the situation - no, I won't tolerate that. Not even from you.

I'm not going to order Elemental again. I'm not going to buy any more games on Impulse. Why? Because I expected nothing out of you but excellence, and excellent customer service wins you loyalty, poor customer service kills it. Your customer service sucks. When you're ready to do the right thing, I'll be here. So until you're ready to start treating this customer like a customer, I'm simply not going to be one.

</rant>

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The reason your card was charged was because all pre-orders get access to the game betta process which began within the time period you describe the charge occuring.

This triggers the charge b/c you are getting a form of the game at an earlier date and will have access to all versions between then and release as well as have imput on balancing and possible features...

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astrath

Join Date 04/2006

+28

Whoa big rant....

I suspect that something got lost in translation with SD Support. Hmm....

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RonLugge

Join Date 05/2004

+50

Now why I was being charged for a game that doesn't come out till next year, I can't figure...

Because one of the perks of pre-ordering is access to the beta; and thus you are charged before being given access to the beta. SOP for SD.

As for the screwup with support... I will agree, that sounds wrong. There may be a problem with their system with doing what you wanted to do (I'll believe that!) but I can't believe they don't have some way to force the system to behave in the desired (and appropriate) manner.

Anyway, it sounds like the system automatically canceled your pre-order because of the invalid CC info. Why they can't reinstate it with the corrected info I don't know, but... sorry! And failing to get back to you is outright strange, but they are a bit swamped at the moment because of the sheer number of people currently being processed (the beta just came out a week or so ago...)

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Not trying to fan the flames, and I hope someone from Stardock will chime in, but it's been well publicized that pre-orders would be charged when the first beta was released. This has been standard practice for every pre-order / beta from Stardock for many years. The beta for Elemental was released last week.

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I'm emailing you right now with a fix.

Hopefully we'll allow customers to edit their preorders in the future.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

AFAIK the system is such that we cannot re-run an order once it has been processed and failed; orders must be initiated by the customer and can only be charged (or attempted) once (for security, among other reasons).

As to the being charged at the opening of the beta, we've been as transparent as possible about that here; everyone who has asked about it has been told that we do indeed charge upon issuing of a serial key (be that on a beta release or final). There are also notes to the effect that you will be charged when a release is made when you place a preorder.

There is currently a new coupon code available for our annual customer survey, so it is likely that you could re-place the preorder for the same price if you are willing to work with support/sales.

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Quoting MeliBee,

reply 5

Hopefully we'll allow customers to edit their preorders in the future.

Good news

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Customer service just extended an olive branch for re-preordering, so I did.

As for the beta/charge - I knew about the policy, but I guess I wasn't paying attention and didn't notice that the beta had started. Still, it would have been nice if CS had given me some options the first time around instead of the generic "too bad" reply that I wound up with. Heck, I'd have even understood if I had been told "unfortunately, our system doesn't have the ability to modify orders."

In any case, now all is well.

P.S. I'd make preorder billing/shipping settings a priority for your Impulse development cycle. Credit cards expire, people move... could be a worthwhile investment to get that working.

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astrath

Join Date 04/2006

+28

I must admit it was a pretty high quality rant - it certainly got attention (we flagged it up on the IRC for the support people to look at, although they might have noticed it already). Do have pity on the support people though, they have to sort out lots of problems, especially with the beta just out, and they can't get it right every time.

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RonLugge

Join Date 05/2004

+50

I must admit it was a pretty high quality rant

QFT; most rants make my blood boil because of the rantee, not what is being ranted over. This one... if I hadn't been aware of SD support being overworked, I would have been angry over their response.

I thought there was a good reason for that. I'm surprised you don't have any kind of override behaviour available, but... ./shrug

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Wintersong

Join Date 07/2006

+235

Quoting ,

quoting post

I doubt that e-mail reply from Melissa can truly be considered "Condescending, curt and unhelpul". Well, ok, it doesn't help you in what you want so maybe unhelpful could be admitted if we force it. But it's not like her fault (or Stardock's) if you failt to keep updated your data.

Also, it's unnacceptable your failure at excellence as customer. So I'd not have given you another chance.

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well, could it be possible to send reminder to people to update their information say a week before you actually make beta available ? That way the date doesn't come up so suddenly. luckily mine went thru, but with bit of bad luck sudden act (I had forgotten it already) causes trouble.. especially without receiving exact time frame beforehand. (oh well, if there was I missed it).

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