I want my money back!

[Kayigo]

Let me start by saying
1) I love civ iii
2) my computer meets the minimum specs for the game
3) my husband is a Ph.D computer scientist who writes software for a living
4) I reallly, really want to like this game

However, we have owned this game for 10 days now,
and we have returned it to the retailer once (Best Buy in California)
and we have written to tech support
and we have worked with the tech support in this forum

AND WE CANT EVEN GET THE STUPID THING TO INSTALL!

From reading the comments on this forum and at other sites, I observe two problems:
1) there appears to be a large run of faulty discs, which results in consumers having to exchange the discs, sometimes more than once (I am up to my second time, and by report there was someone who had to return their discs six! times.)
2) even when the discs DO work, the game has problems in the program itself that are not resolved by the most current patch

As a consumer, I find this poor quality unacceptable.

My retailer (Best Buy) has an exchanges-only policy on software.
At this point, I dont want an exchange. I want my money back.

For $50, we deserve a product that works. Not one that sort of works after two exchanges if you replace your graphics card, and may still crash in the late stages of the game.

Has anyone tried to obtain a refund on this game, from the company or the retailer? Did it work? How did you do it?

I have started by writing Firaxis customer service. I will post the results.

I have also posted a blistering review on Amazon, and I have started this thread.

I would be very interested in your experiences.

 

[Imaginactra]

I had some difficulty getting the game installed. Between two computers I had the same issue, but had to resolve them differently.

The only disk fault I had was a mislabeling. Disk 1 is the play disk.

On installing, I recommend the following procedure.

1) Install DirectX 9c from the Civ IV CD
2) Reinstall your video drivers (some files in the driver set supplant DirectX files).
3) Download the latest Civ IV Patch
4) Install Civ IV
5) Install Patch BEFORE you run the game.

As far as my quals, I have 1 and a half IT degrees (DeVry Senior), a national PC Technical certification and have worked as professional technical support. Though I didn't personally work for Sony, number 2 above is a step they recommend to their MMO players when reinstalling DirectX.

Not knowing your exact PC specs, the above should give you a 99.9% chance at success.

 

[Kayigo]

Thanks, but that a) was not my problem and b) not what this thread is about. I have been through the tech support forum and done everything they have suggested short of upgrading my hardware. I want my money back.

 

[BCLG100]

try selling it on ebay

 

[Kayigo]

It appears that I need to be clearer. I am most interested in hearing from people who have tried to get a refund for the game. I realize that there are people out there who have been able to make the game run, sometimes after heroic efforts. I am past that. Most consumers do not have access to computer software engineers and professional tech support people to get their games running. A game marketed to the general public should be installable and playable by the general public. I want my money back.

 

[Kayigo]

BCLG100 -
No kidding. I nearly bought it on eBay, and I am thanking my lucky stars I didnt.

 

[BCLG100]

Well theres very little chance of that happening hence my ebay idea

 

[Alpedar]

In my country (Czech Republic) if something have malfunction and it cannot be solved by repairing/exchanging three times (but it must be same malfunction), they must offer money back. (Or it is something like this, i never used it, so i dont know details).
Try to look in laws in your country whether there is something like that.

 

[rupertlittlebea]

If best buy is anything like walmart they HATE if you ask to speak to the manager. Then ask to speak to the district manager.

More than anything else they hate publicity.

 

[Kayigo]

I know there are "lemon laws" in California for defective cars. I dont know of anything similar for general merchandise.

 

[Kayigo]

Re: the publicity thing
Shouldn't Firaxis and 2k games be the ones getting the bad publicity? This isnt Best Buys fault.

 

[Ranos]

The problem with a refund is that you can easily copy the CD and then complain it deson't work and send it back. You still have a workable copy of the game and the people who worked on the game are out the money for that copy. I am in no way accusing you of attempting this, just merely telling you this is why you will not get a refund from anyone.

There may be problems with your system not meeting the minimum requirements, you may need to update something or you could be using the wrong disc because of the mislabeling.

 

[Red Door]

You shoudn't get your money back for something that you should have known wouldn't work.

 

[iSkratch]

You shoudn't get your money back for something that you should have known wouldn't work.

Care to back up this completely moronic statement?

 

[blargh]

Actually I recall reading somewhere that on some runs the discs were switched around so the disk labelled one is actualy disc two and vice versa.

 

[salty]

The problem with a refund is that you can easily copy the CD and then complain it deson't work and send it back. You still have a workable copy of the game and the people who worked on the game are out the money for that copy. I am in no way accusing you of attempting this, just merely telling you this is why you will not get a refund from anyone.

There may be problems with your system not meeting the minimum requirements, you may need to update something or you could be using the wrong disc because of the mislabeling.

Don't you need the original disc to play the game? (officially anyway)

There should be a law that makes your product refundable if safe disc or similar crap is on your software.

 

[Red Door]

Care to back up this completely moronic statement?

She could have easily checked the minimum requirements on the back of the box and then checked out her system specs. There you go, it should match up or the game isn't going to work and you'll have to buy a different game.

 

[salty]

um

Let me start by saying
2) my computer meets the minimum specs for the game

I got your 10 chars right here

 

[Ranos]

Don't you need the original disc to play the game? (officially anyway)

There should be a law that makes your product refundable if safe disc or similar crap is on your software.

I could be wrong and I am in no way saying this should be done, but I think there are ways to copy the CDs even with the safedisc programs. I don't want to get into a big piracy discussion but that is the reason why most places will not give refunds on open CDs/DVDs.

 

[abj]

I could be wrong and I am in no way saying this should be done, but I think there are ways to copy the CDs even with the safedisc programs. I don't want to get into a big piracy discussion but that is the reason why most places will not give refunds on open CDs/DVDs.

Basically, most of the popular copy protections, like securom or safedisk, can be cracked by "retail" programs (I won't mention how or who). There's a big mess in the area of copying CD's, since as a consumer we are reserved the right to make backups of our CD's, but we cannot distribute them. The problem is that nothing can differentiate between honest consumers who are backing up CD's, and those who copy for distribution.

On the OP: Chances are that you won't get a refund. You might be able to get 2K Games to offer an exchange, ie you exchange Civ IV for another game made by 2K. It was a similar thing done by Infogames/Atari after the Master of Orion 3 fiasco, except MOO3 was a horriblely designed game (bugs and technical conflicts weren't much of a problem). But beyond that, very few places or companies offer complete refunds in the world of computer games/video games.