Star Citizen – General Discussions

[Paul Howlett]

Hi Derek,

Actually I mentioned the TOS and how they’d have to refund me anyhow on June 1st and the guy categorically denied me saying that they had earned the money through development of the game and that even though the requirements had changed and my PC won’t be able to run it they won’t be refunding me at all June 1st or not.

Sorry folks.

[dsmart]

Where are you located? When did you back the project? Roughly how much are you in for? If you don’t want to disclose this in public, just email (dsmart at live.com) or DM (http://twitter.com/dsmart/) me.

Anyway, just be sure to keep all the correspondence.

[Paul Howlett]

Hello again Derek,

I don’t mind it being public knowledge, it’s a small amount really.

I can afford to lose it but I object to loosing it.

I feel like I’ve been conned and it’s cost me time and money and still no resolution to my satisfaction. I can’t run what’s been produced and from what I’ve seen I wouldn’t want to anyhow.

<span style=”color: #343434; font-family: Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;”>Where are you located? When did you back the project? Roughly how much are you in for?</span>

Devon: England, August 2014 and $125 Hornet Package.

So far I’ve tried:

Direct – Various reasons given for not refunding
PayPal – Too long to chargeback
Bank – Visa – Too long to chargeback
Citizen’s Advice Bureau gave me a template to start with and advised I should use an alternative mediation service (Don’t know how much this costs but I bet it’s more than £77) and opened  case with trading standards, I’m phoning them tomorrow to update on progress.

My general feeling is no-one is prepared for the dramatic rise of crowd funding, most try to apply existing laws that don’t quite fit and are easy for CIG to get around.

In this case their argument is that the product isn’t finished and shipped so the sale of goods and services act 1983 doesn’t apply and there has been a game cost for development meaning my money’s been earned as per their TOS v1.2

They said the TOS means unspent money would be returned and financial reporting given in full only in the event of abandonment which they aren’t doing. So even if it collapses if they’ve spent the money it’s hard cheese.

Basically they have produced stuff, that stuff cost so my money has been spent so there will be no refund.

I’m very unhappy and my only hope is that others read this and decide not to fund. I can’t see how I’ll ever get my money bacl.

I don’t think I’ll ever crowd fund a project again.

They’ve got away with it, they even blamed the community for advertising that refunds were available to anyone who wanted it forcing them to stick to the TOS.

I couldn’t help thinking: Yeah imagine if everyone who thinks this is rubbish got their money back, you’d never survive.

Sorry folks.

[dsmart]

Their interpretation of the ToS is flawed in many ways. And it will be tested in court before long. So don’t pay any attention to it. Just keep reading my updates as things progress. And whatever you do, try not to agree to any new ToS changes. This is very important.

[dsmart]

LMAO!! Yeah, I saw this yesterday. I was laughing so hard. Those guys are hilarious. Here is a direct link to the video.

[dsmart]

Anyone seen the 2.4J patch notes yet?

Ff nothing else, the on-going 2.4 “persistence” update clearly proves what I’ve been saying all along; in that their primary focus is on implementing features which make money. e.g. instead of implementing core game features, they implemented shops and in-game currency; which will turn into RL currency at some point in the short term.

And the 2.4j test update that went live last night, also clearly shows that they’re not building an MMO and that, at some point – if they survive that long – they are going to stick with the instanced session based gameplay style. e.g. they’re now charging in-game currency for re-spawning ships! Which, at the current rate of exchange means that when it’s final, you will have to pay $3 per respawn if you don’t want to wait 5 mins. Here is a video showing it.

Not to mention that the nature of the current “missions”, ensures that the game has to remain local instanced. Which means, definitely no MMO of any kind.

[Ranger Man]

I can relate.  Got rejected in my request, they closed the ticket refused to answer any followup emails pointing out they were wrong.  I filed with FTC and Better Business Bureau (BBB).  They answered the BBB with a boilerplate BS letter.  I responded I did not accept the response, used Derek’s list on why.  I also stated it was the answer I expected from CIG and that I really didn’t expect they’d do the right thing.

I’ve just written it off and hope the word spreads quickly.  It seems that more and more streamers and backers are posting negative reviews nowdays so maybe there is hope.  Then the Goat Simulator game about crowdfunding has to be a direct reference to CIG/RSI – at least that’s my opinion.

As you said – Only talk, never fact.

 

[Jason Jones]

I can relate Rangerman.  They have denied me at every turn.  I have written off getting my money back but I will be the first to jump into any class action that happens.

[Author]

Posts