Major Cat wrote:
Peter Pein wrote:
This might be one reason, why P2P networks are so popular. If you don't
get helpfull support, why should you pay for a broken product?


More to the point: why do quite a few consumers continue to support
the software developers and publishers who engage in such practices?

Show me a publisher who does *not* engage in such practices. If I
refused all "buggy" products, I'd have nothing running on my OS,
including the OS!



John

--


Von Herzen, moge es wieder zu Herzen gehen. --Beethoven

"The Man Behind The Curtain" wrote in message
k.net...
David Richerby wrote:

A slightly more aggressive response (one I would do) would be: If that's
your "advice" you shouldn't be working in any kind of tech "support";
you should be pouring lattes at Starbucks.




Do they have Starbucks in India?

The Man Behind The Curtain wrote:
More to the point: why do quite a few consumers continue to support
the software developers and publishers who engage in such practices?

Show me a publisher who does *not* engage in such practices. If I
refused all "buggy" products, I'd have nothing running on my OS,
including the OS!

Your point is well taken. However, when it comes to gaming software,
too many consumers jump into purchasing the very latest version of
whatever, no questions asked. Now, gaming software are not mission
critical operating systems or applications... Why this stampede? Why
do consumers of such products not attempt to slow down the software
developers and publishers by simply refusing to buy every version
being thrown at them serially and relentlessly? Skipping versions
of gaming software may be a good start! 8)

I'm surprised they didn't tell you to increase the BUFFERS= entry in
your CONFIG.SYS too. :-)

Situation update February 9th 2006.

After my last message (18th Jan 2006) I received nothing from Ubisoft
'Support' but continued silence. More than two weeks went by. So last
tuesday I sent this message.

- Customer (Hemmo) 02/07/2006:'By being extremely slow and
unco-operative, you really are not making me feel any friendlier
towards Ubisoft. Now, what is the return address for your defective
software?'

And they answered the next day.

- Response (UK Technical Support) 02/08/2006:'If you are unwilling to
provide images of the CD key/Reciept then you can return the full
product along with his proof of purchase to the address below: [address
removed]
Please send goods by recorded delivery, as lost products cannot be
replaced.'

To which I replied

- Customer (Hemmo) 02/08/2006:'I'm willing. Just send me a digital
camera.'

That was just venting, to release my frustration caused by Ubisoft
support incompetence. I have already sent the game to Surrey, England.
Expensive stuff, because I live in Finland. Guess I'll need to bill
Ubisoft for the postage later.

I asked a lawyer friend of mine about this last message and he told me
in very strict terms not to send the receipt, because I'll need it if I
have to take this to the consumer authorities. Sending the receipt
would be like kissing your money goodbye, he said.


wrote:

Anyone want to buy a copy of Chessmaster 10th? In pristine condition,
just one owner before, hardly used at all. Just joking.

I bought Chessmaster 10th edition, a Christmas present for myself. The
Internet play feature didn't work out of the box, but after
registration I got an email saying that patch 1.03 would fix it. Except
it didn't. And today, more than a month after my first installation,
still doesn't even though both I and Ubisoft know the reason why.

Here is the gist of my correspondence with the Ubisoft support with
some extra comments.

- Customer (Hemmo) 12/24/2005:'Hello. I have Chessmaster 10th Edition
with patch 1.03 UK installed. How to connect for online play? Every
time I try, I get 'Invalid CD key' error. The CD Key from the leaflet
inside the CD case is:
XXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
I have tried this with and without the dashes. No joy.'

- Ubisoft Response (UK Technical Support) 12/28/2005:'Hello, the font
used to print the Product Key Codes contains several pairs of letters
that can be difficult to distinguish.

The often confused pairs are V / Y, 5 / S, N / H, 8 / B and 6 / G. If
you have any of these characters in your Product Key, try typing its
look-alike in its place.

On some jewel cases, the first character of the code is often difficult
to read because of its placement. Also note that you must include the
dashes between each group of characters when entering your Code.'

My thoughts: There is no jewel case, the code is on a paper inside a
DVD case. And the letters and numbers on the paper looked all clear to
me, but what the hey. So I tried all the combinations possible and it
took something like an hour.

- Hemmo 12/29/2005:'I have tried all your suggestions without luck.
Still 'Invalid CD Key' error every time I try to login for internet
games.'

- Ubisoft 12/30/2005:'Hello, please try downloading the patch from the
following link.
http://patches.ubi.com/chessmaster_10th_edition/chessmaster_10th_edition_v1.02_uk.exe'

My thoughts: I wondered why, as I had written that I already had the
later patch 1.03 installed. Still, I did as I was told. Download patch,
try to install.

- Hemmo 12/30/2005:'No luck. The 1.02 patch will not install over the
1.03 patch I already have.'

- Ubisoft 12/31/2005:'In order to fully troubleshoot the problem that
you are having please try the steps below:

1. Delete all temporary files from your system.
Navigate to C:\Windows\Temp and delete all files in this folder.
Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\*Your User Name*\Local
Settings\Temp and delete all the files in this folder.
You may need to turn on the ability to view hidden files and folders to
do this. To do so, double click My Computer, then click Tools and
Options. Then click View and select the option to view all hidden
files.
Then reboot and try the game again.

2. Close down all background tasks.
To do this click Start, then Run, then type MSCONFIG and click OK. From
there click on the tab marked startup.
For Windows XP users click the button marked as Disable All, then click
Apply and Close.
For Non Windows XP users, please remove the ticks from all of the boxes
apart from the below four and then click Apply and close.
LoadPowerProfile
ScanRegistry
SystemTray
TaskMonitor
Once this has been done, please reboot the computer and then try the
game again.

3. Reinstalling the game.
Please uninstall the game, then delete the folder that is left behind.
Then reboot the computer, reinstall the game and reboot again. Then
install any patches that are available for the game, reboot the
computer and then try the game again.

4. Run a thorough Scandisk and Defrag on your computer.
From the Start menu please select and run a thorough Scandisk of your
computer's hard disk drive. Then run the Defrag option from the same
menu.
Then reboot and try the game again.

5. Update your drivers.
Please ensure that you have downloaded and installed the latest drivers
for your video and sound cards available from the website of the card
manufacturer. Then reboot and try the game again.
If all of the above have not resolved your situation then please reply
back to this e-mail attaching the information from the DirectX
Diagnostic Tool.
To do this click Start then Run and type DXDIAG then click OK. From
there select the button marked as Save All Information and save the
text file it creates. Then attach that file to the e-mail and send it
to us.'

My thoughts: Now I started to get worried. Downloading, uninstalling,
reinstalling, applying, rebooting, defragging and scandisking. Seven
reboots! And why would I need to update my graphics drivers if the
internet connection does not work. This took a whole evening. Time I
could have spent doing something else. Like playing chess.

- Hemmo 01/01/2006:
After step 1. 'Invalid CD Key'.
After step 2. 'Invalid CD Key'.
After step 3. without any patch 'Incompatible client (ERR: 50)'.
After step 3. with patch 1.02 UK 'Incompatible client (ERR: 50)'.
After step 3. with patch 1.03 UK 'Invalid CD Key'.
After step 4. 'Invalid CD Key'
After step 5. 'Invalid CD Key'


- Ubisoft 01/02/2006:'Hello Hemmo, please try to disable any firewalls
that you may have also make sure if you have a router the firewall is
this is disabled to.'

My thoughts: Do these people have a clue? But I replied yet again.

- Hemmo 01/02/2006:'I already disabled the Windows XP firewall as part
of the step 2.'

- Ubisoft 01/04/2006:'Hello Hemmo, Chessmaster 10th edition will never
work with that CD key, unfortunatley it is a CD key for the game Far
Cry. You will need to have the game replaced at the point of purchase,
for one with a CD key for that game. If this is not an option then
please get back in touch.'

My thoughts: Now this made me really angry. These people have wasted a
whole day of my time when there was nothing wrong with the
installation. Obviously no one knowledgeable had read my original
question until now. I was displeased, but tried to take the game back
to the shop.

- Hemmo 01/05/2006:'The shop says they do not take back games if the
seal of the package has been opened. Please advise.'

My thoughts: After a week, I started to think how long can it take to
answer a simple question like that?

- Hemmo 01/11/2006:'Hello, is there anybody out there? Should I send
the game to you for replacement? Or to whoever is your Finland
importer?'

My thoughts: Another week passed and I was thinking of writing the
again when they woke up.

- Ubisoft 01/18/2006:'Hello Hemmo, can you please provide a clear
digital Images of the proof of purchase and also the of the CD-Key.'

My thoughts: Two weeks! It took them two bloody weeks to non-support me
in this way. I can't. If I ask will they send me a digital camera? I
thought I was angry earlier, but I was wrong. I didn't know one could
get this angry.

- Hemmo 01/18/2006:'This has taken already a month. I am not your dog.
I will not jump through any more of your hoops. Just give me a return
address, and I will send the whole gazoo to you and you can observe it
at your leasure. No need to send it back, I have already bought
Fritz9.'

My thoughts: And that's it. Now its Jan 27th and I haven't heard a peep
from Ubisoft support since the 18th.


--
Hemmo