test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Multi mission ship bundle doesn't allow you to choose visuals of federation ships
marraak
Member Posts: 13 Arc User
I've been begging for some kind of help via email on this and I've been getting absolutely nowhere. The only response I get is a ticket number that I have no access too, it doesn't appear as an open ticket anywhere that I can find. Honestly the customer service thus far has been absolutely shameful. I'm just trying to get some idea what a reasonable expectation is for getting this fixed, and trying to get somebody to acknowledge at least someone is aware of it and working on it.
Thus far after dozens of emails I can't even get that far. It's like I'm dealing with a chat bot.
Thus far after dozens of emails I can't even get that far. It's like I'm dealing with a chat bot.
0
Comments
Found out today it was "fixed"... if you want to call it that. Out of the 5 Federation designs? I can chose 3. All of which are the ones that look nearly identical, and pretty bad really. The one design I really wanted, the one that sold me on buying the bundle? The Rademaker I think it's called, well if I want that one it's an extra 5,000 zen just for that visual, after I spent something like 13,000 on the bundle already.
The other design that I kind of liked and wanted to mix and match with? The Vesta? That's another 3000 on top of that I think it was. So yeah, after spending 13,000 on the "bundle" if I want the ship design I liked I have to spend more than what it would cost me to get an entirely new ship just for that visual. If I want both, which frankly should be included with the bundle? That's only a couple rand shy of buying a completely different bundle of like 6-9 ships total, just for the two decent designs out of 5 that I already paid for once.
Needless to say, extremely disappointed. It's sad too, the ships themselves are an absolute delight to build and fly, tech wise they are a perfect fit for my style. Appearance wise though.. well the Federation versions are just awful and I'm not certain if I'd have made the decision to purchase if the bundle if I had been told up front the actual cost to get what I wanted was more like 18,000 than 13,000.
My character is Federation, BTW. And yeah, I know that you can't get the KDF designs with a Fed faction player (though that is helpful info for newer folks so good that you mentioned it.) I did switch to the Romulan version though, it's at least livable. Just really feel pretty taken advantage of on this deal, I mean it's not the end of the world or anything but they really shouldn't advertise a bundle where almost half the visuals are going to cost more than another whole ship would cost, and not be honest and say that right up front and make it perfectly clear what your buying. It's also pretty crazy that I have to spend 5 grand on an appearance package when I can get a completely different ship for 3 grand. Not sure who thought up that pricing structure but geez. 500-1000, maybe. 5 grand. Hell no.
All they really did here is make me extremely leery of making future purchases. It's just not a good way to do business I'm afraid.
They didn't at all make it clear the bundle only included a little more than half of the designs for the ship, 3 out of 5, and that the 3 they do include are the ones that look like a space going yugo which I'm sure was not by accident. This really felt like bait and switch. I had to go back and reread the description about half a dozen times before I caught it, and if I hadn't bought the bundle and I didn't know the ship names by heart because of the bug I never would have spotted even then, and I was actively looking for it.
They very cutely put the three in a list with the ship names without mentioning or pointing out the two that most people would want are not included. It was just bad business all the way around. If they'd been up front about it I probably would have bought different ships or a different bundle. As it is they took someone who was shaping up to be a pretty loyal customer and now I'm completely gun shy about ordering anything because honestly I'm afraid of getting ripped off again and I know I can expect zero help if anything does go wrong.
Their customer support is a nightmare, it took me almost a dozen emails begging for help with the bug to get anywhere on that, and once that was fixed I shot off one email explaining the bait and switch but I would be stunned if it amounted to anything, given how many previous emails begging for help were completely ignored and "closed as duplicates" without ever addressing my actual problem.
So yeah, I went from having a pretty well thought out schedule of purchases to being extremely leery of giving them a dime. Which is a dang shame really. But this is what happens when you get shady. And this just came off as ultra shady I'm afraid. I might reconsider in time. But I can guarantee they cost themselves a good chunk of change with this stunt. Love the game, would be happy to support the folks that run it. But not if I'm going to get treated like that in return.
Understood, and appreciated - but I don't think it changes my overall point. I paid for a bundle. It should have included those previous designs. I shouldn't have to pay extra for them. Funny thing, if they'd said hey, it's going to be $150 for the bundle, I would have paid it no problem and everything would have been fine. Charging me $100 for the bundle, then I find out after the fact I've got to spend an extra $50 to get the good looking designs? That is a serious issue that I take exception too. I don't think I'm alone in that. If they'd been upfront in the marketing, no problem. But I don't feel like they were, not at all.
And it's going to have a serious impact on how I spend from here on out. Purchases like this should be no-brainers, from Cryptic's point of view. You want folks to see stuff and say oh man that looks good and buy it. That puts money in your pocket. But they have taught me the hard way to NEVER, EVER do that under any circumstances.
See, I can't trust Cryptic now to be above board. I have to research the snot out of everything before I buy to make sure I understand exactly what I'm getting. That's how this experience has made me feel as a customer, and that is not good.
Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy the game, and when I play something this much I do really want to offer financial support. But I also feel like I got slapped in the face here. So it's a really interesting situation. Like I said, it's not the end of the world and fortunately $100 for me is not a huge amount of money. Ok, granted, it's still $100 but I'm not going to be eating nothing but mac and cheese all week as a result.. lol.
But the principle is pretty difficult to ignore. I expected a lot more, particularly from customer support - who's handling of the original bug report was.. well, atrocious and that's being exceedingly kind. So yea, very gunshy now as a result. Not a good way to treat a customer. Not at all.