No Character Builder Update

[Goken100]

Example of Good Customer Service

My cable company used to completely screw me over at every opportunity. No service for a week? Cable guy didn't show up? Twice? And was late the third time? So I call the toll free number and wait half an hour to hear, "Sorry about that, nothing we can do."

Now suddenly they have competition. And I have to say, while it wasn't an instantaneous transformation, I think my cable company might be giving me some of the best customer service I've ever received. I get compensated for when service is down, and when I sign up for a lower rate they're willing back-date it. And the cable guy is right on time or I get compensated for my time. WHAT? Who are you and what have you done with Comcast?

See, the cable company didn't have to do any of that nice stuff. They are doing so because they have incentives to make me like them (NOW). WotC has incentives too, as we could always just go play shoots and ladders instead.

In summary, we have every right to dislike bad service, just as everyone is entitled to dislike their annoying cable company. But if you get good service, that's a business decision on the company's part, not because there's any dangerous legal liability they're covering for.

 

[P1NBACK]

If I go to a movie and it fails to entertain me I'm not entitled to a refund on it.

This is kind of a whack analogy because I'm not being failed to be entertained. That's happened before with D&DI, no doubt. But, I didn't request my money back. How can I say something failed to entertain me, if that something isn't even there to begin with?

What about if you go to the movie and half the movie is missing? Are you entitled to a refund then?

"But! But! They never said they had to give you the WHOLE movie! There's no contractual obligation!"

 

[Scribble]

If something doesn't live up to your expectations you aren't entitled to a refund if it actually meets what was agreed to in the agreement. If I go to a movie and it fails to entertain me I'm not entitled to a refund on it.

Most movie theaters actually WILL give you your money back if you're upset enough about the film to ask for it. Not because of any sort of entitlement sure- It's just customer service. It takes a whole lot more effort to get a new customer then to keep an existing customer happy.

Customer/Company relationships are like pretty much any other relationship out there. Sometimes mistakes happen, one or the other party messes up, and people get upset. It's up to both parties to decide if the relationship is worth saving, and how best to go about it.

Sometimes it involves simply explaining to the customer why whatever happened happened, and what you're doing to help keep it from happening again, sometimes it's compensating them in some way, and sometimes it's explaining to them how they can avoid making a mistake in the future. There's not really a "right or wrong" way in customer service.

In this case it seems WoTC missed a deadline twice now, and so they are offering compensation for those who feel upset about it. On their end I'm sure (at least hoping) they're working on plans to ensure it doesn't happen in the future.

Despite what some say, when push comes to shove WoTC seems to have pretty good customer service.

 

[Shazman]

No really. I am. If I pay for a service/product and that product doesn't live up to my expectations, I return it or ask for a refund. That's called being a good consumer. Putting your money where your mouth is. Etc...

You're more than welcome to buy an inferior product. No one's arguing against you paying for September's D&D Insider offerings. So, why argue against those who feel like the product is inferior and would like a refund? It makes absolutely no sense outside of staunch fanboyism. Really.

Yeah, I don't understand the attitude of "I love this company so much, it's oaky if they rip me off." I don't know any other way of describing that attitude, since calling it "fanboism" somehow gets you in trouble with the mods.

 

[mudbunny]

Yeah, I don't understand the attitude of "I love this company so much, it's oaky if they rip me off." I don't know any other way of describing that attitude, since calling it "fanboism" somehow gets you in trouble with the mods.

There are people out there who will say "Don't play Dark Sun, don't have a psionic character, and the Dragon articles don't interst me, so the lack of an update to the CB or MB don't affect me one slightest amount." There may be others who look at it and say "the amount of effort it takes to get to the webpage to ask for the refund, minimal as it is, is just not worth it to get a refund of only $x."

 

[P1NBACK]

There are people out there who will say "Don't play Dark Sun, don't have a psionic character, and the Dragon articles don't interst me, so the lack of an update to the CB or MB don't affect me one slightest amount." There may be others who look at it and say "the amount of effort it takes to get to the webpage to ask for the refund, minimal as it is, is just not worth it to get a refund of only ."

Mudbunny, those aren't the people we're talking about. We're talking about people who are accusing others of being "miserly" and trampling other's opinions for wanting a refund because they don't think we're "entitled".

It's one thing to say, "Yeah. No big deal for me. I'm not gonna ask for a refund."

It's another to say, "You don't deserve a refund. You're being miserly."

Know what I mean?

 

[mudbunny]

Ahh, I missed that context.

My apologies.

 

[Scribble]

Yeah, I don't understand the attitude of "I love this company so much, it's oaky if they rip me off." I don't know any other way of describing that attitude, since calling it "fanboism" somehow gets you in trouble with the mods.

Well, personally it's not that "I love the company so much it's ok for them to rip me off..."

I think you're kind of taking things a bit to the extreme there based on someone not agreeing with you.

For me- It's that for the most part I've been happy with my service, and understand that sometimes mistakes happen, and deadlines are missed. Companies are run by humans and humans are.. well human. They make mistakes- even more then once.

For my part the fact that it's related to a large update somewhat alleviates my annoyance. (I can picture some poor guy getting a ton more stuff then he normally has to do dumped on him, and told- have at ye!)

If it starts to happen without any other large out of norm updates I will be upset.

If it happens again, I will probably be a bit more upset... It kind of shows lack of planning.

Right now- I find demanding a refund for one month out of my year for this would be overzealous... But to each his own.

For the most part I think if the intentions were good, but the execution flawed, I get less upset then if the intentions were poor from the start.

In this case the intentions were good, so I'm less upset.

Inability to accept that sometimes mistakes are made seems kind of unreasonable to me.

Like I said before, a company/client relationship is like any other relationship, so it's not just one sided.

 

[RLBURNSIDE]

I paid for my Dnd insider subscription until the end of september, wanting to wait until after the 21st to get the essentials update and see whether I thought it was worth it to get the red box or the new player's guide.

Like all of you, I am pretty disappointed by it. I have an issue with those of you telling me it's just 5 bucks or whatever. I make a lot of money in my day job, but I work hard for it and I expect to get what I paid for. It's called integrity.

Don't tell me to look at the fine print and they're not legally responsible to give us updates to the builder each month. It's implied. It was on the schedule. It was delayed. So, extend our subscriptions by the length of the delay, if it causes those of us who are cut off to lose out. Simple enough solution.

I consider the october updates due to me for my september Dnd Insider account.

I don't pay Wizards to sit on their asses and come up with excuses. If they're late, they still have to deliver or they will have lost me as a customer.

I have a real job too and I have to deliver or I get FIRED. That's how it works in the real world, ya know. If I'm late on finishing a piece of code I was supposed to finish, I stay late on my own time and make up for it. The same principle is involved here.

There are torrent sites out there. Either Wotc gives me an update for the alloted time I paid for, or I just get those updates another way. Period.

Don't alienate your customer base with cheap bait and switch tactics. There are 16 pages in this thread to testify that enough people are po'd about this to speak up. Is this the kind of business Wotc wants to run?

Good faith transactions are a two-way street. I am perfectly happy to never pay another dime to Wizards' online services or their books for that matter which are obsoleted by their own errata within a month of their publication. Seriously, I can't trust a single word written in my PHB to be accurate. Forget about the adventurer's vault.

This is exactly like the video games biz. I made games for a living, and when users complain they couldn't access a server and even play an offline game on PC because of some bug on the server, and therefore had to get a cd key off the net to play the game they purchased, then all the power to them. You are allowed to break into your own car.

You get to keep what you pay for...if the merchant doesn't deliver you can collect anyway. It's just basic common sense. Don't get the law involved, lawyers are not the answer. Petitions are not the answer.

Wotc, do the right thing now and extend everyone's Dnd Insider subscription for the builder updates for a month, to accommodate you falling behind your release schedule. Don't get all legal on us because if you treat your customers like your enemies they will just act that way and on top of that, collect what's rightfully theirs, and their dues anyway. It's a losing battle to vex people in this way.

Just because we were suckers enough to pay for a monthly fee in advance, doesn't mean we will let you get away with not delivering the goods. I don't care if others say there are articles, etc. that come with the insider account. I don't pay for those. I paid for access to builder updates, and if I don't get what I paid for, I'll just download them anyway ad infinitum. You decide.

I see some of you on this board would never speak up when you buy rotten milk, or pay for a magazine subscription for a year and get only 11. But for the rest of us who aren't suckers, we tend to not like being treated as such.


Mod Edit: Guess what? Insulting people who don't think like you do is rude, and will get you booted out of a thread!

 

[Jack99]

You might want to consider not calling people, who disagree with you, suckers. Its not really a good basis for discussion.

Either way, you are entitled to feel however you like, just like everyone else, but using a 16 page thread as evidence is just funny. I havent counted, but I am guessing you will find 15 people in this thread who have stated they feel entitled to get their money back. The rest of the thread is people who disagree, and a couple of posters who posted like 20 times or more.

Also, could you clarify your use of integrity? Made no sense to me.