Attn: Recall on Guitar and Drums

[starsandskulls]

It's now Tuesday night and I now own a broken Strat (no downstrum) and a broken drumset (green pad doesn't register fast beats). I put so much money into this and now I can basically sing my way to stardom and that's it. This is bullsh*t. I want a recall on this and someone to actually make some equipment that can actually stand up to the punishment avid players put them through. A week they lasted, a week. I was expecting atleast a few months. The replacements will break just as these ones did, I don't have faith in them. Who's on board for a recall and a back-to-the-drawing-board on peripherals for EA. How hard is it to make some equipment that can take a beating!?

[Eman311]

You're in the minority, regardless of how many people post here.

a lot of people would report no problems.

[SoberScott]

You're in the minority, regardless of how many people post here.

a lot of people would report no problems.

if thats the case where are my replacement drums?

[Eman311]

if thats the case where are my replacement drums?

1. thanksgiving holiday
2. a minority of all rock band bundles sold still equals a lot of requests for EA to handle that I doubt they have the supply to fund. If the instruments aren't being sold seperately until 08 thats a good sign there aren't many lying around to use for replacements.

[SoberScott]

1. ups was shipping on friday

2. EA just wants to make more money with bundles. Also still needs to sell to canadia.

[LeShrimp]

I swear to god, whenever christmas rolls around, nobody seems to remember that it's here. Guess what, kids. Shipping is going to grind to a crawl. It does this every year.


Every. ****ing. Year.

[Senkoy]

They should at least recall the guitar. I at least hope the one i get isnt just as useless.

[coffinrock94]

It's now Tuesday night and I now own a broken Strat (no downstrum) and a broken drumset (green pad doesn't register fast beats). I put so much money into this and now I can basically sing my way to stardom and that's it. This is bullsh*t. I want a recall on this and someone to actually make some equipment that can actually stand up to the punishment avid players put them through. A week they lasted, a week. I was expecting atleast a few months. The replacements will break just as these ones did, I don't have faith in them. Who's on board for a recall and a back-to-the-drawing-board on peripherals for EA. How hard is it to make some equipment that can take a beating!?

Shoot, I wish my guitar lasted a week. The fret buttons weren't responding properly after 2 nights. 2 NIGHTS! It didn't last 1/30 the total amount of time that the warranty was good for, and I didn't do anything malicious or irresponsible to it. I called and got a replacement when I saw the hotline was open 24/7. I was given a UPS tracking number, but haven't had an update on the page since I got the number. Now giving them the benefit of the doubt, this was about 1:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving, and I'll even assume that through that weekend they were maybe only shipping lightly. There is no reason now with the new week several days in that there isn't even an update, saying that the product has been shipped. If I didn't have a tracking number, I'd question that they even did anything. This does piss me off because the guitar was my favorite part of the game. I suck at the drums, and I'm only so good of a singer. The guitar was my bread and butter. $170 for less than 2 days of rocking, this sucks.

[SmokaCola]

I've had both my strat and drum set in multiple sex positions every night. I've made all my instruments scream with joy and showed them what 2 and a half inches of American justice can do. I pre-ordered mine and they're still working fine. I guess I put a lot of love "in" my belongings ;) RaWr

[Jixzer]

I've had both my strat and drum set in multiple sex positions every night. I've made all my instruments scream with join and showed them what 2 and a half inches of American justice can do. I pre-ordered mine and they're still working fine. I guess I put a lot of love "in" my belongings ;) RaWr

Wow, that's a bit disturbing...funny...but disturbing.

I too have equipment that is working flawlessly, lucky for me, and my guitar even ended up in the hands of my 3 year old and survived.

[loginrox]

I saw this thread and couldnt resist the temptation to post.

Here is what im thinking first off, i dont think there is any way EA/HMX is making money off the bundles, considering the game by itself is $50.00 then you start looking at the $80.00 dollars per instrument (thats what i have seen as the '08 pricing for the individual instruments......not including the MIC which cant be more than $20.00) So lets add it up, GAME $50.00 - DRUMS $80.00 - GUITAR $80.00 - MIC $20.00 = $230.00. If anything i think they are losing some money on the bundles or if not losing then maybe just breaking even. Here is what they are doing to us...........WE ARE THE TEST DUMMIES......so that when the instruments come out seperatley they wont have any problems with them..........b/c that is when they will stand to make the most money.

My final thought...........now i know that this issue of faulty equipment isnt a massive problem..........if it was EA/HMX would have issued a recall on the game. But my main thought here is, this problem to me seems significant enough that EA/HMX would go out of their way to issue a 60 day warranty and include a little piece of pink paper, basically saying hey the game has problems so when your stuff breaks send it back no questions asked. I find it very odd and very disheartining that no major video game sites (like IGN, GAMESPOT, or any others) have wrote articles about this. I mean there are obvious reasons why.........but if we want to get EA back for this then we the gamers need to let everyone out there know how much trouble we are having with the game.........and we need to tell the consumers dont buy this game until its fixed. That would hurt EA more than anything!!!

[Jealleo]

1. ups was shipping on friday

2. EA just wants to make more money with bundles. Also still needs to sell to canadia.

Man is Canada going to be pissed off when Canadia gets bundles before them. :D

[Tomcove]

\I find it very odd and very disheartining that no major video game sites (like IGN, GAMESPOT, or any others) have wrote articles about this. I mean there are obvious reasons why.........

The obvious reasons being that IGN and GameSpot won't pull their heads out of their **ses long enough to realize that there is a problem, and when they do, they'll be too chicken-sh*t to do anything about it because god forbid EA doesn't give them advertising money.

[k_luva]

You're in the minority, regardless of how many people post here.

a lot of people would report no problems.

I HARDLY think he is in the minority.

[Eastwood]

I HARDLY think he is in the minority.

He is actually right. Busted guitars only make up about 30% to my estimate. They sold 78k units, so 23,400 busted guitars, by my theory, are busted. I'm using a buddies guitar right now and it is flawless. I can even hit 16th notes on it.

[Grim]

Dude, it costs them alot less to make the peripherals and game than they charge us for. they are making bank already.

[smith5879]

I saw this thread and couldnt resist the temptation to post.

Here is what im thinking first off, i dont think there is any way EA/HMX is making money off the bundles, considering the game by itself is $50.00 then you start looking at the $80.00 dollars per instrument (thats what i have seen as the '08 pricing for the individual instruments......not including the MIC which cant be more than $20.00) So lets add it up, GAME $50.00 - DRUMS $80.00 - GUITAR $80.00 - MIC $20.00 = $230.00. If anything i think they are losing some money on the bundles or if not losing then maybe just breaking even. Here is what they are doing to us...........WE ARE THE TEST DUMMIES......so that when the instruments come out seperatley they wont have any problems with them..........b/c that is when they will stand to make the most money.

My final thought...........now i know that this issue of faulty equipment isnt a massive problem..........if it was EA/HMX would have issued a recall on the game. But my main thought here is, this problem to me seems significant enough that EA/HMX would go out of their way to issue a 60 day warranty and include a little piece of pink paper, basically saying hey the game has problems so when your stuff breaks send it back no questions asked. I find it very odd and very disheartining that no major video game sites (like IGN, GAMESPOT, or any others) have wrote articles about this. I mean there are obvious reasons why.........but if we want to get EA back for this then we the gamers need to let everyone out there know how much trouble we are having with the game.........and we need to tell the consumers dont buy this game until its fixed. That would hurt EA more than anything!!!

Learn something about economics. Companies don't sell stuff at cost.

[Eastwood]

Learn something about economics. Companies don't sell stuff at cost.

It explains why the guitars are breaking in the first place. They used materials that would allow the bundle to sell at the price it did and still make profit.

[Paradox]

Learn something about economics. Companies don't sell stuff at cost.

Lol, thats what I was gonna say. If you think it is costing EA or whoevers making these instruments that much money to produce just one...then you're living in a fantasy world. They're going to be making a LOT of profit on this game, no matter what anyone wants you to believe. Given that these instruments are being mass produced in a factory somewhere, they're probably paying no more than 1/3 of the sale price...so they're making around 50 dollars an instrument(when they start selling)

Regardless, none of that excuses the apparent lack of overall quality in something that people pay 180 dollars for.

[Xero314]

Just wanted to back up the statement that broken equipment is the minority. The Drums that came with my bundle have be abused to the point of bloody hands and broken sticks and still work fine. My guitar has been used by newbie players and professional guitarists as well as children of all ages and have stood up to many hours of play without flaw (including many top 20 and even a top 10 score or two, which have since been pushed down a bit).

The equpiment does have some flaws but those with working equipment don't tend to have time to discuss it on the forums as they are playing the game (I only have time because I get a few little breaks here and there while at work.)

[darkforcesjedi]

I too payed $170 for a box of crap. The software is great, but neither my drums not guitar worked out of the box.

NONE of the drum pads accurately pick up a drumroll. NONE. The bass pedal snapped on the second day of use and I barely apply any force to the thing.

By the way, if you have a broken bass pedal, remove the pedal itself by compreessing it and sliding forward. Once the pedal comes off, remove the magnet from the bottom with a screwdriver and tape it to the bottom of a flip-flop or other lightweight shoe. put the spring under your foot (or not if you don''t think it's necessary) and use the shoe as a make-shift bass pedal.

[FallenAce]

If your drums didn't work on day 1, how did you use your kickpedal enough to break it on day 2?

My stuff works fine. Hey Eastwood, where did you get that statistic, and the 30% thing? Also, are you saying 30% of guitars are broken? Or 30% of instruments? A 30% chance my guitar is broken would be much more favorable than 30% chance at least one of my instruments is broken.

After all, the guitar is only 33% of the instruments bundled.

[darkforcesjedi]

If your drums didn't work on day 1, how did you use your kickpedal enough to break it on day 2?

My stuff works fine. Hey Eastwood, where did you get that statistic, and the 30% thing? Also, are you saying 30% of guitars are broken? Or 30% of instruments? A 30% chance my guitar is broken would be much more favorable than 30% chance at least one of my instruments is broken.

After all, the guitar is only 33% of the instruments bundled.
As I mentioned in another thread, they work on easy/medium, but they don't register drumrolls and other fast tapping.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAWd7nTAK0Y

[No_Skill]

As I mentioned in another thread, they work on easy/medium, but they don't register drumrolls and other fast tapping.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAWd7nTAK0Y

Disturbing vid. I haven't noticed this phenomenon, but I'm just starting hard now, so I haven't seen many of the long rolls like that. I'm gonna try this out and see if my kit misses hits too.

[Eastwood]

If your drums didn't work on day 1, how did you use your kickpedal enough to break it on day 2?

My stuff works fine. Hey Eastwood, where did you get that statistic, and the 30% thing? Also, are you saying 30% of guitars are broken? Or 30% of instruments? A 30% chance my guitar is broken would be much more favorable than 30% chance at least one of my instruments is broken.

After all, the guitar is only 33% of the instruments bundled.

It was an educated guess based off of the number of people posting on here in ratio with the number of units sold.

[starsandskulls]

I also don't think I'm in the minority. I've heard so many complaints. I'll admit there are people who received great units and that makes me happy because atleast when I get a replacement I'll have a chance at getting some decent equipment. All I'm asking for is a strong replacement for both my drums and guitar. My drums do the same thing as darkforces I didn't really see a problem until I made my way to hard and then I was f*cked. My guitar is just useless now the downstrum doesn't work at all. This is just a huge pain in the ass.

[jq715861]

Do you realize how many people come on here just to complain? Look at people in the tech support forum. They all have 30 or less posts and if they have 30 or more posts they are either trying to help people out or have gotten into extended arguments about complaining.

People who have broken instruments are in the minority. There isn't going to be a recall unless the guitars breaking become hazardous in some way. So, if say your strum bar breaks followed by it blowing up and spreading poisonous fumes throughout your house then there will be a recall.

I barely see any names on here that I recognize unless I'm in the general forum, and thats because all their games work. I know people want to believe they are in the majority, with broken instruments because it might make you feel better, but you aren't. I'm sorry people's instruments broke and that the game can't be enjoyed to it's full capacity off the bat, but things are getting ironed out and in a few weeks everyone will have new equipment that will work.

[sickdaddy]

You're in the minority, regardless of how many people post here.

a lot of people would report no problems.


This does not account for the number of boxes that lie in hiding in parent's closets ;)

[parasite]

A few quick thoughts. First, when comparing the money for the bundle vs. the cost of buying the game and instrustments separately, at least the 80bucks spent next year on a 360 version guitsr would be WIRELESS!! Why wasn't the 360 version wireless like the PS2 and PS3 versions? I don't get it.

Second, I would like to think that Harmonix/EA were standup kind of companies, but why are they so silent on the deffective instrument issue?? How could they have let so many ****ty instruments slip by them and onto the store shelves? That, coupled with the fact that their community site still isn't up yet, makes for a very hard pill for the consumer to swallow. I've read all the crap about it being the holiday weekend and how busy they've been preparing for the launch, but COME ON! There's no reason why they couldn't have sold us WORKING instruments AND had the community webiste up and running on launch date. This whole mess makes the GHIII website fiasco look good!

One more thing......I'm really tired of hearing the people that have working instruments keep saying "be patient", "stop bashing Harmonix", etc. I'm sure if they were using their instruments as 170.00 paperwieights, they'd be a little pissed off too.
It's great that EA is replacing our broken instruments for free...how nice of them! Too bad the damage is done already to their credibility, along with Harmonix. I was really looking forward to seeing what Harmonix had to offer after the GH series. Sure, RB is a great game, but without working peripherals and a up and running website, what good is the software?

Oh, and one last thing..promise. I've never heard such poor cover versions as I did when I downloaded and played Jukebox Hero and My Sharona. OMG!! I actually started laughing 1/2 way through My Sharona. I learned my lesson about DL cover versions. Never again.

[Redempshin]

A few quick thoughts. First, when comparing the money for the bundle vs. the cost of buying the game and instrustments separately, at least the 80bucks spent next year on a 360 version guitsr would be WIRELESS!! Why wasn't the 360 version wireless like the PS2 and PS3 versions? I don't get it.

Harmonix has addressed this a number of time. In order to tap into the wireless abilities of the XBox 360 they would have had to pay microsoft additional money, this would have increased the cost of the 360 version. They wanted the packages to have the same price (there are a million reasons why). Why they didn't just inflate the price on both PS3 and 360 by $5 a piece, I don't know.