Msg to all Rock Band customers, and to the people making this junk!

[Baroo]

Just take everything back to the store, and demand a replacement, screw EA and Harmonix, they obviously screwed us. Who gives a rats a** what they want us to do with OUR broken hardware.

They don't want you to take it back to the store, because that would be 1 less sale and $$$ in their pockets. So for every 1 returned that is -$180 to them.

I say GOOD!! You deserve to lose sales, You deserve for everyone to go back to the stores causing hell to every manager that sells this product until you start coming out with quality hardware, I will continue to return my games OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER...


Your craptastic hardware is not your customers issue, it is your issue, so stop taking peoples credit card numbers, and start shipping out replacements that actually have been fixed for FREE. Without expecting us to wait 2 weeks to get a replacement.

I.E. Cheap plastic bass drum pedals are a complete failure, until you come out with some sort of modification or fix to all your customers you will never live this down.

Why would anyone make a bass drum pedal out of CHEAP PLASTIC??!!!?? WHY???

What designer/tester thought that playing this game on hard or expert wouldn't put any extra stress on the complete and total peices of junk?

You could have atleast added a small metal bar that runs the entire length of the pedal to atleast reinforce the cheap plastic. But nope that would be to much effort on your parts. Cant even implement a fix that would literally cost approx 1$ in materials.

This company is freaking pathetic for putting their customers through all of this. If I have 1 more problem with any of my hardware, I'm taking my entire set back to the store and DEMANDING a refund.

You people are a freaking pathetic joke!

[bounchfx]

workin' good for me. expert/expert.

best game I've ever played

[Baroo]

Funny how all of the "senior members" who are probably working for the company love to jump to the defense of this crap.

OK maybe it's not so funny, even the woman at the return desk noted how cheap these pedals are made.

Her exact remark, "They expect these not to break???"

Way to take 1 for the team...

[jq715861]

I bet you could use some cheese with that whine. I have no problems either. This stuff works like a dream.

[jq715861]

Funny how all of the "senior members" who are probably working for he company love to jump to the defense of this crap.

OK maybe it's not so funny, even the woman at the return desk noted how cheap these pedals are made.

Her exact remark, "They expect these not to break???"

Way to take 1 for the team...


Yes, because the hundreds of senior members here, despite the fact that we are all spread out over the world all secretly work for a game developer in Cambridge, MA.

Thats pure genius, dude.

[ElHombreSinNombre]

Was there a special bundle reserved for the puppets who run this joint?
I got very similar replies when I complained about the hour and a half phone call to customer "service" re: the empty box they sent me. Who knew Red Octane was the better half of that marriage?

[Oxyplox]

sorry jq, it looks like he's figured us out.
i'm sorry baroo. i'll never lie again. :(

[mohkilla]

Yes, because the hundreds of senior members here, despite the fact that we are all spread out over the world all secretly work for a game developer in Cambridge, MA.

Thats pure genius, dude.

**** EA ...there i said it! im a senior member..obviously not in EA or Harmonix's defense

[AVC808]

If I have 1 more problem with any of my hardware, I'm taking my entire set back to the store and DEMANDING a refund.

this is part of the problem. empty threats. you start off telling everyone to just return it. and at the end you ease up saying "if"...

just do it. return it. maybe if there actually was action taken and not just people crying about it we'd see better results.

as for me, im satisfied with the way the situation is being handled. im getting my replacement in the mail today, turn around was only five days. cant say the same when my ps3 failed. took a couple weeks.
do i wish it was better from the start, and included better quality instruments? sure. but i knew that $169 for a game, guitar, mic, drums was pretty damn cheap to begin with, and expected some made in china stuff. those basic digital drum kits already cost at least $200.

now if there was absolutely no warranty on instruments, then id be pissed.

[Baroo]

How do you get 300+ posts or 500+ posts when the game hasn't even been out 2 full weeks?

Give your bass drum pedal some time they WILL break. Guaranteed!

Just because it hasn't broken yet doesn't mean it wont.

Consider yourselves lucky.

Infact if you have any friends, try inviting about 4 of them over some weekend and let everyone play the game.

Just watch how fast people are breaking this junk...


Exscuses are like a**holes everbody has 1 and they all stink.

Just because your pedal has lasted the entirety of less than 2 weeks doesn't mean jack.


Signed,
On my 3rd drumset and counting....

[jq715861]

How do you get 300+ posts or 500+ posts when the game hasn't even been out 2 full weeks?

Give your bass drum pedal some time they WILL break. Guaranteed!

Just because it hasn't broken yet doesn't mean it wont.

Consider yourselves lucky.

Infact if you have any friends, try inviting about 4 of them over some weekend and let everyone play the game.

Just watch how fast people are breaking this junk...


Exscuses are like a**holes everbody has 1 and they all stink.

Just because your pedal has lasted the etirety of 2 weeks doesn't mean jack.


Hahaha. The forum has been up since April. And I've been a member since July and had to get my account deleted because it wouldn't work when the site gets updated because 1% of people were getting a bug in their account. I would have 1,200 posts if the two accounts merged.

Me and my friends have put 15+ hours and the drums have had 40+ hours put into it. No problems, and I've messed around with impossible songs on expert so I've put some strain into the drum pedal.

You act like these things have a 100% failure rate. Things break. I had a faulty GH3 guitar. Did I ***** and moan up and down the Guitar Hero forums. No. I figured out the problem, and fixed it with some research.

And for the record because of the last few installments of Madden and NCAA football I also hate EA. But at least they are fixing these problems.

[darien87]

I put in for a replacement guitar on Thanksgiving. I just got it today. Haven't tried the new guitar yet. But I'm pretty sure I'll be returning RB. Just too many issues.

1. Can't play with 2 guitars.

2. Guitar broke after 2 days.

3. Bass pedal is sure to break.


Sorry EA/Harmonix, but this is a shoddy product.

[Baroo]

Was there a special bundle reserved for the puppets who run this joint?
I got very similar replies when I complained about the hour and a half phone call to customer "service" re: the empty box they sent me. Who knew Red Octane was the better half of that marriage?


/Agreed

:mad::confused::eek:

[Maggot_Brain]

I've been here since July. Here's what I got:

- Broken drum pedal.
- Red drum pad won't do rolls.
- Strat that won't strum "right" or do overdrive when I want it to.

Guess I better test the microphone some more, eh?

I ended up with two RB sets, though, when my wife got an extra one on launch day to make sure we get one. It's unopened and going back to the store tomorrow.

I'm going to wait a couple of weeks before getting replacement for my faulty crap in the vain hope that better hardware will be available.

[AdamBomb629]

How do you get 300+ posts or 500+ posts when the game hasn't even been out 2 full weeks?

Give your bass drum pedal some time they WILL break. Guaranteed!

Just because it hasn't broken yet doesn't mean it wont.

Consider yourselves lucky.

Infact if you have any friends, try inviting about 4 of them over some weekend and let everyone play the game.

Just watch how fast people are breaking this junk...


Exscuses are like a**holes everbody has 1 and they all stink.

Just because your pedal has lasted the entirety of less than 2 weeks doesn't mean jack.


Signed,
On my 3rd drumset and counting....

Some good being a "senior member"... Strat stopped working 100% last night... the game still rules though.

[MorningThief581]

Seriously, I could be completely wrong about this but I think Rock Band is Harmonix's first foray into manufacturing gaming hardware. AFAIK, Red Octane did the guitars for the GH series, so this is a learning experience for the Harmonix crew as far as the hardware goes. Admittedly, testers should have discovered the hardware shortcomings prior to launch... but maybe in such a small sample group the faulty gear was just deemed an anomoly? I mean when you compare the number of units sold to the number of equipment complaints (even taking into account the fact that lots of folks don't post on message boards), the equipment failure rate, while high, is probably much lower than people are making it out to be.

I'm as annoyed as the next guy that there are hardware issues. My first guitar had a bad strumbar and the whammy on the replacement broke already. Thankfully I don't have any drum issues (fingers crossed), but you know what? There are 4 instruments in this game. There's a wealth of opportunity to play alone or with friends. Harmonix has been great so far about replacing broken gear. If you need to stop playing one instrument for a few days while a replacement is en route, just work on something else. I realize it may not be ideal, but it's something to hold you over. Rock Band was a HUGE undertaking, and all things considered I think it's a great achievement. Eventually the hardware problems will get sorted out.

[no longer]

I broke my pedal for the drumset on day 3..... I measured out all the dimensions of the pedal and sent them off to my dad who runs an aerospace machine shop in KY and he's gonna machine a new pedal out of aluminum for me which will never break(quite the underuse of machinery if you ask me).... sucks that I had to replace the crappy part that came with the game, but it was only $180.... right now our drummer has the magnet from the trigger duct taped to a sock that he wears when we play until we get that pedal back from KY... hahahahaha..... it works pretty good actually... If anyone else is interested in getting an aluminum replacement pedal, PM me and if I get enough requests, I might just start selling these bad boys....

[Xervai]

I bought two kits two make sure I had dual drums and all the instruments needed for BWT for lan parties and friends on campus. So far we have ALL played it and have had upwards of 10 people swapping out and playing at different difficulties.

The only problem I've had is one of my guitars is screwed. I just got my replacement today and it works great.


I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, everything still works on my end.

[Zeon0087]

Maybe people should start learning that hitting it harder doesn't mean it will sound louder.

Only issue I had was with my guitar doing the downstrum thing, which I fixed in 5 minutes. That's much less than the time most of the poeple complaining over that problem probably spent typing. ;)

[Baroo]

Actually I don't hit the drums hard at all. The first sets pedal broke when I had some friends over.

The second set came broken out of the box. Unresponsive drums, and the headset jack didn't work.

My 3rd set is holding out OK, but it is already having missed beat issues.

[albinousrex]

I understand your issues. I have been waiting since 11/21 for a new pedal and still ntohing, hasnt even shipped. I have been through hell trying to work this out. Let the problems handle themselves, if they keep breaking, keep complaining and either you will get one that works, or they will notice a problem. Ever think that you are the problem, maybe playing with a wee bit too much force. I can understand one break maybe 2, but 3 thats insane and if you dont think its u, then the chances of number 4 not working are slim. My bass pedal snapping has been my only issue so far. Drums work fine, register every hit every time, guitar is working perfectly. I have had people over to play almost every night since the game has been out, putting in a lot of hours and its still working. Not eveyone has the exact same problems you do. You especially see it more in the forums cause people who are mad that their stuff broke, want to complain somewhere and see if they are alone or not, people with perfectly good hardware are not gonna be coming into these forums for the most part unless they are those people who love video game forums. I made my account after my bass pedal broke, and i probably wouldnt be here if it didnt.

[albinousrex]

Actually I don't hit the drums hard at all. The first sets pedal broke when I had some fiends over.

The second set came broken out of the box. Unresponsive drums, and the headset jack didn't work.

My 3rd set is holding out OK, but it already having missed beat issues.

if your pedal was the only thing wrong with the first set, you should have just replaced the pedal, not the whole set, u basically screwed urself.

[Baroo]

if your pedal was the only thing wrong with the first set, you should have just replaced the pedal, not the whole set, u basically screwed urself.


Yea I was thinking the same thing myself, I even tried to talk the store manager into letting me swap the old set back when I went to return the 2nd set. But that was a no go.

I think 1 drumset out of 3 registering properly should be a good indication of the lack of quality here. Most normal people who have never played the drums will never notice a set not registering hits. But once you get to the point where you have played all of the songs on atleast the hard difficulty muliple times, and you know the % of hits you typically register, then you get another set and on the exact same songs you typically get %5 less accuracy. That takes alot of fun out of the game... I mean it is all about accuaracy, and you're hitting the drum on time..... And it is not registering...... :eek:

[jordan15b]

im a regular member i play expert drums and my pedals fine but my guitar isnt

[DCfella]

I think the game is great, but yeah the hardware build quality seems to be mediocre. I've never had a video game accessory break in almost 20 years, but my guitar gave out after 3 days of very modest use.

I should be getting my new one tomorrow according to UPS tracking, so we'll see how it holds up. I'm willing to give EA a chance at redemption with the replacement, but if that one breaks too then I'll not be so forgiving.

[ilikecheetos]

3 days of use??? you are lucky. mine didnt last an hour. im sad...sad....sad. i finally got my replacement today though. so im running it through the tests. after i test this, i need to send a replacement for drums. Its oh so very frustrating. wonder when my mic is going to go out.

[Dewgy]

My drum pedal's been fine since I got it, and I don't plan on returning my purchase because I love Harmonix and I support them 100%. Just because the publisher (EA) went with a cheaper equipment manufacturer doesn't mean a good developer should still be punished. Live with the warranty and complain to the publisher if you think the game is good.

Don't blame Harmonix for management decisions that were more than likely out of their hands.

[Ryder35]

I must say I am amazed at how patient most people are being here. I got the impression you Americans as a rule were very quick to complain if things are not right. Almost everyone posting on this thread (happy or otherwise) admits to having some hardware failures but the majorety make excuses for them. I loved the one that said I have had it for a while and ONLY my guitar has broken!

Now I love the game, I imported it so my broken guitar has to be repaired every few days when the strum trigger drops out of alignment but I would not send it back for a refund because I am having too much fun. The mistake IMHO was charging 170 dollars for it. At least they could offer premium versions for sale. I would pay lots of money for a better drum kit with cybals etc.

[notoriousgop89]

Americans in general are not all impatient, it just so happens that a vocal minority of whiners usually makes everyone else look like impatiant, lawsuit happy people. I am getting Rock Band for Christmas, and if my instruments don't work out of the box, I just intend on following the warranty procedure, because that's what its there for. People always return broken items to stores, and then some stupid employee ends up stocking it back on the shelves. If everyone just followed warranty procedures it would give EA a large enough sample to uncover what the problem was. I'm not defending the poor QCing that EA used, but I think that in general, just returing the game to stores would not accomplish much in the long run. At least this way we have filed reports of technical problems.

[Ryder35]

Interesting,

Looks like UK law is very different: in the UK your contract is with the retailer not the manufacturer. If it is faulty you have to deal with the retailer first. And, agreed: the Internet brings out the worst in people, or is that "brings out the worst people". Either way what I was getting at is that I was pleasantly surprised by the majorety of people on here and their patience.