How about a reward for our patience?

[HasmsterKiller]

with all the issues that have been going on lately, do you think that hmx/ea could make a peace offering? say something like an oem guitar at a fair price... say 50 to 60 bucks.

[Bakkster]

You mean like 2-day Air on replacement peripherals?

Or free games to people whose replacements got delayed?

Or patching Les Paul compatibility before it got blocked?

[dxduece]

You mean like 2-day Air on replacement peripherals?

Or free games to people whose replacements got delayed?

Or patching Les Paul compatibility before it got blocked?

2 day air?? Sure, if you want them to put a $125 hold on your credit card....

Free games?? Not one person has received a free game as of yet, just these silly e-mails...

Patching Les Paul compatibility?? All good for 360 owners, I wouldn't bring up that point to PS3 owners though... :)

Sorry, but I'm on Hamster's side on this one!

[admanimal]

Do incessant whining and idle threats really count as patience that is deserving of a reward?

[Bakkster]

2 day air?? Sure, if you want them to put a $125 hold on your credit card....

Free games?? Not one person has received a free game as of yet, just these silly e-mails...

Patching Les Paul compatibility?? All good for 360 owners, I wouldn't bring up that point to PS3 owners though... :)

I believe that even if you do a standard RMA the replacement will be sent 2-day Air.

This guy got his free game: http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=15069&highlight=free+game

And remember the patch that Sony has and was supposed to be released Dec. 4th? The one the lets PS3 users use the Les Paul, but got blocked by Activision. They tried, and I'll bet they're still trying.

I guess I just don't know what else you want.

[dxduece]

I believe that even if you do a standard RMA the replacement will be sent 2-day Air.

Nope, the empty box to send back your defective equipment is shipped 2-day air, but not the actual replacement.

I just feel that since HMX knowingly released several bundles with faulty equipment, a small compensation shouldn't be out of the question. And if people are actually starting to receive their free games that they were promised, then that's good enough for me. (although i've yet to receive mine) :(

[powdrdmilkman]

I just posted a thread (http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=15720) asking about the 'free EA game for delayed shipment'. What's going on with that?

[Edgehopper]

Nope, the empty box to send back your defective equipment is shipped 2-day air, but not the actual replacement.

What do you want, EA to ship you a new guitar without getting any info to keep you from stealing guitars? If you want your guitar immediately, you need to give them a credit card number. There's no other way to do it. Duh.

[560sdl]

Why do people act as if a hold on their credit card is the same as it costing them something? It will only cost you if you try to cheat them. It is their attempt to motivate you to send the old one back in a timely fashion. If the number did not seem excessive, it would not serve its purpose.

I guess it is the "money for nothing and the chicks for free" generation.

[Bluvox]

Nope, the empty box to send back your defective equipment is shipped 2-day air, but not the actual replacement.


Okay, just a really short rant on this (if there is such a thing as a short rant). Do you even know what a hold is, and what it's for? A hold is a way for the seller to make sure you actually have funds. For regular credit cards this is a complete non-issue: most hotels, car rental agencies, gas stations and other services where you present the card up front use this as a way of making sure you can actually pay. Yes, "pay at the pump" puts a hold on your account.

The gotcha is with check cards, where the $125 is held and taken from your available balance. Yes, it's kinda a nasty ploy by most banks to use that against you, but it's the dark side of the Visa Check-card that those sappy commercials won't tell you. That's why most car rental agencies and hotels won't let you use a check-card to make reservations - the hold system never changed over properly.

So what does EA do? Instead of saying "you ship your old one, we'll ship you a new one" like MOST people, they ship you a box WITH a prepaid label, just because you don't want to get a $125 hold on a card (or don't have a credit card that holds work properly on). You are paying NOTHING for the return, which is better than 99% of the RMA's that I've had to do in my life.

I did my RMA via the "credit card hold". Ordered it on a Monday, got it on a Thursday. I personally think most companies should take a lesson from how EA took care of their customers, not have customers complaining about how bad their service is (on this one). They've really gone the extra mile.

[Aldous]

Everybody that is complaining about the hold is probably living month to month and their credit is maxed, and if that's the case they have bigger problems than their rockband guitar not working. If you're not in this situation, don't freak out it's just a hold not a charge.

[Thrashdragon]

Do incessant whining and idle threats really count as patience that is deserving of a reward?

Post of the year.

[CJ452]

Okay, just a really short rant on this (if there is such a thing as a short rant). Do you even know what a hold is, and what it's for? A hold is a way for the seller to make sure you actually have funds. For regular credit cards this is a complete non-issue: most hotels, car rental agencies, gas stations and other services where you present the card up front use this as a way of making sure you can actually pay. Yes, "pay at the pump" puts a hold on your account.

The gotcha is with check cards, where the $125 is held and taken from your available balance. Yes, it's kinda a nasty ploy by most banks to use that against you, but it's the dark side of the Visa Check-card that those sappy commercials won't tell you. That's why most car rental agencies and hotels won't let you use a check-card to make reservations - the hold system never changed over properly.

So what does EA do? Instead of saying "you ship your old one, we'll ship you a new one" like MOST people, they ship you a box WITH a prepaid label, just because you don't want to get a $125 hold on a card (or don't have a credit card that holds work properly on). You are paying NOTHING for the return, which is better than 99% of the RMA's that I've had to do in my life.

I did my RMA via the "credit card hold". Ordered it on a Monday, got it on a Thursday. I personally think most companies should take a lesson from how EA took care of their customers, not have customers complaining about how bad their service is (on this one). They've really gone the extra mile.

Well said.............. I did the Credit Card deal on Monday and would have gotten my replacement yesterday but where I am in New York got hammered with a snow storm so it should be here today.

[kleners]

humm i never had a hold on my account. I asked for RMA on the 20th of NOV.
And for the dont wine about it people. My bank will keep a hold for 6 months until the place charges it or releases it. and in the past with rental cars and hotels. it took them writting a letter with reciepts and faxing it to the bank. yea that would have been six months without that $125 which means to play Rockband it would have cost me....

$169.99 for game
$298 Xbox360
$50 microsoft points
+$125 if they had charged me replacment

thats almost $650 after tax just to play a game...... wow. so yea in one week i bought all that. so luckly i didnt get charged the 125 but i would have been pissed if they did

[Highlandlassie]

Since Ps3 owners are getting the shaft, Ea needs to make getting oem Strats available ASAP, for somewhere in the $60 range FAST.
Not everyone has friends to chip in on another complete set like I do, and are still waiting to enjoy this 4 player experience as it was programmed to be.

This should be the priority, screw the patch.

[Deofol]

Amen Highlandlassie!

[dxduece]

Good lord, all I said was I agreed with the original poster that some compensation shouldn't be out of the question. All these people saying we're whining about holds being put on credit cards need to stop and think. For instance, what if someone doesn't have any credit cards? I personally don't, I live by the motto if I can't pay cash for it then I don't need it right away. My entire point was that HMX knowingly put out a faulty product and now they shouldn't be surprised that people are upset.

[Nate Finch]

My bank will keep a hold for 6 months until the place charges it or releases it.

This says it all. Until EA releases the funds. Just because you've had a problem with your bank and/or a hotel in the past is no reason to say the process EA set up is a bad one. The way it *should* work and *does* work for most people is that they release the hold when they get your faulty guitar, and the "available balance" is returned to your card almost immediately.

[AVC808]

humm i never had a hold on my account. I asked for RMA on the 20th of NOV.
And for the dont wine about it people. My bank will keep a hold for 6 months until the place charges it or releases it. and in the past with rental cars and hotels. it took them writting a letter with reciepts and faxing it to the bank. yea that would have been six months without that $125

i think its time to switch banks. seriously. ive never heard of such a stupid thing, tying up your funds for half a year? what if you travel a lot?
or use another card. owning two cards wont hurt your credit score.

[tbradshaw]

My entire point was that HMX knowingly put out a faulty product and now they shouldn't be surprised that people are upset.

This is unsubstantiated.

[CRCError]

This thread is worthy of nothing but a lock.

[markblasco]

Quick question: How many of you actually got a 2 day turnaround time for your express replacements? It took over a week for my drums to come, and it has now been almost 2 weeks for a replacement guitar and it hasn't arrived yet. Both were supposed to be express replacements, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[Thrashdragon]

Quick question: How many of you actually got a 2 day turnaround time for your express replacements? It took over a week for my drums to come, and it has now been almost 2 weeks for a replacement guitar and it hasn't arrived yet. Both were supposed to be express replacements, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I did. Ordered a replacement guitar on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, received the new one that Thursday.

[Bakkster]

Quick question: How many of you actually got a 2 day turnaround time for your express replacements?

I put in my RMA on a Saturday, the guitar shipped Monday and arrived Wednesday. That was 2 weeks ago and have not had any problems, even after having a weekend long play session with my friends.

Have you called EA so they know they made a mistake?

[Aldous]

My entire point was that HMX knowingly put out a faulty product and now they shouldn't be surprised that people are upset.

It is partly substantiated since there are more than one strummer bar configs that were released on launch day. This points to the fact they must have known there could be problems with the design.
That said i think Harmonix is doing a lot to make this right Replacement guitars are free and quick if you are willing to put a hold on your credit card.

If you are not going to put a hold on the card you will still get the guitar quicker than if they had to delay launch to get the problems sorted out. If they did not release the game with a the faulty guitars, the release date would have been a couple months from now. If they held the game back a couple of months everyone would be yelling and whining even louder.

Edit: Bakkster its not a cockblock more of a rockblock

[dxduece]

From wikipedia:

Upon release, many players reported hardware issues with Rock Band peripherals. Many complaints stemmed from the bass drum pedal snapping in half and the Stratocaster controller's strum bar being unresponsive. In response to these issues, Harmonix admitted the guitars bundled with initial shipment of the game bundles were subject to manufacturing issues that caused problems with the strum bars, and has stated that they will replace all faulty guitars.

Unsubstantiated, eh?

[Bakkster]

From wikipedia:

Upon release, many players reported hardware issues with Rock Band peripherals. Many complaints stemmed from the bass drum pedal snapping in half and the Stratocaster controller's strum bar being unresponsive. In response to these issues, Harmonix admitted the guitars bundled with initial shipment of the game bundles were subject to manufacturing issues that caused problems with the strum bars, and has stated that they will replace all faulty guitars.

Unsubstantiated, eh?

A wikipedia link (posted without the reference that wiki used) about HMX admitting a manufacturing issue post-release and replacing them != HMX knew the guitars would be faulty and shipped anyway.

[dada limbo]

Quick question: How many of you actually got a 2 day turnaround time for your express replacements?

Requested late on Friday, received mid-day on Tuesday. That's 2 bidness days.

[SinistarX]

Quick question: How many of you actually got a 2 day turnaround time for your express replacements? It took over a week for my drums to come, and it has now been almost 2 weeks for a replacement guitar and it hasn't arrived yet. Both were supposed to be express replacements, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Ordered on November 20th, express shipment. My replacement should be arriving on December 20th according to the outcome of the phone call I placed today when EA told me they were going to charge me for not returning my guitar to them even though they never shipped my replacement.

I was sort of hoping that the countdown on the express return charge wouldn't start until after the new guitar shipped out, but it apparently started as soon as the RMA request was made.

[SirTony]

I placed my order for replacement 23 days ago, I also did the express replacement with my credit card. I have still have yet to receive my guitar. I received an e-mail today reminding me to ship my broken guitar in or my credit card will be charged in 5 days. It is kind of difficult to do this when I have yet to receive a replacement guitar and box to ship my broken guitar back in. My tracking number still states that only the billing information has been received, it still has not shipped. I called EA today and sat on hold for over a hour and a half. Turns out they need to cancel my original request and submit a new one and start all over. Everything was fine until this event. Who knows how long it will be until I can play again.

[srkishy]

Couple of things:

It is sent two day air. Just because you don't receive it in two days doesn't mean anything. From the time it is actually shipped it will take two days.

There do seem to be some problems, but nothing that hasn't been fixed with a call. Free replacements with no questions, pretty much the best replacement system I've ever seen, and they seem to be handling it fairly well considering the amount of replacements they are probably dealing with. Have some patience people.

[polishdog90]

wow I thought this thread was going to be a joke. They shouldn't have to reward us, and they are trying as hard as they can to do so already.

[SoKGiX]

yup, all i ordered was a pedal and it hasn't shipped yet. put the order in monday... =(

guess they're replacing a chitload of pedals

[HasmsterKiller]

Since Ps3 owners are getting the shaft, Ea needs to make getting oem Strats available ASAP, for somewhere in the $60 range FAST.
Not everyone has friends to chip in on another complete set like I do, and are still waiting to enjoy this 4 player experience as it was programmed to be.

This should be the priority, screw the patch.

This is what I'm talking about. I'm not even asking for anything for free. Forget the patch you can't get passed, just sell us some stupid guitars.