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Current mood:  irate Category: Games
So I went into town after work today to try and return a game (price: £24.99) which I had bought my little brother (Harry) for his birthday. We tried the game once, it needed a better graphics card than the one he's got, so I thought he could just return the game and exchange it for a new one. Simple.
Of course, it's never that easy, is it?
Harry tried to take the game back last Saturday, and despite having the receipt and explaining that he'd tried the game just once and it didn't work, the person he spoke to claimed he could only trade it in for half the price of the game, and gave him a £12.99 voucher for the shop.
What was he supposed to get with that? FIFA 1992? Quake I?
So I took the receipt back to the shop today. The girl behind the desk was about my age, which I read as a good sign. Optimistic, I wandered over and explained what had happened, stressing that my brother, at 14, might have confused the sales assistant into thinking he wanted to "trade-in" the game as second-hand, when it was, in fact, brand new.
Then, in a sudden, distant, almost robot-like manner, the girl responded with: "Well, I wasn't the one who dealt with it, but I think there's nothing we can do at this stage. The thing you need to understand about PC games is that there's a lot of piracy these days and we can't give you two weeks' grace to return items that don't work. You should have rung us up and returned it to the shop on the same day, really."
I resisted the urge to swear, not only at the accusation that this was, in fact, all my own fault ("Oh but of course! Silly me."), but also at the assumption that Harry, relatively young as he is, might be involved in the sort of mass piracy that affects the computer games industy.
Perhaps a little common sense was needed. I tried the rational approach:
"Don't you think", I bargained, "that it's unfair, though, for me to have bought this game for £25 and to be given a £12.99 voucher in return when it doesn't work?"
That emotionless vocal shield appeared once more:
"It's a pity, yes, but you see there's nothing we can do at this stage."
By which, of course, she meant "There's nothing you can do, at this, or any other, stage, so be a good little customer and sod off."
Feeling as powerless as David Blunkett after the second exit, I still wanted to get my brother a decent game so I ended up paying another eight pounds on top and using my voucher. I had thought about ripping up the pathetic voucher in front of the girl, but decided that would look about as sensible as burning a ten pound note.
Luckily Harry has reported back that the second new game works fine, one of the "really cool" features being that you get "total control over everything."
If only the same could be said of customer service...
1:47 AM
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