Aggravated with Activision and Red Octane

My son received Guitar Hero World Tour for his birthday in November. When he first connected it he discovered that the red drum pad didn’t work at all. Needless to say, he was extremely disappointed. To be more specific, he was crushed. TJ enjoys video games a lot but his favorite ones are the music ones. Imagine receiving the game you wanted, one that cost almost $200, and not being able to play it.

We submitted a ticket using the online support system, which apparently can take several days to get to when they’re busy. Christmas was under a month away. Of course they were busy. After going back and forth over a couple of weeks I was advised to request an rma, something I could do online or by phone. Sick of waiting days at a time for a reply, I decided to request the rma by phone. I spoke to a rep, who advised me he’d taken my information and that I’d get the shipping info via email. I waited over a week and I still hadn’t received the shipping info. Now the end of December, I contacted them again to ask about it. I was told they’d been closed for the holidays and were backed up. I contacted them again a week later and was told they couldn’t find my rma. I had to submit again. We finally got the shipping info and sent the drums back via Fed Ex.

More than two weeks later a box was delivered to a neighbor three houses away. The box  contained the drums.  My son eagerly connected them, anxious to play a game he’d had for almost two months but had never played. The red drum now worked but didn’t work properly. Instead of hitting it like the others he had to really pound on it to get any sound out of it. Now he’s crushed. He still can’t play because he’s afraid if he hits the red drum as hard as that he’ll break it. Time to contact support again.

I submit another ticket, because I am unable to reopen my last one. I go through the same questions and am now told to request a usb midi tuner be sent to us. I then call the support number because I am concerned about the warranty. By the time this game can actually be played the 90 day warranty will be up. In actuality the warranty will probably be up before the usb midi tuner gets here because support told me it will take several weeks to arrive. What if the usb midi tuner doesn’t work? What if the whole set is a lemon? Will they replace it with a new one? Or are they going to tell me I’m out of luck because the warranty is expired?

I’m really steamed about this and I have no intention of letting it drop.My son loves video games. He loves playing them and is very interested in beta testing them and reviewing them on the web. Heck, he eats, sleeps and poops music video games. He’s also really good at them. He won a local Guitar Hero tournament last year. He lives to play on expert and has outstanding scores. I hate that you’ve disappointed him this way. This is a really expensive game that people worked really hard to get for him when they didn’t have the money and for what? To have a giant paperweight? I think not.

Activision and Red Octane, get your acts together. It’s inexcusable that something this expensive should have these sort of problems and that they’re handled in this manner. I totally understand things can happen but when they do at least have some competent customer service to help you handle them.

Tags: activision, guitar hero, music, red octane, TJ, video games

Category: Entertainment, Family