ME: I hope that no one else encounters the problems
with City of Heroes that I did. If you do, I empathize
with you as they put forward an arrogant, non
responsive and irresponsible face with their technical
support.
I, sadly, cannot characterize plaync support as
atypical for their industry, but we (their customers)
are part of the problem in that we continue to reward
their arrogance and nonresponsiveness. Their software
does work on enough systems to allow them to buy new
homes and cars and stuff ... and well the rest of us
just dont matter and what the heck they can collect our
money along the way and deal with us by cutting and
pasting from pre written talking points should we even
bother to contact their technical support folks.
I encountered crashing to my desktop with a C++ error
message of abnormal program termination while running
cityofheroes.exe every 3 to 5 minutes from the very
first time that I started the game. I contacted PLAYNC
via their support@plaync.com. It was almost 2 weeks and
several emails from me later before I received my first
response or nonresponse. I have included most of the
text from PLAYNC below but not the repetition that
occured over the next several emails exchanges
(including the link to the destructive video drivers).
In addition to the following dialog, PLAYNC mentioned a
set of drivers that are 3rd party that they were sure
would fix the problem (the problem that they still have
no clue as to its root cause by the way). I tried these
drivers and then spent the next few hours with Toshiba
technical support doing a system restore in order to
regain functionality for my computer. I will not post
the link to these drivers as it would be irresponsible
to do so in case they cause similar or worse problems
to someone else's computer as they did to mine.
PLAYNC: We do not provide refunds for technical issues.
If you do not wish to be billed once your included
month of gametime expires, log into your PlayNC master
account and click "CANCEL BILLING." This will stop
billing and will remove the billing information from
your account.
The problem is most likely the drivers themselves.
ME: This is a guess (and dismissal) as to the root
cause of the problem on your part . even if there was
an incompatibility between your software and the
drivers . this approach is unlikely to determine if the
code defect lies with the driver or your software.
PLAYNC: Laptop manufacturers modify their video cards
to run in a confined space. When they do this they have
to create their own drivers. The problem with that is
they don't update those drivers as often as nVidia.
ME: This is a logical fallacy - choosing to address the
issue in generality rather its specifics which are
either unknown to the purveyor of the fallacy or if
known, then chosen to be quieted by issuance of this
general statement and attempt to assess blame on
others. In addition, there has been no initiative taken
on your part as the coder and seller of the software to
make any determination of possible defect of the
software that your company sells.
PLAYNC: All I can really suggest is contacting your
laptop manufacturer and ask them when they plan on
releasing an update for their video drivers. There are
third party drivers that are more current but we do not
recommend them. I apologize for the trouble.
ME: The apology while sounding good rings hollow. There
is no action behind the words - the writer is merely
admitting rather that your company chooses to do
nothing proactive about the problem that I am seeing
while attempting to utilize software that I purchased
from your company. Again the assumption is that there
is some defect with drivers when there is no concrete
specific evidence that there is . It is just as likely
an argument that there is some defect with software
developed by your company.
Conclusion: Apparently your policy is not to attempt to
find the cause of problems, but rather to delay,
obfuscate, and defer blame with the effect being that
the user is left to their own devices. With that
attitude and the fact that I am unable to use the
software in its present condition, I respectfully
request that my purchase price be refunded immediately
and that no recurring charges be assessed to me. I
purchased the product online from your website. Please
also cancel my account and remove me from any mailing
list that I may have been placed on.
Response (Trollis) 05/12/2004 01:45 AM
If you have updated the drivers on the laptop
manufacturers website and the game still does not work
properly you should ask Toshiba if they have an update
available for your video card driver that you can use
which is not yet released on the website. Sometimes
they will have a beta version of software that they
will allow you to try, but if you cannot get them to
update your video driver unfortunately there is nothing
we can do to get the game to run for you until they
release an up-to-date driver.
Thanks, Customer 05/11/2004 04:36 PM I had already run
msconfig and started up clean .. and updated drivers
.. Still crashing! And unplayable!
Wondering if you all ever try to qa test and validate
on Toshiba p25-609 or is it "let the buyer beware"
philosophy at plaync? Sincerely,
Frustrated
with City of Heroes that I did. If you do, I empathize
with you as they put forward an arrogant, non
responsive and irresponsible face with their technical
support.
I, sadly, cannot characterize plaync support as
atypical for their industry, but we (their customers)
are part of the problem in that we continue to reward
their arrogance and nonresponsiveness. Their software
does work on enough systems to allow them to buy new
homes and cars and stuff ... and well the rest of us
just dont matter and what the heck they can collect our
money along the way and deal with us by cutting and
pasting from pre written talking points should we even
bother to contact their technical support folks.
I encountered crashing to my desktop with a C++ error
message of abnormal program termination while running
cityofheroes.exe every 3 to 5 minutes from the very
first time that I started the game. I contacted PLAYNC
via their support@plaync.com. It was almost 2 weeks and
several emails from me later before I received my first
response or nonresponse. I have included most of the
text from PLAYNC below but not the repetition that
occured over the next several emails exchanges
(including the link to the destructive video drivers).
In addition to the following dialog, PLAYNC mentioned a
set of drivers that are 3rd party that they were sure
would fix the problem (the problem that they still have
no clue as to its root cause by the way). I tried these
drivers and then spent the next few hours with Toshiba
technical support doing a system restore in order to
regain functionality for my computer. I will not post
the link to these drivers as it would be irresponsible
to do so in case they cause similar or worse problems
to someone else's computer as they did to mine.
PLAYNC: We do not provide refunds for technical issues.
If you do not wish to be billed once your included
month of gametime expires, log into your PlayNC master
account and click "CANCEL BILLING." This will stop
billing and will remove the billing information from
your account.
The problem is most likely the drivers themselves.
ME: This is a guess (and dismissal) as to the root
cause of the problem on your part . even if there was
an incompatibility between your software and the
drivers . this approach is unlikely to determine if the
code defect lies with the driver or your software.
PLAYNC: Laptop manufacturers modify their video cards
to run in a confined space. When they do this they have
to create their own drivers. The problem with that is
they don't update those drivers as often as nVidia.
ME: This is a logical fallacy - choosing to address the
issue in generality rather its specifics which are
either unknown to the purveyor of the fallacy or if
known, then chosen to be quieted by issuance of this
general statement and attempt to assess blame on
others. In addition, there has been no initiative taken
on your part as the coder and seller of the software to
make any determination of possible defect of the
software that your company sells.
PLAYNC: All I can really suggest is contacting your
laptop manufacturer and ask them when they plan on
releasing an update for their video drivers. There are
third party drivers that are more current but we do not
recommend them. I apologize for the trouble.
ME: The apology while sounding good rings hollow. There
is no action behind the words - the writer is merely
admitting rather that your company chooses to do
nothing proactive about the problem that I am seeing
while attempting to utilize software that I purchased
from your company. Again the assumption is that there
is some defect with drivers when there is no concrete
specific evidence that there is . It is just as likely
an argument that there is some defect with software
developed by your company.
Conclusion: Apparently your policy is not to attempt to
find the cause of problems, but rather to delay,
obfuscate, and defer blame with the effect being that
the user is left to their own devices. With that
attitude and the fact that I am unable to use the
software in its present condition, I respectfully
request that my purchase price be refunded immediately
and that no recurring charges be assessed to me. I
purchased the product online from your website. Please
also cancel my account and remove me from any mailing
list that I may have been placed on.
Response (Trollis) 05/12/2004 01:45 AM
If you have updated the drivers on the laptop
manufacturers website and the game still does not work
properly you should ask Toshiba if they have an update
available for your video card driver that you can use
which is not yet released on the website. Sometimes
they will have a beta version of software that they
will allow you to try, but if you cannot get them to
update your video driver unfortunately there is nothing
we can do to get the game to run for you until they
release an up-to-date driver.
Thanks, Customer 05/11/2004 04:36 PM I had already run
msconfig and started up clean .. and updated drivers
.. Still crashing! And unplayable!
Wondering if you all ever try to qa test and validate
on Toshiba p25-609 or is it "let the buyer beware"
philosophy at plaync? Sincerely,
Frustrated
