Question What to do when a digital game stops working?

Courtjezter

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So i have a current Gen game, Just Sing, which was working fine for the first couple of months I owned it.

However after this first few months the game would hang after the splash screen on a progress bar for retrieving data from the server.

I left it a few weeks, thinking it was just an outage, but then was faced with the same problem. After doing my own troubleshooting I contacted Ubisoft support, who said they were aware of the issue and would escalate it.

The call then gets closed down.

Several months later I try to boot up the game again, the same issue is still there. So again I go back to Ubisoft. Who reopen the call and leave it open and escalate it further. I ask them for what their SLA is on providing escalated fixes, they can't give a timescale.

Fed up, I go to Microsoft and ask for a refund. They can't do it but will escalate it from their end.

A week later a contact Ubisoft again, still no resolution. So again I go to Microsoft and point out that Ubisoft aren't playing ball. And ask again for a refund. They try to process it, but the system won't let them. They suggest I talk to Ubisoft again.

I talk to Ubisoft and ask if they can give me a refund, they investigate and tell me to contact Microsoft. See a pattern here?

So again I contact Microsoft, who again say the system won't let them issue a refund.

So I am now stuck with a digital game that doesn't work, that is still supported, in name only, by Ubisoft. And is still being sold by Microsoft on its store.

The question is what would you do next? Because I am at a loss, other than contacting them every week. Because at the moment it is less about the money and more about the principle.
 
So i have a current Gen game, Just Sing, which was working fine for the first couple of months I owned it.

However after this first few months the game would hang after the splash screen on a progress bar for retrieving data from the server.

I left it a few weeks, thinking it was just an outage, but then was faced with the same problem. After doing my own troubleshooting I contacted Ubisoft support, who said they were aware of the issue and would escalate it.

The call then gets closed down.

Several months later I try to boot up the game again, the same issue is still there. So again I go back to Ubisoft. Who reopen the call and leave it open and escalate it further. I ask them for what their SLA is on providing escalated fixes, they can't give a timescale.

Fed up, I go to Microsoft and ask for a refund. They can't do it but will escalate it from their end.

A week later a contact Ubisoft again, still no resolution. So again I go to Microsoft and point out that Ubisoft aren't playing ball. And ask again for a refund. They try to process it, but the system won't let them. They suggest I talk to Ubisoft again.

I talk to Ubisoft and ask if they can give me a refund, they investigate and tell me to contact Microsoft. See a pattern here?

So again I contact Microsoft, who again say the system won't let them issue a refund.

So I am now stuck with a digital game that doesn't work, that is still supported, in name only, by Ubisoft. And is still being sold by Microsoft on its store.

The question is what would you do next? Because I am at a loss, other than contacting them every week. Because at the moment it is less about the money and more about the principle.

Only Microsoft can refund you as the transaction to purchase was with them.

So all you can do is badger MS into a refund. Which probably means ringing them and escalating it far enough till you get to someone with sufficient authority to issue refunds. They are usually good with refunds (unless you have more than 2 requests already) so it shouldn't be an issue eventually.

If they have refunded you for other digital purchases then it may require further escalation.
 
They haven't, but they are saying because I have had the game for a year the system won't let them process the payment. So I am stuck in a loop of Ubisoft sorting out their servers, which they are in no hurry to do, probably because it is a low user base, and Microsoft telling me they can't refund me.

Bloody frustrating.
 
They haven't, but they are saying because I have had the game for a year the system won't let them process the payment. So I am stuck in a loop of Ubisoft sorting out their servers, which they are in no hurry to do, probably because it is a low user base, and Microsoft telling me they can't refund me.

Bloody frustrating.

Yeah I thought it would be a timing issue. I'm sure they can find a way to refund if you badger them enough.
 
There is also the fact that this will affect current and future users of this game. MS are still selling it but it won't work, as it isn't a user specific issue.
 
Delete it and reinstall it
 
If only I hadn't done that several times already, that might have been good advice.

And if you had read my previous post you would have seen me say this isn't a user issue.
 
And if you had read my previous post you would have seen me say this isn't a user issue.
And if you posted what troubleshooting you actually did yourself, like hard reset, re-install etc. People wouldn't give that advice to you.
 
Turn off the Xbox internet connection and you can play offline apparently
 
Have you tried contacting Xbox support or Major Nelson on Twitter? Sometimes publicly flagging up an issue gets results.
 
And if you posted what troubleshooting you actually did yourself, like hard reset, re-install etc. People wouldn't give that advice to you.
I said I did my own troubleshooting, this means everything a partially sane person would do to get a game working. From hard reset to uninstalling and reinstalling. To changing the console, admittedly not everyone would do this last step.
 
Have you tried contacting Xbox support or Major Nelson on Twitter? Sometimes publicly flagging up an issue gets results.
Not major Nelson but I have contacted Xbox support on Twitter, they pushed me back through the support line.
 
Turn off the Xbox internet connection and you can play offline apparently
I've seen that, but that is a workaround, not a fix. It again makes playing through the phone app impossible.
 
MS Support can do refunds for this sort of thing, you just have to be persistent with them about it. Can be a bit of a pain sometimes but usually they sort it out. I did it with Just Cause 3 not long after it came out as the game was unplayable on the Xbox One. Went through it with them and took the view of the game was broken, they eventually credited my account with the payment.

Something that you might have more luck with is getting them to put the money onto your MS account (assuming your trying to get it back onto your Card or Paypal)
 
I bought it with credit and I would expect it back as credit.
 
I have bought iPhone apps that haven’t worked well so I have deleted and asked Apple for the refund and they have done it no problem, so I’d have thought ms should be the one issuing the refund
 
They haven't, but they are saying because I have had the game for a year the system won't let them process the payment. So I am stuck in a loop of Ubisoft sorting out their servers, which they are in
I bought it with credit and I would expect it back as credit.

seems legit when i asked for a refund on BF4 and the season pass well after a year for campaign reset glitch, the CS guy says the system wouldnt let him as it was part paid for with expired credit (rewards credits of about ÂŁ4) He had to refund manually in increments of ÂŁ3...got ÂŁ95 back and still have access to the game.
 
I got my account credited for BF4 as well on Xbox as it kept freezing on me for the first few month, the game would crash or my Xbox would black screen the TV and restart.

They initially told me that they couldn't process a refund as it had been over 90 days but eventually they refunded my account with Xbox credit.
 
I'm still waiting for them to do something, they have got me to raise a support ticket on their forums, which seems a bit bizarre to me.
 

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