Missing CD Key and my relevant adventure with the local distributor

[zuraffo]

Before I started ranting, let me just highlight two points:
- I have read the disclaimer stickied on the top.
- I have sent in an email to the 1c support. (Although there is no reply yet. They may conveniently "have not received" my email.)

I bought this game at a local detail shop. The shopkeeper helped me with the unwrapping and tried to look for a CD key to no avail. So we both figured this game might not need a CD key.

I found out I was wrong after I got back home. That was a Sunday, so I sent in an email to 1C support and waited patiently to call the local distributor on Monday (which is today).

I called the distributor at 12:30 pm local time, and was told the technical support staff went for lunch. I was also told that they might be back at 2:30 pm. I called again, and was told they are not back yet. I have to wait again.

And again I waited, 3 more attempts later, I got the support staff at the other end of the phone. They told me, politely, that the game comes package and they are not responsible for any CD Keys. And they offered to exchange the game 1 for 1. All fine and dandy. I even started to forgive them for the delaying. But to be cautious, I asked the local staff to check if the other Fantasy Wars CDs have the CD Keys I needed before I take a trip to the local branch.

Thank goodness I asked. They tried a few copies, none has the CD Keys. It appears that the whole batch is without CD Keys!!!

The local distributor promised to look into it and I am yet to receive any reply. Though I suspect I might need to wait for another day before I can enjoy a game I spent hard earned money for.

Question: What sort of production company sell a product which requires a CD Key WITHOUT somehow providing the CD key?

Answer: The kind of company which doesn't care about its customer.

Question: What can they do to make up for my lost time, my frustration in waiting?

Answer: Nothing. They can do something, like apologize profusely and perhaps offer the next 5 latest release for free to show that they care for their customer, but NOTHING can make up for the lost time and the resulting frustration.

Question: What sort of company says in the support portion of the manual that they do not entertain phone calls and take more than 24 hours to reply to a product related issue (in this case, I can't even play the game)?
(To be completely fair, I sent in my email to 1C support at yesterday night 10pm local time. It's coming to 24 hours and I am counting.)

Answer: The kind of company which doesn't want to help its customers when they are facing with problems.

For those of you who are enjoying the game, count yourself lucky. This post stand as a testimony of the frustration of an insignificant consumer in this era of corporatism. I have bought this game for nearly 24 hours and I am yet to be able to enjoy it. What's more, the best result I can expect out of this is a 1 to 1 exchange of another game which I don't really want in the first place.

Tomorrow is my one day break before a busy week. My plan to indulge in some fantasy war had been utterly destroyed by real life bureaucratic wrangling with first the local distributor and now with the NON-response of 1C. Allow me one moment to indulge in self-pity.

[Evgeny]

Well, actually, packaging is the deal of your local distributor. So the abscence of CD Key is their fault. So, I advise you to write to their support.

[zuraffo]

I think I have found the "real" culprit: Star-force.

Local distributor support said the game doesn't require a CD-Key on Windows XP. So why is Star-force asking for CD-Key on Windows Vista?

I went to star-force website, download the latest driver, install, and problem solved.

But is the real 'culprit' Starforce?

Granted, it never says on the manual that the game actually support Vista, but Facts remained:

- I haven't received any support from 1C support (sic)
- The starforce driver packaged with the game is not updated thus resulting in the frustration of one vista user such as me.
- Decision to use the infamous star-force is made by 1C.
- Even local support wasn't of much help, although confirming that the game doesn't require CD key in XP allows me to look for other solutions.

But none of that matter now. I have 24 hours left for my break before a busy week, and it's time to enjoy some fantasy war and leave the real-life stuff behind for a while.

Just hope it will help some other poor souls who encountered the same problem.