Rip offs concerning video games

**Moosferatu** · July 21, 2008, 03:03 PM

Anyone ever been ripped off with video games?

I'm starting this topic because today I bought Diablo II cheap, preowned in Gamestation for £1, yes, £1. It is £10 new, and I thought I might just have got lucky. How wrong I was. I thought it was suspicious when the cashier didn't put a manual in, but didn't think about the CD code because i'm so used to buying console games. Later, when I realised I thought the CD code may be on a sticker inside the case, as it sometimes is. No such luck.

So I have Diablo II, with no CD code, three discs, no manual.

Post your rip offs?

**VOP2288** · July 21, 2008, 03:32 PM

Well, that sucks...what are the CDs in? I know in my version they're in those slim paper cases and the code is written on a sticker in those.

I'd go back to the store and either demand a refund or have them explain themselves as to why they would sell you a game without a code.

Truth be told I was never ripped off...I've had one or two things go wrong ordering online though. Like this time last summer when I ordered a copy of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay from an Amazon seller. I got it, installed it, and then couldn't run the game....I only later found out that this "edition" of the game was a total fake that this seller stupidly purchased and then distributed to like 20 people. Luckily he refunded me fully, it was funny however when I gave him a bad score in the seller review section...he wrote me an email pleading for me to change the score or erase it completely b/c his seller score determined how he was able to provide for his wife and kids (haha...sorry that's just sad). Needless to say I didn't change the score.

Another time I attempted to purchase Mass Effect shortly after this past Christmas on Amazon and found it for a nice deal of 25 bucks brand new. I ordered it, the money went thru, and then two days later I got an email from the seller telling me that they ran out of copies and forgot to take the page down...idiots.

Finally, this past October I purchased Aliens v. Predator 2 and the expansion off Amazon from this seller...2 weeks went by without receiving anything. Finally I emailed the seller and they had totally forgotten about my order and made up for it by sending the games 1st class express mail plus I got a free copy of Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers with it.

**Serious J** · July 21, 2008, 03:50 PM

Even if it did have a CD key, I would bet that it would already be in use when you tried to connect to battle net. This is why buying a pc game used that requires a cd key for multiplayer is generally a bad idea.

**Moosferatu** · July 21, 2008, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by Serious J

Even if it did have a CD key, I would bet that it would already be in use when you tried to connect to battle net. This is why buying a pc game used that requires a cd key for multiplayer is generally a bad idea.

I know that, I didn't intent to play it on Battle.net, I just wanted the singleplayer experience. If I ever felt the need to play multiplayer afterwards then I would've bought it new with the expansion later.

Edit:

Originally Posted by VOP2288

Another time I attempted to purchase Mass Effect shortly after this past Christmas on Amazon and found it for a nice deal of 25 bucks brand new. I ordered it, the money went thru, and then two days later I got an email from the seller telling me that they ran out of copies and forgot to take the page down...idiots.

I remember buying Call of Duty 3 last November (before actually getting a 360) on Amazon for £10, and I waited a week for the game, only to be informed that the item was too damaged to be sold to me. I thought 'wtf?!' but at least I got a full refund

**Turkeys!** · July 21, 2008, 03:50 PM

Wow...I must be lucky because i've never had anything go wrong with anything I bought online , specially not games.

**VOP2288** · July 21, 2008, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by Turkeys!

Wow...I must be lucky because i've never had anything go wrong with anything I bought online , specially not games.

neither have I before this past summer...and it all seemed to happen one after the other. Luckily with Amazon the sellers are so scared of the crap they'd be in if they messed up that they do things like give you refunds or free games with your orders to "make up for it".

**Yojimbo** · July 21, 2008, 04:27 PM

when i bought m2tw collectors edition...nuff said.

**Wibbler** · July 21, 2008, 07:18 PM

I felt Battlefield 2 for the Xbox was a rip off when I bought it, I didn't have Xbox live and just wanted to play matches like you could on Battlefield 1942 but instead there were just these lame arcade style single player missions. Bleh.

**Thanatos** · July 21, 2008, 07:40 PM

Oh, I could go on forever.

Let me just tell you all, eBay people that sell games either come in the wonderful, caring kind, or the bastardized, infuriating kind.

And let me tell you, there's quite a lot of the latter out there.

**Norge** · July 21, 2008, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by Moosferatu

Anyone ever been ripped off with video games?

I'm starting this topic because today I bought Diablo II cheap, preowned in Gamestation for £1, yes, £1. It is £10 new, and I thought I might just have got lucky. How wrong I was. I thought it was suspicious when the cashier didn't put a manual in, but didn't think about the CD code because i'm so used to buying console games. Later, when I realised I thought the CD code may be on a sticker inside the case, as it sometimes is. No such luck.

So I have Diablo II, with no CD code, three discs, no manual.

You're out of luck if you want to play online, though there's no problem getting a cd-key to open up single-player.

To answer the question. No, I don't think I've ever been ripped off when a buying a game.

Removed CD keys list
Hi there Norge, I'm sure Moosferatu would've appreciated the CD keys, but TWC's ToS strongly frowns upon the promotion of illegal activities.

Promoting Illegal Activities (4 or 8 points)
Posts that incite others to violate the law are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to, asking for or providing:
Methods of circumventing copyright protection (Cracks, CD Keys, mod chips)

~Antissa

**Roman Clone** · July 21, 2008, 09:18 PM

My copy of Call of Duty 4 was 50 bucks...

When I clearly saw it for 35 just a month ago...

**Zuwxiv** · July 22, 2008, 12:56 AM

I don't like Gamestop because of their policies of "new" and "used."

Their employees are allowed to open games, play them, and put them back on the shelf to sell as new. Or, they open boxes and keep the CD's, manuals, etc. up front. That's fine, their policy; but if you open the shrink wrap on it, you can't return it as new. Basically, what they sell as new they wouldn't accept for a return as new.

But I haven't had that problem; worst thing that happened to me was the Wii Launch. I could have gotten to Best Buy 2 hours early and grabbed one; instead, I had to wait 7 hours outside a EB Games. I must say, it was worth it.

Other than that, I'm still sitting with my copy of IL2 Ace Expansion Pack, which requires Forgotten Battles, which I don't have. But it was 5 bucks. I've made some bad investments - ORB wasn't fun, Rise of Nations wasn't great. But the games I play the most often nowadays are Battlefield 1942, some old strategy games (4+years old), and some Steam games (Counter Strike Source, Day of Defeat). I don't buy new games that often, the old ones are too much fun.

Anyone up for DoTA?

**timmy1992** · July 22, 2008, 12:59 AM

Age of Conan collector's edition.

I now have an $80 hollow book to hide things in.

**Odovacar** · July 22, 2008, 03:07 AM

Many times with cheap but bogus games on the advent of gaming for me, when I had not much money so I bought B category games..or Z category?....

They were mostly boring, bad, clone games, sometimes unplayably primitive.
And I spent money on them with which I could buy 2-3 books at that time.

Also Starcraft's Brood War was terribly priced for that small amount of time I played with it. Its a good game but the price...

That destroyed my willingness to buy games. Since then I only bought Planescape Torment, TW series...just the best.

Even Torment without the placat, etc because I bought the "Buy now" cheap edition.

**Emperor Leo** · July 22, 2008, 03:42 AM

I've never really been ripped-off as such, but I've had a few close calls.

When I got the original Half-Life, I popped the CD into the drive and was prompted to enter the CD-Key. I did just that but the game wouldn't accept it. On further inspection I realised that my Key was missing a digit somewhere. It hadn't been scrubbed off, it just wasn't printed at all. I took a wild guess and simply added a '1' to the end of the Key and, luckily, it worked.

A few weeks ago, I got Broken Sword 4 in the Zavvi sale. I got it home, put the CD in the drive and it just made a grinding sound and crashed Windows Explorer. Try again, same problem. So, I cleaned the CD and tried again. Same problem. Considering my nearest Zavvi is over an hours drive away, it'd cost me twice as much in petrol to drive back to the shop. I then tried the CD in my girlfriend's laptop and it worked. I tried it one more time in my PC and it worked fine. Have no idea why it was giving me such trouble. I'm glad it worked, though, otherwise it would've been a waste of my hard earned £4. Yes, £4. It's a shame that the game is crap, though.

**joemo** · July 22, 2008, 04:00 AM

i almost had one at the warehouse a nz stoe that sells all kinds of stuff i brought ghost reacon advanced warfighter on xbox it was r16 but i wasnt 16 at the time it was 100 they showed me the disk to see if there were any scraches but they didnt show me the other side it was a xbox 360 game i went home found out went to get a refund but had to be 16 so i got my mum and got a refund and called them ripoffs

and had a happy ending

**Emperor Leo** · July 22, 2008, 04:24 AM

i almost had one at the warehouse a nz stoe that sells all kinds of stuff i brought ghost reacon advanced warfighter on xbox it was r16 but i wasnt 16 at the time it was 100 they showed me the disk to see if there were any scraches but they didnt show me the other side it was a xbox 360 game i went home found out went to get a refund but had to be 16 so i got my mum and got a refund and called them ripoffs

and had a happy ending

*Takes a deep breath after reading*

They aren't really rip-offs. :hmmm:I think that they were within their rights to deny a refund if you were under 16 at the time.

**xxax** · July 22, 2008, 04:36 AM

I bought Operation Flashpoint and i still cannot find the goddamn CD key. I dunno. Maybe it feel out, maybe i got ripped off. I didn't let this bother me too much since i used a key of the internet. Problem solved.