Gamespot or CONSpot

Computer Ed

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 15, 2007
Messages
93
Hey Kyle and everyone. Usually just lurking but I wanted to pass along this experience to others in hopes of helping them avoid this..

The other day I was browsing around and while at Gamespot I saw some material I thought would be cool to get. When I tried the site said the material was only available for paying customers. Well that cool, I understand the reasoning and looked at the subscription models.

The basic model was only $20 a year and so I figure $20 is not all that much and i can explore the site more fully.

Pulled out the credit card and put down my $20.

The site told me it might take an hour or so to bring up the account so I logged off and came back on that evening. Once I logged in I was browsing and saw a review of the 1090T I wanted to comment on. Imagine my surpirse when I saw that my account was not allowed to post a comment. (The site said I was suspended.) I went to my account info and saw a help file that a pending account might look like it is suspsended. I did a little digging and deep in the help files was told that the account could take up to 72 hours to become active.

Well after 24 hours I sent a note to support, again a very complicated way of getting there inquiring on the status of my account, especially since they had made sure to take my money with 24 hours, it had already hit my bank.

I had a busy day and when I got to the site again, the next day I was still in this limbo pending status. I figured this was going to go the full 72 hours so I waited and the next day checked the account, again still in limbo.

I again sent a note, this time a bit harsher asking why my money could be taken so quickly but an account or a reply to a help request could not be done with the same effeciency.

At the 96 hour mark the account was still not active and now I was pissed. It was not about the amount of money so mcuh as the principle. I mean I paid them money, they took the money and then ignored all contact.

Finally in frustration after working down through the material on the site I found the tinfo on the parent comapny CBS Interactive. I found their US number and gave them a call. The woman on the phone was confused and it took about 20 minutes for her to find a number and email address for me to contact.

I called the contact number at 30 PM CST and was greeted with a message that I was calling after work hours and to leave a message? This office BTW is on the west coast according the woman I spoke with? I tried again later that day and a few times the next morning, SAME message.

Okay I finally sent an email to the address I was given expressing my dismay at the experience I was having and asked for either a refund on my account or my account to be activated as it should ASAP.

Within less than 24 hours my account now has the status of Revoked and the reason is I have violated the terms of the subscription. I looked, no email telling me why I was revoked or that they where sorry and where refunding my money. I looked at their online in site message system, no note explaining the action or offering the refund.

For one of the so called major game sites on the internet this is the crappiest run organization I have ever seen. This whole matter could have been resolved with someone actually reading a support request and fixing an account. Now they do not have the professionalism to even tell someone why an account is revoked or if offering a refund to inform them properly.

I can tell you that I will be watchin g my account closely for the next few days and if the money for the subscription does not reappear I will file complaints with the States Attorney and the BB. Overall I suggest everyone avoid Gamespot.
 
Can't you do a chargeback through your credit card?

I gave up on gamespot a long time ago.
 
That just sucks. Gamespot used to be decent, but lately (it seems to be real common nowadays) they seem to become worse and worse as time goes by.

Let us know of your progress.
 
JW sadly I used my debit card and not a credit card for this. I really hate credit cards and fighting a debit card transaction is way more hassle than it is worth for $20.

xFuryofFivex I was at the time looking at a few of their game guides for my son and you have to use a pay account to download the PDF.

I will keep everyone posted if anything comes of this. Going to try again in a couple of hours to call the support number they gave me.
 
in the future try gamefaqs.com
they have user made guides, and somtimes many for a single game. ive used it from time to time to see how far i was in a game
 
Gamespot is likely not used to recieving money from individuals, after reading some of their reviews it seems like they would be more inclined to have a good payment recieving setup from publishers rather than consumers.
 
Once I logged in I was browsing and saw a review of the 1090T I wanted to comment on. Imagine my surpirse when I saw that my account was not allowed to post a comment.
Gamespot has some of the best free content on the net. I don't have a subscription and post in the message boards there so if you could not, and even paid, that tells me something else here is going on.

This entire issue sounds like you had account problems before you paid.

Gamespot is a great company.
 
Actually until I setup this account for this I have never had a Gamespot account. It was kind of a whim to set it up this time.

I have tried calling three times today leaving a polite message each time asking for a call back or an email to verfiy the status of this situtation and have heard nothing back. I emailed 4 hourts agao again and still nothing.
 
Decided to make one more call attempt today after I posted here, I actually reached a person. She looked at the account and said it was a known technical glitch. Okay a glitch caused an accout activation issue, I can understand that, can it explain the lack of returned emails and phone messages over the last few days. She told me she could not handle that.

When I told her I wanted a refund I was told she could not handle that and I would have to handle it with through the email support, however she could activate the account.

So basically it was lose my money or now accept the account. Well lesson is now learned, they will not get my money again.
 
Watch your account 12 months from now. They will try and automatically renew...

I used to subscribe a few years ago when their content and downloads were actually worth paying for. Canceling was a pain, and I only got them to stop when my card finally expired...
 
Obviously customer service is something they are not great at. That shouldn't matter though since Gamestop has some of the worse customer service in the industry yet everyone here seems to think their so great.
 
Gamespot is shit, I left that shitty site many years ago when the banned me. They ban/suspend just for about anything, it's full of 12 year olds who don't know shit about anything. The website is very biased and is in the pocket of any game developer with money. See Jeff Gerstmann.
 
Don't they have forums where you can vent?
Hopefully a Mod or Admin will help you.
 
I almost pointed that out too until I realized in the post he said GameSTOP has bad service, GameSPOT is a great company, and his sig says screw GameSTOP :p
 
I almost pointed that out too until I realized in the post he said GameSTOP has bad service, GameSPOT is a great company, and his sig says screw GameSTOP :p

Ya I thought it was a typing error on his part. My bad bdc.
 
I also gave up on gamespot few years ago and also had problems canceling my subscription. Shit website all around.
 
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