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GAMEPUMP - Service cancelled, everyone refunded + 2 bonus apology games

T

TheBrainninja

Member
andrespi said:
I still haven't got my refund. i received their confirmation email (for the refund) on the 19. Still nothing, my credit card hasn't been refunded with the money. How long do you think it takes for credit card refund? (I'm from EU if that matters) I should have paid by paypal, instead of credit card (it seems refund are much easier/quicker through paypal).

I'm going to write to them, because I still haven't got my money back. This launch was really a mess, no communications, delay (after waiting for months from initial preorder) was told the day of launch, no steam (after being advertised as a steam Keys subscription service) unless you are willing to wait for greenlight (who knows how long it would take, maybe you would receive them many months later than GOG; they haven't even started to put games on greenlight). And still no account system (which they promised a long time ago). And now the refund is taking so many days to appear. Never gonna buy/subscribe from them anymore in the future and I'm gonna advise all my friends to not subscribe.
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I'd just like to point out that the 19th was a Thursday and today is Monday. Since most people are off on the weekend, it's been less than two business days since you put in your request. You are correct that their messaging is poor, and it would probably serve them well to be extra on top of refunds at this stage to earn back some good will, but I don't think it's been quite long enough to fully justify salting the earth yet.
 
A

andrespi

Member
TheBrainninja said:
I'd just like to point out that the 19th was a Thursday and today is Monday. Since most people are off on the weekend, it's been less than two business days since you put in your request. You are correct that their messaging is poor, and it would probably serve them well to be extra on top of refunds at this stage to earn back some good will, but I don't think it's been quite long enough to fully justify salting the earth yet.
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I think it's well over 2 business days (it's actually 3). I mean I did send the refund request on early morning 19; if they are on PST then I received the email confirmation (for the refund) when for them it was between 10-11 AM for them (PST local time). And this is the time I received their email confirmation for the refund request (my request/email was actually sent from their site a few hours before). They have had nearly the whole 19 (from 11 AM), then the 20 (friday which is a business day) and now the 23 (for them it should be late afternoon now).

I guess I will wait a little more before panicking.

But I don't know how long credit card refunds take, so maybe it's normal it takes more than a few days to appear.
 
A

andrespi

Member
I'm starting to think I won't see my money again. I sent an email yesterday and they haven't even bothered to answer. And the money still isn't there on my credit card statement.

I mean they could at least answer their email. I've never seen such a terrible customer service. I mean not answering your customers' emails (asking for clarifications) is not a good sign and is not how you should run an online business.
 
R

Ryo Hazuki

Member
Not replying to emails is definitely unacceptable. I doubt they're receiving enough to justify not replying. What is even more weird is that sometime during January Robert Bowling has changed his twitter website from GAMEPUMP to his own personal website Robert-Bowling.com.

WvrbFOs.jpg


Not only that the header for his Twitter page is also changed from the GAMEPUMP art to Zelda art.

trAyfZO.jpg


Now it could mean nothing, like maybe he didn't want to link to GAMEPUMP before it launches and just likes Zelda a lot? I don't know but honestly scrubbing GAMEPUMP from your profile isn't a good look at this juncture, especially after stopping pre-orders and then tweeting this the other day:

Br58qxC.png


So is GAMEPUMP the one that will succeed or the one that you start but never launch? Interesting timing either way. Guess we'll wait and see but the no contact thing is definitely unacceptable.
 
B

Belker

Member
I was aware of this man because he managed CoD community. I know he then left and there was some noise about him starting to develop games, but I can't remember those coming to fruition. I remember thinking it was a bit odd that he'd segued into quite different, large, projects. But maybe he was buoyed by the success of CoD.

Is there anything in his background that suggests he's had experience in starting and running a business like gamepump?
 
K

kulapik

Member
Ryo Hazuki said:
Not replying to emails is definitely unacceptable. I doubt they're receiving enough to justify not replying. What is even more weird is that sometime during January Robert Bowling has changed his twitter website from GAMEPUMP to his own personal website Robert-Bowling.com.
Click to expand...

Welp, between that and that I didn't care a lot for the announced games, I finally tipped in and asked for a refund.
 
R

Ryo Hazuki

Member
Belker said:
I was aware of this man because he managed CoD community. I know he then left and there was some noise about him starting to develop games, but I can't remember those coming to fruition. I remember thinking it was a bit odd that he'd segued into quite different, large, projects. But maybe he was buoyed by the success of CoD.

Is there anything in his background that suggests he's had experience in starting and running a business like gamepump?
Click to expand...

Well he was the Vice President / Head of Publishing at Humble and was involved with Humble Monthly.
 
M

Miker

Member
I fully expect a re-reveal of Human Element as a first person survival crafting game funded by GAMEPUMP pre-orders in the next week.

On a serious note, I asked for a refund. I pre-ordered early on because the price was right, but even then I was initially skeptical that $20 pre-order people would see all thirteen games they were promised.
 
A

andrespi

Member
Miker said:
I fully expect a re-reveal of Human Element as a first person survival crafting game funded by GAMEPUMP pre-orders in the next week.

On a serious note, I asked for a refund. I pre-ordered early on because the price was right, but even then I was initially skeptical that $20 pre-order people would see all thirteen games they were promised.
Click to expand...

Was it by Paypal or credit card, if I might ask? It seems paypal refunds appear immediately (according to a user here on Neogaf), but I paid by Credit card (not through paypal) which seems to not be so fast to appear on cc statement.


Anyway just sent a second email through their form, let's hope they answer. If they don't I will try to send them an email directly, without going through their form on the website.
 
A

andrespi

Member
Chairhome said:
I don't know why anyone trusts Robert Bowling projects anymore.
Click to expand...

When I pre-ordered I didn't even know that he was behind so many failed projects (Human element halted and studio closed). I was a fool to pre order. I saw many articles on news gaming websites (presenting Gamepump) and all they said was that he had been vice-president at Humble (no mention of its previous failed projects). I didn't even know that he was behind Human element game halt, pushing for OUYA (vapourware console) and then robotoki studio closing down. I discovered all of this a few days ago.

I should have been more wary before pre ordering.
 
A

andrespi

Member
mabec said:
Same same, or at least give us a proper update, a tweet or whatever. Also, his company name now is: Super Villain Incorporated.
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Ah that's what SVC inc. stands for. On my cc statement, the transaction (for the preorder on November) was done/had the name of SVC inc.; didn't understand at the time why it didn't have gamepump as the name. Now that I know it's Super villain incorporated, this doesn't look good or professional at all.
 
R

Ryo Hazuki

Member
lol a little too much focus on the company name IMO. Having the name Super Villain INC doesn't make it unprofessional. It's just a random name for a company because the dude probably likes comic books, nothing more, nothing less. Nothing to read into.
 
A

andrespi

Member
Ryo Hazuki said:
lol a little too much focus on the company name IMO. Having the name Super Villain INC doesn't make it unprofessional. It's just a random name for a company because the dude probably likes comic books, nothing more, nothing less. Nothing to read into.
Click to expand...

I don't know maybe in America it's different, but if I had a joke name like that for my own business in Italy I don't think it would last very long (or that any one would trust it). It would seem like we aren't serious, and it's more of a joke. This how you will appear to your customers and deal with businesses: with a joke name. it doesn't give me a good vibe if this was supposed to be a serious business and it's called like that.
 
G

GAMEPROFF

Banned
andrespi said:
I don't know maybe in America it's different, but if I had a joke name like that for my own business in Italy I don't think it would last very long (or that any one would trust it). This how you will appear to your customers and deal with businesses with a joke name. it doesn't give me a good vibe if this was supposed to be a serious business and it's called like that.
Click to expand...

So Gamepump is much trustworthy? A pump for games? Or Valve and Steam?
 
A

andrespi

Member
GAMEPROFF said:
So Gamepump is much trustworthy? A pump for games? Or Valve and Steam?
Click to expand...

Well, if to you the name Valve is nearly as bad as Super villain incorporated, then I don't know what to tell you. I guess it must be just me that finds the name weird/by italian standards. Valve to me is an acceptable name (as it would be gamepump), Supervillain incorporated seems like something a child would name its fake company while playing.

But ok, we will agree to disagree. I guess it's just a personal feeling. Name in itself is not really important. but I can tell you that in Italy if you presented your new business company to someone, with a name like that (super villain incorporated) they would laugh at you (and not in a good way), that's for sure. No one would even take you seriously to spend money on your products with a name like that. But really name by itself wouldn't be a big deal. It just doesn't give me a good vibe.
 
O

OneUh8

Member
Well crap. I am now wondering if I should just get a refund. I have been very patient, willing to give them a try.
 
T

Teppic

Member
I asked for a refund too. Lack of communication and those twitter changes are my reasons to why. I don't have high hopes of getting it, but you never know.
 
V

Vexii

Member
andrespi said:
I don't know maybe in America it's different, but if I had a joke name like that for my own business in Italy I don't think it would last very long (or that any one would trust it). It would seem like we aren't serious, and it's more of a joke. This how you will appear to your customers and deal with businesses: with a joke name. it doesn't give me a good vibe if this was supposed to be a serious business and it's called like that.
Click to expand...
Naughty Dog? Look at those dudes now, with a daft name like that.

You're drawing a false equivalence, regardless of the overarching situation.
 
J

Jucksalbe

Banned
So if I want to ask for a refund what do I put in as "order confirmation number"? I paid via PayPal and never got an order number. The PayPal receipt doesn't show anything either?
 
T

TheBrainninja

Member
andrespi said:
I think it's well over 2 business days (it's actually 3). I mean I did send the refund request on early morning 19; if they are on PST then I received the email confirmation (for the refund) when for them it was between 10-11 AM for them (PST local time). And this is the time I received their email confirmation for the refund request (my request/email was actually sent from their site a few hours before). They have had nearly the whole 19 (from 11 AM), then the 20 (friday which is a business day) and now the 23 (for them it should be late afternoon now).

I guess I will wait a little more before panicking.

But I don't know how long credit card refunds take, so maybe it's normal it takes more than a few days to appear.
Click to expand...

I get you, sorry for counting wrong. You've definitely been very patient! I wasn't trying to excuse their lack of communication either, my angle was along the lines of "I don't know how long credit card refunds take" also.

It's a small thing, but those Twitter bio changes bode ill. I'm not that bummed to be out the $20, but the promise of this project was very exciting to me and I'll be sad if it dies stillborn.
 
T

TI82

Banned
Just got my PayPal refund, kind of sad since this seemed awesome 😢

Edit: and I didn't request a refund, so I'm guessing the site is shutting down
 
8

898

Member
NoFaceNico said:
Does the refund email say anything?
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I got a notice from Paypal and an email from Gamepump.
No note/message on anything, just a standard Paypal transaction email.
The Gamepump email looked similar to the original purchase order but a refund.
 
M

Miker

Member
andrespi said:
Was it by Paypal or credit card, if I might ask? It seems paypal refunds appear immediately (according to a user here on Neogaf), but I paid by Credit card (not through paypal) which seems to not be so fast to appear on cc statement.


Anyway just sent a second email through their form, let's hope they answer. If they don't I will try to send them an email directly, without going through their form on the website.
Click to expand...

Credit card. I haven't heard from them or have my money show up in my account yet, but I just asked for a refund this morning.
 
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