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Post a reply << Go BackTopic: Gamehouse and RealArcade merging
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There's a bonus for existing RealArcade members too: those who are subscribed to RA's GamePass will now be getting 2 credits a month instead of just 1. Currently, they pay $9.99 a month and receive 1 game credit (a rip-off compared to BigFish and GameHouse FunTicket). But under the new merger, RA members will be getting some sort of retroactive compensation by receiving 2 credits which comes out to $4.99 a game. Not bad at all! In fact, if anyone wants to subscribe to RA GamePass right now, they're still accepting new subscribers (at least until the merger is in effect, I think).
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They have been in bed together for a long time, so this is no big news
I have been suggesting to RA for a long time they lower the price which used to be 7.99 a month when I was a member back in 2006, instead when they upgraded the site in 2007, they raiesed the price to 9.99
The thing that bugs me, is will they keep the policy of you have 60 days(which used to be 30) to use your credits and what will be the cost of any other game you wish to purchase in that month
Interesting, but I would need more info to join again...
RA, send a spokesperson to answer this! I know your lurking, lol
Joel, maybe you could help on this
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Yea, I knew this for awhile now and when I recieved no answer from gamehouse about a game problem, I contacted Real Arcade and their reply was very abrupt saying that in no way were they related to gamehouse. LOLOLOL... I SO wanted to write back "commenting" on their rudeness .. and this was just, oh, maybe a week ago... and it was just a stupid simple question..
oh... but i forgive them for how they replied that it made me feel like they think the public in some cases are stupid... i just did not like the tactless reply i recieved from them.
Sorry .. had to say my piece 'cause it just irritated me at that time when i read it..
. But they are good site, they just have a "ignorant" customer support person.. other than that .. i like them..
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Yea, I knew this for awhile now and when I recieved no answer from gamehouse about a game problem, I contacted Real Arcade and their reply was very abrupt saying that in no way were they related to gamehouse. LOLOLOL... I SO wanted to write back "commenting" on their rudeness .. and this was just, oh, maybe a week ago... and it was just a stupid simple question..
oh... but i forgive them for how they replied that it made me feel like they think the public in some cases are stupid... i just did not like the tactless reply i recieved from them.
Sorry .. had to say my piece 'cause it just irritated me at that time when i read it..
. But they are good site, they just have a "ignorant" customer support person.. other than that .. i like them..
Call RA, don't email them! If you don't like the answer ask for a supervisor! I used to do it all the time, rofl
I can't play GameHouse games on my machines, I think RA gave them their old installer, lol, because back when RA switched to their new format it took me almost a year to be able to download one of their demos and even Tier 2 Tech suppost couldn't help me out...I was still able to do the beta tests. I had given up, but in mid 2008 it started working again! I think it was the versions and the installer version...I have a 130 page file in my inbox and tests they sent me to run still to this day, roflmbo
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ROFLLC ... Gotta remember that , Suki .. !!
gotta say, that is most exactly how i felt when it was learned they were merging and my feeling that Gamehouse was getting all the old software like a site just to put "them" thing from Real Arcade LOLOL...
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Well, seems good news to me. I´ve just renewed my Game Pass with RA in October. I´d love to get two credits instead of one. LOL
What bothers me, is that still so many users report bad experiences with GH´s and RA´s customer service. They really should do something about that, and offer a constantly good customer service. Littleone, I do not count in yours with RA, because at this moment they are still not merged with GH.
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My experiences with RA´s customer service verw always good so far, I have none with GH´s. -
LOL
GH has none and RA has some, but it depends on what country you get and who you get!
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Hi all,
Erin has requested an interview with their PR (both are part of same company, Real acquired Gamehouse a while back) and we should post all the details soon (again, if there is Real PR person lurking...ha ha...email us!
I do think this is a good move for Real and GameHouse. Many people have complained about customer service at Real, so the more they consolidate their departments so it's one e-commerce system, one customer service department, one game studio, etc, the better chance they will be able to provide a better service. Or, so the theories I learned in my old Economics 101 classes in college go...
I have been procrastinating from doing something for the past 24 hours, but no more, now, I do this thing I need to do!
Thanks
Joel
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Hi all,
Erin has requested an interview with their PR (both are part of same company, Real acquired Gamehouse a while back) and we should post all the details soon (again, if there is Real PR person lurking...ha ha...email us!
I do think this is a good move for Real and GameHouse. Many people have complained about customer service at Real, so the more they consolidate their departments so it's one e-commerce system, one customer service department, one game studio, etc, the better chance they will be able to provide a better service. Or, so the theories I learned in my old Economics 101 classes in college go...
I have been procrastinating from doing something for the past 24 hours, but no more, now, I do this thing I need to do!
Thanks
Joel
Okay, back at you...
If they do pool into one unit, which one is going to be dominant?
I can play RA's games, but I cannot play GH's games(I used to be able to, before they got RA's old installer, rofl), they download and install, but won't run...
I had a similar experience with RA, when they first switched over in mid 2007. I could do their Eval's, but couldn't download a game from the new site. I spent 3 months talking with tier 2 tech support...I gave up, but still ran the V2 R2 test that they had sent me(which tells you what version it is, and what the installer version is)...I lost track and gave up writing it down they switched so much! Then in mid 2008, I thought I would try it again...it worked...but again I ran the test, both the version and the installer version had changed, therefore allowing me to be able again to download from RA
I have tried every few months to do GH's games, but they still do not work...If they send me a direct link, they work
My feelings are, Don't use a game manager, unless you know what your doing...RA did when they had V1.4...so did GH(which I new back in 2006, was in bed with RA)when they didn't use one...
Maybe there are some remnants of the old days still lurking in my machines, roflmbo
I do not like game managers, enough said!!!
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Hello Everyone,
Haven't bought any games from RA in years as they have such bad customer service. Have bought a couple of games from Gamehouse but when the last one did not play well they gave me their standard answer that it was my computer so not happy with any of them and doubt I will buy from the merged company as there are other places to buy games.
Last year when we were going through Hurricane Ike we had no power for 2 weeks and when it came back my computer was useless so got a brand new Dell Gaming computer, I then tried to contact the various companies whose games I had bought and the only ones that were helpful were Big Fish (naturally as they have the best customer service around) who made sure I was able to get all my games from them back. Spintop also was very helpful and Popcap but other than those 3 no other game portals were helpful even though I had receipts, Gamehouse basically told me tough luck and I could buy the games at a discount, told them why would I do that when I had receipts stating that I had already bought them. Real Arcade was a joke as well and tried to deny that I had bought any games from them despite the receipts. I learned a lesson and have not bought any games from the companies who would not help even though I had receipts and had only downloaded the games once.
If you want customers you should have good customer service, the 3 companies that helped me are an example of what they should all do especially Big Fish.
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Suki, good point, it matters which country you get customer service in. I got my e-mail from RA´s European CS, of course. Hadn´t thought about that. They were very good, with a complicated matter, and quick.
I don´t know what you have on your machines, though. LOL I hope it is not catching. Hehehe jkWhen I wanted to renew my GamePass commitment in September or October, don´t remember which, I was automatically directed to RA´s German site (not Zylom). This would never do, they don´t get all the games, and they get them late. I managed to get a US Gamepass commitment in the end, though.
BFG is top again, concerning both customer service and international offers. You can buy from any of their sites, all the same price (except tax varies), no automatic direction to the site in your language. This doesn´t matter probably to most of you, but to me it does.
EDIT:
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Joel, it would be nice to get some information about European gamesites which are connected with either RA or GH or both, too. -
Okay...it's Kristy from GameHouse/RealArcade here! *waves*
You've given me a lot to address so I will try and hit it all...if I miss something feel free to hold my feet to the fire :)
First, GameHouse and RealArcade aren't exactly "in bed" together. RealNetworks, of which RealArcade is a subsidiary, purchased GameHouse in 2004 making them a part of the same company.
Second, I sincerely and personally apologize for any customer service issues anyone has had in the past. We are working extremely dilligently on improving these processes. We hope that combining these two sites will help with the focus on CS. Scot1227 - If there is any chance you would allow me to help you please feel free to contact me. I'd love to help make this right! That goes for anyone reading this as well.
Third, if there is a request for an interview that is not getting addressed please do let me know. If there are specific questions that you would like to see addressed we can most certainly make sure that happens.
And finally, the combination of RealArcade and GameHouse is a mutually beneficial one. We are taking all of the best parts of RealArcade and GameHouse, combining those with new pieces that we've developed due to customer suggestion and wrapping it together. Neither will be more dominant than the other.
I hope that this response has helped to address some of your concerns. We are not lurking, but actively trying to address these issues as they arise. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or comemnts!
Kristy @GameHouse
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if they're completely merging, i won't be getting any more GameHouse games. signed up at RealArcade and purchased a game about 2 weeks ago. won't work at all, regardless all the useless things their customer service told me to do to my IE8 & Firefox browsers.
Their customer service IS bad. after 3 chats, one of them finally admitted that their required plugin is NOT compatible with Firefox (i also couldn't get it to work in IE8 which i refuse to be forced to use unless MS makes me to download updates). there may, possibly, be an issue with my Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, but they didn't say so, i don't THINK so and that's THEIR problem, not mine.
told them to cancel & refund (which they did) & either fix the Firefox issue or go back to a stand alone game manager. the forced use of your browser is unacceptable, IMHO. BigFish doesn't have any problem with using a game manager & all their stuff works fine.
on the other side of this issue, i don't find that RealArcade has all that much to offer that you can't get from the original developer or BigFish (i found the game i originally purchased from Real in a web search & got it direct from the publisher/developer); neither does GameHouse, any more.
i USED to like GameHouse's jigsaw & collapse, but i'm bored with those & don't care. there are MUCH better solitaire games (BVS from the publisher, not BigFish), so i can't see me wanting anything in future.
as far as customer service, BigFish practically leaves me speechless with how AWESOME their's is. you get immediate responses from real people that treat you like gold. i had a simple problem with a strategy guide, they let me keep it and gave me coupons for 2 games. sent them a well-deserved thank you & they gave me another.
i'm sorry, but i'm staying away from Real/Gamehouse; they just don't have anything i want & they can't come close to equalling the customer support at BigFish, IMHO. ditto on what Scot1277 said about PopCap's customer service; haven't dealt with SpinTop, but i've purchased & haven't had any issues.
by far, BigFish is the hands-down winner for outstanding customer service, variety of game genres (they're the only casual game company that offers "large file" adventure games) & the sheer number of games they offer. $6.99/month (cancel anytime without having to contact them by phone/mail or email & give them your life story), purchase any additional games at the same price. no one else is THAT good, although PopCap is their equal in customer service (i'll take Scot1227's word for it that SpinTop is the same).
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@ Cakefordini -- I am sorry you have had such a negative experience with our CS in the past. As I mentioned above we are working very hard on improving that experience for all of our customers.
I would just add that GameHouse currently offers a no-commitment, cancel any time option at $6.99. With that $6.99 you get one free game/month and the option to buy additional games at that same price. Which, sounds like the offer you are explaining.
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sorry, GHKristy, but i'm telling the absolute truth and giving my personal opinion. my experience with Real customer service is recent & completely factual.
also, your games are good, but not any i want any longer. i have not tried to purchase from Gamehouse in years & after i found out about the merge with Real (awhile ago) i decided i didn't want anything that had Real attached to it.
unfortunately, Real has had, and still does, customer service people, while polite, are woefully uninformed/untrained to give out good information.
as i said, i HAD to cancel my subscription because nothing will play...although, i did find an old game manager in a websearch that allowed me to play a few.
you (Real and/or Gamehouse) need to go back to a game manager, not the browser plugin. if you decide to stay with the plugin (regardless whether or not the Firefox issue is corrected), i won't subscribe to any games offered at the 2 sites.
game managers are bad enough (i don't care for them but understand the anti-piracy aspect for now requiring them), but the browser thing irritates me to no end & is completely unacceptable to me.
even though BigFish's game manager is connected to their games, i can click on the game executable & it opens right up, WITHOUT the game manager.
fix the customer service and go back to a game manager & i may change my mind. also, please don't get rid of the "vintage" games (like Oberon did with Spooky Swap & FATE the Carnivale Game - i only have them because i got them a LONG time ago).
Real used to have some really awesome games (forget which ones, although i think FATE was one of them) that are gone. would be real easy to re-introduce, with a little modern advertising, and get people to buy again.
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thanks, Kristy. i'll watch for updates/fixes and am willing to re-think my opinions/decisions if things change, in the future.
bottom line: both Real & Gamehouse need to get closer to BigFish's customer service & sheer number of offerings. you don't need to be #1, but a close 2nd or 3rd would go along way in getting my vote & my purchasing power. i buy at least 4 games a month at BigFish; often more now that they have their $2.99 daily game offer...some older and not so great, but enough good & newer ones to keep me checking every day.
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Okay...it's Kristy from GameHouse/RealArcade here! *waves*
You've given me a lot to address so I will try and hit it all...if I miss something feel free to hold my feet to the fire :)
First, GameHouse and RealArcade aren't exactly "in bed" together. RealNetworks, of which RealArcade is a subsidiary, purchased GameHouse in 2004 making them a part of the same company.
Give me a break, you just stated what I have been saying...
But I thank you for coming in to answer this!
I would still like an answer on "if I would join RA Again", what would the price point be, and how would you lure me away from Big Fish???
I love a lot of your games and I am sorry there are so many portal wars, but I have no control over that
I just want a lot of bang for my buck.....
Thanks for coming, it means a lot that RA showed up!
EDIT: Will the @ GH work, I wonder...
EDIT: Okay CAKE, "FATE" is from Wild Tangent", I own the game! I am not an RA hater, I just wish they would bring their price point down and raise customer service...I spent many a buck and good times their, I am just unsure about being able to play GH games, which at this point I cannot, but I can play RA's
I also don't like the fact that "Real" outsources from their base in the US, although I do like talking to India...some better CS reps their than here!
EDIT AGAIN: I have never had a problem re-downloading my games from RA that I haven't had with BF, portals pull content...or the game is in the dumpster
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Hello Kristy
Thank you for keeping us informed and please do not take this personally but until I read about more help and much better customer service I will not purchase from either site after what happened after the Hurricane. Big Fish was kind enough to help me with games from other portals if they could as did a few other smaller sites. It is sad as the very first game I bought was from Real Arcade but it changed and I know everything changes but your customers should always come first. As for Gamehouse I am so tired of hearing their excuse of "it must be your computer" and no other offer of help. Hopefully that has changed or will change and I will buy from both companies or one company whatever the outcome is.
Thank you for your offer Kristy but I got most of the games elsewhere for free even though I had not originally purchased them from the portal. I also found that the developers of the games were very helpful as most of them were not Gamehouse or Real Arcade developed games just bought from those sites.
I really do hope that Gamehouse/RealArcade can turn themselves around customer service wise as I will buy from them after I hear about good customer service.
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Scot, sorry I overlooked your post. Your experiences are really bad indeed. That´s the kind of thing that just shouldn´t happen. I hope you´ll take on Kristy´s offer to set things right for you.
Kristy, I appreciate your speaking up here and on Facebook, and offering help to sadly disappointed customers. So far I never bought from GH, just because of all the bad reports. Had I not made my good experiences with RA before reading all the bad reports, I would not have joined Game Pass, despite the temptation to get Mortimer Beckett and Emily as soon as they are coming out.
You can still make your customers happy by giving them what they need.
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@skukibabe To answer your question about the price points...
If you are to join GamePass right now, you will get one free game per month at $9.99 with a discount on additional purchases. At the time the two sites come together, as a thank you to current RealArcade GamePass customers the benefit is extended to 2 games per month.
Or...RealArcade customers can transfer over to one of two different GameHouse products ($6.99 w/ 1 game/month and option to buy others at $6.99/piece, or an "all you can eat" style of gaming which allows you access to the whole library as long as your membership continues for $19.99/month). Of course you can still purchase games outside of any of these options as well.
There will be no commitment with easy cancellations if you are unhappy for any reason. And we have done a great deal of work to improve the download experience and related software as well as the shopping cart itself.
With the combination of sites we will have one of the largest game catalogs out there at a price point that is extremely competitive.
We have and continue to work very hard every day to improve user experience! Your concerns are definitely not falling on deaf ears. This is a step we are making towards ensuring our customers have nothing but the best of experience's and continue to be happy with the content they find on our site!
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@Kristy
Did I mention I also belong to Shockwave, which is about 60.00 a year, your price point would bring the buffet to 240.00 a year, and I don't even pay the 60.00 a year because it is bundled with my internet package, I get 7 other services with that also
Try Again........
Just tell "Real" don't mess with the games I have already purchased!
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Kristy, I have been a customer of Real Arcade and game pass member for 4 years. However I am considering cancelling because of your tracking cookies which are an invasion of my privacy. Why does Real Arcade and Gamehouse have to put tracking cookies and spyware on my computer in order for me to download the games? Gameboomers forum which I am a member does not recommend either of your sites because of the spyware. Your spyware sends firewalls into a nervous breakdown and my virus protection wants to quarantine a lot of games like Clumsey's I had purchased from R.A. Please can't you stop with the spyware ? What is the purpose of this BFG and other game portals do not use spyware and if they do smart game users boycott the Game Portal and warn others, like I do with Iwin. Your working on customer relations I suggest you get that worked out and give game users a peace of mind again that spyware tracking cookies are not being placed on their computers. Any response to this please would be appreciated.
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orgami-sa, if you're talking about the Time Paradox (which i absolutely LOVED) you can get it from the developer/publisher, Paprikari for $19.95; Lost King and Spooky Manor are $14.95. yes, it is $20, but since BigFish doesn't have it, yet, and it was really good, i didn't mind the one-time cost. i really don't mind paying full price for the odd game that's not available elsewhere, or available only where i don't/can't/won't shop.
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@Kristy
Did I mention I also belong to Shockwave, which is about 60.00 a year, your price point would bring the buffet to 240.00 a year, and I don't even pay the 60.00 a year because it is bundled with my internet package, I get 7 other services with that also
Try Again........
Just tell "Real" don't mess with the games I have already purchased!
Actually, if you do an entire year the cost of the Fun Pass is only $119.00 And yes, I realize that is nearly twice the price of Shockwave. Just pointing out that the $240.00 price point isn't exactly accurate. And yes, I also understand that their packages are quite similar --it has to do with the freshness of the content. If you want the games as soon as they are released you can do that with us, or you can wait, pay a bit lower of a price and get them from Shockwave.
Every customer is going to have their own unique set of needs. If you are someone who doesn't mind waiting a bit to get access to a game, then Shockwave is certainly right for you. :)
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Kristy, I have been a customer of Real Arcade and game pass member for 4 years. However I am considering cancelling because of your tracking cookies which are an invasion of my privacy. Why does Real Arcade and Gamehouse have to put tracking cookies and spyware on my computer in order for me to download the games? Gameboomers forum which I am a member does not recommend either of your sites because of the spyware. Your spyware sends firewalls into a nervous breakdown and my virus protection wants to quarantine a lot of games like Clumsey's I had purchased from R.A. Please can't you stop with the spyware ? What is the purpose of this BFG and other game portals do not use spyware and if they do smart game users boycott the Game Portal and warn others, like I do with Iwin. Your working on customer relations I suggest you get that worked out and give game users a peace of mind again that spyware tracking cookies are not being placed on their computers. Any response to this please would be appreciated.
Like you I'm 100% with in being concerned about my privacy online - and also had a similar issue with my virus protection trying to quarantine my games - including those from BFG and the BFG toolbar. I talked to my son, who works on computers, when this happened and he assured me that the games I was downloading from both GameHouse and Big Fish were safe. He also showed me where to look at the company’s privacy policy so I could see what data there are collecting. Usually you can find links to them down in the bottom of the page on the website. If you look at the Big Fish games privacy policy at (http://www.bigfishgames.com/company/privacy.html) and GameHouse’s Privacy Policy (http://www.realnetworks.com/about-us/legal/privacy.aspx) you will note that both Big Fish and GameHouse use cookies in a similar way and are both concerned about our privacy online. Hope this helps to make you feel better
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Gamehouse and RealArcade merging
Report as InappropriatePosted on 11/03/09, 09:32pm