Jonas Polsky

by Jonas Polsky

Last Summer I bought a copy of the game “Borderlands.” I had two options when buying it, for twenty dollars I could buy a downloadable copy of the game, or for thirty I could buy it at the store. The downside of downloading it is you can’t resell it when you’re done. The extra ten dollars would allow me to resell it, and net me the “Game of the Year” edition which includes all the game’s downloadable content.

If you’re not familiar with downloadable content, they’re extra parts of the game that come out after the game is released. When you’ve beaten a game, for a few dollars more, you can continue the experience with new stories, modes, and content.

“Borderlands” was a fantastic game, and I loved every moment that I played it. After completing it, I opened the box to get the extra content. I found the instruction booklet, Duke Nukem Forever insert, no codes. Then I searched online to see if maybe it was already on the disc, and I was missing it somehow. Finally I determined that it was supposed to have been on a printed insert, that never made it into my copy of the game.

Disappointing, but no big deal. I emailed customer support explaining that forty dollars worth of content that I’d paid for was missing. No response. I waited a week, then emailed again. Nothing. A few weeks later I decided to give it a final shot and contacted Gearbox via twitter.

The rep was concerned that I’d never gotten a response via the site, and gave me an address to forward my concern to.

No response.

So far, I’d bought something that I didn’t get, and emailed three times in an attempt to let the company remedy the situation with no result. Needless to say, I was frustrated.

Contacted the twitter admin again, and he personally contacted them about my situation. I received an email from Gearbox finally, and was instructed to take the game back to the store and exchange it. Now, I’ve had this game for about two months, and to go in and explain to a clerk that I did not receive an intangible portion of the game, and wanted to exchange it with no receipt, seemed like a fool’s errand. I conveyed this to the company.

He apologized and said there was absolutely nothing they could do on their end, and that there was no way for him to provide me with any sort of content, even if he wanted to. I then asked who I could contact that could provide the codes to me.

Then of course, he explained that he could fix this situation, for a price.

“Take a photo of the game and email it to me.”, he said.

Alright, I’ve been wronged. I paid for something I did not get. I am not a criminal. I do not have to “prove” anything to anyone. And if my intention was to scam this company, I certainly wouldn’t do so over the course of six weeks, for something that costs ten bucks.

It’s not my turn to jump through hoops, I didn’t make a mistake, they did. I commiserated, I understood it was a manufacturing error, I just needed someone to make it right.

I wrote back and said that I was never going to buy anything with the Gearbox logo on it, and thanks for nothing.

I was immediately emailed by a woman, a customer service supervisor from 2K Games, and she was very apologetic. I told her I’d been treated like a criminal, and spent an inordinate amount of time for something that I should have gotten immediately.

I said it didn’t even matter if I got the content now because I had already moved on to other games, and after the ordeal I’d gone through with this company I couldn’t see myself enjoying the content at this point anyway. I then reiterated my future boycott of any Gearbox title, and told her I would be trading the game in for store credit that day, so the matter was settled.

Of course, the next day she emailed me the codes for the DLC. Wonderful.

According to the dates on the emails, I’d spent about 48 days from first (attempting) to contact Gearbox and then being offered the codes.

I think 48 hours would have been a more reasonable window.

I’d forgotten all about it, but today videos of the sequel “Borderlands 2” are out. It looks amazing, and I can’t wait to play it. Unfortunately, I will never, ever, in this mortal life give money to any game with “Gearbox” on it. It doesn’t matter if they developed the game themselves, or acted as a producer. They will never get any money from me, ever again.

So not only will I wait for “Borderlands 2” to be released, I have to wait again to find a used copy instead of purchasing it new. The same goes for “Bioshock Ultimate” and any other game labeled “Gearbox” or “2K Games.”

I’m the opposite of a lifelong fan, and it’s all your fault.