Ignored Gamer Puts The Smackdown On Mixed-Up Game Publisher
When we last spoke to Jess, the gamer with the questionable taste for dolphin pet-simulating video games, she was adrift in a sea of despair, having bought a game based on promotional copy on the game's site and box, only to find the game she bought was different than that which was promised. Publisher 505 Games seemed to be blowing her off.
But Jess kept fighting and now she's won, having convinced the publisher to send her the game she was after and change its promotional copy.
Proceed with bragging, Jess:
On the suggestion of commenter OMG! Conies!, I decided to contact Nintendo of America to see what they had to say about the misleadingly-advertised DS game "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery." I filled out a form on nintendo.com describing my issues with the game, and I received the following response:
"I'm sorry to hear that 505 Games hasn't replied to your inquiries. While I cannot promise anything at this point, I will be sure to forward your feedback about the licensee to the proper department."
Given my previous experience with individuals who were supposed to forward my feedback to the appropriate people, I wasn't too optimistic, but, hey, it's Nintendo — hopefully, they'd have the means to actually do something about this fiasco. In the meantime, I discovered that Nintendo's own website described "Dolphin Discovery" inaccurately — the product page, which has since been corrected, is here — and I replied to the email I'd received from Nintendo to let them know that their own website was advertising the wrong game in case they wanted to change it. That's when I got this:
"I appreciate your taking the time to share your comments with us in regard to this issue. I will forward your email on to the appropriate department for further review. While you won't be contacted further regarding this issue, please rest assured that your feedback will be taken into consideration."
I "won't be contacted further regarding this issue"? I figured the wording was a CYA thing on Nintendo's part similar to "I cannot promise anything at this point" in their first communication with me, but it still made me angry. I'd been trying for over a month to get *some*one to listen to me, and Nintendo was politely telling me to GTFO.
Fortunately, there was a link at the bottom of the email directing me to a quality survey. I rated my experience "poor," explained my reasons, and stated my intentions to take my concerns to the Better Business Bureau, which I did after waiting twenty-four hours. Within a couple of days, I found an email from 505 Games in my inbox; an email from Nintendo followed shortly. Both companies wished to touch base with me and provided phone numbers for that purpose, and I talked to representatives from Nintendo and 505 Games on Friday, June 12th.
First, I spoke with Nintendo of America's Linda Rowan, who explained that Nintendo's options are limited when it comes to licensees — apparently, so much as altering the game's description on Nintendo's official website may not be up to them — but she wanted to make sure that Nintendo followed up with me after I indicated my dissatisfaction in the customer survey, and that they tried to resolve the situation as best they could. This involved Ms. Rowan offering me the Nintendo game of my choice at a fifty percent discount, which I thought was a nice gesture. I don't know if I'll take them up on it, but, since Nintendo itself evidently didn't play much of a role in this situation (other than slapping their "Official Nintendo Seal" on the game and distributing it), I thought it was kind of them to make it right on their end in any way possible. Honestly, I was just happy that someone was listening to me, especially after that "you won't be contacted further regarding this issue" line.
I then got in touch with Damian Garcia, Brand Marketing Manager at 505 Games. He was extremely nice, apologizing for the mix-up and taking the time to explain to me exactly what caused the confusion and resulting error in game packaging vs. game material. He said that a copy of the UK's "My Pet Dolphin," which is the game that "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery" *should* have been, was on its way to 505 Games' US office, and that he'd send it to me along with the other titles in the "Discovery Kids" DS series free of charge. Considering I'm a sucker for pet sims, this generous offer is right up my alley. =)
What made an even bigger impression on me than that, though, are the steps that 505 Games is taking to ensure that this doesn't happen again: they've already changed the text and screenshots on the DiscoveryKidsGames.com website to reflect the true purpose of "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery," and Mr. Garcia said that they're working on contacting retailers and correcting the promotional material. This is not a task I envy them. The fact that 505 Games endeavors to resolve the issue for all consumers, not just the squeaky wheels like myself, says a lot about the company's commitment to its customers. I was pleasantly surprised; good customer service is easy when things are running smoothly, but it's the reaction when something goes wrong that shows you a business's true colors.
Although I added this information to my BBB complaint and stated that I considered the matter resolved, the case wasn't reviewed until after Nintendo responded; I guess their original reply was due to the quality survey, while the snail-mail letter and phone call from Christie Hamilton were directly related to my BBB complaint. Like Ms. Rowan, Ms. Hamilton was very kind, and she said that, while she didn't have access to the 505 Games' UK title "My Pet Dolphin" to send to me, she'd be happy to refund the purchase price of "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery." I felt bad at this point, though: I'd already been offered a fifty percent discount on any Nintendo game by Ms. Rowan as well as the correct video game AND several extra ones from Mr. Garcia at 505 Games, so I wasn't going to take Nintendo's money, too. I didn't get into this whole mess for freebies or cash; I just wanted the right game, and I wanted to make other people aware that "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery" wasn't the game advertised on the website and product packaging. Since both of these aims were accomplished, I considered myself suitably compensated, and I declined the refund. No sense in getting greedy!
In the end, it may just be a silly pet sim, but I still think that video games like "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery" need to adhere to certain standards, accurate advertising being one of them. Resolving the situation has taken longer than I would have liked, but I'm very pleased with the time taken and efforts made by both Nintendo and 505 Games to make sure that their customers are happy. I've closed my BBB complaint, and I'd also like the public to know how well these two companies handled this issue once it was brought to their attention.
Thanks for your help, Consumerist! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some video games to play... =)
An inspiring triumph of the underdolphin. Thanks to the work of Jess, it will probably be a long, long time until another publisher makes a dolphin pet simulator for the DS that doesn't deliver what's promised in the ads and on the box.
For the record, here is the before picture of the game's promo copy:
and after:
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Comments:
FTW?
I'm sorry, the game looks rather lame either way, but it's nice to hear about a customer win now and again.
I don't want to blame the OP but she totally missed the opportunity to include the following pun,
"...they've already changed the text and screenshots on the DiscoveryKidsGames.com website to reflect the true PORPOISE of "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery,""
I would have taken nintendo's money. They have enough of it.
To be fair to Nintendo, they don't see copies of the box art or information when they approve a game for publishing. They only see the game itself and instruction booklet. Maybe they need to add box art and info to their submission materials, though.
@BigFoot_Pete: Keep in mind that I have a shameless love for cheesy pet sims, though -- and the actual game that was advertised, "My Pet Dolphin," is pretty adorable. :) I used to work with real dolphins and I was pleasantly surprised that the developers of "My Pet Dolphin" attempted to inject some positive reinforcement training concepts into the game. That was more than I was expecting!
My only problem with this is that the companies were apparently willing to do little to fix the problem until OP rated them badly on one of those almighty CSAT surveys.
I shouldn't have to fill out a damned survey to get proper service.
I'm glad the resolution was a good one, but it does make me worry about buying Nintendo products myself. We have a Wii and haven't bought any games for it yet other than Fit, which was our primary reason for getting it. But I'm waiting on little-kid-appropriate games to come out for my 3.5 year old, and reading this story makes me concerned that even if I check up on websites about a game, I still might end up with something different and have a screaming kid on my hands.
Because if I'd bought a game that supposedly allowed training of a dolphin sim for my daughter and then it didn't have that on there, she'd be in a severe tantrum and no amount of company apologies can cure my headache after that!
@BigFoot_Pete: Eh; different strokes for different folks. I'm embarrassingly too old for Oregon Trail, but I still play it every once in a while. It's embarrassing (and my friends love to tease me for my dorkiness), but little sim games are fun for me. Plus, seeing "Quentin Q. Dorkus" die of diphtheria halfway through Colorado cracks me up.
@kaceetheconsumer: The chance of something like this happening is extremely small. Unfortunately it happens slightly more often with these sorts of games because they are what the industry calls "shovelware" which means the companies just "shovel" them out the door without much quality control. However I would bet you will not have an experience like the OP because it is so rare.
@BigFoot_Pete: Does anyone remember the old, old, old PC game Mario is Missing? Man I played that until we finally got rid of our old, crappy computer in 2000
@kaceetheconsumer: Well i dont know about kids games but alot of what happens sometimes is the promo material will feature screenshot and other things from when the game was early in development but having the promo material from the wrong game is surprising.
"Nintendo itself evidently didn't play much of a role in this situation (other than slapping their "Official Nintendo Seal" on the game and distributing it)"
The Nintendo Seal has more to do with licensing and branding now, but I can tell you from first hand experience that Nintendo takes game quality testing more seriously than any other console manufacturer.
This has more to do with continuity of the gaming experience, making sure that the game loads properly, and uses the correct conventions for directing the player, saving game data, using network features, etc. etc. It takes almost twice as long to get a game through to a Nintendo console than the other two major brands. This, of course, only ensures that the game plays properly on the hardware, not that the packaging matches the game contents or what have you.
@lannister80: *cough* there still is the problem of getting the softmod *cough* installed and getting the game ISOs *cough* which is a little too much for the average person *cough*
@jesspark:
I'll give you that there is clearly a target audience that I am not a part of with that particular game. That being said, I can see how this would be, given your description, a very interesting, and possibly therapeutic, game for some.
I'll repeat that it is nice to see your efforts get the results and my hat is off to you for helping protect other consumers form the same ill fate. Thanks for sharing the story and the results with us.
@SybilDisobedience:
For sure. I too have my throwback passions, and just because they aren't for everyone doesn't mean I find them any less fulfilling.
@DefineStatutory: You say that like it's a bad thing. ;)
I had the time, writing emails isn't an effort for me, and it paid off in the end -- I don't see that as a negative.
What would you have done in a similar situation?
@WiglyWorm: Nintendo actually has phenomenal customer service. If you contact them for almost any reason, they will "make it right" in a hurry. Most consumers don't even get a chance to discover this because their hardware is already bulletproof, and their first party games are thoroughly QA'd.
I'd bet money that this would have been resolved to OPs satisfaction after the initial "you won't received a response" without further pressing, although we could only determine this using dimensional travel of some sort.
I had an issue with an out of warranty DS Lite, and my Wii Component cable. After submitting tickets, both were quickly and efficiently fixed with pre-paid mailers sent to me, and replacement/fixed/refurbished/whatever products sent back to me doubletime. It was a class act from start to finish.
Congrats on reeling in the victory Jess. It's about time someone got those corporate whales to listen. This just goes to show that diving deep will net the results you're fishing for.
@ludwigk: Did you manage to type that with a straight face? Nintendo systems have worn the American Shovelware Crown for two conolse cycles, now.
Damn.
Wrap
It
Up.
@jesspark: My initial thought after reading this story was "this person likes dolphins wayyy too much." But somehow, in a contradictory way, your Batsu-Ichi avatar makes it all better.
@Bob_Mackey: I worked with real dolphins and other marine mammals at a well-known theme park and have memories both good and not-so-good of the slippery devils, so I have kind of a love/hate relationship with them. ;) Beautiful animals, but don't believe the PR.
That being said, I'm a total sucker for video games about or featuring dolphins. "Ecco the Dolphin"? I own every title in that series, spanning multiple consoles. "Endless Ocean"? My love for that game is unhealthy. "Aquanaut's Holiday: Hidden Memories"? It's on its way to me from Hong Kong right now. I even have "Petz Wild Animals: Dolphinz" for the DS, which was more entertaining than a video game ending in "z" has any right to be. So, when my husband saw "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery," he knew it had to be added to the collection.
Somewhat relatedly: I wish Batsu-Ichi was a real Sanrio character. I would buy a plush dolphin wearing a taco-stained wifebeater in a second! :D
@kaceetheconsumer: I've got a 4-year-old who's been playing Wii games for a year now. Boom Blox and Mario Kart are both good options, intuitive enough for kids to play but still fun for adults. My son is not all that good at either game, but he can play them at least competently enough that he enjoys them, and they're multiplayer, so we can play together.
That is amazing!
Everyone may say "it's just a dolphin game" but that's not the point. If it was Guitar Hero or Zelda, people would be up in arms about anything misleading, so I don't understand why because it's this game, it should make a difference.
I think it's great you took time and effort and successful. I have always had good customer service from Nintendo, even if it takes a few tries to get to someone who can help, and I'm glad they worked to resolve this situation!
@BigFoot_Pete: I wish I could say that. I always hide my passions every time I'm a social setting. Can't let people know that I like Manga at 30! :P
@dragonfire81: Nintendo really didn't have much of a hand in this muck-up, so to my mind, anything that the company did before or after the survey was above and beyond what they were obligated to do.
@digitalskyfire: Well, your silly display of bias better left to Kotaku aside, what's good for the goose aint always good for the gander.
For example, I hate Carnival Games with a passion, and yet my aunt and uncle enjoy it quite a bit. By my standards it's a poorly conceived piece of shit, but by theirs, it's a good game. Who is right or wrong? Neither, by our own wholly subjective standards. To each their own, right?
What I'm getting at is that your trash is another man's treasure, so citing "shovelware" in order to cast doubt on Nintendo's quality control measures is a little silly, not to mention completely pointless.
@dimndgal1: That's your average gamer for you. They'll rally to a cause if it's a game that they care about, but anything else is just superfluous, even if the circumcstances are exactly the same.
Now I enjoy playing games, and have since I was little, but I just can't come to terms with the average gamer's behavior. Cognative dissonance is a huge issue with them. If it doesn't effect them directly, they couldn't care less about most stuff. I think the anonymity of the internet and the freedom from responsibility it brings only exacerbates the problem.
@Cyberxion101: With the exception of the Virtual Boy, I've owned every Nintendo system out there. I'm a huge fan of all their franchises, so I suppose I'm about as fanboyish as you can get.
That said, you're out of your mind if you don't think the Wii and DS are shovelware magnets. The epic levels of redundant, meaningless, short-sighted garbage on these systems in unfathomable. Of course, That's not to say there aren't great games on them, though.
@Cyberxion101: Yup, way to go! Nintendo seems to have eased up on the way they used to rule their game devs. They used to exercise an *extreme* amount of control over even the slightest details, which was a PITA. Maybe they've gotten too lax? In any case, great job.
@digitalskyfire: Yes, the lower age group targeted by Nintendo leads to a lot of games that are - quite frankly - crap, but they aren't glitchy. Ever played Oblivion on a console (or PC, but at least you have the console there)? There are like 15 different places where that came can just fucking break and there's nothing you can do about it. Nintendo makes sure that the games work - whether or not they are worth playing, they couldn't care less since they (rightfully) don't decide what you want to do.
You should have asked that they donate the refund on your behalf to Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity. Same with 505 Games. If they are offering you games for free and you don't want them, there are kids that will gladly accept them. This is one thing that could have made you look fantastic, make you feel fantastic, and you would have helped make fantastic press for the companies involved. A massive win for everyone!
Check it out: [www.childsplaycharity.org]
Great job, Jess. It's good when companies make it right for everyone.
Hey again Jess! Im glad you pushed through and got this worked out. I know that when I was looking to help you out in listing games, I too became confused very easily - even more-so after visiting the page for "My Pet Dolphin 1 " & ""My Pet Dolphin 2", and seeing "Dolphin Discovery" instead. Then running through to find "Dolphin Island" and being shown pictures for "Petz Wild Animals - Dolphinz" instead. BAHHH! Confusion is happening, and I haven't even mentioned "Dolphin Trainer" yet!! (All titles for the NDS systems)
BTW, I found the Foster's Home Ring-Tone you & McGee mentioned. Thanks for the tip!
@ludwigk: No kidding. Nintendo's customer service is absolutely top-notch.
I know someone who had a Japanese DS Lite break while they were living in the United States. NOA said that even though don't normally service hardware from other regions, he'd see what he could do and took down my friend's info. Nintendo got back to him a couple days later and offered to send him a refurbished American DS Lite at no charge. Which is ridiculous.
@Cyberxion101, @LadySiren: Thanks! :) It may have taken longer than I'd liked to get someone's attention, but, once that happened, I was really happy with the response.
@Raekwon: How did you miss participating in this thread from the original post on this story? ;D The puns, they are endless!
@dimndgal1, @Cyberxion101: Thank you! I know most people roll their eyes at games like "Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery," but they're one of my guilty pleasures, and I think they should be held to the same basic standards as other titles. You can argue about the quality of the game-playing experience if you'd like, but the game in the box should match the description on the outside of it, at least!
I figured I'd get ripped a new one by posting about something as silly as dolphin pet sims, but I was hoping people would see the principle behind my concerns. I'm happy to see that a good number of readers understand. :)
I'm in no way blaming the OP on this one, because I think its sort of cool that they got things fixed, but wow..that's a lot of time and effort.