I know I said that I was not posting anymore, but I could not get this to post for some reason this morning and I was out of time. This is my discussion with the GOG feedback team member who I contacted after the GOG support team member went silent on me, which very well may be the same as GOG support......I'm not sure. Anyway I gave him my case number and explained the situation and here is what happened.

GOG-

Hello,

I'm sorry to read that you have been unsatisfied with our customer service in the past. I liked this game very much since it was released on CD for the first time and I can understand that the lack of music is a major inconvenience for you, because the music is really great. But please understand that sound-issues like this do not meet our definition of a gamebraking bug. So to exchange it for store credit is the best compromise we could offer.

Best regards,
Heinrich

Me-

Thank you for responding. My problem was (and kind of still is) that while this game is not unplayable, the music is a big part of this game. Had I known that the music breaks when you enter the config menu I would not have bought the game. Things like these should be disclosed to the buyer before hand, and if not, a refund should be issued if there is no acceptable work around for it. Your support team responded almost a week later with no work around at all which really did not settle well with me because I felt at that point that I had been taken for a fool. Taking my money and then telling me that my game is broken was not something I was ready for. If either a workaround was presented or a store credit had been offered at that time I would have taken either one. It was only after I made an issue that the store credit was offered to me and all I was left thinking was that GOG knows that this game is broken and is still selling it with no disclosure of this music bug, and now they just want to give me a store credit after tricking me into buying it. After that I was looking at your 30 day money back guarantee as nothing but a false sense of security to make people feel more comfortable buying games from GOG. No, I don't understand why only a game that crashes or simply doesn't start is the only criteria for a refund. I don't understand how major sound or video issues are not considered game breaking under GOG's standards. If the situation were reversed and the sound effects of the game didn't work, but the music played, under GOG's definition this game would still not be broken. That is not disclosed in your policy. Most gamers would think that a game with major sound or video issues is game breaking. Most gamers would not buy a game if they knew that they were buying a game that boots up but is otherwise a glitched mess.

This clearly is not about the money I spent on the game because I actually found a workaround for this issue until the game gets fixed as I told the support representative. I also told him that I was no longer a supporter of GOG since I can't trust that you guys will back your promises and all He could not have cared less. I was the one who found the workaround and turned down the store credit, and still the support rep was treating me like I wanted something for free! THAT is my problem with GOG. It's how I was treated. I then requested his supervisor's name and contact info and he has not responded.

I feel if I ever come across a problem that I can't fix myself that I'm screwed. If I had used up my "one time" store credit on Outlaws, what happens on the next game that I have problems with that you guys are aware of and cannot be fixed? Can you honestly not see where I'm coming from here? I found an acceptable workaround for this issue and the support rep didn't even care to know what it was for the next person who has this issue. He was more concerned about getting rid of me. That is not what I would have expected from GOG.

GOG-

Hello,

I can understand that this situation is unsatisfying. Also, I apologize if we gave you the mislieding expression that we didn't care enough about the issue. But I hope you to understand that we have to stick to our policies. So at this point I can just repeat the offer to convert the purchase into store credit.

Best regards,
Heinrich

Me-

I appreciate the offer, but as I told the other support team member, I am
in no need of a credit. What I do want however is the support member's
supervisor contact information as I have requested. He is all of the sudden
mute ever since my request.

About sticking to your policies; your polices are NOT clear to the
customer. I have no problem sticking to a policy so long as I know about it
beforehand. I've bought many games from Steam before their "no questions
asked" return policy was put in place, and knew that once I bought it, it
was mine whether it ran or not. However you have your 30 day money back
guarantee on the front page and it is very general. There's no two ways
about it; it is misleading. Steam goes into great detail what qualifies for
a return, and what doesn't so there is no question about their policies.
Nowhere does it say in your return policy, "unless your game crashes or
freezes, you are not eligible for a refund." That is your return policy. My
problem is no longer the game I purchased. My problem is supporting a
business that expects me to understand policy that is not clearly stated
and manipulate the policy that is stated to mean whatever they want it to
mean in order to save a few dollars, and then be treated like some chronic
complainer when I call them out. I have 30 legitimate game purchases from
this site, and have not complained to you guys until now. If you don't
wanna give refunds for broken games, then don't post on your front page
that you do. I'm fine with that. But don't say that you give refunds for
broken games and then give out "one time" store credits. Plus your support
members should try harder to come up with some actual solutions if you
don't want to be asked for refunds. Not tell me that the game is broken and
you're sorry for my inconvenience.

I'm still not buying anything from your site until someone over there
admits that there is a problem and fixes it. Steam and GOG have alot of the
same games, and while I would like to have DRM free games, I would much
rather buy from a company that doesn't twist the meaning of their polices.
I've not had to use Steam's refund policy, and I may never have to. However
if I do, I won't need to worry about dealing with a support team that will
tell me that my problems are minimal and offer me something other than what
is stated in their policy.

This guy has also gone mute on me. I will reiterate that I never took the credit as I stated in the text above. I wasn't out to get something for nothing. I could have taken the credit which was only 4 bucks. But I have a workaround and I don't need a refund. It was never about the money, it was always about ethics.

2 hours of gameplay, not "2 hours after your purchase. That's quite different

A "2 hours after purchase" guaranty would be quite useless for a modern 20GO game with a 10 hours download time ;)

Thank you very much for posting the discussion. :)

Let's hope something good comes out of this situation and GOG decide to improve their customer service.
:D
Alright I didn't know that.
However, it doesn't invalidate my argument because there are a lot of severe bugs that can become apparent later.

There were plenty of brain-dead games back in the days too and there are plenty of great modern games that fully engage your brain.

I don't think all the aging titles suck, just saying that the bulk of them... do not age that well.

As for the bugs, 90%+ of games you will play will have some noticeable bug. It comes with software and tight release schedules.

For what it's worth, I think improvements in OSes, software development methodogy and the greater availability of high quality third party tools has made things better. Still, if you want your game to be 100% bug free or get a refund, I'll think they'll have to hike up the prices significantly.

As a software developer, I can tell you it doesn't work that way. Software that simply cannot fail and that has top notch quality control costs a lot more to make.

You totally missed the point. What I was trying to say was: A braindead game will easily be much better if it has modern graphics, controls and comfort stuff.

Obviously these aren't the kind of bugs this thread is about. Why would you even bring up something like this.

I think either the game being braindead or the control/gameplay hurdle being throwback to the 80s/90s are deal breakers.

Again, it's an aging game made when game development was the Wild West.

Tailor your bugs expectations accordingly. What he saw was an annoying bug, but considering when the game was made, it's on par with the course. You can still work around it.

I can see how the policy may be a bit too broad in its wording and lead to special cases; however, I personally think you're pushing the boundaries here, especially since you have the workaround and, let's face it, if you had tried a little tact who knows? The outcome probably wouldn't be any different but perhaps there would be less chest-beating.

You post your messages as if to bolster your stance, but for me personally they're a bit too, how can I put this... "tantrum-esque"? If you want to split hairs, you can, of course. You say it's broken, then admit that it's not unplayable. I mean, don't get me wrong, I can see your point - if the game was created with music and there's something wrong with the music, then experience is somehow "flawed." But to disparage GOG and call the game broken; well, that's just a little off kilter to me.

ok..not really what I was talking about but whatever...

Not a good precedent for a site founded on selling old games.

...

I loled.

Well, as far as I can tell, they have done more to make older games work than any other retailer that didn't develop the games.

I've had maybe an handful of older games that crashed or glitched with GOG, but that's still way better than the batting average back in the days a lot of those games were released where somewhere between 1/2 and 1/3 of games wouldn't work properly without some kind of tweaking and I pretty much had to give up making many games work a version or two of Windows after the game's release.

So yeah, if they say they can't iron out a bug short diving in the code, I'm enclined to believe them. I honestly don't know on how many systems the OP's bug occured (if it's for a lot of systems, I guess posting a disclaimer would be nice), but it wasn't a complete game breaker, more of an annoyance and they did give him a credit when they saw how distressed he was over it.

GOG have been known to overmarket itself in the past so they may or may not have overmarketed themselves on the refund policy (I'd have to re-read it), but I could certainly picture them doing it (if not for this, than something else).

However, I think the OP just stretched it out past the point of reason and has been a nag on this. I mean, I get pissed too about things and sometimes rant about it, but never to this degree. It's a non-breaking bug on an old game that retailed for less than 10$ for which he got a credit. For crying out loud, let it go.

Forget the OP, think about yourself in the future. I now know the refund policy isn't worth anything. I will certainly not use it as a favourable factor in my purchasing decisions anymore.

There are going to be times when you contact a "thankless job" technical support department and they're going to be just "monkeys with sticks". That's because some companies pushing a lot of product out the door tend to spend less on improving it and even less on supporting it. I could write a book about it, but I think both Scott Adams and Mike Judge beat me to it.

I think gone are the days when the customers actually got to speak to the person who wrote the software and not only asked them if they could fix something wrong, make some adjustments, but also put in a personal request. Unless you know the person directly, it won't get through the 'corporate' lines.

Don't hesitate to still contact support because even if they aren't willing to give you your money back...
-they may have a solution for your problem,
-they may not know the problem yet,
-they are going to realize that their users find some issues unaccpetable.
Since GOG even patch really old games from time to time and as someone already pointed out have fixed some issues that were present in the past, contacting them seems to benefit everyone.

Darn those Power Puff girls!

Without Buttercup they'd never fight anyone.