Activision cranks up Wii Guitar Hero III disc replacement program
By Darren Murph 
posted Feb 16th 2008 11:43AM
posted Feb 16th 2008 11:43AM
[Thanks, Sam K. and Michael S.]
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I know someon who needs a new disc, but they haven't setup a replacement programme for Europe. Does anyone know if they are planning to.
I got my envelope pretty early in the week and mailed it right back the next day. Hopefully I get it back in short order.
i dont understand what the big deal is most music sounds just fine when its played in Mono
Sure, that's what you and I hear, but my TV is mono. I don't have a $700 stereo system hooked up to my tube. My guess is that you don't either. But the people who pay well for a good system want to be able to use it, so it is a big deal to them.
Besides, it is a music game, and people expect high quality music even if they only have a run-of-the-mill stereo CRT. I mean, would you ask "what's the big deal" if Halo 3 only displayed in 640p resolution? Oh... wait... it did. And people got pissed because of it. But, using two frame buffers for better lighting saved the game for many. In the case of GH3, this was purely a mistake and not part of a feature, like Halo 3.
i couldn't believe how bad the audio on GH3 for Wii is compared to, say, rock band for xbox360. mono aside, it starts distorting when my stereo is past -30. rockband sounds great even up to -10 (which is ridiculously loud).
Yes, but does it sound good when turned to -11?
What the?
They should do the right thing and send you the new disc FIRST, why disrupt the customers experience like this?
I had my 20" Dell LCD warrantied, and they sent me the replacement first, I put the defective one back in the same box and shipped it out the next day. No disruption of product enjoyment.
Oddly enough, I just had a 20" dell LCD warrantied a couple weeks ago. It would be much nicer if they'd handle it like rock band guitars - get CC info, replace disc, charge CC if original disc isn't returned within X days. It's stuff like this that makes me glad I modded my wii; I can keep playing while I wait on the replacement.
I'll be shipping mine out for replacement. I won't mind not having it for a while, it'll give me a chance to play Mario Galaxy more and to stop wrongly ignoring Metroid.
Andrew, that would be the logical thing. But then they would have to have proof you ever purchased the game. Otherwise, they would have to collect the credit card numbers from everyone, so if you don't return the defective copy they charge you for the new one
I know they don't trust anyone. That I've become use to.
But why not just have the owner mail in the UPC code and they send back the replacement disc.
Yeah, I know, lots of room for abuse there. But in defense of the consumer, the game isn't worth much without the guitar. So giving the old copy to your friend doesn't net them much. Why punish the consumer for Activision's mistake?
Why should I have to wait 3-4 weeks? They're the ones that suck.
Why don't they do a replacement program like EA is doing? Put a 50 dollar holding charge on your credit card, send you a disc and return envelope, and when they get your old disc in, they take the charge off. No month-long wait.
Why let those a**holes have your game and not be able to do anything about it? If it is going to take 3-4 weeks, return the ENTIRE game and get $132 towards a brand new copy of GH3 (with a ~$25 profit depending on state) or...after seeing this BS for customer support, wait for Rockband. Or just get $132 back.
http://www.activisiongameexchange.com/configurations/ACTIVI/refundoffer.pdf
This is the point I was trying to get across in my blog post here: http://www.sumthingstoopid.com/hey-activision-wtf/
If your WD hard drive goes bad, western digital will drop ship you a replacement if you give them your credit card number. OCZ does this as well. Why wouldn't Activision?
This is the best idea. I will do this and just re-buy it at Best Buy and make $25.
Thanks.
They should have outsourced this to Netflix and we could have had our disks in 2 days.
That makes me think, I wonder if the Gamefly versions are non-dolby. I could bait and switch them :P
im sending it back asap. i wants my stereos!
yea i got mine early last week and sent in the disc on wednesday. but why do we have to wait 3 to 4 weeks?
I traded my xbox 360 hd dvd player into gamestop about a week ago. Thank god i did it because they probably stopped taking them. Hey at least i got some money by trading my 5 free hd dvds with the player.
That's so stupid and handled poorly, makes me respect how rock band handled it even more
Comment test.
Is that the only thing the new disks will do? just play stereo? or will it have like bug fixes or something
Does anyone know how you can tell if what you see on the self is before or after the fix ? I wouldn't mind picking up one, but hearing about this monaural issue initially was a turn off.
I too would like to know how to tell if my copy of GH suffers from the mono only sound. I purchased it today.
Anybody else notice that it's a 'disc' replacement, like CD or DVD type spinning plastic 'disc'? But on the envelope in the picture is says 'disk' meaning... hard drive?
I'm going to do the replacement, but not because of mono sound. My copy freezes constantly. Every time I start it up, it lock sup for 30 seconds - 2 minutes. Furthermore, the system freezes altogether about 1 in every 5 songs. It's immensely frustrating.
Activision should be ashamed of themselves for the poor way of handling this nevermind that they sold it like this in the 1st place.
Already sent mine in, but my Wii has a chip in it anyway so I'm happily still playing the backup in the meantime.
If Activision wanted to do this the right way for how they've screwed us over they'd give all of us a free spare guitar to make up for the trouble for all the early adopters who still can't buy one anyway. Obviously that'll never happen, but the next best step would be to at least include all of the DLC for the other consoles on this new disc. I have a feeling that won't happen either.
lucky LOL.
The thing I can see happening is tons of these disc replacement envelops getting "stolen" or "lost" on the way to the replacement company. I got my replacement kit today, and I'm sending the disc certified mail, or maybe signature on delivery just to make sure I get mine back.
I agree they should have taken CC#s and done an advance/exchange.
I didn't know that they'll give a full refund of the game. I recently picked up Rock Band for the 360. The audio difference in the games is amazing. The Wii is so incredibly weak comparatively. Something that I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet is the fact that the Wii only has Left and Right audio out in the first place. Other consoles have optical audio out. But how do you get Dolby Surround Sound from L/R Composite? My surround sound system can fake it, but it's not the same. If I hadn't heard rock band I would probably be happy with a replacement, but now that I have, I can't go back to GHIII.
Anyhow, I'm returning mine. Even Stereo is going to sound like crap compared to full 5.1.
Thanks for sharing the refund link!
I myself am deaf, yet I can tell the music doesn't sound like it should. 3-4 week wait is ridiculous when a direct swap should be done at the store.
What? this thing comes in stereo??? You mean all along--no way. You're kidding, right?
Wow...
So this disc will give the Wii Dolby Digital output? Wow, too cool!
Epic fail.
I just bought my GH3 on 2/16/08, with no idea that there was a problem with the stereo sound. How can I tell if my disc is a new one or one that needs to be replaced? It sounds fine to me. But if I can get it to sound better I would like to.
okay so i was hoping maybe activision will make wii owners happy by adding downloadable content to the wii version of Guitar Hero 3. Has anyone heard about them sneaking this into the new disk along with the audio.
They received my disc 2/11. Checked the rebate status today; they mailed my replacement WED 2/26 - I expect it by the end of the week.
I just received an e-mail saying that my claim is denied!!! What should I do??? I did send in everything and haven't been able to play the game for over two weeks!!! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. :(
--------------------
Dear Dxxxx,
The Activision Rebate Center has completed processing your submission for the following promotion:
Department: 101843 - Guitar Hero III Legends of Roc
Submission ID: 100725xxx
Unfortunately, we were unable to honor your request for the following reason: We did not receive an original Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Wii game disc with your request. The original game disc is required.
You will receive an additional notification by mail. You may also access your submission by contacting us at:
Online: http://www.rebatestatus.com/link.aspx?P100725xxx-76341940
Customer Service: 888-788-4931
We appreciate your business. Thank you.
Please do not reply to this message. Because this message has been automatically generated, your reply will not receive attention.
-------------------
Call the number and put in an incorrect address. After it fails, it will let you dial '0' to talk to a real person.
I got the same denial last week and have called twice and emailed twice. They say they're looking into it (it takes forever) but meanwhile I've been without Guitar Hero for nearly a month. It sure makes me want to go get my Wii modded so I don't have to put up with this crap.
I called their customer service this morning. The lady who answered the phone was fairly professional and said she can "fix it" for me. She said the usual "internal review" process can take 6-8 weeks sometimes, but I should call them back in two weeks if I don't see anything in the mail. Sounds promising but what a hassle! Good luck to us all!
Mailed mine out Feb 18, Dolby goodness came back to me March 4. 15 days.
Hey Chris, I actually sent mine on February 18th also. But when I look at the site it doesnt even show that they received it. Did it ever show that they received it for you? Or did you just receive it out of nowhere. I sent mine from NY, so I thought maybe that was the hold up, but it has been almost 3 FULL weeks. I called and some lady told me that it could be up to another 2 week wait.
any ideas?
Sent mine out the 2/18 from CT, received an email 2/27 stating they had received the disc, and received another email 3/4 stating they had sent it out 2/29. I received the 2nd email and the disc the same day.
Hey Chris, did you receive an email when you first submitted the request for the replacement envelope, or only when they received your original disc back?
Thanks,
John
How do I tell if the GH disc in the store is the one w/stereo or without?
I asked Activision tech support how I can tell whether or not the Dolby update is included before I buy a bundle. Their response was that "The updated game disks are not yet available for retail sale. If you are about to purchase the Guitar Hero III title for the Wii, it will not have the updated game disk for the game.".
So I followed up by asking for a time frame when the retail channel will have the updated disc, and their response was empty, devoid of any information. They simply said "We cannot provide to you a definitive timeframe as we do not have this information available. Once additional information regarding when the retail copies of the game are available, it should be posted on our support site.
If you are concerned with your copy of the game having the Mono sound tracks, we recommend that you hold off buying the game until we can tell you with certainty that the updated game disks are available for retail sale.".
@ Jon and Don...
I sent in my disc and then got the same postcard saying "the original game disc is required". Rebatestatus.com says the same thing.
I've called twice. The first time the girl wrote an email to her supervisor. The second time, the supervisor told me to call back in a few days to see if it's been resolved.
Did you guys ever get your discs back?
Hey tubbsbright, Jon, and Don
I got the same post card as you guys saying they did not receive the disc and to send it in. I know I sent it in!
I called and they said that they do not directly deal with this. The guy said that it is through a warehouse. He took my email and phone number and said they will contact me within a day.
Well, I just got an email back and they said that this never has happened (well it looks like that is not the case). They said that I must have misplaced the disc at home. They recommend searching my house to find it. Well just to please them I did-- no disc. They say not to reply to the email! What a pain in the butt!
Has anyone been able to fix this problem? I am stuck with a guitar and no game to play and it is Activision's fault!
Why are you all bothering spending time sending in your game and not being able to play GH??? This is a terrible exchange policy. Greg got it right, take advantage of their guaranteed refund policy (132.00)- BUT FIRST WAIT until they get the full stereo disc into retail stores. Then you can go out and buy your new game you can spend the weeks rocking in stereo while you deal with the incompetent folks running this return. Last I checked, you have until August for the refund request must be submitted.
Just an update to my posting on 3/6. I shipped out my copy of Guitar Hero III on Feb. 18th. After 6 1/2 weeks of waiting, they still did NOT recieve it. I called the Activision support line and they told me that they needed to contact the rebate status people to do some "background checking" on why they still havnt sent it out. Just yesterday I got an update that they were sending out a copy. There has been no actual confirmation that they found mine, but at least they are doing the right thing by finally issuing me a copy (since mine seemed to be lost). They told me that I had to wait over 30 days before they would act on it. So my time was finally up. Anyway, it is really annoying how they are handling it. If I had to decide on whether I would ship it again, I don't think I would. Especially because there is no tracking information on the pre-paid mailer and the people who are working on it don't seem to really care. I will let you know when I actually receive my Dolby copy of the game.
I similarly mailed mine in on Feb 19th and have yet to receive confirmation that they received it or my replacement disk. I sent their support an email this past Thursday (April 3rd) and haven't heard anything back. I plan on calling them this coming Thursday. Pretty ridiculous.
hmmmm i sent mine about the same time. I recieved a Guitar hero faceplate with a note thanking me for waiting for my disc replacement. Unfortunately, i havent received the actual disc yet. Baffling as it is, im grateful for the faceplate.
Yeah, I havent received mine yet, but I did recieve a faceplate with a note saying "You should be enjoying your new copy of the GH3 blah blah blah.." but I havent. lol
I sent my mono disc out on March 7th, and on March 19th I received the email telling me to check rebatestatus.com. I checked and sure enough "Your premium item was mailed on 19-Mar-2008. Please allow at least 15 days for delivery.". Well it's been 22 days and counting. I also received the faceplate with the "you recently received.." note. Great. Thanks. Now can I have my disc please? Why the heck does it take 3-4 weeks when they FedEx'd the faceplate in 5 days? My mailout envelope was addressed to Ontario. It makes me think that it first goes to Ontario, then it gets directed to Activision. From there who knows where the remastered disc gets sent.
Just received my remastered GHIII disk. I have a HDTV with dolby digital stereo - no pro logic surround sound. Most the songs are clearly still in mono with the exception of Black Magic Woman, the guitar battle with slash and a couple of bonus songs. The Activision support staff person admitted that other callers had the same issue with the remastered disk.
I am getting the feeling that if you have surround sound, pro logic you are fine, but if you have digital dolby 5.1, you are still out of luck.
Here's our timeline:
28-Mar Sent disc from New York City
07-Apr Status updated: "received" (10 days)
09-Apr Status changed. "...mailed on 08-Apr-2008...allow 15 days for delivery.”
11-Apr Received remastered disc
So 15 days. Not so bad I guess. Annoyingly, I did not receive a single email update from them; I kept having to go back to http://activision.rebatestatus.com/ for updates.
We are quite happy with the remastered disc, however. Our Wii is connected to a 5.1-surround receiver with the standard RCA cables and the Pro-Logic makes a big, big difference (moreso than I expected).
All said and done, I'd say it was well worth the 15-day wait.
I received my replacement disc, however I cannot find the option on the game to switch from "mono" to "stereo". I figured it is under the Options - Audio setting, yet there is no option for turning the stereo on/off. Just has the options up turning up and down the volume of the band, fx, and guitar. Is my replacement disc a mono disc as well?
So I just called the 1888-788-4931 number and talked to a lady there w/ the rebate company. She said there was nothing she could do and that I would need to all Activision at 1-310-255-2050.
I call that new number, wade through their automated question crap and wait on hold for 15 minutes. I get a guy on the phone who sounds familiar with the problems they've been having. I explained that waiting 55 days and not hearing anything is quite irritating. He took my information down and said that I would be contacted by email within the next couple of days by 'their supervisor' that is dealing with the missing disc problems. He mentioned that there are other discs that have 'disappeared' as well.
Personally, I suspect someone working at some company (postoffice, rebate fulfillment center, etc) is taking the discs and selling them. I did recently see some site selling 'used' GH3 Wii discs -only- recently...
We'll see if I get an email from Activision.
I went through the same routine this morning as Nick. the agent at Activision said I would be contacted within 24 hours via e-mail after they "review my case." if this does not get resolved soon I will file a complaint with the BBB.
the e-mail I just received for Activision (right after I started writing this post) is that: "We'll need to verify some details with the replacement facility. Once we have something I will update you."
Yep, I received the exact same message, verbatim. Tomorrow afternoon it'll be 72 hours since their initial email. I too will be filing w/ the BBB as well as our state agency if this isn't resolved soon. It's ridiculous that I've been waiting nearly 60 days for this replacement. Hopefully there will be some light at the end of the tunnel...
I received an email yesterday updating the progress of my replacement disc. They're having the replacement facility send out a replacement disc to me and that I could check the http://activision.rebatestatus.com/search.aspx for updated information on it. They did not have an ETA as they only know it to be 'up to 15 days' per the rebatestatus website. Yesterday the 'line item' of a replacement disc was not present on the website. I replied to the update and asked if it would appear and they stated it should. Checking this morning I now have a line item of Guitar Hero III for Wii Disc Replacement which seems promising to me. Now we'll see how long it takes for it to arrive :)
Well I hope I get the same e-mail from them tomorrow. I filed my complaint a day after you did! Keep us posted, I'll be curious to see how long it takes Activision to send you the replacement disc. Thanks!
I -finally- got my replacement GH3 disc! Got delivered in the mail today. What a PITA, but at least I have the replacement now.
Just as Mario Kart came out too :P
yeah, i got mine too over the weekend. only took almost 3 months!