Activision cranks up Wii Guitar Hero III disc replacement program

Select owners of Guitar Hero III for Wii have been moshing uncontrollably as best they can in mono for months on end, but it seems as if Activision has finally got its interconnects sorted and will start issuing replacement discs. According to direct end-user reports and the (admittedly blurry) shots in the gallery below, the firm is now dishing out pre-paid envelopes in which customers have to ship back their faulty GH III disc and wait "3 to 4 weeks" before getting a new, stereo-enabled one free of charge. Live sans your favorite game for a month, or keep rockin' in the monaural world? Tough call, indeed.

[Thanks, Sam K. and Michael S.]

Activision cranks up Wii Guitar Hero III disc replacement program

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 11th 2008 2:47PM]

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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 1st 2008 11:59AM]

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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 6th 2008 1:35AM]

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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 7th 2008 2:38PM]

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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 8th 2008 4:01PM]

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

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 10th 2008 3:54PM]

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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 12th 2008 10:37AM]

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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 14th 2008 3:00PM]

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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 19th 2008 4:00PM]

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?

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 14th 2008 7:27PM]

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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 16th 2008 7:43PM]

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."

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 17th 2008 1:36AM]

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...

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 22nd 2008 10:39AM]

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 :)

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 22nd 2008 7:37PM]

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!

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2008 7:09PM]

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

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2008 12:59PM]

yeah, i got mine too over the weekend. only took almost 3 months!