BIG Dissapointment

[Abokasee]

For my birthday yesterday , I got the Half-Life 2 pack, which had 3 things on it

Half life 1 source

Half Life 2 (With deathmatch)

Episode 1

I opened up the case to find 1 disk, a dvd, for half life 2, I then followed the installation, via the steam thing, and then it asked for a Serial number for product activation

There was no serial key

It said it would be on the back

There was no working code on the back

It said if it wasnt there... it would be in the case with a sticker on it

Nothing was there

There wasnt a manual either

My dad got this from Game

In the upcoming friday, were going to get the new PSP, so were going to take then with us, my dad paid £20 for it (about $40) WE WANT ARE MONIES WORTH

[TevashSzat]

Well, I would go where you got it from and ask either for another copy or for a refund. Odds are that they wont give you a refund, but will probably let you get another copy.

[Mailman653]

Try calling their customer service too.

[Abokasee]

Well, I would go where you got it from and ask either for another copy or for a refund. Odds are that they wont give you a refund, but will probably let you get another copy.

I'll be happy with another copy... if that fails i'll get a hockey mask and chainsaw and continue from there

[Ironside]

The serial key is on the quick reference card that's supposed to come with that box if you got the same one as me (and I guess that it is).

[Abokasee]

No all I got was the disk... end of story

[lars573]

Looks like you got a returned/damaged/tampered copy. You got no manual or insert with a serial on it, this means it's incomplete. If you don't try and exchance it Valve might (stress might) be able to give you a new serial number.

[Husar]

You should at the very least get a serial key, otherwise you got nothing for your money. Doesn't the industry always claim you pay for the license and not the game? Well, you have the game but no license.

[Geoffrey S]

Mine was stuck with a sticker on the cd. I wanted to remove it and stick it somewhere safe (this is before installation) but accidently tore it in half, ruining a couple of letters and numbers. I spent ages trying every combination with letters or numbers that looked vaguely like those torn in half.

[Navaros]

A few years ago I bought the "Half-Life Platinum Pack" brand new from a store only to install it and discover that my CounterStrike CDKey was already in-use on STEAM before I had ever typed it into anywhere. I was wondering what the heck was going on. Then I asked around on the 'net and found out what happened was a warez kiddy used a CDKey generator to generate the CDKey which I had paid for.

The "solution" offered by the company was to send them my CDkey envelope (they were too cheap to package the game CDs in jewel cases) and an additional ~$20 above the cost of the game.

In other words, the official "company policy" in this situation was for warez kiddies get off scott-free and paying customers get screwed over in unbelievable (and likely illegal, in my view, since I didn't get what I paid for and shouldn't have to pay another darn cent to the company simply to get what I had already paid for) ways.

Since then I've been boycotting any and every product that uses STEAM. I encourage everyone else to do the same.

[Whacker]

I've boycotted Steam because of it's crappy DRM, and I resent having to ask permission to play what I've bought and own. (The so called "offline mode" doesn't cut the mustard)

As for Abokasix's issue, I don't really know what to suggest. I will say though that I do NOT buy PC games anymore from Gamestop or EB, the last time I did so was awhile back, and I came in as they were "repackaging" the game (I can't remember what it was). This was one where the CD key was on the back of the manual, so they could have easily stolen it. When I bought Warcraft 3 back in the day from EB, I found out later on that my CD key had been stolen at the store. This, coupled with the fact that I've known 2 former EB employees personally who've both admitted to taking keys from products when they 'open' them to insert all their EB specific BS and junk, is why I never buy there anymore.

YMMV, IMO, etc etc.

[Taurus]

The same sort of deal happened to me too, twice infact from Game. Once I bought a copy of Hidden & Dangerous 2 and there was no manual or cd-key anywhere to be found. The other incident was Dynasty Warriors 2 which had a manual etc. but the disk was scratched to kingdom come, turned out I was given a pre-owned copy even though I purchased a new one.

[Abokasee]

Ok, went yesterday, now I didnt get another copy... BUT i did get the cd key witch I needed... and it works!!

[Slyspy]

How did you get the key without getting given another copy?

[Abokasee]

There was One left other, so it must of been the one I needed, of the chances of working was 1/9151 but it happend , now I just gotta get it to stop crashing when bump into something at the begining of the water hazard chapter