PAX Prime 2012 Badges lost
polycounter lvl 7
Has anyone else had their PAX badges "lost" in the mail? I bought four 3 day passes on day one when they were on a flaky server and it cost me $260. I wasn't even aware that everyone has received their badges nearly a month ago. I've contacted the post office and PAX and they are claiming it's my fault for not using Fed Ex, which I would say, true. However I don't ever recall seeing a Fed Ex option to begin with. It doesn't make sense to spend $260 on badges to a sold out show and not insure it. I wouldn't mail out or receive even a cheap DVD without some sort of tracking and insurance.
From what I've asked friends who already have their badges, they came in the mail with nothing official about them, no priority mail, no insurance or tracking and that the whole thing was just sketchy.
I've never had anything but great experiences at PAX and the guys at Penny Arcade, but here I am now with 9 days left to get my badges that I paid for last April and the customer service is like talking to a brick wall.
On the first server that sold badges that eventually was swamped and broke (also was a new vendor) did anyone use this vendor and have a FedEx option?
From what I've asked friends who already have their badges, they came in the mail with nothing official about them, no priority mail, no insurance or tracking and that the whole thing was just sketchy.
I've never had anything but great experiences at PAX and the guys at Penny Arcade, but here I am now with 9 days left to get my badges that I paid for last April and the customer service is like talking to a brick wall.
On the first server that sold badges that eventually was swamped and broke (also was a new vendor) did anyone use this vendor and have a FedEx option?
Replies
Two of my other friends have yet to receive their Prime badges either. Seems things may have gotten a little haywire this year. I definitely recommend contacting registration@paxsite.com
"Unfortunately, because you did not choose to have them send Fed Ex, we do not have any tracking information on your badges. We can only hope that they come to you this week or come back to us from the US Postal Service."
edit: Been asking around a lot and from what it sounds like I'll have to meet them at the registration booth to sort it out. Thanks for your insight
edit: and they're still claiming it's a Fed Ex issue and denying me badges.
Anyways, considering PAX is held where you live/work, and the Penny Arcade office is up there as well.... You would think you wouldnt need "tracking" for a delivery thats just around the block, metaphorically speaking. Of course, I am assuming that the badges would ship from the same city/state.
Keep bugging them.
You're not leaving Korea just for PAX are you? :P
Thanks for your guys' support, I was asking around for a solution on here, my Facebook and PAX to see if other people were in the same boat. I understand that PAX does get scalpers and scammers but they can't assume everyone is like that.
That being said, I'm thrilled I'll get to be going
Noooo, my contract ends on the 30th and I wanted to stop and go to PAX on my way back home =D
Thats completely fucking ridiculous - it is THIER fault for offering an un-trackable service for an expensive item. Down right incompetent. USPS Priorty flat rate envelope is like $5, why they were sending first class w/o delivery confirmation(the only service I can think of that doesn't offer tracking) is beyond me. Delivery confirmation on FC service is like an extra 20 or 30 cents.
You paid for something.
It was not delivered.
They have no proof they even sent it.
The shipping option you used was one they approved of.
There could have been any number of dumb mistakes on their end when they sent it that would cause this.
This is their responsibility.
If they refuse to send you what you ordered, you should do a charge back on your credit card. They are 100% in the wrong here. Hopefully its not too late to do so. At the very least you can threaten to do this, it might make them a little more cooperative.
I've dealt with USPS quite a lot(selling stuff on eBay), for a domestic package that hasn't been delivered in over a month, there is a 99.9999% chance you will never receive it. The only situation where a shipping error is the buyer's fault is if you gave them the wrong address.
Make it also clear that it's their fault for not having homogenized the system, I mean seriously, 260 bucks and they couldn't make sure FedEx was displayed all time, because you're living in the same 'close zones' as them, but international or further away customers get that option? Tacky and lazy in all regards.
Also, I find it tacky that they can't confirm via an ID number or your Name if you're there or not, for 260 bucks, I would expect for them to have on-site "wear around you neck tags" which should help for people who lost the badges due to incompetence in the mean-time, kinda like a bouncer list.
We have software like nDo2 and anon-account creators like Burner which have a much better track system that these guys do, with a simple 12 digit key...something which literally doesn't cost a penny, unlike their hosting service.
I mean this is 2012, I find it hard someone with Excel and a Laptop at the door cannot look up your name to see if you're registered or not, and hand you a cheap pass on site, talk about just being out-right lazy those guys.
I do understand that PAX loses out a lot on people scamming to get badges, I get that. But I also don't lose $260 quietly due to bad service. I really hope they reconsider how they'll do business next year.
Ace, I think their concern was that I received the 4 badges and am trying to get 4 more, possibly to bring more friends, scalping or whatever. But yeah, it's their fault for not making the badges unique, names, bar codes etc. And who seriously doesn't spend the extra $2 on tracking for a shipment like that?? The entire thread of emails I didn't get the impression of customer service, I got the impression of someone was trying to get rid of having to do business with me. It reminded me of that scene from the movie Hook where Peter Pan yells at the lost boys, "I WANT TO SPEAK TO A GROWN-UP!" lol.
I've never had any problem with PAX before, I hope this is the last one I'll have. I've gone to PAX, Dev, and Child's Play and had no issues besides this one time.
Not getting it sucks, but not getting your money back And not getting your badge is just shit business. I hope someone from pax reads this and knows whats up!
Question, what happens if you try and 'register' again for Badges? Does the FedEx option come up, or not?
You could take a screenshot and show them that the option doesn't exist, and that it's a technical fault on their end.
You could also try make a half-way meetup with them, tell them that you will promise them that you won't abuse the system, and that is honestly an 'issue' that you want solved ASAP, so how about they write down you name and such to confirm, etc, and once you get at the gate, you play nice and help you out/let you in.
You know, I think it was about 2 years ago that PAX had this VERY SAME ISSUE, where people even printed themselves Badges and got through security, and PAX still hasn't come up with a simple Key-Generator type of scheme to keep things clean.
Best of luck in all regards love, it sucks to be stuck in such a place. Of course, it could be that one of the techies there is being a douche on this particular day, ask them if you can be forwarded to someone else who has experience on such matters.
Email pax_registration with concern, get forwarded to pax_questions. Get same copy/paste answer from same guy in every email response. Send entire thread of 10 emails with pax_registration CC'd. Win.
Sounds like I'm going now. I was prepared to drive to Penny Arcade myself if I had to. I haven't been there since last summer when our studios had the ping pong tournament (which I think is on a DVD of theirs somewhere - our secret weapon was Biba). I certainly don't want a smear campaign or any of that drama, I have a lot of respect for what the guys at PA do, but I don't want to miss out on PAX due to their poor process of handling so much money and badges.
Anyway, sounds like things are getting resolved. I'll follow up and let you guys know how it goes in case for future reference.
P.S. and Ace? I have to dock my screen to the far left to hide your avatar at work, I hope you're happy xD
For future reference someone at PAX came through and helped me out and I managed to get the badges I paid for. They were quite understanding about it.