Impulse User? Read here.

I saw a similar thread about Steam, and some of what I read there was warranted, other parts of it not so much. I'd like to relate my experience with Stardock's Impulse program, and what happened to me.

I initially bought ObjectDock on Impulse, no hassle, easy installation, etc etc. I thought, "Ok this is a good competitor to Steam. I like these guys"  My mother wanted to get me a Christmas gift I'd enjoy (for reference, I'm 29 and we still exchange gifts).

What happened next is that it was a Friday, around 6:30-7pm, and my mother tried to purchase COD 4 for my Impulse account. Apparantly because I used her CC instead of my own (obviously, it was around Christmas time and it was a gift) it was flagged as "High-Risk" at least that's what Melissa at Stardock told me Monday morning.

An hour goes by Friday night, no confirmation, nothing. I send an e-mail and try to call, stating "Hey this is supposed to be an instant purchase. You're not going to all of a sudden put this through at some random time, right?" I finally sent an e-mail about 2 hours after attempting to purchase the game stating "I want to be clear that I am cancelling this in the event you try to put this charge through."

I got an e-mail Monday morning, well two actually. The first one was a confirmation that the game sales was successful. The second was from Melissa at Stardock stating "yes we got your e-mails, and no we did not read them until this morning" which basically means "yes we read your e-mails stating your intent to cancel this, and we charged you anyway" - at this point I would like to note that I never actually received the game on my impulse account.

I went through the process of trying to get a refund. She not-so-nicely said no refund would be provided.

What happened next is what every consumer has rights to do. I contacted the Better Business Bureau, and my mother filed a dispute with her CC company. Things were quiet for a while, and then Melissa at Stardock filed an affidavit in response to my BBB complaint stating that since we were disputing the charge with the CC company, she viewed the matter as resolved.

Okay, this next part is important. About this time I tried to log into my impulse account (again) to see if COD 4 was magically on there, or more specifically because I had a bad feeling about this Melissa.

I had to request a PW reminder for my impulse account, and I found she had changed my PW to "FRAUD" (all capital letters) and revoked my license for ObjectDock. At this point I responded to the BBB and said her answer wasn't good enough, her company never gave me the item my mother purchased for me as a gift, and on top of that they revoked my software license when I had done nothing wrong.

What ultimately happened is I never got a refund for ObjectDock, but Stardock was listed as having a complaint they failed to resolve, and the BBB told me they did not feel Stardock made adequate attempts to rectify my situation.

For the tldr crowd: Stardock (last time I checked) had 9 open complaints against them on the BBB and a grade of "D+" - buy on impulse at your own risk.

For someone like Brad Wardell who clamors about the gamer's bill of rights and how DRM shouldn't be invasive, he sure as hell doesn't have a good refund or reimbursement process in place for Stardock/Impulse.

I realize people who like Impulse generally stick with it no matter what is said to them, but you have been warned. I never attempted to do anything fraudulent, and only asked for my mother's money to be returned to her since I never received the game, and on top of that I did not receive it within 24 hours of placing my order. Consumers have the right to cancel a purchase before the charge has been placed. REMEMBER THAT.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text, this all happened in Dec-Feb.  I'm over it but you guys need to be aware Stardock is not on the up-and-up like Brad likes to say they are.

-Cym