Good experience with Stardock customer service

That is good to hear. I requested my refund this morning and hope SD will follow through with a prompt refund (so I can put it towards CIV 5 SE!)

While the game is feels very unpolished and in much need of large revamped to various systems of the game, I feel confident that Stardock will deliver and turn it around into something very special, so I'm going to shelve it for some time and eagerly watch the forums for development blogs and news on patches.

SD is a good group of people. I really hope that anyone who gets a refund on the game comes back after they release a demo and the bugs are worked out and really considers buying the game again. Yes it has issues atm, but given a few months I think it will be a worthwhile purchase.

also looking forword to CIV5.

Just 1 question, what's the last date to ask for a refund? Because i don't know exactly what i want to do now, and i wouldn't miss final time to ask.

refunds can be issues up to 90 days after purchase, according to their policy at https://store.stardock.com/policy.aspx

I'll check in periodically to see how they game is improving (and I'm on the Stardock's email list, which is how I heard about the game in the first place).  Unfortunately, time is tight right now, so if I have time to game, it's going to be spent on a more complete (and stable) gaming experience. 

And one of the golden rules from biz school nags at me: cash now is better than cash later.  I have no problem giving them $50 when I get a stable, balanced game; they don't need to hold on to my $50 for six months until that happens.

Will there be an issue for someone who preorderd > 90 days ago?

Ironically, I don't want a refund. I just want the pewter dragon they forgot to put in my LE. No response since Friday afternoon.

While I'm not very happy with the game I've personally decided to pass on the refund route. I knew what I was getting into when I purchased it and next time I think I'll wait for reviews/demo. Anyways not all is lost maybe it will be improved in the future.

ofc it will

i can just say ppl w8 for the 1.1 version

Despite the problems, I feel that I've already gotten $50 of entertainment out of Elemental and would feel guilty asking for a refund.

Mad props for offering it to those who feel different, however!

Guys step down a notch. This game will be supported with future updates. The CEO of Stardock has stated so on many occasions.

Even if this wouldn't be the case (mind you IT IS), the Modders will create massives amount of content and fixes. In fact, they are already doing a hell of a job with the currently limited ressources available.

Just give this game some time. If you come to think of it, the release version of Elemental is in indeed in a far better state than most comparable games were when they got initially on the shelves.

If I had limited gaming funds, I would certainly consider getting a refund for the game, and I'm certainly not going to tell people to "hold onto their game" and assume that other people have as much in their gaming fund as I do.  A lot of people have a huge opportunity cost with their gaming funds.  Game A *or* Game B is a real and difficult choice.  Obviously if someone bought Elemental, they're interested in the genre, and will be back in 5-6 months when the game works and it's not a risk (not to mention that it's likely they'll pick it up at a bargain price).  If not, well, it's a good lesson for Stardock to learn: don't release early (and especially don't condescend and pretend that it wasn't released early when it's pretty obvious to everyone that it was).  I'm just guessing, but I'd bet the "early release" was due to being in retail stores - the bane of so many game companies trying to arrange for shelf space so far in advance.  I know (both as a developer and as a former game dev of a AAA studio) the inclination to overcommit, or at least feel confident with "Yeah, our team can do that in 9 months".

I pre-ordered it a week or two after it went on pre-order in 2009 (or was it 2008? I don't recall exactly), so I'm not too worried about the money that I was charged so long ago. I seem to be having a lot of bad experiences with pre-ordering over the last year, though, so I'm really going to have to sit down and think about whether it's worth it or not.  I mostly live my gaming life vicariously through my kids now, but TBS games are impossible for me to pass up.

Personally, I've had several crashes (one of which was after I finished the final campaign battle, which was very hard to win keeping my heroes alive) - and lots of polish issues.  I've waited this long - I can handle waiting another few months.  I have a huge backlog and I was planning on playing Elemental until Civ 5 comes out... So backlog, here I come.  Elemental won't be back up to the front of my queue until after the few RPGs that follow Civ 5's release.  I'm pretty sure it'll be done by the time I get back to it.  It better be!

to the people who got their refund, do you guys get the full refund?

Seems like 90% of posters are disgruntled Elemental purchasers...the people who love it are too busy playing to post.

The game is unfinished: there's little to debate, really. Most of the reviewers state this and players are asking for refunds.

It's certainly a fair request. I personally won't ask for a refund since I still believe in the team, and I prefer to give some support at this point.

I won't resume playing until at least patch 1.1, though.

I'm also interested in knowing the answer to this.

I believe Stardock keeps some of the money in that case.  ($10)

Not 100% sure.  I'd recommend hanging on, as Stardock will make this game great enough that you'll want to go back to it.

Even if I have for myself decided to stick with the current Gamma-Version of the game, as I call it being not Beta and not Final, the refund policy at least restores some of the trust that Stardock had lost due to the (too) early release of Elemental.

Well, lets hope the people at Stardock can turn this thing around and help the game to shine and live up to its inherent vast potential.

Rabenhoff

Good to hear and i hope you will be back if the game improved.

To which email did you send the refund request, sales@stardock or support@stardock?

I sent it to sales and I haven't gotten it yet, so I'm wondering if I should email support.

How long should this normally take?

I mailed them on Saturday asking for a refund (sales@stardock.com). I got a ticket but no response so far.

While it's nice to know that those who feel they want a refund won't be hassled, I'd like to think that a lot of people are able to wait until everything they feel is wrong with the game is addressed. Then again, for those living paycheck to paycheck, a night at the movies this weekend may well be worth buying the game again when Book II is released.

Never mind that, I just got my refund confirmed! This restores at least some of my faith in Stardock.

If the game ever gets fixed I'll come back, though I'm not so sure as everyone else seems to be that this will happen. There is A LOT of stuff that needs to be done to this game...

For those who wondered about the process, I pre-ordered the digital download the day before it was released, so I'm lucky in that I have no box to send back.  I assume they'll just cut off my access to the game or something from Impulse and refund my CC.

I emailed both sales and support in the same email, said that I had already posted some crash logs to tech support and asked for a refund.  Within 1 business day they got back to me and were friendly about it.

From looking at support forums and trying to understand why my game was crashing (which is why I made an account here in the first place), it seemed like there are some known issues with Win 7-64 users.  I'm sure some other people with different setups have had a less frustrating experience than I had and are able to get more value out of the game.

In my case, the refund is less of a "paycheck to paycheck" issue than a "quid pro quo" or "fairness" issue, and my opportunity cost--per Fubeca's post--is time spent with other games or activities.  If I give any business money, I have some expectation that that an equal amount of value will be exchanged, and in this case I certainly felt like I got the short end of the stick.  Even if Stardock disagrees, they were upstanding enough to issue a refund, which is commendable, since like I originally said, it seems like very few entertainment software vendors do that anymore.