Steam Sale

Price Matching

from Stardock Forums

Hello, I was going to purchase some of your desktop productivity software - Fences and Groupy - but after reading all the terrible reviews on Steam regarding buying from Steam, I came over to the official website to purchase there, but apparently the sale is only on Steam? I do not want to deal with all the headaches that people are reporting regarding purchasing your stuff from Steam, so I was hoping that you would do some price matching. However, everyone also said that you were not interested in customer satisfaction, so I'm not expecting any good news, but I at least wanted to give you a chance to prove them wrong.

I did read some of the comments that your people made in response to the negative reviews, but honestly I have to side with the follow up responses from the other members. I'm in the software business myself, have been for more than 25 years, and your responses don't sit well with me either, knowing what I know. So, I'm really hoping that this is all just misunderstanding, confusion, whathaveyou, and you'll allow for price matching the sale on Steam with the better support we get from buying direct.

Of course, the sale price on Steam could simply be taking all that into account and you are giving the lower price with the understanding that you can avoid having to really support the product by using the "it's Steam's fault" approach. No idea what you discuss behind closed doors.

I tried to ask this privately to avoid any "public incidents," but your system isn't set up to allow that sort of thing, so I'm forced to ask here. Please feel free to hide this and/or respond privately. Or, just delete it and ignore it all together, that would be fine as well, and give me an idea of where you stand as a company. 

3,025 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
I have forwarded your questions/problems to the Stardock Support team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate you feedback and patience.

 

 

Thank You,
Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm also interested in Groupy as well and would like to know if there any price matching.

Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

I tried to ask this privately to avoid any "public incidents," but your system isn't set up to allow that sort of thing,
End of quote

You should be able to PM / email any of the Stardock support personnel, including myself:

It's perfectly fine, and welcomed, that you did ask here - we have nothing to hide and are rather proud of our good reputation - one that has been established over 25+ years.

I was going to purchase some of your desktop productivity software - Fences and Groupy - but after reading all the terrible reviews on Steam regarding buying from Steam,
End of quote

However, everyone also said that you were not interested in customer satisfaction, so I'm not expecting any good news
End of quote

I did read some of the comments that your people made in response to the negative reviews, but honestly I have to side with the follow up responses from the other members. I'm in the software business myself, have been for more than 25 years, and your responses don't sit well with me either
End of quote

Can you link any specific ones, rpmiller, quoting what in particular you took exception with?

So, I'm really hoping that this is all just misunderstanding, confusion, whathaveyou, and you'll allow for price matching the sale on Steam with the better support we get from buying direct.
End of quote

Steam products do not get more, or less, support than products that are directly sold from our site.  The only difference is the delivery medium and the Steam environment itself (which all software sold there is subject to).   While there are some activation quirks seen by some, they are quickly remedied and are part of the FAQs in the Steam forums.

That all said, I can issue you both coupons that you can use in our store - Private message me what software you were each interested in.

Thanks for the feedback, rpmiller, and I look forward to working with you on the noted issues.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

 

 

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Sean, thank you so much! There are so many quotes and comments I could copy here, that it would be a rather lengthy process. But essentially, there are statements regarding not being able to do upgrades, or specific features, which Steam absolutely can do, and does via DLCs and its built in mechanisms. That is one that immediately comes to mind. Honestly, if you only look at the comments on Fences, you'll get a good example of the comments on the other products too. Whoever the "dev" is that is replying, doesn't really seem to have a good handle on Steam's capabilities, as you'll see with all the replies to his/her reply. I would say that Stardock doesn't have a very good reputation on Steam. However, I also fully understand that complaints are far more likely to be posted than kudos, and the complainers do tend to be a vocal minority, but I also know that there tends to be a good hint at real problems from that minority. Example - my company has a few apps on mobile devices and the ratings are terrible, but if you look at the actual number of downloads compared to the number of reviews (nearly a million to ten), it is easy to see what's going on. But you know how people are, they like to focus only on what is in front of their face, rather than think for themselves. This is why I had to come here and ask and tell you about my observations and give you the benefit of the doubt, hopefully. And I am very happy to say that your thoughtful response and obvious concern are definitely refreshing and I think you really should do some "damage control" for your applications on Steam (referring to the comments specifically). You are obviously getting a bad rap. Thank you again!