Hi, oldbroad!

That's a definite possibility. I wasn't sure how often the exchange rates are updated, so I checked under "Purchasing In Another Currency" on BFG's website and they are updated every 24 hours, so what I pay on September 11 to renew my membership all depends on what the Canadian dollar is doing on that day compared to the U.S. dollar. I did have 6 Game Club credits and 1 Punch Card coupon that were converted to points when the transition took place, so I can use them to buy 3 CEs and 1 SE (or any combination of both). I'm waiting for either a 65% off or BOGO sale !

I'm used to paying the U.S. exchange rate whenever I make a purchase on an American website. During one trip to the States about 20 years ago, the U.S. exchange rate was just over 50%, so I took a calculator with me whenever I did some shopping because the bargains weren't really bargains after the price was converted to Canadian dollars . It would have been nice if Big Fish had given us a warning that the exchange rate they charge to non-U.S. members would be changing, though, so it wouldn't have been such a shock.

Susan

Hi, Marian!

Prior to the conversion, I always received an email that confirmed my purchase of a game and included the invoice, and then a second email that contained a code and expiry date if that purchase generated a Punch Card credit. I didn't receive an email when my membership renewed, though. I agree that it's better to receive too much communication than not enough.

Susan

Thanks for the confirmation on how that works Susan. Hopefully, it will not fluctuate too much for any of you outside of the US so there aren't any unpleasant surprises.

I'm sure you're right Marian, but like I said, call me lazy! Right now I'm not ready to buy anything. Maybe I'll test the waters during the next BOGO sale. We'll see.

Ob, I also understand that it is kind of inherently annoying to have to do that, because the system is supposed to just work the way it always has, so there's that too.

I will be buying one more game in the next week probably but am waiting for the next good sale. Will let you know how it goes when I do.

I cannot use Purchase History in my game manager. Everytime I do, I get an error message and that's one of the things I emailed Big Fish about.

Let us know what they say about it, fil. I know that the 1404 error message will not allow the Purchase History to be downloaded from the Game Manager, but since this tends to affect people with 900+ games (very large Purchase Histories), it seemed unlikely that particular message would be affecting you.

Hi, oldbroad!

That's what I'm hoping for. There was a time many moons ago when the Canadian dollar was worth more than the American dollar. Sadly, I think those days are gone !

Susan

Well Marian, I seem to have severely underestimated the total of games I have purchased from Big Fish. It seems that I have been a member since 2007 and have over 1500 games. I hope that they will reply to my questions as that is a lot of games that I haven't got access to.

Ah, well then you could have the 1404 error message with the Game Manager. It is amazing how these games accumulate, isn't it?

If it is that message causing your issues, here is the way to gain access to a lot of them:

Basically: Download the demo from the game's download page. Start up the demo and then exit it. On the exit page you will see where it says, "already purchased this game?" And then click where it says "reactivate it." The full game will then download.

With the Purchase History not being alphabetized on the website, I find it easier at this time to find a game by going to an external search engine and typing in Big Fish Games (name of game). Ridiculous, but I am finding it quicker to find the download page for the demo/game I am wanting to download via this method. Hopefully this will change as they do more updates to the platform.

Hi Marian; I used my points & bought a game (chimeras cherished serpent) through the game manager, it downloaded but would not activate. I tried to do the demo like you mentioned but it wouldn't let me download that, but I only had one minute left. Now it says the came is sitting in my cart to be bought. I not going to pay twice for it, this is getting rediculous. I just want to use up my points & cancel my membership. How in the world am I going to fix this mess. Thanks for any help you may have. Judy.

Hi Marian, when I downloaded a game and exited I was asked if I wanted to buy. The way you described was the way I previously download old games, but it seems that the new changes in Big Fish don't offer me that option. That was the way I purchased a game I already owned. I hope that Big Fish will answer my questions soon.

There is something I am not understanding then, because this method has worked for other people I know. This method does not ask you if you want to buy the game. I have done it myself this way several times in the last little while since the platform change whereby I have downloaded the demo, started it up, exited, and then clicked on reactivate the game because I have already purchased it, and the full game downloads - there is no buy button involved with this method. I guess this must be some other issue that I have no knowledge of then, unfortunately. Please keep us posted.

I Marian, I solved my problem. I turned off AVG. soon as I did that the game activated. Go figure.

Good to know, judith! I never thought of an antivirus interfering with all of this. Strange. I had AVG years ago but got rid of it because it kept giving me false positives with different games and refused to install them.

Thanks for checking in and letting us know.

Thanks Marian much appreciated - yeah just have to see what happens and maybe down the track i'll resubcribe.

Oldbroad Very true even the small things can add up and effect us too..... Every week the Supermarkets put up the cost of food between 1-2 times.
Most times the subscription cost & games remain the same amount but yes like Susie07 its the exchange rate here too that can change without warning....so yes there can be times we could pay less but likely it's usually more....

Susie07 I agree a polite warning would've been nice regarding the Exchange rate for people living outside the U.S.....
Honestly it shouldn't where a person lived because we're all customers...

Take Care Boomers hope your purchases and error issues get resolved and worked out..

Hi, Taintedfury!

The Canadian dollar hasn't been fluctuating that much in the last little while but, since the proverbial Murphy has a room in my house, no doubt it will take a nosedive on the day my membership next renews and bounce back up the next day . If I look on the bright side, I've been getting a really great deal since joining BFG in 2009 because the U.S. exchange rate was permanently set at just over 2% so I've been paying $7.14 for my membership fee and SEs and $14.28 for CEs. Also, since we're getting 15% back in points on every game we buy, that reduces the exchange rate. Normally, when I buy something from the States, it's the bank that converts the purchase amount to Canadian dollars when the charge hits my credit card, so I don't understand why Big Fish does that and then charges us in our local currency.

We're going into Fall and you're going into Spring, so I hope you have a lovely Summer. I have always wanted to visit Australia but the cost is obscene, so I'll continue to enjoy the pictures, videos and movies. We had a pair of Koala bears visit our zoo several years ago, and the lineups to watch them sleep were ridiculous, but they are so adorable that it was worth it .

Susan

This morning I thought I would try buying a game via the game manager ( which apparently solves the problem of only the demo being downloaded when you purchase a game from the website) to see if it solved the other issue I had a few days ago of tax being added to the purchase and then being taken off at the final stage of checkout.

Using the Game Manager I put a game in my basket and changed the currency from US$ to British pounds so it would know I was foreign. It put the tax on as before. I proceeded with the checkout and then saw it had brought up , and was going to use, my old credit card. Now I had changed this credit card to a different one for my game club subscription and all further purchases on the website. Looking more closely at the Game Manager I realised it also has my old email address. I've been using a new email address for ages to purchase games via the website. I didn't proceed to final checkout because of these further complications.

It looks like the website does not automatically update the game manager on certain aspects of one's account even though the purchase history is updated. This was a complication too far and I just cancelled my subscription.

I'll wait until the mad fairy is banished from the kingdom before resuming membership of the Game Club and buying further games! Hope there is some improvement soon for everyone.

I would suggest signing out of your Game Manager and signing back in with the current email that you use, if you haven't already done that of course.

Hi, meryl!

In addition to oldbroad's suggestion, if you log onto your account on Big Fish's website, you can check to see what email address and credit card are on file. Click on "My Account" from the menu on the left and it will display your email address and password ****ed out. Click on "Stored Payment Methods" and it will display the last 4 digits of the credit card they have on file as well as the expiration date and what type of card it is.

Do you have the latest version of the Game Manager? Mine is 3.5.0.0(3.2) and I believe that's the latest one. Launch your Game Manager and click on the "Options" gear at the top of the page, and you will see what version you are using. If everything is as it should be, I'm stumped !

Good luck!

Susan

The reason I mentioned signing out and back into the manager is that I'm pretty sure that you can be signed into the manager under a different sign in name than what you are signed into the website as. You don't have to be signed into both (unless that has changed).

As far as I can tell, this still holds true, and has always been so in the past.

Hi Marian, just to let you know after a few tweaks and reinstalling my game manager I finally got to reactivate one of my old games. Thanks for all your help.

Fil, that is wonderful news. And you are most welcome - it's nice to see you in the Casual Games forum.

Hi, oldbroad!

I did not know that. I've always used the same email address and password to sign into both the website and Game Manager, probably because there's only 1 email address and password to remember !

Susan

I guess I've been lucky !!

I've only acquired one new game since the BF changes started but had no difficulties signing in or paying for it or anything else.
[I'm not a Game Club member.]

And the price I was charged (I'm in the UK) was reasonable.

My only issue was that there were no alphabetical games lists - but hopefully that might come in the next stage of the changes