Hi, Taintedfury!

I'm so glad you were able to watch the giant panda cub videos and enjoyed them , and you are most welcome . They didn't even know the female was pregnant until shortly before she gave birth, so it was quite the surprise. It was touch-and-go with the smallest one for a while but, thankfully, everything worked out and both cubs survived. We do have an excellent staff at the zoo and around-the-clock vets (especially in the nursery) to make sure all of the animals are healthy and thriving, and we also have an excellent breeding program.

Susan

You are so right Susie. What an idiot I am. I paid with points so the exchange rate is immaterial. My brain has become so pulverised by trying to understand what BFG is doing. I did not use my credit card on this purchase.

I did receive the 3 emails including the invoice showing that the balance was zero. No currency was used but it showed that £5.79 equals 699 points. £5.79 is the amount that BFG say I will be charged in future for my club membership as stated in my account. (I have cancelled so this figure has not been paid). The 699 points I used to purchase the game were the results of BFG's conversion of my game club membership credit for which payment was taken last month.

So I have no idea why two separate amounts of $1 each were debited to my card the day after game purchase. When I subsequently cancelled my membership I deleted the card so it probably won't be an ongoing problem.

I suppose I ought to raise this with Big Fish even though the amount is infinitesimal. I really don't want to have anything more to do with the company.

Hi, meryl!

You are certainly not an idiot because Big Fish has us all running around in circles wondering if we've lost our minds since the conversion took place !

If you used 699 points to pay for your game, you should not have been charged anything further. Even though the extra amount they charged you is small, every penny counts these days, so I would definitely contact Big Fish Customer Service and ask for an explanation and a refund. I pay in Canadian dollars, so my membership renewal was $8.98 Cdn. Big Fish converted 6 Game Club credits and 1 Punch Card credit to points, and I received an additional 699 points for my membership renewal. The actual points earned are the same for everyone, and the only time the U.S. exchange rate comes into play for those of us who live outside the States is when we make a purchase using our credit card or when our membership renews.

Good luck!

Susan

Maybe I am just lucky but so far the BigFish site & rewards change has gone smoothly for me. The only thing I'm still not quite certain on is how many bonus bucks one gets now for buying a regular edition game or CE? Now that there is no more strategy to get to six games purchased any given month that is nice!

Thank you Susie. It's nice to know that I have good reason for bafflement and I'm not thick or going senile!

I shall contact BFG as you suggest.

Wouldn't you think that someone from BFG would have the courtesy to visit this forum. They must be aware of the comments and questions. So many people have been asking the same things.

In the UK we have an organisation called Trading Standards to which we can complain if we feel a company is in some way being unfair to its customers or not behaving properly in the delivery of its product to consumers. I don't know how this general mess would fit the criteria but they would take a very dim view of a customer's credit card being used without transparent explanation. I suppose if there were a similar organisation in the US overseas customers might not be able to access it anyway.

It was only recently that I looked up the reviews for Big Fish and I was astonished how abysmal their rating is, not just since the August revamp. I always had a very good experience with this company prior to this and considered them decent, responsive to problems and very efficient. Such a shame. Hate to see a good business go downhill.

Well I don't feel that BF has gone downhill ....

The implementation of massive changes that will affect customers in many countries is hardly going to be an easy task.

And a forum such as Gameboomers - as important as it is to us members - will be a tiny consideration in their whole scheme of things.

When the operation is fully complete I feel confident that Big Fish (including their customer service section) will once again be one of the best places from which to acquire games 👍

Mad Sounds like it will be good once the changes are complete, looking forward to it.

Susie07
I am glad about the smaller panda to, it's good to see the way they're looked after so well...

Happy Gaming Boomers

Hi, lakerz!

I haven't experienced any problems either. In the past, I've always purchased my games from Big Fish's website, but I followed Marian's advice and purchased 2 games during the last 65% off sale through the Game Manager and the process went very smoothly . If you're a Game Club member, you still receive 699 points when your membership renews, which is the equivalent of 1 Game Club credit. When purchasing games, you earn 15% back in points for every SE and CE you buy, but only on the portion that you pay for with your credit card. IOW, if you use 699 points to pay for a SE, you receive no points back. If you use your credit card, you receive 104 points back. Non-members receive 1%.

Hi, meryl!

Like you, I've always been pleased with the service and products I've received from Big Fish since joining in 2009, so I'm willing to cut them some slack until they are able to sort things out. I can certainly understand the frustration of those who have run into glitches, though, and I wouldn't be happy either if unauthorized and unexplained charges showed up on my credit card no matter how small they were. I'm sure they will sort that out for you, although it may take them a while because they are dealing with so many issues right now. The only major change for me is the U.S. exchange rate, but I pay it whenever I shop in the States or on an American website so, up until now, I was getting a really good deal by only paying 2% .

Hi, Taintedbury!

Even though the animals are in captivity, none of them are in cages and their enclosures resemble their natural environments as much as possible. Believe it or not, some of the animals were even vaccinated against COVID. After the surprise birth of the giant panda twins, there were daily updates from the zoo on their progress, and everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief when the little one was out of danger !

Susan

Just wanted to add that I have one credit card on file with Big Fish but most of the time I use Paypal, which I have used for many, many years and not once had a problem with it. It also works splendidly with the new points system.

Hi, Marian!

I've never used Paypal, but it's good to know that works as well. I always use a credit card to pay for everything because, if ever there's a problem and I can provide proof I didn't get what I paid for, the credit card company will reverse the charge. Also, some credit card companies extend the warranties of some purchases, which is an added bonus. I have no idea how Paypal works, so they may provide the same benefits as well !

Susan

Hiya Everyone

Susie07 Happy to see when they're looked after so well....Oh my yeah i saw - it's amazing the way they make their living areas so nature like.....Terrific to hear that some off the animals were vaccinated against covid .....Very true though sometimes the smaller ones end up being tougher


Happy Gaming Boomers

Hi, Taintedfury!

I hate to see animals in cages, so a trip to the Toronto zoo is a nice change. The animals may not be free, but they are well cared for, well fed and safe.

Happy gaming to you as well !

Susan

Hi Susie07
Most definitely I feel the same way, .... True at least they're safe and happy ☺️
Happy Gaming

Hi, Taintedfury!

Happy gaming to you as well !

Susan

Your reward point balance at Big Fish Games has just been changed: 200 points added. These points will expire on 25 Aug 2024 (729 days left).

Your current balance is 200 points, which equals to $2.00 worth of discount.

Click here to learn more about the Big Fish Points. what does this mean.

Family, I merged your post with this thread because this is where we are discussing all the changes at Big Fish as a result of their platform change earlier this month. Big Fish has changed to a points system whereby you get a certain number of points through buying games. You also get points if you are a Game Club member; instead of one game credit worth $6.99 monthly, you get 699 points instead. If you are a Game Club member you get more points when you purchase games than you do if you do not belong to the Game Club.

At present you have $2.00 (200 points) that can be applied to future game purchases. When you check out, you will see a place in the shopping cart on the lower left-hand side where you can apply your points towards the purchase. If you would rather, you can hang on to the points or just use some of them but not all of them.

i will hang on to them.

So, does anybody know if the purchase process is fixed or if you still have to download the demo first or whatever it is they expect you to do? I am still afraid to buy anything. As some of you know, I have many games that don't get played for years after being purchased. I don't want to find out somewhere in the future that my purchase didn't work but I also don't want to download a bunch of games that I am not ready to play.

I think that problem has been fixed, oldbroad. Most people seem to be having no further issues with that. Are there other issues? I think there are, here and there, but none so far that have affected me or most of the people I know who are buying games there.

As for the long haul, there is always going to be a certain amount of risk. I have most of my games backed up on external drives should Big Fish at some point cease to exist, but then I will also need a backup of my backup. I have also thought about cloud storage. But until that time, I guess we either dive in or stay out of the water.

Thanks Marian!

Hi, oldbroad!

I always download the demo just to make sure the game is my cup of tea and there are no technical issues before buying. If I don't enjoy the demo, I delete it. If I do, I save it to remind me what game I want to buy when there's a good sale. I've only purchased 2 games since the conversion, but I followed Marian's advice and purchased them through the Game Manager (I always purchased games from the website before) and the process was flawless.

Susan

Thanks Susie07! I never download the demos. I just buy. And I have always made my purchases through the website though I download through the manager.

Anyway, question - How much of the game does the demo download? (I have slow internet.)

i think big fish put the demos up, because alot of their customers get buyer remorse, they regret buying games, and they get tried of it, alot of people asking for refunds. the demo gives the people a look in the game to see i like it or do not, people been buying without doing demos.

Oldbroad, sometimes the demos download the entire game and sometimes they download only part of the game. There's no hard and fast rule about this. If it was a solitaire game, you could be pretty confident that the demo was the entire game, but with HOPAs it is not that easy to tell.

Family, there have been demos on Big Fish as long as I can remember and my first game there was purchased in 2006. They have had demos for games for at least 16 years.

Thank you Marian.