Tesco selling second hand/returned goods but not letting on (possibly)

Heliflyguy

Last weekend I purchased a game called Lost planet for my PC from Tesco for the mighty price of £3.00, bargain I thought what could go wrong.

I am not a big PC gamer in fact this was really the first experience, loaded the cd copied all the files and then had to create a Steam account and register the game via the Steam (never heard of them before) website.

Entered the CD key only to be told its a duplicate?????

So followed all the requirements to reset duplicate cd key.
Create a support account, scan and upload instruction book page with key info, scan and upload Tesco reciept showing it was purchased in the last 90 days plus not secondhand (as I believed, you can see were this is going), sit back and wait for the nice people at Steam to send me a new cd key so I can register and start playing the game.........not.

Steam refuse to reset the cd key as they say the game has already been registered and say I now have to return the game to Tesco for a refund.

Now I am annoyed, whats going on here, have Tesco accepted a return and passed this to me? as far as I was concerned the game was new and I thought Tesco did not accept such returns anyway or have Steam messed up, who can I vent my spleen at (if only I had one) and to what end for all the trouble I have gone/will go to, I know its only £3.00 and I can get a refund from Tesco but its annoying to say the least.

dEfEndEr_2

TESCO:
If for any reason you'd like to return an item, you'll need to follow this simple process.
Please note, that you can only return items within 28 working days of receiving the delivery. We will be unable to process the return after this date

So someone might have taken it back OPENED and the person simply put it back in stock.

Take it back to the store (your in the 28 days window)

BillTrac

dEfEndEr wrote: »

TESCO:
If for any reason you'd like to return an item, you'll need to follow this simple process.
Please note, that you can only return items within 28 working days of receiving the delivery. We will be unable to process the return after this date

So someone might have taken it back OPENED and the person simply put it back in stock.

Take it back to the store (your in the 28 days window)

Think you'll find it doesn't happen with software.

OP..was the software unopened when you received it? Just wondered if it had been purchased and registered, then returned and replaced as faulty and somehow put back in stock. You might find that there are problems as you get further into the game. I would take it back as faulty, they should swop for the same game and then you can hopefully register that ok

neilmcl

BillTrac wrote: »

Think you'll find it doesn't happen with software.

OP..was the software unopened when you received it? Just wondered if it had been purchased and registered, then returned and replaced as faulty and somehow put back in stock. You might find that there are problems as you get further into the game. I would take it back as faulty, they should swop for the same game and then you can hopefully register that ok

Not all software is sealed, quite often Supermarkets do sell unsealed games.

Heliflyguy

BillTrac wrote: »

Think you'll find it doesn't happen with software.

OP..was the software unopened when you received it? Just wondered if it had been purchased and registered, then returned and replaced as faulty and somehow put back in stock. You might find that there are problems as you get further into the game. I would take it back as faulty, they should swop for the same game and then you can hopefully register that ok

It was only sealed with a small clear sticker/tape bottom right hand corner, I have no idea if this would be standard security sealing, most DVD seem to come fully wrapped, is it the same for PC games?
My gut feeling is the scenario you describe.
My reply to Steam was just find out who registered the game in the first place, de reg them and give me a new cd key but it looks like some poor Tesco staff may get a small (as I know its not their direct fault) amount of flak for wasting my time, after all I had no idea that these PC games had to go through this procedure to play them so why would most staff at Tesco, though there are probably a few Tesco staff that do and take full advantage of the fact.

dEfEndEr_2

Also, the info I posted was from the Tesco Entertainment SOFTWARE returns page..!

mjgreen60

Are you certain that it wasn't pre-owned?

Not doubting you, but some tesco stores (not many and i'm not certain which) are starting to dabble in the pre-owned game industry, much like Game and Gamestation where you can sell your old games to them.

So it might be possible that the game is pre-owned however the display would have clearly said that it was pre-owned

Heliflyguy

mjgreen60 wrote: »

Are you certain that it wasn't pre-owned?

Not doubting you, but some tesco stores (not many and i'm not certain which) are starting to dabble in the pre-owned game industry, much like Game and Gamestation where you can sell your old games to them.

So it might be possible that the game is pre-owned however the display would have clearly said that it was pre-owned

The only information on the box was the price on a yellow sticker and there is no pre owened rack in the store that I have seen, the game was in the reduced section with pc/xbox/wii games.
If Tesco are accepting software returns or going down the pre-owned route then the had better smart up on what can and cannot be resold.

vyle

If it was just sitting on the shelf, it's quite possible somebody just photographed the license key and downloaded the game.

I've got a friend who discovered Asda near him put game boxes out with the nintendo stars codes and xbox games with DLC codes out on the shelves. He's taken to jotting down the codes or just taking the slips of card and getting free downloads.

Have a word with Tesco, as I'm sure, legally, they have no leg to stand on.

Also, if youre new to gaming, Lost Planet may not be ideal anyway, it's very old school and rock hard. You'd be better off with something more mainstream to begin with like Gears of War.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

vyle wrote: »

I've got a friend who discovered Asda near him put game boxes out with the nintendo stars codes and xbox games with DLC codes out on the shelves. He's taken to jotting down the codes or just taking the slips of card and getting free downloads.

But Nintendo numbers are covered by silver foil, like a scratchcard - is he really standing there, scratching them off or is he stealing them?

Mankysteve

What happens here is not that Tesco have sold the piece of software a second time, but some has stole the cd key to use the game on there Steam account.

Once you've got the cd key you don't need the disk as you can download the software straight from them. Which is great if you lose the CD or damage the disk but is rubbish if this happens to you.

You need to be a bit more forthright with steam.

Please don't be put off the steam concept it great and valve make some of the best Pcs games.