Gilgamesh Vs. SNK USA President Ben Herman

Okay, a little history is needed for this. It's a long story but if you want to know why the President of SNK Playmore USA left two very angry messages on my answering machine, you're gonna have to bear with me.

On the same visit to Best Buy where I saw KOFXI for 10 bucks on the front-lane discount rack, they also had the SNK Vs Capcom Card Fighter DS game. It sounded like a good way to kill time, so I picked it up as well.

Unfortunately, the game had a fatal glitch, and not the "punch a wall 50 times" glitch, I mean it freezes any time you talk to an NPC you NEED to speak to to continue advancing in the game. Needless to say I was pretty annoyed, especially since it happens very close to the end, after you've spent about ten hours getting there.

I tested the game on my cousin's DS, just to make sure the problem wasn't with my system. The same glitch happened. I returned the game to Best Buy and exchanged it for a new copy, and ten hours of playing later, the same glitch appeared.

At this point I concluded the entire shipment at Best Buy was most likely defective so I decided to follow the warrenty information in the game manual and contact SNK Playmore USA's sales department. Two weeks passed, and I never got a response. I sent another e-mail, two weeks passed again, and no response. Then I sent an e-mail to every address on their goddamn website, and still no response.

At that point I decided to call their Customer Service number, which is also provided with the warrenty information in the manual. Naturally, I called during normal business hours, but still got a machine. I left my name and contact info, and a week later STILL had not heard back from them.

At that point I was getting pretty pissed off. Last Thursday, I called the number again, and still got the machine. But instead of leaving a message, I listened to the directory of extensions and dialed every number on it, hoping to get in touch with ANY living soul.

Eventually I did get I touch with someone who gave me the information I needed, but not before I left a message on SNK USA President Ben Herman's machine. I can't tell you what I said verbatim, however I did tell him about how I have been attempting to contact someone at his office for almost two months now because I need to return a defective game (I didn't specify which game because I didn't think it mattered, a warrenty is a warrenty) and that I was now dialing every number I could find and making myself as big of a pain in the ass as possible (and yes, I did use those words) until someone finally talked to me.

I also said that if I didn't hear from someone soon I was going to dispute the charge on my credit card. I know that would take the money out of Best Buy's pocket and not SNK's directly, but I still thought it might help illustrate my frustration with the complete absence of customer service I'd received.

Come Monday, I had this message waiting for me on my machine when I got home:

http://www.kikouken.com/snk.wav

By the way, do I really need to point out the idiocy of making your personal extension public if you don't want strangers calling you?

There was another one on my machine today that I will be uploading soon as well. I've been thinking about what to do with something like this, and only one answer seems to come to mind: Youtube.

I like how he says that they don't pride themselves on customer service. Talk about sucky business practices.`

Now there is a man who takes real pride in the product his company produces. "You didn't buy it from us personally...", as if the game's code was screwed up by Best Buy. Why are so many people so pissed about having to do their damn job?

I have to applaude you for going through all this, by the way. I've always wanted to do the same thing but I've never actually been mad enough with a product to do so.

YouTube seems like an excellent choice to me.

ADDITION-
I just had a thought: wouldn't it have been interesting if you'd actually been home when he called? Of course then we wouldn't have this wonderful audio clip.

To be fair, there was an exchange program that was set up, but it ended back in June. Ended up using it myself.

Honestly, you'd figure they'd recall the defective carts from store shelves by this point.

Damn, Gil, I have an uphill battle to just talk to a manager at a fast food place, and you managed to get a call from a president of a game company. I think it's charisma

Returning a call personally, that seems like an idiot move. Should have been delegated to someone low on the totem pole, so in case there was something stupid said, the grunt could be easily sacrificed.

Idiocy aside, did he say something about a recall of the game in question? Then why the freak was that game even on the shelves in the first place? And when was the recall announced, through what mediums? I mean a kids' toy has a little magnet that may fall off and it's on every frickin' news program.

EDIT: I got thinking, put it on youtube, but it needs a visual aid. At the very least, a transcript of what he is saying. Not sure if a picture of the guy should be beside the transcript, maybe the Doonesbury-Roman helmet depiction instead.

The video needs a setup as well. A picture of the coverart as the deficiencies of the game is explained. Another of a computer screen with the SNK site as an explanation of the lunacy in returning the game is detailed. Then a picture of a phone or answering machine with the caption: So how does a president respond to the consumers?

Not sure if something should be added after the message. Okay, it's not as captivating as say the baptism scene in the Godfather, but it would be effective... enough.

He opens his message whining about coming home from a four day weekend to a complaint message. He doesn't care about customer service, yet he tries to guilt trip you for "ruining" his long weekend with his child. That's close enough to irony.

Nothing says bad business like the president of a company not caring about customer service. On the upside it's a sales office, not an actual development house's marketing department. If the president of a respected game company doesn't care about customer service, I'd refuse to buy from them. This is starting to remind me of Midway's shady MK milking days (see GBA version).

In order to make money and maintain a successful business, you NEED the customers, keep them happy, yet there are people in his position who fail to understand that simple concept.

EDIT: Had to fix a couple of typos, I was distracted watching Kristin Holt and slipped on some keys, heh.

Wow, what a douchebag. And his daughter had to put up with him for four days?

Heheh... maybe you can bring down SNK with this sort of thing? Definately put it on YouTube. I have a video maker if you need me to put something together.

Well my roommate erased the second message before I had a chance to upload it... too bad, but there wasn't much in it other than Herman being kind of a smart-ass about how now that I have his attention I'm not returning his call.

Anyway I haven't done much serious work with video editing programs so I'm not sure how I want to get this video done. I do agree though that visuals will be needed to make the video more appealing.

It's not that tricky really. You'll want a static image, most likely one of Herman if one can be found. Something ironic, like him sitting behind a desk on the phone and smiling would be wonderful.

Anyway, from there you throw the sound file into Movie Maker, which I believe is default on Windows PCs (it's what I've used anyway) and you can throw in the still shot and add subtitles of what he's saying.

Open the video with a brief version of the post you opened this thread with, something simple in image form, like white text on black background. Throw the images into the timeline of the movie and adjust their length so their readable then add whatever transition effects (I suggest a simple fade) you want between them.

Close with whatever statements you think are appropriate. Deep explaination is better saved for the sidebar. You might consider cutting your name out of the sound clip unless you want to become more personally linked with this... well, I wouldn't call it a campaign at this point... this event.

That might sound odd, "personally linked". I mean, given that it happened to you of course you're personally linked but the random person crusing YouTube who clicks on the video doesn't know you like we do (such as we do). You might just not want people to know your real name, it's your call.

The whole thing could be done in an hour or two most likely. I offer the same service as Grave. If you need the movie done I can give it a shot.

And you might want to beep out his extension, just to be safe.

How do you think I called him in the first place? His extension is right there in the directory when you call the customer service number. Which is why I said it's pretty damn stupid to do something like that and not expect strangers to call it, especially angry customers.

If his extension is still in their directory, I say leave it be. If they lack the sense to remove it, let 'im take the flaming.

I'm fairly sure that reposting information already available is fine. Of course, one (that is they) could make the arguement that the message and any information contained therein was for Gil and no one else since it was sent to him personally. That said, I don't think phone calls between two individuals are a protected, especially since he didn't call you with specific product (or legal) information.

Posting the extension and telling people to flame the guy might result in legal action (probably not) though I don't think such an action would succeed and they'd probably just change his extension number after a day or so.

I'm on shaky ground here, this is beyond my legal knowledge. Specific privacy and slander/libal laws are sometimes confusing (for me) and I haven't studied them as much as criminal law.

I'd say leave it in. He doesn't give the whole number so anyone who wants to call will still have to find the number of the company in general and they'd be able to find his extension themselves by doing that.

I can think of three good reasons why SNK would have no leg to stand on if they complained about giving the number.

1) The customer service number can be found in any of SNK's game manuals, and the extension to his office is given right there to anybody who calls that number and presses 1 to hear the directory.

2) Expectations of privacy don't normally extend to phone messages, and certainly not in cases where there is no legally-recognized confidentiality (spousal, doctor/patient, attorney/client, priest/penatant). When you leave a message on a phone machine you're running the great risk that someone else could hear it first, and in this case that actually happened because my roommate heard it before I even got home.

3) Privacy laws regarding recording telephone conversations vary from state to state, but my understanding is that when the call crosses state lines, the laws of the state in which the recipient of the call lives are the laws that are applied. In Virginia, that means that only one of the two parties has to consent to it.

So, I wouldn't sorry too much about censoring the message from what is already there.

http://kotaku.com/387899/snk-doesnt-pride-...ustomer-service