Over on Twitter, we’ve been organizing a campaign against the makers of the game Mighty No. 9, due to the disgraceful behavior of their community manager, Dina Karam. We’ve tried to be reasonable. We asked simply that she un-block, and reinstate the GamerGate members to the MN9 community. She refused.
This is after she trashed GamerGate members in the worst way possible. We turned the other cheek, until she decided to spit in our face as well, by blocking paying customers from official forums and Twitter accounts.
Since they didn’t listen, we then began asking Comcept, the developers of the game, to fire Ms. Karam. We first asked them to force her to apologize and reinstate, but she’s made more incendiary comments. We’re now left with no other choice, except to organize a massive chargeback campaign.
It’s been confirmed to TheRalphRetort.com that multiple people have indeed gotten their Kickstarter donations back. You don’t call Comcept, or Kickstarter. You go over their heads and call your bank, or credit card company. They will refund you, at little to no hassle (debit cards may be a little more difficult, but credit cards companies will give INSTANT refund).
Again, we didn’t want to do this. But, Inafune and Comcept have left us with no other choice. Don’t support companies that trash gamers, and censor discourse.
That’s what GamerGate is all about.
SHARE AREA:
Short write-up of our campaign, highlighted by the CHARGEBACK news. #GamerGate #MightyNoNein http://t.co/Kqype175en pic.twitter.com/yMaX1oUXVq
— Ethan Ralph (@TheRalphRetort) September 24, 2014
UPDATE: Post in the comments below what happened on your attempt, if any of you do a chargeback. Someone was disputing this on Twitter, saying that they couldn’t do it. Again, I was told by 2 separate people that they called their credit card companies, and were refunded. A third said the same thing, but he didn’t say if it was a CC company, or a bank. These guys have no reason to lie about it, in my opinion. Or else I wouldn’t have run the story. But, you can decide for yourselves.
UPDATE 2: It seems that person was using a bank card. So, your mileage may vary if trying to get a refund from your bank.
UPDATE 3: From the Reddit comment on my story, further confirming that chargebacks are happening.
UPDATE 4: Kamiya tried to warn us…
I warned you. – @PG_kamiya @MightyNo9 @mightyno9jp @PetiteMistress #GamerGate pic.twitter.com/PK2UMoQii5
— Ethan Ralph (@TheRalphRetort) September 22, 2014
45 comments
glad to see them getting their money back
It’s a shame too. I was really looking forward to MN9.
Where are you getting this info? First of all, it is not a “simple” process. You have to open a claim with the fraud department of your bank, provide a full argument, and then wait for them to contact Comcept for a rebuttal. A response takes about two months. My bank sided with them due to Kickstarter’s ToS. Believe me, I WANT my money back, but this misrepresents the process entirely.
I was told by 3 separate people that they got their refund in one phone call.
However, at least two of them were talking to the CC companies, not a bank (3rd is unknown). If you did it with a debit card, the process might be more difficult.
I certainly encourage everyone to try, but I think you should at least note that it isn’t the case for everyone that it is a simple process. Mine was anything but.
Well, it’s down here in the comments. I might put something about it up there in parenthesis.
*Update*: As you can see, I went ahead and put a full addendum up.
Debit is always harder than CC because Debit is taking money directly from your account and giving it to someone. It’s near impossible to get that money back and put it back in your account.
Using a CC puts a buffer between you and the bank as it’s the CC company laying out the money so they have all kinds of protection in place to be able to get their money back. Your money never leaves your account until you pay the CC company when your bill is due.
You should always use your CC when buying things you might not be sure of for that extra protection. But pay the bill completely at the end of the month! =)
I’d Tread Carefully If i Were a Contributor to MN9, #GamerGate has been Associated with Misogyny by the Gaming Press as Part of a Coordinated Smear Campaign, & even If Ms. Karam is Utterly Detestable, Calling for her to be Fired will Only be Used by the Press to Push their Narrative, If you Want to Punish Her & her Employers for Disrespecting you, Get your Money Back & Educate Others so that MN9 Crashes & Burns.
Well, we’ve moved past her being fired. Just don’t buy the game, and if you supported previously on Kickstarter (especially with a credit card), do a chargeback.
Tried, no dice. Bank Visa bites me in the ass.
Sorry to hear that man. This has taught me to use a regular CC if at all possible for stuff like this. Or, to just not back any game Kickstarter…unless it’s by Daniel Vavra lol.
Update: contacted my credit card company and explained the situation. They still said they couldn’t do anything to resolve the issue, but that changed when I threatened to cancel my credit card and find someone else to do business with. Got my money back.
Hell yea. Good job man. The CC company will almost always back down in the end.
Don’t fear the misogyny thing. It equivalent to fearing label of uppity negro for not kissing some racists behind. Stand strong.
Screaming “Misogyny!” is like screaming “Communism!”.
It might have worked in the past, but that’s no guarantee it will work in the future.
Witness the Yippies versus the House Un-American Activities Committee for example.
So Third Wave Feminism is the New McCarthyism? In that Case, we Have to Get the Journalist doing their “Thing” on Video, then it’s All Over for them!
This is 4th wave feminism, not 3rd wave… The third wave was malebashing…. The fourth wave is malebashing AND twitter and tumblr people trying to control language and discourse. 4th Wave is thus even worse than third wave.
Then Just Pass Around The Screenshot Of Her Telling A Paid Customer ‘Fvck You’
As a huge original Megaman fan, everything I’ve heard and seen of Mighty No.9 has been greatly disappointing. People desperately hope that it will be great, seemingly to the point of deluding themselves.
However, I just can’t see it happening. I’m pretty certain that I could honestly make a better and more Megaman-ish game by myself.
I’d also like to point out that I recall seeing someone say something similar to, “Inafune is a business man first, game designer second”. If true, I wouldn’t expect much from him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew exactly who and what Dina is, and intentionally hired her.
Kamiya is the one who said that, actually. As for the game being a poor imitation, I’ve heard the same thing from many die-hard Megaman fans.
I wanted it to be like Megaman but also different. Too many people wanted it to be exactly like Megaman which disappointed me.
Well yeah its not Megaman, its just a similar style game and they never were going make it the same (which has many different versions itself so WHAT MEGAMAN DID U WANT besides the basic thing of Jump and Shoot).
I really don’t see any problems with the game, Its shaping up well and could/get better, people need to chill out with that. The Whole Dina thing though…EHHH
Uh, you DO realize that an avid businessman would be even MORE likely to can her.
Nice! Let’s see how long Dina lasts once Inafune starts seeing banks and credit card companies taking money out of the coffers.
Bonus: if there are enough chargebacks the banks will have a fit and disallow them taking credit/debit card payments and / or kickstarter won’t allow comcept again. Banks DESPISE chargebacks and cut off merchants that get too many.
Exactly. Sometimes when a merchant won’t give you your money back, all you have to do is threaten a chargeback and they’ll relent. Banks most certainly despise chargebacks. I’ve seen people’s merchant accounts be closed by a bank for as little as 3 chargebacks within a certain amount of time.
At lot of times, to a bank, chargebacks indicate fraudulent activity by a company because chargebacks are done by people that the company won’t refund. Too many people taking this route usually means to a bank that the company is taking part in fraudulent activity which is why they close the account.
this is the exact reason i will never kickstart a game… let me see a final product then we will talk… i hate dealing with humans in the banking/credit card industry… glad i didnt back this joke
I was one of first backers on kickstarter, I gave 3000₹(50 American Dollars) within the first week. 11 months ago; Dina disgusted me with her Hatred and Contempt of me the Consumer. I did chargeback and sent Inafune Shemail in Japanase stating my reason for the chargeback. I have not had a reply since.
Do not be fool. chargeback your money before it is late.
You do know Dina is bilingual?
She pretty much controls all e-mail (English and Japanese) that is approved or denied further up the chain of command. So sending anything through official channels is pretty much worthless.
So unless you have Inafune personal e-mail good luck of him seeing anything on this fiasco. Sure he is going to find out when sales fail to meet expectations in the Western market, but by then it’s too late.
Yeah, I tried to charge back but got told “lol, no”. Using a TD Visa card. Their policy is 120 days after purchase. Looks likes I’m stuck with it. Goddamn am I mad.
you could always pirate it bro
Yes, you will more than likely -not- get a chargeback approved if it is done using a bank debit card (this may vary depending on if you used a business card to make the purchase or not). Credit card companies have a higher chance of success, but you have to be within their specific term window – these windows typically run 60/90/120 days depending on the card issuer and your credit line.
I’m very mad but I find it too hard to fight tooth and nail for my 20 bucks, especially since I used debit.
I do now know that I have better stuff to do than to take business to comcept
I think it’s gonna fail for more people than it’ll work. Mine had a 120 day limit and wouldn’t even consider a chargeback no matter how many people I spoke to. Since I was in a physical tier the only thing I can do is get the garbage they send me and flip it on ebay.
Sucks for me too :/ . I supported a community that condoned trash-talking their customers, and all I got was this t-shirt.
be careful with chargebacks: i’ve worked for bank of america, sovereign bank, etc.. and at least regarding debit cards, the “instant credit” is actually provisional credit provided until an investigation is done between claims & kickstarter. if kickstarter provides the bank sufficient evidence that the charge was valid (and note, “sufficient” is a term held verrrry loosely ;;;; ), you’ll wind up seeing the charge pulled out again 1-2 months later (along with possible overdraft fees!) usually they send you a letter but it’s common practice with at least sovereign to send you the letter AFTER you’ve been recharged!
so basically, my advice is to place a claim for a chargeback but keep that money handy just in case the bank doesn’t decide in your favour.
(PS- my husband who works for bank of america as well, just made note that chargebacks typically do NOT stay as permanent credit unless the charge was plain out fraud or an unauthorized charge/duplicate. so seriously peeps, even if you get credit back on your debit or even credit cards, keep in mind that credit may not be permanent!)
Kamiya is such a player.
I’m not getting my 30$ back, but I know this will destroy Comcept’s consumer trust. I admit that I was naive to even back something in Kickstarter, but I was in a FU Capcom phase.
Still. It is amazing how confrontational and insane this Dina person is. After 2 days in the forums I lost all interest in the game and killed my enthusiasm.
I backed it on my old credit card, i have closed that bank account earlier this year, so i cant chargeback
I deeply regret that now
In any other industry, she would’ve been fired long ago.
Well, it’ll be fun to watch them learn the hard way why other businesses don’t tolerate that level of very public misconduct.
It sucks that the company Inafune is in has to suffer for what one person is pretty much responsible for. I really respect Inafune so I am kind of having my doubts about getting a charge back, but if things keep going the way they do I guess I really won’t have much of a choice. I can’t stand a company who supports the censorship and outright disrespect of their community who is helping them.
If someone who backed the Kickstarter get a chargeback, will Kickstarter deduct that person’s contribution amount from Comcept’s account? If that’s the case, they could retroactively fail to meet their goal if enough people get chargebacks.
I still think it is ridiculous that people are raging so hard about one crappy community manager that they are trying to form a boycott against what is essentially the resurrection of Megaman. The boycotters all take themselves too seriously and are ready to get up in arms about anything, which makes sense if they consider themselves ‘members’ of ‘Gamergate’…
Yeah, because paying your money to support a project and then having that support spat on isn’t in anyway insulting, even if you call yourself a member of the flying goats of shandu. It amazes me how often I see GG members being shit on, and then see people excuse that behavior simply because they are GG members.